Over centuries many cultures have developed around the world. Each culture has had its own customs and traditions. Sometimes different cultures come together to share certain aspects. Discover how one culture can have a lasting impact on another culture. Learn how cultures from long ago have influenced our lives today, from the words we use to the way our government is run.

It's the early 1600s, and the streets of Italy are bustling. But Michelangelo Galilei, the much younger brother of well-known Italian philosopher and scientist Galileo Galilei, feels lost in the crowd. It seems as though Michelangelo has nothing in common with his older brother. Michelangelo spends countless hours practising his lute, while his brother seems to spend all his time testing long-held scientific beliefs. Then Galileo improves a small telescope, opening up a whole new world to them both. But will it be enough to fill the expanse between them?

You may have heard of Thomas Edison or Alexander Graham Bell. But have you ever heard of Hedy Lamarr or Bi Sheng? Without Hedy Lamarr, we wouldn't have wireless technology. Without Bi Sheng, we wouldn't have printed books! Learn about eight important inventors and how their inventions have shaped the world we live in today.

What would happen if the frozen Arctic completely melted? Certain plants and animals rely on the dry and cold tundra environments. The tundra habitat includes both the flat regions of the Arctic and the alpine heights of  mountains. This habitat acts as a source of food and a climate suitable for the plants and animals that live there. Learn about the geography and resources of tundra habitats as well as how animals and people have adapted to and changed tundra environments. Explore this habitat's future and what people can do to help keep it safe.

Tamal has a problem. Every time he has to empty the bucket into the compost bin, his trainers get soaking wet! He wants to find a better way and maybe win his school's science challenge at the same time. With help from his mum who is an engineer, Tamal builds an invention using different renewable energy sources.

The "Politics," Aristotle's classic work on the nature of political community, has been a touchstone of Western debates about society and government. Here, Peter Simpson presents a thorough analysis of the logical structure of the entire text and each of its constitutive arguments and conclusions. A valuable commentary on the philosophical argument in the "Politics," the book will also serve as a sound basis for future study of Aristotle's political thought.

Did you know that most of the Earth's oxygen comes from its marine habitats? The marine habitats are the largest in the world. They includes the five main oceans and are a source of food, air and water for plants, animals and people all over the world. Learn about the geography and resources of marine habitats as well as how animals and people have adapted to and changed marine environments. Explore this habitat's future and what people can do to help keep it safe.

A touchstone in Western debates about society and government, the "Politics" is Aristotle's classic work on the nature of political community. Here, he argues that people band together into political communities to secure a good and self-sufficient life. He discusses the merits and defects of various regimes or ways of organizing political community--democracy in particular--and in the process examines such subjects as slavery, economics, the family, citizenship, justice, and revolution.

Peter Simpson offers a new translation of Aristotle's text from the ancient Greek. He renders the "Politics" into an English version that is accurate, readable, and in certain difficult passages, original. His innovative analytical division of the whole text, with headings and accompanying summaries, makes clear the progression and unity of the argument--a helpful feature for students or readers unfamiliar with Aristotle's studied brevity and often elliptical style. Books 7 and 8 are repositioned--a move supported by Aristotle's own words and much scholarly opinion--to restore the work's logical organization and coherence. Finally, Simpson places the "Politics" in its proper philosophical context by beginning the text with the last chapter of Aristotle's "Nicomachean Ethics," which he sees as an introduction to what follows.

A new softback edition of this modern classic of our most renowned tree, the totara. A wonder of evolution, the big tree of the forest, the wood behind Maori carving and Pakeha fence posts: the 'mighty totara' is New Zealand's tree and this book tells its story. The 'mighty totara' is one of our most extraordinary trees. Among the biggest and oldest trees in the New Zealand forest, the heart of Maori carving and culture, trailing no. 8 wire as fence posts on settler farms, clambered up in the Pureora protests of the 1980s: the story of New Zealand can be told through totara. Simpson tells that story like nobody else could. In words and pictures, through waka and leaves, farmers and carvers, he takes us deep inside the trees: their botany and evolution, their role in Maori life and lore, their uses by Pakeha, and their current status in our environment and culture. By doing so, Simpson illuminates the natural world and the story of Maori and Pakeha in this country. Our largest trees, the kauri Tane Mahuta and the totara Pouakani, are both thought to be around 1000 years old. They were here before we humans were and their relatives will probably be here when we are gone. Totara has been central to life in this country for thousands of years. This book tells a great tree's story, and that is our story too.

A broad study of basic issues in ethics and politics, what the human good is, how to attain it and how to avoid its opposite. The author argues that mainstream Anglo-American philosophy debates these issues too narrowly, hence encouraging other vices like despair of universal and objective reason.