Bøker av Andrew Scott

*Includes pictures *Includes ancient descriptions of Apollo *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading "Foolish mortals and poor drudges are you, that you seek cares and hard toils and straits! Easily will I tell you a word and set it in your hearts. Though each one of you with knife in hand should slaughter sheep continually, yet would you always have abundant store, even all that the glorious tribes of men bring here for me. But guard you my temple and receive the tribes of men that gather to this place, and especially show mortal men my will, and do you keep righteousness in your heart." "Apollo's history is a confusing one," said the renowned poet and mythologist Robert Graves. This notion is also illustrated in the above quote from the 6th century BCE Homeric Hymn to Apollo, which gives the reader a brief glimpse into the confusion surrounding Apollo's multi-faceted nature. The quote comes from the end of an episode in which Apollo is traversing the known world, looking for a place to build a temple to himself. Once he lands upon a place of his liking, however, he realizes that he needs to populate it with priests who would 'guard' and care for its ceremonies. Rather than depend upon those 'glorious tribes' to supply his temple with sycophants, Apollo has no patience for chance, and flies down to a Cretan merchant ship, landing on it in the form of a timber-shaking dolphin. After terrifying the merchants, he tells them that their lives in the sea trade are over, and they are to be priests at his temple from then on. Cautioning the merchants to eschew piracy and 'keep righteousness' in their hearts, while simultaneously confronting and sequestering them captures the youthful god's capricious character quite well. Of course, the rest of the ancient Greek gods were certainly not above hypocrisy - the adultery of Zeus alone demonstrates that - but Apollo was a brash contrarian in the face of all divine order. Unlike many of the other Olympian gods, Apollo's nature changed dramatically at the closing of his adolescence. His twin sister Artemis, in direct comparison with Apollo, immediately leapt to her mother's aide as midwife to her brother after she was born. Artemis would continue to be a goddess of midwives, while Apollo's "role" would continue to evolve over centuries. Naturally, there are many approaches to Greek myth and many variant opinions and strategies for unearthing "truths" in the mythological canon. For the purpose of unveiling the origins, development, and contemporary views of Apollo, it is necessary to see his myths firstly as remnants of the movements and actions of ancient peoples. This "Memory of Myth" can provide the modern reader with an analogous view of the history of a place and of a character. Much of Greek mythology is politico-religious history, and exploring how the episodes in these myths tie in with episodes in the historical record can reveal certain fascinating aspects of an often frustratingly murky past. Ultimately, any 21st century study of a mythological being must gather together as many strands of learning as possible in order to formulate a useful hypothesis. In the case of Apollo, these strands are expansive, permeative, and international, and at first blush, they can seem very confusing indeed. An important thing to bear in mind when approaching Apollo is that his role in the ancient Greek pantheon was eclectic, even by contemporary standards, and the expansion of Greek culture to other parts of the Mediterranean only served to compound his identity even further. The story of Apollo is an excellent example of how stories and characters can change when they're beloved across centuries, and it is for this reason that reading about the god is so enjoyable.

*Includes pictures *Includes ancient myths and accounts of Ares and cults that worshiped him *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading Ares, the God of War and personification of all that is reactionary and violent, is remembered today as the hated, unshakeable, and infallible embodiment of the violence prevalent in war and society at large, but surviving evidence suggests that this may not have always been the case. To understand that, it's necessary to remember that Greek mythology has been filtered and tempered by centuries of editors and zealots and fickle word of mouth. The stories that arrive in the beloved mythology books of today were not necessarily those read and told by the ancients. This is true not only thanks to later mythographers' overeager shears, wielded in order to strip the ancient Greek myths of much of their "heathenism," but also because over 2,000 years later, modern society is not privy to much of the cultural strata from which these stories emerged. This book was written in the hope of presenting the modern reader with as much of the latter as possible, so as to provide a more accurate representation of Ares than is found in most modern collections of ancient Greek mythology. Being the "living" representation of the act that killed family members every year is more than enough to attract a certain degree of ignominy, but it is very likely that negative feelings towards Ares were not as pervasive among the ancient Greeks as one might believe today. An important thing to bear in mind when thinking about the stories of Ares is that the thin vein of myth that has come down today most often comes directly from Athenian sources, which were unfavorable towards Ares because they were generally unfavorable towards anything considered un-Athenian. The historian Thucydides, while discussing the Peloponnesian War, which was fought between Athens and Sparta at the end of the 5th century BCE, said that any "future scholar" would no doubt believe that the great city of Sparta was culturally insignificant in comparison with her enemy, Athens. It is well known today that Ares was worshipped by the warlike Spartans, but since they created very few grandiose works of architecture or literature (compared to those that came out of Athens), Sparta's views on Ares, and most other deities they worshipped, are paltry. Athenian culture, on the other hand, dominated the ancient world's art and culture, and its influence was felt strongly in the beloved myths and histories of the epoch. For better or worse, then, Athens left subsequent generations their marginalized corpus of ideas on ancient Greek religion, and this can be seen in the paltry occurrences of Ares in modern books on Greek mythology today. That said, being a worshipper of Ares didn't necessitate the bellicose nature of the Spartans, either. Although Athens left literary and archaeological evidence of their preferences for civic worship, many other poleis (Greek city-states) were loath to openly despise the god of war, despite his macabre associations. After all, war was a facet of yearly life, and Ares was one of the 12 gods of the highest Greek pantheon of deities who commanded worship according to a divine mandate. Ares's appearances in myths today (his affair with Aphrodite being a strong favourite) seem to be cursed by repeated banality. There's little of the "War God" in any of his stories other than the odd mention of how horrid he is. However, with a little effort, Ares and his influences can be found, even if only at the fringes of the stories, in the wider literary canon. One such example is the "Judgment of Paris," which refers to the Trojan warrior Paris's decision to award Aphrodite with the Golden Apple of the Hesperides (or the "Apple of Discord," as it came to be known).

