Search results for ""epic""

The fascinating tale of humankind’s journey from owning nothing to being owned—by our stuff. Why, when and how did our needs become world-destroying addictions? Over 3 million years ago, our ancestors realised they could break apart rocks for sharp edges to cut meat. That discovery changed the fate of our species and our planet. This lively, learned book charts three great leaps in humans’ relationship with objects and belongings, from the discovery of tools to the production of endless commodities. How did we go from primates who needed nothing to people who need everything? With colourful characters, astonishing archaeological discoveries, and reflections on philosophy and culture, Chip Colwell’s quest for answers takes readers to places both spectacular and strange: the Italian cave housing the world’s first painted art; a Hong Kong skyscraper where a priestess channels the gods; a trash mountain whose height rivals Big Ben or the Statue of Liberty. Humans make stuff, but our stuff makes us human—and this love affair may be our downfall. With landfills and oceans drowning in plastic, it’s time for a fourth and final leap for humanity: to reevaluate our relationship with the things that make, and could break, our world.

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Checkmate! has all the excitement a chess fan could want, from world champions, to history's most famous matches, to the role of chess in society. This volume begins by retracing the history of chess through 16 players who have been officially recognised as the greatest world champions-looking at their lives and contributions to the game. The following section describes the most iconic matches, either because of their intensity, the players' fierce rivalry, or the political conflict between countries, as in the famous match between Russian Boris Spassky and American Bobby Fischer during the Cold War. The final chapter looks at the modern-day chess scene and the rise of artificial intelligence in chess games.

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Your life began as a brilliant thought in God's mind. Your purpose, therefore, is the awakening to that thought. This new way of perceiving the meaning of purpose emphasizes that you don't find purpose; purpose finds you. Purpose conceived you. It was the catalyst for your birth. It is not the destination but an awareness. And that awareness determines the destinations and locations. It's not about where you go but Who guides you.PURPOSE AWAKENING will facilitate growth in important areas of the reader's life: Faith, Spiritual Growth, Personal Development, Overcoming Separation, and Walking Out Purpose. The reader will discover the impact their life can have-that their life is supposed to mean something, and, ultimately, that life exists to affect change.

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During WWII sea convoys were the lifeblood of the Allied war effort. They were integral to the ultimate defeat of Germany on both fronts. My Sea Lady stands out as one of the most remarkable testaments of those dark days of the war at sea and the Atlantic and the Arctic convoys. HMS Lady Madeleine found herself part of both battles, under the command of 38-year-old Lieutenant Graeme Ogden. His diaries, rediscovered decades later, describe the harrowing experiences of those years, spent on ocean voyages fraught with storms, ice bergs and sub-zero temperatures, let alone the constant threat of a determined and elusive enemy. This evocatively illustrated edition of My Sea Lady confronts the horrors of war as seen through Ogden’s keen eye and is full of bittersweet humour and charming anecdotes. It wasn’t until 2012 that those who served so courageously aboard the forgotten convoys in the far North during WWII were recognised with the belated, though welcome, introduction of the Arctic Star campaign medal.

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'ONE OF THE MOST BRILLIANTLY INVENTIVE WRITERS OF THIS, OR ANY, COUNTRY' INDEPENDENTShortlisted for the Booker Prize, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Arthur C. Clarke Award, winner of Richard & Judy Best Read of the Year and a BBC Two Between the Covers Book Club pick'Miraculous'SUNDAY TIMES'A masterful feast'EVENING STANDARD'Shamelessly exciting'SPECTATOR'Remarkable'GUARDIAN'Stunning'DAILY MAILA novel of mind-bending imagination and scope from the author of Ghostwritten and Utopia AvenueSouls cross ages like clouds cross skies . . .Six interlocking lives - one amazing adventure. In a narrative that circles the globe and reaches from the 19th century to a post-apocalyptic future, Cloud Atlas erases the boundaries of time, genre and language to offer an enthralling vision of humanity's will to power, and where it will lead us.*Please note that the end of p. 39 and p. 40 are intentionally blank*PRAISE FOR DAVID MITCHELL'A thrilling and gifted writer'FINANCIAL TIMES'Dizzyingly, dazzlingly good'DAILY MAIL'Mitchell is, clearly, a genius'NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW'An author of extraordinary ambition and skill'INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY'A superb storyteller'THE NEW YORKER

