Robert Temple - Author of The Sphinx Mystery


Classical Studies


'The Dream of Scipio (Somnium Scipionis)' [PDF 4.3MB]
Introduction (10 pp.), Aquarian Press, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, England, 1983.

'The Roots of Modern Thought' [PDF 0.6MB] [about the late Greek scholar, Alexander of Aphrodisias, and various Byzantine scholars], Books and Bookmen, Issue No. 358, August, 1985, pp. 16-17.

'Founding Father' [PDF 1MB] [about Theophrastus of Eresos], Nature, Vol. 335, No. 6190, 6 October 1988, p. 506.

diviner
Greek terracotta from South Italy, c 480 BC. A diviner is about to remove the entrails from a sacrificial pig in order to consult the future

'Consulting the Oracles: The Classic Systems of Greece and Rome' [PDF 2.2MB]
constituting Chapter Seven of The World Atlas of Divination, ed. by John Matthews, Headline Book Publishing, London, 1992, pp. 65-73.

'Investigating Ancient Enigmas' [PDF 0.8MB]
Review of Natural Knowledge in Preclassical Antiquity in Nature, Vol. 357, No. 6375, 21 May 1992, p. 204.

'The Roots of Nature' [PDF 1MB] [A survey of the whole of the zoological and botanical works of Aristotle and Theophrastus, together with a reconstruction of their original form and explanation for the 'loss' of Aristotle's zoological work Close Investigations according to Kind listed in the Alexandrian catalogues, and how it can actually be reconstituted from a rearrangement of surviving works], Nature, Vol. 359, No. 6395, 8 October 1992, pp. 489-490.

'Aristotle as Anatomist and Dissector: The Marvels of Nature' [PDF 1.9MB] [attempt at reconstruction of Aristotle's lost major zoological work Dissections], Helix, Almere, Netherlands, Vol. II, No. 2, 1993, pp. 49-55.

'The Ancient History of Contraception' [PDF0.6MB]
Orgyn, Almere, Netherlands, Vol. I., No. 1, 1994, pp. 55-56.

'Aristotle's Treatise on Fertility: On Failure to Generate' [PDF 1.1MB] , Orgyn, Almere, Netherlands, Vol. I, No. 3, 1994, pp. 32-35.

'Superstition and Science' [PDF 1.2 MB]
Odyssey, Almere, Netherlands, Vol. 1, No. 3, 1995, pp. 60-4.

'Fables, Riddles, and Mysteries of Delphi' [PDF 2MB]
In Seira: Delphike Idea, Archaioellenikos Logos kai Synchronos Kosmos, Akademia Delphikon Meleton, Delphikos Logos, No. 4, Athens, 1999, pp. 64-72. (Proceedings of the Delphic Conference held March 21, 1998, at Delphi.)

'Absolutely Fabulous' (about Aesop’s Fables) [PDF 1MB]
from Ad Familiares, the Journal of Friends of Classics, London, Spring, 1998, p. XVI.


Judaism and Christianity


'Who Was Moses' [PDF 6MB] New Dawn Magazine, special edition No.8 (winter 2009) pp 51-56.

A review of 'Canon: An Exposition of the Pagan Mystery as Perpetuated in the Cabala as the Rule of All the Arts'
by William Stirling [PDF 1MB]
Time Out, Jan 1975.

‘Gospels for Our Times' [PDF 2.2 MB] ‘A Word in Your Ear’ column, Phenomena Magazine, USA, Issue Three, May/June 2004, pp. 80-83.


Assyriological Studies


'An Anatomical Verification of the Reading of a Term in Extispicy' [1.5MB]
Journal of Cuneiform Studies, Vol. 34, Nos. 1-2, 1982, Philadelphia, pp. 19-27.

Contribution to section 'Gilgamesh from Other Perspectives' in book Gilgamesh: A Reader, ed. by John Maier, Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, Inc., Wauconda, Illinois, 1997, pp. 318-327.


Chinese Studies


diviner
Ivory figurine of Shouxing (ca. 17th century"), revered as the god of longevity, holding the peach of immortality.

'Medicine in China', Nature, Vol. 327, No. 6119, 21-27 May 1987, p. 198.

