These penetrating metaphysical and spiritual teachings cross the divides of culture and time, providing unexpectedly modern insight.

Squirrel Nation is a history of Britain’s two species of squirrel over the past two hundred years. The red squirrel, although rare, is among the most cherished of native species. Grey squirrels, by contrast, are one of the most frequently seen wild creatures in our gardens, parks, towns and countryside, and many Britons consider it to be a foreign interloper, introduced from North America in the late nineteenth century. By examining this animal’s colonization of Britain, Peter Coa...

Many of the world’s major cities sprang up on the banks of rivers. Used for water, food, irrigation, transportation and power, rivers sustain life and connect places and countries, but most of us think of them simply as waterways that must be crossed on the way to somewhere else. Relating the biographies of four European and two North American rivers, A Story of Six Rivers considers the place of rivers in our world and emphasizes the inextricable links between their history, cultu...

Every year, wild salmon travel hundreds of miles upstream. They fight fierce river currents, leap over rocks and small waterfalls, and die by the thousands of starvation, disease and exposure to cold. Even if they surmount these obstacles the fish risk becoming dinner for hungry predators like bears, birds and humans. Guided by a keen sense of smell, the survivors travel to their original hatching grounds, where they breed, spawn and die ina short space of time.Inspired by the rema...

'Nature' is a deceptively simple and ahistorical term, suggesting intrinsic, unchanging reality. Yet nature has a history too, both in terms of human attitudes and human impacts. Coates outlines the major understandings of 'nature' in the western world since classical times, from nature as higher authority to its more recent meaning of threatened physical space and life forms.Unlike many others, this book places the history of attitudes to nature within the story of human-induced c...

Authored by two highly respected experts in this specialist area, The Fundamentals of Radiation Thermometers is an essential resource for anyone intending to measure the temperature of an object using the radiated energy from that object. This readable, user-friendly book gives important background knowledge for anyone working in the field of non-contact thermometry.The book begins with an accessible account of how temperature scales are set up and defined, and ex...

The influence of human economies and cultures on ecosystems is particularly striking in the new worlds into which Europeans have expanded over the past five hundred years. Using a comparative and multidisciplinary approach, Beinart and Coates examine this neglected aspect of the history of settler incursion and dominance in two frontier nations, the USA and South Africa. They also seek to explain change in indigenous ideas and practices towards the environment, and discuss the rise of popu...

The Christmas Child is a Christmas story by Hesba Stretton. Written in Stretton's signature style of heartfelt is a Christmas story and moral lessons, these stories are set in Victorian England and explore themes of love, family, and redemption. Stretton's vivid descriptions and engaging characters immerse readers in a world where kindness and compassion prevail, making it a perfect read for the festive season. The author's ability to evoke emotions and create a sense of nostalgia adds dep...

"A Hunger Artist" is a short story by Franz Kafka first published in Die neue Rundschau in 1922. The story was also included in the collection A Hunger Artist, the last book Kafka prepared for publication, which was printed by Verlag Die Schmiede shortly after his death. The protagonist, a hunger artist who experiences the decline in appreciation of his craft, is typically Kafkaesque: an individual marginalized and victimized by society at large. "A Hunger Artist" explores themes such as d...

Homer is the legendary author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, two epic poems that are the central works of ancient Greek literature. Odyssey is a classic poem written by Homer that consists of 12.110 verses. It is unique already in that it has reached our days in its original form. This poem is a genuine revelation of the poetic thought of ancient Hellas. ... After the Trojan War, most of the survived Greek leaders returned by sea to Troy. However, after numerous troubles, only the chosen on...

"Looking Backward: 2000–1887" is a utopian novel by Edward Bellamy, a journalist and writer from Massachusetts. It was the third largest bestseller of its time, after Uncle Tom's Cabin and Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. It influenced many intellectuals, and appears by title in many socialist writings of the day. "It is one of the few books ever published that created almost immediately on its appearance a political mass movement". The novel also inspired several utopian communities.

"White Nights" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky is a poignant and introspective short story that delves into the complexities of human emotions and the transient nature of romantic connections. Set against the backdrop of St. Petersburg's nocturnal charm, the narrative follows the lonely protagonist through four consecutive white nights, where he encounters a mysterious young woman. As the two form a deep but ephemeral connection, Dostoyevsky explores themes of love, isolation, and the fleeting natur...