Parallel Lines describes how post-9/11 cinema, from Spike Lee's 25th Hour (2002) to Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty (2012), relates to different, and competing, versions of US national identity in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks. The book combines readings of individual films (World Trade Center, United 93, Fahrenheit 9/11, Loose Change) and cycles of films (depicting revenge, conspiracy, torture and war) with extended commentary on recurring themes, including the relationship between the US and the rest of the world, narratives of therapeutic recovery, questions of ethical obligation. The volume argues that post-9/11 cinema is varied and dynamic, registering shock and upheaval in the immediate aftermath of the attacks, displaying capacity for critique following the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal mid-decade, and seeking to reestablish consensus during Obama's troubled second term of office.

_________________ 'Compelling... Part Bill Bryson, part Nick Hornby, part memoir and part pastiche ... Light, lively and, above all, right: what every enthusiast should be expected to know' - The Times 'Michael Palin meets Nick Hornby meets What the Victorians Did for Us ... wacky and amiable' - Independent on Sunday 'A gloriously disingenuous front for the most acerbic and humorous criticism of public transport policy ... a more entertaining and incisive read will not be found this year' - Glasgow Herald _________________ A brilliantly witty story of one man's encounter with the British railways For 175 years the British have lived with the railway, and for a long while it was a love affair - the grandeur of the Victorian heyday, the glorious age of steam, the romance of Brief Encounter. Then the love affair turned sour - strikes, bad food, delays, disasters... Parallel Lines tells the story of these two railways: the real railway and the railway of our dreams. Travelling all over Britain, Ian Marchant examines the history of the British railway and meets those who still hold the railways close to their hearts - the model railway enthusiasts, the train-spotters and bashers (a hybrid of train-spotting where the individual - usually male - has to travel behind a certain locomotive in order to catalogue it), the steam enthusiasts. He swaps stories with commuters at the far reaches of London suburbia, he travels to deserted railway museums, and smokes cigarettes on remote, windswept stations in the furthest corners of Scotland, turning his characteristic eye for character, humour and surprise to one of the great shared experiences of the British nation. _________________ 'The trip keeps its pace and purpose, fuelled by the genial, flexible rhythms of the prose and enriched by two centuries of railway-culture hinterland' - Independent

Part one of Parallel Lines: An Experiment in Temptation"I don't want an open marriage, but if you're interested, then maybe we could try an experiment."Megan and Malik Trammell have been together for over ten years. They have love. They have great jobs. They have three kids. And they are suddenly each faced with a nearly irresistible temptation.David McKinley is young and hung, a junior lawyer at Meg's firm, where she finds herself wanting to break every rule in the book. Elena Maskova looks like a model and her wicked smile hints hints at a willingness to do just about anything.So they try something new--they have decided to have flings. Only one rule: no lies.Find out what happens when their mutual adventure begins to diverge.

Through Euclid's Window Leonard Mlodinow brilliantly and delightfully leads us on a journey through five revolutions in geometry, from the Greek concept of parallel lines to the latest notions of hyperspace. Here is an altogether new, refreshing, alternative history of math revealing how simple questions anyone might ask about space -- in the living room or in some other galaxy -- have been the hidden engine of the highest achievements in science and technology. Based on Mlodinow's extensive historical research; his studies alongside colleagues such as Richard Feynman and Kip Thorne; and interviews with leading physicists and mathematicians such as Murray Gell-Mann, Edward Witten, and Brian Greene, Euclid's Window is an extraordinary blend of rigorous, authoritative investigation and accessible, good-humored storytelling that makes a stunningly original argument asserting the primacy of geometry. For those who have looked through Euclid's Window, no space, no thing, and no time will ever be quite the same.

By making believe there are no straight edges or rulers in the world, the reader learns the geometric principles of straight, parallel, and perpendicular lines.

Parallel Lines is the visual journal of emerging photographer Ope Odueyungbo: artist, social influencer, and traveler.