Footmarks: A Journey Into our Restless Past by Jim Leary English | 2023 | History | 1 MB Archaeologist Jim Leary reanimates the past with this riveting “archaeology of movement” All too often we think of the past as static, “frozen in time,” and indeed movement is not always easy to decipher from the archaeological
The Proof Stage: How Theater Reveals the Human Truth of Mathematics by Stephen Abbott English | 2023 | History | 51 MB How playwrights from Alfred Jarry and Samuel Beckett to Tom Stoppard and Simon McBurney brought the power of abstract mathematics to the human stage The discovery of alternate geometries, paradoxes of the infinite,
Natural Things in Early Modern Worlds by Mackenzie Cooley, Anna Toledano, and Duygu Yıldırım English | 2023 | History | 20 MB The essays and original visualizations collected in Natural Things in Early Modern Worlds explore the relationships among natural things – ranging from pollen in a gust of wind to a carnivorous pitcher plant
Empires of the Steppes: A History of the Nomadic Tribes Who Shaped Civilization by Kenneth W. Harl English | 2023 | History | 1 MB A narrative history of how Attila, Genghis Khan and the so-called barbarians of the steppes shaped world civilization. The barbarian nomads of the Eurasian steppes have played a decisive role
Big Meg: The Story of the Largest and Most Mysterious Predator that Ever Lived by Tim Flannery, Emma Flannery English | 2023 | History | 3 MB When Tim Flannery was a boy he found a fossilised tooth of the giant shark megalodon at a Port Philip Bay beach near his home. This remarkable find—the
The Globe: How the Earth Became Round by James Hannam English | 2023 | History | 7 MB From Babylon to Columbus and beyond, a journey across millennia and—yes—the globe exploring how we came to understand our spherical planet. The Globe tells the story of humanity’s quest to discover the form of the world: that
100 Weirdest Tales from Across Australia by Ben Pobjie English | 2023 | History | 15 MB Tales of the strange, unnerving and downright bizarre from one of the weirdest places on Earth Fish falling out of the sky, joggers relieving themselves on your doorstep, mysterious monsters constantly springing from the shadows, spooky lights and
The History and Natural History of Spices: The 5,000-Year Search for Flavour by Ian Anderson English | 2023 | History The dramatic search for spices through history, and how the pursuit of rare flavors changed and opened up our world Spices have been highly valued since at least the Bronze Age, with the so-called Spice
Shells: A Natural and Cultural History by Fabio Moretzsohn English | 2023 | History Echoing with the sounds of the sea, an exquisite survey of the science and customs of conchs, clams, coquinas, cowries, and much more. Shells have captivated humans from the dawn of the earliest known artwork was made on a shell. As
The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper by Roland Allen English | 2023 | History A SPECTATOR ‘BOOK OF THE YEAR’ 2023 The first history of the notebook, a simple invention that changed the way the world thinks. ‘For everyone who ever bought a Moleskine and then wondered how to fill it’ Simon Garfield