Download or read book Fox Tossing Octopus Wrestling and Other Forgotten Sports written by Edward Brooke-Hitching and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-06-04 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'An entertaining new book… which looks back at the most bizarre sporting activities ever devised by mankind' Daily Mail 'Perfect book for the Christmas stockings of adults and curious children' Wall Street Journal For those who enjoyed the quirkiness of Schott's Miscellany, the erudition of The Etymologicon or the extremes of The Dangerous Book for Boys, this is the ideal read. From Flagpole Sitting to Hot Cockles, Edward Brooke-Hitching has researched through piles of dusty tomes to bring vividly back to life some of the most curious, dangerous and downright bizarre sports and pastimes ever devised, before we thought better of it and erased them from the memory. After all, who would ever want to bring back Fox Tossing, a popular sport for men and women in 17th-century Germany? The sport involved dozens of couples pairing up and standing 20-25 feet apart in an enclosed field, each holding one end of a net, and then they would pull hard at both ends as the fox ran past, sending it flying high into the air. There are many other sports revealed within these pages that are unlikely ever to make an appearance on our TV screens, such as Firework Boxing, which is just as dangerous as it sounds. Meanwhile, Ski Ballet may not have been so risky, but Suzy 'Chapstick' Chaffee's signature move - the Suzy Split (a complete forward split while balanced on the tips of her skis) - was probably not one to try at home. An intriguing, entertaining and occasionally shocking insight into the vivid imaginations of humanity across the years, Fox Tossing, Octopus Wrestling and Other Forgotten Sports is an unforgettable read and a perfect gift.

Download or read book Fox Tossing written by Edward Brooke-Hitching and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-11-10 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Originally published in 2015 in Great Britain by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd."

Download or read book The Sky Atlas written by Edward Brooke-Hitching and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2020-02-25 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Sky Atlas unveils some of the most beautiful maps and charts ever created during humankind's quest to map the skies above us. This richly illustrated treasury showcases the finest examples of celestial cartography—a glorious art often overlooked by modern map books—as well as medieval manuscripts, masterpiece paintings, ancient star catalogs, antique instruments, and other curiosities. This is the sky as it has never been presented before: the realm of stars and planets, but also of gods, devils, weather wizards, flying sailors, ancient aliens, mythological animals, and rampaging spirits. • Packed with celestial maps, illustrations, and stories of places, people, and creatures that different cultures throughout history have observed or imagined in the heavens • Readers are taken on a tour of star-obsessed cultures around the world, learning about Tibetan sky burials, star-covered Inuit dancing coats, Mongolian astral prophets and Sir William Herschel's 1781 discovery of Uranus, the first planet to be found since antiquity. • A gorgeous book that delights stargazers and map lovers alike With thrilling stories and gorgeous artwork, this remarkable atlas explores our fascination with the sky across time and cultures to form an extraordinary chronicle of cosmic imagination and discovery. The Sky Atlas is a wonderful book for map lovers, history buffs, and stargazers, but also for those who are intrigued by the many wonderful and bizarre ways in which humans have sought to understand the cosmos and our place in it. • A unique map book that expands beyond the terrestrial and into the celestial • A wonderful book for map lovers, obscure-history fans, mythology buffs, and astrology and astronomy lovers • Great for those who enjoyed What We See in the Stars: An Illustrated Tour of the Night Sky by Kelsey Oseid, Maps by Aleksandra Mizielinska and Daniel Mizielinski, and Atlas of Remote Islands: Fifty Islands I Have Never Set Foot On and Never Will by Judith Schalansky

