John O`Farrell Bücher

"This history of medieval inventions, focusing on the eleventh to the fourteenth centuries, vividly portrays a thriving era of human ingenuity--and the results are still being felt to this day. From the mechanical clock to the first eyeglasses, both of which revolutionized society, many of the commonplace devices we now take for granted had their origin in the Middle Ages. Divided into ten thematic chapters, the accessible text allows the reader to sample areas of interest or read the book from beginning to end for a complete historical overview. A chapter on the paper revolution shows that innovations in mill power enabled the mass production of cheap paper, which was instrumental in the later success of the printing press as a means of disseminating affordable books to more people. Another chapter examines the importance of Islamic civilization in preserving ancient Greek texts and the role of translation teams in Sicily and Spain in making those texts available in Latin for a European readership. A chapter on instruments of discovery describes the impact of the astrolabe, which was imported from Islamic lands, and the compass, originally invented in China; these tools plus innovations in ship building spurred on the expansion of European trade and the later age of discovery at the time of Columbus. Complete with original drawings to illustrate how these early inventions worked, this guided tour through a distant era reveals how medieval farmers, craftsmen, women artisans, and clerical scholars laid the foundations of the modern world"-- Provided by publisher

This text features a collection of John O'Farrell's 'Guardian' columns, the final part of the trilogy in which he discovers that Margaret Thatcher is actually his mother. Contained within these covers are 100 funny essays on subjects as diverse as Man's ascent from the apes and the re-election of George W. Bush.

Informs and elucidates the bizarre events, ridiculous characters and stupid decisions that have shaped Britain's story since 1945.

Controlling maternal obsession. Alice feels panic stricken at the terrors of the modern world. She worries too much gluten and dairy may be hindering her children's mental maths. She frets that there are too many cars on the road to let them out of the 4x4. Finally she resolves to take control and tackle her biggest worry of all, her daughter is not going to fail that secondary school entrance exam because Alice has decided to take the test in her child's place....

Muchos maridos olvidan cosas. Olvidan que esa mañana sus mujeres tienen una reunión importante, se olvidan de recoger la ropa de la tintorería o se olvidan de comprar a su esposa un regalo de cumpleaños... Pero Vaughan se ha olvidado incluso de que tiene una mujer. Ha olvidado su nombre, su rostro, toda la historia que comparten, todas las cosas que ella le haya podido contar, todo lo que alguna vez él le haya dicho a ella… Todo eso ha desaparecido, se borró en el catastrófico instante en el que Vaughan perdió la memoria. Y ahora que ha redescubierto a su esposa se entera también de que están a punto de divorciarse. El hombre que olvidó a su mujer es la historia divertida, aguda y emotiva de un hombre al que le pasó exactamente eso. Y que hará cualquier cosa por atrasar el reloj y conseguir una última oportunidad para retomar su vida.

Un homme évanoui reprend conscience. Il a tout oublié... y compris qu'il a une femme ! Après un étrange malaise, un homme se réveille. Il ne se souvient de rien : ni de son nom, ni de ses enfants... ni de sa femme. Quand il revoit celle-ci pour la première fois, c'est le coup de foudre. Pas de chance, elle le déteste, et ils sont en plein divorce. Il n'aura désormais plus qu'une obsession : la reconquérir. Parviendra-t-il à séduire cette belle inconnue qui ne veut plus entendre parler de lui ? Et comment ce mariage d'amour a-t-il pu, au bout de vingt ans, en arriver là ?