They're shelling our rear lines,' said the Pakistani officer 'Not to worry. It's over our heads There you have it. The entire subcontinent in a nutshell. From his leisurely retirement in the heart of rural England, former Reuters journalist John Chadwick reflects on the hurly-burly of forty years of news chasing that took him from the Upper Nile to the Arctic Circle and from Pakistan to the Pacific Coast of America. John Chadwick's first Reuters job was the Cod War. He reported from JFK's ...

The languages of the ancient world and the mysterious scripts, long undeciphered, in which they were encoded have represented one of the most intriguing problems of classical archaeology in modern times. This celebrated account of the decipherment of Linear B in the 1950s by Michael Ventris was written by his close collaborator in the momentous discovery. In revealing the secrets of Linear B it offers a valuable survey of late Minoan and Myceanean archaeology, uncovering fascinating detail...

Originally published in 1998, the aim of Developing a Social Psychology of Monkeys and Apes was to draw attention to the exciting progress of studies of the social psychology of monkeys and apes happening at the time. It is written with a clear style which should invite interest from a wide range of social scientists. The relatedness of humans and non-human primates that was usually considered in its genetic forms is followed through into the complex social tactics of monkeys and apes. The...

The languages of the ancient world and the mysterious scripts, long undeciphered, in which they were encoded have represented one of the most intriguing problems of classical archaeology in modern times. This celebrated account of the decipherment of Linear B in the 1950s by Michael Ventris was written by his close collaborator in the momentous discovery. In revealing the secrets of Linear B it offers a valuable survey of late Minoan and Mycenaean archaeology, uncovering fascinating detail...

IT is a wonderful fact in the swift expansion of mechanical knowledge and appliances of the last hundred years that while for unknown ages the wind was the only propelling force used for purposes of navigation, apart from the rude application of power through oars worked by men, the whole scheme of steam transport has grown, practically, to its present wonderful perfection within the lifetime of men yet living. Of course, the idea, as is that of all great inventions, was one of slow growth...

Chios Classics brings literature's greatest works back to life for new generations. All our books contain a linked table of contents.A History of Sumer and Akkad is an excellent primer on the subject.

From minding your Ps and Qs to wondering why X should mark the spot, Alphabetical is a book for everyone who loves words and language. Whether it's how letters are arranged on keyboards or Viking runes, textspeak or zip codes, this book will change the way you think about letters for ever.How on Earth did we fix upon our twenty-six letters, what do they really mean, and how did we come to write them down in the first place? Michael Rosen takes you on an unforgettable adven...

Ireland and Scotland were first settled by Egyptians.The legends of Ireland and Scotland tell a fantastic tale of an Egyptian queen and her Greek husband, who were exiled from Egypt to Ireland at some point during the second millennium BC. It is said that it was from this Queen Scota and King Gaythelos that the modern titles for the Scottish and Gaelic people were derived. But what are we to make of this ancient story – is it based more upon fact or fiction? Historians have...

Who first thought of atoms? How much can you learn about archaeology from an oil lamp? Who came up with the theory of the ‘wandering womb’?Oxford Classicist Jane Hood delves into the history, culture, literature, mythology and philosophy of ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt, using her expert eye to unearth unexpected gems, glittering fragments and quotable nuggets from a lost world.From ancient cosmetics to the earliest known computer, from the deciphering of ancient languages...

"Written by the greatest living Egyptologist, this wonderful, fun, and short book will take you inside the heads of the ancient Egyptians."—Sarah Parcak, National GeographicEgyptian culture is divided from us by several millennia, a lost people and a dead language. We can discover much about this fascinating civilization from its physical remains, but perhaps the greatest insights into the Egyptian mind come from Egyptian hieroglyphs. They reveal the prior...

"[A] fascinating narrative. . . . This is a nuanced, intelligently framed chronicle . . . In a word: enlightening." —George Szpiro, NatureWhile all of us regularly use basic math symbols such as those for plus, minus, and equals, few of us know that many of these symbols weren't available before the sixteenth century. What did mathematicians rely on for their work before then? And how did mathematical notations evolve into what we know to...

Without writing, there would be no records, no history, no books, and no emails. Writing is an integral and essential part of our lives; but when did it start? Why do we all write differently and how did writing develop into what we use today? All of these questions are answered in this Very Short Introduction. Starting with the origins of writing five thousand years ago, with cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphs, Andrew Robinson explains how these early forms of writing developed i...