Maps fascinate us. They chart our understanding of the world & they log our progress but above all they tell our stories. From the early sketches of philosophers & explorers through to Google Maps & beyond Simon Garfield examines how maps both relate & realign our history. His compelling narratives range from the quest to create the perfect globe to the challenges of mapping Africa & Antarctica from spellbinding treasure maps to the naming of America from Ordnance Survey to the mapping of Monopoly & Skyrim & from rare map dealers to cartographic frauds. En route there are pocket map tales on dragons & undergrounds a nineteenth century murder map the research conducted on the different ways that men & women approach a map & an explanation of the curious long-term cartographic role played by animals. On The Map is a witty & irrepressible examination of where weve been how we got there & where were going. ...

Summer 1985 & the very future of English football is in question. With hooliganism rampant & depressing & devastating tragedies at Birmingham Bradford & Heysel the sport had reached a pitiful & deplorable nadir; English sides banned from Europe; grounds old & decaying; racism on the terraces; attendances in freefall; & a petty & fractious TV dispute meaning no televised games until January. The beautiful game appeared to be destroying itself from within. Outside of football the country was doing the same -- unprecedented levels of unemployment rising crime & serious disturbances in Tottenham Brixton & Toxteth were signs of Thatchers new non-society. Britain seemed increasingly polarised around class money & geography. In Liverpool the far-left Militant Tendency was in the process of setting an illegal budget -- for the second year in a row. Amidst this social & sporting chaos Liverpool FC -- trophyless for the first time in 10 years & with a new inexperienced manager in charge of what many saw as an ageing & failing side -- had ended the 1984/85 season with its reputation at home & abroad in tatters. City rivals Everton had won the previous seasons championship at a canter & they rather than Liverpool were viewed as the side of the future. When the new season ended however it was Kenny Dalglishs men who were crowned champions beating Everton to the league on the last day & defeating them again in the first all-Merseyside FA Cup final just a week later. How was this possible! How did Dalglish sculpt a supposedly waning side into one that won not only the League but also the FA Cup becoming only the fifth side at the time to do so. Placing Liverpools season in its wider social context with match-by-match analysis fan & player recollections profiles & numerous photographs this book tells the in-depth story of this incredible feat for the very first time; the key signings the new tactics the TV dispute Manchester Uniteds 10 game winning start to the season surprise package West Ham & the sensational & enthralling finish. Few seasons were as riveting as this & didnt football need it! ...

As a fourteen year old bursting with energy & life Willie lied about his age to get a job on the milk truck. Well maturity was called for. Delivering milk may not be everyones idea of a glamorous start to your working life but it came to represent far more than Willie & his best friend Gordon could possibly imagine. Their eyes were swiftly opened to the big bad/good world & so they quickly learnt the vital necessity of thinking on their toes. Despite the hard backdrop of an industrial town (The Ruskies wouldnt drop the atom bomb on Dundee; theres nothing here worth bombing) this is a fabulous story of boys growing up in the sixties of camaraderie & optimism innocence & the harshness of life. ...

This title is part of Phonics Bug
- the first synthetic phonics programme to bring together research-based teaching methods with
...

Published amid a firestorm of controversy in 1859 this is a book that changed the world. Reasoned & well-documented in its arguments it offers coherent views of natural selection adaptation the struggle for existence survival of the fittest & other concepts that form the foundation of evolutionary theory. ...

