I just loved taking pictures and I still do.’ – Ringo Starr See Ringo growing up in Liverpool amidst the excitement of the emerging Merseybeat scene, as he remembers his time in hospital, his first car, drum-kits, girls and bands on his ‘road of happy drumming’. Ringo’s lens captures his Beatles bandmates in pensive and playful moments, portraying them from the point of view of an insider, friend and skilled photographer. From Pwllheli to Delhi, obscurity to superstardom, his travels are recounted with honesty and hilarity. The multi-touch edition allows readers to pick up, play with and zoom in on Ringo’s photographs as they scroll through his memories. Photograph features 69 audio stories and 11 exclusive videos, with music, animation and new interviews from Ringo Starr. Ringo’s first multimedia edition is a must-have for fans of The Beatles and anyone passionate about modern music.

    They are born, they thrive, and they eventually die. In Atlas of Lost Cities, Aude de Tocqueville tells the compelling narrative of the rise and fall of such notable places as Pompeii, Teotihuacán, and Angkor. She also details the less well known places, including Centralia, an abandoned Pennsylvania town consumed by unquenchable underground fire; Nova Citas de Kilamba in Angola, where housing, schools, and stores were built for 500,000 people who never came; and Epecuen, a tourist town in Argentina that was swallowed up by water. Beautiful, original artwork shows the location of the lost cities and depicts how they looked when they thrived.

    In each of these cases, and literally hundreds more, the model-making wizards of Industrial Light & Magic were instrumental in creating a universe full of glorious, heart-pounding illusions.In Sculpting a Galaxy: Inside the Star Wars Model Shop, Lorne Peterson, one of the founding members of ILM, takes the reader on a journey through thirty years of incredible adventures, telling never-before-published stories, explaining how classic scenes were created, and how beloved models were - often from the most unexpected of parts and ingredients. Paint buckets, model car parts, and walnut shells play important roles, alongside high-tech lasers and computer graphics, in creating the familiar yet fantastic components of a galaxy far, far away.Lavishly illustrated with more than 300 full-color photographs from the Lucasfilm Archives, this book provides an unparalleled look behind the scenes of a place that really has created magic. Lorne Peterson's warm, evocative voice and dedication to his craft inform every page, making this not just a stunning visual piece, but an epic history in its own right.

    Dublin-based designer Annie Atkins invites readers into the creative process behind her intricately designed, rigorously researched, and visually stunning graphic props. These objects may be given just a fleeting moment of screen time, but their authenticity is vital and their role is crucial: to nudge both the actors on set and the audience just that much further into the fictional world of the film.

    Descriptions of each print is written by Dr. Colin Harrison and Cyril Walker, scientific officers of the British Museum of Natural History.

    Here is the definitive guide to the geography of Middle-earth, from its founding in the Elder Days through the Third Age, including the journeys of Bilbo, Frodo, and the Fellowship of the Ring. Authentic and updated -- nearly one third of the maps are new, and the text is fully revised -- the atlas illuminates the enchanted world created in THE SILMARILLION, THE HOBBIT, and THE LORD OF THE RINGS.Hundreds of two-color maps and diagrams survey the journeys of the principal characters day by day -- including all the battles and key locations of the First, Second, and Third Ages. Plans and descriptions of castles, buildings, and distinctive landforms are given, along with thematic maps describing the climate, vegetation, languages, and population distribution of Middle-earth throughout its history. An extensive appendix and an index help readers correlate the maps with Tolkien's novels.

    This lavishly illustrated, hardcover travel planner and gift book gives you every bit of information you'll need to navigate 400 amazing driving routes in some of the world's most fascinating locales. This practical travel planner provides specific, in-depth descriptions of the sights each drive offers. A clear, detailed, easy-to-read map of each route. Useful information on the best time to travel. And insider tips to help you get the most out of every fabulous trip. Abundant sidebars call your attention to standout sights along the drive or entertaining background information on the region and its culture. While handy indeed as a planner, Drives of a Lifetime doubles as a full-color gift book with more than 200 dazzling, large-format photos and crisp, evocative text that will enchant armchair travelers. The book immerses you in the unique appeal and beauty of hundreds of inviting locales.  Sample entries include the road to the spectacular ancient ruins in and around Angkor Wat in Cambodia; the Natchez Trace Parkway, along an ancient Native American trail through Mississippi; the scenic old coastal route from Dublin to Wexford in Ireland; an off-road dune drive in Dubai; the famous ocean views along the Cabot Trail in Nova Scotia, Canada; the Winelands Route through South Africa's Western Cape; a drive among the incredible land formations in South Dakota's Badlands; and an archaeological tour through Syria. In addition, you'll find several fun Top Ten lists: skyscraping drives, Mediterranean island roads, African wildlife excursions, and more. Chapters organized by theme include Ultimate Road Trips, featuring famous drives such as Highway One down the California coast; Over Hill and Mountains; By Sea and Shore; The Road Less Traveled, highlighting unpaved and untamed routes and safaris; Village Byways through some of the world's most picturesque hamlets; and Historic Trails, tracing the paths of history's great builders and explorers. Whether you travel these storied routes by car or through the pages of the book--countless wonders await your discovery inDrives of a Lifetime.

