Mount Athos, the spiritual heart of Eastern Orthodox Monasticism, is perhaps the most sacred & mysterious place in Greece: an autonomous state, where no woman can set foot, which has its own calendar & its own time. This ruggedly beautiful peninsula in Macedonia boasts a history that stretches back to Herodotus & has been a sanctuary from the earliest days of Christianity, through the Byzantine & Ottoman eras, two world wars & up to the present day. In 1927, at the age of 22, Robert Byron journeyed to Athos with his friends & embarked on an adventure whose influence would remain with him for the rest of his life. Through compelling descriptions of the monks of Athos, their daily lives & the treasures held in their monasteries, Byron illuminates an ancient & enigmatic world, long shrouded from the eyes of outsiders. Published nine years before his classic The Road to Oxiana, The Station reveals the roots of a fascination with the Byzantine world that would become refined in Byron`s later writings & establish him as one of the pre-eminent writers of his generation. ...

Comprehensive & engaging, this colourful study covers the whole sweep of ritual history from the earliest written records to the present day. From May Day revels & Midsummer fires, to Harvest Home & Hallowe`en, to the twelve days of Christmas, Ronald Hutton takes us on a fascinating journey through the ritual year in Britain. He challenges many common assumptions about the customs of the past, & debunks many myths surrounding festivals of the present, to illuminate the history of the calendar year we live by today. ...

The book asks why it is that China despite its size & once advanced culture & technology did not become a world power centuries ago? Burman traces the answer through Chinese innate sense of superiority which made foreign conquest & trade an irrelevance. This is about to change with the evolution of what is termed the Stealth Empire characterised by world dominance in the production of consumer goods, a growing share of world manufacturing & a strong sense of nationalism. The Chinese believe that they need to do nothing as they evolve by the middle of the century into the dominant world power. Burman`s book opens a window onto this history & growing sense of national destiny. It will be essential reading for anyone wanting to understand what is going on in the Stealth Empire. ...

Chief Inspector Jensen is a policeman in an unnamed European country where the government has criminalised being drunk, even in private at home, & where the city centres have been demolished to devote more space to gleaming new roads. Recovering in a hospital room abroad after a liver transplant, Jensen receives a note instructing him to return home immediately, but when he reaches the airport he discovers that all flights home have been cancelled & all communication from within his homeland has ceased. One of the last messages sent requested urgent medical help from abroad & when Jensen is piloted across the border it soon becomes clear that an epidemic has ravaged the country. ...

” Guillermo Stein came to school in the middle of the year, arriving on a bicycle. None of us came to school by bicycle.” The Stein Report, a short novel set in the island of Majorca in the 1960s, kicks off with the arrival of a newcomer that will throw things off balance. Curious about him, Stein`s schoolmates will try to unravel the secrets concealed by this enigmatic character-a quest that will lead them to unveil unanswered questions of their own past & catch a fleeting glimpse of the adult world ahead of them. ...

When Steve meets Steve, neither can believe it. Surely one of them must be the first Steve, the best Steve, the Stevest Steve... The claims of each puffin become sillier & sillier as the argument descends into name-calling
- until both Steves realize there`s really no need to fall out over a name. The feuding puffins perfectly reflect the sort of silly arguments children have
- & The Steves shows just how pointless they are. The bold, brilliantly coloured, graphic illustrations will have you laughing out loud in this glorious book from Morag Hood, creator of the hilarious Colin & Lee, Carrot & Pea & I Am Bat.

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At the turn of the twentieth century, Arctic explorer Edward Mackley sets out to reach the North Pole & vanishes into the icy landscape without a trace. He leaves behind a young wife, Emily, who awaits his return for decades, her dreams & devotion gradually freezing into rigid widowhood. A hundred years later, on a sweltering mid-summer`s day, Edward`s great-gr&-niece Julia moves through the old family house, attempting to impose some order on the clutter of inherited belongings & memories from that ill-fated expedition, & taking care to ignore the deepening cracks within her own marriage. But as afternoon turns into evening, Julia makes a discovery that splinters her long-held image of Edward & Emily`s romance, & her husband Simon faces a precipitous choice that will decide the future of their relationship. Sharply observed & deeply engaging, The Still Point is a powerful literary debut, & a moving meditation on the distances
- geographical & emotional
- that can exist between two people.

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Pocket-size, brilliantly colourful, & easy to use, THE STOKES BEGINNER`S GUIDE TO THE BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA contains everything you need to identify & enjoy birds in your backyard & beyond. Whether you`re age 9 or 90, whether you`re a novice or advanced birder, this book will help you identify birds quickly & accurately. It offers more than 580 stunning colour photographs, coverage of more than 250 species, key identification clues, descriptions of songs & calls, notes on feeding & nesting behaviour, advice on selecting bird feeders & binoculars, important behavioural information & key habitat preferences, & up-to-date range maps. The culmination of many years of research, observation, & study, this book is factually, visually, & organisationally superior to any other beginner`s guide on the market. ...

An intimate portrait of a Taiwanese family, a history of the bicycle industry, & a collage of magical, heart-wrenching stories. The Stolen Bicycle has sold over 10, 000 copies in Taiwan! Cheng, a novelist, once wrote a book about his father`s disappearance twenty years ago. One day he receives a reader`s email asking whether his father`s bicycle disappeared as well. Perplexed & amused, Cheng decides to track down the bicycle, which was stolen years ago. The journey takes him to a scavenger`s treasure trove, the mountain home of an aboriginal photographer, deep into the secret world of antique bicycle collectors, & ultimately to his own heart. ...

Marcia Williams brings the Stone Age to life in her much-loved comic strip style. Join Marcia Williams on a journey to the Stone Age. Meet the people of Clan Woolly as they hunt mammoths & reindeer, learn how to make fire, invent stone tools & turn wild wolves into tame dogs! Full of facts, jokes & colourful comic strips, this is the perfect introduction to the Stone Age
- a time before history was even invented!
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