Every Thursday morning in a living room in Iran, over tea & pastries, eight women meet in secret to discuss forbidden works of Western literature. As they lose themselves in the worlds of Lolita, The Great Gatsby & Pride & Prejudice, gradually they come to share their own stories, dreams & hopes with each other, &, for a few hours, taste freedom. Azar Nafisi`s bestselling memoir is a moving, passionate testament to the transformative power of books, the magic of words & the search for beauty in life`s darkest moments. ...

Presented here for the first time is a compendium of one hundred hieroglyphs that are also building blocks of ancient Maya painting & sculpture. Organized thematically, the symbols touch on many facets of the Maya world, from the natural environment animals, plants, the heavens to the metaphysical landscape of gods, myths & rituals. Using over five hundred line drawings & photographs, Andrea Stone & Marc Zender show how to identify these signs, understand their meaning, & appreciate the novel ways they appear in art. In addition to providing a clear & accessible introduction to Maya art, linguistics & writing, the authors also offer many new & exciting interpretations. Lavishly illustrated, fully cross-referenced & indexed, this remarkable & innovative guide will prove an invaluable tool for those wishing to see Maya art, perhaps for the first time, through the eyes of ancient scribes & artists. ...

” Reading on Location” is a country-by-country guide to the regions & cities made famous by both well-known & cult books. From the quintessential English city of Bath, featured in Jane Austen`s ” Persuasion” to the South India of Arundhati Roy`s ” The God of Small Things” & the Amazon of Mario Vargas Llosa`s ” La Casa Verde”, this book is aimed at those who want to learn more about a potential destination, follow in the footsteps of a favourite character from a novel & get to know a destination through the eyes of a celebrated author. Reading a story or piece about a city can introduce a stranger to the heart of that location, just as visiting the area where a favourite novel is set can bring the words to life. Whether it`s visiting a restaurant featured in American Psycho or experiencing an event such as the running with the bulls in Pamplona through the eyes of Ernest Hemingway, ” Reading on Location” will allow readers & travellers to get the most from their trips. ...

Laminated waterproof edition of a detailed topographic map of Reading from the Ordnance Survey Explorer series, covering Wokingham & Pangbourne (showing part of the Thames Path). Edition A3; Publication date August 2011 About this series: These highly detailed maps show all the administrative boundaries, settlements as small as isolated farms, the road network down to unfenced roads & country tracks, & field boundaries (hedges & drystone walls) which make navigation across the countryside much easier. Steep gradients on roads are indicated. Various landmarks, e.g. powerlines, archaeological sites, windmills, churches & lighthouses are shown & additional graphics indicate natural terrain features such as cliffs, scree, mud & vegetation variations. The contour interval is 5 metres in the lower parts of the country & 10 metres in the uplands, & spot heights are marked. Each map covers an area of 30 x 20km (i.e. approx. 19 x 12 miles), with some double-sided maps covering more, as indicated in the individual descriptions. The maps are fully GPS compatible, with the National Grid shown at 1km intervals & latitude & longitude indicated by margin ticks at 1'. The Explorer series has replaced the earlier, green-cover Pathfinder maps. The Explorer series is now complete & covers all of Engl&, Wales & Scotl&. Some sheets for popular areas like the National Parks are still branded as Outdoor Leisure (OL) maps, but are now included in this series as the cartography is the same as that in the Explorer Maps. The Explorer maps offer a substantial improvement on the Pathfinder series, with greater use of colour, larger area per map, & stronger emphasis on information for ramblers & tourists. This series is ideal for walking & other outdoor pursuits & each map shows a large amount of information for ramblers & tourists. Public rights of way are shown (except in Scotland), together with other routes with public access: National Trails & Recreational Paths, permitted paths & bridleways, & selected cycle routes. Open access land created under the Countryside & Rights of Way Act 2000 is marked. Tourist information

Includes:: caravan & camp sites, Park & Ride locations, recreation/leisure/sport centres, museums, historic buildings, English Heritage & National Trust sites, rural pubs, etc. The map legend is in English only, except for the tourist information content which is also in French & German.

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Reading Palestine: a Literary Guide looks without prejudice at Israel-Palestine through the eyes of writers from biblical times to the present day, allowing the region to come alive through the pens of such diverse personalities as Napoleon Bonaparte, Gustave Flaubert, Lord Curzon, T. E. Lawrence, Sacheverell Sitwell, Linda Grant & Howard Jacobson. With thematic introductions & explanatory notes, the selection

Includes:: Jewish, Christian, Muslim & secular writings as well as the contrasting narratives of Israeli & Palestinian identity. Before the creation of the nation state, the area was regarded as the Holy Land by all faiths. It was a part of the Ottoman Empire until 1917, then was Mandated to Britain after the First World War. After contradictory promises were made to Arabs & Jews alike, the region has since been disputed in one of the world's longest-running & internationally explosive disputes. This book encompasses the intellectual & social

Dimensions of the conflict, including the foundations of Zionism & the modern growth of Palestinian culture. But it also looks way beyond the conflict to look at fiction, poetry, costume & family life. From the architect of Zionism Theodor Herzl to modern Palestinian thinkers such as Edward Said, it explores opposite viewpoints & national loyalties. In works of the imagination it

Includes:: the writing of myriad & sometimes unexpected authors such as Mark Twain, Noel Coward, Mahatma Gandhi & Winston Churchill. Much more than another account of the conflict, this book gives voice to both Israeli & Palestinian writers as well as those from outside the region. It considers Palestine's long & much-mythologized history, its landscapes & cities & the way in which it has inspired generations of writers, artists & thinkers.





