The inspiring novels that have left a significant mark on the world of literature and popular culture. Before the novel, the world of books was dominated by scientific tomes, religious tracts and histories of the victorious in war. There had been stories and epic poems from ancient times – Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey recounted ancient Greece, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was a chivalric romance in Middle English, but it was not until the seventeenth century, when the European middle classes had money and leisure, that anything so frivolous as a novel could be sold for entertainment. Colin Salter traces the evolution of the novel from the earliest examples through to the postmodernist best-sellers of the 21st century. Rather than dwelling too long on the technical nuances of innovative writing style he has amassed 100 of the greatest novel writers and chosen their most significant work. For writers such as Herman Melville, James Joyce or Harper Lee the decision is not a difficult one. For Charles Dickens, Salman Rushdie and Margaret Atwood, the choice is perhaps more difficult. Following the style set with previous books in the 100 series, most notably 100 Children’s Books and 100 Science Discoveries, each author is given a concise biography and their major novel analysed and then set in context with their other published work. Readers can become ridiculously well-read in 224 pages. Authors included: Alexandre Dumas, Daniel Defoe, Victor Hugo, Mary Shelly, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Hilary Mantel, Jane Austen, Robert Louis Stevenson, Walter Scott, Lewis Carroll, JRR Tolkien, Gustave Flaubert, Marcel Proust, Henry James, Harper Lee, James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, Margaret Atwood, Alice Walker, Jules Verne, HG Wells, Virginia Woolf, Leo Tolstoy, Louisa M. Alcott, Arthur Conan Doyle, Bram Stoker, John Steinbeck, CS Lewis, Chinua Achebe, Jack Kerouac, John Le Carre, Arundhati Roy, Mila Kundera, Joseph Heller, JD Salinger, Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Miguel Cervantes, Graham Greene, F. Scott Fitzgerald, George Orwell, John Steinbeck, Evelyn Waugh, Robert Graves, Daphne du Maurier, Agatha Christie, PG Wodehouse, Raymond Chandler, Hunter S. Thompson, Khaled Hosseini.

 The Anatomist's Library is a fascinating chronological collection of the best anatomical books from six centuries, charting the evolution of both medical knowledge and illustrated publishing. There is a rich history of medical publishing across Europe with outstanding publications from Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, UK, and also many from Persia and Japan.   Because of the high value of accurate medical textbooks, it was these works that pushed the boundaries of illustrated publishing. They commanded the expert illustrators and skilled engravers and hence didn’t come cheaply. They were treasured by libraries and their intrinsic worth has meant that there is an incredible wealth of beautifully preserved historic examples from the 15th century onwards   The enduring popularity of Gray’s Anatomyhas shown that there is a long-term interest in the subject beyond the necessity of medical students to learn the modern equivalent – the 42nd edition (2020) – from cover to cover. But Englishman Henry Gray was late in the field and never saw the enduring success of his famous work. Having first published the surgeon’s reference book in 1858, he died in 1861 after contracting smallpox from his nephew (who survived). He was just 34.   Gray was following on from a long tradition of anatomists starting with Aristotle and Galen whose competing theories about the human body dominated early medicine. However they did not have the illustrative skills of Leonardo da Vinci who was trained in anatomy by Andrea del Verrocchio. In 1489 Leonardo began a series of anatomical drawings depicting the human form. His surviving 750 drawings (from two decades) represent groundbreaking studies in anatomy. However none of Leonardo's Notebooks were published during his lifetime, they only appeared in print centuries after his death.   Brussels-born Andries van Wesel (Andreas Vesalius) professor at the University of Padua is deemed to be the founder of modern anatomical reference with his 1543 work De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem ("On the fabric of the human body in seven books"). An Italian contemporary was Bartolomeo Eustachi who supported Galen’s medical theories. Among other discoveries he correctly identified the Eustachian tube and the arrangement of bones in the inner ear. His Anatomical Engravings were completed in 1552, nine years after Vesalius’s great work, but remained unpublished until 1714.   These are just two entries in a book brimming with an abundance of important illustrated works – with some more primitive examples from the 15th century, up to the 42nd edition of Gray’s in the 21st.  

