This impressive reference work presents the key works of Renaissance architecture, sculpture & painting through words & pictures & sets them in the context of their exciting times. Renaissance art originated essentially in Italy, from where it spread throughout the whole of Europe. This volume brings the Renaissance to life through countless illustrations & informative text. It comprises a unique overview supplemented by ground plans, drawings & detailed views of artworks & also offers fascinating digressions on the Medici family, the ideal city, garden design, architectural theory, the condottieri & many other topics. It also paints portraits of the leading artistic personalities of the day including Leonardo de Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticellie, Titan, Veronese, & Durer, whose sculptures, buildings, frescoes & paintings continue to exert unique appeal today. ...

Four hundred years ago, Galileo Galilei first used the telescope to gaze at the heavens. In honour of that anniversary, as well as the international year of astronomy, this lavishly illustrated volume celebrates Galileos life & work. Written by internationally renowned BBC science correspondent Dr. David Whitehouse
- the world's most cited science journalist
- Renaissance Genius paints a fascinating portrait of the astronomer. Beautifully written, gorgeously packaged & eminently knowledgeable, it offers a smart alternative to dry, academic studies of the subject. Dr. Whitehouse invites the reader to journey into the world of the Italian Renaissance at a crucial time of change, when science clashed with a church still mired in a medieval mindset. He helps us fully appreciate Galileos revolutionary discoveries & his role in opening up the cosmos to all mankind.

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Sherlock Holmes has retired. After a cruel accident during a fruitless chase for Moriarty, Holmes is maimed badly enough that he declares he will no longer solve the crimes of the London streets. But then a letter comes. A letter imploring him to investigate the Opera Populaire's ghost. The spectre everyone has heard rumours of, only one has seen. ...

Behind the parties & the champagne at the glitzy, glamorous Cannes Film Festival, two very different women are starring in their

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While still outside the orbit of Jupiter, the enigmatic object christened Rama.

A first radar contact at such distance

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What if the only hope you had of defeating your greatest enemy was to bend your knee & swear allegiance to him
- then join his
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An autobiography that presents the author's take on the ups & downs of a band as notorious for its in-house fighting as for its great music; & on a life that has endured prison in America, drugs, bankruptcy, divorce, & the often bleak results of a legendary thirst. ...

The final book in the soldier son trilogy from the author of the Tawny Man & Farseer trilogies, following on from the bestselling Shaman's Crossing & Forest Mage. The people of Getty's town remember the death of their cemetery soldier vividly. They remember believing him guilty of unspeakable crimes, condemning him, & then watching as other men of his unit beat him until he no longer drew breath. But Nevare Burvelle didn't die that day, though everyone believes they saw it happen. He was cornered by a power far more intractable than an angry mob. When he was a boy, the magic of the Specks -- the dapple-skinned tribes of the frontier forests -- claimed Nevare as a saviour; severing his soul in two, naming his stolen half Soldier's Boy & shaping him into a weapon to halt the Gernian expansion into their lands & save their beloved ancestor trees. Until now Nevare has defied the magic, unable to accept his traitorous fate. But the magic has won: it has extinguished his once golden future, devastated his family & has now turned his own people against him. Faced with endangering the only loved-ones he has left, Nevare has no choice but to surrender to its will & enter the forest. But surrendering to his Speck destiny is only the beginning of his trials. Before he submits completely, Nevare makes one desperate last attempt to deter the Gernians from the Barrier Mountains without causing them harm. But the magic accepts no compromise. Exhausted, Nevare can no longer suppress his traitorous Speck self, Soldiers Boy. Losing control, he becomes a prisoner in his own body; able only to watch helplessly as his other half takes Soldier's Boy is determined to stop the Gernian expansion at all cost, & unlike Nevare, he has no love, nor sympathy for his spirit-twin's world. ...

Two long-time friends share an intimate & urgent conversation about life, music & their enduring love of America in this stunningly-produced

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Renia is a young girl who dreams of becoming a poet. But Renia is Jewish, she lives in Poland & the year is 1939. When Russia

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