Two thousand years of legend and lore about the menace and majesty of dragons, which have breathed fire into our imaginations from ancient Rome to Game of Thrones
A Penguin Classic
The most popular mythological creature in the human imagination, dragons have provoked fear and fascination for their lethal venom and crushing coils, and as avatars of the Antichrist, servants of Satan, couriers of the damned to Hell, portents of disaster, and harbingers of the last days. Here are accounts spanning millennia and continents of these monsters that mark the boundary between the known and the unknown, including: their origins in the deserts of Africa; their struggles with their mortal enemies, elephants, in the jungles of South Asia; their fear of lightning; the world's first dragon slayer, in an ancient collection of Sanskrit hymns; the colossal sea monster Leviathan; the seven-headed "great red dragon" of the Book of Revelation; the Loch Ness monster; the dragon in Beowulf, who inspired Smaug in Tolkien's The Hobbit; the dragons in the prophecies of the wizard Merlin; a dragon saved from a centipede in Japan who gifts his human savior a magical bag of rice; the supernatural feathered serpent of ancient Mesoamerica; and a flatulent dragon the size of the Trojan Horse. From the dark halls of the Lonely Mountain to the blue skies of Westeros, we expect dragons to be gigantic, reptilian predators with massive, bat-like wings, who wreak havoc defending the gold they have hoarded in the deep places of the earth. But dragons are full of surprises, as is this book.
Brought to you by Penguin.
The Book of the Year is back, with yet another pro-rogues gallery of the most amazing, audacious and absolutely absurd news of 2019.
Once again the fact-finding foursome behind the podcast No Such Thing As A Fish have been newspaper-trawling and website-crawling to create your ultimate guide to the past twelve months.
Learn which of Donald Trump's claims are so bizarre they can't even be fact-checked. Find out why every single French MP received camembert in the post. And get to the bottom of all the improvements made to the Ford company's robotic bum. All this and much, much more, including the news that:
· Two tourists planning to visit the Norwegian village of Å, ended up 1,310km away, in Aa.
· Five guys were arrested at a branch of Five Guys.
· Hollyoaks was partly written by the British government.
· The US town of Hell froze over.
From Assange to Zuckerberg, taking in Cardi B, CCTV, D-Day, and eSports, The Book of the Year is the only book you need to make senseof the year, no matter how senseless it might have seemed.
Brought to you by Penguin.
How often do you think about your bedtime routine?
Almost half of people in Britain say they're kept awake at night due to worry and stress - so making time to switch off in the hour before bed is more important than ever.
Penguin Sleep Tales are ten specially designed descriptive audio tales to help you wind down and relax before you drift off.
Developed with The Sleep Council, each track will transport you to a different location, encouraging you to visualise calming settings and landscapes to ease away the day's anxiety or worry and get you in the right frame of mind for sleep.
Lie in a hammock on a tropical beach, relax by a campfire or shelter from a distant thunderstorm. These mindful tales are read slowly and soothingly, accompanied by relaxing sounds of nature.
One has been specially designed to appeal to those with Auto Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR), a physical reaction to sound which can be particularly relaxing.
Create a focused, peaceful environment so you can get a deep, natural night's sleep and wake up refreshed in the morning. The perfect de-stressor after a long day.
Penguin Sleep Tales are designed exclusively for audiobook apps. Clearly labelled for easy navigation, each track is 15 minutes long, so you can put your sleep timer on for any duration with no need to return to the screen.
So dim the lights, and get ready for a good night's rest.
Includes ten relaxing tales: 'Wakarango Mai', 'Hammock on a Distant Shore', 'The Purring Temple', 'Pegasus in the Night Sky', 'Dancing Flames', 'A Bothy in a Storm', 'The Warm Smell of Hay', 'Travel on the Overnight Train', 'The Magic Bookshop' (ASMR story) and 'Yara's Song' (inspired by the Brazilian folk tale 'The Story of Yara').
The Sleep Council offered information and advice around the development of this product
Search for 'Ladybird Sleepy Tales' and 'Puffin Sleepy Tales' to see our collections for children
