Laughing: . . . And Sometimes Tears was written after a question I asked my husband then of nine years: Why did you leave Puerto Rico? When I heard his answer, I knew there was something hidden inside that was kept a secret from me. You see, Diego was a young man of seventeen years when he came to the mainland and, unfortunately, ended up in very precarious situations. He even spent eighteen months in prison for a felony crime he did not commit. Many stories he told me evoked either belly laughter or evoked me into crying like a baby in the privacy of the shower.
Marking the one hundredth anniversary of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s magnificent tomb, its incredible treasures are revealed as never before. In 1922, after fifteen years of searching, archaeologists finally discovered the tomb of King Tutankhamun. There, buried alongside the king’s mummy, they found more than 5,000 unique objects, from the mundane to the extravagant, from the precious to the everyday. Tutankhamun’s spectacular gold mask is justifiably famous, but the rest of the treasures remain largely unknown, their stories untold. In this rich and beautifully illustrated work of history, renowned Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson allows one hundred artifacts from the boy king’s tomb to speak again—not only for themselves, but as witnesses of the civilization that created them. A gold-decorated chariot reveals the impressive scale of Egyptian technology. Loaves of bread, baskets of fruit, and jars of wine hint at the fertility of the Nile Valley and the abundant feasts enjoyed by its people. Ebony and ivory from Nubia and a jewel of Libyan desert glass show the range of Egypt’s trading and diplomatic networks. Shaving equipment and board games provide a window into the everyday lives of the people. And perhaps most poignant of all the objects in the tomb is one that conjures up a lost world of human experience: Tutankhamun’s silver trumpet. Through these treasures, Wilkinson bring us face-to-face with the culture of the pharaohs, its extraordinary development, its remarkable flourishing, and its lasting impact. Filled with surprising insights and vivid details, Tutankhamun’s Trumpet offers an indelible portrait of the history, people, and legacy of ancient Egypt.
Toby Martinez de las Rivas is regarded as one of the most distinctive voices to have emerged in recent times; to some, a modern day William Blake. The Guardian described Terror, his first book, as 'visionary' and 'exciting', the New Statesman as 'remarkable', and all combined to praise it's brave and lucid intensity. Black Sun is a sequel of poise and clarity that is, if anything, more open and accessible than its predecessor. Beginning where Terror left off, it pursues that book's fascination with history and with theology, with preservation and redemption.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Magisterial . . . [A] rich portrait of ancient Egypt’s complex evolution over the course of three millenniums.”—Los Angeles Times NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • Publishers Weekly In this landmark volume, one of the world’s most renowned Egyptologists tells the epic story of this great civilization, from its birth as the first nation-state to its absorption into the Roman Empire. Drawing upon forty years of archaeological research, award-winning scholar Toby Wilkinson takes us inside a tribal society with a pre-monetary economy and decadent, divine kings who ruled with all-too-recognizable human emotions. Here are the legendary leaders: Akhenaten, the “heretic king,” who with his wife Nefertiti brought about a revolution with a bold new religion; Tutankhamun, whose dazzling tomb would remain hidden for three millennia; and eleven pharaohs called Ramesses, the last of whom presided over the militarism, lawlessness, and corruption that caused a political and societal decline. Filled with new information and unique interpretations, The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt is a riveting and revelatory work of wild drama, bold spectacle, unforgettable characters, and sweeping history. “With a literary flair and a sense for a story well told, Mr. Wilkinson offers a highly readable, factually up-to-date account.”—The Wall Street Journal “[Wilkinson] writes with considerable verve. . . . [He] is nimble at conveying the sumptuous pageantry and cultural sophistication of pharaonic Egypt.”—The New York Times
The Nile, like all of Egypt, is both timeless and ever-changing. In these pages, renowned Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson takes us on a journey downriver that is both history and travelogue. We begin at the First Nile Cataract, close to the modern city of Aswan. From there, Wilkinson guides us through the illustrious nation birthed by this great river. We see Thebes, with its Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, and Luxor Temple. We visit the fertile Fayum, the Great Pyramid of Giza, and finally, the pulsing city of Cairo, where the Arab Spring erupted on the bridges over the water. Along the way, Wilkinson introduces us to the gods, pharaohs, and emperors who joined their fate to the Nile and gained immortality; and to the adventurers, archaeologists, and historians who have all fallen under its spell. Peerlessly erudite, vividly told, The Nile brings the course of this enduring river into stunning view.
