By Night The Mountain Burns recounts the narrator`s childhood on a remote island off the West African coast, living with his mysterious grandfather, several mothers & no fathers. We learn of a dark chapter in the island`s history: a bush fire destroys the crops, then hundreds perish in a cholera outbreak. Superstition dominates: now the islanders must sacrifice their possessions to the enraged ocean god. What of their lives will they manage to save? Whitmanesque in its lyrical evocation of the isl&, Avila Laurel`s writing builds quietly, through the oral rhythms of traditional storytelling, into gripping drama worthy of an Achebe or a Garcia Marquez. ...

By Steppe, Desert, & Ocean is nothing less than the story of how humans first started building the globalized world we know today. Set on a huge continental stage, from Europe to China, it is a tale covering over 10, 000 years, from the origins of farming around 9000 BC to the expansion of the Mongols in the thirteenth century AD. An unashamedly `big history`, it charts the development of European, Near Eastern, & Chinese civilizations & the growing links between them by way of the Indian Ocean, the silk Roads, & the great steppe corridor (which crucially allowed horse riders to travel from Mongolia to the Great Hungarian Plain within a year). Along the way, it is also the story of the rise & fall of empires, the development of maritime trade, & the shattering impact of predatory nomads on their urban neighbours. Above all, as this immense historical panorama unfolds, we begin to see in clearer focus those basic underlying factors
- the acquisitive nature of humanity, the differing environments in which people live, & the dislocating effect of even slight climatic variation
- which have driven change throughout the ages, & which help us better understand our world today.

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In 1897 the Victorian novelist George Gissing undertook a brief but eventful journey in southern Italy. His itinerary took him from Naples to Reggio di Calabria, via Paola, Cosenza, Crotone & Squillace, through the area once known as Magna Graecia. Meditating on the vestiges of Greco-Roman civilization, Gissing visited tombs & temples, museums & cathedrals, in search of the imprint of antiquity & ”that old world which was the imaginative delight of my boyhood.” The result was By the Ionian Sea, first published in 1901. Gissing`s journey by boat, train, & carriage revealed not just the ruined glories of a classical past, but also the hardships of rural life in turn-of-the-century rural Italy. Meeting poverty-stricken peasants & corrupt local officials, he endured discomfort, danger & illness in a remote & little visited corner of Europe. Yet throughout he appreciated the warmth & generosity shown to him by local people, curious about this solitary stranger. By turns lyrical & melancholic, Gissing`s masterpiece of travel writing alternates between light & dark, life & death, Paganism & Christianity. Looking at Italy in both its classical & contemporary

Dimensions, By the Ionian Sea celebrates Calabria`s rich cultural past & beautiful landscapes while providing a candid account of the region`s hardship & poverty. More than a century after its first publication, this is the first critical edition of the book in English.

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Ivan`s old house had always been so warm & friendly. This new one was NOT. Ivan finds his new house strange & can`t sleep. He lies awake & then sees a shimmering light come down. The light turns into a creature called a Moji, & it takes him on a fabulous night-time adventure, up high into space, bounding through starlit forests & down deep into the oceans. Ivan has never had so much fun! & the magical Moji shows him that soon the new house will feel like home. A gently emotional story to reassure fears about moving house, with stunning artwork & a wonderful magical element. The author/illustrator of Herman`s Letter has shown his breadth of talent with this new direction. ...

Boost your math-brain power! Discover the amazing world of numbers & the real-world wonders they represent through creative, totally ”getable” infographics. Colorful illustrated graphs, word clouds, pie charts, maps, photography, comparitive images, & more illuminate the math behind statistics, trends, measurements, & more that we encounter every day. Infographics cover subjects kids care about & can apply to daily living, such as money, food, green living, technology, how things work, & much more. Awesome Q& As with ”numbers” people such as computer programmers, sports statisticians, & more show how math is a cool & useful tool. ...

