ORDER OF THINGS

'How Hierarchies Help Us Make Sense of The World', this fascinating miscellany of various hierarchies that govern our existence explains the pecking order and ranks of society, religion, leisure and law and how it establishes priorities and brings order to our world. From a Private First Class who knows his place (above a Private but below a Lance Corporal), to the classification of the natural world (Species, Genus, Family, Order) here are cultural, musical, religious, celestial, military, corporate, environmental and biological contexts. Dip in at random and learn about society in the Edo period of Japan (1603-1867), Egyptian society, the ant colony, German aristocratic titles, royal lines of succession, peers of the realm, freemasons, who eats whom?, the pH Scale, grading of Merino wool, the chain of command in a professional kitchen, wine classification, the Jedi Order, the sea from glassy and calm to phenomenal (over 14 metres), Tolkien's Rings of Power, air traffic control priorities - we all love lists, order and meaning. 188pp, illus.