This is the story of the greatest empire the world has ever known. Simon Baker charts the rise and fall of the world's first superpower, focusing on six momentous turning points that shaped Roman history. Welcome to Rome as you've never seen it before - awesome and splendid, gritty and squalid.From the conquest of the Mediterranean beginning in the third century BC to the destruction of the Roman Empire at the hands of barbarian invaders some seven centuries later, we discover the ...

The Creative AI Handbook is a practical, accessible guide to the rapidly evolving world of AI-powered creativity. With nothing more than a few words and the click of a button, today's tools can generate striking images, complete songs, and polished writing—but knowing how to use them makes all the difference.This book bridges the gap between raw technological capability and real creative results. It explains not just what today's leading AI platforms can d...

Does the ethical heart of the world's great traditions lead to a common human wisdom?In a world increasingly divided along religious and cultural lines, Michael Simon Baker poses a provocative question: What if the world's great wisdom traditions—despite their theological differences—share a core set of ethical teachings that transcend boundaries of time, culture, and belief?Drawing on decades of study and personal experience living at the intersection of multiple faith com...

In the realm of quirky behaviors, few things can spark a chuckle quite like the discreet pick. While the act of picking one's nose is often regarded as a taboo, it presents an interesting case study in the intersection of humor and social etiquee. The truth is, many of us have fallen victim to the itch that simply cannot wait until we znd a restroom. Yet, it's how we navigate these moments that can either lead to embarrassment or a good laugh, depending on our approach and the context ...

You do not need a title, money, influence, or extraordinary talent to offer kindness. You need only willingness, willingness to care, to notice, to pause, to see humanity in places the world overlooks.Kindness as a Way of Life is an invitation to live this way, not perfectly, not saintly, but intentionally. To make kindness not an afterthought but a foundation. To let it shape the way we lead, the way we learn, the way we love, and the way we move through an often-overwhel...

This book centralizes powerful leisure stories that may otherwise be understood as myths—sometimes recognized, often less so—that circulate in the field of leisure studies and beyond. In everyday use, a myth perpetuates a popularly held belief that is false or untrue. However, in social and cultural theories, myths are more complex as partial truths that privilege particular versions of a shared social reality. We see myth as having an “absent presence” in leisure studies, and want to know...

This is the story of the greatest empire the world has ever known. Simon Baker charts the rise and fall of the world's first superpower, focusing on six momentous turning points that shaped Roman history. Welcome to Rome as you've never seen it before—awesome and splendid, gritty and squalid.From the conquest of the Mediterranean beginning in the third century BC to the destruction of the Roman Empire at the hands of barbarian invaders some seven centuries later, we discover the mo...

Divorced Dads can be Mum and Dad if they have to. And even if they don't want to go that far, many of them want to be the best Dads, despite being separated from their kids. The difficulty for Dads is that there's little understanding of fatherhood until after it happens. To men, it seems that women are pre-programmed to deal with children. Then when they are separated from a child after divorce, the trauma can be beyond expression and Dads need the serious assistance to help them conquer the...

Born in A.D. 76, Hadrian lived through and ruled during a tempestuous era, a time when the Colosseum was opened to the public and Pompeii was buried under a mountain of lava and ash. Acclaimed author Anthony Everitt vividly recounts Hadrian’s thrilling life, in which the emperor brings a century of disorder and costly warfare to a peaceful conclusion while demonstrating how a monarchy can be compatible with good governance.What distinguished Hadrian’s rule, according to Everitt, we...

Agincourt took place on 25 October 1415 and was a turning-point not only in the Hundred Years War between England and France but also in the history of weaponry. Azincourt (as it is now) is in the Pas-de-Calais, and the French were famously defeated by an army led by Henry V. Henry V's stunning victory revived England's military prestige and greatly strengthened his territorial claims in France. The exhausted English army of about 9,000 men was engaged by 20,000 Frenchmen, but the limited ...

Emerging as a market town from a cluster of hill villages in the eighthand seventh centuries B.C., Rome grew to become the ancient world'spreeminent power. Everitt fashions the story of Rome's rise to gloryinto an erudite book filled with lasting lessons for our time. Hechronicles the clash between patricians and plebeians that defined thepolitics of the Republic. He shows how Rome's shrewd strategy ofoffering citizenship to her defeated subjects w...

Narrated by Derek PerkinsFrom a renowned historian who writes with "maximum vividness" (The New Yorker) comes the most authoritative, readable single-volume military history of the brutal struggle for the Holy Land.Nine hundred years ago, a vast Christian army, summoned to holy war by the Pope, rampaged through the Muslim world of the eastern Mediterranean, seizing possession of Jerusalem, a city revered by both faiths. Over the tw...