Not many human civilisations, or their seats of power, last thousands of years. Byzantium is one of them. This major place of power and cultural influence has had three instantiations: Byzantium, Constantinople, and Istanbul. In this book, historian Bettany Hughes (https://www.bettanyhughes.co.uk/) describes the bitter clashes of civilisation that have occurred where Europe meets Asia — […]
It might surprise and horrify you to learn that your whole body is crawling with parasites. This is nothing about not having washed your hair properly! Most of the micro-organisms are beneficial, indeed necessary, to the proper functioning of ‘your’ body. I parenthesise ‘your’ because the organism you prefer to call ‘you’ is really an
It’s a good time to re-read Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel ‘The Remains of the Day’. First published in 1989, the novel can be read as an elegy for England. Much of what made England great derived from her empire (including Scotland). When that receded, her power, wealth and influence in the world declined. It was the
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Well known as a TV presenter, Alice Roberts (http://www.alice-roberts.co.uk/) has travelled the world – from Ethiopian desert to Malay peninsula and from Russian steppes to Amazon basin – in order to understand the challenges that early humans faced as they tried to settle continents. On her travels she has witnessed some of the daunting and brutal
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It wasn’t so very long ago that mankind congratulated itself on being on a world which was the centre of the Universe. The stars and heavenly bodies were a mere backdrop to the human drama which was played out in front of a creator deity. It has taken courage and enormous patient observation to break
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In this book Denis Feeney (http://www.princeton.edu/classics/people/display_person.xml?netid=dfeeney) argues that the creation of a Roman literature on Greek models was not just a matter of time, something that was bound to happen sooner or later, but instead one of the strangest and most unlikely events of Mediterranean history. Authors whom we read every day – Virgil, Ovid, Cicero
Ross Armstrong (http://www.hamiltonhodell.co.uk/cv/client_ross-armstrong_id_100030.htm) is a British stage and screen actor who has performed in the West End of London, on Broadway and in theatres throughout the UK. He has acted in Hamlet, Cyrano de Bergerac, Antony and Cleopatra, and The Deep Blue Sea. His TV appearances include Foyle’s War, Jonathan Creek, Mr Selfridge, DCI Banks
In this book a leading psychologist reveals how the emotion of pride has shaped our minds and our culture, and shows how we can harness its power. Long understood to be a powerful drive in the self-conscious human animal, it has been classed as first in the list of seven deadly sins by religion. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_deadly_sins) Why
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Nicholas Carr’s Utopia is Creepy: and Other Provocations is significant for the questions it raises about our relationship with technology. Such as, how is the Internet affecting our powers of concentration? Can personal technology seduce us away from things we find pleasurable or fulfilling? Can we have the peace and prosperity technological enthusiasts promise without an accompanying
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