The Secrets of Alchemy
Lawrence M Principe
University of Chicago Press
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As far as mythology goes, alchemy has enjoyed a favourable reputation as a science steeped in sorcery, offering promises of endless wealth and eternal youth through the legendary philosopher's stone. As far as facts go, its reality is more grounded in practicality, though previous researchers can hardly be blamed for assuming otherwise.
Lawrence Principe's primer on the origins of the Noble Art reasons that the term "alchemy" is often erroneously used interchangeably with "magic" because of its earliest practitioners' tendency towards secrecy, as they deliberately applied oblique symbolism in their written records to obscure the details of their experiments.
Despite the confoundingly abstract nature of most of these accounts, Principe successfully uncovers several hidden templates for transforming one substance into a completely different other and even ventures to test a few of them in his own laboratory.
Alongside the science, Principe also expounds on the alchemy's up-and down history. Thus, The Secrets of Alchemy is every bit as revealing as its title implies.
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Arda Atalay, head of Mena private sector at LinkedIn Talent Solutions, Rudy Bier, managing partner of Kinetic Business Solutions and Ben Kinerman Daltrey, co-founder of KinFitz
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Profile
Company name: Jaib
Started: January 2018
Co-founders: Fouad Jeryes and Sinan Taifour
Based: Jordan
Sector: FinTech
Total transactions: over $800,000 since January, 2018
Investors in Jaib's mother company Alpha Apps: Aramex and 500 Startups
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
THE BIO
Bio Box
Role Model: Sheikh Zayed, God bless his soul
Favorite book: Zayed Biography of the leader
Favorite quote: To be or not to be, that is the question, from William Shakespeare's Hamlet
Favorite food: seafood
Favorite place to travel: Lebanon
Favorite movie: Braveheart