As a British Army Officer in the Corps of Royal Engineers Toby Woodbridge twice deployed to Afghanistan's Helmand Province, and spent a total of eight months in the notorious District of Sangin. Employed as mentor to the Afghan National Police during his last tour in the town Woodbridge spent over six months living, working and fighting alongside members of that much maligned but critically important organisation, gaining a privileged view of their work and insight into their world. His experiences from those two tours provide the background for this unique perspective on the difficulties and dangers involved when working, living and surviving on the front line of Afghanistan's insurgency.
A thrilling history of the West’s scramble for the riches of ancient Egypt by the foremost Egyptologist of our time. From the decipherment of hieroglyphics in 1822 to the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon a hundred years later, the uncovering of Egypt’s ancient past took place in an atmosphere of grand adventure and international rivalry. In A World Beneath the Sands, acclaimed Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson chronicles the ruthless race between the British, French, Germans, and Americans to lay claim to its mysteries and treasures. He tells riveting stories of the men and women whose obsession with Egypt’s ancient civilization helped to enrich and transform our understanding of the Nile Valley and its people, and left a lasting impression on Egypt, too. Travelers and treasure-hunters, ethnographers and archaeologists: whatever their motives, whatever their methods, a century of adventure and scholarship revealed a lost world, buried for centuries beneath the sands.
If magic sets the world on fire, something new is born from the flames. When an old, dying wizard steals magic from his young apprentice, Bee, he changes his own life and nearly destroys hers. But he also releases something new into the world - a wild magic that turns fields to flames and upsets the order of the world. It will take another apprentice, Cabbage, to find Bee and try to set the world right again. Remarkable for its deft, dramatic prose and thrilling magical adventure, Toby Forward's Dragonborn delighted critics and fans. This companion novel, set in the same world in a different time, is a breathtaking work of magic and suffering, friendship and transformation - and the new power that rises from the ashes of a terrible deed.
Written by Toby Ibbotson, son of the bestselling author Eva Ibbotson, this exceptional middle grade epic is captivating, heartfelt and brilliant in equal measure. When a storm hits a small and sleepy town, it ravages every living thing. But storms don't just destroy, they uncover. And when a young boy discovers a mysterious object that has lay hidden beneath a centuries-old tree, he instantly knows that it's special. What he doesn't know is that his unexpected find will unite him with a girl searching for her missing father and trigger a series of events that will see them travelling across Europe under the most unusual circumstances. Beautifully written, The Unexpected Find is Toby Ibbotson's break-through masterpiece that's a classic in the making.
Texas offers the opportunity to observe lizard diversity like no other part of the country," writes Laurie J. Vitt in the foreword to Texas Lizards. From the moist eastern Piney Woods to the western deserts, lizards can be found in every part of Texas. The state has forty-five native and six naturalized species of lizards, almost half of the 115 species that live in the continental United States. Yet Texas lizards have not received full coverage in regional field guides, and no other guide dedicated solely to the state's lizards has ever been published. Texas Lizards is a complete identification guide to all fifty-one native and established exotic lizard species. It offers detailed species accounts, range maps, and excellent color photographs (including regional, gender, and age variations for many species) to aid field identification. The authors, two of the state's most knowledgeable herpetologists, open the book with a broad overview of lizard natural history, conservation biology, observation, and captive maintenance before providing a key to Texas lizards and accounts of the various lizard families and species. Appendices list species of questionable occurrence in Texas and nonestablished exotic species. Informational resources on Texas lizards, a map of Texas counties, a glossary, a bibliography, and indexes of common and scientific names round out the volume.