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Reading coloured street map at 1: 18, 103 from Geographers' A-Z Map Company covers an area extending to Purely on Thames & Tokers Green to the North, Sulham to the west & Hurst & Whitley Wood to the east & south respectively. The plan shows A & B roads annotated with selected house numbers for easier identification of addresses. One way traffic, restricted access, pedestrianized streets, junction names, selected car parks & cycleway are marked. Railway & railway stations are shown with names. Colouring and/or symbols indicate public building, services & facilities, including shopping centres or market streets, industrial buildings, hospitals or healthcare, educational establishments, etc. Public toilets are marked, indicating those with facilities for the disabled. The map also shows local authority & postcode boundaries, plus safety camera locations with their maximum speed limit & national grid lines. The index printed on the reverse, lists streets, selected flats, walkways & places of interest, junction, place & area names, National Rail stations, hospitals & hospices covered by this map. This is the 2010 edition of this map. ...

Wouldn`t it be useful to be able to accurately predict the weather simply by reading the clouds? Well, with this book, you can! TV forecasts, online predictions & smartphone apps are all based on the same data
- a number-crunched overview of how air pressure & temperature affect the weather across a large geographical area. But to get an idea of how the weather will develop for the precise spot where you`re standing (or walking, sailing, golfing, fishing, etc) you don`t need any equipment or a wifi connection
- you just need to look up. This book will give you a broad understanding of why the clouds are symptoms of weather patterns, not causes. By reading these signs in the sky & referring to the explanatory colour photographs, you will discover exactly what those signs mean. An at-a-glance guide to the clouds for anyone anywhere in the world, on land or at sea, this book will enable you to predict the weather by recognising cloud types, shapes, colour & behaviour. It will be an invaluable companion for anyone who enjoys outdoor activities. With a Foreword by Tom Cunliffe.` Well researched
- practical information in an easy to assimilate form`
- Professor Richard Collier, former President of the Royal Meteorological Society` So good that my Yachtmaster candidates would do well to read it. I learned something from this book. I bet you do too`
- Tom Cunliffe, author of The Complete Day Skipper & The Complete Yachtmaster` Absolutely brilliant; a must for anyone who does anything outside & for whom the weather might be important. Everyone, wherever they are in the world, will get something from this book`
- Duncan Wells, author of Stress-Free Sailing & Stress-Free Motorboating





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In the recent past, a working knowledge of the Maya script has been confined to epigraphers, art historians & other specialists. Its very unfamiliarity to the general public, & the daunting aspect of its Approx. 800 signs, have made the system appear more complex & arcane than it really is. Reading the Maya Glyphs is a compact, portable guide to enable students, tourists & armchair travellers to read & understand commonly encountered Classic Maya texts. Topics covered include the nature of the script, the intricate Maya calendar, dynastic & political texts, & every aspect of the natural & supernatural world in which they lived. Written by the world`s leading authority in Maya studies, Michael D. Coe, & illustrated by the drawings of Mark Van Stone, one of America`s outstanding calligraphers, the book presupposes no previous training in Maya epigraphy or archaeology. Whether in the hands of visitors to the great Maya sites of Mexico & Central America or consulted by museum-goers, this guide should enhance their appreciation some of the world`s greatest art & architecture. ...

A SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017A rich & exuberant group biography of the first geologists, the people who were first to excavate from the layers of the world its buried history. These first geologists were made up primarily, & inevitably, of gentlemen with the necessary wealth to support their interests, yet boosting their numbers, expanding their learning & increasing their findings were clergymen, academics
- & women. This lively & eclectic collection of characters brought passion, eccentricity & towering intellect to geology & Brenda Maddox in Reading the Rocks does them full justice, bringing them to vivid life. The new science of geology was pursued by this assorted band because it opened a window on Earth`s ancient past. They showed great courage in facing the conflict between geology & Genesis that immediately presented itself: for the rocks & fossils being dug up showed that the Earth was immeasurably old, rather than springing from a creation made in the six days that the Bible claimed. It is no coincidence that Charles Darwin was a keen geologist. The individual stories of these first geologists, their hope & fears, triumphs & disappointments, the theological, philosophical & scientific debates their findings provoked, & the way that as a group, they were to change irrevocably & dramatically our understanding of the world is told by Brenda Maddox with a storyteller`s skill & a fellow scientist`s understanding. The effect is absorbing, revelatory & strikingly original.
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A rich & exuberant group biography of the first geologists, the people who were first to excavate from the layers of the world its buried history. These first geologists were made up primarily, & inevitably, of gentlemen with the necessary wealth to support their interests, yet boosting their numbers, expanding their learning & increasing their findings were clergymen, academics
- & women. This lively & eclectic collection of characters brought passion, eccentricity & towering intellect to geology & Brenda Maddox in Reading the Rocks does them full justice, bringing them to vivid life. The new science of geology was pursued by this assorted band because it opened a window on Earth`s ancient past. They showed great courage in facing the conflict between geology & Genesis that immediately presented itself: for the rocks & fossils being dug up showed that the Earth was immeasurably old, rather than springing from a creation made in the six days that the Bible claimed. It is no coincidence that Charles Darwin was a keen geologist. The individual stories of these first geologists, their hope & fears, triumphs & disappointments, the theological, philosophical & scientific debates their findings provoked, & the way that as a group, they were to change irrevocably & dramatically our understanding of the world is told by Brenda Maddox with a storyteller`s skill & a fellow scientist`s understanding. The effect is absorbing, revelatory & strikingly original.
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