    The Photography Book brings together 500 inspiring, moving and beautiful images of famous events and people, sensational landscapes, historic moments, ground-breaking photojournalism, insightful portraits, sport, wildlife, fashion and the everyday.Following the winning formula of The Art Book and The 20th Century Art Book, The Photography Book is arranged in alphabetical order by photographer offering us a window on the last 150 years as it takes us on a journey through familiar and strange images by great, unknown and innovative photographers from around the world. Each image is discussed in detail, bringing it to life and offering us an understanding of this art form which plays such a large role in our everyday lives.An accessible, informative and easy-to-use guide, The Photography Book brings together an overview of this incredibly rich and diverse medium. A simple system of cross-referencing offers easy access to photographers working with a similar approach or using different means to capture the same subject. Glossaries of technical terms and movements and a directory of museums and galleries where photography is permanently exhibited are also included to provide a fully comprehensive volume.

    By being practical and performing well over time, they are as much the antidote to superficial styling as they are to the shoddy and second-rate. Applied to the home as a whole, this discerning approach results in interiors that are effortlessly stylish, confident and timeless, with plenty of room for the expression of personal taste.Plain Simple Useful is organized according to the main activities that take place at home. Inspirational interiors, many of which are Conran's own, and a number of projects designed by him exclusively for this book, provide all the guidance you need to tailor-make your own storage. The book also features iconic examples of classic designs that will enhance any home, as well as a peek behind the closed doors of those well-ordered closets, pantries, and other storage spaces that contribute so much to easy living.

    Even as it guides us across town, GPS helps land planes, route mobile calls, anticipate earthquakes, predict weather, locate oil deposits, measure neutrinos, grow our food, and regulate global finance. It is as ubiquitous and essential as another Cold War technology, the Internet. In Pinpoint, Greg Milner takes us on a fascinating tour of a hidden system that touches almost every aspect of our modern life.While GPS has brought us breathtakingly accurate information about our planetary environment and physical space, it has also created new forms of human behavior. We have let it saturate the world’s systems so completely and so quickly that we are just beginning to confront the possible consequences. A single GPS timing flaw, whether accidental or malicious, could bring down the electrical grid, hijack drones, or halt the world financial system. The use, and potential misuse, of GPS data by government and corporations raise disturbing questions about ethics and privacy. GPS may be altering the nature of human cognition—possibly even rearranging the gray matter in our heads.Pinpoint tells the sweeping story of GPS from its conceptual origins as a bomb guidance system to its presence in almost everything we do. Milner examines the different ways humans have understood physical space, delves into the neuroscience of cognitive maps, and questions GPS’s double-edged effect on our culture. A fascinating and original story of the scientific urge toward precision, Pinpoint offers startling insight into how humans understand their place in the world.

    Pouring into developing-world “instant cities” like Dubai and Shenzhen, these urban newcomers confront a modern world cobbled together from fragments of a West they have never seen. Do these fantastical boomtowns, where blueprints spring to life overnight on virgin land, represent the dawning of a brave new world? Or is their vaunted newness a mirage?In a captivating blend of history and reportage, Daniel Brook travels to a series of major metropolitan hubs that were once themselves instant cities— St. Petersburg, Shanghai, and Mumbai—to watch their “dress rehearsals for the twenty-first century.” Understanding today’s emerging global order, he argues, requires comprehending the West’s profound and conflicted influence on developing-world cities over the centuries.In 1703, Tsar Peter the Great personally oversaw the construction of a new Russian capital, a “window on the West” carefully modeled on Amsterdam, that he believed would wrench Russia into the modern world. In the nineteenth century, Shanghai became the fastest-growing city on earth as it mushroomed into an English-speaking, Western-looking metropolis that just happened to be in the Far East. Meanwhile, Bombay, the cosmopolitan hub of the British Raj, morphed into a tropical London at the hands of its pith-helmeted imperialists.Juxtaposing the stories of the architects and authoritarians, the artists and revolutionaries who seized the reins to transform each of these precociously modern places into avatars of the global future, Brook demonstrates that the drive for modernization was initially conflated with wholesale Westernization. He shows, too, the ambiguous legacy of that emulation—the birth (and rebirth) of Chinese capitalism in Shanghai, the origins of Bollywood in Bombay’s American-style movie palaces, the combustible mix of revolutionary culture and politics that rocked the Russian capital—and how it may be transcended today.A fascinating, vivid look from the past out toward the horizon, A History of Future Cities is both a crucial reminder of globalization’s long march and an inspiring look into the possibilities of our Asian Century.

