We think the way we do because Socrates thought the way he did. His aphorism ' The unexamined life is not worth living' may have originated twenty-five centuries ago, but it is a founding principle of modern life. Socrates lived & contributed to a city that nurtured key ingredients of contemporary civilisation
- democracy, liberty, science, drama, rational thought
- yet, as he wrote nothing in his lifetime, he himself is an enigmatic figure. The Hemlock Cup gives Socrates the biography he deserves, setting him in the context of the Eastern Mediterranean that was his home, & dealing with him as he himself dealt with the world. Socrates was a soldier, a lover, a man of the people. He philosophised neither in grand educational establishments nor the courts of kings but in the squares & public arenas of Golden Age Athens. He lived through an age of extraordinary materialism, in which a democratic culture turned to the glorification of its own city; when war was declared under the banner of democracy; &, when tolerance turned into intimidation on streets once populated by the likes of Euripides, Sophocles & Pericles. For seventy years he was a vigorous citizen of one of the greatest capitals on earth, but then his beloved Athens turned on him, condemning him to death by poison. Socrates' pursuit of personal liberty is a vibrant story that Athens did not want us to hear, but which must be told. Bettany Hughes has painstakingly pieced together Socrates' life, following in his footsteps across Greece & Asia Minor, & examining the new archaeological discoveries that shed light on his world. In The Hemlock Cup she reveals the human heart of the man, & relates a story that is as relevant now as it has ever been.

...

We think the way we do because Socrates thought the way he did. His aphorism ` The unexamined life is not worth living` may have originated twenty-five centuries ago, but it is a founding principle of modern life. For seventy years Socrates was a vigorous citizen of Golden Age Athens, philosophising in the squares & public arenas rather than in the courts of kings, before his beloved city turned on him, condemning him to death by poison. Socrates lived in & contributed to a city that nurtured key ingredients of contemporary civilisation
- democracy, liberty, science, drama, rational thought
- yet, as he wrote almost nothing down, he himself is an enigmatic figure. In The Hemlock Cup, acclaimed historian Bettany Hughes gives Socrates the biography he deserves, painstakingly piecing together Socrates` life & using fresh evidence to get closer to the man who asked `how should we live?`
- a question as relevant now as it has ever been.


...

An acknowledged classic of narrative nature-writing, Donald Watson`s The Hen Harrier was the culmination of a lifetime`s study of this beautiful upland bird. A gentle, warm & wonderfully written book, The Hen Harrier stems from an age of `amateur` conservation, from the pen of a man who cared deeply about birds & their habitats, especially of the Scottish borders where he conducted much of his research & painting. The book was among the last of a dying breed; it would be thirty years or more before writing on our natural history would again reach the heights of accessibility to nature-lovers exemplified by Donald Watson & his peers. The book starts with Watson setting down more or less everything known about harriers
- which at that time often consisted of information sent by letter to the author, rather than published in a journal
- before moving on to the story of Watson`s years studying nests in the south-west of Scotl&. With a foreword by conservation champion Mark Avery, this edition of Watson`s greatest work is particularly timely. The conflict between grouse-shooting interests, which has overseen the virtual extinction of the harrier as a breeding bird in England through illegal persecution, & an increasingly vocal conservationist lobby is the number one conservation issue in Britain today. Donald Watson`s narrative soars like a sky-dancing harrier throughout this book. Read it, & be taken back to a simpler age of nature conservation by a true master of the art.

...

This is the practical, plot-to-plate guide to growing & cooking with herbs. From basil to vervain, ” The Cook`s Herb Garden” will teach you everything you need to know about nurturing, harvesting & cooking with herbs. Delve into this little book to find notes on herb flavours, the best growing conditions, storage & how to use them in the kitchen. There are inspirational planting schemes for window boxes & pots including Mediterranean, everyday essentials & salad herbs & a photographic catalogue of more than 130 culinary herbs. Packed with more than 70 delicious recipes for rubs & marinades, sauces & salsas, flavoured butters, cordials, syrups, teas & tisanes, plus charts on best herb-with-food flavour combinations, ” The Cook`s Herb Garden” is the perfect herb guide for any cook. ...

The famous Hereford world map, the ' Mappa Mundi', dates from around 1300, & was painted on one skin of calf-parchment, less than 1 mm thick & measuring about 130 cm square. When we read of its frequent ordeals, we may marvel that it is still in good condition & can be examined. Yet, it is by no means the oldest surviving mappamundi, nor was it the largest: the Ebstorf map (destroyed by bombing in 1943) was of similar age & almost three times bigger. Mappaemundi may be square or round, large or small, extremely simple or amazingly complex. Their geography is unfamiliar & many of their fauna are grotesque. Their importance is enormous: for their encyclopaedic ambition, for their place in devotional & romanesque iconography & for their attempts to document contemporary world views. In setting the Hereford world map in context, P.D.A. Harvey & his twenty-four collaborators introduce us to medieval ideas of the world & man's place in it in ways that will excite historians, geographers, students of art history, theologians, & anyone interested in the medieval world view. ...

Ruta de l` Ermità, the Hermitage Trail in the Catalan Pyrenees on a contoured GPS compatible map at 1:25, 000 from Editorial Alpina which highlights alternatives for the hiking (105km), mountain bike (168km) & horse riding (120km) variants of the route. The map has contours at 10m intervals with relief shading & colouring to indicate vegetation. The course of the trail is highlighted in different colours for the hiking, mountain bike & horse riding alternatives. Also marked are other waymarked long-distance & local hiking trails. Symbols indicate hermitages & accommodation facilities along the route, as well as various types of accommodation possibilities in other locations on the map, including campsites & youth hostels, restaurants, shops with local handicrafts or food, equestrian centres, petrol stations & car parks, interesting natural sites, etc. The map has a 1-km UTM grid. Map legend

Includes:: English. The accompanying booklet, in CATALAN only, provides details of accommodation along the route, suggested stages, & other information about the area. To see the list of all the maps from Editorial Alpina covering long-distance hiking routes please click on the series link.

