Spanning 400 years of musical drama, from the late Renaissance and including such classical masters as Verdi, Puccini, and Bizet, this is the complete visual guidebook to the great operas, their composers and performance history.

Richly illustrated and beautifully written, this book captures the art, lyricism, passion and excitement of opera through the ages. It is an ideal companion for opera newcomers and devotees alike.

From basic explanations of the history of opera to details of classic scores - all told in a witty, conversational tone and accompanied by hundreds of full-color photos.

The most trusted nonfiction series on the market, Eyewitness Books provide an in-depth, comprehensive look at their subjects with a unique integration of words and pictures.

DK's classic look at volcanoes and earthquakes.

It containes a pleasant mix of hard science, accounts of sensationalistic disasters, and the effects on the environment and cultures. The usual mind-boggling amount of details and facts are accompanied by numerous pictures and drawings to keep younger and more mature readers interested.

In the popular imagination, New York City's Greenwich Village has long been known as a center of bohemianism, home to avant-garde artists, political radicals, and other nonconformists who challenged the reigning orthodoxies of their time. Yet as Gerald W. McFarland shows in this richly detailed study, a century ago the Village was a much different kind of place: a mixed-class, multi-ethnic neighborhood teeming with the energy and social tensions of a rapidly changing America.

*Save the climate by saving the forests*
Paying people to leave carbon locked away in the rainforests sounds like a great idea, but can it work

*Has the Riemann hypothesis finally been proven?*
A lone researcher claims to have cracked one of the most famous problems in mathematics. Is it too good to be true

*Quantum randomness may not be random*
The quantum universe may seem random, but a closer look may reveal that it is actually predictable

*Being self-centred is the key to empathy*
The way we judge people is more egocentric than we'd like to admit, but it seems that's the key to understanding them

*Is dark matter mystery about to be solved?*
About a quarter of the cosmos is thought to be made of dark matter, yet no one has ever found any. In 2008, that could change

*Dark energy may just be a cosmic illusion*
A simple trick of gravity could open the door to a much brighter view of the cosmos

*Did we learn to walk in the trees?*
It has long been assumed bipedalism only evolved after our ancestors came down from the trees, but now this orthodoxy is being challenged

*The cyborg animal spies hatching in the lab*
Scientists are creating a new generation of cyborg insects with implants that control their every move.