Edward Brooke-hitching

'Charming, hilarious, and guaranteed to make you the most interesting person at any party. Or the most annoying' - Adam Rutherford‘Weird and wonderful facts you didn’t know you needed. Full of quirky nuggets of information and trivia’ - Sun‘Joyously bizarre facts in a new book from a QI brainbox’ - Daily MailDrawn from a former BBC QI Elf's lifetime’s search for the weird and the wonderful, The Most Interesting Book in The World is a miscellany of things too strange to be true, yet somehow are.   This remarkable treasury of tales and trivia will whisk you on a jaw-dropping journey through time and space, stopping off to marvel at only the obscure, the startling and the straight-up weird.   In it, Edward Brooke-Hitching considers questions such as:   Why is a cat technically a liquid and a solid? How did nineteenth-century scientists attempt to signal aliens? Why did the Dutch once eat their prime minister?     Nowhere else will you find woven together the stories of the religious leader who attempted to build a robot messiah from a dining table, the anti-gravity ‘air-walkers’ of Victorian London, and the pirates who rode sheep; or practical advice for correctly exorcising a house and casting ancient love spells, along with recent scientific discoveries like the mould that can navigate a maze and that humans can glow in the dark.   A unique hybrid of encyclopaedia, trivia and drunken-bar raconteur, all stitched together in one colossal Frankenstein volume packed full of images and photographs - this is the ultimate must-read for anyone looking to tickle the cortex of their curiosity.

Think you know everything there is to know about our world’s weird and wonderful animal? ell think again. From bottom-breathing turtles to fish that live in trees, set off with Edward Brooke-Hitching on a fact-packed safari to discover the strangest, silliest and down-right weirdest things our planet’s amazing animals has to offer. Written by former QI elf and author extraordinaire, the first book in Brooke-Hitching’s spectacular new series is extraordinarily enlightening and seriously shareable. Both information- and humour-rich, it is a glorious treasure trove of bite-sized facts for children to either snack on throughout the week or gobble up all in one go. And with a ‘Who’s the Smartest?’ quiz at the end of each section, this book is the perfect companion for children determined to know their barking piranhas from their purring rottweilers – and that’s a fact!Also available in this series: What’s the Weirdest Thing About the World.

A beautifully illustrated exploration of the strangest areas of music from around the world, from the author of the critically acclaimed bestsellers The Phantom Atlas, The Madman’s Library, and The Devil’s Atlas. Join author Edward Brooke-Hitching on a backstage tour of the most surprising and eccentric stories in the history of music. From the musical secrets of prehistoric monuments to the future of compositions by artificial intelligence, The Madman’s Orchestra uncovers the most curious tales, madcap musicians, and unusual instruments lost in time. In these pages, discover answers to questions like: What does the song of a black hole sound like? Which composition requires four helicopters and a string quartet with strong stomachs to play it correctly? When should you feed your piano hay? What does the “cat organ” sound like, and is it any more pleasing to the ear than the “hog harmonium”? Fascinating, funny, and at times barely believable, this abundantly illustrated volume is a unique compendium brimming with entertaining facts, stories, and playlists of obscure music that will thrill and delight every music lover. A HISTORY OF MUSIC UNLIKE ANY OTHER: Discover the code-writing of musical cryptography, the beauty of Renaissance “eye music,” musical hoaxes, lost masterpieces, fire organs and witches’ flutes, compositions by the Devil, the singer who invented the “visible voice,” the symphony designed to bring about the Apocalypse, and many more stories that seem too strange to be true, but are. ART, HISTORY & MUSIC BUFFS: This incredible collection will strike a chord with fans of beautiful books and bizarre history and delight every reader with its rich depth and variety of research, which celebrates the boundless creativity of our musical imagination. EXPERT AUTHOR: Edward Brooke-Hitching is the son of an antiquarian book dealer, a lifelong rare book collector, and a master of taking visual deep dives into unusual historical subjects, such as the maps of imaginary geography in The Phantom Atlas or the extraordinary history of the book in The Madman’s Library. Perfect for: Music lovers History buffs Anyone interested in bizarre oddities, obscure cultural events, and the macabre

A compendium of AMAZING facts and true stories for every day of the year. 365 Amazing True Things to Read in Bed includes a true fact, anecdote, story or question for every day of the year. Perfect for unwinding at bedtime, this indispensable companion will encourage thought and reflection and ensure some wonderfully colourful dreaming. It is the perfect bedtime read for fact-hungry readers looking to find answers to their weirdest and wackiest questions. For example . . .Where does it rain diamonds?What does a comet smell like? Why would you keep a dog up your sleeve?Where can you find fish that live in trees?And who exactly was William Johnson Hippopotamus?With this book you’ll learn how to mow lawns with a camel, paint like a chimpanzee and put trousers on frogs. Read about trees turning to glass and why you’d need a crossbow to climb the world’s tallest Christmas tree. But above all, remember the most amazing thing about this book: everything you’ll read is absolutely true . . . Written by former ''QI elf'' Edward Brooke-Hitching and whimsically illustrated by Oksana Drachkovska 365 Amazing True Things to Read in Bed is a true collection of the whacky, wonderful and astonishing, and appeals perfectly to the curious, question-filled minds of young readers. An ideal gift for curious minds, and a treasure trove of fascinating true facts and anecdotes to engage both younger and older readers alike. 365 Amazing True Things to Read in Bed to fill your dreams with adventures, and leave you ready to wake up and make your own – every day of the year.

