Christine Garwood – författare

Contrary to popular belief, fostered in countless school classrooms the world over, Christopher Columbus did not discover that the world was round. The idea of the world as a sphere had been widely accepted in scientific, philosophical and even religious circles from as early as the fourth century bc. Bizarrely, it was not until the supposedly more rational nineteenth century that the notion that the world might actually be flat really took hold. Even more bizarrely, it persists to this day. Based on a range of original sources, Garwood's history of flat-earth beliefs - from the Babylonians to the present day - raises issues central to the history and philosophy of science, its relationship with religion and the making of human knowledge about the natural world. Flat Earth is the first definitive study of one of history's most notorious and persistent ideas, and evokes all the intellectual, philosophical and spiritual turmoil of the modern age.'Highly entertaining and often hilarious ... an enjoyable romp through the dottier history of scientific and religious eccentricity' Sunday Times 'This entertaining history of the Flat Earth movement is full of crazy characters and fascinating details' Daily Telegraph'Wonderful ... an intriguing chronicle of 150 years of self- delusion' Financial Times

The middle years of Queen Victoria's reign saw huge social changes with the rise of the middle classes, the introduction of compulsory education and the growth of the labour movement. The Great Exhibition brought a taste of the exotic to the masses, and the London Underground was opened. Life for the poorest was affected by the work of the Board of Health, while the middle classes developed elaborate etiquette and the art of housekeeping with the help of Mrs Beeton. Mid-Victorian Britain explains how these changes affected family life in Britain, from matchgirls, prostitutes and workhouses to tea parties, jet mourning jewellery and the leisure revolution.

From global icons like the British Museum and the Ashmolean to the many hundreds of small collections to be found across the country, museums are at the very centre of our heritage.This beautifully illustrated history takes in the 'cabinets of curiosity' and the world-famous visitor attractions and remembers the collectors and curators – eccentrics, visionaries, looters, adventurers, scientists – and the colourful anecdotes for which we remember them.It also looks at museums in our culture and history as a whole, tracing the social shifts and trends which have affected them and of which they have been part, including the modern movement towards access, entertainment and more experimental forms of curation and display.

Museums are at the heart of the nation''s cultural life, bastions of Britishness in almost every major city and town. Together they detail myriad aspects of our heritage: from lawnmowers to cuckoo clocks, pencils to chairs, there seems to be no end to the subject matter deemed worthy of collection and public display. This overview of museums in Britain traces their development from ''cabinets of curiosity'' to large scale visitor attractions, taking in broad social shifts and trends as well as the collectors, eccentrics and visionaries and the legacies they have left behind.

Museums are at the heart of the nation''s cultural life, bastions of Britishness in almost every major city and town. Together they detail myriad aspects of our heritage: from lawnmowers to cuckoo clocks, pencils to chairs, there seems to be no end to the subject matter deemed worthy of collection and public display. This overview of museums in Britain traces their development from ''cabinets of curiosity'' to large scale visitor attractions, taking in broad social shifts and trends as well as the collectors, eccentrics and visionaries and the legacies they have left behind.