Showing titles in Architecture

Home is often seen as a place of comfort and refuge, yet beneath its calm surface lies a continuous flow of materials, energy, water, and consumption. Much of this flow follows a linear path—from purchase to disposal—quietly generating waste, inefficiency, and environmental strain. The Circular Home invites listeners to rethink this familiar system and reimagine the home as a regenerative, intelligent ecosystem built on the principles of circular living.

'It may be the funniest thing ever committed to sound' DAVID BADDIEL 'The audiobook is an absolute dream' RICHARD OSMAN 'Not only has Alan Partridge created an entirely new storytelling structure, it's very funny indeed' JON RONSON 'Partridge... has become the man our time deserves. Aha!' THE...

A living room is more than a place to sit — it is the emotional center of a home, where comfort, beauty, and atmosphere quietly shape everyday life. A Living Room That Grows With You is a practical and inviting guide to transforming this space through the gentle presence of easy-care indoor plants and blooms. Designed for busy individuals, beginners, and those who believe they “lack a green thumb,” this book removes the intimidation often associated with indoor gardening.

Modern homes are often filled with noise, clutter, harsh lighting, and constant stimulation—making it difficult for the mind and body to truly relax. The Calm Home offers a practical approach to creating spaces that support comfort, emotional balance, and sensory ease.

In his brilliant and excitingly ambitious new book, Neil Oliver takes us on a whistlestop tour around the world and through a million years to give us a unique and invaluable grasp of how human history pieces together. From the east to the west, north to south, these 100 moments act like stepping stones allowing us to make sense of how these pivotal events have shaped the world we know today. Including many moments listeners will expect, there are also surprises, and with them, some remarkable, unforgettable stories that give a whole new insight on our past.

In Wisdom of the Ancients, Neil Oliver takes us back in time to grab hold of the ideas buried in forgotten cultures and early civilisations. From Laetoli footprints in Tanzania to Keralan rituals, stone circles and cave paintings, Oliver takes us on a global journey through antiquity. A master storyteller, drawing on immense knowledge of our ancient past, he distils this wisdom into 12 messages that have endured the test of time and invites us to consider how these might apply to our lives today. The result is powerful and inspirational, moving and profound.

Detective Inspector Vincent Ruiz is lucky to be alive. A bullet in the leg, another through the hand, he is discovered clinging to a buoy in the River Thames, losing blood and consciousness fast. It takes six days for him to come out of his coma, and when he does, his nightmare is only just beginning. Because Vincent has no recollection of what happened, and nobody believes him.

J.E. Gordon strips engineering of its confusing technical terms, communicating its founding principles in accessible, witty prose.

Commissioned in 1750, the Palazzo Venier was planned as a testimony to the power and wealth of a great Venetian family, but the fortunes of the Venier family waned, and the project was left abandoned and unfinished. Yet in the early 20th century, it attracted three fascinating women: Luisa Casati, Doris Castlerosse and Peggy Guggenheim.

England's villages have survived, developed and thrived over hundreds of years. But what makes a village, and how has that changed over time? Take a charming and unexpected journey through the quirks of England's villages throughout the ages in the excellent company of Dr Ben Robinson, expert archaeologist.

Lighthouses are striking totems of our relationship to the sea. For many, they encapsulate a romantic vision of solitary homes amongst the waves, but their original purpose is much more utilitarian than that. Still today we depend upon their guiding lights for the safe passage of ships. Nowhere is this truer than in the rock lighthouses of Great Britain and Ireland, a ring of 19 towers built between 1811-1905, so called because they were constructed on desolate rock formations in the middle of the sea, and made of granite to withstand the power of its waves.

In recent years house histories have become the new frontier of popular, participatory history. People, many of whom have already embarked upon that great adventure of genealogical research, and who have encountered their ancestors in the archives and uncovered family secrets, are now turning to...

As the sun set slowly on the British Empire in the years after the Second World War, the nation's stately homes were in crisis. Tottering under the weight of rising taxes and a growing sense that they had no place in 20th-century Britain, hundreds of ancestral piles were dismantled and demolished. Perhaps even more surprising was the fact that so many of these great houses survived, as dukes and duchesses clung desperately to their ancestral seats and tenants' balls gave way to rock concerts, safari parks and day trippers.

Are you feeling overwhelmed by clutter in your small apartment? Struggling to create harmony in your rental space? Looking for practical feng shui solutions that work in modern urban environments? This comprehensive audiobook brings ancient feng shui principles into the 21st century, specifically tailored for renters and lease-restricted spaces.

Modern homes are becoming smarter—but true progress comes when technology and sustainability work together. The Sustainable Smart Home explores how intelligent design, energy-efficient systems, and environmentally conscious habits can transform ordinary houses into comfortable, efficient, and future-ready living spaces. This practical guide explains how homeowners can combine smart technology with sustainable principles to reduce energy waste, lower utility bills, and create healthier indoor environments.

A young college grad buys a house in Detroit for $500 and attempts to restore it—and his new neighborhood—to its original glory in this “deeply felt, sharply observed personal quest to create meaning and community out of the fallen…A standout” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). Drew...

Frank Lloyd Wright has long been known as a rank egotist who held in contempt almost everything aside from his own genius. Harder to detect, but no less real, is a Wright who fully understood, and suffered from, the choices he made. This is the Wright whom Paul Hendrickson reveals in this...

Penguin Presents the audiobook edition of Paths to the Past written and read by Francis Pryor. Landscapes reflect and shape our behaviour. They make us who we are and bear witness to the shifting patterns of human life over the generations. Formed by a complex series of natural and human...

First published in 1996, The Eyes of the Skin is a classic of architectural theory. It asks the far-reaching question why, when there are five senses, is one single sense―sight―so predominant in architectural culture and design? With the ascendancy of the digital and the all-pervasive use of the image electronically, the subject is all the more pressing and topical since the first edition’s publication.

The story of London, told through 12 of its most seminal buildings. In a sweeping narrative, from its mythic origins to the glittering towers of the contemporary financial capital, The Stones of London tells the story of 12 London buildings in a kaleidoscopic and unexpected history of one of the world's most enigmatic cities. From the Roman forum to the Gherkin, Regent Street to the East End, the Houses of Parliament to Greenwich Palace, London's buildings are testament to the richness of its past.