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The Female Homer opens with simple questions: Are there any women's epic poems? If so, what are the central characteristics of these epics and how do they relate to the traditional vision of epic poetry as male-authored and masculinist, as powerful and patriarchal? The book explores relations among women's epic poems over a great span—from the ancient Sumerian Descent of Inanna to Rita Dove, from the oral epics of the Russian bylinists to contemporary "language" poets. Through brief, accessible chapters, the book opens up the mythic structure of women's epic, developing its relations with feminism and patriarchy, with religion and democracy, with the personal and the political, with its literary grandmothers and grandfathers. The Female Homer, though aware of the divergences, focuses on bringing together the strong affinities between these diverse epic voices. In doing so, it charts—for the first time—the otherwise invisible tradition of women's epic.

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The volume contains thirty contributions to the theme of the classical Indian epic Ramayana. These are revised and occasionally enlarged versions of papers read at the International Ramanaya Conference, held at the University of Leuven in July 1991 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Sanskrit and Indological studies in Leuven and in Belgium. The annotated papers, in English, have been grouped in three chapters: 1. Valmiki's Ramayana and Sanskrit epic literature; 2. International impact: translations and adaptations, reception of Sanskrit language and literature in the scholarly world; 3. Universal human values in Ramayana. The index of names, titles and key words will prove useful for reference and occasional cross-reference.

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" . . . a major addition to the literature on oral traditions." —Journal of Religion in AfricaThis 750-year-old epic celebrates the exploits of the legendary founder of the Empire of Old Mali. It constitutes a virtual social, political, and cultural charter and embodies deep-rooted aspects of Mande cosmology. The fully annotated translation is accompanied by an introduction that provides a historical and contextual framework for understanding the recitation of this African epic.

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Buckle up for the next installment in our Epic series and the follow-up to Epic Drives of the World. Showcasing 50 of Europe’s greatest road trips, from classic drives such as Route Napoleon through the south of France to longer trips including Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way or taking a campervan through Finnish Lapland in the Arctic summer. We cover a huge variety of themes and experiences across drives that range from a few hours to a week or more.Each of the featured drives include: First-person accounts from writers who have completed the drive Challenge level grading: easy / harder / epic Inspirational photography, maps and practical information to follow the writer’s journey Driving factbox: when is the best time to drive, vehicle hire information, how to get there, what to take Expert travel advice: where to stay, recommended detours, the best places to eat Suggestions for similar drives 50 epic drives across Europe, including: Coast to the Edge of Alps (Albania) Grossglockner Hachalpenstrasse (Austria) Bulgaria's fortress highway: Plovdiv to Veliko Tarnovo (Bulgaria) The Adriatic Highway (Croatia) Central and Southern Bohemia Loop (Czech Republic) West Coast of Jutland (Denmark) The Cotswolds (England) Chateaux of the Loire Valley (France) To the Nurburgring (Germany) Iceland's Ring Road (Iceland) Wild Atlantic Way (Ireland) Dolomites Passes & Villages Loop (Italy) The Belfast Loop (Northern Ireland) West Coast - Bergen to Kristiansund (Norway) Portugal's National Route 2 (Portugal) EV Campervan Around Orkney (Scotland) Mallorca - Serra de Tramuntana (Spain) Furka Pass (Switzerland) The Coastal Way (Wales) With a vibrant cover illustrated by Ross Murray, this beautiful hardback continues this collectible series. Whether you’re a regular road tripper or just want to explore your destination in a new way, Epic Road Trips of Europe will inspire a lifetime of adventures out on the open road.About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973. Over the past four decades, we've printed over 145 million guidebooks and phrasebooks for 120 languages, and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travellers. You'll also find our content online, and in mobile apps, videos, 14 languages, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more, enabling you to explore every day. 'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' – New York Times'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves; it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' – Fairfax Media (Australia)

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Discover the past like never before - in LEGO® bricks! Discover the history of the world and get inspired to build your own epic LEGO® models! The book also comes with bricks to make four exclusive LEGO mini-builds - woolly mammoth, Parthenon, pagoda, and rocket launch pad. Covering global history from the earliest humans building fire and inventing the wheel, to a modern day city with sustainable energy technology and robots, LEGO Epic History is the perfect introduction for children learning about the past. LEGO models and minifigures bring to life scenes from the most epic historical periods and inspire children to get creative and build their own! Covers fun, accessible aspects of history through time and place, from the Ancient Egyptians to the Space Race and from Aztec temples to Chinese inventions. ©2020 The LEGO Group.