...

Tolkien`s Middle-earth has endured cataclysmic wars & critical battles, causing great men & women to arise & shape the course of its history. In his latest book, best-selling author & Tolkien expert David Day examines the complexities surrounding Tolkien`s portrayal of good & evil, analysing the most celebrated heroes from the creation of the world of Arda until the end of the War of the Rings. This work is unofficial & is not authorized by the Tolkien Estate or Harper Collins Publishers. ...

The Heroes` Welcome is the incandescent sequel to the bestselling R&J pick My Dear, I Wanted to Tell You. Its evocation of a time deeply wounded by the pain of WW1 will capture & beguile readers fresh to Louisa Young`s wonderful writing, & those previously enthralled by the stories of Nadine & Riley, Rose, Peter & Julia. LONDON, 1919 Two couples, both in love, both in tatters, come home to a changed world. When childhood sweethearts Riley & Nadine marry, it is a blessing on the peace that now reigns. But the newlyweds & their old friends Peter & Julia Locke wear the ravages of the Great War in very different ways. Where Nadine & Riley do their best to forge ahead & muster hope, Peter retreats into drink & nightmares, unable to bear the domestic life for which Julia pines. ...

` Exquisite... a classic tour de force` The New York Times ` It struggled to keep itself aloft, to gain height. But then it suddenly gave up, & dropped as though it were breaking into many pieces` Early on a cold Sunday morning, forty-five-year-old Edgardo Limentani gets up to join a shooting party in the countryside surrounding the town of Ferrara. As the day passes, he contemplates his past, his disappointments & how he has got here. Like the birds he shoots, he realizes, he is trapped, broken, waiting alone for the final coup de grace. Then he sees a way out. The fifth book in Bassani`s Novel of Ferrara sequence, & his final novel, The Heron is a taut, poignant portrait of a middle-aged man`s reckoning with his life. ...

The 195 mile trail covers a large part of this beautiful, populous & rich county, incidentally one of the smallest counties in Engl&, only 634 square miles. It is a county of rich contrasts. In the north-east there are wide open panoramas over low hills & farm lands as seen in the area around Barkway. Standing on Therfield Heath you can look down on to the flat plains of Cambridgeshire. Then in the south west there are the steep wooded escarpments of the Chilterns. The route visits ancient market towns, the Cathedral City of St Albans & countless picture postcard villages nestling in an intimate landscape of farmland & woods. In 1801 Hertfordshire had a population of about 100, 000; now it is well over one million. It has never been a heavily industrialised area but it has seen its own industrial changes from malting & brewing, plaiting of straw for hats, paper making, industries associated with wool such as fulling (cleaning the woven cloth) & silk mills. Today technical industries & service industries dominate the industrial scene.A good introduction to the county, & how it developed from pre-history can be found in ” The Hertfordshire Landscape” by Munby (1977) & ” Hertfordshire, a Landscape History” by Rowe & Williamson (2013). People have settled the area since prehistoric times. Along the very ancient Icknield Way there is evidence of many waves of people. On Therfield Heath (see Leg 1) there is a long barrow of the Neolithic Age (2500 BC) & round barrows of the Bronze Age (1000 BC). There is evidence of the Beaker People in Hertfordshire. The hill forts of the Iron Age settlers gave way at the height of their power to the might of the Roman invasion. Many Roman roads go through Hertfordshire, e.g. Ermine Street & Watling Street, & our walk crosses the remains of the Roman town of Verulamium (St Albans). In the Dark Ages Hertfordshire was part of the shifting boundary between the English settlers (Angles & Saxons) & the later invaders, the Vikings. It was a long & turbulent time before the country became united. A good novel, which covers this period, is the ” Conscience of the King” by Alfred Duggan. In the Medieval period the great abbeys were founded & one can still be seen in St Albans (see Legs 4 & 5). Many fine Medieval churches can be seen on this walk & short detours will be worth your while to seek out some of these (unfortunately due to the presence of valuable historic items most country churches are now locked on weekdays). During the 16th to 18th centuries many country estates were established in Hertfordshire e.g. Hatfield House, Knebworth House & Ashridge House. Some of the houses have not survived but our walk will take you through parkl&, which reminds the walker of those estates. Walkers passing through Ayot St Lawrence will be going through such parkland & Ashridge still has its great house. It was first a monastery, then a great house, now a management college. The growth of London & the coming of industry saw some rapid development in the county in the 19th & 20th centuries. An example of this development was the Ovaltine factory at Kings Langley with the model farm to feed its need for eggs & milk. The factory & farms are all now sadly gone (see Legs 7 & 8). No major rivers flow through the county, however it is still famous for the large number of chalk streams & their associated wildlife (the River Lee or Lea, a tributary of the Thames has its source just north of Luton, flows though the county & is navigable up to Hertford). The Grand Union Canal passes through our county on its way north west (see Leg 7). The railways opened up Hertfordshire for industry & settlement & such towns as Hemel Hempstead & Watford grew from several hundred people to 80, 000 plus. Many of the great road routes, which fan out from London (such as the A1, A5, A6, A10 & M1) pass through our county. Finally we saw the first garden cities (Letchworth & Welwyn Garde ...