The award winning travel writer Sue Dobson is never happier than when out exploring "must-see" churches and cathedrals. St Paul's, St Stephen's in Vienna, Washington National Cathedral, Church of Christ Canterbury, Lincoln and Durham Cathedrals, York Minster, Ely, Peterborough, King's College Chapel Cambridge are some of the dozen British entries. In Europe we visit Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp, St Vitus Catheral Prague, and go to Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, the Pantheon Rome, the Cathedral of Mon Reale in Sicily and two Basilicas in Italy, to Malta, Norway, Romania, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine, Australia, Africa and North and South America to see the masterpieces that crown their cities' skylines. For each there is a three or four page summary with history, paintings, and frescos, architecture and icons, and a good quality black and white photo. 248pp plus eight pages of lined notepaper for your own jottings. Paperback.

16 origin legends about how the world began, beautifully illustrated in colour by Patricia Ludlow, the stories include The Master of Breath, Old Man's Magic, Five Aztec Worlds, Land of Ice, Order from Chaos, The Evil Thorn Tree, Obatala and the Hen, Marduk and the Tablets of Destiny, Gods and Lotus Flowers, The Giant Who Made the World, Animal Magic, The Cosmic Coconut, and Dreaming among them. All over the world as people gathered in families, tribes and communities, people invented different solutions to the mystery of existence. The names of some of the gods and spirits in this compendium are unfamiliar and some look completely unpronounceable but saying something like the word 'Shu' out loud for example explains why it is the name for the Ancient Egyptian god of air. Soak up the mystery of myths and make some astonishing discoveries and enjoy illustrations such as when these Japanese creator gods met around the Heavenly Pillar, and Man first had to speak to communicate. There are tales from Australian Aborigines, the Maori people of New Zealand, the Dayak people of the rainforests of Borneo, Ancient Chinese myths, from Babylon, West Africa to the Ancient Greeks, from Titans and Olympian gods to the Dreamtime of the Aboriginal peoples. Designed for youngsters but we believe appeals to curious adults who also appreciate beautiful illustrations. With glossary, 80 large pages.

Who are the Freemasons? A powerful and shadowy elite who have manipulated world history through the ages, or a more mundane fraternal society devoted to charity, good works and the mutual support of members? Today Freemasonry is a worldwide organisation, yet secrecy is still demanded of its members, and from the outside its obscure rituals often seem pointless, baffling and even sinister. Freemasonry is a topic that polarises opinion and much controversy still surrounds the subject. Examples of Masonic-type groups can be found throughout the world. During initiation ceremonies, candidates are commonly asked the ritual question, 'What is Freemasonry?' The answer generally given is 'A peculiar system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols'. Freemasonry also states that its three grand founding principals are 'brotherly love, relief and truth'. The origins of the Craft are obscure and uncertain and there are often disputed claims that it is directly linked to the Knights Templar. Perhaps less well known is that many thousands of Freemasons were amongst those persecuted and killed by the Nazis during WWII and that Hitler attacked the Freemasons in Mein Kampf. In more recent times Masonic-type groups such as P2 in Italy have been involved in corruption scandals. Topics covered are the Great Architect, Temple of Solomon, Hiram Abiss, Pythagoras, Medieval Stonemasons, The Priory of Sion, Rosicrucians, the American Revolution and more. A much reprinted classic, 160pp in paperback.

Paganism, Witchcraft and Wicca are quite distinct. Wicca is a nature-based religion and followers live and breathe true kindness and compassion, empowering themselves and others around them, worshipping elements of our earth such as the Moon, Sun, the universe, nature and the magick that they bring to us. They teach tolerance and diversity and acceptance. 'The magic we produce comes from within and around us, not from looking at the correct way or having the fanciest tarot cards.' To the author it is a religion that promotes equality in everyone regardless of gender or race and now Wicca has entered the online world making it easier for everyone to learn. There are amazing communities of Wiccans posting about spells, their journeys, teachings and even online covens, divination, spell and ritual work and what to read. The author outlines the basics from her own experiences, study and day-to-day practices and she teaches us how to cast spells, start your own Book of Shadows, join a coven and feel empowered on a path that feels good for you. 229pp.

In 2007 Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Daniel Dennett - who subsequently became known as "The Four Horsemen" - sat down in Hitchens's library and, over cocktails, began a conversation which was become a landmark point in modern atheism. The video was set to record and what followed, a rigorous, groundbreaking and enthralling exchange has since been viewed millions of times since first posted. This is intellectual enquiry of the very highest order - exhilarating, funny, unpredictable, sincere and probing. This book comprises the entire transcript of that conversation, presented in print for the first time, and is augmented by new material from the living participants, essays by Dawkins, Harris and Dennett. These are arguably as important as that original conversation, as they mark the evolution of each's thinking over the ensuing 12 years and also highlight particularly resonant personal aspects of this epic discussion. Each man contends with the fundamentals of human existence while challenging the others to articulate their stance on religion, spirituality and debate with people of faith and the components of an ethical life. And the icing on the cake is an extended foreword by Stephen Fry in which he characterises the protagonists as the Four Musketeers - Porthos, d'Artagnan, Aramis and Athos respectively - as he introduces the conversation and essays in his own inimitable style. Erudite, profound and with no little humour, a sparkling introduction to modern atheism. 134pp. Apologies for small remainder mark.

