"The who, what, where, when and how of human evolution, from one of the world's experts on the dating of prehistoric fossils." —Steve Brusatte, New York Times –bestselling authorA fascinating investigation of the origin of humans based on incredible new discoveries and advanced scientific technology.Fifty thousand years ago, Homo sapiens was not the only species of humans in the world. There were also Nea...

'The who, what, where, when and how of human evolution, from one of the world's experts on the dating of prehistoric fossils' Steve Brusatte, author of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs'Fascinating and entertaining. If you read one book on human origins, this should be it' Ian Morris, author of Why the West Rules - For Now50,000 years ago, we were not the only species of human in the world. There were at ...

Brought to you by Penguin.50,000 years ago, we were not the only species of human in the world. There were at least four others, including the Neanderthals, Homo floresiensis, Homo luzonesis and the Denisovans. At the forefront of the latter's ground-breaking discovery was Oxford Professor Tom Higham. In The World Before Us, he explains the scientific and technological advancements - in radiocarbon dating and ancient DNA,...

**A new biography of Cicero, one of the most influential and fascinating figures in classical history.This program is read by the author.**When the Roman statesman Cicero was murdered in 43 BCE, his head was cut off, and his tongue pierced with pins – a final, brutal act of revenge against a man whose words had shaped a generation and made him many enemies. Rising from provincial obscurity to the highest elected office in Rome, Cicero became the greatest orator of his age, ...

A new biography of Cicero, one of the most influential and fascinating figures in classical history.When the Roman statesman Cicero was murdered in 43 BCE, his head was cut off, and his tongue pierced with pins – a final, brutal act of revenge against a man whose words had shaped a generation and made him many enemies. Rising from provincial obscurity to the highest elected office in Rome, Cicero became the greatest orator of his age, a figure who believed that spe...

**ONE OF THE ECONOMIST'S BEST BOOKS OF 2025 • See ancient Rome through the eyes of a gladiator—from the evening before the games at the Colosseum to the evening after"A grippingly original way of making the alien world of the Roman Amphitheatre both accessible and comprehensible." —Tom Holland, co-host of The Rest is History**What did a gladiator feel when he stepped out onto the sand of the Colosseum, his life in the balance? What ran through the minds of...

**ONE OF THE ECONOMIST'S BEST BOOKS OF 2025 • See ancient Rome through the eyes of a gladiator—from the evening before the games at the Colosseum to the evening after"A grippingly original way of making the alien world of the Roman Amphitheatre both accessible and comprehensible." —Tom Holland, co-host of The Rest is History**What did a gladiator feel when he stepped out onto the sand of the Colosseum, his life in the balance? What ran through the minds of...

**Brought to you by Penguin.Wreckers** sinks the old narratives of imperialism, revealing the violent, chaotic and improvised reality of empire-building from the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries.While figures such as Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama and Ferdinand Magellan are celebrated for their maritime achievements – reaching the Americas, India, and circumnavigating the globe – focusing solely on these voyages distorts our perspective on t...

Brought to you by Penguin.The global powerhouse that is the United States of America is younger even than the British Museum, Guinness and the flushing toilet. In 2026 it will celebrate its 250th birthday. How did this vast land, long inhabited by diverse indigenous cultures, come to be dominated by English speakers? How has it grappled with the stark contradictions between its ideals of liberty and the grim reality of genocide and slavery?This extraordinar...

**Welcome to the hidden, squirming world of parasites—some of the most misunderstood creatures with whom we share the Earth (and our bodies)."Astonishing, eye-opening, and inspiring." —Chloe Dalton, author of Raising Hare**There is the tapeworm, which can grow 120 feet in length within the gut of a whale; the tsetse fly, a notorious vector of disease that can pierce the skin even of crocodiles with its needle-like mouth; and the most universal symbol of parasitic b...

**Welcome to the hidden, squirming world of parasites—some of the most misunderstood creatures with whom we share the Earth (and our bodies).“Astonishing, eye-opening, and inspiring.” —Chloe Dalton, author of Raising Hare**“A fascinating compendium of all the critters, some big, some small, some harmless and some lethal, that lie in wait for unsuspecting warm-blooded creatures. . . . The most persistent feeling, and one that Martins conveys beautifully, is ...

Why are we so often in conflict – arguing with ourselves and with others, uncertain over who we are and what we want?For thousands of years, writers, thinkers and philosophers have seen life as a battle between the guiding power of reason and a disruptive animal within. In a world where fierce culture wars and endless newsfeeds turn up the tension, how can we overcome our uncertainties and know the many sides of ourselves?In The Animal and the Thinker