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33 fascinating objects. 1 amazing story. Join author and pastor Tim Challies as he embarks on a three-year journey, taking you to some of the most unusual places in the world. From pulpits to paintings, the labor of monks to the martyrdom of missionaries, this film is an immersive travelogue introducing you to 33 key objects that tell the history of Christianity and complementing the Epic book.Beginning with Jesus and the early church, Challies looks at: The importance of graffiti on an ancient jail cell The creedal significance of a carving on a museum statue The enduring importance of ancient manuscripts and books And much more! Along the way, you''ll discover the story you''re already a part of.Together we will listen to these voices of the past tell us the epic story of what God has done and continues to do in our world today. - Tim Challies 

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The fast-paced energy of contemporary society is riddled with distractions, disappointments, and discouragement. From our home lives to our work lives, feeling driven and creative has become exceedingly difficult. The methods of change management are outdated. Today what matters most is focus and inspiration. In Do Epic Stuff!, René Esteban shows leaders how to use goals and inspiration as beacons, bringing teams to the heights of success. Esteban provides insight for leaders and managers to help encourage their team to give their all for an attractive goal, how to keep it in sight against all odds, and how to work towards it with zeal and enthusiasm. Esteban mixes his own tried and tested experiences from the corporate world with surprisingly effective psychological methods. Drawing on expert advice from top executives at such companies as Allianz, BMW, E.ON, and Deutsche Telekom, Do Epic Stuff! will enable leaders to foster outstanding teams that can achieve big goals.

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How is it possible for a poet to find his own individual voice, when he is writing in a tradition so venerable and so constrained by convention as Roman epic? How do poets working in related genres - particularly didactic - conceptualize their relationship to the main epic tradition? The eleven essays in this volume, by leading scholars in the field of Roman poetry and its post-Classical receptions, consider some of the strategies which writers from Lucretius onwards have employed in negotiating their relationship with their literary forebears, and staking out a place for their own work within a tradition stretching back to Hesiod and Homer.

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A GUARDIAN, NEW STATESMAN, SPECTATOR, AND IRISH TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR A new, feminist translation of Beowulf by the author of the acclaimed novel The Mere Wife. Nearly twenty years after Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf — and fifty years after the translation that continues to torment students around the world — there is a radical new verse interpretation of the epic poem by Maria Dahvana Headley, which brings to light elements never before translated into English. A man seeks to prove himself as a hero. A monster seeks silence in his territory. A warrior seeks to avenge her murdered son. A dragon ends it all. These familiar components of the epic poem are seen with a novelist’s eye towards gender, genre, and history. Beowulf has always been a tale of entitlement and encroachment — of powerful men seeking to become more powerful and one woman seeking justice for her child — but this version brings new context to an old story. While crafting her contemporary adaptation, Headley unearthed significant shifts lost over centuries of translation.

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Tens of thousands of years of ice is melting, and the land of Assail, long a byword for menace and inaccessibility, is at last yielding its secrets. Tales of gold discovered in the region’s north circulate in every waterfront dive and sailor’s tavern and now adventurers and fortune-seekers have set sail in search of riches. And all they have to guide them are legends and garbled tales of the dangers that lie in wait - hostile coasts, fields of ice, impassable barriers and strange, terrifying creatures. But all accounts concur that the people of the north meet all trespassers with the sword - and should you make it, beyond are rumoured to lurk Elder monsters out of history’s very beginnings.Into this turmoil ventures the mercenary company, the Crimson Guard. Not drawn by contract, but by the promise of answers: answers that Shimmer, second in command, feels should not be sought. Also heading north, as part of an uneasy alliance of Malazan fortune-hunters and Letherii soldiery, comes the bard Fisher kel Tath. With him is a Tiste Andii who was found washed ashore and cannot remember his past and yet commands far more power than he really should. It is also rumoured that a warrior, bearer of a sword that slays gods and who once fought for the Malazans, is also journeying that way. But far to the south, a woman patiently guards the shore. She awaits both allies and enemies. She is Silverfox, newly incarnate Summoner of the undying army of the T’lan Imass, and she will do anything to stop the renewal of an ages-old crusade that could lay waste to the entire continent and beyond. Casting light on mysteries spanning the Malazan empire, and offering a glimpse of the storied and epic history that shaped it, Assail brings the epic story of the Empire of Malaz to a thrilling close.

