Breathing new life into old household items that would otherwise be condemned to a life in the attic or the back of your wardrobe has never been so much fun. This stylish new book shows you how to transform old curios into beautiful decorative ornaments for every room in the home. Innovative ideas abound, ranging from old metal jelly mould doorstops to a chandelier embellished with old silver cutlery The projects are easy to follow yet stunningly effective. Various craft techniques are used throughout, including embroidery, decoupage and sewing, so there really is something for everyone.

“Even-handed, up-to-date, and clearly written. . . . If you want to navigate between the Scylla and Charybdis of Neanderthal controversies, you’ll find no better guide.” —Brian Fagan, author of Cro-Magnon In recent years, the common perception of the Neanderthal has been transformed thanks to new discoveries and paradigm-shattering scientific innovations. It turns out that the Neanderthals’ behavior was surprisingly modern: they buried the dead, cared for the sick, hunted large animals in their prime, harvested seafood, and spoke. Meanwhile, advances in DNA technologies have forced a reassessment of the Neanderthals’ place in our own past. For hundreds of thousands of years, Neanderthals evolved in Europe very much in parallel to the Homo sapiens line evolving in Africa, and, when both species made their first forays into Asia, the Neanderthals may even have had the upper hand. Here, Dimitra Papagianni and Michael A. Morse look at the Neanderthals through the full dramatic arc of their existence—from their evolution in Europe to their expansion to Siberia, their subsequent extinction, and ultimately their revival in popular novels, cartoons, cult movies, and TV commercials.

A true account of a turning point in medieval history that shaped the modern world, from “a superb storyteller” and the author of When Jesus Became God (Los Angeles Times). Europe was in the long slumber of the Middle Ages, the Roman Empire was in tatters, and the Greek language was all but forgotten—until a group of twelfth-century scholars rediscovered and translated the works of Aristotle. The philosopher’s ideas spread like wildfire across Europe, offering the scientific view that the natural world, including the soul of man, was a proper subject of study. The rediscovery of these ancient ideas would spark riots and heresy trials, cause major upheavals in the Catholic Church—and also set the stage for today’s rift between reason and religion. Aristotle’s Children transports us back to this pivotal moment in world history, rendering the controversies of the Middle Ages lively and accessible, and allowing us to understand the philosophical ideas that are fundamental to modern thought. “A superb storyteller who breathes new life into such fascinating figures as Peter Abelard, Albertus Magnus, St. Thomas Aquinas, Roger Bacon, William of Ockham and Aristotle himself.” —Los Angeles Times “Rubenstein’s lively prose, his lucid insights and his crystal-clear historical analyses make this a first-rate study in the history of ideas.” —Publishers Weekly

Creation Rediscovered, by Jeffery M. Leonard, guides readers through a contextual reading of the Bibles creation stories. Over the last two centuries, few subjects have generated as much controversy for Christians as has creation. The whethers, whens, and hows of creation have often become a battlefield in which the pitched forces of competing sidesDarwinists and creationists, young-earthers and old, figurativists and literalistshave struggled for the upper hand. Like most battles, this fight has tended to inflict a fair amount of collateral damage along the way. This is especially true for those put in the terrible position of feeling they have had to choose between the Bible they have fallen in love with and the science they have studied. In this book, Jeffery Leonard writes to fellow travelers in the faith who want to take the biblical text seriously, while at the same time appreciate sciences exploration of what we consider to be Gods creation. It is his contention that setting the Bibles creation texts back within their ancient context allows us to do both of these things. Indeed, Leonard believes that when we reread what the Bible has to say about creation in its original setting, we find meaning in the text far more profound than what we have previously imagined. Key points and features: • Written by a Bible scholar • Unique, timely, and fresh interpretation • Helps readers see the Bibles creation stories as vessels of healing and hope in Gods larger plan for humanity • Attempts to redirect Christians to read the ancient creation stories within the context in which they were written