THE COLOSSEUM — Haynes Publishing May 2018
The Colosseum in Rome overawed the world when it was inaugurated in 80AD. It continued to awe visitors even as a ruin in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and still does so today. While it remains Rome’s greatest landmark, an unfailing magnet for millions of tourists, it is also a brilliant example of Roman technology at its most sophisticated, a smooth-running machine in stone, cement and marble. Inside it the city’s lavish and brutal entertainments were staged for centuries. The Colosseum, a vividly illustrated guide-cum-history, investigates its construction, its workings and its checkered history, including the recent triumphant part restoration. It shows how this archetypal amphitheatre influenced all subsequent arenas around the Roman Empire as well as many more recent buildings. One chapter explains the central role its games played in the life of the ancient city, another the brief if sometimes glamorous lives of the gladiators themselves. Further chapters outline how the massive structure survived centuries of earthquakes, fires, depredation and neglect after the fall of the Roman Empire, and its later roles as palace, fortress, church, tenements, site of black magic and botanical gardens. There is also a guide as how and when it is best to visit, avoiding the hottest, most crowded times.
The Bruegels — Lorenz Books May 2016
Peter Bruegel the Elder was one of the world’s most original artists, painting in a style that is still instantly recognisable. His finest works remain among the most popular of all paintings. They include Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, Hunters in the Snow, The Wheat Harvest, Peasant Wedding Feast and Census at Bethlehem. Bruegel founded what became a dynasty of painters, his sons and grandsons continuing his style long after his death, often with only minor variations. Yet about the man who created such powerful and moving works, oddly little is known.
Why Noise Matters with John Stewart, Francis McManus and Val Weedon — Routledge August 2011
This book argues that that noise is a major social, cultural, environmental and health issue. Across the world, more people are disturbed by noise in their daily lives than by any other pollutant on Earth. From the shanty towns of Mumbai to the boulevards of Paris, noise is damaging people’s health, costing billions, and threatening the world’s natural sound systems.
Understand Existentialism — Nigel Rodgers & Mel Thompson — Hodder August 2010
Understand Existentialism unpacks the heady mix of self-affirmation and despair that created the most popular and influential philosophy of the 20th century. The first major philosophy to inspire – and to be influenced by – writers and artists, it appealed as much to people in the cafés and streets as those in the lecture halls. Among its key figures were Simone de Beauvoir, a pioneer in feminist thinking, and Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, both great novelists.
The Greek World — Lorenz Books June 2010
Architecture, art, tragedy, comedy, poetry, sculpture, philosophy, science, sex, symposia, slavery, technology, trade, food, wine and the role of women – all aspects of life in the ancient Greek world explored or revealed.
The Rise and Fall of Ancient Greece — Lorenz Books March 2009
Do you prefer anarchy to monarchy? Democracy to tyranny? Athletics to aesthetics? Physics to philosophy? All of them Greek words, for concepts the ancient Greeks pioneered. Read how and why the Greeks were the first in so many things that still matter. The book covers all ancient Greek history from Minoan Crete to Cleopatra.
Roman Architecture — Southwater Books November 2006
Arches, aqueducts , amphitheatres, arenas, palaces and sewers – all are there. With a quick guide on how to tell Ionic from Doric columns, and a survey of the empire’s greatest cities from Pompeii to Petra, from Trier to Palmyra.
Roman Empire — Lorenz Books 2006
The entire sweep of Roman history – everyone from Julius Caesar, Cicero and Caligula to Hannibal and Attila the Hun, covering all aspects of life in Rome, from gargantuan dinner parties to sex and slavery, from military conquests to mystery religions. The publisher’s website is at www.annesspublishing.com.
The Roman World Lorenz Books 2005
A survey of the world of imperial Rome, covering everything from baths to religion, from literature to travel, from technology to sport.
Hitler & Churchill — Hodder & Stoughton 2001
Twin biographies in brief. Contrasting two of the 20th century’s most notorious figures: Hitler, the pioneering non-smoker, believer in animal rights, vegetarianism and astrology; and Churchill, the romantic reactionary smoking cigars and swigging champagne through two world wars.
The Traveller’s Atlas with John Man, Chris Schüler, Geoffrey Roy — Apple Books 1999
A vividly illustrated guide to the places you should see before you die.
Just the thing to hand a prospective gap-year traveller The Daily Telegraph
Impressive Glasgow Herald
It could make you drop everything and go somewhere that could change your life in an instant … Inspiring
Newsday (New York)
Incredible Optical Illusions or: You should never (wholly) believe your eyes — Simon and Schuster 1998
Contributing writer to
- World Philosophy — Vega 2002
- Facts at Your Fingertips — Reader’s Digest 2001
- Illustrated Encyclopedia of Great Britain — Reader’s Digest 1999
- Timelines of World History — Bramley Books 1998