Education

**Shortlisted for the Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year Award**
A FINANCIAL TIMES and NEW STATESMAN Book of the Year
A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK

‘A compelling narrative of the human story’ TIM MARSHALL, author of Prisoners of Geography

‘Lively, rich and exciting… full of surprises’ PETER FRANKOPAN, author of The Silk Roads
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Sand, salt, iron, copper, oil and lithium. They built our world, and they will transform our future.

These are the six most crucial substances in human history. They took us from the Dark Ages to the present day. They power our computers and phones, build our homes and offices, and create life-saving medicines. But most of us take them completely for granted.

In Material World, Ed Conway travels the globe – from the sweltering depths of the deepest mine in Europe, to spotless silicon chip factories in Taiwan, to the eerie green pools where lithium originates – to uncover a secret world we rarely see. Revealing the true marvel of these substances, he follows the mind-boggling journeys, miraculous processes and little-known companies that turn the raw materials we all need into products of astonishing complexity.

As we wrestle with climate change, energy crises and the threat of new global conflict, Conway shows why these substances matter more than ever before, and how the hidden battle to control them will shape our geopolitical future. This is the story of civilisation – our ambitions and glory, innovations and appetites – from a new perspective: literally from the ground up.

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‘This is a great puzzle book, for budding explorers and young adventurers. There’s no better way to test your exploration skills without leaving the house!’ – Levison Wood

Can you pin-point the last-known location of Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance?

Can you help Amelia Earhart circumnavigate the globe?

Are you the next Neil Armstrong?

In this unique puzzle book, the Royal Geographical Society brings over a century of maps and expertise to inspire your inner Livingstone and tantalise your budding Columbus. With hundreds of questions on 50 iconic explorers and a mix of mind-boggling maps, word games and trivia questions – it’s time to dust off your compass, pack your snow shoes and test your geographical skills against the most legendary adventurers ever to traverse the globe.

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Achieve the best grades with this all-in-one book from CGP – including study notes, case studies and practice questions!

This chunky AQA A-Level Geography Complete Revision & Practice book contains everything students will ever need to know for both years of the A-Level course! It’s packed with clear study notes covering every topic, a variety of case studies and plenty of exam-style practice throughout the book – including answers. There’s also plenty of advice on the skills needed for the exam with a section of in-depth exam advice to help students secure top marks on the day!

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An interactive board book with over 60 flaps, exploring all kinds of questions that young children ask about the world around them. Lift the flaps to discover the answers to lots of ‘what?’, ‘why?’, ‘how?’, ‘when?’ and ‘who?’ questions. Provides friendly, simple answers to challenging questions, with entertaining and informative illustrations.

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This sumptuous and comprehensive evaluation showcases Smith’s 1815 hand-coloured map, A Delineation of the Strata of England and Wales, with part of Scotland, and illustrates the story of his career, from apprentice to fossil collector and from his 1799 geological map of Bath and table of strata to his detailed stratigraphical county maps.

The introduction places Smith’s work in the context of earlier, concurrent and subsequent ideas regarding the structure and natural processes of the earth. The book is then organized into four geographical sections, each beginning with four sheets from the 1815 strata map, accompanied by related geological cross sections and county maps (1819–24), and is followed by displays of Sowerby’s fossil illustrations (1816–19) organized by strata. Interleaved between the sections are essays by leading academics that explore the aims of Smith’s work, its application in the fields of mining, agriculture, cartography, fossil collecting and hydrology, and its influence on biostratigraphical theories and the science of geology. Concluding the volume are reflections on Smith’s later work as an itinerant geologist and surveyor, plagiarism by his rival – President of the Geological Society, George Bellas Greenough – receipt of the first Wollaston Medal in 1831 in recognition of his achievements, and the influence of his geological mapping and biostratigraphical theories on the sciences, culminating in the establishment of the modern geological timescale.

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THE NO.1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

A WATERSTONES PAPERBACK OF THE YEAR 2023

Space: the biggest geopolitical story of the coming century – new from the multi-million-copy international bestselling author of Prisoners of Geography and The Power of Geography

Spy satellites orbiting the Moon. Space metals worth billions. Humans on Mars within our lifetimes.

This isn’t science fiction. It’s astropolitics.

We’re entering a new space race – and it could revolutionise life on Earth.

Space: the new frontier, a wild and lawless place. It is already central to communication, economics, military strategy and international relations on Earth. Now, it is the latest arena for human exploration, exploitation – and, possibly, conquest. We’re heading up and out, and we’re taking our power struggles with us. China, the USA and Russia are leading the way.

From physical territory and resources to satellites, weaponry and strategic choke points, geopolitics is as important in the skies above us as it is down below. If you’ve ever wondered if humans are going back to the Moon, who will benefit from exploration or what space wars might look like, the answers are here.

With all the insight and wit that have made Tim Marshall the UK’s most popular writer on geopolitics, this gripping book shows how we got here and where we’re going, covering great-power rivalry; technology; commerce; combat in space; and what it means for all of us down here on Earth. This is essential reading on power, politics and the future of humanity.

