The complete picture of Earth as it is today is presented in this definitive atlas of the world. Cloud-free satellite images, stunning ...

NOW A RADIO 4 BOOK AT BEDTIME In the winter of 1952, Isabel Carey moves to the East Riding of Yorkshire with her husband Philip, a GP. With Philip spending long hours on call, Isabel finds herself isolated & lonely as she strives to adjust to the realities of married life. Woken by intense cold one night, she discovers an old RAF greatcoat hidden in the back of a cupboard. Sleeping under it for warmth, she starts to dream. & not long afterwards, while her husband is out, she is startled by a knock at her window. Outside is a young RAF pilot, waiting to come in. His name is Alec, & his powerful presence both disturbs & excites her. Her initial alarm soon fades, & they begin an intense affair. But nothing has prepared her for the truth about Alec's life, nor the impact it will have on hers.. . ...

In the winter of 1952, Isabel Carey moves to the East Riding of Yorkshire with her husband Philip, a GP. With Philip spending long hours on call, Isabel finds herself isolated & lonely as she strives to adjust to the realities of married life. Woken by intense cold one night, she discovers an old RAF greatcoat hidden in the back of a cupboard. Sleeping under it for warmth, she starts to dream. & not long afterwards, while her husband is out, she is startled by a knock at her window. Outside is a young RAF pilot, waiting to come in. His name is Alec, & his powerful presence both disturbs & excites her. Her initial alarm soon fades, & they begin an intense affair. But nothing has prepared her for the truth about Alec`s life, nor the impact it will have on hers... ...

The Greater Journey focuses on the period between 1830 & 1900, when hundreds of Americans--many of them future household names like Oliver Wendell Holmes, Mark Twain, Samuel Morse, John Singer Sargent & Harriet Beecher Stowe--migrated to Paris. Mc Cullough shows first how the City of Light affected each of them in turn, & how they later moved back to America to help shape American art, medicine, writing, science, & politics in profound ways. The Greater Journey is filled with wonderful descriptions of the old Paris before it was re-made by Haussmann's grand boulevards, & of the city's great places, especially the Louvre, the Tuileries, & Notre Dame, which never failed to inspire visitors & expatriates. ...

Civilizations have been fighting each other for thousands of years. Some mighty civilizations have left few traces except descriptions of their greatest martial endeavours & some ancient conflicts remain unresolved today. The Greatest Battles in History is an authoritatively written & brilliantly illustrated reference work to the key wars & battles fought from ancient times up to the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Arranged in chronological order from the early Middle Eastern conflicts such as Megiddo & Kadesh through to the Napoleonic Wars, each entry

Includes:: full-colour illustrations either maps or artworks as well as information boxes containing key facts & figures & a description of the context, the course of battle & the conflict`s aftermath. An easily accessible guide to more than 160 battles & campaigns, The Greatest Battles in History is essential reading for enthusiasts & general readers alike.

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Before Pep Guardiola & before Jose Mourinho, there was Bela Guttmann: the first superstar football coach, & the man who paved the way for the celebrated coaches of the modern age. He was also a Holocaust survivor. In 1944, much of Europe had wanted Guttmanndead. He hid for months in an attic near Budapest as thousands of fellow Jewsin the neighbourhood were dragged off to be murdered. Later, he escaped from aslave labour camp before a planned deportation & almost certain death. Hisfather, sister & wider family were murdered. But by 1961, as coach of Benfica, he had lifted Europe`s greatest sporting prize, the European Cup, a feat he repeated the following year. This biography spans two contrasting visions of Europe: one of barbarism andgenocide, & one of beauty, wonder & romance, of balmy evenings inmagnificent cities, where great players would stretch every sinew in a bid towin football`s holy grail. With dark forces rising once again in thatcontinent, the story of Bela Guttmann`s life asks the question: which visionwill triumph in our times? ...

Throughout history, a handful of unusually driven individuals have been inspired to explore the limits of the known world, inspiring us & changing our perceptions of our planet through their courageous adventures. What is it that makes these men & women risk their lives in desperate, often fatal efforts to discover distant & inaccessible places? Robin Hanbury-Tenison, himself one of the most distinguished explorers of the 20th century, looks at the greatest of their kind in history, bringing their experiences to life in vivid & compelling anecdotes & drawing on their own first-hand accounts. Among the explorers he features are some who are well known, like James Cook & David Livingstone, & some less so, such as Herodotus, the first European to record an expedition & Nain Singh, who walked huge distances to map the forbidden lands of Tibet, counting every pace. & he asks: what was it, & is it, that motivates these unusual people? & how have they enriched our world through their adventures? ...

Laying out Manhattan`s street grid & providing a rationale for the growth of New York was the city`s first great civic enterprise, not to mention a brazenly ambitious project & major milestone in the history of city planning. The grid created the physical conditions for business & society to flourish & embodied the drive & discipline for which the city would come to be known. Published to coincide with an exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York celebrating the bicentennial of the Commissioners` 1811 Plan of Manhattan, this volume does more than memorialize such a visionary effort, it serves as an enduring reference full of rare images & information. The Greatest Grid shares the history of the Commissioners` plan, incorporating archival photos & illustrations, primary documents & testimony, & magnificent maps with essential analysis. The text, written by leading historians of New York City, follows the grid`s initial design, implementation, & evolution, & then speaks to its enduring influence.A foldout map, accompanied by explanatory notes, reproduces the Commissioners` original plan, & additional maps & prints chart the city`s pre-1811 irregular growth patterns & local precedent for the grid`s design. Constituting the first sustained examination of this subject, this text describes the social, political, & intellectual figures who were instrumental in remaking early New York, not in the image of old Europe but as a reflection of other American cities & a distinct New World sensibility. The grid reaffirmed old hierarchies while creating new opportunities for power & advancement, giving rise to the multicultural, highly networked landscape New Yorkers thrive in today. ...

A fabulously clever lift-the-flap, pop-up conceptual book about opposites. Ingenious paper engineering & gorgeous artwork combine to make possibly the most fun opposites book for ages 2-200. Tom Frost`s circus-themed illustrations make this pop-up, fold down, pull out book something very special indeed. ...

Charles Darwin`s masterpiece, ” On the Origin of Species”, shook society to its core on publication in 1859. Darwin was only too aware of the storm his theory of evolution would provoke but he would surely have raised an incredulous eyebrow at the controversy still raging a century & a half later. Evolution is accepted as scientific fact by all reputable scientists & indeed theologians, yet millions of people continue to question its veracity. In ” The Greatest Show on Earth” Richard Dawkins takes on creationists, including followers of ` Intelligent Design` & all those who question the fact of evolution through natural selection. Like a detective arriving on the scene of a crime, he sifts through fascinating layers of scientific facts & disciplines to build a cast-iron case: from the living examples of natural selection in birds & insects; the `time clocks` of trees & radioactive dating that calibrate a timescale for evolution; the fossil record & the traces of our earliest ancestors; to confirmation from molecular biology & genetics. All of this, & much more, bears witness to the truth of evolution.” The Greatest Show on Earth” comes at a critical time: systematic opposition to the fact of evolution is now flourishing as never before, especially in America. In Britain & elsewhere in the world, teachers witness insidious attempts to undermine the status of science in their classrooms. Richard Dawkins provides unequivocal evidence that boldly & comprehensively rebuts such nonsense. At the same time he shares with us his palpable love of the natural world & the essential role that science plays in its interpretation. Written with elegance, wit & passion, it is hard-hitting, absorbing & totally convincing. ...