The Terracotta Army of Qin Shihuangdi, the First Emperor of China, is one of the most spectacular & best-known finds in world archaeology. It was discovered by surprise in 1974 by peasants digging a well, an 8, 000-man garrison in battle-ready formation, spread across four pits. Here were life-size warriors made over two thousand years ago from fired clay (originally brightly painted), carrying real weapons: cavalry, archers & infantry; lowly foot soldiers & high-ranking officers; horses & war chariots. But who was this powerful Emperor of the Qin Dynasty who needed an army to guard him in the afterlife? How were the figures made? How could they have been manufactured on such a vast scale? The astonishing facts behind the figures are revealed in this little book's fascinating introduction. Individual pieces are then examined in detail to illustrate the amazing nature of the Terracotta Army. Not only are there figures of different ranks & units, but each head is unique: every racial group in China seems to be represented; facial expressions & hairstyles vary; ages & characters are different. Atmospheric photography & extended captions bring the Army to life & make this book a perfect introduction to what has often been described as the eighth Wonder of the World. ...

Eight people take part in an ecological experiment in 1990s Arizona. Inspired by real events, The Terranauts places human behaviour under the microscope to spellbinding effect Linda is desperate to be one of the lucky eight chosen to take part in the world`s most ambitious ecological experiment. She knows that she can survive for two years under the glass dome of Ecosphere II, set in the Arizona desert. Competition is fierce between the hopefuls, among them smooth-talking PR man Ramsay, & Dawn, a na� ve beauty. Inside the humid microcosm, the terranauts` labours over crops & livestock, their battles with creepy crawlies, their hostilities & sexual dalliances are all observed by tourists who come to gawp, Mission Control`s cameras & the watchful eye of the media. As they struggle to control nature, & hunger sets in, the snake in this Eden starts to look unmistakably human. ...

Maxwell Sim seems to have hit rock bottom: separated from his wife & daughter, estranged from his father, & with no one to confide in even though he has 74 friends on Facebook. He's not even sure whether he's got a job until suddenly a strange business proposition comes his way which involves a long journey to the Shetland Isles
- & a voyage into his family's past which throws up some surprising revelations. Jonathan Coe's new book is a story for our times: Maxwell finds himself at sea in the modern world, surrounded by social networks but unable to relate properly to anyone. Yet as he delves into his family history he manages to find the resources to survive.
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Charming, hilarious & super-inventive comic strip adventures from Gary Northfield, creator of ” Derek the Sheep”. Is it possible to fly to the moon in a bubble of snot? Can you really have an argument with a cloud? Are there bogey monsters at the bottom of the garden? All these questions & more are explored in an hysterical & charming collection of comic strip adventures, following a teeny tiny gang of dinosaurs as they wind each other up & muddle their way through the myths & mysteries of prehistoric life. It offers seven short & entertaining stories that will engage young girls & boys. The book combines storytelling with fun games, laugh-out-loud gags & unforgettable comic book characters. ” Beano” whizz Gary Northfield is creating comics at the very height of his powers & this book is an absolute must-have for all the family. ...

A brilliantly interactive book that makes times tables fun! Lift the flaps & pull the tabs to learn all the times tables up to twelve. Join Noah as he counts the animals into the ark, help an octopus work out how many shoes she has & find the secret times tables hidden in the sweet factory. ...

The French Revolution marks the foundation of the modern political world. It was in the crucible of the Revolution that the political forces of conservatism, liberalism & socialism began to find their modern form, & it was the Revolution that first asserted the claims of universal individual rights, on which our current understandings of citizenship are based. But the Terror was, as much as anything else, a civil war, & such wars are always both brutal & complex. The guillotine in Paris claimed some 1, 500 official victims, but executions of captured counter-revolutionary rebels ran into the tens of thousands, & deaths in the areas of greatest conflict probably ran into six figures, with indiscriminate massacres being perpetrated by both sides. The story of the Terror is a story of grand political pronouncements, uprisings & insurrections, but also a story of survival against hunger, persecution & bewildering ideological demands, a story of how a state, even with the noblest of intentions, can turn on its people & almost crush them. ...

In less than an hour, Sean has a meeting with a mestizo gangster. On the other side of town, Rosa listens for her husband`s car, & thirteen-year-old Vincente is watching for the man who pays money for street-kids` dreams. Tonight, these disparate lives will violently collide... ...

This is shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2013. Colm Toibin`s The Testament of Mary is the moving story of the Virgin Mary, told by a novelist famous for writing brilliantly about the family. From the author of Brooklyn, in a voice that is both tender & filled with rage, The Testament of Mary tells the story of a cataclysmic event which led to an overpowering grief. For Mary, her son has been lost to the world, & now, living in exile & in fear, she tries to piece together the memories of the events that led to her son`s brutal death. To her he was a vulnerable figure, surrounded by men who could not be trusted, living in a time of turmoil & change. As her life & her suffering begin to acquire the resonance of myth, Mary struggles to break the silence surrounding what she knows to have happened. In her effort to tell the truth in all its gnarled complexity, she slowly emerges as a figure of immense moral stature as well as a woman from history rendered now as fully human. Praise for The Testament of Mary: ” This is a short book, but it is as dense as a diamond. It is as tragic as a Spanish pieta, but it is completely heretical... Toibin maintains all the dignity of Mary without subscribing to the myths that have accumulated around her”. (Edmund White, Irish Times). ” Depicting the harrowing losses & evasions that can go on between mothers & sons... Toibin creates a reversed Pieta: he holds the mother in his arms”. (Independent). ”A beautiful & daring work.. .it takes its power from the surprise of its language, its almost shocking characterization”. (Mary Gordon, New York Times). Colm Toibin was born in Ireland in 1955. He is the author of six novels, including The Blackwater Lightship, The Master, both of which were shortlisted for the Booker Prize, & Brooklyn, which won the Costa Novel Award, & two collections of stories, Mothers & Sons & The Empty Family. ...

Thailand & Thai culture are exotic. In spite of the effects of mass tourism & globalization, Thailand is unusual in that it preserves much of its unique traditional culture very largely intact. This compelling collection of articles aims to highlight facets of Thai life, aspects that are in most cases readily seen & yet defining in their own way of the ` Thainess` that indelibly stamps the culture of a country & a people so fascinating &, ultimately, so endearing. The articles are grouped by themes covering The Buddhist World; The Supernatural World; The Ceremonial World; The Festive World; The Natural World; The Art World; The Sporting World & The Changing World. They reflect the author`s long fascination with the country
- he has lived there since 1979
- for him it is the unexpected that underscores precisely what the city & Thai culture as a whole is all about
- the ability to constantly surprise, to offer fresh encounters
- as this fascinating book gradually reveals.



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