We live in a world that is known, every corner thoroughly explored. But has this knowledge cost us the ability to wonder? Wonder, Caspar Henderson argues, is at its most supremely valuable in just such a world because it reaffirms our humanity and gives us hope for the future. That's the power of wonder, and that's what we should aim to cultivate in our lives. But what are the wonders of the modern world?

Henderson's brilliant exploration...

A masterwork of history and cultural studies, Marvelous Possessions is a brilliant meditation on the interconnected ways in which Europeans of the Age of Discovery represented non-European peoples and took possession of their lands, particularly in the New World. In a series of innovative readings of travel narratives, judicial documents, and official reports, Stephen Greenblatt shows that the experience of the marvelous, central to both art and philosophy,...

The Mirror of the Marvelous has long been considered one of the most significant and original books to have come out of the surrealist movement. Anais Nin suggested it as a source of inspiration, far ahead of its time, for would-be authors seeking to break from the realist literary mold. Mabille cites a far reaching assortment of texts, ranging from the classic to the obscure, from the ancient epic to the modern poem, from the creation myth to more...

"A generous exploration of religious experiences-moments of inexplicable terror or rapturous joy, visions, near-death experiences of the afterlife, encounters with angels, heavenly voices, and premonitions-and the Christian response to these stories in a secular age"-- "Despite widespread skepticism on the matter, a significant number of people today have stories of religious experience- moments of inexplicable terror or rapturous joy, visions, near-death...