PHIL BAKER

Definitive study of Wheatley and the world he lived in, providing along the way an enthralling social history of the 20th century.

High acclaimed and the definitive social history of absinthe

The earliest Christian document outside of the New Testament is almost certainly The Didache, which is also known as The Lords Teaching Through the Twelve Apostles to the Nations. In its final chapter, the author says that in the last days, the sheep will turn into wolves and the Deceiver of the world will commit abominations that have never been seen since the world began. Is this what Paul had in mind when he wrote 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12? In The Final Abominable Temple, Baker traces the ideas of Gods temple, abominations, and apostasy through the Scriptures. He also discusses how the earliest Christians thought and wrote about these themes. By doing so, we get a better understanding of what Paul believed would come upon the world and the Church in the times of the Antichrist. Finally, Baker highlights several ways to stay faithful to Jesus in the days when the sheep become wolves.

In Faithful Witness, Phil Baker explains the theology of martyrdom that developed over the first 300 years of Christianity, and why that theology proved so powerful in the early years of the faith. Though many examples of early Christian martyrdom will be told, the intent of this book is not to simply give the accounts these martyrs stories. This book is more about the why than the what. Why did they choose faithfulness over fear? Why did they choose dying over killing? Why did they choose self-sacrifice over revenge? Why did they have such peace and joy in the midst of unimaginable torture? By AD 313, why had roughly 10% of the Roman Empires population embraced Christianity, when it was both illegal and incredibly dangerous to do so? Are you ready to be inspired and challenged to follow in the footsteps of Jesus?

El ajenjo vive actualmente un extraordinario renacimiento, tras ser prohibido y sepultado a lo largo de Europa y de América durante la mayor parte del siglo XX. Más potente que otras bebidas, se dice que el ajenjo conduce a la locura y la muerte. Mas alla de esta polemica, no fueron pocos los artistas que encontraron en el ajenjo una genuina fuente de inspiracion. Este libro ofrece una historia cultural del ajenjo, desde sus origenes como tonico hasta su apogeo a fines del siglo XIX. Presenta una serie de testimonios literarios de excepcional valor, una galeria de documentos iconograficos y un apendice, que evalua los ajenjos verdaderos y falsos disponibles en el mercado. Ademas, presenta y analiza el ritual caracteristico del consumo de ajenjo y revela, por ultimo, como el Hada Verde -tal el apodo con que era conocido el ajenjo en Francia- actuaba sobre sus acolitos y partidarios.

In The Faith Once Delivered Volume 1: 50 Days with the Disciples of the Apostles, I show you, the reader, how the second generation of Jesus followers continued to believe, teach and live the words of our Lord. Imagine spending 50 days with men like Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch and Polycarp of Smyrna, who were personally discipled by the original Apostles! I encourage you to join me on this journey and let these ancient writings deepen and refine your faith.

A work that combines biography and pyschogeography to trace Aleister Crowleys life in London."I dreamed I was paying a visit to London," Aleister Crowley wrote in Italy, continuing, "It was a vivid, long, coherent, detailed affair of several days, with so much incident that it would make a good-sized volume." Crowley had a love-hate relationship with London, but the city was where he spent much of his adult life, and it was the capital of the culture that created him: Crowley was a post-decadent with deviant Victorian roots in the cultural ferment of the 1890s and the magical revival of the Golden Dawn. Not a walking guide, although many routes could be pieced together from its pages, this is a biography by sites. A fusion of life-writing with psychogeography, steeped in Londons social history from Victoria to the Blitz, it draws extensively on unpublished material and offers an exceptionally intimate picture of the Great Beast. We follow Crowley as he searches for prostitutes in Hyde Park and Pimlico, drinks absinthe and eats Chinese food in Soho, and find himself down on his luck in Paddington Green--and never quite losing sight of the illumination that drove him: "the abiding rapture," he wrote in his diary, "which makes a bus in the street sound like an angel choir!"

