Arcturus The Dictionary of Mythology. An A–Z of Themes, Legends and Heroes Coleman J. A

Sketching is a wonderful pastime and a great way to build up your drawing skills. You can use it to record your experiences and subjects that interest you, just by jotting down an impression in your sketchbook. In this inspiring manual, artist Vivienne Coleman guides you through a variety of subjects in easy, confidence-building steps. She shows you how to do complete drawings in just a few minutes, so that you can make sketching part of your daily life. She also demonstrates how sketches can be developed into more detailed work. From pets and people to landscape and urban scenes, this book reveals how versatile and exciting sketching can be

The Essence of Kabbalah explains the mysticism of the Torah and the other books in the Hebrew Bible, and presents an overview of the historical trends that have shaped Kabbalah as it is known today. It examines the interpretative methods that are viewed as unlocking the secrets of the Torah - those teachings that point to the inner fabric of creation • Acclaimed author Brian Lancaster explores key extracts from the seminal works of Kabbalah - the Sefer Yetsirah, the Bahir and the Zohar, and presents the major teachings of influential kabbalists. He places Kabbalah in the context of Judaism as a whole, and illustrates the ways in which Judaism's teachings, prayers and rituals express a concealed inner tradition • Further, he shows how contemporary scholarship and science are enabling a creative dialogue with the ancient teachings preserved within Kabbalah, leading to a twenty-first century renaissance in the importance of mysticism for providing a much-needed and profound sense of connectedness and purpose in our world

The Art of War - is an ancient Chinese military treatise attributed to Sun Tzu, a high-ranking military general, strategist and tactician, and kindred to the Realpolitik of his time, termed in China as Legalism. The text is composed of 13 chapters, each of which is devoted to one aspect of warfare. It is commonly thought of as a definitive work on military strategy and tactics. It has been the most famous and influential of China's Seven Military Classics, and "for the last two thousand years it remained the most important military treatise in Asia, where even the common people knew it by name." It has had an influence on Eastern and Western military thinking, business tactics, legal strategy and beyond

The Battle of the Bulge was the largest land engagement of World War II. The German counter-attack, spearheaded by three Panzer armies, found the Allies unprepared and ill-equipped. As the fighting raged across the frosty forests of the Ardennes, it was left to a few untested US Infantry divisions to hold the Allied lines. Written by one of the world's leading experts on the subject, this account provides an essential introduction to the events of winter 1944-5 and to the many soldiers who risked their lives in defence of freedom • Drawing on personal interviews, extensive research, and an unparalleled knowledge of the region, Martin King explores one of the most important battles of World War II

The distinguished artist, illustrator, author, and poet Edward Lear was one of the great humourists of the 19th century. He is best remembered for his witty nonsense verse, which has delighted readers of all ages for more than 150 years • Beneath the absurd and playful imaginings of Lear’s poetry there lurks a melancholic streak that was to bedevil him throughout his extraordinarily creative, nomadic life. And it is this that gives his writing its haunting quality • This collection includes “The Owl and the Pussycat”, “The Courtship of the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bo”, “The Dong with the Luminous Nose”, and a selection of Lear’s unforgettable limericks, and is interspersed with his own engaging pen-and-ink illustrations

The poems of Wilfred Owen have shaped our remembrance of World War I. The power of his writing arises not only from his role as witness but due to his poetical prowess and the strength of his descriptions. His work conveys the sheer range of suffering experienced during the war, from the graphic depiction of a gas attack in 'Dulce et Decorum Est' and the blinding of a soldier in 'The Sentry' to the reflections on madness in 'Mental Cases' and 'The Chances' to the nightmarish visions of a haunted psyche in 'Strange Meeting'. Owen's poems capture the physical, mental and emotional toll of the war with devasting clarity. A leading voice for a lost generation, he was killed in November 1918, one week before the war's end

The Hound of the Baskervilles is a chilling tale presenting Sherlock Holmes with one of his most challenging cases. The young Sir Henry Baskerville, the new master of the Baskerville estate, is haunted by a phantom beast 'with blazing eyes and dripping jaws' which roams the mist-enshrouded moors around isolated Baskerville Hall on Dartmoor. Is this fiendish spectre the manifestation of the family curse Or is Sir Henry the victim of a scheming murderer Sherlock Holmes' arch enemy, the criminal genius Professor Moriarty, is back! But the solution to the riddle, found after many surprising twists and high drams, lies far away, half across the world in a location known as 'The Valley of Fear'. This is Conan Doyle's last Holmes novel and in the opinion of many of his fans, it is his best!

'The rain set early in to-night, • The sullen wind was soon awake, • It tore the elm-tops down for spite, • And did its worst to vex the lake • I listened with heart fit to break, • When glided in Porphyria...' • Robert Browning was one of the greatest poets of the Victorian era. This collection includes his a selection of his most famous works. Dramatic monologues such as 'My Last Duchess' and 'Porphyria's Lover' show Browning's masterful ability to inhabit the minds of others and render them poetically, while his equally renowned narrative poetry, including such favourites as 'The Pied Piper of Hamlin', have become some the most frequently anthologized poems. There's no simple way of summing up Browning because his work is so varied, but there is no one better when it comes to describing the complexity of love

The War of the Worlds introduced the idea of alien invasion to the world. Featuring inscrutable extra-terrestrials armed with a terrifying array of weapons, including the Heat-Ray, robotic killing machines walking on three legs, and 'black smoke', the novel resonated with Victorian Britain. The ingenious creations of Wells' mind stood out from the abundance of invasion literature that was flooding the market at the time

"Chivalry is a flower no less indigenous to the soil of Japan than its emblem, the cherry blossom; nor is it a dried-up specimen of an antique virtue preserved in the herbarium of our history. It is still a living object of power and beauty among us" • To many people, the word samurai conjures images of menacing masks, long blades and elaborate armour. However, this classic text by Inazo Nitobe reveals the greater depths to samurai culture - they were not simply warriors but an aristocratic class who practiced literary and military arts in equal measure • Essential to this way of life was the samurai's moral code and the quality of bushido, roughly translated as chivalry. The Way of the Samurai provides an intriguing exploration of bushido and other valued qualities such as rectitude or justice, courage, politeness, veracity, honour, loyalty and self-control

Suitable for beginners and more experienced artists, The Art of Drawing covers a complete range of subject matter, from basic exercises in line and tone, to still life, landscapes, animals, and human portraits. At every stage, the reader will be shown the stages of drawing and be inspired to put pencil to paper. This book does not expect readers to have a background in art, a detailed knowledge of artists or anatomy, just a willingness to learn and experiment, to see the world in a different light, and to simply have fun

A classic story of trying circumstances and enduring hope, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave is an eloquentaccount of the young man's life under slavery and his eventual escape. Written as an attempt to enhance his abolitionist credentials, it became the best-selling fugitive slave narrative of the era. This autobiography is a powerful reminder of the brutality of slavery and the terrors African-Americans were forced to endure