'All in His Head' [PDF 1.5MB] [about Joseph Needham], Nature, Vol. 348, No. 6302, 13 December 1990, p. 591.

'The Tao of Immortality' [PDF 1.5MB] Helix, Almere, Netherlands, Vol. II, No. 1, 1993, pp. 36-41.

'The Autumn Mineral' [PDF 1.4MB] Orgyn, Almere, Netherlands, Vol. I, No. 1, 1993, pp. 33-5.

'The National Land Survey of 1933' [PDF 200KB] [i.e., of China], published in both English and Chinese in Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on the History of Chinese Science, Beijing, August, 1999.

'My Memories of Pearl Buck ' [HTML]broadcast as live reading on China Central Television, June 18, 1998; forthcoming in both English and Chinese, Nanjing, 1999 or 2000.

The Modern World : A joint creation of China and the West. Word format | [PDF] A talk I delivered in Beijing, China, in 2002, at an international conference hosted by the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the Chinese Academy of Science. Published in Proceedings.

'Deep into the Past' [PDF 1MB] [review of Made in China, Paul U Unschuld], Nature, Vol. 327, No. 6119, 21 May 1987, p.198.


INDIAN Studies


'Indian Wisdom' [PDF 1.5MB] Nature, Vol. 331, No. 6152, 14 January 1988, p. 127.
The Blue Jackal [PDF, 0.6MB]
A fable from India, as published in Jack and Jill - The Better Magazine for Boys and Girls, November 1965
Struggling For Air [PDF, 0.4MB] A book review of Debiprased Chattopadhyaya's History of Science and Technology in Ancient India, Vol. II: Formation of the Theoretical Fundamentals of Natural Science. As published in Nature, Volume 353 No.6339 5 September 1991


Mesoamerican Archaeological Studies


'Coincidence or Contact?: Magnetism in the New World' [PDF 2 MB]
Second Look, Washington, DC, Vol. I, No. 11, September, 1979, pp. 8-31.

'Olmec Magnetism and the Brain' [PDF 1MB]
Second Look, Washington, DC, Vol. II, No. 1, November-December, 1979, pp. 21-3.

'Panorama of an Ancient Culture' [PDF 1.3MB]
[about the Maya], Art Book Review: An International Review of Art Literature, Vol. I, No. 2, London, 1982, p. 75.

'American Indians Galore' [PDF 1.3MB]
Art Book Review: An International Review of Art Literature, Vol. I, No. 4, London, 1982.

'A Culture of the Few' [PDF 1.3MB]
[about the Mimbres People], Art Book Review: An International Review of Art Literature, Vol. II, No. 6, London, 1983, pp. 42-43.


Swedish Viking Archaeology / History of Optical Technology


'Forntida Gotländska Linser' [PDF 1.3MB]
(Swedish translation of 'The Old Lenses of Gotland'), Gotländskt Arkiv 2000, Visby, Gotland, Sweden, 2000, Vol. 72 (for the year 2000 of this Swedish archaeological annual publication), pp. 41-52.


English History Studies


'A Royal Rake's Progress' [PDF, 1.2MB][about Charles I and Charles II], Now! Magazine, London, January 11-17, 1980, p. 84.

'Discovery of a Manuscript Eye-Witness Account of the Battle of Maidstone'[PDF, 2.1MB] [i.e., in 1648], Archaeologia Cantiana, Maidstone, Kent, Vol. XCVII, 1981, pp. 209-220.

'Where King Alfred Burnt the Cakes' [PDF 3.2MB]
[the first of what was to become an avalanche of media coverage of the Somerset Levels, where the Saxon King Alfred retreated from the Danish invasion], Sunday Express Magazine, London, 7 March 1982, pp. 38-40.

'Weak Opening Line' [PDF 1.3MB]
[about Tudor and Stuart engraved portraiture], Art Book Review: An International Review of Art Literature, Vol. I, No. 2, London, 1982, p. 76.

'The Massey Brigade in the West' [PDF 1.4MB]
[i.e., during the Civil War], Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries, Vol. XXXI, September, 1985, pp. 437-45.

