Considered one of the world's great maritime powers in the 17th century, the Netherlands continues to be an important commercial entrepot and international crossroads today, a status that has made the modern nation one of the wealthiest in the world. Despite this country's small size, the Netherlands has played a relatively large part in the history of commerce, government, art, and religion, and it has left an indelible imprint on all of the world's continents."A Brief History of the Netherlands" provides a general overview of the history of the country from ancient times to the present day.

This book gives a complete perception of the houses described, because of plans and multiple views inside the houses.
100 of the World's Best Houses features exciting contemporary houses from some of the greatest architects, including Hugh Newell Jacobsen (Buckwalter House), Daryl Jackson Architects (Jackson House), Glenn Murcutt (Southern Highlights House), Kisho Kurokawa (Residence), Eric Owen Moss (Lawson-Western House), Ray Kappe (Shapiro Residence), Harry Seidler Hamilton House), Steven Ehrlich (Canyon Residence), Sean Godsell Architects (Carter/Tucker House), Rick Joy (Tyler Residence), and Alberto Campo Baeza (De Blas House). Many of this these inspirational structures are accompanied by detailed plans. The book is inspirational in its many varied designs. Richly illustrated with photographs and drawings, the book has wide appeal to both the layperson and those interested in the finer aspects of design. UK Architects featured Ken Shuttleworth, Architect, Harper Mackay Architects, Marsh &Grochowski, Jestico + Whiles, Foster and Partners, Brookes Stacey Randall, Graham Phillips, Architect, John Wint

 

 

From morning to midnight, this beautifully illustrated guide invites readers to spend a day with the animals and plants that inhabit one of the world's most fascinating environments.

Since its emergence in the seventeenth century, science fiction has been a sustained, coherent and subversive check on the promises and pitfalls of science. In their turn, invention and discovery have forced fiction writers to confront the nature and limits of reality. Different Engines explores how this fascinating symbiosis shapes what we see, do, and dream.
 
From Johannes Kepler's Somnium to Arthur C. Clarke's 2001, science fiction has emerged as a mode of thinking, complementary to the scientific method. Science fiction's field of interest is the gap between the new worlds uncovered by experimentation and exploration, and the fantastic worlds of the imagination. Its proponents find drama in the tension between the familiar and the unfamiliar. Its readers, many of them scientists and politicians, find inspiration in the contrast between the ordinary and the extraordinary. Brake and Hook's Different Engines is a unique, provocative and compelling account of science fiction as the arbiter of progress.