What is the secret that links the Great Pyramid of Giza to Chartres cathedral? How was ancient man, with use of sound, able to lift huge slabs of granite over 85 tonnes in weight? How and where is the body of Jesus to be seen in Egypt? Did you know that the term Nazarene relates to a mystical Order rather than the place Nazareth, and that long before Jesus, Pythagoras and Buddha were members of this Order? Why does it all lead back to the great pyramid at Giza and to strange patterns within the sand that respond to certain types of sound? The book reveals one of the greatest secrets to be told. It is the key to some of the most puzzling enigmas of world history, religion and mythology. Everything that exists does so because of vibration. But understand the science of vibration, learn how to use it and you will have the key to, well, everything. Knowledge like that would be worth a lot of money. The Templars became immensely wealthy after their search for knowledge in the Middle East. If we wish to know what knowledge they found, we only have to look at what happened next - cathedrals, scores of them, erected across Europe. The Ancients knew the science of vibration and also the power of names, holy names such as Jesus, Mary, Anna. Versions of these three names can be found world-wide, predating Christianity by several thousand years. Elkington's astonishing book will change the way we regard the world, its history - and its future. Rich with colour plates including the Eagle Nebula and other illus, 525 pages.

16 of today's greatest unsolved mathematical puzzles in a story-driven illustrated volume that invites readers to peek over the edge of the unknown. Understandable by anyone with elementary maths skills, these intriguing mysteries are presented as puzzles that have time-travelled from Camelot, preserved in the notebook of Merlin, the wise magician in King Arthur's court. Our guide is Mage Maryam (named in honour of the brilliant young mathematician, the late Maryam Mirzakhani), a distant descendant of Merlin. Each mystery is presented across two beautifully illustrated pages providing mathematical and historical context afterwards. They involve tinker toys (a present for Camelot's princesses from the sorceress Morgana), cake-slicing at a festival, Lancelot's labyrinth, a vault for the Holy Grail, the Lady of the Lake, 33 tree tombs, a knight's square formation, Stone Henge tapestries and more. Each mystery is a sword awaiting removal from its stone, capturing the beauty and power of mathematics. 101 pages, beautifully decorated in colour.

Mostly remembered as a writer of science fiction, H. G. Wells was also a prolific non-fiction author. Here is a collection of his speeches collected into five main sections, based on different slices of his overall vision. At its heart was an encyclopaedia of all modern knowledge that would be constantly updated by thousands of experts. The talks and essays were given in 1937 and H. G. Wells proselytized for what he called a 'World Brain' as manifested in a World Encyclopaedia, a repository of scientifically established knowledge which would spread enlightenment around the world and lead to world peace. He was imagining something like the Internet, and a pre-digital Wikipedia. Behind the technology was the vision of Wells the internationalist who believed the nation state must pass away to bring world peace and that universal access to the truth would enable the uneducated masses to move towards this goal. It was a way for professionals to share information, a fact-based system for the school curriculum and a World Encyclopaedia containing true facts about everything from history to physics. These speeches were delivered when Wells was 70 years old and shows his idealism for an enormous political transformation and his anticipation of the Information Age. 129 page paperback.

