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Reader's Digest Book of Facts: Essential and Intriguing Information About This Odd World Around Us by Reader's Digest Association
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A History of the World in 100 Objects
Neil MacGregor - 2010
Encompassing a grand sweep of human history, A History of the World in 100 Objects begins with one of the earliest surviving objects made by human hands, a chopping tool from the Olduvai gorge in Africa, and ends with objects which characterise the world we live in today. Seen through MacGregor's eyes, history is a kaleidoscope - shifting, interconnected, constantly surprising, and shaping our world today in ways that most of us have never imagined. A stone pillar tells us about a great Indian emperor preaching tolerance to his people; Spanish pieces of eight tell us about the beginning of a global currency; and an early Victorian tea-set speaks to us about the impact of empire. An intellectual and visual feast, this is one of the most engrossing and unusual history books published in years. 'Brilliant, engagingly written, deeply researched' Mary Beard, Guardian 'A triumph: hugely popular, and rightly lauded as one of the most effective and intellectually ambitious initiatives in the making of 'public history' for many decades' Sunday Telegraph 'Highly intelligent, delightfully written and utterly absorbing ' Timothy Clifford, Spectator 'This is a story book, vivid and witty, shining with insights, connections, shocks and delights' Gillian Reynolds Daily Telegraph
The Times Atlas of World History
Geoffrey Barraclough - 1978
Each of the 126 color spreads has been reviewed in detail by a team of leading historians and brought up to date to reflect the latest scholarship. Features updated chronology, place-name index, 30 new maps, 120 color illustrations, and more.
Show Me How
Derek Fagerstrom - 2008
In a series of 500 nearly wordless, highly informative step-by-step procedurals, readers learn how to do hundreds of useful (and fascinating and important and sometimes downright bizarre) tasks, including: Perform CPR, dance the tango, pack a suitcase, win a bar bet, play the blues, make authentic sushi rolls, fight a shark . . . and 493 more essentials of modern life. Packed with useful hands-on reference material, Show Me How is a work of art that just happens to also be an indispensable real-life resource.Visit showmenow
Heroes, Gods and Monsters of the Greek Myths
Bernard Evslin - 1966
The world of Greek mythology contains some of the most exciting and imaginative stories ever told. In Heroes, Gods and Monsters of the Greek Myths, bestselling author Bernard Evslin shares his passion for these fabulous tales and the eternal themes they so beautifully express. In this accessible overview, you’ll get to know the iconic gods, heroes, and tragic figures: Zeus, the all-powerful king of the gods; Hera, his cunning and jealous wife; King Midas, whose touch could turn anything into gold; the sculptor Pygmalion, who falls in love with his own creation; and many more. With each story, Evslin brings new life to these legendary characters and the magical world they inhabit. Translated into multiple languages, and with more than ten million copies sold, this invaluable resource has become a classic in itself. ContainsThe gods- Zeus- Hera- Athene- Poseidon- Hades- Demeter- Birth of the twins- Artemis- Apollo - Sons of Apollo- Hermes- Hephaestus - Aphrodite Nature myths- Prometheus- Pandora- Phaethon- Orpheus- Narcissus and Echo- Eros and Psyche- ArionDemigods. - Perseus- Daedalus- Theseus- AtalantaFables- Midas- Pygmalion
How Do They Do That?
Caroline Sutton - 1981
Within these pages answers abound. How Do They Do That? clarifies what used to mystify. It explains the inexplicable and makes known the unknown.Here is a book for both the mildly curious and the grand inquisitor. Take a few hours or take a few minutes to browse through this repository of riddles revealed. You'll discover that it's not hocus-pocus that put the whole pear in the bottle of pear brandy or sorcery that suspends a suspension bridge. But if not by magic, how do they do that?The answer awaits within. A questioner's cure, an anodyne of answers, How Do They Do That? is a puzzler's paradise.Caroline Sutton, a graduate of Wesleyan University, fives in New York City, where she writes and edits for the Hilltown Press.