A revised edition of Phil Bakers critically lauded biography of artist and occultist, Austin Osman Spare.London has harbored many curious characters, but few more curious than the artist and visionary Austin Osman Spare (18861956). A controversial enfant terrible of the Edwardian art world, the young Spare was hailed as a genius and a new Aubrey Beardsley, while George Bernard Shaw reportedly said Spares medicine is too strong for the average man. But Spare was never made for worldly success and he went underground, falling out of the gallery system to live in poverty and obscurity south of the river. Absorbed in occultism and sorcery, voyaging into inner dimensions, and surrounding himself with cats and familiar spirits, he continued to produce extraordinary art while developing a magical philosophy of pleasure, obsession, and the subjective nature of reality. Today Spare is both forgotten and famous, a cult figure whose modest life has been much mythologized since his death. This groundbreaking biographical study offers wide-ranging insights into Spares art, mind and world, reconnecting him with the art history that ignored him and exploring his parallel London; a bygone place of pub pianists, wealthy alchemists, and monstrous owls. This richly readable and illuminating biography takes us deep into the strange inner world that this most enigmatic of artists inhabited, shedding new light while allowing just a few shadowy corners to flourish unspoiled. Revised, updated, and with a new afterword by the author, this is the definitive edition of Phil Bakers critically lauded Austin Osman Spare: The Life and Legend of Londons Lost Artist.

Neil Young took on the music industry so that fans could hear his musicall musicthe way it was meant to be heard.Today, most of the music we hear is com-pressed to a fraction of its original sound,while analog masterpieces are turning to dustin record company vaults. As these record-ings disappear, music fans arent just losing acollection of notes. Were losing spaciousness,breadth of the sound field, and the ability tohear and feel a ping of a triangle or a pluckof a guitar string, each with its own reso-nance and harmonics that slowly trail off intosilence. The result is music that is robbed of its original qualitymuddy and flat in sound compared to the rich, warm sound artists hear in the studio. It doesnt have to be this way, but the record and technology companies have incorrectly assumed that most listeners are satisfied with these low-quality tracks.Neil Young is challenging the assault on audio qualityand working to free music lovers from the flat and lifeless status quo.To Feel the Music is the true story of his questto bring high-quality audio back to musicloversthe most important undertaking ofhis career. Its an unprecedented look insidethe successes and setbacks of creating thePono player, the fights and negotiationswith record companies to preserve master-pieces for the future, and Neils unrelentingdetermination to make musical art availableto everyone. Its a story that shows how muchmore there is to music than meets the ear.Neils efforts to bring quality audio to his fans garnered media attention when his Kickstarter campaign for his Pono playera revolutionary music player that would combine the highest quality possible with the portability, simplicity and affordability modern listeners cravebecame the third-most successful Kickstarter campaign in the websites history. It had raised more than $6M in pledges in 40 days. Encouraged by the enthusiastic response, Neil still had a long road ahead, and his Pono music player would not have the commercial success hed imagined. But he remained committed to his mission, and faced with the rise of streaming services that used even lower quality audio, he was determined to rise to the challenge.An eye-opening read for all fans of Neil Young and all fans of great music, as well as readers interesting in going behind the scenes of product creation, To Feel the Music has an inspiring story at its heart: One determined artist with a groundbreaking vision and the absolute refusal to give up, despite setbacks, naysayers, and skeptics.

Austin Osman Spare. Vida y leyenda del olvidado artista londinense es la biografía definitiva de este controvertido artista y ocultista, un enfant terrible de la época eduardiana cuya obra fue aclamada como genial y a su vez tachada de decadente e inmoral. Spare, que habia recibido formacion como dibujante, fue aclamado muy pronto cuando, a los diecisiete años, su obra fue expuesta en la Royal Academy de Londres. Sin embargo, su estrella no tardo en declinar; Spare paso a la clandestinidad, abandonando la fama y los tabloides para sumirse en la pobreza y la oscuridad. Tras asociarse brevemente con el infame Aleister Crowley, se sumergio en el ocultismo y la brujeria, viajando a dimensiones interiores, mientras desarrollaba su propia filosofia magica basada en el placer, la obsesion y la naturaleza subjetiva de la realidad. Mientras tanto, Spare seguia produciendo arte extraordinario que exponia en pubs londinenses de regusto cokney, fuera del mundo del arte convencional.