Significantly updated in reference to the latest construction standards and evolving building types Many chapters revised including housing, transport, offices, libraries and hotels New chapter on flood-aware design Sustainable design integrated into chapters throughout Over 100,000 copies sold to successive generations of architects and designers - this book belongs in every design studio and architecture school library The Metric Handbook is the major handbook of planning and design information for architects and architecture students. Covering basic design data for all the major building types, it is the ideal starting point for any project. For each building type, the book gives the basic design requirements and all the principal dimensional data, and succinct guidance on how to use the information and what regulations the designer needs to be aware of. As well as building types, the Metric Handbook deals with broader aspects of design such as materials, acoustics and lighting, and general design data on human dimensions and space requirements. The Metric Handbook provides an invaluable resource for solving everyday design and planning problems.

Flame throwers, spy trees, bird bombs, and Hell Fighters were all a part of World War I, but you won't learn that in your history books! Uncover long-lost secrets of spies like Howard Burnham, “The One-Legged Wonder,” and nurse-turned-spy, Edith Cavell. Peek into secret files to learn the truth about the Red Baron and the mysterious Mata Hari. Then learn how to build your own Zeppelin balloon and mix up some invisible ink. It's all part of the true stories from the Top Secret Files: World War I. Take a look if you dare, but be careful! Some secrets are meant to stay hidden . . . Ages 9-12

The highly eccentric Alfred Dillwyn Knox, known simply as 'Dilly', was one of the leading figures in the British codebreaking successes of the two world wars. During the first, he was the chief codebreaker in the Admiralty, breaking the German Navy's main flag code, before going on to crack the German Enigma ciphers during the Second World War at Bletchley Park. Here, he enjoyed the triumphant culmination of his life's work: a reconstruction of the Enigma machine used by the Abwehr, the German Secret Service. This kept the British fully aware of what the German commanders knew about Allied plans, allowing MI5 and MI6 to use captured German spies to feed false information back to the Nazi spymasters. Mavis Batey was one of 'Dilly's girls', the young female codebreakers who helped him to break the various Enigma ciphers. She was called upon to advise Kate Winslet, star of the film Enigma, on what it was like to be one of the few female codebreakers at Bletchley Park. This gripping new edition of Batey's critically acclaimed book reveals the vital part Dilly played in the deception operation that ensured the success of the D-Day landings, altering the course of the Second World War.

Conspiracy theories are not new to our modern time. They date back to biblical times when Moses sent his spies out to check out what the Egyptians were doing. Espionage is also linked to various conspiracies and is all mixed up in the same bag of tricks and form any decent conspiracy or theory. In this new, fact providing book by author Peter Kross called The American Conspiracy Files: The Stories We Were Never Told, the reader is given a tour de force through the world of conspiracies and conspiracy theories dating back to the time when this nation was first founded, right up until the modern day. Author Kross provides the reader with these fascinating and unbelievable stories in short, thought-provoking chapters that will both inform and educate the public to these little known tales from our past. Among the stories that are revealed are the circumstances surrounding the Lost Colony of Roanoke whose settlers simply left their homes and were never seen again. The tales of the deaths of Davy Crockett, Jesse James and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid leave the reader wondering just what really happened to these iconic heroes, conspiracies in the Revolutionary War including Benedict Arnold and Ben Franklin’s son, William. We delve into the large conspiracy to kill President Lincoln and see that John Wilkes Booth did not act alone. Our tale then goes into our modern day with chapters on the deaths of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, spies in the Roosevelt administration, the reasons behind the Oklahoma City bombing, the sordid plots of President Lyndon Johnson and the deaths of people associated with him, the revelation of “Deep Throat,” a plot by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to invade Cuba and blame it on Castro, among other interesting tales. As author Kross did in his previous books, Tales From Langley: The CIA from Truman to Obama and The Secret History of the United States, these stories are a fascinating account of our hidden history, most of which the public has never heard of.