In Engaging the Other: “Japan and Its Alter-Egos”, 1550-1850 Ronald P. Toby examines new discourses of identity and difference in early modern Japan, a discourse catalyzed by the “Iberian irruption,” the appearance of Portuguese and other new, radical others in the sixteenth century. The encounter with peoples and countries unimagined in earlier discourse provoked an identity crisis, a paradigm shift from a view of the world as comprising only “three countries” (sangoku), i.e., Japan, China and India, to a world of “myriad countries” (bankoku) and peoples. In order to understand the new radical alterities, the Japanese were forced to establish new parameters of difference from familiar, proximate others, i.e., China, Korea and Ryukyu. Toby examines their articulation in literature, visual and performing arts, law, and customs.
Brunel was the Elon Musk or Steve Jobs of his era, and like them he was charismatic, visionary and controversial. The story is told through the eyes of Brunel’s assistant, Bennett, who joins Brunel just as Brunel’s career takes off when he is appointed chief engineer for the Great Western Railway, at the tender age of 27.
The action of Toby Olson’s PEN/Faulkner Award-winning novel Seaview sweeps eastward, following three men and two women across a wasted American continent to an apocalyptic confrontation on Cape Cod. Melinda hopes to reach the seaside where she was born before she dies of cancer. Allen, her husband, earns their way back by golf hustling, working the links en route. Outside of Tucson, the two meet up with a Pima Indian also headed toward the Cape to help a distant relative who has claims on a golf course there that is laid out on tribal grounds. Throughout the journey, Allen knows he is being stalked by a former friend, Richard, a drug-pusher whom he has crossed and who is now determined to murder him. The tortured lives of Richard and his wife Gerry stand as a dream of what might have become of Allen and Melinda had things been otherwise. The lines that draw these people together converge at Seaview Links, and on the mad battlefield that this golf course becomes, the novel reaches its complex ending. Seaview’s vibrant language and fateful plot make this study of an America on the edge an unforgettable read.
If Lisbeth Salander and Jack Reacher had a Black/Thai love child…she would be SOPHIE. ✅ Brilliant hacker, MMA fighter, domestic abuse survivor, chronic depressive ✅ Likes kids and animals more than people ✅ Likes to go off the grid and hide under a fake identity ✅ Never, never gives up on a case. Never. Paradise is drowning in lava. What would you do to survive during a volcanic eruption? Security specialists Sophie and Jake take a job to rescue a teen girl shacked up with a dangerous meth cooker on the Big Island, and their wilderness destination turns out to be in the path of the biggest eruption Hawaii has seen in decades. Soon, they’re embroiled in a natural disaster too hot for anyone to handle. Trapped underground in a lava tube, engulfed by darkness and heat, they struggle to outrun a deadly force that consumes everything in its path. “I rapidly devour each book in this series as soon as they're released. Neal's writing immerses you into the story, with multi-faceted characters that you'll be interested in and care about. Cannot put them down!” — Reviewer
Fur trapping in North America began at the turn of the sixteenth century when rugged mountain men pushed ever westward in search of beaver. These entrepreneurs possessed an unmatched sense of adventure, a relentless drive to succeed, and an uncanny ability to survive. The intimacy between man and nature discovered by these early explorers has been continued through hardy souls still lucky enough to know the thrill and excitement of a modern-day trapline. The proud heritage of America's fur-trappers lives on through trappers associations, trapper education programs, and the trappers who continue to live it. Follow the journey of a young boy in 20th century rural America who learned about wild lands and wildlife through fi rsthand experience. The people he meets along the way inspire him to write about trappers and trapping and the importance of preserving man's primitive crafts for the continuation of America's rich wildlife legacy.