You've recorded the album, toured the world, and all of the fans have left the venues. Where can the rock star now turn for sanctuary? With stadium size egos to placate, how does the rock star relax in their household? From Keith Moon's stately home to George Harrison's Buddhist retreat, Sinatra's chic apartment to Elton John's crash pad, how do the homes of the rock stars reflect their personalities and idiosyncrasies? This picture led book takes you through the keyhole of the abode's of our biggest stars.

Remarkable Treks is a compendium of exhilarating walks from around the planet – some lasting weeks, some lasting just a few days, but all of them set against spectacular backdrops. Following the same format as the award winning Remarkable Road Trips and Remarkable Bike Rides, Colin Salter has assembled 52 of the world's top-rated trails. The treks range in length from one-day hikes, to three-day hikes, to walks of almost expeditionary length. Thankfully, some of the longer routes, such as the Pacific Coast Trail in North America, which traverses the Rockies from Mexico to Canada, can be split up into sections. However for completists there are smaller challengers, such as the Pennine Way in England, which is never too far away from civilization, and by civilization we mean the pub. For the thrill-seeking backpackers there are the craggy peaks of Corsica (GR20 – which carries the ominous warning ‘some scrambling required’), or the hike up to Everest Base Camp. And for history buffs there is the Inca Trail in Peru or the 5-day hike to the Lost City of Teyuna in Colombia. Treks include: Samaria Gorge – Crete, Lycian Way – Turkey, Camino De Santiago – Spain, Routeburn Track – New Zealand, Laugavegur – Iceland, Torres Del Paine – Chile, Overland Track – Australia, Kungsleden – Sweden, West Highland Way – Scotland, John Muir Trail – USA, Alta Via 1 – Italy, Haute Route Pyrennes– Spain/France, Drakensberg Grand Traverse – South Africa, Western Way – Ireland, Via Dinerica – Albania/Bosnia/Croatia/Kosovo, GR221 Dry Stone Route – Majorca, Chilkoot Trail – USA/Canada, Toukbal Circuit – Morocco, Tour of the Matterhorn – Switzerland, Wadi Rum and Petra – Jordan.

Arranged in chronological order from the early Greek mathematicians, Euclid and Archimedes through to present-day Nobel Prize winners, 100 Science Discoveries That Changed the World charts the great breakthroughs in scientific understanding. Each entry describes the story of the research, the significance of the science and its impact on the scientific world. There is also a resume of each scientist's career along with their other achievements, sometimes - in the case of Isaac Newton - in a completely unrelated field (laws of motion and the component parts of light). The book covers all branches of science: geometry, number theory, cosmology, the laws of motion, particle physics, electricity, magnetism, the laws of gasses, optical theory, cell biology, conservation of energy, natural selection, radiation, quantum theory, special relativity, superconductivity, thermodynamics, genomes, plate tectonics, and the uncertainty principal. Scientists include: Albert Einstein, Alessandro Volta, Alexander Fleming, Amedeo Avogrado, Andre Geim, Antoine Lavoisier, Antony van Leeuwenhoek, Archimedes, Benoit Mandelbrot, Carl Friedrich Gauss, Charles Darwin, Christian Doppler, Copernicus, Crick and Watson, Dmitri Mendeleev, Edwin Hubble, Enrico Fermi, Ernest Rutherford, Erwin Schrodinger, Euclid, Fermat, Frederick Sanger, Galileo Galilei, Georg Ohm, Georges Lemaitre, Heike Kamerlingh, Isaac Newton, Jacques Charles, James Clerk Maxwell, James Prescott Joule, Jean Buridan, Johanes Kepler, John Ambrose Fleming, John Dalton, John O'Keefe, Joseph Black, Josiah Gibbs, Lord Kelvin, Lord Rayleigh, Louis Pasteur, Marie Curie, Martinus Beijerinck, Michael Faraday, Murray Gell-Mann & George Zweig, Neils Bohr, Nicholas Steno, Peter Higgs, Pierre Curie, Ptolemy, Robert Boyle, Robert Brown, Robert Hooke, Roger Bacon, Rudolf Clausius, Seleucus, Shen Kuo, Stanley Miller, Tyco Brahe, Werner Heisenberg, William Gilbert, William Harvey, William Herschel, William Rontgen, Wolfgang Pauli.

