Alchemist in Literature: From Dante to the Present

Unlike most other studies of alchemy and literature, which focus on alchemical imagery in poetry of specific periods or writers, this book traces the figure of the alchemist in Western literature from its first appearance in the Eighth Circle of Dante’s Inferno down to the present. From the beginning alchemy has had two aspects: exoteric or operative (the transmutation of baser metals into gold) and esoteric or speculative (the spiritual transformation of the alchemist himself).

The Alchemist's Daughter

Living a secluded life in Selden Manor, Buckinghamshire, Emilie Selden and her father, John Selden, spend their days in their laboratory conducting experiments and testing new theories. It is England in the early eighteenth century, and with the discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton still fresh in the minds of the populace, scientific enquiry of the natural world is becoming increasingly fashionable.

 

Alchemy and Authority in the Holy Roman Empire

What distinguished the true alchemist from the fraud? This question animated the lives and labors of the common men—and occasionally women—who made a living as alchemists in the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Holy Roman Empire. As purveyors of practical techniques, inventions, and cures, these entrepreneurs were prized by princely patrons, who relied upon alchemists to bolster their political fortunes. At the same time, satirists, artists, and other commentators used the figure of the alchemist as a symbol for Europe’s social and economic ills.

Modern Gastronomy: A to Z

Guru to a new generation of chefs from Chicago to Copenhagen, Spain’s Ferran Adrià has been featured on Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of our times and touted by the press as an alchemist and a genius. His restaurant, El Bulli, was ranked first on Restaurant Magazine’s Top 50 list in 2006, 2007, and 2008, and has retained this title in 2009.

The Neutronium Alchemist - vol. 1 Consolidation and vol. 2 Conflict

The Neutronium Alchemist is a science fiction novel by Peter F. Hamilton and is the second book in The Night's Dawn Trilogy. It follows on from The Reality Dysfunction and precedes The Naked God.