This is the second title in a series of Sherlock Holmes Escape Books: a unique, new form of puzzle books, in which the reader must solve the puzzles to escape the pages. Inspired by the urban craze for escape rooms, where players tackle challenges while trapped in a locked room, this is an escape room in the form of a locked book: filled with codes, ciphers, riddles and red herrings, plus an ingenious Hieroglyphic Code Wheel set into the cover. Taking on the role of Sherlock Holmes, in this new adventure readers find themselves trapped with Watson in the Enlightenment Gallery of the British Museum after a curator collapses in the Egyptian Collection. With King George V due to arrive at the nearby tube station, and rumors of an anarchist plot, Holmes and Watson must find their way through the museum, and fathom the involvement of both Mycroft and Colonel Sebastian Moran, if they are to win their freedom and save the day.

The recent translation of a Babylonian tablet launches a groundbreaking investigation into one of the most famous stories in the world, challenging the way we look at ancient history. Since the Victorian period, it has been understood that the story of Noah, iconic in the Book of Genesis, and a central motif in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, derives from a much older story that existed centuries before in ancient Babylon. But the relationship between the Babylonian and biblical traditions was shrouded in mystery. Then, in 2009, Irving Finkel, a curator at the British Museum and a world authority on ancient Mesopotamia, found himself playing detective when a member of the public arrived at the museum with an intriguing cuneiform tablet from a family collection. Not only did the tablet reveal a new version of the Babylonian Flood Story; the ancient poet described the size and completely unexpected shape of the ark, and gave detailed boat building specifications. Decoding this ancient message wedge by cuneiform wedge, Dr. Finkel discovered where the Babylonians believed the ark came to rest and developed a new explanation of how the old story ultimately found its way into the Bible. In The Ark Before Noah, Dr. Finkel takes us on an adventurous voyage of discovery, opening the door to an enthralling world of ancient voices and new meanings.

This two-volume work describes the pre-industrial history of mechanical engineering and covers power generation, transport, manufacturing, and weapons technology. Important items are discussed in each section and performance data are presented in easily understood graphical format using over 800 illustrations. The print edition is available as a set of two volumes (9789004136090).

New Arabian Studies is an international journal covering a wide spectrum of topics including geography, archaeology, history, architecture, agriculture, language, dialect, sociology, documents, literature and religion. It provides authoritative information intended to appeal to both the specialist and general reader. Both the traditional and the modern aspects of Arabia are covered, excluding contemporary controversial politics. Contributions by Hussein Abdullah al-Amri, Madawi Al-Rasheed, W. J. Donaldson, A. B. D. R. Eagle, Andrey Korotayev, Richard I. Lawless, Eric Macro, Brian Marshall, Mikhail Rodionov, Marie-Claude Simeone-Senelle, Martine Vanhove and Jerzy Zdanowski

Museums and collecting is now a major area of cultural studies. This selected group of key texts opens the investigation and appreciation of museum history. Edward Edwards, chief pioneer of municipal public libraries, chronicles the founders and early donors to the British Museum. Greenwood and Murray provide informative pictures of the early history of the museum movement. Sir William Flower, Director of the British Museum (Natural History), takes a pioneering philosophical approach to the sphere of natural history in relation to museums. Similarly, Acland and Ruskin discuss and explore the relationships of art and architecture to museums.