Five decades after it was first published Jack Kerouac's seminal beat novel On the Road" finally finds its way to the big screen in a production from award-winning director Walter Salles (" Motorcycle Diaries") starring Sam Riley (" Control Brighton Rock") Garret Hedlund (" Friday Night Lights") Kristen Stewart (" Twilight") Kirsten Dunst Amy Adams & Viggo Mortensen. Sal Paradise (" Sam Riley") a young innocent joins his hero Dean Moriarty (" Garrett Hedlund") a traveller & mystic the living epitome of Beat on a breathless exuberant ride back & forth across the United States. Their hedonistic search for release or fulfilment through drink sex drugs & jazz becomes an exploration of personal freedom a test of the limits of the American dream. A brilliant blend of fiction & autobiography Jack Kerouac's exhilarating novel swings to the rhythms of 1950s underground America racing towards the sunset with unforgettable exuberance poignancy & autobiographical passion. One of the most influential & important novels of the 20th century " On the Road" is the book that launched the Beat Generation & remains the bible of that literary movement. Jack Kerouac (1922-69) was an American novelist poet artist & part of the Beat Generation. His first published novel " The Town & the City" appeared in 1950 but it was " On the Road" published in 1957 that made Kerouac famous. Publication of his many other books followed among them " The Subterraneans" " Big Sur" & " The Dharma Bums". Kerouac died in Florida at the age of forty-seven. " The most beautifully executed the clearest & the most important utterance yet made by the generation Kerouac himself named years ago as "beat"' The New York Times ' Pop writing at its best. It changed the way I saw the world making me yearn for fresh experience." (Hanif Kureishi " Independent on Sunday"). "" On the Road" sold a trillion Levis & a million espresso machines & also sent countless kids on the road." (" William Burroughs")." ...

On the Road" swings to the rhythms of 1950s underground America jazz sex generosity chill dawns & drugs with Sal Paradise & his hero Dean Moriarty traveller & mystic the living epitome of Beat. Now recognized as a modern classic its American Dream is nearer that of Walt Whitman than Scott Fitzgerald & it goes racing towards the sunset with unforgettable exuberance poignancy & autobiographical passion." ...

Ned Boulting has noticed something. It's to do with bikes. They're everywhere. & so are their riders. Some of these riders seem to be sporting sideburns & a few of them are winning things. Big things. Now Ned wants to know how on earth it came to this. & what exactly is 'this'. In On the Road Bike Ned Boulting asks how Britain became so obsessed with cycling. Ned's search puts him in contact with some of the wonderful & wonderfully idiosyncratic people who have contributed to this nation's two-wheeled history. It's a journey that takes him from the velodrome at Herne Hill to the Tour of Britain at Stoke-on-Trent via Bradley Wiggins Chris Boardman David Millar (and David's mum) Ken Livingstone both Tommy Godwins Gary Kemp (yes him from Spandau Ballet) & many many more. The result is an amusing & personal exploration of the austere nutty soul of British cycling. ...

The Pacific Ocean covers one-third of the earths surface & encompasses many thousands of islands the home to numerous human societies & cultures. Among these indigenous Oceanic cultures are the intrepid Polynesian double-hulled canoe navigators the atoll dwellers of Micronesia the statue carvers of remote Easter Island & the famed traders of Melanesia. Recent archaeological excavations combined with allied research in historical linguistics biological anthropology & comparative ethnography have begun to reveal much new information about the long-term history of these Pacific Island societies & cultures. On the Road of the Winds" synthesizes the grand sweep of human history in the Pacific Islands beginning with the movement of early people out from Asia more than 40 000 years ago & tracing the development of myriad indigenous cultures up to the time of European contact in the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. Questions that scholars have posed & puzzled over for two centuries or more are illuminated here: Where did the Pacific Islanders come from? How did they discover & settle the thousands of islands? Why did they build great monuments like Nan Madol on Pohnpei Island in Micronesia or the famous Easter Island statues? This book provides an up-to-date synthesis of archaeological & historical anthropological knowledge of these fascinating indigenous cultures. In particular Kirch focuses on human ecology & island adaptations the complexities of island trading & exchange systems voyaging technology & skills & the development of intensive economic systems linked to the growth of large populations. He also draws on his own original field research conducted on many islands ranging from the Solomons to Hawaii as he takes us on an intellectual voyage into the Oceanic past." ...

This jolly interactive board book features indented footprints & trails on every page for children to follow with their fingers as they read the story. On the Road to Bethlehem tells the Nativity story with lots of footprints donkey prints shepherd prints & camel prints for children to follow. By enabling children to interact with the story in a tactile way the storyline becomes more concrete & engaging & adds a fun touch to storytime for early learners. ...