Oxford University Press

This book is about language designed to mean what it does not seem to mean. Ciphers and codes conceal messages and protect secrets. Symbol and magic hide meanings to imperil or delight. Languages made to baffle and confuse let insiders talk openly without being understood by those beyond the circle. Barry Blake looks in depth at these and many...

When Connie goes to live with her aunt she realizes that this seaside town is the heart of the secret Society for the Protection of Mythical Creatures, a group sworn to ensure that mythical beasts are kept safe. Something strange is happening, the Sirens, who for generations have kept their deadly song to themselves, are once again luring humans to...

This book is the most up to date and thorough account of the natural history of the plants that comprise the most important food crop on Earth, the grasses and grasslands....

How combustible is the Korean crisis? Very, is the only sensible answer. In 1994, the united states came close to launching a pre-emptive strike against North Korea. Since then perhaps three million have died of starvation in the North, a disaster worse than Pol Pot's Cambodia. North Korea's leader Kim Jong-II is closer than ever to developing an...

The Lay of the NibelungsThe Nibelungenlied is the greatest medieval German heroic poem, a revenge saga on an epic scale, which tells how dragon-slayer Sivrit acquires the priceless hoard of the dwarvish Nibelungs, and of the tragic conflict between Kriemhilt and Hagen. This is the first prose translation for over forty years, with full introductory...

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