'The Original Officer List of the New Model Army' [PDF 4.8]
Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, University of London, Vol. LIX, No. 139, May, 1986, pp. 50-77. [This was the first publication of a fundamental document of the English Civil War discovered by Temple, extensively annotated. This article is now a basic reference work for any study of the subject.]

Approximately ten entries in The Biographical Dictionary of English Radicals of the Seventeenth Century, ed. Richard Zaller, Harvester Press, USA, 1980s. (Specially cited also by editor for assisting several other contributors who got 'stuck' and acting 'as an additional editor'.)
Isaac Ewer [PDF 70KB]
Augustine Garland [PDF 70KB]
Simon Mayne [PDF 70KB]
Lord Monson [PDF 70KB]
John Moore [PDF 70KB]
Sir Gregory Norton [PDF 70KB]
Alexander Rigby [PDF 70KB]
Owen Rowe [PDF 70KB]
Henry Smith [PDF 500KB]
James Temple [PDF 270KB]

'E. Douglas Fawcett: the English Jules Verne', British Heritage, Vol. 6, No. 2, February-March, 1985, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, pp. 28-47.

Entries in the Dictionary of National Biography, Missing Persons - Five seventeenth century entries in supplementary Missing Persons volume of the Dictionary of National Biography, published in early 1990s. The entries were for: John Alured, John Moore, Sir Gregory Norton, Bart., Peregrine Pelham, and Vincent Potter, all of whom had been omitted by oversight in the original edition of the Dictionary of National Biography. [Note: this is the standard biographical reference work in the field of British history.]

'Sir Victor Goddard'| [PDF 1MB] obituary [recording origin of 'small boats rescue at Dunkirk'] in London Independent, January 27, 1987, p. 21.

A 1654 Protectorate Parliamentary Election Return | [PDF 2.3MB] - As published in the historical journal Cromweilliana - The Journal of The Cromwell Association, 2006

Ludlow finds his 'Voice' [PDF, 1.1MB] From Cromwelliana (the annual periodical of the Cromwell Association) 1980-1


Psychology


The Eye Inside the Mind [PDF, 0.9MB] As published in Second Look, March 1979

On the Nature of Consciousness [PDF, 0.7MB] As published in Second Look, February 1979

Minds Pounded To Pulp [PDF] As published in Phenomena, November/December 2003 in Robert's Word in Your Ear column

A Short Visit To Heaven [PDF] As published in Phenomena, January/February 2004 in Robert's Word in Your Ear column

Kindred Spirits: Hypnotised [PDF, 0.6MB] A feature on varoius celebrity's experiences with hypnotism, including my own. As published in Telegraph Magazine, February 1992

Why Smiling Could Be Good For You [PDF, 0.4MB] As published in Futures - Micro Guardian, June 6, 1985


Scientific Articles


diviner
Penrose's theory describes atomic particles and subatomic "empty" space, and their interaction in terms of "twistors" rather than points in Einsteinian space-time.

'Response to Appeal from W. H. McCrea concerning Sirius' [PDF 1.7MB]

, The Observatory, Royal Greenwich Observatory, April, 1975, pp. 52-54.

'The Radical Physics of "Twistor" Theory' [PDF 1.6MB] an article written jointly with Professor Roger Penrose of the Institute of Mathematics, Oxford University, Second Look, Washington, DC, Vol. I, No. 9, July, 1979, pp. 15-18 and 25.

'Multiple Universes' [PDF 1.8MB] [concerning an alternative interpretation of quantum theory], with Dr. David Deutsch of Oxford University, Second Look, Washington, DC, Vol. I, No. 9, July, 1979, pp. 19-24.

'Biochemistry: Backers, Please' [Nobel laureate Peter Mitchell's work on vectorial metabolism],
The Economist, London, 6 September 1980, pp. 83-84.

'The Man Who Believes in Forever' [1.5MB] [profile of astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle], byline given to staff writer Dennis Overbye despite article being simply a rewrite of Temple (whose name is given in the text), Discover: The Newsmagazine of Science, May, 1981, pp. 69-72.

'Britain's Unknown Nobel Prizewinner' [PDF 1.3MB] [profile of 1978 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, Peter Mitchell], Sunday Express Magazine, London, 25 October 1981, pp. 12-18.