Praise for The Future of Geography:

‘A voyage of galactic discovery’ The Mail on Sunday

‘[An] engaging exploration of power politics in space’ Irish Independent

‘A superb survey of planetary politics’ The Sunday Times

‘Deeply thought-provoking’ BBC Sky at Night

‘Marshall is an engaging writer, good at explaining the science as well as the politics, and with an eye for a telling fact’ Lawrence Freedman, The New Statesman

‘Written with insight and great wit, this is an essential take on power, politics and the future of humanity from the UK’s most popular writer on geopolitics.’ The Daily Telegraph

‘In the latest instalment of his popular books on the meaning of geography, Marshall looks to the stars and the new frontier where astropolitics will be the new geopolitics’ Financial Times

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The authors explain and discuss how the justice system evolved, the way it operates – including vivid descriptions of the trial process – and how lawyers work. Revised and updated throughout for this fifth edition, THE LAW MACHINE surveys recent developments in the workings of justice and the outlook for the future. ‘Refreshingly free of the patronizing attitude and the humbug with which other books about the legal system are riddled’ – THES

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Remarkable Golf Courses encompasses the extremes of the sport – from the highest golf course in La Paz, Bolivia, to the lowest, in Death Valley, USA; from the most northerly in the Arctic Circle to the most southerly in Tierra del Fuego.

The many quirks of the golfing world are covered, such as the 18th green the other side of the River Lea which is serviced by an electric ferry, or the LA golf course that has its own funicular railway, or the floating golf hole in Idaho, where it’s not just the pin position that’s changed every day, it’s the distance from the shore!

Golf courses that feature neolithic standing stones (Scotland), Roman roads (England), and ruined medieval castles (Wales) take their place alongside the old temples of Delhi or a UNESCO World Heritage bridge that is used to link the 9th and 10th at Angkor Wat.

There are the beloved classic courses of St. Andrews, Carnoustie, Royal St. George and Westward Ho!. There are spectacular golf courses hewn out of the Nevada and Arizona desert, green oases in a cactus-strewn, rocky landscape, along with Hawaiian courses fringed by barren black lava flows. But nothing can beat the thrill in Guatemala of lining up your drive on an active volcano at the Fuego Maya course.

In comparison there are the traditional wind-blown Scottish links, such as the Machrie Hotel on the island of Islay which has the most blind greens on any course, or the remote Isle of Barra where greens are only accessible via a kissing gate.

Fancy swapping countries mid-round? You can at the Llanmymynech club in Wales. At the fourth hole golfers tee off in Wales and putt out on the green in England. Remarkable Golf Courses brings together some astonishing stories with some extraordinary photography.

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A brilliantly arresting historical work, John Lewis Gaddis’s The Cold War takes us as never before to the time when the world stood on the brink of destruction.

In 1945 war came to an end. But a whole new terror was only just beginning…

Here is the truth behind every spy thriller you’ve read: why America and the Soviet Union became locked in a deadly stalemate; how close we came to nuclear catastrophe; what was really going on in the minds of leaders from Stalin to Mao Zedong, Ronald Reagan to Mikhail Gorbachev, how secret agents plotted and East German holidaymakers helped the Berlin Wall fall. It is a story of crisis talks and subterfuge, tyrants and power struggles – and of ordinary people changing the course of history.

‘Gripping’
Len Deighton

‘Superb … brimful of racy incident’
Independent on Sunday

‘A lively and readable history’
The Times

‘Force 9 on the Richter scale’
Spectator

John Lewis Gaddis is the Robert A. Lovett Professor of History at Yale University, and ‘the dean of cold war historians’ (The New York Times). He is the author of numerous books, including Security and the American Experience, the book recently pressed on his cabinet and senior security staff by President Bush.

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Really useful map to plan then follow your travels across Central Asia.

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Discover the history of the United Kingdom through maps

From Mappa Mundi to modern election maps, the United Kingdom has evolved rapidly, along with the ways in which it has been mapped. In this time, cartography has not only kept pace with these changes, but has often driven them. In this beautiful book, more than 90 maps give a visual representation of the history of Britain.

Every map tells a story and this book tells the incredible history of Britain through maps, and includes many famous examples of cartography, along with some that deserve to be better known. See the establishment of Great Britain, the British Empire expand, the impact of World Wars and the latest statistical mapping.

Maps include
• Rudge Cup (schematic map of western forts on Hadrian’s Wall), 2nd century AD
• Matthew Paris map of the Anglian Heptarchy (Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms), c. 1250
• Gough map of Britain, 1360
• Cambriae Typus, first published map of Wales, 1573
• Raven maps of the Ulster Plantations, 1622
• Enclosure map (eg of Norfolk, c. 1800)
• Booth Poverty Map of London, 1886
• Map of Beeching cuts to Britain’s railways, 1963
• Map of EU Referendum voting patterns, 2016

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From the moment towns and cities arose, the struggle for land, resources and power has turned to violence. Almost from the start, maps have been an essential part of planning and waging war. History of War in Maps gives a unique visual representation of the development of warfare and the maps that have helped shaped our history.

