Hugh Williams

"In the spirit of A SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING, an energetic and wide-ranging book of discovery and discoverers, of exploitation and celebration, and of superstition and science, all in search of the ways the chemical elements are woven into our culture, history, and language"--Provided by publisher.

What are the 50 key events you need to understand to grasp British history? If you could choose the 50 things that define British history, events of significance not only in themselves, but in their importance to wider themes running through our past, what would they be? Hugh Williams has made that selection, and the result is a fascinating overview of Britain's past. He refines British history into a series of key themes that represent a crucial...

Are you afraid you might succumb to bird flu? Worried that a life of poverty awaits you in old age? Concerned that you might not be having as much sex as the French? Anxious that our planet is under threat from climate change or a collision with an asteroid? If any, or all, of these things worry you, you're not alone. Anxiety is a part of modern life. But why? We're living longer, safer, and healthier lives than at any time in human history. So what...

"After oil, coffee is the most actively traded commodity in the world with $80 billion in retail sales. But for every $3 cup of coffee, a coffee farmer receives only 3 cents. Most of the money goes to the middlemen, especially the four giant conglomerates which control the coffee market. Tracing the path of the coffee consumed each day to the farmers who produce the beans, Black Gold asks us to 'wake up and smell the coffee', to face the unjust conditions...

In The Tide, celebrated science writer Hugh Aldersey-Williams weaves together centuries of scientific thinking with the literature and folklore the tide has inspired to explain the power and workings of this most remarkable force. Here is the epic story of the long search to understand the tide: from Aristotle, who is said to have drowned himself in his efforts to figure out the Greek tides, to the pioneering investigations into the role of the moon...

When Nazi fire damages a British bomber, its crew bails out and seeks help from the Dutch.

Shoreditch, London, 1963. The Beatles have beaten John Smith and the Common Men to number one. Satellites are being launched into outer space, whilst on Earth a master thief is stealing some highly specialized equipment. In the streets and bombsites around Totter's Lane, the normally placid teenagers of Coal Hill are running riot--searching out the different and hunting down the alien.Schoolgirl Susan Foreman just wants an easy life for herself and...