THE ROTTING TIDES OF HISTORY VIKING DEAD: Northern Europe, 976 AD. Bjólf and the Viking crew of the ship Hrafn flee up an unknown river after a bitter battle, only to find themselves in a bleak land of pestilence, where the dead return as draugr to feed on the flesh of their kin. Terrible stories are told of a dark castle in a hidden fjord, and of black ships that come raiding with invincible draugr berserkers. And no sooner has Bjólf resolved to leave than the black ships appear... STRONGHOLD: Ranulf, a young English knight, is among the force sent to capture Grogen Castle from Welsh rebels. Even as the English celebrate their triumph, the native druids are summoning a tireless army of bone and raddled flesh in retaliation. Now, for the sake of all, Ranulf must defy his masters and rescue the daughter of his enemy, but hope lasts only so long as the stronghold – once thought impregnable – holds out against the legions of the angry dead... DEATH HULK: Orders to chase down the French frigate Elita off the Cape of Good Hope come as welcome news to Captain Havelock, stranded with the rest of the fleet at Spithead and waiting for France to initiate hostilities. Here is a chance for glory – and wealth. Very soon, however, Captain Havelock will come to realise that theirs are not the only two warships in the southern ocean. An enemy thought long since vanquished has risen from the deeps...
Through such everyday articles as linen shirts, wigs, silver teaspoons, pottery plates and engravings, Barnard evokes a striking variety of lives and attitudes. Possessions, he shows, even horses and dogs, highlighted and widened divisions, not only between rich and poor, women and men, but also between Irish Catholics and the Protestant settlers. Displaying fresh evidence and unexpected perspectives, the book throws new light on Ireland during a formative period. Its discoveries, set within the context of the 'consumer revolution' gripping Europe and North America, allow Ireland for the first time to be integrated into discussions of the pleasures and pains of consumerism."--BOOK JACKET.
The Times Best Gardening Books of 2022 Ornamental plants are the cornerstone of our gardens and we are spoiled for choice with literally tens of thousands of hardy beauties from which to select. But we take them absolutely for granted, not for a moment realising that every plant has a fascinating tale to tell. Wild Edens sets the record straight. With global coverage, each of the nine richly illustrated chapters explores a plant biodiversity hotspot. The reader is transported on a visually stunning and fascinating voyage of discovery which reveals our garden favourites - as well as some species that should be more widely cultivated - in their natural habitats, from daffodils from Andalusia and tulips from the Tien Shan, to monkey puzzles from Chile and rhododendrons from the Himalayas, lilies from Japan and proteas from South Africa. Because the authors have been to the hotspots, each chapter opens with their personal reflections on the landscape and spirit of place, and closes with their selection of prime locations. In between, the informative yet approachable text tells of the plants' 'forgotten stories'. Of the landscapes which are their home, the adventures of how and when they were discovered and by whom, the reasons why they were collected, their impact on garden fashions and trends, etc. Wild Edens brings another dimension of interest and understanding to plants and gardens, as well as being a premium armchair traveller's guide to the natural world of garden plants.
An award-winning journalist reveals the dramatic true story of the CIA's Team Alpha, the first Americans to be dropped behind enemy lines in Afghanistan after 9/11. America is reeling; Al-Qaeda has struck and thousands are dead. The country scrambles to respond, but the Pentagon has no plan for Afghanistan—where Osama bin Laden masterminded the attack and is protected by the Taliban. Instead, the CIA steps forward to spearhead the war. Eight CIA officers are dropped into the mountains of northern Afghanistan on October 17, 2001. They are Team Alpha, an eclectic band of linguists, tribal experts, and elite warriors: the first Americans to operate inside Taliban territory. Their covert mission is to track down Al- Qaeda and stop the terrorists from infiltrating the United States again. First Casualty places you with Team Alpha as the CIA rides into battle on horseback alongside the warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum. In Washington, DC, few trust that the CIA men, the Green Berets, and the Americans’ outnumbered Afghan allies can prevail before winter sets in. On the ground, Team Alpha is undeterred. The Taliban is routed but hatches a plot with Al-Qaeda to hit back. Hundreds of suicidal fighters, many hiding weapons, fake a surrender and are transported to Qala-i Jangi—the “Fort of War.” Team Alpha’s Mike Spann, an ex-Marine, and David Tyson, a polyglot former Central Asian studies academic, seize America’s initial opportunity to extract