Garden visiting has never been more popular but not many of us understand what we are looking at when strolling through a beautiful garden
- are we looking at an original landscaped sit or a re-creation? Is the planting matter authentic or made up of modern hybrids? Are the steps & terracing in the Italianate style or are they Arts & Crafts? The truth is that most gardens of any age are like a palimpsest: successive generations have changed & influenced the soft & hard fabric of the place over time. Inevitably many of the gardens we wander through today are an amalgam of changing fashions & circumstance. How to Read Gardens provides the reader with all the knowledge he or she needs to tease out the clues that will tell the complete story of a garden`s past. From the grandest estate to the smallest suburban plot, this book will enliven & inform every visit.
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How to Read Houses is an insider`s guide to recognising & appreciating the diversity of domestic architecture that reflects the location, the fashion & the technological savoir-faire of the age
- from Tudor timber-frames to the truly unconventional. Houses are arranged by period & style, including Renaissance, Neoclassical, Arts & Crafts, Modernist & many more besides. Featured houses range from Sutton House in London to Port Sunlight in Merseyside; from St Fagans in Cardiff to Hill House in Glasgow. Compact enough to travel with you, yet comprehensive enough to provide real answers, with real examples, this handy reference guide:
- provides an understanding of the architectural vocabulary along with the visual clues that identify any house style & its historical context
- enhances the appreciation of visits to landmark houses & lays the foundations for an architectural exploration of your own home or area
- explores the main architectural styles, as well as the materials & components of a house through beautifully rendered illustrations, photographs of classic examples & the words of a friendly expert.



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What makes a work of literature good or bad? How freely can the reader interpret it? Could a nursery rhyme like Baa Baa Black Sheep be full of concealed loathing, resentment, & aggression? In this accessible, delightfully entertaining book, Terry Eagleton addresses these intriguing questions & a host of others. ” How to Read Literature” is the book of choice for students new to the study of literature & for all other readers interested in deepening their understanding & enriching their reading experience. In a series of brilliant analyses, Eagleton shows how to read with due attention to tone, rhythm, texture, syntax, allusion, ambiguity, & other formal aspects of literary works. He also examines broader questions of character, plot, narrative, the creative imagination, the meaning of fictionality, & the tension between what works of literature say & what they show. Unfailingly authoritative & cheerfully opinionated, the author provides useful commentaries on classicism, Romanticism, modernism, & postmodernism along with spellbinding insights into a huge range of authors, from Shakespeare & Jane Austen to Samuel Beckett & J. K. Rowling. ...

Over 2, 000 years of settlement give London its unique architectural heritage. Unlike Haussmann’s Paris, neither monarch nor politician imposed their will; private ownership & enterprise shaped the city & defined its parts. Elegant West End squares & crescents hallmark the Classical townscape that emerged between 1600 & 1830, but medieval, Tudor & Victorian enclaves identified by occupation, class or guild make their own design statement, notably in the City & East End. From its renewal after the Great Fire of 1666 as a centre of commerce, culture, finance & as a railway hub, the seat of power & law, How to Read London reveals through the built environment how London’s domestic, civic & commercial landscape has evolved & adapted from imperial capital to global city. ...

How To Read Maps by World Explorers is a great book that will teach children how to read, understand & make maps. With the help of lively, engaging text, colourful imagery, fact boxes & activity suggestions that will introduce children to cartographic terminology. Also included is a giant 88x 52cm world map with colourful illustrations showing animals & sights that can also be a poster. Suitable for children aged eight & over. ...

How to Read New York uncovers & illuminates the rich architectural language of one of the world`s truly great cities, from its celebrated skyscrapers to its lesser-known treasures. Charting both the key technical developments & aesthetic movements that have influenced architecture in the Big Apple, this accessible guide. ...

How to Read Paris is a pocket-sized guide to understanding & appreciating the architecture of Paris. Packed with detailed drawings, plans & photographs, & covering squares, bridges, streets & monuments as well as buildings, it is both a fascinating architectural history & an effective I-spy guide
- a must-read for anyone with an interest in this fascinating & beautiful city. Compact enough to carry in your pocket yet serious enough to impart a real understanding, this handy reference guide.
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`I want to imbue the reader with the same sense of awe & wonder that overtakes me when I stand & look at something that was created on our own soil maybe 5, 000 years ago I want to bring history alive in people`s minds & make it as fascinating for them as it is for me.` Alan Butler How to Read Prehistoric Monuments offers the best possible insight into the massive range of earthworks, henges & standing stones whose founding predates written history. Describing what monuments you can find in the British Isles & where specifically they can be found, the book explains as much as is known about the structures & why they were created as well as offering readers additional information about specific sites which are either especially interesting or especially spectacular. The main body of the book comprises of an A-Z section which details all the prehistoric site types in the British Isles & explains what they are
- for example, ` Long Barrows`, ` Standing Stones` & ` Fugues`. The book offers examples of where some of the structures in question can be found, with longitudes & latitudes so that the sites can be found either on a map or on a search engine like Google Earth. The book

Includes:: profiles of a number of the sites which have particular interest to the tourist & amateur historian.


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Jonas, fresh from a failed marriage, is desperate to make sense of the ties that have forged him. How can he dream of a future when he can`t make sense of his past? He hits the road, tracing the route that his parents
- young Ethiopians in search of an identity as an American couple
- took thirty year earlier to Nashville, Tennessee. In a stunning display of imagination he weaves together a history that takes him from the war-torn Ethiopia of his parents` youth to a brighter vision of his own life in contemporary America, a story
- real or invented- that holds the possibility of reconciliation & redemption.


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Interest in the environment has never been greater & yet most of us have little knowledge about the 4 billion years of history that formed it. This book explains the principles of geology, geography & geomorphology, & shows how a basic understanding of geological timescales, plate tectonics & landforms can help you `read` the great outdoors. This is a highly illustrated book with a very accessible text that clearly illuminates the landscape around us. ...