To this day I've tried to be like my Mother. Living right, helping others, giving to others. And most of all, trusting in the Lord. Living for Him like Mother did everyday. You see, ever since Mother died and I grew up to be a young man and my mother has been on my mind and heart ever since that day and year, I've always prayed for a good woman like my mother. I'm hoping that one day the Lord will bless me with a good, loving wife like my mother. One who would love the Lord with her whole heart, as Mother did. Our mother and father were the greatest love from God that my brothers and sisters and I knew of. Even though it was only for a short time that we had them both, it still was a blessing from God to us all. And we thanked God for them both. You see, their days and nights became short. Even the short years of our loving mother and father, of their time. Their days and nights and years became the greatest days and nights and years of our lives, forever. Mother and Father, wherever you both are now, rest in peace of all of our God.

Journalist Willie Morton unravels a thirty-year old conspiracy over the 1985 death of Treasury mandarin Matthew McConnacher nineteen days after his report, claiming an independent Scotland could be economically viable, was classified. Intrigued by the state's reluctance to declassify the report, he probes the mystery of McConnacher's death and learns of a power-grab at the heart of the Cameron government led by Commander Neil Smyth, chair of the National Security Committee - whom Morton has reason to fear - and a secret military deal with hardliners in Spain to crush Catalan nationalists. With his intern Ysabet Santanac arrested in Barcelona, Morton is high on the hit list as deadly forces unleashed by London and Madrid converge to bury an inconvenient truth.

Five months after Scotland's Independence Referendum, freelance journalist Willie Morton learns by chance that a man called Philip Gallimont, let off a drink-driving charge on Home Office orders, bears a startling resemblance to himself. Gallimont works for a pro-Union group, GB13, run by members of MI5 and the old school tie network of the British State.Could Morton pass himself off as Gallimont to get inside the group? How far are they willing to go to frustrate democracy? What are their connections in Whitehall and is the Prime Minister involved?It's a dangerous game and soon Morton is being pursued through a labyrinth of private backstairs and neglected corridors in the Palace of Westminster into the eerie dereliction of the roof space. He wants to confront the reclusive leader of GB13, whisky magnate Lord Craile, in his remote mansion on Mull and ask him one question - Why?But some questions are too incendiary, too dangerous... The Union is sacrosanct, greater, it seems, than democracy itself and Morton is a threat to it, their top target.Andrew Scott's pacy political thrillers explore the uncertain and ambiguous terrain between a declining Britain and an emerging Scotland, in fast-moving novels that combine an insider's insight with all-too-believable scenarios, set in beautiful locations in contemporary Scotland, England and Europe. "Moves along enjoyably and at a brisk pace" - The Herald"Fast-paced, tension-packed page-turner... a thrilling tale which leaves the reader much to think about and doesn't disappoint" - The Courier

"Riveting... rewarding and satisfying... tension-filled from start to finish" DUNDEE COURIER"Real page turner... keeps up the tension throughout" LESLEY RIDDOCH"Loosely based on the Willie McRae killing, a fast-moving novel... keeps you involved right to the end... a very good read" SCOTS INDEPENDENTCross-border relations between Westminster and Holyrood are tense over nuclear policy as journalist Willie Morton investigates the death of anti-nuclear activist Angus McBain and begins to suspect he was killed for what he knew.Was there UK Government collusion in the murder of McBain and conspiracy over illegal radioactive convoys heading to Dounreay? And can Morton keep clear of the sinister, deadly forces in headlong pursuit from Loch Ness to Arisaig and Oban, and across the treacherous Sound of Kerrera in the dark…? Trapped in a remote distillery at Bridge of Orchy, as bullets dent the copper stills, surely Morton's time is up…?Andrew Scott's pacy political thrillers explore the uncertain and ambiguous terrain between a declining Britain and an emerging Scotland, in fast-moving novels that combine an insider's insight with all-too-believable scenarios set in beautiful locations in contemporary Scotland, England and Europe.

This book will be of particular interest to trainers, coaches, change agents, and leaders who seek to help individuals and teams to be more effective at work.

This innovative looks at recent changes in management approach and the current state of employer-worker relations. After considering whether the workplace has been transformed by HRM techniques or remains restricted by adversarial workplace traditions, the author advocates long-term labour relations policies which encourage employee participation in management decision making.