Each map in this beautifully designed volume plays a crucial role. While countless campaign strategies have relied on detailed and accurate mapping, entire wars have been fought over the maps themselves, with hopes of redrawing boundaries and redefining nations. Spanning more than 2,000 years, this book expertly curates more than 70 historical maps which tell the fascinating story of war: from ancient and medieval warfare to modern-day global conflicts.

Featuring maps of historic battles such as:
• Battle of Marathon, 490 BC
• Battle of Hastings, 1066
• Battle of Crecy, 1346
• Battle of Lützen (Thirty Years’ War), 1632
• Battle of Saratoga, 1777
• Battle of Austerlitz, 1805
• Battle of Balaklava (Crimean War), 1854
• Siege of Vicksburg, 1863
• Battle of Isandhlwana (Anglo-Zulu War), 1879
• Battle of Spion Kop (Anglo-Boer War), 1900
• Gallipoli campaign, 1915
• D-Day, 1944
• Operation Desert Storm, 1993

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Thailand is known for its picturesque beaches and famous temples, but there’s much more to this popular holiday destination than many realize.

A Brief History of Thailand offers an engaging look at the country’s last 250 years―from coups and violent massacres to the invention of Pad Thai in the 1930’s. Readers will learn the vibrant story of Thailand’s emergence as a prosperous Buddhist state, its transformation from traditional kingdom to democratic constitutional monarchy and its subsequent rise to prominence in Southeast Asian affairs.

Thailand’s dramatic history spans centuries of conflict, and this book recounts many of these fascinating episodes, including:

• The true story of Anna Leonowens, the British governess hired to teach the children of King Mongkut, fictionalized in Margaret Landon’s bestselling novel Anna and the King of Siam and turned into a hit Rodgers and Hammerstein musical and film, The King and I
• The bloodless Siamese Revolution of 1932 that established overnight the first constitutional monarchy in Asia, ending almost eight centuries of absolute rule and creating a democratic system of parliamentary government
• The Japanese invasion of Thailand and construction of the ‘Bridge Over the River Kwai’ made famous by the novel and Oscar-winning film
• The mysterious death of King Ananda Mahidol, murdered in his bed in 1946, and a source of controversy ever since
• The development of Thailand as an international playground during the Vietnam War, when American military used it as rowdy destination for servicemen on furlough
• The 70-year reign of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world’s longest-serving monarch, who was born in the U.S., educated in Switzerland, loved to play the saxophone and was idolized by his people

With this book, historian and professor Richard A. Ruth has skillfully crafted an accessible cultural and political history of an understudied nation. Covering events through the King’s death in 2016, A Brief History of Thailand will be of interest to students, travelers and anyone hoping to learn more about this part of the world.

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The idea of a Green New Deal was launched into popular consciousness by US Congressperson Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2018. It has become a watchword in the current era of global climate crisis. But what – and for whom – is the Green New Deal? In this concise and urgent book, Max Ajl provides an overview of the various mainstream Green New Deals. Critically engaging with their proponents, ideological underpinnings and limitations, he goes on to sketch out a radical alternative: a ‘People’s Green New Deal’ committed to decommodification, working-class power, anti-imperialism and agro-ecology. Ajl diagnoses the roots of the current socio-ecological crisis as emerging from a world-system dominated by the logics of capitalism and imperialism. Resolving this crisis, he argues, requires nothing less than an infrastructural and agricultural transformation in the Global North, and the industrial convergence between North and South. As the climate crisis deepens and the literature on the subject grows, A People’s Green New Deal contributes a distinctive perspective to the debate.

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Clevelanders–Give this book to those new neighbors who just moved to town, your adult kids (who you want to stick around), or yourself for a fun and informative read!

Whether you’re new to Cleveland or have lived here for decades, you’ve probably wondered (as so many of us do) …

• Why Do Clevelanders Wear So Many Cleveland T-shirts?
• Do We Really Need All These Suburbs?
• How Can People Still Love the Browns Despite Decades of Crummy Football?
• Who Is That Building Named After?
• Why Are There So Many Different Bridges Over the Cuyahoga?
• Why Is an Airport Taking Up All that Prime Downtown Lakefront?
• How Did Cleveland Become a National Punchline?
• Why Doesn’t CSU Have a Football Team?
• Why Is It Called Whiskey Island?
• Why Is Cleveland Still So Segregated?
• Why Do So Many Cleveland Suburbs Have “Heights” in Their Name?

Answers to these and dozens of other frequently asked questions are delivered in this collection of thoughtful and entertaining short essays by Cleveland native and veteran journalist Jim Sweeney.

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Public transport is essential to the quality of life of its passengers, both as a means to move around but also to achieve a sustainable environment. However, the passenger’s position as a customer is weakened by the dominance of monopolies, regulation and political influence in our public transport systems. This book is one of the first to examine strategies for the representation of user interests in public transport from a variety of perspectives. The authors review approaches to integrating the passengers’ views in the planning process and to protecting their interests in operations and customer care across a range of European countries, including Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and EU policies. The book presents the conclusions of this research and examples of good practice. In this respect it will provide useful guidance for policy makers, stakeholder organizations and planners, as well as transport researchers.

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