'Tiny Tomb' [about Anton van Leeuwenhoek and early microscopes], Discover, New York, October, 1981, p. 88.

'Magician or Scientist?' PDF 1.2MB Discover, New York, Vol. 2, No. 12, December, 1981, p. 12.

'Quicksand Sword' [device to rescue people from quicksand], Discover, New York, Vol. 2, No. 12, December, 1981, p. 72.

'The Big Wheel Spins' [PDF 7.9MB] [about cosmic rotation], Discover, New York, Vol. 3, No. 10, October, 1982, pp. 14-15.

'Simon Says' [PDF 7.9MB] [about four-dimensional space], Discover, New York, Vol. 3, No. 10, October, 1982, p. 84.

'David Bohm' [PDF 1.7MB] [extended profile of leading quantum physicist], The New Scientist, London, 11 November 1982, pp. 361-5. (Photos by Temple.)

'A Case of Sensible Heresy', review in The New Scientist, London, 7 July 1983, p. 48.

'Sir Peter Medawar' [PDF 2.8MB] [extended cover story profile of Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology], The New Scientist, 12 April 1984, pp. 14-20.

'Jack of His Trade and Master of Trinity' [profile of Nobel laureate for Physiology, Sir Andrew Huxley], The New Scientist, London, 11 October 1984, p. 32.

'Theatre of Science' [3.3MB] [about London's Royal Institution and Nobel laureate Sir George Porter], Sunday Express Magazine, London, 9 December 1984, pp. 38-42.

'Harmony and Discord' [PDF 2.2MB] [review of two new scientific journals], Nature, Vol. 341, No. 6240, 28 September 1989, p. 366.

'In the Dock' [PDF 0.5MB] [about Galileo], Nature, Vol. 341, No. 6241, 5 October 1989, p. 394.

'Hyperinteractive' [about hypnosis], Nature, 24 January 1992.

'Peter Mitchell' [PDF 0.5MB] [obituary of Nobel Laureate in Chemistry], The Independent, London, 16 April 1992. (Note: a typographical error of a date was corrected the following day.)

'Songs without Words' [PDF 0.9MB] [about Maurice Ravel's brain damage], The Guardian, London, July 24, 1992.

Prehistoric Tyrolean Man - letter [PDF, 0.2MB] As published in Science, Vol.260, 9 April 1993

'Technical Wonders of the Past’ [PDF, 0.1MB] a review in Nature, Volume 374, Number 6521, 30 March 1995, p. p. 418-9.

The Prehistory of Panspermia: Astrophysical or Metaphysical? Paper [PDF, 2.9MB] | Penis of Min image
Offprint from the International Journal of Astrobiology, March 2007

'Fred Hoyle's Universe' A conference held in June 2002


Space


'You'll Never Have to Walk Alone' [about Gerard K. O'Neill and global positioning], London Sunday Times, May 27, 1984, p. 72.

'Finger on the Space Pulse' [PDF 0.9MB] [about Gerard K. O'Neill and global positioning], Sunday Telegraph Magazine, London, Number 485, February 9, 1986, pp. 29-30.

'Gerard K. O'Neill', obituary in London Independent, April 1992.


Renaissance


'Coming to Grips with Ficino' [PDF, 0.3MB], Books and Bookmen, London, Issue No. 354, April, 1985, p. 20.

In the Dock [PDF, 0.5MB]
A book review of Maurice A. Finocchiaro's The Galileo Affair: A Documentary Hostory. As published in Nature, Volume 341 No.6241 5 October 1989


Literature


diviner
Mircea Eliade when young

'What Is Kay?', in Festschrift for Katharine Falley Bennett, edited by Tambimuttu, Microdot Book 1, The Lyrebird Press, London, 1972, p. 77.

'Out of the Norwegian Mists' [PDF 0.7MB] [about Knut Hamsun], Time Out, London, No. 260, February 21-27, 1975, p. 21. [This article was used for years afterwards by publishers for blurbs on the reissued works of Hamsun. The article significantly helped in the relaunch of the forgotten Hamsun for a new generation of readers.]

'Expedition to Colony Earth' [about Doris Lessing], Now! Magazine, London, April 3-9, 1981, p. 71.