Az ég atlasza kozmikus térképek, történetek, festmények és tárgyak gyűjteménye, amely segít megismernünk az emberiségnek az éggel és a távoli világokkal összefüggő fantáziáit és felfedezéseit. Miközben a szerző meghökkentő tények és meglepő illusztrációk sokaságával tárja elénk az ég katográfiájának kincsestárát, felölelve a legjelentősebb csillagászati felfedezéseket, a legbizarrabb mítoszokat és az emberiség történetének már elfeledett epizódjait, egy egyedülállóan szép, ugyanakkor szórakoztató ismeretterjesztő munkát hozott létre. Arisztotelész világképétől Einsteinen át a legújabb csillagközi felfedezésekig terjedően ez a nagyívű áttekintés kitér ősi ufóészlelésekre, fantáziákra a szárnyas holdlakókról, a felhők felett hullámzó tenger koncepciójára és egy Edward-kori arisztokrata különös történetére is, aki az élet jeleit vélte felfedezni a Marson.

Drawn from a former BBC QI Elf's lifetime’s search for the weird and the wonderful, The Most Interesting Book in The World is a miscellany of things too strange to be true, yet somehow are. This remarkable treasury of tales and trivia will whisk you on a jaw-dropping journey through time and space, stopping off to marvel at only the obscure, the startling and the straight-up weird. In it, Edward Brooke-Hitching considers questions such as: - Why is a cat technically a liquid and a solid? - How did nineteenth-century scientists attempt to signal aliens? - Why did the Dutch once eat their prime minister? Nowhere else will you find woven together the stories of the religious leader who attempted to build a robot messiah from a dining table, the anti-gravity ‘air-walkers’ of Victorian London, and the pirates who rode sheep; or practical advice for correctly exorcising a house and casting ancient love spells, along with recent scientific discoveries like the mould that can navigate a maze and that humans can glow in the dark. A unique hybrid of encyclopaedia, trivia and drunken-bar raconteur, all stitched together in one colossal Frankenstein volume packed full of images and photographs - this is the ultimate must-read for anyone looking to tickle the cortex of their curiosity.

From the author of the critically acclaimed The Phantom Atlas and The Madman's Library (Sunday Times Literature Book of the Year) comes a magnificent new illustrated work. From prehistoric carvings and ancient Egyptian statues, to medieval spell books and Victorian code-writing, this unique collection gathers a wealth of curious objects and surprising stories to trace the story of love through the ages. Discover the royal marriage that crossed the boundary of death in 14th-century Portugal, the judicial duels between husbands and wives in Early Modern Europe, the love spells found in medieval manuscripts, and the romantic codes hidden in some of art's greatest masterpieces. Meet the feared ancient Greek army regiment comprised entirely of male couples; the French pirate queen avenging her murdered husband; the first woman to sail around the world; and the quack sexologist who conned 18th-century London with his musical mechanical bed. Here are ancient gods, mythical monsters, the Elizabethan portraits of smiling men on fire and the erotic paintings hidden beneath the ash of Pompeii, as well as Nigerian wedding chains, Welsh love spoons, cryptic postcards and the centuries-old cartographic tradition of mapping the heart. A curiosity cabinet of romantic treasure, Love: A Curious History in 50 Objects draws on a wide range of sources to form a collection perfect for fans of beautiful illustrated works and curious history, while also forming the ideal romantic gift.

