Haven’t we all? It’s for this reason that I decided to write this book. What better way to break that silence than to throw out some of these facts: Wolves have a serious appetite! They can eat up to twenty pounds of meat in one sitting! The first high heeled shoes were worn by Egyptian butchers to help them walk above the bloodied bodies of animal carcasses. The vintage date on a bottle of wine indicates the year the grapes were harvested, not the year of bottling Your mouth produces about one liter of saliva each day. Greece has more archaeological museums than any other country in the world. Whatever your motivation may be, there’s a really good chance you’ll find these facts and tidbits useful. So if you’re ready, here are 1,000 random facts that everyone should know !

    Creating the French Look is divided into four styles: ‘Chateau’, ‘Country’, ‘Provençal’ and ‘Parisian’, and each “look” is applied to living rooms, kitchens, dining rooms, bedrooms and bathrooms plus outdoor living spaces. As well as describing each overall style, focusing on colours and fabrics, Annie Sloan emphasizes the details and accents required by each one, and, aided by 25 clearly explained step-by-step projects, shows how to achieve it. Among other things, she explains how to paint and distress furniture, and describes how to cover an armoire door with embroidered voile. Whatever interior you desire, this book will guide your choices from the grand statement of the painted armoire to the finishing touch of a little posy of lavender.

    Packed with practical advice, reassurance and simple yet effective techniques to help you deal with all the challenges that raising a toddler involves, Jo will give you the confidence and the know-how to raise a happy and contented toddler. She addresses common battlegrounds, such as mealtimes, dressing, sleeping and potty training, and takes you step-by-step through her tried-and-tested techniques to deal with them simply, patiently and effectively. Jo also offers guidance on how to plan your toddler's day hour by hour to ensure he or she is getting the right balance of stimulation and relaxation, offers support and guidance for working and single parents, and shows again and again that far from being an exhausting challenge, the toddler years are the most fun, entertaining and unique years to be cherished and enjoyed.

    The descriptive method is based on seven guided visits to a group of real or imaginary houses that make up a sufficiently extended panorama for understanding what the 20th century has bequeathed to us by way of a heritage. In short, this book takes the reader on a fantasy tour, one whose aim is not just to celebrate the diversity of the 20th-century house but also to stimulate the pleasure of thinking, planning and living intensely, to promote the appearance of a house that does not yet exist.

    Live freer. Live a bigger life with less.In Declutter Like a Mother, Allie Casazza comes alongside you to explore:Why decluttering calms anxiety in your heart and lessens tension in your relationships.How to ensure your house is working for you, not against you.Why kids thrive when they’re not overwhelmed with options.How to make time, when you feel you don’t have time, to declutter.Allie Casazza was tired of feeling it was her against the laundry in her home. She wondered if somewhere beneath her frantic days and the mountains of toys in the playroom she would ever find joy and peace in motherhood. Then she discovered the abundance . . . of less.As she purged her home of excess stuff, Allie discovered a lifestyle that strengthened her marriage, saved her motherhood, and helped her develop her gifts in a way that no amount of new kitchen appliances or new organizing system ever could.Research studies show a direct link between stress levels and the amount of physical possessions people have in their homes, and Allie has seen that truth play out in her own life and in the lives of hundreds of thousands of other moms she has mentored through her business and online courses. She proclaims:You don’t need a home that’s perfect. You need a home that’s lighter. Discover less stress, more space. Less chaos, more peace. Less of what doesn’t matter, so you have room for what matters most of all.

    Gothic monuments bear witness to a dynamic age, when old values were being redefined, often with great drama and debate. Here is a richly-illustrated overview of the period's architecture, sculpture, painting, stained glass, and jewelry, from its 12th-century French origins to its early 16th-century conclusion.

    In fact, generating accurate estimates is straightforward—once you understand the art of creating them.In his highly anticipated book, acclaimed author Steve McConnell unravels the mystery to successful software estimation—distilling academic information and real-world experience into a practical guide for working software professionals. Instead of arcane treatises and rigid modeling techniques, this guide highlights a proven set of procedures, understandable formulas, and heuristics that individuals and development teams can apply to their projects to help achieve estimation proficiency.

    Written by Peter Morville, author of the groundbreaking Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, the book defines our current age as a state of unlimited findability. In other words, anyone can find anything at any time. Complete navigability.Morville discusses the Internet, GIS, and other network technologies that are coming together to make unlimited findability possible. He explores how the melding of these innovations impacts society, since Web access is now a standard requirement for successful people and businesses. But before he does that, Morville looks back at the history of wayfinding and human evolution, suggesting that our fear of being lost has driven us to create maps, charts, and now, the mobile Internet.The book's central thesis is that information literacy, information architecture, and usability are all critical components of this new world order. Hand in hand with that is the contention that only by planning and designing the best possible software, devices, and Internet, will we be able to maintain this connectivity in the future. Morville's book is highlighted with full color illustrations and rich examples that bring his prose to life.Ambient Findability doesn't preach or pretend to know all the answers. Instead, it presents research, stories, and examples in support of its novel ideas. Are we truly at a critical point in our evolution where the quality of our digital networks will dictate how we behave as a species? Is findability indeed the primary key to a successful global marketplace in the 21st century and beyond. Peter Morville takes you on a thought-provoking tour of these memes and more -- ideas that will not only fascinate but will stir your creativity in practical ways that you can apply to your work immediately.