In their gloriously visual style of design, the publishers DK provide the simplest most visual guide to technology ever. Have you ever wondered how a smartphone knows which way is up or how a driverless car avoids crashes, or how virtual reality works? We live in an age of amazing discoveries and inventions that are transforming our lives, but we have also come to depend on technologies that many of us don't understand. Categorised under Power Technology, Transport, Materials and Construction, Technology in the Home, Sound and Vision, Computer Technology, Communications, Farming and Food and Medical, at a glance you are astonished by how much has changed in the past few decades. Power stations, electricity supply, nuclear and wind power, batteries and solar energy and bioenergy, speed cameras and radar, jet engines and rockets, space probes and drones; concrete, plastic, composites, nanotechnology, 3D printing, skyscrapers and cranes; microwave ovens, toilets and washing machines; digital sound, electric lighting, lasers and holograms; computers and how they work, artificial intelligence, how robots work and what they can do and virtual reality; satellite navigation, the Internet and World Wide Web, smartphones, electronic paper and email and Wi-Fi, all brilliantly explained. Plus precision agriculture, sorting and packing, food preservation and genetic modification and in medicine pacemakers, MRI scanning, keyhole surgery, brain implants and assisted fertility among the many topics. For each there are colourful fact boxes, superb diagrams, and sometimes you have to turn the book around to see the full page, brilliant cutaways. Photos, diagrams in colour, all specially commissioned for this book of knowledge. 256 large pages, colour graphics.
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With infectious panache, Martin Williams reconstructs the formation and geological history of the Sahara Desert and looks at the prehistoric peoples who once flourished by its long-vanished lakes and rivers. We learn of dramatic, climactic episodes and of ingenious adaptations to extreme aridity that is still relevant today. He explores how plants, animals and human communities adapted in a book which is part personal reminiscence and reflection, part popular science and part history. The Sahara is the largest hot desert in the world, equal in size to China or the USA. It once sustained abundant plant and animal life such as Nile perch, turtles, crocodiles and hippos and attracted prehistoric hunters and herders. From its origins as savanna woodland and grassland to its current arid incarnation, Martin Williams describes how the desert's ancient rocks were first fashioned, how dinosaurs roamed freely across the land, and how it was later covered in tall trees. How much did humans contribute to its desertification? What was the impact of extreme climatic episodes such as prolonged droughts, and how did plants, animals and humans adapt? The book also looks at the possible future and asks will the Sahara become green once more. 222pp, well illustrated, map and figures.

How can our unquenchable thirst for status explain cults, moral panics, conspiracy theories, the rise of social media and the 'culture wars' of today?' Bursting with insights into the hierarchy-crazed hellscape of a world shaped by social media, this book confirms Will Storr's own status as a master storyteller.' - Helen Lewis. What drives our political and moral beliefs? What makes us like some things and dislike others? What shapes how we behave and misbehave in groups? What makes you, you? For centuries, philosophers and scholars have described human behaviour in terms of sex, power and money. Will Storr radically turns this thinking on its head by arguing that it is our irrepressible craving for 'status' that ultimately defines who we are. When we exist as workers in the globalised economy, and citizens of online worlds, the need for status has always been wired into us. This dramatically affects not only our happiness and wellbeing but also our physical health. Without sufficient status we become more ill and live shorter lives. It's an unconscious obsession that drives the best and worst of us - our innovation, arts and civilisation as well as our murders, wars and genocides. Storr takes us on a breathtaking journey through time and culture and he is one of the finest science writers being published today. 405pp.

Sub-titled 'Why Our Lives Depend on Dark Skies', we embark on an illuminating journey to unveil the wonders of our night skies and the havoc wreaked by light pollution. Today light is all around us, all of the time, and the Milky Way is now completely lost to over one third of the global population. There is no other habitat we have degraded more than our darkness. Darkness is now beyond the reach of everyone except those with the privilege of travelling to Dark Sky places and starry night skies, such as countries found deep in the Northern Hemisphere. Step back in time and discover the electrifying story behind the invention of Edison's light bulb to the modern-day reign of bright lights that bewilder our planet's wildlife. The author uses her personal experience and career to show why nighttime is something for us to protect and not be fearful of. We travel to the realm of dreams of ancient myths inspired by the constellations, understand why scenes captured by some of the greatest artists can no longer be witnessed in the same way today, and learn how the animals we share our world with are unable to hide under the cover of darkness. The ancient oak is no longer able to support the nesting birds and insects and no squirrels hunt for acorns. Even the tree itself is suffocating from the light that clings to its canopy. Interspersed with inspiring stories from cultures all over the world, the book is both a celebration of the star-speckled blanket above us all, and a call to reclaim the night, one light switch at a time. 298pp.