Sub-titled 'The Body, The Divine, and The Question of Civilisation', the popular TV historian Mary Beard takes a look beyond the familiar canon of Western imagery. She offers an expansive survey of world history to show how religion has long inspired art, from the Hindu temple at Angkor Wat to the exquisite calligraphy of Islamic mosques, whether describing the church of San Vitale at Ravenna and how early Christian artists depicted Jesus, or examining the role of vanity in Renaissance art through Tintoretto's Crucifixion. All religions have wrestled with idolatry and iconoclasm, destroying art as well as creating it, and within her book, Mary Beard redefines the Western-centric legacies of Ernst Gombrich and Kenneth Clark, revealing a new legacy for future generations. Mary Beard begins her history with a meditation on the human body and its varied representations across epochs starting from the gigantic 3,000 year old stone heads carved by the Olmec of Mesoamerica, Greek bodies, the Emperor of China and the power of images, supersizing a Pharoah, the artfulness of Islam, Bible stories, Hindu images, the scars of battle and more. 240pp with beautiful colour plates.

The tradition of Jewish mysticism known as the Kabbalah has experienced a resurgence in recent years, with celebrities including David Beckham and Madonna promoting the fashionable Kabbalah Centre, though the Centre itself has come under criticism for its cult-like character. Scientists of the past have taken the Kabbalah seriously, particularly in the 17th century when Locke and Leibniz studied it and Newton rejected it. The original Kabbalah was formulated in the medieval period in the text known as the Zohar, though Kabbalists claim that its origins lie much earlier. In Renaissance Florence under Lorenzo di Medici, the Kabbalah was embraced by Christians and renamed the Cabbala. This second strand of Christian mysticism, popularised by Pico della Mirandola, influenced Milton and Marlowe in Paradise Lost and Dr Faustus, and ultimately resulted in the infamous practices of the 20th century magician Aleister Crowley. This book aims to describe and untangle the various thread of Kabbalistic thought from the earliest times. The essence of Kabbalah is to understand how the divine will created and maintains the universe, drawing closer to the unknowable source. The author traces the origins of the Kabbalah to the visions of Ezekiel and Isaiah and the Talmud, the Palace literature of the 5th to 7th centuries, the figure of Metatron, the legendary scholar Aaron of Baghdad, the dualism of the Cathars and the influence of Moses of Leon and Castile. When the Zohar was written, the ten forces of the sefirot were given new, higher functions to explain the cosmic drama of the En-Sof, the source of sources. The author's comprehensive approach to the subject culminates in the Occult revival, including the Order of the Golden Dawn and New Age mysticism of the 20th century. 278pp, colour reproductions.

How has the concept of religion been developed in the West? How might that concept frame and change what a religion means? How has Christian scholarship and history developed and how has this led to secularisation? Jack Miles connects Christian scholarship with Jewish developments and to a lesser extent Islamic developments and his closing section on religion and science and how it makes sense of our lives is very insightful and moving. How did our forebears begin to think about religion as a distinct domain, separate from other activities that were once inseparable from it? Starting at the birth of Christianity, a religion inextricably bound to Western thought, Jack Miles reveals how the West's 'common sense' understanding of religion emerged and then changed as insular Europe discovered the rest of the world. The story continues today in the hearts of individual religions and irreligious men and women. He draws on a remarkable wealth of sources across time and place in his short and sweet book. 152pp, paperback.

Renee Descartes (1596-1650) was the father of modern philosophy and one of the greatest thinkers in history. His genius lies at the core of our contemporary intellectual identity. He broke the conventions of his own time and suffered persecution by the Church as a consequence. Most of his writings are philosophical classics, attempting to answer questions surrounding the self, God, free will and knowledge and using the science of thought as opposed to received wisdom based on faith. This edition is the most comprehensive one-volume selection available and includes his great essay, Discourse on Method. 407 page paperback.

The concluding part of the Vedas, the ancient Indian sacred literature, which mark the culmination of a tradition of speculative thought first expressed in the Rig-Veda more than 4,000 years ago. Remarkable for their meditative depth, spirit of doubt and intellectual honesty, the Upanishads are concerned with the knowledge of the Brahman, the Ultimate Reality, and Man's relationship with it. The name Upanishad is derived from the face-to-face mode of imparting this knowledge - in the utmost sanctity and secrecy, to prevent its trivialisation or perversion. Composed in Sanskrit between 900 and 600BC, the Upanishads presented here are by far the oldest and most important of those that exist. 144pp. Paperback.