Worthyread feed

Redemption Falls

2007-08-12T02:46:00.001+00:00

By Joseph O'ConnorThe year is 1865. The American Civil War is ending. Eighteen years after the famine ship Star of the Sea docked at New York, the daughter of two of her passengers sets out from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on a walk across a devastated America. Eliza Duane Mooney is searching for a young boy she has not seen in four years, one of the hundred thousand children drawn into the war. His

Face of Britain

2007-02-25T18:34:00.000+00:00

By Robin McKie Written into our facial features is a story going back generations. It is the story of who we are and where we are from - the history of Britain through war and conquest, migration and racial integration. The Channel 4 series, The Face of Britain, begins with the largest ever research project into the genetic make-up of the British public. The Welcome Trust has given a GBP2million

Holbein in England

2007-02-15T23:16:00.000+00:00

By Susan Foister Hans Holbein (1497-1543) is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the sixteenth century. His prolific production of precise and realist portraits of the great figures of this period, including, most famously, King Henry VIII, earned him an international reputation in his own time. "Holbein in England" allows the reader

Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans: A Brief History

2007-02-15T21:58:00.000+00:00

By Charles KhanIt is hard to let go of Pythagoras. He has meant so much to so many for so long. I can with confidence say to readers of this essay: most of what you believe, or think you know, about Pythagoras is fiction, much of it deliberately contrived. Did he discover the geometrical theorem that bears his name? No. Did he ponder the harmony of the spheres? Certainly not: celestial spheres

The Glass Books of The Dream Eaters

2007-02-05T21:54:00.000+00:00

G. W. Dahlquist A spy, a killer, and an impostor - this book features three extraordinary heroes. Miss Temple didn't come to the city for an adventure - she came to find a husband. But when her fiance, Roger Bascombe threw her over for no apparent reason, Miss Temple decided to find out why. Yet, following Roger to a masked ball (one with a most sinister purpose) will take Miss Temple very far

The Italian Job

2007-01-23T00:03:00.000+00:00

Gianluca Vialli Gabriele Marcotti Football lies at the heart of popular culture in both England and Italy. It is played, watched, written about and talked to death by millions virtually every day of the year. But how do the characteristics of England and Italy affect the game in these two footballing nations? Do the national stereotypes of Italians as passionate, stylish lotharios and the

Shadow of The Silk Road

2007-01-13T02:30:00.000+00:00

By Colin Thubron There was never one Silk Road - but several. The route chosen by Colin Thubron passes through China, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey, taking in the most sterile desert on earth (the Taklamakan) and the strife-torn mountain valleys of today's conflicts, as he travels from the tomb of the Yellow Emperor (the mythic progenitor of the Chinese people) to the

Sea of Thunder

2007-01-10T22:59:00.000+00:00

By Evan Thomas In 1943, American sailors and soldiers entering the harbor at Tulagi, the front-line U.S. Navy base in the South Pacific, passed a billboard telling them to Kill Japs, kill Japs, kill more Japs! The billboard was signed by Adm. William F. Halsey, Jr., their commander. As the war progressed, newspapers quoted Halsey as saying about the Japanese, "We are drowning and

Evening in the Palace of Reason: Bach Meets Frederick the Great in the Age of Enlightenment

2007-01-10T22:54:00.000+00:00

By James GainesIn one corner, a godless young warrior, Voltaire's heralded 'philosopher-king', the It Boy of the Enlightenment. In the other, a devout if bad-tempered old composer of 'outdated' music, a scorned genius in his last years. The sparks from their brief conflict illuminate a turbulent age. Behind the pomp and flash, Prussia's Frederick the Great was a tormented man, son of an abusive

Utopian Dreams

2007-01-10T22:44:00.000+00:00

By Tobias JonesThe original Utopia, Sir Thomas More’s, was a refuge from poverty. Modern readers find its regulations authoritarian. But the starving, homeless peasants More had in mind when he wrote it would have gladly accepted them in exchange for shelter and a full stomach. Tobias Jones, by contrast, is a refugee from affluence. Consumerism saddens and sickens him. His possessions do not

Alexis De Tocqueville: Prophet of Democracy in the Age of Revolution

2007-01-10T00:28:00.000+00:00

By Hugh BroganIn 1927 Paul Valéry wrote that Europe dreams of being ruled by an American Commission, and for many Europeans America is still seen as having an enviable freedom from the burdens of the past. There may be few who would now want to be subject to American rule but there are still many who see America as standing for a kind of freedom and equality to which Europeans can still only

In the Line of Fire: A Memoir

2007-01-09T23:42:00.000+00:00

By Pervez MusharrafIf there is a single consistent theme in Pervez Musharraf’s memoir, it is the familiar military dogma that Pakistan has fared better under its generals than under its politicians. The first batch of generals were the offspring of the departing colonial power. They had been taught to obey orders, respect the command structure of the army whatever the cost and uphold the

The Uninvited

2007-01-09T21:32:00.000+00:00

Geling Yan This is the fantastical tale of Dan Dong, an unemployed factory worker whose life takes a series of unexpected twists upon his discovery that simply by posing as a journalist he can eat exquisite gourmet meals free of charge at state-sponsored banquets. But the secrets Dan overhears at these events eventually lead him down a twisted, intrigue-laden path, and his true and false