intelligence from men trained by bin Laden—among them a young Muslim convert from California. The prisoners revolt and one CIA officer falls—the first casualty in America’s longest war, which will last two decades. The other CIA man shoots dead the Al-Qaeda jihadists attacking his comrade. To survive, he must fight his way out against overwhelming odds. Award-winning author Toby Harnden gained unprecedented access to all living Team Alpha members and every level of the CIA. Superbly researched, First Casualty draws on extensive interviews, secret documents, and deep reporting inside Afghanistan. As gripping as any adventure novel, yet intimate and profoundly moving, it tells how America found a winning strategy only to abandon it. Harnden reveals that the lessons of early victory and the haunting foretelling it contained—unreliable allies, ethnic rivalries, suicide attacks, and errant US bombs—were ignored, tragically fueling a twenty-year conflict. "Masterful, complex, and heartfelt, from the deeply personal to the critically strategic. Captures many lessons on many levels." —Ambassador Hank Crumpton, former senior CIA officer
You can squeeze it, zest it, slice it, juice it, pickle it, or even take a bite out of it as Sicilians do. Adding freshness and flavor to food and drinks, this versatile sour fruit, also known for resolving diverse health and household troubles, has long been considered vital to Mediterranean and European cookery and cuisine. Lemon: A Global History tells the story of the remarkable adventure of the lemon, starting with its fragrant and mysterious ancestor, the citron, adored by the Greeks and Romans for its fine perfume and sacred to many of the world’s great religions. The lemon traveled with Arabs along ancient trade routes, came of age in Sicily and Italy, and sailed to the New World with Columbus. It was an exotic luxury in seventeenth-century Europe and later went on to save the lives of thousands of sailors in the British Royal Navy after being recognized as a cure for scurvy. The last century saw the lemon’s rise to commercial success in a California citrus empire as well as the discovery of new varieties. This book also includes delicious recipes for sweet and savory dishes and beverages.
Tobias Jones is resolved to become what he desires and achieve his dreams. As a new transfer student in his Texas junior high, Tobias fights to find his place in the social order and gain acceptance among his peers. Several years later, Tobias graduates from high school, more cynical than ever before. But when tragedy strikes a week after graduation, Tobias is grateful to leave his past behind and begin college in Oregon. After a brief visit back home during spring break, Tobias encounters two young women who collaborate with him on questions regarding the big picture. Rather than wander aimlessly through time, space, and danger, Tobias decides to learn where he is going, becoming proactive in a senseless, violent environment that existed long before the planet was created. After a brief hiatus, Tobias meets an engineer who reconnects him to the two women again. Together, they learn how to protect themselves from the treachery that has suddenly enveloped their lives. But when a tsunami strikes Japan, an osteopathic physician joins Tobias and the others in developing solutions more harmonious with the evolution of the planet. In this continuing suspenseful saga, a group of five enterprising young adults embark on a quest to probe and hopefully find the answers about the mysteries surrounding Earth's inception.
This extensively revised and expanded edition broadens the reach and depth of the permaculture approach for urban and suburban gardeners. The text's message is that working with nature, not against it, results in more beautiful, abundant, and forgiving gardens.
CIA operative Gabrielle "Gabe" Lincoln has been tracking the beast once known as Lilith MacIntyre and her organization ever since she and her unborn child were taken into custody and held at a top secret facility. Gabe soon finds that most in the organization are Lilitu, a race of beings as old as time that may have once dominated the galaxy itself.
ReImagination: to imagine anew; to form a new conception. The 21st century is reaching middle age. Installations orbit the Earth and synthetic intelligences rule the digital. The Forwards have destroyed the Mesh. The Thalassocracy of New Atlantis lies shattered, reeling from multiple atomic strikes. Might the dreams of better times have been nothing more than naive, figments of wishful thinking? As the BugNet begins to stir, a few believe there may be hope yet... ReImagination is the final book in an epic story arc which hints at possibilities beyond cynical exploitation, gross inequality, and mass manipulation through industrialised persuasive technologies. In this final extravagant, action-packed romp, we find out if Niato, the Nebulous Kin, and the internet of animals can carry this vision of a better world to all Singularity's Children. Technology. Adventure. Hope.
