All the forest animals enjoy eating the fruit from a wild blackberry bush, until a bear arrives to join them.

The Endless Banquet (Volume Two) is the second part of Shaykh Hamzah Abdul Malik's reading guide to help the average person understand the broader meanings of the Qur'an. This book picks up where The Endless Banquet (Volume I) left off, and explains each Surah of the middle third of the Qur'an by grouping its ayat together according to shared themes, to help you study its fundamental meanings and their connections with one another. It is followed by The Endless Banquet (Volume III), which covers Juz 21-30. All three volumes are available together as The Endless Banquet Series (3-book bundle). The Endless Banquet will help you discover: The benefits of the Qur'an's repetition of certain phrases, & stories, albeit with different variations & details The wisdom of ayat shift from discussions of law to stories, to theological arguments, to descriptions of heaven and hell Connections between each Surah The wisdom & significance in the order of the Surahs How each Juz is divided upon overarching themes The context in which certain ayat were revealed & why these verses are still relevant today The Endless Banquet is designed to help you develop a deeper appreciation for the Qur'an - especially the parts which most people don't ordinarily read. This will increase your sense of wonder and awe at the Qur'an, so that you may seek to learn more, and be inspired to ask new questions about Allah's final revelation. As you become more familiar with its subtleties, your personal relationship with the Qur'an will naturally grow stronger, if Allah wills. Each chapter of The Endless Banquet covers one Juz. Written in easy-to-understand language, this book aims to inspire a new generation of readers of the Qur'an, among Muslims who are comfortable reading and speaking English. The Endless Banquet was written in the hope that the Qur'an may open the hearts of all who read it, and to help you become inspired by its meanings, its relevance to the present day, and its connections to the human condition and to your own life. The Endless Banquet will help you to rekindle your love for the Qur'an, if Allah wills.

“A witty, scientifically accurate, and often intensely creepy exploration of sanguivorous creatures.”—San Francisco Chronicle “Bill Schutt turns whatever fear and disgust you may feel towards nature’s vampires into a healthy respect for evolution’s power to fill every conceivable niche.”—Carl Zimmer, author of Parasite Rex and Microcosm: E. coli and the New Science of Life For centuries, blood feeders have inhabited our nightmares and horror stories, as well as the shadowy realms of scientific knowledge. In Dark Banquet, zoologist Bill Schutt takes us on a fascinating voyage into the world of some of nature’s strangest creatures—the sanguivores. Using a sharp eye and mordant wit, Schutt makes a remarkably persuasive case that blood feeders, from bats to bedbugs, are as deserving of our curiosity as warmer and fuzzier species are—and that many of them are even worthy of conservation. Examining the substance that sustains nature’s vampires, Schutt reveals just how little we actually knew about blood until well into the twentieth century. We revisit George Washington on his deathbed to learn how ideas about blood and the supposedly therapeutic value of bloodletting, first devised by the ancient Egyptians and Greeks, survived into relatively modern times. Dark Banquet details our dangerous and sometimes deadly encounters with ticks, chiggers, and mites (the ­latter implicated in Colony Collapse Disorder—currently devastating honey bees worldwide). Then there are the truly weird—vampire finches. And if you thought piranha were scary, some people believe that the candiru (or willy fish) is the best reason to avoid swimming in the Amazon. Enlightening and alarming, Dark Banquet peers into a part of the natural world to which we are, through our blood, inextricably linked.

Set against the backdrop of the Enlightenment, the delectable decadence of Versailles, and the French Revolution, The Last Banquet is an intimate epic that tells the story of one man’s quest to know the world through its many and marvelous flavors. Jean-Marie d’Aumout will try anything once, with consequences that are at times mouthwatering and at others fascinatingly macabre (Three Snake Bouillabaisse anyone? Or perhaps some pickled Wolf's Heart?). When he is not obsessively searching for a new taste d’Aumout is a fast friend, a loving husband, a doting father, and an imaginative lover. He befriends Ben Franklin, corresponds with the Marquis de Sade and Voltaire, becomes a favorite at Versailles, thwarts a peasant uprising, improves upon traditional French methods of contraception, plays an instrumental role in the Corsican War of Independence, and constructs France’s finest menagerie. But d’Aumout’s every adventurous turn is decided by his at times dark obsession to know all the world’s flavors before that world changes irreversibly. As gripping as Patrick Suskind’s Perfume, as gloriously ambitious as Daniel Kehlman’s Measuring the World, and as prize-worthy as Andrew Miller’s Pure, The Last Banquet is a hugely appealing novel about food and flavor, about the Age of Reason and the ages of man, and our obsessions and about how, if we manage to survive them, they can bequeath us wisdom and consolation in old age.

A history of cooking and fine dining in Western Europe from 1520 to 1660

"When factory worker Dan Dong accidentally discovers how easy it is to infiltrate state- and corporate-sponsored banquets by posing as a journalist, he quickly becomes addicted to the insane luxury of these meals. For the first time, he tastes crab-claw tips, exotic fungi, and a dish made from thousands of pigeon tongues arranged in the shape of a chrysanthemum. But when Dan's disguise enables him to become privy to a deep-rooted scandal, his conscience compels him to cross the line between subterfuge and reality by actually writing an expose. With the help of the witty, jaded reporter Happy Gao, Dan embarks on a journey that will take him from the highest rungs of society to its most sordid depths." "Throughout the book, food - from the spicy, oily fare Dan orders for a high-class prostitute at a restaurant called Pink Chamber, to the humble noodle dishes prepared by his long-suffering wife, Little Plum - is present on almost every page, described so vividly that you can almost smell and taste it. But by the final page of The Banquet Bug, it has become clear that the perils of consumption run parallel to its pleasures."--BOOK JACKET.

Written with the support of the Maharishi Ayur-Veda Institute, this comprehensive cookbook shows how to incorporate the timeless principles of Ayurveda into the twenty-first-century kitchen. A result of Miriam Kasin Hospodar's twenty-year culinary journey, Heaven's Banquet draws from a rich palette of international cuisines and shows how to match your diet to your mind-body type for maximum health and well-being. The more than 700 recipes included here range from Thai Corn Fritters and Asian-Cajun Eggplant Gumbo to West African Avocado Mousse and Mocha-Spice Cake with Coffee Cream Frosting. Readers will discover the most effective methods of preparing food, the benefits of eating seasonally for individual types, and how to create a diet for the entire family. There are special sections on how to lose weight and control sugar sensitivity, a questionnaire to help determine mind-body type, and essential ingredients for a well-stocked Ayurvedic kitchen. Fully illustrated, and written for everyone from the beginner cook to the experienced chef, Heaven's Banquet shows how to use food to tap into your body's intelligence and create lifelong health.

What is the basic point of this book? Theology makes a difference. The basic theology for addictions is that the root problem goes deeper than our genetic makeup. Addictions are ultimately a disorder of worship. Will we worship ourselves and our own desires or will we worship the true God?

When Jennie starts feeding the birds a mixture of jam, avocado dip and chewable vitamins, they grow into enormous bullies and get totally out of hand. Both the humorous story and the inspired satirical art are from the brilliant Michael Martchenko.