How the Scots Invented the Modern World
Arthur Herman - 2001
As historian and author Arthur Herman reveals, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Scotland made crucial contributions to science, philosophy, literature, education, medicine, commerce, and politics—contributions that have formed and nurtured the modern West ever since. This book is not just about Scotland: it is an exciting account of the origins of the modern world. No one who takes this incredible historical trek will ever view the Scots—or the modern West—in the same way again.
Great Dialogues of Plato
Plato
One of the world's most respected classical scholars offers translations of the complete texts of "The Republic, Apology of Socrates, " "Crito, " "Phaedo, " "Ion, " "Meno, " and "Symposium."
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany
William L. Shirer - 1960
It lasted only 12. But those 12 years contained some of the most catastrophic events Western civilization has ever known.No other powerful empire ever bequeathed such mountains of evidence about its birth and destruction as the Third Reich. When the bitter war was over, and before the Nazis could destroy their files, the Allied demand for unconditional surrender produced an almost hour-by-hour record of the nightmare empire built by Adolph Hitler. This record included the testimony of Nazi leaders and of concentration camp inmates, the diaries of officials, transcripts of secret conferences, army orders, private letters—all the vast paperwork behind Hitler's drive to conquer the world.The famed foreign correspondent and historian William L. Shirer, who had watched and reported on the Nazis since 1925, spent five and a half years sifting through this massive documentation. The result is a monumental study that has been widely acclaimed as the definitive record of one of the most frightening chapters in the history of mankind.This worldwide bestseller has been acclaimed as the definitive book on Nazi Germany; it is a classic work.The accounts of how the United States got involved and how Hitler used Mussolini and Japan are astonishing, and the coverage of the war-from Germany's early successes to her eventual defeat-is must reading
The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead
J. Gordon Melton - 1994
Gordon Melton has the credentials: he's a religious historian, author of 25 books about religion and vampires, president of the American chapter of the Transylvania Society of Dracula (founded in Bucharest, Romania), and chairman of the committee that put on Dracula '97: A Centennial Celebration in Los Angeles. The Vampire Book is meticulously researched and well organized. Included are an article on the cultural history of the vampire; a historical timeline; addresses of vampire societies all over the world; a 55-page filmography; vampires in plays, opera, and ballet; a 13-page list of vampire novels; and an extensive index. The A to Z entries, each with a short bibliography, include vampire lore in more than 30 different geographic regions and a comprehensive "who's who," and cover topics ranging from fingernails to sexuality, the Camarilla to Szekelys.
Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction
David Macaulay - 1973
This critically acclaimed book has been translated into a dozen languages and remains a classic of children's literature and a touchstone for budding architects. Cathedral's numerous awards include a prestigious Caldecott Honor and designation as a New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year for Macaulay's intricate pen-and-ink illustrations.Journey back to centuries long ago and visit the fictional people of twelfth-, thirteenth-, and fourteenth-century Europe whose dreams, like Cathedral, stand the test of time.This title has been selected as a Common Core text exemplar (Grades 6–8, Informational Texts: Science, Mathematics, and Technical Studies).
True Crime the Infamous Villians of Modern History and Their Hideous Crimes
Martin Fido - 1993
Over two centuries of crime, committed by the world's most infamous murderers and villains, documented in a year-by-year format.There is also in-depth commentary on the most notorious men and women in the history of crime: Burke and Hare, Jack the Ripper, Ned Kelly, Lizzie Borden, Al Capone, Albert Fish, Dr Crippen, Myra Hindley and Ian Brady, Charles Manson, Peter Sutcliffe, Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Aileen Wuornos, Fred and Rosemary West, Dr Harold Shipman and Bradley Murdoch; and special features on September 11, 2001, the trial of Bradley Murdoch for the outback murder of Peter Falconio, and killers who commit suicide.