'Bid Me to Live' [PDF 1.6MB] [about Hilda Doolittle, i.e. 'H. D.'], Books and Bookmen, Issue No. 352, January, 1985, pp. 35-36. [Comments in this review were used as a basis for advertisements by the publisher.]

'Examples and Ideels' [PDF 2.2MB] [about Anita Loos, written as if by the fictitious Lorelei Lee - 'Lorelei Lee as told to Robert Temple'], Books and Bookmen, Issue No. 360, October, 1985, pp. 39-40.

'Fine Old Tennessee' [PDF 1.8MB] [about American writer Peter Taylor, helped establish him in Britain], Books and Bookmen, London, Issue No. 364, February, 1986, pp. 29-30.

'Blue Stocking' [PDF 0.3MB] [a selection of books for Christmas], Books and Bookmen, London, December, 1985

'The Scholar Shaman' | [PDF 0.1MB] [about the fiction as well as the scholarly writings of Mircea Eliade], The Spectator, London, 25 April 1987, pp. 32-33.

'Not Always to the Swift but to the Quick' [PDF 0.4.MB] about various Nobel laureates for literature], The Spectator, 26 January 1991, pp. 38-39.

Robert K G Temple on Steiner [PDF, 1.3MB] A book review of Poem Into Poem: World Poetry in Modern Verse Translation, introduced and edited by George Steiner. As published in Poetry Review, Volume 62 Number 2, Summer 1971

Sick Horse [PDF, 0.7MB] Translation of a Chinese poem by Tu Fu. As published in Workshop Poetry Magazine, No 12 1971

A Book That Changed Me HTML | PDF Robert on St-John Perse's Seamarks. As published in The Independent On Sunday's The Sunday Review, 25 January 1998

Dos, Scott, Ernest and friends of the twenties Word format | PDF format
This article by Robert Temple was published February 1, 1962, one week after his 17th birthday, in a literary periodical of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, where he was in his first year as an undergraduate student.

To the Top - Paula Gosling [PDF, 1.4MB] Writer Paula Gosling hits a bull's-eye, thanks to Sly Stallone's latest blockbuster, Cobra. As published in People Weekly, June 30, 1986


Botany


'The Last Flower' [PDF 0.5MB] [about lady's slipper orchid], Discover, New York, November, 1981, p. 14.

'A Floral Hobby Blossoms into Profit' [PDF 2.5MB] The Times, London, 7 September 1984.

Review of Vol. I of Herbs, Spices and Medicinal Plants:
Recent Advances in Botany, Horticulture and Pharmacology [PDF 1.2MB]
in The Herbal Review, The Herb Society, London, Vol. 11, No. 4, Autumn, 1986, pp. 46-47.
Review of Vol II: Herbs, Spices and Medicinal Plants [PDF, 0.4MB] in The Herbal Review, The Herb Society, London, Vol. 12, No. 3, Autumn/Winter, 1987, pp. 46-47.

 


Wine


'Erwein Matuschka-Greiffenclau' [obituary], The Independent, London, 30 August 1997, p. 14.


Food


Return to Real Meat [PDF, 1.7MB] As published in Taste, November 1987

The Science of Food [PDF, 0.5MB] A book review of Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. As published in Taste Magazine, June 1987


Cinema

Juris Podnieks Obituary [PDF, 1.1MB] The Independent, 4 July 1992

See the 'Film Reviews' section for more than 1038 of my reviews



The Mekas Question: My Being or My Life? Word format | PDF format A review of the Jonas Mekas film, Guns of the Trees. As published in a Philadelphia newspaper, May 11, 1962

A Director's Mission [PDF, 2.7MB] A look at Roland Joffé's acclaimed film Mission. As published in Sunday Express Magazine, 12 October 1986


UFOs


UFOs as Government Spycraft [PDF, 1MB] As published in Second Look, November 1978
Taking Us To Their Leader [PDF, 1.7MB] As published in Second Look, Special Issue May 1979
House Of Lords Debate UFOs [PDF, 3.7MB] Includes The Unsettling Truth Buried In Dogon Mythology by George Sassoon, with postscript by Robert. As published in Second Look, April 1979

 



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