This book contains hilarious travel stories on a variety of themes including food, people, transport, accommodation, etc. These stories are written by well-known comedians & travel writers plus previously unpublished authors. It

Includes:: some contributions from the competition by Lonely Planet, following previous successful anthology publishing
- The Kindness of Strangers & A House Somewhere. Lonely Planet knows that some of life's funniest experiences happen on the road. Whether they take the form of unexpected detours, unintended adventures, unidentifiable dinners or unforgettable encounters, these experiences can give birth to our most profound travel lessons & illuminations, & our most memorable
- & hilarious travel stories Lonely Planet assembles & celebrates here 25 such stories in its new literary travel anthology the stories include globe-girdling tales that run the gamut from flat-tyre safaris to loss-of-face follies, eccentric expats to mind-boggling repasts, wrong trains taken, to agreements mistaken, romance gone awry to planes that shouldn't fly.



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The environs of Bydgoszcz & Torun in a series covering Poland’s best hiking areas on waterproof & tear-resistant, laminated maps, specially designed to withstand repeated re-folding & even the worst weather conditions. Each map is double-sided & has clear, well presented cartography with a contoured base (20m interval) &, where appropriate, relief shading, graphic relief in rocky areas, & spot heights. Extensive overprint highlights waymarked hiking trails & on many titles also cycling, skiing or canoeing routes. Symbols show accommodation facilities including hotels, campsites, youth hostels, mountain refuges, etc., restaurants & bars in more remote areas, local bus stops, petrol stations, medical facilities, etc. Many titles include street plans of holiday resorts. The maps have either a UTM or latitude/longitude grid. Map legend

Includes:: English.

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In 1975, I was seven years old, & loved the Bazooka bubble-gums my mother would buy for Walid & me in Spinney`s supermarket... Beirut in the 1970s is a paradise. Wealthy families ride escalators & fill shopping carts with imported food & luxury products from Paris & New York. Lamia Ziade, seven years old, dreams of banana splits, American candy, flying on Pan Am Airways & visiting the local cinema. Considered by the elite the ` Paris, Las Vegas or Monaco of the Middle East`, Beirut was in reality a powder-keg, waiting for a spark. On 13 April 1975, Lamia & her family returned from lunch in the countryside to find a city in flames. Looking back on the golden days before the war, & its immediate, devastating effects, ” Bye Bye Babylon” positions an elegiac & shocking narrative next to a child`s perspective of the years 1975-79: of consumer icons next to burning buildings, scenes of violence & sparkling new weapons painted in vivid technicolour
- war as pop. It is both a lament for a home transformed by a destructive madness, & an inventory of the concrete objects of her childhood: the objects, details & fragments of memory which combine to capture the impossible reality of war. Part artist`s sketchbook, part travel notebook & part family album, ” Bye Bye Babylon” is a unique graphic memoir, & an important addition to the Cape list.
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Map No. 10010, Bygl&, in the new topographic survey of Norway at 1:50, 000 covering the country on 195 double-sided sheets & first published by Nordeca in 2011
- 2012; fully GPS compatible, indicating waymarked footpaths, campsites, tourist huts, illuminated ski runs, etc. The maps, now published by Nordeca, the successors to Statens Kartverk & its subsequent owners the Ugland Group, are printed on light, waterproof & tear-resistant synthetic paper. Each map covers an area of 62x 45 kilometres (39 x 28 miles approx.), with a 2-km overlap between the sheets. The maps have contours at 20m intervals (10m glacier contours), plus colouring & graphics to show cultivated areas, bogs, forests, etc. In addition to all the information expected of topographic mapping at this scale the maps distinguish between waymarked & unmarked footpaths & show campsites, tourist huts (serviced/self service/no supplies), country hotels & restaurants, & illuminated ski trails. The series uses EUREF89 (WGS84) datum & the maps have a 1-km UTM grid. Map legend is in Norwegian & English. Each title comes in a sturdy protective card envelope.
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How couldst thou take such journeys into fanatic Arabia?
- Charles M. Doughty, Passages from Arabia Deserta So C.W.R. Long begins
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