Download or read book The Golden Atlas written by Edward Brooke-Hitching and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2018-10-18 with total page 459 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Stunning...divine' Stephen Fry ‘A fabulous book, good enough to eat with a spoon! Marvellous’ John Lloyd, creator of QI ‘Perfect for the armchair adventurer historian, this is a rich visual exploration of some of the most beautiful charts ever created’ National Geographic 'Introduces us to a whole different way of looking at maps. Great illustrations, most engaging - the author is just a mine of information' Simon Mayo's Books of the Year The Golden Atlas is a spectacular visual history of exploration and cartography, a treasure chest of adventures from the chronicles of global discovery, illustrated with a selection of the most beautiful maps ever created. The book reveals how the world came to be known, featuring a magnificent gallery of exceptionally rare hand-coloured antique maps, paintings and engravings, many of which can only be found in the author's collection. Arranged chronologically, the reader is taken on a breathtaking expedition through Ancient Babylonian geography and Marco Polo's journey to the Mongol Khan on to buccaneers ransacking the Caribbean and the voyages of seafarers such as Captain Cook and fearless African pathfinders. Their stories are told in an engaging and compelling style, bringing vividly to life a motley collection of heroic explorers, treasure-hunters and death-dealing villains - all of them accompanied by eye-grabbing illustrations from rare maps, charts and manuscripts. The Golden Atlas takes you back to a world of darkness and peril, placing you on storm-lashed ships, frozen wastelands and the shores of hostile territories to see how the lines were drawn to form the shape of the modern world. The author's previous book, The Phantom Atlas, was a critically acclaimed international bestseller, described by Jonathan Ross as 'a spectacular, enjoyable and eye-opening read' and this new book is sure to follow suit.

Download or read book The Madman s Library written by Edward Brooke-Hitching and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2020-10-01 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: * BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK * 'Anybody who loves the printed word will be bowled over by this amusing, erudite, beautiful book about books. It is in every way a triumph. One of the loveliest books to have been published for many, many years' Alexander McCall Smith 'Quite simply the best gift for any book lover this year, or perhaps ever' Lucy Atkins, Sunday Times Literary Book of the Year 'An utterly joyous journey into the deepest eccentricities of the human mind… The most cheering, fascinating book I’ve read for ages' Guardian From the author of the critically acclaimed and globally successful The Phantom Atlas, The Golden Atlas and The Sky Atlas comes a stunning new work. The Madman’s Library is a unique, beautifully illustrated journey through the entire history of literature, delving into its darkest territories to hunt down the very strangest books ever written, and uncover the fascinating stories behind their creation. This is a madman’s library of eccentric and extraordinary volumes from around the world, many of which have been completely forgotten. Books written in blood and books that kill, books of the insane and books that hoaxed the globe, books invisible to the naked eye and books so long they could destroy the Universe, books worn into battle, books of code and cypher whose secrets remain undiscovered… and a few others that are just plain weird. From the 605-page Qur'an written in the blood of Saddam Hussein, through the gorgeously decorated 15th-century lawsuit filed by the Devil against Jesus, to the lost art of binding books with human skin, every strand of strangeness imaginable (and many inconceivable) has been unearthed and bound together for a unique and richly illustrated collection ideal for every book-lover.

Download or read book The Phantom Atlas written by Edward Brooke-Hitching and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2018-04-03 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discover the mysteries within ancient maps — Where exploration and mythology meet This richly illustrated book collects and explores the colorful histories behind a striking range of real antique maps that are all in some way a little too good to be true. Mysteries within ancient maps: The Phantom Atlas is a guide to the world not as it is, but as it was imagined to be. It's a world of ghost islands, invisible mountain ranges, mythical civilizations, ship-wrecking beasts, and other fictitious features introduced on maps and atlases through mistakes, misunderstanding, fantasies, and outright lies. Where exploration and mythology meet: Author Edward Brooke-Hitching is a map collector, author, writer for the popular BBC Television program QI and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He lives in a dusty heap of old maps and books in London investigating the places where exploration and mythology meet. Cartography’s greatest phantoms: The Phantom Atlas uses gorgeous atlas images as springboards for tales of deranged buccaneers, seafaring monks, heroes, swindlers, and other amazing stories behind cartography's greatest phantoms. If you are a fan of this popular genre and a reader of books such as Prisoners of Geography, Atlas of Ancient Rome, Atlas Obscura, What If, Book of General Ignorance, or Thing Explainer, your will love The Phantom Atlas