Svätý Ľudovít Mária z Montfortu vo svojom majstrovskom diele O pravej úcte k Panne Márii hovorí, že najrýchlejšia, najkratšia a najjednoduchšia cesta k Ježišovi vedie skrze Preblahoslavenú Pannu Máriu. Počas svojich zjavení vo Fatime nás Božia Matka opakovane vyzývala ku každodennej modlitbe posvätného ruženca. Vychádzajúc z týchto skutočností páter Ed Broom zostavil súkromné duchovné cvičenia, ktoré vrcholia úplným zasvätením sa Ježišovi skrze Máriu. Sú zamerané na tajomstvá ruženca a sedem bolestí Panny Márie. Denné rozjímania nám v tomto uponáhľanom svete umožnia spomaliť a zamyslieť sa. Pozvú nás stráviť najbližších päť týždňov v spoločnosti Ježiša a Márie rozjímaním o ružencových tajomstvách a slovách Svätého písma. Zamyslenia, modlitby a praktické kroky nám pomôžu zapracovať na vytrvalosti a jemne skultivujú nášho ducha. Každý deň a každú chvíľu začneme vnímať z perspektívy večnosti. Cieľom týchto duchovných cvičení je naučiť sa žiť v neustálej prítomnosti Ježiša a Márie ? až do nášho skutočného stretnutia v nebi. Prijmime túto výzvu a vytvorme si vo svojich domovoch a v hĺbke sŕdc tiché oázy, miesta stretnutí s Bohom. Prostredníctvom denných rozjímaní nájdime pokoj a urobme svoje životy zmysluplnejšími. Kniha je cirkevne schválená.

Jedinečný súbor máp, príbehov, malieb a artefaktov, ktoré odrážajú predstavivosť ľudstva a objavovanie nebeskej klenby i svetov za ňou Táto ilustrovaná pokladnica nebeskej kartografie, plná prekvapujúcich faktov a obrázkov, spája najväčšie astronomické objavy s najpodivnejšími mýtmi a so zabudnutými epizódami dejín. Ponúka príbehy o dávnych pozorovaniach UFO, o okrídlených mesačných tvoroch, o pretrvávajúcej viere v existenciu mora nad oblakmi a kuriózny príbeh aristokrata, ktorý mapoval mimozemský život na Marse. Vydajte sa na komplexnú prehliadku kultúr posadnutých hviezdami. Od kostí drakov v Číne a nebeských pohrebov v Tibete po sibírske tanečné odevy a mongolských veštcov z hviezd. Toto je nebo, ako ho ešte nikto nikdy nezobrazil: ríša hviezd a planét, ale aj bohov, diablov, čarodejníkov s počasím, lietajúcich námorníkov, stredovekých mimozemšťanov, mýtických zvierat a zúrivých duchov. Dnes, keď sa odvažujeme prenikať čoraz hlbšie do srdca vesmíru, nemôže byť lepší čas na knihu, ktorá je nádherná ako samotná nočná obloha a ktorá ilustruje rozsah dosiahnutých úspechov a pripravuje scénu pre objavy, ktoré nás ešte len čakajú. Toto pozoruhodné dielo s napínavými príbehmi a krásnymi ilustráciami skúma fascináciu ľudstva oblohou v rôznych časoch a kultúrach a predstavuje mimoriadnu kroniku obrazotvornosti a objavovania kozmu. Z anglického originálu The Sky Atlas (Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, London 2019) preložili Boris Divinský, Mária Galádová a Zuzana Hritzová.

Enter The Madman's Gallery - the perfect gift book for any art lover. Discover an eccentric exploration through the curious history of art, to find the strangest paintings, sculptures, drawings and other artistic oddities ever made. From the author of the bestseller The Madman's Library (SundayTimes Literature Book of the Year 2020, Radio 4 Book of the Week) comes an extraordinary new illustrated collection. This unique exhibition gathers more than a hundred magnificent works, each chosen for their striking beauty, weirdness and captivating story behind their creation. Obscure and forgotten treasures sit alongside famous masterpieces with secret stories to tell. Here are Doom paintings, screaming sculptures, magical manuscripts, impossible architecture, dog-headed saints, angel musketeers and the first portrait of a cannibal. Stolen art, outsider art, ghost art, revenge art, and art painted at the bottom of the sea take their place alongside scandalous art, forgeries and hoaxes, art of dreams and nightmares, and cryptic paintings yet to be decoded. Discover the remarkable Elizabethan portraits of men in flames, the mystery of the nude Mona Lisa, the gruesome ingredients of lost pigments, the werewolf legion of the Roman army, and the Italian monk who levitated so often he's recognised as the patron saint of aeroplane passengers.

Edward Brooke-Hitching, author of the international bestseller The Phantom Atlas delivers an atlas unlike any other. The Devil's Atlas is an illustrated guide to the heavens, hells and lands of the dead as imagined throughout history by cultures and religions around the world. Packed with colourful maps, paintings and captivating stories, the reader is taken on a compelling tour of the geography, history and supernatural populations of the afterworlds of cultures around the globe. Whether it's the thirteen heavens of the Aztecs, the Chinese Taoist netherworld of 'hungry ghosts', or the 'Hell of the Flaming Rooster' of Japanese Buddhist mythology (in which sinners are tormented by an enormous fire-breathing cockerel), The Devil's Atlas gathers together a wonderful variety of beliefs and representations of life after death. These afterworlds are illustrated with an unprecedented collection of images, ranging from the marvellous 'infernal cartography' of the European Renaissance artists attempting to map the structured Hell described by Dante and the decorative Islamic depictions of Paradise to the various efforts to map the Garden of Eden and the spiritual vision paintings of nineteenth-century mediums. The Devil's Atlas accompanies beautiful images with a highly readable trove of surprising facts and narratives, from the more inventive torture methods awaiting sinners, to colourful eccentric catalogues of demons, angels and assorted death deities. A traveller's guide to worlds unseen, The Devil's Atlas is a fascinating study of the boundless capacity of human invention, a visual chronicle of man's hopes, fears and fantasies of what lies beyond.