C.S. Lewis Signature Classics
C.S. Lewis - 2001
S. Lewis's works continue to attract thousands of new readers every year, appealing to those seeking wisdom and calm in a hectic and ever-changing world. Each volume is written with the lucidity, warmth, and wit that has made Lewis revered as a writer the world over.From The Problem of Pain—a wise and compassionate exploration of suffering—to the darkly satirical The Screwtape Letters, Lewis is unrivalled in his ability to disentangle the questions of life. His writings offer hope, wisdom, and a true understanding of human nature.
Celtic Myths and Legends
Peter Berresford Ellis - 1999
Included are popular myths and legends from all six Celtic cultures of Western Europe-Irish, Scots, Manx, Welsh, Cornish, and Breton. Here for the modern reader are the rediscovered tales of cattle raids, tribal invasions, druids, duels, and doomed love that have been incorporated into, and sometimes distorted by, European mythology and even Christian figures. For example, there is the story of Lugh of the Long Hand, one of the greatest gods in the Celtic pantheon, who was later transformed into the faerie craftsman Lugh-Chromain, and finally demoted to the lowly Leprechaun. Celtic Myths and Legends also retells the story of the classic tragic love story of Tristan and Iseult (probably of Cornish origin-there was a real King Mark and a real Tristan in Cornwall) and the original tale of King Arthur, a Welsh leader who fought against the invading Anglo-Saxons. In the hands of Peter Berresford Ellis, the myths sung by long-dead Celtic bards come alive to enchant the modern reader. "The casual reader will be best entertained by ... the legends themselves ...colored with plenty of swordplay, ... quests, shape-shiftings, and druidic sorcery."-Publishers Weekly
The World of Robert Jordan's the Wheel of Time
Robert Jordan - 1997
Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. In the Third Age, an Age of Prophecy, the World and Time themselves hang in the balance. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.In this series companion book, over fourscore full color paintings include stunning new maps of the world, portraits of the central characters, landscapes, objects of Power, and national flags. The reader will learn about the exotic beasts used by the Seanchan and read of the rise and fall of Artur Hawking, peruse the deeper story of the War of the Shadow. Here is the tale of the founding of the White Tower, and the creation of the Ajahs.The inner workings of the closed country, Shara, are revealed, as is the existence of a hitherto unknown continent called The Land of the Madmen. This stunning volume also includes double-page spreads of the seven book jackets by Darrell Sweet so that the art can be enjoyed without type, and all the known maps of the world, including maps of the Seanchan Empire, the nations of the Covenant of the Ten Nations, and the nations as they were when Artur Paendrag Tanreall began his rise to legend.Every Robert Jordan fan needs this book.The Wheel of Time(R)New Spring: The Novel#1 The Eye of the World#2 The Great Hunt#3 The Dragon Reborn#4 The Shadow Rising#5 The Fires of Heaven#6 Lord of Chaos#7 A Crown of Swords#8 The Path of Daggers#9 Winter's Heart#10 Crossroads of Twilight#11 Knife of DreamsBy Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson#12 The Gathering Storm#13 Towers of Midnight#14 A Memory of LightBy Robert Jordan and Teresa PattersonThe World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of TimeBy Robert Jordan, Harriet McDougal, Alan Romanczuk, and Maria SimonsThe Wheel of Time CompanionBy Robert Jordan and Amy RomanczukPatterns of the Wheel: Coloring Art Based on Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time
The Case for Israel
Alan M. Dershowitz - 2003
The Case for Israel is an ardent defense of Israel's rights, supported by indisputable evidence.Presents a passionate look at what Israel's accusers and detractors are saying about this war-torn country.Dershowitz accuses those who attack Israel of international bigotry and backs up his argument with hard facts.Widely respected as a civil libertarian, legal educator, and defense attorney extraordinaire, Alan Dershowitz has also been a passionate though not uncritical supporter of Israel.