Download or read book The Devil s Atlas written by Edward Brooke-Hitching and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-10-14 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Very beautiful and illuminating' Mariella Frostrup Edward Brooke-Hitching, author of the international bestseller The Phantom Atlas delivers an atlas unlike any other. The Devil’s Atlas is an illustrated guide to the heavens, hells and lands of the dead as imagined throughout history by cultures and religions around the world. Packed with colourful maps, paintings and captivating stories, the reader is taken on a compelling tour of the geography, history and supernatural populations of the afterworlds of cultures around the globe. Whether it’s the thirteen heavens of the Aztecs, the Chinese Taoist netherworld of ‘hungry ghosts’, or the ‘Hell of the Flaming Rooster’ of Japanese Buddhist mythology (in which sinners are tormented by an enormous fire-breathing cockerel), The Devil’s Atlas gathers together a wonderful variety of beliefs and representations of life after death. These afterworlds are illustrated with an unprecedented collection of images, ranging from the marvellous ‘infernal cartography’ of the European Renaissance artists attempting to map the structured Hell described by Dante and the decorative Islamic depictions of Paradise to the various efforts to map the Garden of Eden and the spiritual vision paintings of nineteenth-century mediums. The Devil’s Atlas accompanies beautiful images with a highly readable trove of surprising facts and narratives, from the more inventive torture methods awaiting sinners, to colourful eccentric catalogues of demons, angels and assorted death deities. A traveller’s guide to worlds unseen, The Devil’s Atlas is a fascinating study of the boundless capacity of human invention, a visual chronicle of man’s hopes, fears and fantasies of what lies beyond.

Download or read book Animal Theologians written by Andrew Linzey and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2023 with total page 473 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many people who have thought about God have not thought about animals, or about the relationship between the two. But among those who have are some of the most celebrated religious thinkers, including Michel de Montaigne, Thomas Tryon, John Wesley, John Ruskin, Leo Tolstoy, Mohandas K. Gandhi, Albert Schweitzer, and Paul Tillich. This volume comprises 24 scholarly studies that detail challenges to the dominant anthropocentrism of most religious traditions. The editors have brought together Jewish, Unitarian, Christian, transcendentalist, Muslim, Hindu, Dissenting, deist, and Quaker voices, each offering a unique theological perspective that counters the neglect of the nonhuman. Animal Theologians is divided into three parts starting with the pioneers who first saw a relationship between animals and divinity, those who contributed to the expansion of social sensibility to animals, and ending with the work of contemporary theologians. The essays in this volume use contextual and historical background to describe what led animal theologians to their beliefs, and then pave way for further developments in this expanding field. This volume is an act of reclaiming different religious traditions for animals by recovering lost voices.

Download or read book Sports in South America written by Matthew Brown and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2023-01-01 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first book to examine the transformation of sporting cultures in South America in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Sports in South America follows the transformation of sporting cultures in South America leading up to Uruguay's hosting of the first FIFA Men's World Cup in 1930. Matthew Brown shows how South American soccer culture, envied worldwide, sprang out of societies that were already playing and watching games well before British sportsmen arrived to teach "the beautiful game." These vibrant and distinct sporting traditions, including cycling, boxing, cockfighting, bullfighting, cricket, baseball, and horse racing, were marked by South American societies' Indigenous and colonial pasts and by their leaders' desire to participate in what they saw as a global movement toward human progress. Drawing on a wealth of original archival research, Brown debunks legends, highlights the stories of forgotten sportswomen and Indigenous sports, and unpacks the social and cultural connections within South America and with the rest of the world.

Download or read book The Culture of Animals in Antiquity written by Sian Lewis and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-01-09 with total page 771 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Culture of Animals in Antiquity provides students and researchers with well-chosen and clearly presented ancient sources in translation, some well-known, others undoubtedly unfamiliar, but all central to a key area of study in ancient history: the part played by animals in the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean. It brings new ideas to bear on the wealth of evidence – literary, historical and archaeological – which we possess for the experiences and roles of animals in the ancient world. Offering a broad picture of ancient cultures in the Mediterranean as part of a wider ecosystem, the volume is on an ambitious scale. It covers a broad span of time, from the sacred animals of dynastic Egypt to the imagery of the lamb in early Christianity, and of region, from the fallow deer introduced and bred in Roman Britain to the Asiatic lioness and her cubs brought as a gift by the Elamites to the Great King of Persia. This sourcebook is essential for anyone wishing to understand the role of animals in the ancient world and support learning for one of the fastest growing disciplines in Classics.

