Texto para la consulta documental en los archivos de los siglos XVI y XVII

Based on exciting discoveries in mathematics, genetics, psychology and sociology, ‘Connected’ is an innovative and fascinating exploration of how social networks operate.Think it’s all about who you know? It is. But not the way you think.Turns out your colleague’s husband’s sister can make you fat, even if you don’t know her. And a happy friend is more relevant to your happiness than a bigger income.Our connections – our friends, their friends, and even their friends’ friends – have an astonishing power to influence everything from what we eat to who we sleep with. And we, in turn, influence others. Our actions can change the behaviours, the beliefs, and even the basic health of people we’ve never met.In this brilliantly original and effortlessly engaging exploration of how much we truly influence one another, pre-eminent social scientists Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler explain why obesity is contagious, why the rich get richer, even how we find and choose our partners. Intriguing and entertaining, with revelatory implications for everything from our notion of the individual to ideas about health care policy, “Connected” will change the way you think about every aspect of your life, and how you live it.

A provocative and debate-inspiring book which explores the pressure, politics, philosophy and culture of motherhood in today’s society.Motherhood has changed. For several decades there has been tension between traditional ideas and modern values of mothering. For years the trend was away from the constraints which bound down our own mothers and towards liberating women. But in the 1980s and 1990s the momentum has shifted into sharp reverse.Mother of All Myths documents the present backlash, examining responses in the media, the courts, the government, in medicine and through ‘pop’ psychology, which reasserts an old-fashioned, conservative and narrow view of what a mother should be and do.In addition, the author explores the strong, highly idealized concept of motherhood that exists in the West; finding reflections of that image in history, in Christianity, in literature and in mythology.So why is this backlash happening now and who is losing out? This powerful book provides a long-overdue debate on motherhood by pressing that society should not only rethink our concept of mothering and responsibility, but strip motherhood of the worst excesses of sentimentality thereby allowing the mother’s needs to be more evenly balanced against those of the child.

A classic and highly controversial expos? of the secret world of the Freemasons reissued with an introduction by Martin Short, author of ‘Inside the Brotherhood’.The Freemasons have long fascinated outsiders. The subject of Dan Brown’s new novel – set for release in 2007 – this secret and exclusive society, thought to be the largest in Britain today, remains a mystery to the many excluded from its ranks. One would never know if a father or brother was a member due to the mandatory vow of secrecy.In this classic, controversial expos?, Stephen Knight talks to the men on the inside – those who have broken their vow of secrecy to reveal the darker side of the ‘brotherhood’. Do they influence the law? Is the KGB involved? And is there is a secret group of Masons running the country today, perhaps influencing every move we make?Now with an introduction by Martin Short, acclaimed author of ‘Inside the Brotherhood’, this is the unmissable, true story of an ancient, and mysterious brotherhood operating in our midst.

An almanac of the future for anyone who wants to know what’s new and exciting and around the corner…Originally published in 1999.We all know that the year 2000 is almost here – we all sense the exciting and enormous changes that are happening at breakneck speed: the world is getting bigger, but the world is also getting smaller, the old are young and the young are older, the lines between work and home are blurring… But in what specific way are these changes actually playing themselves out in our lives today and tomorrow? What do we need to know about the future to successfully negotiate the many paths open to us?NEXT is a hip, provocative and intelligent compendium of what is really happening today, tomorrow and into the millennium. How we will work, relax, travel, form relationships. What we will read, watch and listen to. From the realms of business and leisure, from what we will eat to what we will wear, from sexual attitudes to how our homes will look, NEXT tells you everything you need to know, including:The new generation gaps:• Global youth• Ageing. Who, me? The emergence of ‘mid-youth’High-tech families and parenting in the digital age.The fast track: women making their own breaks.Entertainment, retail and marketing in cyberspace.

Grass and its organisation into lawns is a particularly English obsession.If an Englishman’s house is his castle, then his lawn is most certainly his estate. Occupying a place in the national psyche comparable to that of afternoon tea, the English concept of the ideal lawn has evolved and altered alomost beyond regognition since its first mention in the time of Henry III. Now Tom Fort traces its history, through famous lawns, to the present day.The English are universally acknowledged to be the lawn creators, coming up with most of the games played on grass, as well as the original grass-cutting machines. The lawn has aroused the wonder of the rest of the civilised world, and the Americans have fused to their conception of suburban bliss the ideal of the impeccably manicured lawn.This social history of grass is further enlivened by an introduction to the creator of the first lawnmower, Edwin Budding, by discussions with contemporary lawnsmen, and by witnessing the author’s own attempt to create his perfect lawn.