    Home to one of the largest ornithological collections in the world, the Tring museum was full of rare bird specimens whose gorgeous feathers were worth staggering amounts of money to the men who shared Edwin's obsession: the Victorian art of salmon fly-tying. Once inside the museum, the champion fly-tier grabbed hundreds of bird skins--some collected 150 years earlier by a contemporary of Darwin's, Alfred Russel Wallace, who'd risked everything to gather them--and escaped into the darkness. Two years later, Kirk Wallace Johnson was waist high in a river in northern New Mexico when his fly-fishing guide told him about the heist. He was soon consumed by the strange case of the feather thief. What would possess a person to steal dead birds? Had Edwin paid the price for his crime? What became of the missing skins? In his search for answers, Johnson was catapulted into a years-long, worldwide investigation. The gripping story of a bizarre and shocking crime, and one man's relentless pursuit of justice, The Feather Thief is also a fascinating exploration of obsession, and man's destructive instinct to harvest the beauty of nature.

    Travelers bring him tales of faraway, fantastic people and places; the map takes on many dimensions and grows. Slowly, Fra Mauro's vision begins to embrace not only continents and kingdoms but something just as wondrous and real: a vast interior landscape of beliefs, aspirations, and dreams.

    Smiles of recognition turn into grins of enthusiasm as more people discover them and dream about making their own private retreats or family play spaces. And it's nice to remind ourselves that treehouses are built into the oldest and most forgiving, living things on earth. Also, history records treehouses as being built as deliberate follies, as challenges for arboreal designers, for merrymaking, and for keeping the spirit of fairy tales alive. But treehouses can also be social places. We will visit many that were built to entertain, to hang out with friends, or as guest houses. Trees welcome all types. Master treehouse builders Peter and Judy Nelson, with David Larkin, have embarked on yet another treehouse-discovery expedition across America, this time adding the investigation of backyard playhouses to their agenda. Now, in The Treehouse Book, they reveal their findings, illustrated and described in the most complete volume yet. From casual treeshacks made from discarded lumber to multitiered feats of fancy, they found shelters representing myriad builders-interesting characters ranging from childhood fanatics grown up, to weekend carpenters, to those who want their grandkids to have the best clubhouse on the block. Detailed how-to information, including plans and drawings, is woven with behind-the-scenes tales of each structure's occupants and stunning interior and exterior photographic explorations.

    Rome is called the Eternal City, and ancient ruins and Renaissance masterpieces still dot this modern metropolis: with Rick Steves on your side, Rome can be yours!Inside Rick Steves Rome 2018 you'll find:Comprehensive coverage for spending a week or more exploring RomeRick's strategic advice on how to get the most out of your time and money, with rankings of his must-see favoritesTop sights and hidden gems, from the Colosseum and the Sistine Chapel to corner trattorias serving crispy fresh pizza and that perfect scoop of gelato How to connect with local culture: Savor a plate of cacio e pepe, celebrate with the locals at a festival, or chat with fans about the latest soccer (calico, to locals) match Beat the crowds, skip the lines, and avoid tourist traps with Rick's candid, humorous insightThe best places to eat, sleep, and experience la dolce far nienteSelf-guided walking tours of lively neighborhoods and incredible museums Detailed neighborhood maps and a fold-out city map for exploring on the goUseful resources including a packing list, Italian phrase book, a historical overview, and recommended readingOver 500 bible-thin pages include everything worth seeing without weighing you downAnnually updated information on Central Rome, Vatican City, Trastevere, and more, plus day trips to Ostia Antica, Tivoli, Naples, and PompeiiMake the most of every day and every dollar with Rick Steves Rome 2018.Spending just a few days in the city? Try Rick Steves Pocket Rome.