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Hampton Sides's extraordinary book brings the history of the American conquest of the West to ringing life. It is a tale with many heroes and villains, but at the centre of it all stands the remarkable figure of Kit Carson - the legendary trapper, scout and soldier. Carson was an illiterate mountain man who twice married Indian women and understood the tribes better than any other American alive; yet he was also a cold-blooded killer and an unquestioning patriot who willingly followed orders tantamount to massacre. BLOOD AND THUNDER is a chronicle of one of a pivotal era in American history: grand in scope, immediate in detail, impeccably researched and historically revelatory.'Hampton Sides' outstanding narrative history has all the virtues: stirring set pieces, deft character studies, colourful descriptions of battles and of nature . . . a riveting tale where, for once, the word "epic" is not hyperbole'Frank McLynn, Independent on Sunday

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THE WORLD'S FAVOURITE AUTHORONE BILLION COPIES SOLDThree sisters, bonded by blood, separated by fate . . . Can they ever find each other again?When Sam Walker returned from the front lines of World War II, bringing with him his exquisite French bride, no one could have imagined that their fairytale love would end in such a shattering tragedy. Nine-year-old Hilary, the eldest of the Walker children, clung desperately to her two sisters, five-year-old Alexandra and baby Megan.However, before the year was out, they too would be painfully wrenched from her tender arms. Cut off from every loving warmth, Hilary swore she would one day track down the man who had destroyed her family, and find her beloved sisters again. But could they risk everything to confront a dark, forgotten past?An epic and romantic tale from one of the best-loved writers of all time. Perfect for fans of Penny Vincenzi, Lucinda Riley and Maeve BinchyPRAISE FOR DANIELLE STEEL:'Emotional and gripping . . . I was left in no doubt as to the reasons behind Steel's multi-million sales around the world' DAILY MAIL'Danielle Steel is undeniably an expert' NEW YORK TIMES

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The twists and turns keep on coming as Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley continue the redemption arc of the Thunderbolts! Lighting strikes twice! Baron Zemo''s plan has failed, and the Thunderbolts have been exposed as villains in disguise. Worse, they''ve been kidnapped to the realm of Kosmos. How far will Moonstone go to get them home? Back on Earth, the T-Bolts are pursued by S.H.I.E.L.D. - as well as Zemo, who''s out for blood! Have the Thunderbolts truly reformed? And who will give them a chance to prove it? One surprising figure from the Avengers'' ranks just might: Hawkeye the Marksman! But his offer of redemption comes with a high price... Plus: Captain America faces the new Citizen V! Hercules targets Atlas for vengeance! The T-Bolts battle alongside the Avengers! And can the team triumph over the Crimson Cowl''s massive new Masters of Evil? Collecting: Thunderbolts (1997) 13-25, 0; Captain America & Citizen V Annual 1998; Avengers (1998) 12

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On the morning of 2 June 1953, the day of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation, the first news broke that Everest had finally been conquered. Drawing on first-hand interviews and unprecedented access to archives, this is a ground-breaking new account of that extraordinary first ascent. Revealing that what has gone down in history as a supremely well-planned expedition was actually beset by crisis and controversy, Everest 1953 recounts a bygone age of self-sacrifice and heroism, using letters and personal diaries to reveal the immense stress and heartache the climbers often hid from their fellow team members. Charting how the ascent affected the original team ­in subsequent years and detailing its immense cultural impact today, Everest 1953 is the perfect book to commemorate this remarkable feat of the human will.

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The Armored Avenger faces his worst nightmares! Tony Stark - billionaire industrialist, Invincible Iron Man and now director of S.H.I.E.L.D. - faces the most overwhelming challenge of his life. Ezekiel Stane - the son of Tony's late business rival and archenemy Obadiah Stane - has set his sights, his genius and his considerable fortune on the task of destroying the Stark legacy. What's worse, Ezekiel has obtained Iron Man technology, and he's every bit Tony's equal - except younger, faster, smarterâand immeasurably evil! Then, following the Skrulls' Secret Invasion, Tony's entire life has been torn apart. What could make Iron Man the world's most wanted? Tony's failing health has made the armor too complicated to pilot, and he has Maria Hill on his tail - not to mention his entire rogues' gallery is after the billion-dollar bounty on his head! And things only get worse from there! Collecting INVINCIBLE IRON MAN (2008) #1-19.

