Originally composed for the Samanid princes of Khorasan in the 10th century, Shahnameh is one of the most important pieces of Persian literature. This prodigious narrative tells the story of pre-Islamic Iran, beginning in the mythic time of Creation & continuing forward to the Arab invasion in the seventh century. The sweep & psychological depth of the Shahnameh is nothing less than magnificent. Now one of the greast translators of Persian poetry, Dick Davis, presents Ferdowsi's masterpiece in an elegant combination of prose & verse. ...

The Shahnameh is a collection of stories & myths from ancient Iran, filled with kings, heroes, princesses, magical animals & demons. Written as an epic poem by the poet Ferdowsi in the 10th century, it is one of the great classics of Persian literature. The tales include the Simurgh, the giant bird who brings up an orphaned king in her nest on a craggy rock, wicked King Zahhak with his man-eating snakes, & above all the story of the great hero Rustam & his son Sohrab. Elizabeth Laird is passionate about bringing this great epic poem to the children of western cultures, as well as retelling it for Iranian children living in the West. ...

Dick Davis, ”our pre-eminent translator from the Persian” (Washington Post) has revised & expanded his highly-praised translation of Ferdowsi`s masterpiece, including more than 100 pages of newly translated text. Davis`s elegant combination of prose & verse allows the poetry of the Shanameh to sing its own tales directly, interspersed sparingly with clearly-marked explanations to ease along modern readers. Among the greatest works of world literature, this prodigious narrative, composed by the poet Ferdowsi in the late tenth century, tells the story of pre-Islamic Iran, beginning in the mythic time of creation & continuing forward to the Arab invasion in the seventh century. ...

A few years ago Carli Davidson was just another young photographer. To make money she worked as a zookeeper; & because she is a fervent animal activist, she volunteered at animal rescues. In 2010 she purchased a high-speed shutter camera & had the idea of combining her two passions. She began photographing the rescue dogs in mid-motion, pausing them at a thirteen-thousandth of a second. She called the project Shake & posted a few pictures on Facebook. They quickly spread virally, reposted over & over. In 2011 a Shake photo was featured in Photo District News, the award-winning magazine for the professional photography industry, & won the prestigious ` Best Photo` award. Photographers were instantly impressed. By the third quarter of 2011, Carli`s website was getting 30, 000 hits a month. She only had a few Shake photos up, but everybody wanted to see them. Then the `big publications` began to write about her: Huffington Post, New York Times, Vanity Fair Italy, to name just a few. In a 90-day period her site spiked to 8.5 million views. People were visiting the site from all over the world & the fan letters came pouring in. Shake is the answer to the fan requests Carli received over & over again. Everybody wanted more Shake photos. One hundred dangerously adorable models posed for the book. Sixty-five of them, including the likes of Scooby the Rottweiler, Greta the Shi Tzu, Twinkie the Jack Russell Terrier, & the famous, mixed-breed Ramen Noodle were selected. Two photographs of each dogs are featured side-by-side in the book to caption the motion of their shakes. One photo shows the dog beginning to turn; the other shows its wild hair & fabulous facial expression mid-twist. Many of the dogs are shaking off water; that is captured in the photographs too. The New York Times said it well when they described Carli`s work as a ”hilarious portrayal of flying fur, flopping jowls, & bulging eyes.” Shake will feature an introduction by Carli explaining the inspiration behind the project & her experience shooting the dogs. This will be followed by her spectacular photography of each dog shaking. The back of the book will feature each dog in a non-shaking pose, with name, breed mixes, & personality traits from their owners & the rescues. National publications such as National Geographic, Rolling Stone, People, Discovery, & Huffington Post have already expressed interest in featuring the book. Nikon Camera is also a staunch supporter of Carli. They gave her the camera she used to shoot the photos in the book. She is a favorite of their European headquarters, particularly their UK office, & was asked to shoot the Olympics for them. Three of her Shake photos are in a press-kit they sent out about her that went to journalists at magazines in 33 countries. ...

When Lieutenant General Romeo Dallaire received the call to serve as force commander of the UN mission to Rwanda, he thought he was heading off to Africa to help two warring parties achieve a peace both sides wanted. Instead, he & members of his small international force were caught up in a vortex of civil war & genocide. Dallaire left Rwanda a broken man; disillusioned, suicidal, & determined to tell his story. An award-winning international sensation, Shake Hands with the Devil is a landmark contribution to the literature of war: a remarkable tale of a soldier`s courage & an unforgettable portrait of modern warfare. It is also a stinging indictment of the petty bureaucrats who refused to give Dallaire the men & the operational freedom he needed to stop the killing. `I know there is a God, ` Dallaire writes, `because in Rwanda I shook hands with the devil. I have seen him, I have smelled him & I have touched him. I know the devil exists & therefore I know there is a God.` ...

Long before he was one of America`s leading yachting writers, Nigel Calder was a novice cruiser with ambitions grander than his experience. Nigel & his partner Terrie were young & foolish, with a home-built boat that was new & untested, one child already & another on the way
- but they were determined to complete an adventurous 18-month voyage from New Orleans to Venezuela & back. It was the voyage that made Calder the yachtsman he is today, a marvellous romp through the West Indies, seeing an unspoilt Caribbean, while learning hard-won lessons from direct experience
- troubleshooting engines, kedging off shoals & reefs, & most importantly navigating Nada, a yacht that quickly became very much part of the burgeoning Calder family too. An adventure story & a colourful travelogue in one, Shakedown Cruise is a must-read for all who are curious about what it takes to become a cruising sailor or create an adventurous life, as well as those who are just looking to sail along with Nigel & his family.

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In this lively collection, wine snobs receive their comeuppance at the hands of Roald Dahl & Edgar Allan Poe; innocents over-imbibe in tales by Jack London & Alice Munro; riotous partying exacts a comic price in stories by P. G. Wodehouse & Kingsley Amis; Charles Jackson & Jean Rhys chronicle liquor-soaked epiphanies; while John Cheever, Vladimir Nabokov & Robert Coover set their characters afloat on surreal, soul-revealing adventures. Here, too, are well-lubricated tales by Dickens, Twain, Beckett, Colette, Dorothy Parker, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Doris Lessing, Frank O` Connor, Penelope Lively, & many more. The settings include hotels & restaurants, a wine cellar in Italy, a cafe in Paris, a bar in Dublin, a New York nightclub, Jazz Age speakeasies, suburban lawn parties & the occasional gaol cell, & are peopled by lovers & loners, barmen & chorus girls, youths taking their first sips & experienced tipplers nursing hangovers. Whether living it up or drowning their sorrows, the vividly drawn characters in these sparkling pages will leave you shaken & stirred. ...

This exciting new series of heritage tourist guides from Batsford gives an authentic flavour of the history of London & wiill ...

Bill Bryson’s Shakespeare is the travel writer’s biography of England’s most renowned dramatist & poet
- William Shakespeare. Bringing
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Learn about amazing & extraordinary aspects of Shakespeare’s life, work & legacy in this collection of stories & trivia. From the intrigues of Shakespeare’s own lifetime & that of his contemporaries, to the mysteries of the greatest memorials to the bard & his remarkable legacy in the arts & language. Published to coincide with the 400th Anniversary of Shakespeare’s death on April 23rd 2016. ...