What is worse than Nero? What is better than Nero’s Baths?’ – so wrote the poet Martial in the first century AD, demonstrating the power that buildings have on public consciousness. In ancient Rome, who built a monument and why mattered as much as its physical structure. Over centuries and under many different emperors, a small village in Italy was transformed into the crowning glory of an...

The kingdom of fungi has survived all five major extinction events. They are the architects of the natural world, integral to all life. They sustain critical ecosystems, recycling nutrients and connecting plants across vast areas, and help to produce many staples of modern life, such as wine, chocolate, bread, detergent and penicillin. Today, in the face of urgent ecological, societal and...

In Poland there is a well-known saying, “Proverbs are the wisdom of nations”. Like most Poles I have heard the proverb, “The grass is greener on the other side of the fence” meaning that we undervalue familiar things and may not even know what treasures we possess. One such treasure is Polish cuisine. It is rarely featured in restaurant, which usually offer “universal” dishes, although such...

Historia krakowskiego getta opowiedziana przez polskiego aptekarza Tadeusz Pankiewicz patrząc na rozgrywającą się pod oknami apteki tragedię krakowskich Żydów uratował ich od niepamięci – spisał wiernie dzieje getta. Książka opublikowana po raz pierwszy w 1947 r. Tadeusz Pankiewicz pracował i mieszkał przez dwa i pół roku w getcie. Przeżył wszystkie etapy jego istnienia: od zamknięcia bram i...

In engaging prose and with practical examples and anecdotes, an eye-opening look at human reasoning and essential reading for anyone with important decisions to make. Have you ever: Invested time in something that, with hindsight, just wasn\'t worth it? Overpayed in an Ebay auction? Continued doing something you knew was bad for you? Sold stocks too late, or...

Let acclaimed Tolkien artist John Howe take you on an unforgettable journey across Middle-earth, from Bag End to Mordor, in this richly illustrated sketchbook fully of previously unseen artwork, anecdotes and meditations on Middle-earth. Middle-earth has been mapped, Bilbo’s and Frodo’s journeys plotted and measured, but it remains a wilderland for all that. The roads as yet...

\'There comes a moment in one\'s life or career when in order to evolve, you need to draw a line and acknowledge where you come from. This book is exactly this for me. In this book, you find the soul of Versace. I could not be any more proud to share it with the world\' Donatella Versace Founded by Gianni Versace in 1978, the family-run fashion house soon grew into a symbol of high...

An intensely emotional and gripping companion novel to Laura Nowlin's USA Today and New York Times Bestselling novel If He Had Been With Me about the love that both breaks and heals us. Perfect for fans of Colleen Hoover and Jenny Han. If only I'd told her that I loved her years ago, then I wouldn't be here now. Finn has always loved Autumn. She's not just the girl next door or...

Winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature Asle is an ageing painter and widower who lives alone on the southwest coast of Norway. In nearby Bjørgvin another Asle, also a painter, is lying in the hospital, consumed by alcoholism. Asle and Asle are doppelgängers – two versions of the same person, two versions of the same life, both grappling with existential questions. In this final...

In 1943, there was an urgent need for Animal Farm. The Soviet Union had become Britain’s ally in the war against Nazi Germany, and criticism of Stalin’s brutal regime was either censored or discouraged. In any case, many intellectuals on the left still celebrated the Soviet Union, claiming that the terrors of its show trials, summary executions and secret police were either exaggerated or...

The Meditations of the great Roman Philosopher-Emperor Marcus Aurelius are simple yet profound works of stoic philosophy that continue to offer guidance and consolation to many with their eloquence, wisdom and humility.

It is the French Riviera in the 1920s. Nicole and Dick Diver are a wealthy, elegant, magnetic couple. A coterie of admirers are drawn to them, none more so than the blooming young starlet Rosemary Hoyt. When Rosemary falls for Dick, the Diver\'s calculated perfection begins to crack. As dark truths emerge, Fitzgerald shows both the disintegration of a marriage and the failure of idealism....

No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied. Yet across the gulf of space, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew...

Written in the 6th century BC, Sun Tzu's The Art of War is a Chinese military treatise that is still revered today as the ultimate commentary on war and military strategy. Focussing on the principle that one can outsmart your foe mentally by thinking very carefully about strategy before resorting to physical battle, this philosophy continues to be applied to the corporate and business world....

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES DEBUT FICTION PRIZE 2024 THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER \'Delightfully confident . . . a total pleasure\' TIMES \'Warm, witty and utterly idiosyncratic\' ALICE SLATER \'Hilarious, touching and hotly sublime\' JULIA ARMFIELD \'Lovable and joyful\' NEW YORK TIMES A BROTHER. A SISTER. A LOT OF EMOTION IN ONE...

A pioneer of artificial intelligence shows how the study of causality revolutionized science and the world. 'Correlation does not imply causation.' This mantra was invoked by scientists for decades in order to avoid taking positions as to whether one thing caused another, such as smoking and cancer and carbon dioxide and global warming. But today, that taboo is dead. The causal revolution,...

Continuing the story begun in The Hobbit, this is the first part of Tolkien's epic masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings, featuring a striking black cover based on Tolkien's own design, the definitive text, and a detailed map of Middle-earth. Sauron, the Dark Lord, has gathered to him all the Rings of Power - the means by which he intends to rule Middle-earth. All he lacks in his plans for...

Find out how to live a long and happy life thanks to the ikigai miracle, a Japanese philosophy that helps you find fulfilment, joy and mindfulness in everything you do. It is extraordinary that Japanese men's longevity ranks 4th in the world, while Japanese women's ranks 2nd. But perhaps this comes as no surprise when you know that the Japanese understanding of ikigai is embedded in their...

As World War I ended, the victors were developing a powerful new generation of 'hyper-dreadnoughts' and battlecruisers. Fully illustrated, this studies the big-gun warships that never were. 1918 was a moment of great naval change. Britain still had the largest fleet in the world, but its ships were ageing, and many of them were markedly inferior to the latest American and...

A concise introduction to the organization, responsibilities, uniforms, and insignia of the German Police under the Nazi regime. Following Adolf Hitler's rise to power, the previously decentralized provincial police system was unified into a single state apparatus, integrated at the command levels with the SS. Despite central control, the police were divided into a complex...