Publisher: Charles River Editors
Skyros Publishing is dedicated to reproducing the finest books ever written and letting readers of all ages experience a classic for the first time or revisit a past favorite. The Innocents Abroad is a travel book written by Mark Twain in 1869 on what he termed his "great pleasure excursion." In 1867 Twain was aboard the vessel USS Quaker City and traveled through Europe and the Holy Land.
An extensive history of the American Museum of Natural History and Hayden Planetarium, featuring a cast of colorful characters. The American Museum of Natural History is one of New York City’s most beloved institutions, and one of the largest, most celebrated museums in the world. Since 1869, generations of New Yorkers and tourists of all ages have been educated and entertained here. Located across from Central Park, the sprawling structure, spanning four city blocks, is a fascinating conglomeration of many buildings of diverse architectural styles built over a period of 150 years. The first book to tell the history of the museum from the point of view of these buildings, including the planned Gilder Center, The American Museum of Natural History and How It Got That Way contextualizes them within New York and American history and the history of science. Part II, “The Heavens in the Attic,” is the first detailed history of the Hayden Planetarium, from the museum’s earliest astronomy exhibits, to Clyde Fisher and the original planetarium, to Neil deGrasse Tyson and the Rose Center for Earth and Space, and it features a photographic tour through the original Hayden Planetarium. Author Colin Davey spent much of his childhood literally and figuratively lost in the museum’s labyrinthine hallways. The museum grew in fits and starts according to the vicissitudes of backroom deals, personal agendas, two world wars, the Great Depression, and the Cold War. Chronicling its evolution?from the selection of a desolate, rocky, hilly, swampy site, known as Manhattan Square to the present day?the book includes some of the most important and colorful characters in the city’s history, including the notoriously corrupt and powerful “Boss” Tweed, “Father of New York City” Andrew Haswell Green, and twentieth-century powerbroker and master builder Robert Moses; museum presidents Morris K. Jesup, Henry Fairfield Osborn, and Ellen Futter; and American presidents, polar and African explorers, dinosaur hunters, and German rocket scientists. Features a new preface by the author and a new foreword by Neil deGrasse Tyson. “This is, in many ways, a particularly American story, and anyone interested in history or museums will find this a very satisfying read. Author Colin Davey had a life-long love affair with the museum, growing up in New York and spending many, many hours happily lost in the museum collections, and that shines through in his writing as does his fine, in-depth research. Plenty of excellent graphics and photographs support this fascinating history.” —Seattle Book ReviewShow book
Fish n' Chips is a guide to English culture and behaviour. It sets out to provide readers with the tools and information they need to understand ‘Englishness’ and successfully navigate the complex social landscape. For many people who are not of English origin, trying to understand or fit in to the English way of life can be tedious, if not downright frustrating. This is because many behavioural rules, despite being strictly adhered to, are unwritten and rarely documented. In fact, most English people follow these rules their entire lives without ever being consciously aware of them! Whether we’re conscious of them or not, these unofficial codes of conduct are what define English national identity and character. This audio book provides clear insights into how to identify which social group you are dealing with, which behavioural codes are likely to govern a particular situation and what you can do to feel more at home. Each chapter refers to a particular aspect of English behaviour, exposing the unwritten and unspoken rules that underpin it. Just as grammar rules allow people to create new sentences, a clear-cut guide to social rules allows people to interact comfortably and without confusion. Fish n’ Chips is the first step towards students of English abandoning doubts and hesitations about what can at first appear a cold and confusing society, and starting using these rules creatively and to their own advantage, just as the English themselves do. A ‘grammar’ of English behaviour becomes an invaluable resource for newcomers to England who want to do simple things like get a drink, meet new people and get ahead with colleagues and friends. Equally it is a fascinating source of insight for English people who want to know why they behave as they do.Show book
A classic of victorian travel writing, Kinglake’s book describes his journey through the Ottoman empire to Cairo, and his residence there in time of plague. [Summary by hefyd]Show book
Paranormal researcher Hans Holzer documents more than fifty locations where he has personally investigated ghosts, often with the assistance of a psychic. Complete with details about each spectral phenomenon as well as the stories of the ghosts themselves, this book tells who they were and why they are found in each location. Where the Ghosts Are allows you to visit such fascinating sites as:America's most haunted house, the California Whaley House The ghosts in New Jersey's "Spy House"The ghosts at the Octagon in Washington, D.C.Toronto's haunted nightclubThe haunted frigate U.S. Constellation in Baltimore HarborThe ghosts at St. Marks-in-the-Bouwerie in New York CityThe ghosts of Longleat Palace, Bath, EnglandAnd many moreShow book
A celebration of America’s most historic highway, in words and pictures. Winding through the rugged heartland of the American West, Route 66 has resonated for generations in hardscrabble tales of hopeful seekers of new homes and new lives. It also inspired Alan and Claudia Heller, longtime residents of Duarte, a California town along Route 66, to hitch their trailer to a retirement dream and travel the road again, journeying through their home state and back to Chicago. They collected stories of the iconic highway, and what it means to the people who live along its way, for a series in the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group. This collection retraces their journey and introduces us to some of the people and places that make Route 66 truly historic.Show book
On an unamed Island that can only be Ceylon, the traveller checks into his 117th rented room, abandoned by his lover, poor and feverish. A book on Indian insects deepens his morbid fascination with the crawling inhabitants of the room-'a pretty world of killers'- barely distinguishable from the insect like habitues of the local cafe, the charlatans and fake exorcists, the indolent landowners, merchants and priests. In this exhausted state, he grows antennae that are 'tensed between the real and the occult'. The distinction between fact and fiction is blurred, but in this world of the imagination truths are sometimes crystal clear. A long-dead, levitating priest and the beautiful but deadly scorpion-fish, symbol of Bouvier's ambivalent relationship with the Island, are but two of the specters which eventually lose their hold on the author, releasing him back to life. It is a classic tale of the mental breakdown of a western traveller in the feverish heat of the tropical East - but which yet offers precious insights into the world and the self.Show book