    • A bestselling photography book with over 300,000 copies sold! • Learn top photography tips from 50 famous photographers • A must–have guide for amateur photographers and professional photographersRead This if You Want to Take Great Photographs contains no graphs, no techie diagrams and no camera–club jargon. Instead, it inspires readers through iconic images and playful copy, packed with hands–on tips.Split into five sections, the book covers composition, exposure, light, lenses and the art of seeing. Masterpieces by acclaimed photographers – including Henri Cartier–Bresson, Sebastião Salgado, Fay Godwin, Nadav Kander, Daido Moriyama and Martin Parr – serve to illustrate points and encourage readers to try out new ideas.Today's aspiring photographers want immediacy and see photography as an affordable way of expressing themselves quickly and creatively. This handbook meets their needs, teaching them how to take photographs using professional techniques.Read This If You Want to Take Great Photographs is part of the internationally–bestselling 'Read This' series, which has sold over half–a–million books worldwide and has been translated into over 20 languages.More titles in the 'Read This' series:Read This if You Want to Take Great Photographs of People by Henry Carroll (9781780676241)Read This if You Want to Take Great Photographs of Places by Henry Carroll (9781780679051)Use This if You Want to Take Great Photographs: A Photo Journal by Henry Carroll (9781780678887)Read This if You Want to Be Great at Drawing by Selwyn Leamy (9781786270542)Use This if You Want to Be Great at Drawing by Selwyn Leamy (9781786274052)Read This if You Want to Be Great at Drawing People by Selwyn Leamy (9781786275127)Read This if You Want to Be a Great Writer by Ross Raisin (9781786271976)Read This if You Want to Be Instagram Famous edited by Henry Carroll (9781780679679)Read This If You Want to Be YouTube Famous by Will Eagle (9781786275134)

    Japan Style introduces 20 special residences. With more than 200 color photographs, this book showcases the stunning beauty of old homes, and reveals how they are cared for by their owners.Traditional Japanese homes, with superbly crafted fine wood, great workmanship and seasonal interior arrangements, have an aesthetic of infinite simplicity. Unlike Japanese inns and historical buildings, the houses featured in this book are private property and are not open to public viewing. Japan Style offers a rare glimpse into the intimate world of the everyday Japanese and fascinating insight into the traditional architecture of Japan.

    This comprehensive guide will help you assess your priorities and your instincts, as well as your likes and dislikes, with practical steps for navigating and embracing your authentic design style.Room by room, Homebody gives you an in-depth look at how these styles are iterated as well as how to blend the genres you’re drawn to in order to create spaces that look and feel distinctly yours.In each chapter are practical takeaways to help problem solve potential pain points in your home. A fold out design guidebook at the back of the book offers a place for you to take notes and sketch out your own design plans as you make your way through the rooms.The insight shared in Homebody will instill in you the confidence to thoughtfully create spaces that you never want to leave.

    Their book is an inspiring guide to current and future school teachers and to college and university professors—indeed to everyone who teaches anything to anyone else.   Arguing that teaching is an art, Banner and Cannon help teachers understand its components. They analyze the specific qualities of successful teachers and the ways in which these qualities promote learning and understanding. Throughout, they illustrate their discussion with sharply etched portraits of fictional teachers who exemplify—or fail to exemplify—a particular quality. Neither a how-to book nor a consideration of the philosophy, methods, or activities of teaching, this book, more precisely, assesses what it takes to teach. It encourages teachers to consider how they might strengthen their own level of professional performance.

    Aimed primarily at those studying architecture, it offers a clear and accessible insight into the workings of this rich and fascinating subject. With copious illustrations from his own notebooks, the author dissects examples from around the world and all periods of history to explain the underlying strategies in architectural design and show how drawing may be used as a medium for analysis.In this new edition, Analysing Architecture has been revised and expanded. Notably, the chapter on 'How Analysis Can Help Design' has been redeveloped to clearly explain this crucially important aspect of study to a beginner readership. Four new chapters have been added to the section dealing with Themes in Spatial Organisation, on 'Axis', 'Grid', 'Datum Place' and 'Hidden'. Material from the 'Case Studies' in previous editions has been redistributed amongst earlier chapters. The 'Introduction' has been completely rewritten; and the format of the whole book has been adjusted to allow for the inclusion of more and better illustrative examples.Works of architecture are instruments for managing, orchestrating, modifying our relationship with the world around us. They frame just about everything we do. Architecture is complex, subtle, frustrating... but ultimately extremely rewarding. It can be a difficult discipline to get to grips with; nothing in school quite prepares anyone for the particular demands of an architecture course. But this book will help.

    Here, in a simply spectacular book, Martha Stewart takes us behind the scenes of some of the most lovely weddings ever. Over 40 weddings and receptions, from small, intimate celebrations for 18 to lavish parties for 400, are documented in more than 700 full-color photographs. The settings are as varied as an idyllic country farm in New Jersey, a gracious mansion on eastern Long Island, an elegant townhouse in New York City, a private island in New Hampshire, a ranch in Texas, and the oldest and most beautiful cathedral in Montreal. We see the choices the brides, grooms, and their families made and how they planned every detail of their special day.All the essential elements of a wedding are discussed in depth in chapters filled with information and ideas: Style, Organization, Invitations, Wedding Dresses, Bridal Bouquets, Ceremony, Music, Decoration, and, of course, Wedding Menus and Cakes. More than 120 recipes are included for varied wedding receptions, from cocktails and hors d'oeuvres to buffets, sit-down lunches and dinners, and even barbecues. Twelve different recipes for traditional as well as nontraditional wedding cakes (including carrot, lemon, and even a cheesecake) are included along with step-by-step instructions for assembling and decorating them.Weddings are back in style, and anyone who is getting married or is involved in some way with a wedding will want to read and use this wonderfully inspiring book.