This is not a book of facts; it's a book of 'facts'. Should you finish it believing we became the planet's dominant species because predators found us too smelly to eat; or that the living bloodline of Christ is a family of Japanese garlic farmers - well, that's on you. Why are we here? Do ghosts exist? Did life on Earth begin after a badly tidied-up picnic? Was it just an iceberg that sank the Titanic? Are authors stealing their plotlines from the future? Will we ever talk to animals? And why, when you're in the shower, does the shower curtain always billow in towards you? We don't know the answers to any of these questions. But don't worry, no matter what questions you have, you can bet on the fact that there is someone (or something) out there, investigating it on your behalf. From the sports stars who use cosmic energy to office plants investigating murders, The Theory of Everything Else will act as a handbook for those who want to think differently.

This is the first global history of dress regulation and its place in broader debates around how human life and societies should be visualised and materialised. Sumptuary laws were a tool on the part of states to regulate not only manufacturing systems and moral economies via the medium of expenditure and consumption of clothing but also banquets, festivities and funerals. Leading scholars on Asian, Latin American, Ottoman and European history shed new light on how and why items of dress became key aspirational goods across society, how they were lobbied for and marketed, and whether or not sumptuary laws were implemented by cities, states and empires to restrict or channel trade and consumption. Their findings reveal the significance of sumptuary laws in medieval and early modern societies as a site of contestation between individuals and states and how dress as an expression of identity developed as a modern 'human right'.

Whether it is morning coffee or tea, or champagne with dinner and a glass of port after, these handy reference books offer insight into coffee and tea blends and champaigne and port vintages. Over 100 full-color photographs help to identify the "best of the best." Drink and enjoy!