Download or read book The Devil s Atlas written by Edward Brooke-Hitching and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2022-08-16 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Packed with strange stories and spectacular illustrations, The Devil's Atlas leads you on an adventure through the afterlife, exploring the supernatural worlds of global cultures to form a fascinating traveler's guide quite unlike any other. From the author of the critically acclaimed bestsellers The Phantom Atlas, The Sky Atlas, and The Madman's Library comes a unique and beautifully illustrated guide to the heavens, hells, and lands of the dead as imagined throughout history by cultures and religions around the world. Packed with colorful maps, paintings, and captivating stories, The Devil's Atlas is a compelling tour of the geography, history, and supernatural populations of the afterworlds of cultures around the globe. Whether it's the thirteen heavens of the Aztecs, the Chinese Taoist netherworld of "hungry ghosts," Islamic depictions of Paradise, or the mysteries of the Viking mirror world, each is conjured through astonishing images and a highly readable trove of surprising facts and narratives, stories of places you'd hope to go, and those you definitely would not. A traveler's guide to worlds unseen, here is a fascinating visual chronicle of our hopes, fears, and fantasies of what lies beyond. DISCOVER THE BEYOND: From the depths of underworlds to the heights of heavens and everywhere else a life after death may be spent, this atlas explores the geography, history, and supernatural populations of the afterworlds of global mythologies. A GLOBAL SURVEY: From the demon parliament of the ancient Maya, to the eternal globe-spanning quest to find the Earthly Paradise, to the "Hell of the Flaming Rooster" of Japanese Buddhist mythology (in which sinners are tormented by an enormous fire-breathing cockerel), The Devil's Atlas gathers together a wonderful variety of beliefs and representations of life after death. UNUSUAL AND UNSEEN: These afterworlds are illustrated with an unprecedented collection of images. They range from the marvelous "infernal cartography" of the European Renaissance artists attempting to map the structured Hell described by Dante and the decorative Islamic depictions of Paradise to the various efforts to map the Garden of Eden and the spiritual vision paintings of nineteenth-century mediums. EXPERT AUTHOR: Edward Brooke-Hitching is a master of taking visually–driven deep dives into unusual historical subjects, such as the maps of imaginary geography in The Phantom Atlas, ancient pathways through the stars in The Sky Atlas, and the literary oddities lining the metaphorical shelves of The Madman's Library. Perfect for: Obscure history and mythology enthusiasts Anyone with an interest in the occult Spiritual curiosity seekers Map lovers

Download or read book Being the Person Your Dog Thinks You Are written by Jim Davies and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-02-02 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A crisp and sparkling blend of cognitive science and human behavior that offers meaningful and attainable pathways towards becoming our best selves. Why do we feel like in order to be productive, happy, or good, we must sacrifice everything else? Is it possible to feel all three at once? Without even knowing it, we’re doing things everyday to sabotage ourselves and our societies, habits that prevent us from optimizing long term happiness. Where most books imagine solutions that, when enacted, fail to fundamentally improve our lives, Jim Davies grounds his research in cognitive science to show you not only what works, but how much it works. Being the Person Your Dog Thinks You Are shows us how we can use science to become our best selves, using resources we already have within our own brains. Davies's book challenges and inspires us to approach the big picture while also staying mindful of the everyday details in real life. Davies proves why multitasking is bad for you, when a little unmindfulness can be good for you, how to best justify which charities to donate to, and how to hack your brain. The most surprising truth Davies offers us spreads across these pages like wildfire: you too can lead an optimally good life, not through uprooting your life from the ground up, but from adapting your mentality to your given present. A better life doesn’t need to look like a massive change—like our beloved dogs who already view us as our best selves, it’s already much closer than you think.

Download or read book The Madman s Gallery written by Edward Brooke-Hitching and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2023-03-08 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Brought to light from the depths of libraries, museums, dealers, and galleries around the world, these forgotten artistic treasures include portraits of oddballs such as the British explorer with a penchant for riding crocodiles, and the Italian monk who levitated so often he's recognized as the patron saint of airplane passengers. Discover impossible medieval land yachts, floating churches, and eagle-powered airships. Encounter dog-headed holy men, armies of German giants, 18th-century stuntmen, human chessboards, screaming ghost heads, and more marvels of the human imagination. A captivating odditorium of obscure and engaging characters and works, each expertly brought to life by historian and curator of the strange Edward Brooke-Hitching, here is a richly illustrated and entertaining gallery for lovers of outré art and history.

