Roy Gibson – författare

Space technology has brought about profound changes in the past few decades for science, for business, and for the world at large. It has enabled us to explore the Solar System and observe the universe beyond in ways that were previously impossible. The use of satellites has transformed telecommunications and has made remote observation of the Earth's surface possible, with dramatic effects on a variety of activities from war to weather forecasting. Space is now established as a multi-million-dollar industry.The author provides an authoritative account for the non-specialist of the great variety of human activities in space. He first surveys the history of the subject and describes the various systems available for putting payloads into space. He then considers manned space flight, space science, and the other uses of spacecraft, such as telecommunications and Earth observation. A survey of what is being done by the various countries that are engaged in space activities of one kind or another is followed by a discussion of the commercialization of space, and a postscript considers what activities in space may have to offer for the future. The text is written in a lucid and non-technical style, and a glossary of acronyms is provided.

The Art of Love celebrates the bi-millennium of Ovid's cycle of sophisticated and subversive didactic poems on love, traditionally assumed to have been brought to completion around AD 2. Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love) and Remedia Amoris (Cures for Love), which purport to teach young Roman men and women how to be good lovers, were partly responsible for the poet's exile from Rome under the emperor Augustus. None the less they exerted great influence over ancient and later love poetry. This is the first collection in English devoted to the poems, and brings together many of the leading figures in the field of Latin literature and Ovidian studies from the British Isles, Germany, Italy, and the United States. It offers a range of perspectives on the poetics, politics, and erotics of the poems, beginning with a critical survey of recent research, and concluding with papers on the ancient, medieval, and modern reception of the poems.

This volume brings together some of the best and most influential work to be published on the Epistles of Pliny the Younger in recent decades. Covering historical, (auto)biographical, and literary aspects of the Epistles and their reception, the nineteen classic articles included here offer a wide and representative range of approaches to Pliny, from prosopography and social history to intertextuality and self-representation. Topics include Pliny's villas, friends, and career, alongside literary and historical readings of some of his most famous letters, such as those on the eruption of Vesuvius and the torture of Christians, and correspondence with and about his wife Calpurnia, his uncle Pliny the Elder, his rival Regulus, the historian Tacitus and the emperor Trajan. The volume includes several chapters currently out of print or scarcely available (such as Birley's on Pliny's career and Eco's on the first Vesuvius letter), one which has been wholely rewritten (Cameron on reception) and one newly translated from German (Schenk on intertextuality). In addition, most have been updated by their authors, and translations of all Latin and other foreign languages have been added. A substantial introductory chapter by the editors offers the first full account of the history of scholarship on the Epistles from the birth of printing to the present day, summarises important recent work in languages other than English, and contextualises the articles included within the broader context of modern approaches to Pliny. Pliny the Younger's ten books of Epistles have only recently moved into the mainstream of classical studies from their traditional role as fodder for Latin beginners or filing cabinet for Roman historians. This volume marks and consolidates that shift by reprinting nineteen of the best and most influential contributions on Pliny and his Epistles from recent decades, newly edited, revised and/or translated into English. It begins with a new, substantial account of the history of Plinian scholarship and survey of the contemporary scholarly landscape. Together this collection offers a detailed study of the man, the events of his time, his career, his friends, even his possessions, and above all the varied artistic and ideological facets of his letters.

The Cambridge Critical Guide to Latin Literature offers a critical overview of work on Latin literature. Where are we? How did we get here? Where to next? Fifteen commissioned chapters, along with an extensive introduction and Mary Beard's postscript, approach these questions from a range of angles. They aim not to codify the field, but to give snapshots of the discipline from different perspectives, and to offer provocations for future development. The Critical Guide aims to stimulate reflection on how we engage with Latin literature. Texts, tools and territories are the three areas of focus. The Guide situates the study of classical Latin literature within its global context from late antiquity to Neo-Latin, moving away from an exclusive focus on the pre-200 CE corpus. It recalibrates links with adjoining disciplines (history, philosophy, material culture, linguistics, political thought, Greek), and takes a fresh look at key tools (editing, reception, intertextuality, theory).

The Cambridge Critical Guide to Latin Literature offers a critical overview of work on Latin literature. Where are we? How did we get here? Where to next? Fifteen commissioned chapters, along with an extensive introduction and Mary Beard's postscript, approach these questions from a range of angles. They aim not to codify the field, but to give snapshots of the discipline from different perspectives, and to offer provocations for future development. The Critical Guide aims to stimulate reflection on how we engage with Latin literature. Texts, tools and territories are the three areas of focus. The Guide situates the study of classical Latin literature within its global context from late antiquity to Neo-Latin, moving away from an exclusive focus on the pre-200 CE corpus. It recalibrates links with adjoining disciplines (history, philosophy, material culture, linguistics, political thought, Greek), and takes a fresh look at key tools (editing, reception, intertextuality, theory).