This biography of Marcus Cato the Younger -- Rome's bravest statesman, an aristocratic soldier, a Stoic philosopher, and staunch defender of sacred Roman tradition -- is rich with resonances for current politics and contemporary notions of freedom.

A masterful blend of Christian scholarship and thrilling adventure, The Last Cato is a novel about the race to find the secret location of the Vera Cruz, the True Cross on which Christ was crucified, and the ancient brotherhood sworn to protect it. Holy relics are disappearing from sacred spots around the world—and the Vatican will do whatever it takes to stop the thieves from stealing what is left of the scattered splinters of the True Cross. Brilliant paleographer Dr. Ottavia Salina is called upon by the highest levels of the Roman Catholic Church to decipher the scars found on an Ethiopian man's corpse: seven crosses and seven Greek letters. The markings, symbolizing the Seven Deadly Sins, are part of an elaborate initiation ritual for the Staurofilakes, the clandestine brotherhood hiding the True Cross for centuries, headed by a secretive figure called Cato. With the help of a member of the Swiss Guard and a renowned archaeologist, Dr. Salina uncovers the connection between the brotherhood and Dante's Divine Comedy, and races across the globe to Christianity's ancient capitals. Together, they will face challenges that will put their faith—and their very lives—to the ultimate test.

Daunted. Petrified. Whether it’s tasting a new food, diving into a pool or riding a bike, Frankie Lane won’t risk not being the best. Join Frankie and her fantastically daring friend Tallulah Flare on an adventure into the wonder of Magic Mistakes. This book encourages us to embrace our imperfections, take risks and welcome failure as a part of growth. It will help parents, caregivers and teachers support children to be more resilient when faced with life’s ‘oopsy lohs.’ I hope all teachers in the first years of school will read about and appreciate Frankie’s difficulty with stepping outside her comfort zone, trying things that she may not be good at, and taking a risk. These are the ‘ordinary anxieties’ and ‘ordinary difficulties’ that all of us, children and adults alike, may face each day. Author Belinda Blecher captures Frankie’s uncomfortable, unspoken feelings through an expressive text that will appeal to readers and listeners. Frankie’s reticence to try new things and her fear of failure will be readily understood by young children. In Magic Mistakes, it is a child, Tallulah, who offers Frankie another perspective on the unexpected. Rather than errors to be feared, she shows how mistakes can offer new opportunities. They can be fun. Tallulah’s encouragement persuades Frankie to think differently about herself. She is now ready to take a risk. In preschool and the early years of school, teachers can be the ‘Tallulah, agent of change’ for children like Frankie. Children thrive when they have supportive relationships with emotionally sensitive teachers who are attuned to the difficulties, as well as the successes, they experience at school. By reading the story of Frankie and Tallulah, teachers can open up the space for children to talk about their own fears, or how they might help someone who is scared to try something new. These are key skills and personal attributes that every student should be supported to develop at school. – Prof. Linda Harrison, Early Childhood, Macquarie University Magic Mistakes sows seeds of resilience into little people, providing an optimal foundation for them to blossom into psychologically flexible young adults. This wonderful book teaches children (and their parents) that failure is not to be feared, as it is where great learning happens. It provides an essential message for young children, giving them the mindset to successfully navigate the challenges that life will inevitably throw their way! – Dr Sue Morris, author of The Rubber Brain School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney This is a glorious book. It shows how our fear of mistakes can narrow what we try. But, with the magic of companionship our fears can be confronted, as someone is with you in your worries. – Dr. Robyn Dolby, Psychologist, Secure Beginnings

“I would say that learning this material ... has lifted some of the existential weight from me. Things aren’t as bad as they are trumpeted to be. In fact, they’re quite a bit better, and they’re getting better, and so we’re doing a better job than we thought. There’s more to us than we thought. We’re adopting our responsibilities as stewards of the planet rapidly. We are moving towards improving everyone’s life." —Jordan B. Peterson, Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life Think the world is getting worse? If so, you’re wrong. The world is, for the most part, actually getting better. But 58 percent of people in 17 countries who were surveyed in 2016 thought that the world was either getting worse or staying the same. Americans were even more glum: 65 percent thought the world was getting worse and only 6 percent thought it was getting better. The uncontroversial data on major global trends in this book will persuade you that this dark view of the state of humanity and the natural world is, in large part, badly mistaken. World population will peak at 8–9 billion before the end of this century, as the global fertility rate continues its fall from 6 children per woman in 1960 to the current rate of 2.4. The global absolute poverty rate has fallen from 42 percent in 1981 to 8.6 percent today. Satellite data show that forest area has been expanding since 1982. Natural resources are becoming ever cheaper and more abundant. Since 1900, the average life expectancy has more than doubled, reaching more than 72 years globally. Of course, major concerns such as climate change, marine plastic pollution, and declining wildlife populations are still with us, but many of these problems are already being ameliorated as a result of the favorable economic, social, and technological trends that are documented in this book. You can’t fix what is wrong in the world if you don’t know what’s actually happening. Ten Global Trends Every Smart Person Should Know will provide busy people with quick-to-read, easily understandable, and entertaining access to surprising facts that they need to know about how the world is really faring.

Marcus Porcius Cato (the Younger) is most famous for being Julius Caesar's nemesis. His sustained antagonism was in large part responsible for pushing the Romans towards civil war. Yet Cato never wanted war even though he used the threat of violence against Caesar. This strategic gamble misfired as Caesar, instead of yielding, marched on Rome, hurling the Republic into a bloody civil war. Refusing to inhabit a world ruled by Caesar, Cato took his own life. Although the Roman historian Sallust identified Cato and Caesar as the two most outstanding men of their age, modern scholars have tended to dismiss Cato as a cantankerous conservative who, while colorful, was not a critical player in the events that overtook the Republic. This book, in providing a much-needed reliable biography of Cato, contradicts that assessment. In addition to being Caesar's adversary, Cato is an important and fascinating historical figure in his own right, and his career-in particular, his idiosyncrasies-shed light on the changing political culture of the late Republic. Cato famously reached into Rome's hallowed past and found mannerisms and habits to adopt that transformed him into the foremost champion of ancestral custom. Thus Cato did things that seemed strange and even bizarre such as wearing an old-fashioned tint of purple on his senatorial toga, refusing to ride a horse when on public business, and going about barefoot and without the usual tunic as an undergarment. His extreme conservatism-which became celebrated in later ages, especially in Enlightenment Europe and revolutionary America--was actually designed to give him a unique advantage in Roman politics. This is not to claim that he was insincere in his combative promotion of the mos maiorum (the way of the ancestors), but his political manipulation of the Romans' reverence for their traditions was masterful. By providing a new, detailed portrait of Cato, the book also presents a unique narrative of the age he helped shape and inadvertently destroy.

Science can be a force for good, and it has enhanced our lives in countless ways, but even a cursory look at the last century shows that what passes for "science" can be detrimental. This book documents only some of the more recent abuses of science that informed members of the public should be aware of.

In this unique, refreshing look at design, Cato questions the usefulness behind commonly used methods to encourage user-friendly solutions and to promote more effective management of multimedia projects.

What could the Silk Road, the Sewers of Istambul, Marco Polo, Mongolia and Holy Land have in common? That's what the main characters of " The Last Cato", Ottavia Salina and Farag Boswell, will have to find out, putting their lives at risk yet again to solve a mystery that begins in the first century AD. Written with accuracy and a rhythm that keeps readers in suspense page after page, chapter after chapter until the very end, " Cato's Return" is an ingenious combination of adventure and history with which Matilde Asensi once again draws us in and doesn't let us go until the last word.