The Naming of The Dead

2007-01-09T21:24:00.000+00:00

Ian Rankin July 2005, and the G8 leaders have gathered in Scotland. With daily marches, demonstrations, and scuffles, the police are at full stretch. Detective Inspector John Rebus, however, has been sidelined, until the apparent suicide of an MP coincides with clues that a serial killer may be on the loose. The authorities are keen to hush up both, for fear of overshadowing a meeting of global

2007-01-09T21:02:00.000+00:00

By John Stubbs John Donne's life story is inextricably tied up with the fabric of a society in the throes of religious persecution. His family had long been subject to the terror inflicted upon Catholics under the reign of Elizabeth I, and while his brother languished in prison, and his mother and uncles fled to exile in Europe, Donne was consumed by the question of his own faith and by trying to

The Thirteenth Tale

2007-01-09T20:41:00.000+00:00

Dianne Setterfield Vida Winter, a bestselling yet reclusive novelist, has created many outlandish life histories for herself, all of them invention. Now old and ailing, at last she wants to tell the truth about her extraordinary life. Her letter to biographer Margaret Lea - a woman with secrets of her own - is a summons.Vida's tale is one of gothic strangeness featuring the Angelfield family: the

The Penguin Freud Reader

2006-07-07T11:45:00.000+00:00

By Michael Wood In 1936 Freud wrote a letter to Romain Rolland, offering him a speculation about a particular memory as a 70th birthday gift. The memory concerned a trip Freud took to Athens with his brother, and his own ‘curious thought’ at the sight of the Acropolis: ‘So this all really does exist, just as we learned in school!’ Freud describes himself as two people, one making the comment and

The Secret

2006-07-05T21:51:00.000+00:00

By Michael Berg The real secret of a happy and fulfilled life, revealed by renownedKabbalist Michael Berg, author of the acclaimed and bestselling book, TheWay. Containing a simple truth, simply explained through moving tales, thisbook cuts across religions and has a powerful and inspirational message -for the whole of humanity. Like a jewel that has been painstakingly cut andpolished, The Secret

Balderdash and Piffle

2006-03-11T16:05:00.000+00:00

By Alex Games(Buy this book and any other 5 of your choice, for just $1)'Balderdash and Piffle' looks into words and phrases, their origins and usage and how they have developed over time. The beginnings of speech - who spoke first and what did they say? How are words connected to thought, how does irony add meaning to words. What are people?s favourite words? Dr Johnson?s dictionary was 250

A Better Way

2006-03-11T16:02:00.000+00:00

By Delvin DresserRalph Mosco often felt different from the other children his age. The son of a preacher, Ralph lived his life a little differently than many of the other teenagers his age with whom he went to school. While he always had the support of his girlfriend, Cherie, punks such as the unruly Desmond often tried to make trouble with Ralph. And the drunken principal and science teacher

Richard Dawkins: A biography

2006-03-11T11:41:00.000+00:00

by Alan Grafen & Mark Ridley PUBLISHED TO COINCIDE with the 30th anniversary of The Selfish Gene, this sparkling collection explores the impact of Richard Dawkins as scientist, rationalist, and one of the most important thinkers alive today. Specially commissioned pieces by leading figures in science, philosophy, literature, and the media, such as Daniel C. Dennett, Matt Ridley, Steven Pinker,

Why the West is Losing the War on Terror

2006-03-06T23:02:00.000+00:00

By Michael Scheuer Cyber and television jihad are parts of the war that the former CIA analyst Michael Scheuer believes bin Laden is winning. Scheuer, whose Cassandra-isms as head of the CIA’s bin Laden unit went unheeded by the Clinton and Bush administrations before 2001, is still trying to warn America. ‘No one,’ he writes, ‘should be surprised when bin Laden and al-Qaida detonate a weapon of

The Untouchable

2006-03-05T19:27:00.000+00:00

By John Banville A brilliant, engaging and highly literate espionage-cum-existential novel, John Banville's The Untouchable concerns the suddenly-exposed double agent Victor Maskell, a character based on the real Cambridge intellectual elites who famously spied on the United Kingdom in the middle of the 20th century. But Maskell--scholar, adventurer, soldier, art curator and more--respected and

The Planets

2005-11-26T22:31:00.000+00:00

By Dava SobelAfter the huge national and international success of Longitude and Galileo's Daughter, Dava Sobel tells the human story of the nine planets of our solar system. This groundbreaking new work traces the lives of each member of our solar family, from myth and history, astrology and science fiction, to the latest data from the modern era's robotic space probes. Whether revealing what

Onion Ad Nauseam , Vol 16

2005-11-26T22:28:00.000+00:00

More award-winning journalism, fresh from America's Finest News Source[trademark] Every week, three million readers turn to the world's most popular humour publication for a much-needed dose of Onion satire. In a history spanning 15 years, six popular books and 10 Webby Awards, with stories like 'U.S. Inspires World With Attempt At Democratic Election' and 'Debbie, By The Time You Read This I'll