Light History

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of First Light by Geoffrey Wellum, read by Andrew Brooke. Two months before the outbreak of the Second World War, eighteen-year-old Geoffrey Wellum becomes a fighter pilot with the RAF... Desperate to get in the air, he makes it through basic training to...

A talk by Terence McKenna about how our global culture is preparing to depart for the stars, so we must begin to pack for the trip. He begins with a discussion of botanical dimensions of folk medicine which are lost in pharmacology and how this is being uncovered by the New Age archaic revival. McKenna envisions an end to the current age, which has consisted of eons of boredom. He goes on to discuss the growing wonder of the universe as presented by leading astronomers Stephen Hawking and Carl Sagan.

Listen to Beacon Lights of History, Volume Five with a movie-style soundtrack and amplify your audiobook experience. Volume Five continues the commentary on world history begun in the first four volumes. This volume looks at some of the main religious figures of the Middle Ages, as well as social issues like the Crusades and the feudal system.

Bloomsbury presents First Light written and read by Emma Chapman. ‘Illuminating and entertaining’ The Washington Post Astronomers have successfully observed a great deal of the Universe’s history, from recording the afterglow of the Big Bang to visualising the shadow of a black hole...

Brought to you by Penguin. The Middle Ages were a time of wonder. They gave us the first universities, the first eyeglasses and the first mechanical clocks as medieval thinkers sought to understand the world around them, from the passing of the seasons to the stars in the sky. In this book, we...

NOMINATED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE November 1944. A German rocket strikes London, and five young lives are atomised in an instant. November 1944. That rocket never lands. A single second in time is altered, and five young lives go on - to experience all the unimaginable changes of the twentieth...

An unexpected baby. A life-changing decision… Escape to the world of the Staffordshire Potteries, from the award-winning writer Margaret Kaine. When eighteen-year-old Rebecca Lawson is orphaned in tragic circumstances, she is forced to live with her aunt and uncle, working at their East London...

For most of us John Milton has been consigned to the dusty pantheon of English literature, a grim puritan, sightlessly dictating his great work to an amanuensis, removed from the real world in his contemplation of higher things. But dig a little deeper and you find an extraordinary and...

Total Timepass is a delightfully fun take on the Indian way of life – a witty and light-hearted collection of original snippets and anecdotes presented with endless humour and affection. From the age-old North-South divide and the fascinating inventions of Indian English to our cricket mania and love for family drama – the audiobook captures it all holding up a mirror to our quirks, contradictions, and cultural chaos. Based on the author’s real-life experiences, this book encourages us to laugh at ourselves and embrace the lighter side of life.

England, May 1536. Anne Boleyn is dead, decapitated in the space of a heartbeat by a hired French executioner. As her remains are bundled into oblivion, Thomas Cromwell breakfasts with the victors. The blacksmith’s son from Putney emerges from the spring’s bloodbath to continue his climb to power and wealth, while his formidable master, Henry VIII, settles to short-lived happiness with his third queen, Jane Seymour. Cromwell is a man with only his wits to rely on; he has no great family to back him, no private army. 

'Your book is the "really good book. Just one" that Roger Butler would have wanted' - Sir Ian McKellen 'Miraculous. The Light of Day reclaims a forgotten hero . . . I couldn't put it down' - Will Tosh 'Sir, we are homosexuals . . .' So began the letter penned by Roger Butler and sent to several...

The Huáinánzǐ (淮南子) is one of the great synthetic works of early Daoism. It weaves together cosmology, statecraft, and self-cultivation into a vision of the Dào (道) as the formless, generative source of all order. It is also known under its full title Huáinán Hóngliè...

David A. Grandy's book moves from the scientific to the existential, from Einstein to Merleau-Ponty, from light as a phenomenon to light as that which is constitutive of reality. To measure the speed of light is to measure something about the way we are measured or blended into the cosmos, and that universal blending predetermines our measurement of light speed in favor of a universal or constant value.

For half a century, David Leser has wrestled with the question at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: how can two peoples, bound to the same land by history, memory and grief, ever find a way to live together? Part memoir, part reckoning, Light Sleeper begins in Gaza on the eve of the...

Marie Brennan's Turning Darkness Into Light is a delightful fantasy of manners, the heir to the award-winning Natural History of Dragons series, a perfect stepping stone into an alternate Victorian-esque fantasy landscape. "Overwhelmingly fun."—io9 on The Tropic of Serpents As the renowned...

The definitive book about how the New York Knicks returned to championship glory after 53 years of waiting, full of exclusive stories shared by players, coaches, and executives. From 1988 to 2001, the Knicks made the playoffs every single year and reached the finals twice. Madison Square Garden...

Explore the joys and benefits of home education through the lives of ten home-educated figures from history. Reimagine Home Education with these Ten Historical Heroes Institutional schools are falling short, not only in fostering creativity and virtue in children but in nearly every key area...

Artist Laura Matthews finds her new home in the Welsh mountains to be a place so charged with tales and legends that she is able to reach through the gossamer-fine veil that separates her own world from that of myth and fable. She and her husband Dan have given up their city life and moved to...

From the critically acclaimed author of Monticello and The Widow’s War comes a vividly rendered historical novel of love, loss, and reinvention, set on Martha’s Vineyard at the turn of the nineteenth century. Martha’s Vineyard, 1898. In her first life, Ida Russell had been a painter. Five...

Deadly magic and malice threaten Merle and Serafin in this breathtaking sequel to The Water Mirror. Merle -- carrying the mysterious Flowing Queen within her -- and Vermithrax, the winged stone lion, are flying into Hell. They are looking for help in freeing Venice from the invading Egyptian...