100 Symbols That Changed The World looks at the genesis and adoption of the world's most recognizable symbols. Universal symbols have been used as a form of communication from the Bronze Age, when the dynasties of ancient Egypt began the evolution of the thousand characters used in Egyptian hieroglyphics. In pre-Columbian America the Mayan civilization set out on a similar course, using pictures as a narrative text. With the adoption of written languages, symbols have come to represent an illustrated shorthand. The dollar sign in America evolved from colonists' trade with the Spanish, and the widespread acceptance of Spanish currency in deals. Merchants' clerks would shorten the repeated entry of "pesos" in their accounts ledgers, which needed to be written with a 'p' and an 's'. A single letter 's' with the vertical stroke of the 'p' was much quicker. Historically correct dollar signs have a single stroke through the 'S'. Symbols are also used to impart quick, recognizable safety advice. The radio activity symbol was designed in Berkley in 1946 to warn of the dangers of radioactive substances - and following the widespread use of gas masks in WWII, the trefoil symbol echoed the shape of the mask. There are many symbols of affiliation, not only to religious groups, but support of political causes or even brand loyalty. Symbols are used for identification, military markings and recognition of compatibility. They allow users to convey a large amount of information in a short space, such as the iconography of maps or an electrical circuit diagram. Symbols are an essential part of the architecture of mathematics. And in the case of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics - the first Games to be held in an Asian country - symbols allowed the organizers to create event signage that wouldn't be lost in translation. The set of Olympic sports pictograms for the Games was a novel solution, and one that was added to in Mexico and Munich. Organized chronologically, 100 Symbols That Changed The World looks at the genesis and adoption of the world's most recognizable symbols.

Remarkable Bicycle Rides includes a wide variety of cycling challenges from the exhilaration of high alpine trails to more gentler touring routes, such as Hadrian's Cycleway, which crosses from Britain's Solway Firth to the North Sea following the line of Roman monument Hadrian's Wall. There are the classic mountain climbs beloved of followers of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia, such as the climb to Mont Ventoux in France and the Stelvio Pass in Italy. Still in Italy, there is the mass participation of L'Eorica, a bike tour in traditional costume on vintage bikes. For those wishing to push themselves to the very edge (literally) there is the Yungas Road in Bolivia whose alternative name is El Camino de la Muerte (Death Road). Long-distance trails, such as the Great Divide (Canada/USA) and the Great North Trail (England/Scotland) can form an epic trip of a lifetime, or be tackled in smaller sections. On more robust wheels there is the A-Line single track in Whistler, Canada, and The Whole Enchilada in Moab, Utah. If you like your cycling on a flatter incline, many routes follow old railway beds, such as the Hiawatha and the Katy Trails in the USA, P'tit Train Du Nord (Canada) or the Parenzana which crosses from Italy to Slovenia to Croatia, plus many of the European routes follow great rivers. Also included in over 50 routes; Danube Cycle Path, Ring of Kerry, Iron Curtain Trail, Vasco-Navarro Greenway, Flanders Beer Route, Carretera Austral (Chile), the San Juan Islands, Norway Postal Boat, the Loire Valley, Passau to Vienna, Munda Biddi Trail, Shimanami Kaido (Japan), Route des Grands Crus (Burgundy), Nantes to Orleans, Paris to Mont St.Michel, Great North Trail, Alpine Panorama, Salzach Valley, Otago Peninsular, Route 10 Holland, Garden Route (South Africa), and the Hebridean Way.

A collection of the most inspiring and powerful letters of all time. The written word has the power to inspire, astonish and entertain, as this collection of 100 letters that changed history will show. Ordered chronologically, the letters range from ink-inscribed tablets that vividly describe life in the Roman Empire to remarkable last wills and testaments, passionate outpourings of love and despair, and succinct notes with deadly consequences. Entries include: A resume from Leonardo da Vinci, with barely a mention of his artistic talents; Henry VIII's love letters to Anne Boleyn, which eventually led to the dissolution of the monasteries; Beatrix Potter's correspondence with a friend's son that introduced the character of Peter Rabbit; SOS telegrams from the Titanic; Abraham Lincoln's letter that contradicted his fight against slavery; a legal letter marking the end of the Beatles; Emile Zola's open letter ('J'accuse!'); the scrawled note that brought about Oscar Wilde's downfall; as well as famous last words from Virginia Woolf to Kurt Cobain.

