....

Other Biographies

THEY SAW THE FUTURE: ORACLES, PSYCHICS, SCIENTISTS, GREAT THINKERS, AND PRETTY GOOD GUESSERS
Published by Anne Schwartz/Atheneum/Simon & Schuster, 1999
illustrated with oil paintings and fabric collage by Kyrsten Brooker Awards, Reviews, Articles, and Activities

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1 *  THE ORACLE AT DELPHI:
 “I know the number of the grains of sand, and all the measures of the sea.”
A series of all-knowing women in ancient Greece who prophesied from about 700 BC to 362 AD

Chapter 2 *   THE SIBYLS:  “I am born betwixt a mortal and a god....”
These mysterious women of the Roman Empire were powerful from around 1200 BC until after the birth of Christ

Chapter 3 *   THE MAYA:  “As above, so below.”
At their height between 250 and 900 AD, the Mayan people of Mexico and Central America focused intensely on astrology as a way to control the future

Chapter 4 *   HILDEGARD OF BINGEN:
“I see and hear and understand at one and the same time.”
A German nun (1098-1179) of the Middle Ages, filled with visionary ideas 800 years ahead of her time

Chapter 5 *   LEONARDO DA VINCI:  “I wish to work miracles.”
Italian Renaissance artist (1452-1519), whose scientific drawings revealed a rich and strikingly perceptive view of the future

Chapter 6 *   NOSTRADAMUS:  “The young lion shall overcome the old...”
French physician (1503-1566) who became the most famous name for predictions— approximately half of which have come true, according to scholars

Chapter 7 *   JULES VERNE:  “A new kind of sensation.”
Influential French science fiction writer (1828-1905) who made a career out of fantasizing about the future

Chapter 8 *   NICHOLAS BLACK ELK:  “Sometimes dreams are wiser than waking.”
An American Indian medicine man (1863-1950) who experienced a vision when he was nine that became a cry for peace

Chapter 9 *   H. G. WELLS:  “I told you so.”
English novelist (1866-1946) famed as “the man who invented tomorrow” in his innovative science fiction

Chapter 10 *  EDGAR CAYCE:  “Sleep now, and we will help you.”
The most documented psychic (1877-1945) of the 20th century, hailed as “America’s Sleeping Prophet” for the accurate predictions he made while asleep

Chapter 11 *  JEANE DIXON:
            “Something dreadful is going to happen to the President today.”
American psychic (1918-1997) who made one of the most sensational forecasts of this century... then built a career on it, with mixed results

Chapter 12 *  MARSHALL McLUHAN:  “What haven’t you noticed lately?”
Canadian professor of English literature (1911-1980) who presented himself as an electronic oracle foretelling the future effects of the new media