These plays cover one thousand years of the ancient world from the golden age of Athens to 5th century Alexandria. The protagonists are Anaxagoras, Archimedes and Hypatia, scientists, mathematicians, philosophers. All three of them came into conflict with the prevalent views of the time. Anaxagoras maintained that the sun was a big burning rock of the size of the Peleponnesus. He was condemned to death on the charge of impiety. Archimedes, the first example of the efficacy of technology co...

She’s trying to tell you—if only you’d listen…About to break the news to his wife, Diane, that he’s infertile, criminology expert Harper Penn gets a call to say she’s been rushed to hospital with a miscarriage. Five days later, when Diane fails to return from the village shop, police think she must have taken off with a secret lover, but Harper is convinced the online messages are not from her.In the same Hampshire village, plucky seven-year-old Clara has retreated into a m...

'[A] triumph of mature observation and art.' - Daily Telegraph'A winter's tale of light and laughter.' - Sunday Times'What is especially enjoyable is the rough-edged tenderness and kindness of Mr Wain's concern ... probably his most substantial achievement to date.' - Robert Nye, Saturday Times Review'[S]ubstantial and serious ... sustains a vigorous narrative line - he has always been an excellent storyteller.' - Times Literary Supplement'[A] love affair be...

Salmonella remains a major cause of economic loss in domestic livestock and human food poisoning worldwide. In the last 10 years there have been major advances in understanding the salmonella organism, meaning a compiled source of the new research is urgently needed. With fully updated chapters and new coverage of genome structure, virulence, vaccine development, molecular methods for epidemiology and exotics, this second edition is an invaluable resource for researchers of animal and huma...

This edition of Dark Place to Hide is enhanced with a musical soundtrack from Booktrack for an immersive listening experience!She’s trying to tell you—if only you’d listen…About to break the news to his wife, Diane, that he’s infertile, criminology expert Harper Penn gets a call to say she’s been rushed to hospital with a miscarriage. Five days later, when Diane fails to return from the village shop, police think she must have taken off with a secret lover, but Har...

Apparently the Greeks (we are talking about the Ancient variety) were a rather groovy bunch. But as this Horrible History shows you, things were not always quite so jolly... and some of the things the Groovy Greeks did were actually, well, quite horrible!

Once, Theodora was little more than a slave, the daughter of a bear-keeper, running barefoot through the streets of Constantinople. Now she is Theoudoron, 'the Gift of God', Empress of Byzantine Rome and the most powerful woman in the world.'Hard-nosed, cruel, imaginative, kind, frustrated, generous, ruthless: Theodora is, in Duffy's hands, a richly paradoxical character from whom the light of life shines brightly' GUARDIANIn Stella Duffy's compelling new n...

Plutarch's vivid and engaging portraits of the Spartans and their customs are a major source of our knowledge about the rise and fall of this remarkable Greek city-state between the sixth and third centuries BC. Through his Lives of Sparta's leaders and his recording of memorable Spartan Sayings he depicts a people who lived frugally and mastered their emotions in all aspects of life, who also disposed of unhealthy babies in a deep chasm, introduced a gruelling regime of military training ...

On Old Age is an essay written by Cicero in 44 BC on the subject of aging and death. In addition to its profound subject matter, it has remained popular because its clear and beautiful language have made it a useful example for teaching Latin to students.The Latin title of the piece is "Cato Maior de Senectute". To lend his reflections greater import, Cicero wrote his essay such that the esteemed Cato the Elder was lecturing to Scipio Africanus and Gaius Laelius Sapiens. Excerpted from Wik...

Against the Fall of NightThe Roman Empire had spread order, knowledge, and civilisation throughout the ancient world. When Rome fell, the light of reason flickered out across the Empire. The Dark Ages had begun; they would last a thousand years. Could a man from the 20th century prevent the fall of Rome? When lightening struck and he was hurled backward into the sixth century, the question became anything but academic to Martin Padway, but even forearmed with a knowledge of 20th ce...

Philosophy for busy people. Read a succinct account of the philosophy of St Augustine in just one hour.Augustine’s Confessions details his personal struggles with morality, his spiritual crisis and the conversion to Christianity that ultimately led him to his major contribution to philosophy: the fusion of the doctrines of Christianity and Neoplatonism. This provided Christianity with a strong intellectual backing by tying it to the Greek tradition of philosophy. Augustine also pro...

Life is long if you know how to use it.From the author of Letters from a Stoic, comes another brilliant, timeless guide to living well. Written as a moral essay to his friend Paulinus, Seneca’s biting words still pack a powerful punch two thousand years later. With its brash rejection of materialism, conventional lifestyles and group-think, On the Shortness of Life is as relevant as ever. Seneca anticipates the modern world. It’s a unique expose of how pe...