"Vivid with a Mesozoic bestiary" (Tom Holland), this on-the-ground, must-listen narrative weaves together the chance discovery of dinosaurs and the rise of the secular age.When the twelve-year-old daughter of a British carpenter pulled some strange-looking bones from the country's southern shoreline in 1811, few people dared to question that the Bible told the accurate history of the world. But Mary Anning had in fact discovered the "first" ichthyosaur, and over th...

The Little Ice Age tells the story of the turbulent, unpredictable, and often very cold years of modern European history, how climate altered historical events, and what they mean in the context of today’s global warming.Only in the last decade have climatologists developed an accurate picture of yearly climate conditions in historical times. This development confirmed a long-standing suspicion: that the world endured a 500-year cold snap, a little ice age...

Since Alan Turing first posed the question "Can machines think?" artificial intelligence has evolved from a speculative idea to a transformative force. The Shortest History of AI traces this evolution, from Ada Lovelace's visionary work to IBM's groundbreaking defeat of the chess world champion and the revolutionary emergence of ChatGPT. It also explores AI's cultural journey, touching on classics such as Frankenstein, A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and 2001: A S...

It's easy to think that ancient history is, well, ancient history—obsolete, irrelevant, unjustifiably focused on Greece and Rome, and at risk of extinction. In What Is Ancient History?, Walter Scheidel presents a compelling case for a new kind of ancient history—a global history that captures antiquity's pivotal role as a decisive phase in human development, one that provided the shared foundation of our world and continues to shape our lives today.For Scheidel, ancient hi...

The Market in Global International Society tracks the idea and practice of the market through both modern and premodern times, and its evolution as a primary institution in international relations over the past two centuries. It develops a new approach to understanding the relationship between the market and other social and political institutions of global international society. Buzan and Falkner view the market as a political ideology in support of a liberal system of governance...

In 1945, post-fascist Italy was devastated by war, and its reputation in the international arena was nil. Yet by December 1955, when Italy was admitted to the United Nations, the nation had contested three acrimonious but free general elections, had a flourishing press, and was a leader in the rebuilding of Europe.This is the dramatic story told by Italy Reborn. It charts the descent of Italy into Fascism, the scale of the wartime disaster, the Italian resistance to Nazi o...

For more than a century we’ve known that much of human evolution occurred in an Ice Age. Starting about fifteen thousand years ago, temperatures began to rise, the glaciers receded, and sea levels rose. The rise of human civilization and all of recorded history occurred in this warm period, known as the Holocene. Until very recently we had no detailed record of climate changes during the Holocene.Now we do. In this engrossing and captivating look at the human effects of climate var...

Pulling back the covers on the fascinating, yet often forgotten, history of the bedLouis XIV ruled France from his bedchamber. Winston Churchill governed Britain from his during World War II. Travelers routinely used to bed down with complete strangers, and whole families shared beds in many preindustrial households. Beds were expensive items—and often for show. Tutankhamun was buried on a golden bed, wealthy Greeks were sent to the afterlife on dining beds, and de...

This is the story of a British deterrent. Much has been written about the V-bombers—the Valiant, Victor, and Vulcan—but virtually nothing has been said about their strategic nuclear strike role. How would Britain's small force of subsonic bombers have retaliated following a Soviet attack, and would they have succeeded?This book is the product of seven years of research by Dr. Tony Redding. It includes fresh material on V-Force weapons, war mission, targeting, vulnerabilities, and t...

If you like Bernard Cornwell, David Gemmell, John Gwynne and Joe Abercrombie you will love this Viking adventure packed with battles, betrayal, axes and swords.883AD, Scandinavia. Harald Fairhair is King of Norway, and Bjorn Ironside King of Sweden. To the west, the Crippled King of Mann builds an army in thrall to Loki. He threatens to destroy the Viking world and set Midgard on the road to the Ragnarök, the end of days.

If you like Bernard Cornwell, David Gemmell, John Gwynne and Conn Iggulden you will love this Viking adventure packed with battles, betrayal, axes and swords.882 AD Norway. A new power rises amongst the Viking north, wild Danes under the sway of powerful Loki worship threaten the land with fire and blood.Hundr, The Man with the Dog’s Name*…* Einar the Brawler*… Viking warriors bent on destruction and carna...

If you like Bernard Cornwell, David Gemmell, John Gwynne and Conn Iggulden you will love this Viking adventure packed with battles, betrayal, axes and swords.881 AD, Northumbria. Hundr, The Man with the Dogs Name, sails the England’s coastline raiding and challenging Viking champions to single combat. His wife and child died in a savage war with Rollo the Betrayer and Hundr seeks to soothe his grief in the fog of war.