Showing titles in Architecture

Penguin Presents the audiobook edition of Paths to the Past written and read by Francis Pryor. Landscapes reflect and shape our behaviour. They make us who we are and bear witness to the shifting patterns of human life over the generations. Formed by a complex series of natural and human...

In Wisdom of the Ancients, Neil Oliver takes us back in time to grab hold of the ideas buried in forgotten cultures and early civilisations. From Laetoli footprints in Tanzania to Keralan rituals, stone circles and cave paintings, Oliver takes us on a global journey through antiquity. A master storyteller, drawing on immense knowledge of our ancient past, he distils this wisdom into 12 messages that have endured the test of time and invites us to consider how these might apply to our lives today. The result is powerful and inspirational, moving and profound.

As the sun set slowly on the British Empire in the years after the Second World War, the nation's stately homes were in crisis. Tottering under the weight of rising taxes and a growing sense that they had no place in 20th-century Britain, hundreds of ancestral piles were dismantled and demolished. Perhaps even more surprising was the fact that so many of these great houses survived, as dukes and duchesses clung desperately to their ancestral seats and tenants' balls gave way to rock concerts, safari parks and day trippers.

Beginning with their introduction in the 11th century, and ending with their widespread abandonment in the 17th, Marc Morris explores many of the country's most famous castles, as well as some spectacular lesser-known examples. At times this is an epic tale, driven by characters like William the Conqueror, King John, and Edward I, full of sieges and conquest on an awesome scale.

A propulsive and “entertaining” (The Wall Street Journal) history chronicling the conception and creation of the iconic Disneyland theme park, as told like never before by popular historian Richard Snow. One day in the early 1950s, Walt Disney stood looking over 240 acres of farmland in...

A transporting and gloriously entertaining journey through the hidden lives of England’s rural parish churches – from building conservator and church ‘rescuer’ Rachel Morley The poet John Betjeman coined the phrase ‘church crawling’ to describe his days out visiting churches. In the...

Interesting Facts For Curious Minds gives you the answer to all these and many, many more questions that I know have crossed your mind from time to time. This book is divided into 63 chapters by topic for your convenience, bringing you a nice mix of science, history, pop culture, and all sorts of stuff in between. Each chapter contains 25 concise yet engaging factoids that are sure to make you think and at times laugh.

From one of our greatest voices in modern philosophy, author of The Course of Love, The Consolations of Philosophy, Religion for Atheists and The School of Life The Architecture of Happiness explores the fascinating hidden links between the buildings we live in and our long-term wellbeing...

Brought to you by Penguin. THE NEW BOOK FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE LITTLE BOOK OF HYGGE A gorgeous guide to the Danish art of creating a cosy, happy home. Our homes should be a place of comfort, a place to feel safe when we shut the door. Somewhere to be ourselves, to unwind and create special...

Bloomsbury presents A Queer Inheritence by Michael Hall, read by George Potts ‘A revelatory masterpiece, a true alternative history of our times’ - Simon Jenkins, former Chair of the National Trust LGBTQ+ histories and identities come out of the National Trust’s properties in these...

Very, Very Simple is a clear, compassionate guide to living with less—and finally feeling better about the stuff you own. Inside, you’ll discover 12 practical tools (flexible rules, not rigid dogma) to help you define what’s no longer acceptable in your life and let it go.

Thomas Heatherwick shows how design has a profound effect on our mental and physical health, the climate, as well as the peace and cohesion of societies. He shows how a flawed idea of utility and 'efficiency' has engulfed our towns and cities and hardened into a form of bland minimalism. But it doesn't have to be this way: there are other ways to build - with the power to lift our spirits, engage and connect us.

Throughout LGBTQ+ history, suburbia has been seen as somewhere to escape from: a place where heterosexuality rules; where difference will not be tolerated; where you'll never find a soulmate. But for many, those streets of twitching curtains and pebble-dashed semis were - or still are - a place to call home. From Addlestone to Wilmslow, Tales of the Suburbs explores the relatively untold twentieth century tale of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer people in suburbia.

In part one, 'First Contact', we discover what happened to art in the great Age of Discovery, when civilisations encountered each other for the first time. Although undoubtedly a period of conquest and destruction, it was also one of mutual curiosity, global trade and the exchange of ideas. 

Jeff Speck has dedicated his career to determining what makes cities thrive. And he has boiled it down to one key factor: walkability. The very idea of a modern metropolis evokes visions of bustling sidewalks, vital mass transit, and a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly urban core. But in the typical American city, the car is still king, and downtown is a place that’s easy to drive to but often not worth arriving at. Making walkability happen is relatively easy and cheap; seeing exactly what needs to be done is the trick.

"A fascinating detective story told with humor and joy that unravels the threads of history and legend to reveal the strange stories of Britain's hill figures." – Fiona Roberston, author of Stone LandsA journey through Britain’s chalklands, uncovering the stories, symbolism, and shifting...

First published in 1996, The Eyes of the Skin is a classic of architectural theory. It asks the far-reaching question why, when there are five senses, is one single sense―sight―so predominant in architectural culture and design? With the ascendancy of the digital and the all-pervasive use of the image electronically, the subject is all the more pressing and topical since the first edition’s publication.

An informative no-nonsense guide to health and safety. Health and safety is a very dry arduous subject. Let us be totally honest! Everyone has an opinion on it, and it’s mostly bad. The whole perceived premise around health and safety is that it’s often “over the top”, it’s the “nanny state”, it’s overbearing, and “The Man” is giving us extra things to do. In reality it’s there to keep us all safe and healthy.

The story of British luxury interiors brand House of Hackney’s regenerative journey—and what every business and consumer can learn from it. ‘Creativity with purpose, integrity in action, compassion for people and planet means working with Nature as our partner.’ In the Company of Nature...

Critical Path is Fuller's master work - the summing up of a lifetime's thought and concern - as urgent and relevant as it was upon its first publication in 1981. Critical Path details how humanity found itself in its current situation - at the limits of the planet's natural resources and facing political, economic, environmental, and ethical crises.