Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2016 October 11

= October 11 =

List of dance moves
Last night, I went dancing at a nightclub. I'm wondering if there's a list of dance moves that I can use to impress other people the next time I go out partyingUncle dan is home (talk) 01:32, 11 October 2016 (UTC)
 * http://findyourinnergeek.ca/2016/04/dance-moves-party-songs-know-2016/ -- Jayron 32 01:49, 11 October 2016 (UTC)


 * Here's some cool moves, using a form of dance notation. SemanticMantis (talk) 13:50, 12 October 2016 (UTC)

The competitors of the Gutenberg Bible: scribal bibles
It is easy to find images of what a typical page of the Gutenberg 42-line Bible (B42) looked/looks like: File:Gutenberg bible Old Testament Epistle of St Jerome.jpg. But what about bibles (or other books) that were being produced by other methods (by scribes, or by woodblock printing) at the same time (15th century Europe)? Are there any references online to what they looked like? Shreevatsa (talk) 03:33, 11 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Commons has many images of 15th century manuscripts including several Bibles (commons:Category:15th-century illuminated manuscripts). Wikipedia has category:15th-century biblical manuscripts. The Giant Bible of Mainz was probably created near in time and location to Gutenburg's press.
 * — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rmhermen (talk • contribs)
 * Thank you! My searching skills were poor today. Thank you very much for these pointers. Shreevatsa (talk) 05:46, 11 October 2016 (UTC)

Recommend a book for spiritual succour - meaning of life needed
I have a friend going through some tough times, and it is clear that he is searching for answers to the big questions. He has begun looking through the internet for things and has begun dallying in the conspiracy websites. He has begun talking about how the Egyptian pharoahs may have been gods from somewhere in Orion's Belt, for instance, due to the placement of the pyramids.

Before he goes off the deep end and starts believing in a flat earth, I am looking for recommendations on popular science books that have a spiritual bent to them - basically a book grounded in facts and observable reality that also could lend a hand to someone looking for wider meaning. To me, scientific reasoning is the meaning in and of itself, but it isn't that way to everyone.

Failing that, really good books for the layman on anthropology, timelines of ancient history, language development, that kind of thing. Thanks FreeMorpheme (talk) 20:18, 11 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Stephen Jay Gould's popular science books do not shy away from spirituality. Without prescribing or proscribing any specific strain of spirituality, they do argue for a human need for spiritual direction and guidance as well as scientific understanding.  Rocks of Ages is probably his best known, but his other works in the area, such as The Hedgehog, the Fox, and the Magister's Pox.  -- Jayron 32 20:22, 11 October 2016 (UTC)
 * It's not very good as anthropology by modern standards, and the complete text does get a little turgid at times, but I can still recommend The Golden Bough as an antidote to unreflective spiritual mushiness. Tevildo (talk) 21:01, 11 October 2016 (UTC)


 * Not addressing exactly the same side of the request, here is an interesting complement to the usual view our culture(s) builds it/themselve(s) of the Pharaos' own. --Askedonty (talk) 05:04, 12 October 2016 (UTC)


 * This is about conspiracy theories: . For loose networks of unorthodox religious ideas: New Age. For a relationship between science and meaning in life: Non-overlapping magisteria. A different take on meaning in life: Absurdism. Each article has a different bibliography. Tgeorgescu (talk) 02:55, 14 October 2016 (UTC)


 * FreeMorpheme, Jehovah's Witnesses have published "Where Can We Find Answers to Life’s Big Questions?" at https://www.jw.org/en/publications/books/jworg-tract/the-big-questions/.
 * —Wavelength (talk) 23:24, 19 October 2016 (UTC)