The Buried Soul: How Humans Invented Death

by TimothyTaylor (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2002

  $13.14

  Do cannibals exist? Is there contemporary evidence for human sacrifice? What are vampires? This book charts the story of the human response to death from prehistory to the present day. At some moment in human history, our ancestors invented death. Retracing four million years, this book investigates the many ways that our descendents have come face to face and dealt with the idea of life. Many of these encounters have been passed down to us, accounts of sacrifices in early histories, rituals that have stood the test of time, bodies discovered in caves and bogs, and remains revealed by archeological digs. Through these insights into the past, Tim Taylor pieces together evidence of how our ancestors created their universe - both physical and mental - and, most importantly, the possibility of the afterlife. This book also looks at the way that we respond to - and deny - death today. From cinema images to packaged food, the treatment of corpses and the growing science of ageing, viseral insulation is all-pervasive and, in Taylor's opinion, dangerous. Combining history, archeology, philosophy, science and autobiography, this book is an exploration of the sepulchral world.

• Used

  Paperback
  2003

  $3.47

  From the author THE PREHISTORY OF SEX, a coruscating, insightful history of the human soul Cannibals, burials, vampires, human sacrifice, bog people -- throughout history our ancestors have responded to death in numerous ways. The past has left us numerous relics of these encounters between the dead and those they leave behind: accounts of sacrifices in early histories, rituals that have stood the test of time, bodies discovered in caves and bogs, remains revealed by archaeological digs. Through these insights into the past, Tim Taylor pieces together evidence of how our ancestors created their universe and asks how we have dealt with the idea of the end and slowly come to create not only a sense of the afterlife but also the soul. Tim Taylor's investigation in the invention of the human soul, from the earliest remains of burial to funeral rituals in ninth century Steppes and the mummification of Lenin in Moscow, is a breathtaking combination of research, insight and scholarship that has profound resonance today. Combining history, archaeology, philosophy, cutting edge science and autobiography, THE BURIED SOUL is a radical and unique adventure into the sepulchral world. Constantly illuminating and insightful, it is not only a fascinating investigation into popular science but also a thought provoking and discursive examination of ourselves.

• New

  Paperback
  2005

  $40.07