'Anybody who loves the printed word will be bowled over by this amusing, erudite, beautiful book about books. It is in every way a triumph. One of the loveliest books to have been published for many, many years.' Alexander McCall Smith 'An utterly joyous journey into the deepest eccentricities of the human mind... The most cheering, fascinating book I've read for ages.' Guardian 'Brooke-Hitching's prose is elegant and witty [and] the images...make the book a real joy.' Spectator 'The most beautiful objects in literature. You're going to love this. Extraordinary.' Dan Snow From the author of the critically acclaimed and globally successful The Phantom Atlas, The Golden Atlas and The Sky Atlas comes a stunning new work. The Madman's Library is a unique, beautifully illustrated journey through the entire history of literature, delving into its darkest territories to hunt down the very strangest books ever written, and uncover the fascinating stories behind their creation. This is a madman's library of eccentric and extraordinary volumes from around the world, many of which have been completely forgotten. Books written in blood and books that kill, books of the insane and books that hoaxed the globe, books invisible to the naked eye and books so long they could destroy the Universe, books worn into battle, books of code and cypher whose secrets remain undiscovered... and a few others that are just plain weird. From the 605-page Qur'an written in the blood of Saddam Hussein, through the gorgeously decorated 15th-century lawsuit filed by the Devil against Jesus, to the lost art of binding books with human skin, every strand of strangeness imaginable (and many inconceivable) has been unearthed and bound together for a unique and richly illustrated collection ideal for every book-lover.

After the enormous international success of The Phantom Atlas and The Golden Atlas, Edward Brooke-Hitching's stunning new book unveils some of the most beautiful maps and charts ever created during mankind's quest to map the skies above us. This richly illustrated treasury showcases the finest examples of celestial cartography - a glorious genre of map-making often overlooked by modern map books - as well as medieval manuscripts, masterpiece paintings, ancient star catalogues, antique instruments and other appealing curiosities. This is the sky as it has never been presented before: the realm of stars and planets, but also of gods, devils, weather wizards, flying sailors, medieval aliens, mythological animals and rampaging spirits. The reader is taken on a tour of star-obsessed cultures around the world, learning about Tibetan sky burials, star-covered Inuit dancing coats, Mongolian astral prophets and Sir William Herschel's 1781 discovery of Uranus, the first planet to be found since antiquity. Even stranger are the forgotten stories from European history, like the English belief of the Middle Ages in ships that sailed a sea above the clouds, 16th-century German UFO sightings and the Edwardian aristocrat who mistakenly mapped alien-made canals on the surface of Mars. As the intricacies of our universe are today being revealed with unprecedented clarity, there has never been a better time for a highly readable book as beautiful as the night sky to contextualise the scale of these achievements for the general reader.

The Phantom Atlas is an atlas of the world not as it ever existed, but as it was thought to be. These marvellous and mysterious phantoms - non-existent islands, invented mountain ranges, mythical civilisations and other fictitious geography - were all at various times presented as facts on maps and atlases. This book is a collection of striking antique maps that display the most erroneous cartography, with each illustration accompanied by the story behind it. Exploration, map-making and mythology are all brought together to create a colourful tapestry of monsters, heroes and volcanoes; swindlers, mirages and murderers. Sometimes the stories are almost impossible to believe, and remarkably, some of the errors were still on display in maps published in the 21st century. Throughout much of the 19th century more than 40 different mapmakers included the Mountains of Kong, a huge range of peaks stretching across the entire continent of Africa, in their maps - but it was only in 1889 when Louis Gustave Binger revealed the whole thing to be a fake. For centuries, explorers who headed to Patagonia returned with tales of the giants they had met who lived there, some nine feet tall. Then there was Gregor MacGregor, a Scottish explorer who returned to London to sell shares in a land he had discovered in South America. He had been appointed the Cazique of Poyais, and bestowed with many honours by the local king of this unspoiled paradise. Now he was offering others the chance to join him and make their fortune there, too - once they had paid him a bargain fee for their passage...The Phantom Atlas is a beautifully produced volume, packed with stunning maps and drawings of places and people that never existed. The remarkable stories behind them all are brilliantly told by Edward Brooke-Hitching in a book that will appeal to cartophiles everywhere.