In Antikythera Mechanism: The Story Behind the Genius of the Greek Computer and Its Demise, Evaggelos Vallianatos, historian and ecopolitical theorist, shows that after the conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great in the late fourth century BCE, the Greeks, especially in Egypt, reached unprecedented heights of achievements in science, technology, and civilization. The Antikythera Mechanism, an astronomical computer probably crafted in Rhodes in the second century BCE, was proof of that prowess. It's the grandfather of our computers.

Greek sponge divers discovered the Antikythera Mechanism in 1900 on a 2,100-year-old Roman-era shipwreck. The hand-powered device reveals a sophisticated Greek technology previously unknown to scholars and historians, not seen and understood again until the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The book not only describes how the sophisticated political and technological infrastructure of the Greeks after Alexander the Great resulted in the Antikythera celestial computer, and the bedrock of science and technology we know today, but also how the influence of Christianity on Greek civilization destroyed the nascent computer age of ancient Greece. Vallianatos, born in Greece and educated in America, is a historian, author, and journalist. He is a passionate champion of Greek culture and a well-suited guide to this historical account.

Vallianatos explains how and why Greek scientists employed advanced engineering in translating the beautiful conception of the Antikythera Mechanism into an astronomical computer of genius: a bronze-geared device of mathematical astronomy, predicting the eclipses of the Sun and the Moon; calculating the risings and settings of important stars and constellations, and the movements of the planets around the Sun; while mechanizing the predictions of scientific theories. The computer's accurate calendar connected these cosmic phenomena to the Olympics and other major Panhellenic religious and athletic celebrations, bringing the Greeks closer to their gods, traditions, and the Cosmos.

In this book, Vallianatos paints a picture of freedom in Greek history and civilization. Freedom for the Greeks, he says, has been like breathing air. He documents how freedom gave birth to the great achievements of Greek civilization. The Greeks repeatedly defeated large invading Persian armies in early fifth century BCE. Those heroic victories secured Greek and Western civilization. Modern Greeks also won over large Turkish forces in the 1820s, thus establishing the independence of Greece. In 1940, the Greeks defeated a large Italian army, winning the first victory of WWII.

The result of the triumph of freedom, especially in ancient Greece, Vallianatos says, was an explosion of light. Civilization bloomed with the craftsmanship of the Bronze Age, 3,100 BCE, the poetry of Homer, the Olympics, democracy, Aristotle and his invention of science, technology, theater, the Parthenon, gorgeous art and architecture, and the cosmic Greek influence of Alexander the Great and the Antikythera computer of genius in the second century BCE. These Greek achievements influenced the founders of the American Republic. They are still important for clear thinking and inspiration in support of our democracy. They guide us to family farming and citizen soldiers, always commanded by civilians.

This book may attract readers the world over, Classics scholars, students, and tourists. About 22,000 of them visit the Parthenon every day. These Parthenon lovers would be interested in this book, which in addition to its global overview of Greek history, includes a chapter explaining why the Parthenon has been the Soul of Greece.

Vallianatos argues that the Greeks are us. They were reason and science as much as piety for the gods. The Olympics celebrated Zeus. The Athenians built the Parthenon to honor Athena, daughter of Zeus. The second century BCE Antikythera computer was designed to predict the eclipses of the Sun and the Moon, both gods for the Greeks. This book brings this intimate dimension of piety for the gods to the surface where it belongs. This enables Vallianatos to retell Greek history as it actually happened. In contrast, many books about the Greeks ignore or malign Greek religion, which distort the history and civilization of the Greeks.

The cataclysmic effects of agribusiness.

The pandemic of 2020-2022 killed millions of people the world over. It shut down countries and economies. It caused tremendous anxiety. People want to know who or what caused the pandemic. Officials, however, failed to explain the origins of this global disease. This book shows how one of the sources of the pandemic originated in pesticide-based factory agriculture and animal farms, and how climate chaos exacerbated the pandemic. Earth on Fire reveals and explains the cosmic tragedy of brewing pandemics and climate chaos in our backyards. Drawing from the author's Greek and American experience, the work presents how agriculture and civilization are vastly intertwined.This book would benefit scholars, policy makers, students and all readers interested in unravelling the Gordian knot of animal farms, pandemics, and climate chaos.

The pandemic of 2020-2022 killed millions of people the world over. It shut down countries and economies. It caused tremendous anxiety. People want to know who or what caused the pandemic. Officials, however, failed to explain the origins of this global disease. This book shows how one of the sources of the pandemic originated in pesticide-based factory agriculture and animal farms, and how climate chaos exacerbated the pandemic. Earth on Fire reveals and explains the cosmic tragedy of brewing pandemics and climate chaos in our backyards. Drawing from the author's Greek and American experience, the work presents how agriculture and civilization are vastly intertwined.This book would benefit scholars, policy makers, students and all readers interested in unravelling the Gordian knot of animal farms, pandemics, and climate chaos.