History of  Moses   The Jews, or Hebrews, as they were also called, under the leadership of their patriarch Abraham, emigrated first from Mesopotamia to Canaan in Plaestine about 2000 BC. Much of our information about early Jewish history comes from the Old Testament and according to the biblical story they suffered terrible hardships from famine in their new country. Therefore, the grandson of Abraham, known as Jacob or Israel, decided...

Why was Bertrand Russell famous?   Bertrand Russell was a British philosopher who lived from 1872 to 1970. In the first half of his long life, he developed ways of using logic to build knowledge and he provided a logical basis for the principles of mathematics. But Russell was also a man who dearly loved people as well as ideas. He spoke out against war and defended the right of people...

Why is Karl Marx important? Karl Marx was a German writer and philosopher who lived from 1818 to 1883. He saw that people were not equal; that emperors and nobles held power over the majority of people in many countries such as Russia, and that many employers grew rich through the exploitation of their workers. Marx wanted to change things to make all people equal. He helped to found the ideas...

Why did Socrates take poison? Socrates was the teacher of Plato and left no writings of his own. We know of him only through the writings of others, principally Plato. Socrates did not claim to possess great  knowledge but questioned the opinions of others, showing them often to be without any logical basis. In this way, he hoped to arrive at true knowledge. He believed that goodness comes from wisdom and...

What were Plato’s dialogues?   Plato, who lived in Athens from about 427 BC to 347 BC, was one of the most famous philosophers of ancient Greece. Like many philosophers, he presented his arguments in the form of dialogues or conversations between people presenting first one viewpoint, then another. The reader is led towards certain conclusions through a set of reasons, but the dialogues allow objections to the conclusions to be...

Captain James Cook  James Cook was born in Yorkshire in 1728. As a boy he was apprenticed to a ship-owner and spent several years in the coastal shipping trade. In 1755 he was offered the command of a ship of his own, but preferred to join the Royal Navy as an able seaman. He showed such great abilities that he received rapid promotion. His skilful surveys of the Saint Lawrence River...

How do some birds find food in winter? You have seen how many animals are specially adapted to suit the environments in which they live. Because the majority of birds can fly, however, they can travel from one area to another to take advantage of the seasons’ times of plenty. In fact, whole populations of some birds migrate north and south with the changing seasons. Birds that eat insects, for example,...

How do animals adapt to suit the weather? Unlike man most animals are unable to survive the extremes of climate around the world. They cannot build house to protect them from the heat or cold. The They cannot build fires to keep themselves warm in winter or make use of refrigerators to cool their food when the weather is hot. This is why certain animals are found in quite restricted areas...