An enthralling adventure story, honest and powerful. The Wars of the Roses are imagined here with energy, with ferocity, with hunger to engage the reader.' Hilary Mantel 1469: Although the Yorkist King Edward sits on his throne in Westminster, within his family there is discord as his former ally, the Earl of Warwick, continues to conspire against him. And while to one another's faces they are all smiles, their household men speak in lies and whispers. No man comes to court unarmed. As riot and rebellion stalk the land, so too do rumours of a secret, which, if proved true, will have devastating effects on the kingdom. Once again Thomas and Katherine Everingham are drawn into the fray by ruthless enemies and by past lives that refuse to be forgotten... 'Mesmerising' The Times 'Consistently enthralling' Daily Telegraph 'Exhilarating'' Daily Express 'Wonderfully accurate' Daily Mail 'Rich, exciting, seamless and convincing' Hilary Mantel
Country girl Larkyn Hamley, who has been bonded with a winged foal, and her fellow flyers at the Academy, who are secretly learning their craft, must take a stand against Duke William, who, driven by jealousy, has launched his own school and has forced their instructor into hiding. Original.
An unusually vivid first-hand account of early twentieth-century travel in Egypt A collection of letters in a small painted box passed down through three generations of a London family is the starting point for a vivid account of a three-month journey up and down the Nile in a bygone age. The letters, like a time capsule, bring to life a lost world of Edwardian travel and social mores, of Egypt on the brink of the modern age, of the great figures of Egyptology, of aristocrats and archaeologists. In 1907/08 Ferdinand Platt (known to his family as Ferdy) traveled to Egypt as personal physician to the ailing 8th Duke of Devonshire—one of the giant statesmen of the late Victorian age—and his family party, recounting his adventure in letters to his young wife in England. Throughout the journey Ferdy not only reported on the sights of the country around him, with his amateur Egyptologist’s eye, and the people he met along the way (including Howard Carter and Winston Churchill) but also recorded his private thoughts and intimate observations of a formal and stratified society, soon to be witness to its own extinction. Introduced by Egyptologist Toby Wilkinson and Ferdy’s great-nephew Julian Platt, the letters open an intriguing window onto travel in Egypt during the Belle Epoque and the golden age of Egyptology.
This book analyses the success and adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s novel War Horse to stage, radio, live events, and feature film, in different cultures, on tours, and in translation. In under a decade, War Horse has gone from obscure children’s novel to arguably one of the world’s most recognisable theatrical brands, thanks to innovative puppet designs from South Africa’s Handspring Puppet Company in an acclaimed stage production from the National Theatre of Great Britain. With emphasis on embodied spectatorship, collaborative meaning-making, and imaginative ‘play,’ this book generates fresh insights into the enduring popularity of the franchise’s eponymous protagonist, Joey, offering the most in-depth study of War Horse to date.
Explores how the rumors of an alien spacecraft landing in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947 led to American society's obsession with extraterrestrials and the rise in popularity of science fiction movies, television shows, and books.
Horticulturist, garden designer, and much-praised author Toby Musgrave (Empire of Plants), in concert with Country Living Gardener, offers an inspirational and practical look at a most picturesque garden style. "Takes readers on a worldwide tour...[includes] plants well-suited to limited spaces and special techniques designers use to make small areas appear larger."--Gardener A courtyard garden makes the perfect personal haven, and now anyone can create a dream refuge with these beautiful design ideas, detailed blueprints, suggestions for glorious plantings, and inspirational color photos. Every eye-opening page showcases a different atmospheric example of outdoor living, from an Italian Renaissance garden complete with grotto, to a Japanese courtyard filled with dramatically shaped rocks, graceful trees, and a simple but lovely gate. A Latin Patio features extravagantly bright colors and striking plants; form follows function in the Modernist style; and a Tropical Paradise, with its luxuriant foliage and cascading water, reinvigorates the mind and spirit. Whether you're starting fresh or transforming an existing garden, you'll find a wealth of alluring possibilities.
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.