Remarkable Road Trips collects over 50 of the most spectacular, dangerous, and thoroughly memorable road trips from around the world Entries range from the shortest - the Guoilang Tunnel hewn into the side of a cliff face in China, to the longest, the Dempster Highway in desolate stretches of Arctic Canada.

Some can be driven in a day or less, others may take four or five; the variety of landscapes and terrain and even latitudes is huge. For the adrenaline rush, there is even the old Nurburgring circuit in Germany.

Common to all of them is a gallery of stunning photographs making them bucket-list destinations of not just petrolheads but those wishing to seek jaw-dropping scenery without packing hiking boots and a kagoule. They are all driveable, and the book includes distances and recommended stopping off points.

The book continues the format established in the bestselling `Remarkable' series, which combines spectacular photography of popular and niche sporting venues from around the world.

Routes include: Wild Atlantic Way (Ireland), North Coast 500 (Scotland), Cabot Trail (Canada), Nurburgring Nordschliefe (Germany), Garden Route (South Africa), Blue Ridge Parkway, (USA), Jebel Hafeet (United Arab Emirates), Transfagarasan Road (Romania), Great Ocean Road, (Victoria, Australia) Amalfi Coast Road (Italy), Milford Road (South Island, New Zealand), Hana Highway (Hawaii), Passage du Gois (France), Grossglockner High Alpine Road (Austria), Atlantic Road (Norway), Ring Road (more exciting than it sounds, Iceland), Icefields Parkway (Canada), Route 66: Arizona (USA).

The plant world has always been appreciated for its visual appeal, but its true beauty can be revealed when you look under the electron microscope. This collection unearths some of the most wonderful microscopic images of flowers, trees and grasses ever created, now made possible by technology. We get to see the wonder of pollen, seeds, petals, algae and leaves. The images are as beautiful as any art. This stunning collection of images can be enjoyed purely as a visual voyage but also as a way to understand more of the science behind the image. Whether it's the work of a lavender leaf oil gland, the inside of a pine pollen, flower stamen sculptures deep inside a tree bark, or the wonderful patterns of lichen. Each image will include the scale of the photography as well as the scientific details in layman's terms.

Enter the most ostentatious and over-the-top homes of rock and roll's greatest stars. Through hundreds of colorful, jaw-dropping photographs and inside accounts of private abodes, pleasure palaces, gardens, jet planes, and island hideaways, Rock Stars at Home is a breathtaking inside look at the spectacular worlds rock gods and goddesses create for themselves. Whether you love music, interior design, fashion, photography, or just a good bit of gossip about the lifestyles of the rich and famous, this unforgettable look behind closed doors--where the songs were written and the magic happened--will take your breath away. Among the more than 30 legends whose homes and antics are featured inside are: Frank Sinatra Ike and Tina Turner Bob Dylan Jimi Hendrix John Lennon and Yoko Ono George Harrison Freddy Mercury Debbie Harry and Chris Stein Prince Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne Mariah Carey And many more! Also included are entries on everything from the wild parties hosted by Keith Richards at Redlands to the Beatles's psychedelic interiors and the extravagant styles of the MTV Cribs generation. Whatever your style, you'll find something to love, to envy, and to decry in this homage to decadence. And you'll find yourself asking, where would you want to hang your hat after the world tour wraps?