Download or read book Love A Curious History written by Edward Brooke-Hitching and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2023-10-26 with total page 379 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of the critically acclaimed The Phantom Atlas and The Madman’s Library (Sunday Times Literature Book of the Year) comes a magnificent new illustrated work. From prehistoric carvings and ancient Egyptian statues, to medieval spell books and Victorian code-writing, this unique collection gathers a wealth of curious objects and surprising stories to trace the story of love through the ages. Discover the royal marriage that crossed the boundary of death in 14th-century Portugal, the judicial duels between husbands and wives in Early Modern Europe, the love spells found in medieval manuscripts, and the romantic codes hidden in some of art’s greatest masterpieces. Meet the feared ancient Greek army regiment comprised entirely of male couples; the French pirate queen avenging her murdered husband; the first woman to sail around the world; and the quack sexologist who conned 18th-century London with his musical mechanical bed. Here are ancient gods, mythical monsters, the Elizabethan portraits of smiling men on fire and the erotic paintings hidden beneath the ash of Pompeii, as well as Nigerian wedding chains, Welsh love spoons, cryptic postcards and the centuries-old cartographic tradition of mapping the heart. A curiosity cabinet of romantic treasure, Love: A Curious History in 50 Objects draws on a wide range of sources to form a collection perfect for fans of beautiful illustrated works and curious history, while also forming the ideal romantic gift.

Download or read book Literature and class written by Andrew Hadfield and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2021-08-24 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the intimate relationship between literature and class in England (and later Britain) from the Peasants’ Revolt at the end of the fourteenth century to the impact of the French Revolution at the end of the eighteenth century and beginning of the nineteenth. The book argues throughout that class cannot be seen as a modern phenomenon that occurred after the Industrial revolution but that class divisions and relations have always structured societies and that it makes sense to assume a historical continuity. The book explores a number of themes relating to class: class consciousness; class conflict; commercialisation; servitude; rebellion; gender relations; and colonisation. After outlining the history of class relations, five chapters explore the ways in which social class consciously and unconsciously influenced a series of writers: Chaucer, Shakespeare, Behn, Rochester, Defoe, Duck, Richardson, Burney, Blake and Wordsworth.

Download or read book The Improv Handbook written by Tom Salinsky and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-10-19 with total page 520 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Improv Handbook is the most comprehensive, smart, helpful and inspiring guide to improv available today. Applicable to comedians, actors, public speakers and anyone who needs to think on their toes, it features a range of games, interviews, descriptions and exercises that illuminate and illustrate the exciting world of improvised performance. First published in 2008, this second edition features a new foreword by comedian Mike McShane, as well as new exercises on endings, managing blind offers and master-servant games, plus new and expanded interviews with Keith Johnstone, Neil Mullarkey, Jeffrey Sweet and Paul Rogan. The Improv Handbook is a one-stop guide to the exciting world of improvisation. Whether you're a beginner, an expert, or would just love to try it if you weren't too scared, The Improv Handbook will guide you every step of the way.

Download or read book Becoming Holyfield written by Evander Holyfield and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2008-02-19 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: History's only four-time world heavyweight boxing champion and one of America's most admired and beloved athletes reveals the dramatic story of his rise from poverty to the very pinnacle of the toughest sport on earth. Barely able to make it into the heavyweight division and almost always the smaller fighter in the ring, Holyfield spent his professional career proving the naysayers wrong. Along the way he provided some of the twentieth century's most thrilling sports moments, not all of them on purpose. In Becoming Holyfield, he gives us the exciting inside story of defeating Mike Tyson, the self-proclaimed "Baddest Man on Earth," and then getting a piece of his ear bitten off in the rematch. We learn how it felt to become the undisputed champion of the world by knocking out the man who knocked out Tyson, and we find out what it was really like to be in the middle of a title fight and see a motorized parachute fly right into the ring. There is heartbreak to go along with triumph, beginning with Holyfield's loss of an Olympic gold medal because of a highly controversial disqualification and continuing through his short-lived retirement following a misdiagnosed heart condition. Along the way we're treated to glimpses of such colorful figures as Don King and Howard Cosell and we come to understand the extra-ordinary power of love in shaping a young boy's life, and the love he tried to return. Holyfield made more money in the ring than any other fighter in history, and gave away millions to support the dreams of underprivileged kids looking for the same kinds of breaks that allowed him to become a champion. Holyfield's immense popularity cannot be overstated, and it cuts across all ethnicities and socioeconomic classes. The top three highest-grossing sporting events in Las Vegas history were all Holyfield fights, and his highly rated appearances on Dancing with the Stars helped to ensure that show's success. Other fighters may have been bigger, stronger, or more flamboyant, but few could match Evander Holyfield's poise, grace under pressure, or commitment to serve as an inspiration to others.