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Navitimer. A mysterious name at first glance. It is in fact a contraction of two words, which correspond to the two major functions of a revolutionary watch: NAVIgation and TIMER. A chronograph designed for airborne navigation. But much more than that, an exceptional destiny, shaped by extraordinary and visionary actors. From the very beginning of its existence, in 1884, Breitling specialised in time measurement, namely the design of timers and chronographs. It was in the 1930s that the foundations of a close relationship with the world of aviation and aeronautics were laid, under the aegis of Willy Breitling. These ties have remained unbroken ever since. In 1952, in collaboration with the AOPA, the largest aeronautical association of the time, Breitling launched the development of the Navitimer, which offered what no other watch manufacturer had ever proposed: a chronograph combined with a slide rule for aircraft pilots. The Navitimer was available only to AOPA members in 1954, and then marketed to the general public in 1955. For 70 years now, the Navitimer has enjoyed glory, flown into space and weathered crises, integrating numerous evolutions without ever losing its original DNA. It has appealed to several generations of professionals, celebrities and lovers of exceptional watches, undoubtedly earning its status as an icon of watchmaking history. This second book in the Watch Stories series, dedicated to the history of emblematic timepieces, traces its heroic and unique destiny from its creation to the current models.

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THE WORLD'S FAVOURITE AUTHOR ONE BILLION COPIES SOLDAt journey's end would a new life begin? When Liane crossed the Atlantic and arrived in Europe, the future seemed bright and beautiful. Only the image of a face haunted her new life in France. Then the Second World War sent her on a fateful crossing, leaving her husband far behind. Suspended between two worlds, Liane was swept into a passionate affair, a bright brief moment of total happiness. Would the voyage seal her love for ever, or leave her stranded on the shores of heartbreak and despair?PRAISE FOR DANIELLE STEEL:'Emotional and gripping . . . I was left in no doubt as to the reasons behind Steel's multi-million sales around the world' DAILY MAIL'Danielle Steel is undeniably an expert' NEW YORK TIMES

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Rather than being a conventional regimental history, Fighting Tigers instead picks out fourteen classic actions and campaigns fought by men of the Leicestershire (later Royal Leicestershire) Regiment. These are some of the actions in which the bravery and determination of 'The Tigers' shone through most clearly. The book also illustrates the bonds of kinship which within a family regiment such as the Leicesters are extremely strong, with several generations serving at different times, and surnames often recurring. The book covers the Boer War, First World War, Second World War, Korean War and the 'undeclared' war in Borneo in 1963. The actions covered include Ladysmith and the Somme via the evacuation at Dunkirk to the jungles of Burma, and thence to the hills of Korea, along the way charting the characters and the commanders of various battalions, and chronicling the Honours and decorations which were gained.

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Alexander the Great, according to Plutarch, carried on his campaigns a copy of the Iliad, kept alongside a dagger; on a more pronounced ideological level, ancient Romans looked to the Aeneid as an argument for imperialism. In this major reinterpretation of epic poetry beginning with Virgil, David Quint explores the political context and meanings of key works in Western literature. He divides the history of the genre into two political traditions: the Virgilian epics of conquest and empire that take the victors' side (the Aeneid itself, Camoes's Lusiadas, Tasso's Gerusalemme liberata) and the countervailing epic of the defeated and of republican liberty (Lucan's Pharsalia, Ercilla's Araucana, and d'Aubigne's Les tragiques). These traditions produce opposing ideas of historical narrative: a linear, teleological narrative that belongs to the imperial conquerors, and an episodic and open-ended narrative identified with "romance," the story told of and by the defeated. Quint situates Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained within these rival traditions. He extends his political analysis to the scholarly revival of medieval epic in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and to Sergei Eisenstein's epic film, Alexander Nevsky. Attending both to the topical contexts of individual poems and to the larger historical development of the epic genre, Epic and Empire provides new models for exploring the relationship between ideology and literary form.

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An Epic of Whitehall and the South Atlantic Conflict. This is the story of HMS Endurance before, during and after the Falklands conflict.

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