An amazing collection of the most beloved, original, inspiring, hysterical, heart-warming, compelling, rude and downright scary books that have enchanted children the world over. In 100 Children's Books That Inspired Our World, author Colin Salter brings together an exceptional collection of truly groundbreaking children's books - from Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer to the graphic novels of Dr. Seuss. All the classic children's authors are represented with one stand-out book, plus mentions for their best-known works. Ordered chronologically, the book features favourite children's books ranging from Victorian classics to modern day bestsellers. Entries include: Alice in Wonderland, Treasure Island, Charlotte's Web, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Matilda, Watership Down, Tales of Hans Christian Anderson, Grimms Fairy Tales, Peter Pan, A Bear Called Paddington, The Snowman, The Secret Garden, How to Train Your Dragon, Anne of Green Gables, Harry Potter, James and the Giant Peach, The Gruffalo, Mr Men, Coraline, Herge's Adventures of TinTin, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Finn Family Moomintroll, Swiss Family Robinson, Heidi, The Hobbit, The Red Balloon, The Jungle Book, Mary Poppins, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, His Dark Materials, The Railway Children, Noddy, The House at Pooh Corner, The Sheep Pig, Stig of the Dump, Fungus the Bogeyman, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Secret Seven, Famous Five, Black Beauty, The Diary of a Young Girl, The Boy in Striped Pyjamas, Artemis Fowl and many more who lived happily ever after.

Our understanding of disease and the powers of medicine today are unparalleled, and their documentation has increased signficantly. Science is Beautiful collects the most fascinating microscopic photographs of our diseases along with the medicines we use to treat them. These photographs are profoundly fascinating - and also beautiful. Featured are some of the most illuminating microscopic images of bacteria, viruses and cancers ever captured, now made possible by electron micrograph technology. Potentially fatal diseases such as cancer and Ebola are included, and minor complaints such as Staphylococcus bacteria and dental plaque are shown for their surprising beauty. Other photographs reveal what human cells look like when suffering from Alzheimer's, from osteoporosis, or from HIV. It also uncovers some diseases specific to animals. But there are also dazzling images of the crystals, powders and potions that we take to cure ourselves, including magnified versions of aspirin, insulin, morphine and caffeine. This collection of images, as beautiful as any artwork, can be enjoyed purely as a visual voyage but also as a way to understand more of the science behind the image, whether it's the work of a meningitis virus, our chromosomes in a cancer cell or the breakdown of painkillers. Each image includes the scale of the photography as well as the scientific details in layman's terms.

A chronological survey of the world's most influential books. Many books have become classics, must-reads or overnight publishing sensations, but how many can genuinely claim to have changed the way we see and think? In 100 Books that Changed the World, prize-winning author Scott Christianson brings together an exceptional collection of truly groundbreaking books - from scriptures that founded religions, to scientific treatises that challenged beliefs, to novels that kick-started literary genres. This elegantly designed book offers a sweeping, chronological survey of the most important books from around the globe, from the earliest illuminated manuscripts to the age of the ebook publication. Entries include: Iliad and Odyssey, Homer (750 BC), Gutenberg Bible (1450s), The Qur'an (AD 609-632), On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, Nicolaus Copernicus (1543), Shakespeare's First Folio (1623), Philosophae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, Isaac Newton (1687), Samuel Johnson's Dictionary (1755), The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith (1776), The Vindication of the Rights of Women, Mary Wollstonecraft (1792), The Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (1848), Roget's Thesaurus (1852), On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin (1859), The Interpretation of Dreams, Sigmund Freud (1899), Lady Chatterley's Lover, D.H. Lawrence (1928), The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank (1947), Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung (1964), A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking (1988)

Animals and War: Confronting the Military-Animal Industrial Complex is the first book to examine how nonhuman animals are used for war by military forces. Each chapter delves deeply into modes of nonhuman animal exploitation: as weapons, test subjects, and transportation, and as casualties of war leading to homelessness, starvation, and death. With leading scholar-activists writing each chapter, this is an important text in the fields of peace studies and critical animal studies. This is a must read for anyone interested in ending war and fostering peace and justice.

Animals and War: Confronting the Military-Animal Industrial Complex is the first book to examine how nonhuman animals are used for war by military forces. Each chapter delves deeply into modes of nonhuman animal exploitation: as weapons, test subjects, and transportation, and as casualties of war leading to homelessness, starvation, and death. With leading scholar-activists writing each chapter, this is an important text in the fields of peace studies and critical animal studies. This is a must read for anyone interested in ending war and fostering peace and justice.