Beer and bikes: can they ever mix? What's the best way to cycle in a summer dress? How much bike do you get for £70? Or £10,000? The Guardian bike blog is one of the most vibrant sections of the newspaper's website. Here, a cycling community from around the world gives their views, rants, complaints, and every clever tip available - from keeping warm in winter to beating the bike thieves. Along with brilliant advice there are also plenty of biking tales, from the sublime (a ride by moonlig...

On 24th November 1859, Charles Darwin published 'On the Origin of Species'. His master-work laid down the theory of evolution by natural selection. In the century and half since publication, this theory has become firmly entwined with our instinctive view of how the planet's species came to be. It has also caused huge debates about the nature of its interpretation and its relationship to religious faith.This Guardian Short gathers together the newspaper's most significant contributions to the...

When Cy Flood applied for work as a holiday rep, his reasons were simple. He wanted to party like crazy, booze like there was no tomorrow and pull like it was going out of fashion! In his ten years working for holiday companies as a rep, Cy has seen it all. From Lanzarote to Ibiza, from Palma to the Greek Islands, there have been flying cockroaches, flying televisions, drunken pub crawls, angry clients, wild sex and a TV crew on the scene. There are tales so tall that they defy belief. As ...

The Origin of Species is a work of scientific literature by Charles Darwin which is considered to be the foundation of evolutionary biology. Darwin's book introduced the scientific theory that populations evolve over the course of generations through a process of natural selection. It presented a body of evidence that the diversity of life arose by common descent through a branching pattern of evolution. Darwin included evidence that he had gathered on the Beagle expedition in the and his ...

On 17 July 1993, Graeme Obree stunned the international world when he emerged from obscurity to smash Francesco Moser's World Hour Record. The Flying Scotsman is Graeme Obree's searing autobiography, from his tough upbringing in Ayrshire where he found escape on the roads, to his head-to-head duals with Chris Boardman and becoming a major star on the European circuit. Obree created massive controversy in the professional cycling world with his unique riding style and his pioneering constru...

THE #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER, UPDATED FOR 2025 • A wonder-filled quest to understand everything that has happened in the history of the Earth, from the Big Bang theory to the rise of civilization and beyond—revised to reflect the last two decades of scientific advancement“Brims with strange and amazing facts . . . destined to become a modern classic of science writing.”—The New York TimesHow did we get from being nothing at all to wh...

“Bryson is as amusing as ever….As a celebration of 350 years of modern science, [Seeing Further]it is a worthy tribute.”—The EconomistIn Seeing Further, New York Times bestseller Bill Bryson takes readers on a guided tour through the great discoveries, feuds, and personalities of modern science. Already a major bestseller in the UK, Seeing Further tells the fascinating story of science and the Royal Society with Bill Bryson’s trademark wit...

Top Gear's James May is back with his hilarious and controversial opinions on . . . just about everything.As well as writing about his first love, cars, James has a go at political correctness, the endless rules and regulations of daily life, the internal combustion engine and traffic wardens. He discusses gastropubs, Jeremy Clarkson and other trials of modern life.His highly entertaining observations from behind the wheel will have you laughing out loud, w...

This new edition of the acclaimed bestseller is lavishly illustrated to convey, in pictures as in words, Bill Bryson’s exciting, informative journey into the world of science.In A Short History of Nearly Everything, the bestselling author of A Walk in the Woods and The Body, confronts his greatest challenge yet: to understand—and, if possible, answer—the oldest, biggest questions we have posed about the universe and ourselves. Taking as h...

This book provides IELTS General Training candidates with 51 model letters to help them prepare for Task 1 of the writing module. The letters cover a wide variety of topics and illustrate how to write for a host of different situations. The author has a long experience of helping General Training candidates achieve high IELTS scores.

Essays on morality, mortality, and much more from the New York Times–bestselling author of The Selfish Gene and The God Delusion.This early collection of essays from renowned evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins is an enthusiastic declaration, a testament to the power of rigorous scientific examination to reveal the wonders of the world.In these essays, Dawkins revisits the meme, the unit of cultural information that he named and...

Two women, two bikes, no backup on a Sea to Sea adventure.At the beginning of the twenty-first century two friends set off to cycle from coast to coast across England. For one, it was to be the first of many long distance cycle rides.Cycling Across England is an account of the fun, the food, the mountains, the moorlands and the mathematics the two friends encountered along the way. From the Irish Sea, through the mountains of Cumbria and the Pennine uplands they travelled thr...