Edward Brooke Hitching

Drawn from a former BBC QI Elf slifetime 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

A STUNNINGLY ILLUSTRATED BOOK REVEALING THE GREATEST MYTHS, LIES AND BLUNDERS ON MAPSHighly recommended - Andrew MarrA spectacular, enjoyable and eye-opening read - Jonathan RossThe 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 drawingsof 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.

Very beautiful and illuminating Mariella Frostrup Edward Brooke-Hitching, author of the international bestseller The Phantom Atlas delivers an atlas unlike any other. The Devils 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 its 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 Devils 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 Devils 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 travellers guide to worlds unseen, The Devils Atlas is a fascinating study of the boundless capacity of human invention, a visual chronicle of mans hopes, fears and fantasies of what lies beyond.

El cosmos de cristal de los antiguos griegos, el mar sobre el cielo de la Edad Media, los mensajes secretos ocultos en la luz de las estrellas. Con historias emocionantes e ilustraciones espectaculares, este extraordinario atlas explora la fascinacion que la humanidad siempre ha sentido por los cielos a traves del tiempo y las culturas. Una extraordinaria cronica de imaginacion y descubrimiento cosmicos. Con multitud de datos e imagenes sorprendentes, este tesoro ilustrado de cartografia celeste entreteje los grandes descubrimientos astronomicos con los mitos mas sorprendentes y episodios olvidados de la historia. Desde Aristoteles hasta las ultimas exploraciones interestelares, pasando por Einstein, encontrara historias sobre avistamientos de ovnis, criaturas lunares aladas, la persistente creencia de que existe un mar por encima de las nubes y la curiosa historia del aristocrata eduardiano que cartografio vida alienigena en Marte.Un complejo viaje por las culturas del mundo obsesionadas con las estrellas, desde los huesos de dragon chinos y los entierros celestes tibetanos hasta las tunicas de baile siberianas y los profetas estelares de Mongolia. He aqui el cielo como nunca se habia retratado: el reino de las estrellas y los planetas, pero tambien de dioses, demonios, magos del clima, marineros voladores, alienigenas medievales, animales miticos y fantasmas desbocados.

Guía ilustrada de los cielos, los infiernos y las tierras de los muertos que han imaginado a lo largo de la historia las distintas culturas y religiones de todo el mundo: mapas, pinturas y relatos para realizar un fascinante recorrido por la geografia, la historia y los seres sobrenaturales que pueblan los distintos mundos del mas alla. Ya se trate de los trece cielos aztecas, del inframundo taoista chino de los "fantasmas hambrientos" o del "infierno del gallo llameante" de la mitologia budista japonesa, se reune una gran variedad de creencias y representaciones sobre la vida despues de la muerte. Una guia de viaje por lo desconocido, un cautivador analisis de la inacabable inventiva humana, una cronica visual de las esperanzas, los miedos y las fantasias sobre el mas alla. Estos mundos del mas alla se encuentran ilustrados con una recopilacion de imagenes sin precedentes, que pasa por la maravillosa "cartografia infernal" de los artistas europeos del Renacimiento en su empeño por trazar un mapa de la estructura del infierno descrito por Dante, las decorativas representaciones islamicas del paraiso, los diversos intentos de cartografiar el Jardin del Eden o las representaciones pictoricas de visiones espirituales de los mediums del siglo xix.Las imagenes se acompañan de un relato informativo y de facil lectura que hace referencia a hechos e historias sorprendentes, como los imaginativos metodos de tortura que les esperan a los pecadores o los variopintos catalogos de demonios, angeles y divinidades de ultratumba.

An entertaining new book which looks back at the most bizarre sporting activities ever devised by mankindDaily MailPerfect book for the Christmas stockings of adults and curious childrenWall Street Journal For those who enjoyed the quirkiness of Schotts Miscellany, the erudition of The Etymologicon or the extremes of The Dangerous Book for Boys, this is the ideal read. From Flagpole Sitting to Hot Cockles, Edward Brooke-Hitching has researched through piles of dusty tomes to bring vividly back to life some of the most curious, dangerous and downright bizarre sports and pastimes ever devised, before we thought better of it and erased them from the memory. After all, who would ever want to bring back Fox Tossing, a popular sport for men and women in 17th-century Germany? The sport involved dozens of couples pairing up and standing 20-25 feet apart in an enclosed field, each holding one end of a net, and then they would pull hard at both ends as the fox ran past, sending it flying high into the air. There are many other sports revealed within these pages that are unlikely ever to make an appearance on our TV screens, such as Firework Boxing, which is just as dangerous as it sounds. Meanwhile, Ski Ballet may not have been so risky, but Suzy Chapstick Chaffees signature move - the Suzy Split (a complete forward split while balanced on the tips of her skis) - was probably not one to try at home.An intriguing, entertaining and occasionally shocking insight into the vivid imaginations of humanity across the years, Fox Tossing, Octopus Wrestling and Other Forgotten Sports is an unforgettable read and a perfect gift.

After the enormous international success of The Phantom Atlas and The Golden Atlas, Edward Brooke-Hitchings stunning new book unveils some of the most beautiful maps and charts ever created during mankinds 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 Herschels 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.

Stunning...divine Stephen Fry A fabulous book, good enough to eat with a spoon! Marvellous John Lloyd, creator of QI Perfect for the armchair adventurer historian, this is a rich visual exploration of some of the most beautiful charts ever created National GeographicIntroduces us to a whole different way of looking at maps. Great illustrations, most engaging - the author is just a mine of information Simon Mayos Books of the YearThe Golden Atlas is a spectacular visual history of exploration and cartography, a treasure chest of adventures from the chronicles of global discovery, illustrated with a selection of the most beautiful maps ever created. The book reveals how the world came to be known, featuring a magnificent gallery of exceptionally rare hand-coloured antique maps, paintings and engravings, many of which can only be found in the authors collection. Arranged chronologically, the reader is taken on a breathtaking expedition through Ancient Babylonian geography and Marco Polos journey to the Mongol Khan on to buccaneers ransacking the Caribbean and the voyages of seafarers such as Captain Cook and fearless African pathfinders. Their stories are told in an engaging and compelling style, bringing vividly to life a motley collection of heroic explorers, treasure-hunters and death-dealing villains - all of them accompanied by eye-grabbing illustrations from rare maps, charts and manuscripts. The Golden Atlas takes you back to a world of darkness and peril, placing you on storm-lashed ships, frozen wastelands and the shores of hostile territories to see how the lines were drawn to form the shape of the modern world. The authors previous book, The Phantom Atlas, was a critically acclaimed international bestseller, described by Jonathan Ross as a spectacular, enjoyable and eye-opening read and this new book is sure to follow suit.

* BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK *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 SmithQuite simply the best gift for any book lover this year, or perhaps ever Lucy Atkins, Sunday Times Literary Book of the YearAn utterly joyous journey into the deepest eccentricities of the human mind The most cheering, fascinating book Ive read for ages GuardianFrom 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 Madmans 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 madmans 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 Quran 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.

One of the most brilliantly illustrated and totally compelling books about music ever put together Tom Service, BBC Radio 3From the bestselling author and former BBC QI Elf comes a fascinating and beautifully illustrated journey through the entire history of music. In The Madmans Orchestra, join Edward Brooke-Hitching as he lifts the curtain on the strangest episodes from the entire history of music, taking us on a backstage tour of surprising and eccentric stories. From the musical secrets of prehistoric monuments to the future of compositions by artificial intelligence, The Madmans Orchestra uncovers the most curious tales, madcap musicians, and unusual instruments lost in time and answers questions including: 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? 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 woman who invented the visible voice, and the symphony designed to bring about the Apocalypse. Fascinating, funny, and at times barely believable, the abundantly illustrated The Madmans Orchestra is a unique compendium brimming with entertaining facts, stories and playlists of obscure music that will thrill and delight every music lover.

From the author of the critically acclaimed The Phantom Atlas andThe Madmans 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 arts 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.

Drawn from a lifetimes 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. Written by a former BBC QI Elf turned bestselling author, 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.

A truly mind-boggling and fascinating A-Z of historys most eccentric thinkers.Filled to bursting with jaw-droppingly strange episodes from history, The Crackpot Compendium is a riotous tour of crackpot inventors, false prophets, quacks and pseudo-scientists, con-artists and impostors, and hundreds of other truly outside-the-box thinkers.Discover stories of dinosaur espionage, earthquake-predicting plants and leech barometers, cat pianos and canine translation devices, immortal adventurers, cities spotted on the Moon and aliens living on the Sun. This colossal collection travels the world and across the millennia to take in telepathic Soviet circus clowns, Scottish abominable snowmen, Welsh prophets, ancient Chinese test pilots, invisible African mountains, and the aviator known as Wrong Way Corrigan who accidentally flew backwards across the Atlantic. If you have ever wondered how to build a pigeon death-ray, start a snake cult with a hand-puppet, interrogate a houseplant or perform psychic surgery, The Crackpot Compendium will provide the answers (while also probably leaving you with a few new questions.)

Enter The Madmans 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 Madmans Library (Sunday Times 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 ofthe nude Mona Lisa, the gruesome ingredients of lost pigments, the werewolf legion of the Roman army, and the Italian monk who levitated so often hes recognised as the patron saint of aeroplane passengers.From prehistoric cave art to portraits painted by artificial intelligence, The Madmans Gallery draws on a remarkable depth of research and variety of images to form a book that surprises at every turn, and ultimately serves to celebrate the endless power and creativity of human imagination.

Se trata de los relatos más sorprendentes de las crónicas de exploración: emocionantes narraciones de aventureros polares homicidas, bucaneros desquiciados, monjes navegantes y toda una serie de pintorescos personajes.Un viaje cautivador por los temores de nuestros ancestros a traves de fantasias y erroneas concepciones del mundo, con los motivos que llevaron a reflejar los territorios y los seres inexistentes: una antologia imprescindible de misterio y aventuras que discurre por un mundo reconocible, pero mucho mas extraño que el que conocemos en la actualidad.

* El cosmos de cristal de los antiguos griegos, el mar sobre el cielo de la Edad Media, los mensajes secretos ocultos en la luz de las estrellas.* Con historias emocionantes e ilustraciones espectaculares, este extraordinario atlas explora la fascinacion que la humanidad siempre ha sentido por los cielos a traves del tiempo y las culturas.* Una extraordinaria cronica de imaginacion y descubrimiento cosmicos.Con multitud de datos e imagenes sorprendentes, este tesoro ilustrado de cartografia celeste entreteje los grandes descubrimientos astronomicos con los mitos mas sorprendentes y episodios olvidados de la historia. Desde Aristoteles hasta las ultimas exploraciones interestelares, pasando por Einstein, encontrara historias sobre avistamientos de ovnis, criaturas lunares aladas, la persistente creencia de que existe un mar por encima de las nubes y la curiosa historia del aristocrata eduardiano que cartografio vida alienigena en Marte.Un complejo viaje por las culturas del mundo obsesionadas con las estrellas, desde los huesos de dragon chinos y los entierros celestes tibetanos hasta las tunicas de baile siberianas y los profetas estelares de Mongolia. He aqui el cielo como nunca se habia retratado: el reino de las estrellas y los planetas, pero tambien de dioses, demonios, magos del clima, marineros voladores, alienigenas medievales, animales miticos y fantasmas desbocados.

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 Madmans 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.

Un viaje en el tiempo hasta una época de oscuridad y peligro, un recorrido que muestra cómo se fueron dibujando las líneas que delimitan el mundo moderno y cómo algunas personas dedicaron su vida a iluminar las sombras que aparecian sobre el mapa. Los vikingos que llegaron a America siglos antes que Colon; la olvidada historia de la primera mujer que navego alrededor del mundo, o los barcos del tesoro chinos que en la Edad Media eran tan grandiosos como el Titanic. Repleto de narraciones fascinantes y de asombrosas ilustraciones, este extraordinario atlas recopila los mapas mas maravillosos jamas creados para desvelar las aventuras que ocultan en su interior y descubrir como llego a conocerse el mundo. Incluye los episodios mas importantes de la historia de la exploracion, que cobran vida gracias a la mejor recopilacion de cartografia antigua reunida hasta el momento. Desde los aventureros del antiguo Egipto, los exploradores islamicos y las inmensas flotas medievales chinas a los cazatesoros sedientos de oro que saquearon el Nuevo Mundo y las expediciones malditas al Polo Norte que quedaron sepultadas bajo el hielo artico.Quien fue la primera mujer que circunnavego el planeta? ¿Que es 'el tulipan negro imposible de la cartografia'? ¿Que famoso explorador intento llegar al Polo Norte en reno? Este fascinante compendio rebosante de hechos sorprendentes se basa en las ultimas investigaciones para entretejer las hazañas de los grandes exploradores de la historia con una gran cantidad de pinturas, fotografias originales y mapas ineditos, extraidos de colecciones privadas, anticuarios y archivos de todo el mundo.

* Guía ilustrada de los cielos, los infiernos y las tierras de los muertos que han imaginado a lo largo de la historia las distintas culturas y religiones de todo el mundo: mapas, pinturas y relatos para realizar un fascinante recorrido por la geografia, la historia y los seres sobrenaturales que pueblan los distintos mundos del mas alla. * Ya se trate de los trece cielos aztecas, del inframundo taoista chino de los "fantasmas hambrientos" o del "infierno del gallo llameante" de la mitologia budista japonesa, se reune una gran variedad de creencias y representaciones sobre la vida despues de la muerte. * Una guia de viaje por lo desconocido, un cautivador analisis de la inacabable inventiva humana, una cronica visual de las esperanzas, los miedos y las fantasias sobre el mas alla. Estos mundos del mas alla se encuentran ilustrados con una recopilacion de imagenes sin precedentes, que pasa por la maravillosa "cartografia infernal" de los artistas europeos del Renacimiento en su empeño por trazar un mapa de la estructura del infierno descrito por Dante, las decorativas representaciones islamicas del paraiso, los diversos intentos de cartografiar el Jardin del Eden o las representaciones pictoricas de visiones espirituales de los mediums del siglo xix. Las imagenes se acompañan de un relato informativo y de facil lectura que hace referencia a hechos e historias sorprendentes, como los imaginativos metodos de tortura que les esperan a los pecadores o los variopintos catalogos de demonios, angeles y divinidades de ultratumba.

From the author of the critically acclaimed The Phantom Atlas andaThe Madmanas Librarya(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.A 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 artas 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 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.A 'A glorious cornucopia of a book, celebrating love from the hilarious to the divine - as always, Brooke-Hitching's encyclopaedic knowledge shines through.' Fern Riddell, authorA Sex: Lessons From History