Of course, we are entirely dependent on plants for our food and the air we breathe, but did you know that 5,000 mature English oak trees were used in the construction of Admiral Nelson's flagship HMS Victory, or that sweet peas were involved in the birth of the science of genetics? King Cotton was the driver of the slave trade, which was the first domino to fall in the American Revolution, and cotton was also the catalyst for the Industrial Revolution. These, and many other extraordinary facts in Fifty Plants that Changed the Course of History, highlight the dynamic ways in which plants have influenced human history. This beautifully designed and illustrated volume provides an engaging guide to the fifty key plants that have had the most impact on human history. Packed full of information, the book includes details about the habitat and characteristics of each plant, fact boxes, full colour photographs and lovely botanical illustrations. Weaving together strands of economic, political and agricultural history, each entry is a fascinating look at the most influential plants known to mankind.

Re-thinking Careers Education and Guidance is the first book published in the United Kingdom to cover theory, policy and practice in all sectors of careers education and guidance provision. The book features:
* an authoritative review of career theories, together with a new career learning theory
* an analysis of the development of careers provision in schools; colleges; higher education; work organisations; the Careers Service, and in other agencies
* an examination of the main aspects of practice
* an exploration of ways of supporting development and evaluation
* an analysis of the role of public policy, and the development of guidance systems in other parts of the world.
Re-thinking Careers Education and Guidance is an essential text for students in initial training, those engaged in in-service and higher degree work, and reflective guidance practitioners.

eBook available with sample pages: HB:0415139740

* Fifty Railways that Changed the Course of History is a fascinating and beautifully presented guide to the train lines and rail companies that have had the greatest impact on modern civilization. * Entries range from the Metropolitan Line of the London Underground, the world's first underground railway, to the Pacific Railroad, the first transcontinental railroad in North America. * In order to justify the assertion that they literally 'changed the course of history,' each railway is judged by its influence in five categories: Engineering, Society, commerce, Politics, and Military.

A green thumb is not the only tool one needs to garden well--at least that's what the makers of gardening catalogs and the designers of the dizzying aisle displays in lawn- and-garden stores would have us believe. Need to plant a bulb, aerate some soil, or keep out a hungry critter? Well, there's a specific tool for almost everything. But this isn't just a product of today's consumer era, since the very earliest gardens, people have been developing tools to make planting and harvesting more efficient and to make flora more beautiful and trees more fruitful. In "A History of the Garden in Fifty Tools," Bill Laws offers entertaining and colorful anecdotes of implements that have shaped our gardening experience since the beginning.
As Laws reveals, gardening tools have coevolved with human society, and the story of these fifty individual tools presents an innovative history of humans and the garden over time. Laws takes us back to the Neolithic age, when the microlith, the first "all-in-one" tool was invented. Consisting of a small sharp stone blade that was set into a handle made of wood, bone, or antler, it was a small spade that could be used to dig, clip, and cut plant material. We find out that wheelbarrows originated in China in the second century BC, and their basic form has not changed much since. He also describes how early images of a pruning knife appear in Roman art, in the form of a scythe that could cut through herbs, vegetables, fruits, and nuts and was believed to be able to tell the gardener when and what to harvest.
Organized into five thematic chapters relating to different types of gardens: the flower garden, the kitchen garden, the orchard, the lawn, and ornamental gardens, the book includes a mix of horticulture and history, in addition to stories featuring well-known characters--we learn about Henry David Thoreau's favorite hoe, for example. "A History of the Garden in Fifty Tools "will be a beautiful gift for any home gardener and a reassuring reminder that gardeners have always struggled with the same quandaries.

Home Truths uncovers the strange and often bizarre stories behind the inventions, and inventors, that have shaped our homes. From dado rails and stencilling - which date from Roman times - noggins and newel posts to power showers, lights and lightning rods, wallpapers and windows, floors and fitted kitchens, Bill Laws's book takes us on a journey of discovery that exposes the true secrets behind our four walls. Included here are the incredible flying fitted kitchens, the true saga behind the Aga, Mr Chubb's great lock scandal and how front doors were changed forever by the penny post, while the near-death experience of one British royal contributed to the contemporary bathroom. This book will ensure that you never look at your wallpaper and laminate flooring in the same way again!

Vegetables may be associated with dull monotony, but, as Bill Laws reveals in this illustrated book, the humble vegetable has had a far from mundane history.

There are garlic inscriptions on Egyptian pyramids; peas, leeks, lettuces and beans are among the oldest vegetables in the world; while maize, cultivated in Mexico 2,500 years ago, is a relative newcomer. Potatoes were venerated by the ancient Peruvians yet caused division between Catholics and Protestants in the mid-1700s. Suspicious of this 'devil vegetable', which had to be buried like a corpse before it would grow, the Protestants even brought the fight to politics - in 1765 their slogan was 'No potatoes. No Popery.' Victorian critic John Ruskin believed growing vegetables would better your position in society and improve your table manners. President Woodrow Wilson saw it as a cure for the 'extravagant and wasteful' ways of his people.

From guinea gardens to genetic modification, from aphrodisiacs to allotments, from poets to pop stars, and from tales of the market trade to the wicked secrets of the vegetable show, Bill Laws here unearths the curious, intriguing and entertaining story of the vegetable. It will appeal to everyone with a taste for gardening or food history.