The Alchemist’s Secret (Ben Hope, Book 1)

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Ieşi în fugă pe poartă, şchiopătând uşor din cauza piciorului beteag, şi o luă pe cărarea îngustă dintre case, îndreptându-se spre întunericul de sub copacii dincolo de care dispăruse omul. From the city of Oxford to Ravenna, Vienna, Venice, and the snow capped mountains of Slovenia; Hope and his old flame, the world’s popular opera singer Leigh Llewellyn, must move with a haste across Europe to unravel the mystery. To solve the case, they will need to stay a notch above the determined group of killers who are out to erase the trail of The Mozart Conspiracy.

Professor Ambrose has come across an old diary. A secret chamber when the university was constructed over 300 years ago that might contain the mysteries of making gold or some other treasures. The document is alleged to contain the formula for the elixir of life, discovered by the brilliant alchemist Fulcanelli decades before. But it soon becomes apparent that others are hunting this most precious of treasures – for far more evil ends. După atâţia ani în care îşi păstorise enoriaşii, un instinct firesc îl îmboldea să încerce să vină în ajutorul unui suflet nefericit. I read/listened to "The Alchemist's Secret", Ben Hope #1, after reading #0.5, #2 and #3. I really enjoyed pretty much everything about this first novel from Scott Mariani. I don't know why I decided to read #2 first, but I rather wish I hadn't because reading #1 gave me an original insight into who Ben Hope is and what motivates him, some of which I think I had to assume while reading #2.

Examples of transmutational alchemy’s continuation after its 18th-century ‘demise’ probably form only the visible tip of the iceberg. Many of these instruments are adapted from cooking utensils or items used in perfumery or other crafts. Zosimos did not devise all these instruments himself, indicating how developed practical chrysopoeia must already have become by the start of the fourth century AD. The writings of his predecessors form a key resource for him, and he cites them frequently. One of the most prominent authorities is named Maria—sometimes called Maria Judaea or Mary the Jew—and Zosimos credits her with the development of a broad range of apparatus and techniques. Maria’s techniques include a method of gentle, even heating using a bath of hot water rather than an open flame. This simple but useful invention preserved the legacy of Maria the ancient alchemist, not only for the rest of alchemy’s history, but even down to the present day. It is her name that remains attached to the bain-marie or bagno maria of French and Italian cookery. He’ll end up teaming up with a good-looking American scientist, Dr. Roberto Ryder. Ben is directed on a dangerous trail from Paris to the Cather strongholds of the Languedoc, where an astounding secret has been hidden for many years. During the Middle Ages, alchemy became closely associated with Christian theology and mysticism, with alchemists such as Paracelsus and John Dee seeking to uncover the hidden secrets of the universe. Their writings often contained mystical and spiritual elements, as well as practical instructions for conducting experiments and creating potions and elixirs.

Ask me why I liked The Alchemist's Secret? And the answer is simple. Because it's good. From the first chapter its fast paced, and it rarely slow down. Of course there are loop-holes within the story, but those didn't bother me much to avoid fun. Often when a story can give me enough joy, I tend to ignore that tiny errors it beholds. Because, every story has errors if you really want to find them. But, the main goal should be to enjoy it while we can. That's why we read books to begin with, isn't it? John also wrote On the Consideration of the Fifth Essence of All Things. With it, he extended alchemy into a new area—medicine. During the Antichrist’s reign, Christians would need not only gold but also their full health. Thus, John recounts how he sought a substance that could prevent corruption and decay and thus preserve the body from illness and premature aging. He found such a substance in the distillate of wine—what he called “burning water” or “water of life,” and what we call alcohol. The Latin alchemical term for this delightful liquid— aqua vitae—lives on in the names of several liquors: the Italian acquavite, the French eau-de-vie, and the Scandinavian akvavit.Several of the pieces of apparatus Zosimos describes—for example, one called the kerotakis—are designed to expose one material to the vapors of another. Indeed, he seems particularly interested in the action of vapors on solids. This interest is partly grounded on practical observations. Ancient craftsmen knew that the vapors released by heated cadmia (or calamine, a zinc-containing earth) could turn copper golden by transforming it into brass (an alloy of zinc and copper). The vapors of mercury and arsenic whiten copper to a silvery color. Perhaps knowledge of these color changes induced Zosimos to seek analogous processes that would bring about true transmutations. Guiding theories are certainly discernible in his writings. Today there is a common misconception that alchemists worked more or less blindly—stumbling about mixing a little of this and a little of that in a random search for gold. This notion is far from the truth; already with Zosimos we can identify theoretical principles that guided his practical work, as well as practical observations that supported or modified his theories. Many theoretical frameworks for alchemy would develop in various times and places, and these frameworks both supported the possibility of transmutation and suggested avenues for pursuing it practically.

Trebuie să mergem în casă, spuse, cu voce blândă. Am făcut focul, am mâncare şi un pat liber. O să-l chem de doctorul Bachelard. Poţi să mergi?

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While alchemy may seem like a pseudoscience, it played a significant role in the development of modern chemistry. Many of the tools and methods used in chemistry today were developed by alchemists. For example, alchemists were the first to use distillation to separate substances, and they were also the first to use chemical symbols to represent elements. Father Brown gets to be Indiana Jones in this episode. Sunlight pointing the way to hidden rooms. Maps about a village that suddenly disappeared. A box that should remain unopened. Seigneur, gemu el, cuprins de milă, şi îşi scoase instinctiv haina, înfăşurându-l în ea pe necunoscut. Eşti teafăr, prietene? Ce s-a întâmplat? Te rog, lasă-mă să te ajut. Lawrence Principe is one of the foremost scholars of alchemy in the world. He earned his first PhD in chemistry and his second in the history of science.We asked him to give our readers a taste of his bookThe Secrets of Alchemy . Furthermore, many of the substances that alchemists worked with, such as sulfur, mercury, and salt, are still used in chemistry today. While alchemists may not have been able to turn lead into gold, their experiments and discoveries paved the way for modern chemistry. Conclusion: