In January 2011, as the crowds gathered to protest Mubarak's three decades of rule in Egypt, Wendell Steavenson went to Cairo to cover the story. But the revolution defied historical precedent, and it defied the templates of storytelling. There was no single villain, no lone hero, no neat conclusion that wouldn't be overturned the next day. Tahrir Square changed its moods like the weather; fickle, violent, hopeful, carnival. As she walks among the tents and the tanks, falling into conversation, sharing cigarettes and cold soda, Steavenson tells the story of a seismic historical moment as it is experienced by ordinary citizens. Here, we meet a young man from the slums with his homemade pistol; a seasoned observer who gives up on analysis; a leader who doesn't want to lead thrust uncomfortably into the spotlight; a Muslim Brotherhood politician trying to smooth over a restless parliament; and a military intelligence officer convinced that only the army can save Egypt. Steavenson captures the cacophony of dizzying events as protests and elections ebbed and flowed around the revolution, tipping it towards democracy and then back into the military's hands. Mixing reportage and travelogue, Circling the Square shows how the particular and the personal can illuminate more universal questions: what does democracy mean? What happens when a revolution throws everything up in the air?

Math circles provide a setting in which mathematicians work with secondary school students who are interested in mathematics. This form of outreach, which has existed for decades in Russia, Bulgaria, and other countries, is now rapidly spreading across the United States as well. The first part of this book offers helpful advice on all aspects of math circle operations, culled from conversations with over a dozen directors of successful math circles. Topics include creative means for getting the word out to students, sound principles for selecting effective speakers, guidelines for securing financial support, and tips for designing an exciting math circle session. The purpose of this discussion is to enable math circle coordinators to establish a thriving group in which students can experience the delight of mathematical investigation. The second part of the book outlines ten independent math circle sessions, covering a variety of topics and difficulty levels. Each chapter contains detailed presentation notes along with a useful collection of problems and solutions. This book will be an indispensable resource for any individual involved with a math circle or anyone who would like to see one begin in his or her community. Sam Vandervelde teaches at St. Lawrence University. He launched the Stanford Math Circle and also writes and coordinates the Mandelbrot Competition, a math contest for high schools. In the interest of fostering a greater awareness and appreciation of mathematics and its connections to other disciplines and everyday life, MSRI and the AMS are publishing books in the Mathematical Circles Library series as a service to young people, their parents and teachers, and the mathematics profession. Titles in this series are co-published with the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI).

Since antiquity, time in the West has been represented in circular form, the gear wheels of time churning out duration in endless years. At the time of the Spanish conquest, dials on round clock faces looked down from facades of cathedrals, their tones chiming out the hours that directed people's religious and workaday lives. Spanish chroniclers assert that the circle was also the principal mode of temporal expression among the New World natives they sought to Catholicize. Here, Anthony Aveni demonstrates that this was decidedly not the case. Rather, the indigenous quadripartite way of perceiving rendered the expression of time to have been decidedly square. He examines an array of calendar circles appearing in manuscripts from Central Mexico and the Maya area of Yucatan from the time of 16th-century contact up to the 18th century and follows the gradual intrusion of Western calendrical particulars into the native format. Dr. Aveni offers insight into the tension in the first generation of native scribes after the conquest, who were working with radically different ways of knowing between the imposed requirement to change the way they thought about time and the desire to preserve their heritage and their identity. Illus.

Avantgarde porcelæn fra det revolutionære Rusland

An Orc on the Wild Side is the latest comic masterpiece from one of the funniest writers in fantasy. Winter is coming, so why not get away from it all? Being the Dark Lord and Prince of Evil is not as much fun as it sounds, particularly if you are a basically decent person. King Mordak is just such a person. Technically he's more goblin than person, but the point is that he is really keen to be a lot less despicable than his predecessors. Not that the other goblins appreciate Mordak's attempts to redefine the role. Why should they when his new healthcare program seems designed to actually extend life expectancy, and his efforts to end a perfectly reasonable war with the dwarves appear to have become an obsession? With confidence in his leadership crumbling, what Mordak desperately needs is a distraction. Perhaps some of these humans moving to the Realm in search of great homes at an affordable price will be able to help? For more from Tom Holt, check out: The Management Style of the Supreme BeingsThe Good, The Bad, and the SmugThe Outsorcerer's ApprenticeWhen It's a JarDoughnutLife, Liberty, and the Pursuit of SausagesBlonde Bombshell

Originally published: Presteigne, Powys, Wales: Wooden Books Ltd., 1998.

Originally published in 1972, this retro-gem has been reissued do to popular demand by teachers, parents and the kids - now adults - who first read it... Two days before Halloween, the towns-folk of Cranbury awaken to find all their pumpkins have been smashed...