MICHAEL HAAG: THE TEMPLARS ~ An order of warrior monks founded after the First Crusade to protect pilgrims to Jerusalem, the Templars developed into one of the wealthiest and most powerful bodies in the medieval world. Yet two centuries later, the knights were suddenly arrested and accused of blasphemy, heresy and orgies, their order was abolished and their leaders burnt at the stake. Their dramatic end shocked their contemporaries and has gripped peoples' imaginations ever since. This is the first history of the Templars to be published since the sensational discovery of the Chinon parchment in the Vatican's Secret Archives which casts new light on the charges of heresy made against the order. It investigates the Templars' history anew, and the legends and mysteries with which they are surrounded - including beliefs that their hand can be seen in everything from the Cathar heresy to Masonic conspiracies. It also illuminates the background to what Dan Brown has said will be a major theme of his next novel, due to be published in 2008. The history and myths of the Templars, from the mysteries of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem to the rise of the Freemasons in the tumultuous eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, are investigated in this book. It also features a guide to Templar castles and sites in Europe and the Middle East, and it surveys the Templar phenomenon in popular culture from Sir Walter Scott to Indiana Jones and the Xbox360 game Assassin's Creed.

CHRISTOPHER PRENDERGAST: THE FOURTEENTH OF JULY AND THE STORMING OF THE BASTILLE ~ The storming of the decrepit Bastille fortress-prison, which symbolically and in real terms, marked the beginning of the French Revolution, took place on 14 July 1789. Bastille Day is the iconic French national holiday, yet it wasn't celebrated until nearly a century later.Using contemporary accounts, often by eyewitnesses, Prendergast describes the Bastille prison, its reputation as France's most feared place of incarceration; its storming by the armed populace, and the momentous aftermath...And then richly and fascinatingly he shows how the celebration of this extraordinary day, truly one of those which have shaped the world, became part of the fabric of national life.

MICHAEL BLASTLAND AND ANDREW DILNOT: THE TIGER THAT ISN'T ~ This book gives a gentle introduction into the statistical background to many newsworthy topics such as speed cameras, league tables and drug testing. There are no equations and the book can be read in a couple of hours. To those who are already familiar with concepts such as regression to the mean, skewed distributions and relative risks then the content may be too lightweight. I enjoyed the book but those looking for something more substantial should try "The Lady Tasting Tea . . ." by David Salsburg. You can find out more about the topics in the book by listening to the archive of BBC Radio 4's More or Less programme (the author is the creator of that radio series). The book is certainly aimed at the UK reader.

DEBORAH ROSS: HOW NOT TO BE A DOMESTIC GODDESS ~ Domestic Goddesses! Your time is up. The slackers are back.Here are Mrs Ross's handy tips on every aspect of household management: skincare, fashion and beauty, children, dealing with blackened ovenware, leftovers and freezing. And here is useful advice on how to get a 'lifestyle' if you suspect you don't have a proper one.Some people have fabulous bodies and accomplished kids and amazing parenting skills and ideal jobs and harmonious marital relationships. This book is not for them. It is for the rest of us: we, the 99 per cent of the population who are not so blessed and cannot decide whether to laugh or cry. Answer: laugh.Some tips include: 'soak, soak, soak, then throw away when nobody is looking'; 'decant carefully into Tupperware, place in fridge, leave for a week then throw out when nobody is looking'; and, 'leave for a decade, then throw out when nobody is looking'.

MEREDITH HOOPER: THE FEROCIOUS SUMMER ~ Antarctica's capacity to create, store and disperse ice is critical to the way our planet functions. But along the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula there has been a 40 per cent decrease in the mean annual sea ice extent since 1979. The daily life of a few thousand Adelie penguins became critical evidence of real, incontrovertible climate change.Meredith Hooper worked with key scientists in bases, on ice breakers and in research vessels. Her story focuses on the work and ideas of individual scientists and on the local animals. In it she memorably brings an outsider's non-specialist awareness to the crucial understanding of what is happening, now, to the planet we share.

MARK McCRUM: GOING DUTCH IN BEIJING ~ Why shouldn't you offer to pay for your share of the meal in China? Or say 'chin-chin' as you raise your glass in Japan? Or use the 'thumbs-up' sign to mean 'that's OK' in Sardinia?In China your host will lose face if he does not pick up the tab In Tokyo, 'Chin-Chin' is slang for 'small penis'. In Sardinia a raised thumb means 'sit on this!' - try that in a traffic jam in Cagliari.The world is not, in fact, flat; and as travel becomes ever easier, understanding the way things are done in other societies becomes ever more crucial. "Going Dutch in Beijing" aims to help its readers avoid minor international incidents by offering a light-hearted but informative look at everything from first greetings to last rites, covering key minefields of misunderstanding along the way. If you want to know what not to say, what not to wear and what not to do when you are invited round for dinner, all around the world, it's as well to get up to speed before you find yourself in the local police station.

ALAN MACFARLANE: JAPAN THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS ~ An inspiring and engaging account of perhaps the only `modern' society that remains an enchanted world. Macfarlane not only provides persuasive answers to enigmas about Japan that have baffled generations of foreign commentators, but also demonstrates the necessity of changing the very questions that have been asked about Japan. His notion of an integrated, `enchanted' world is a striking one that seems to constitute a significant shift from other paradigms of `modern' nations, avoiding deeply ingrained binaries between East/West, natural/supernatural, among others. In his _We Have Never been Modern_, Bruno Latour critiques the way in which we `moderns' have so eagerly polarized and separated different elements of our world: technology, nature, kinship, people, objects . . . Macfarlane's study of Japan goes beyond Latour, offering a convincing vision of a different kind of modernity. Reading the book, one cannot escape the impression that it has been as lovingly and intricately crafted as Japanese lacquer-ware, painstakingly worked and re-worked to the highest degree of artistry. Filled with keen and often surprising observations, the book is a true pleasure to read. Even after one has emerged from _Japan_, it continues to invite re-reflection and repeated journeys into the looking glass.

PAUL RAMBALI: BAREFOOT RUNNER ~ Abebe Bikila was the first black African to win an Olympic gold medal. He won the marathon running barefoot in Rome in 1960 and won again wearing shoes in Tokyo in 1964, becoming the first person to win the most gruelling of all human contests twice.Born into bitter poverty in rural Ethiopia in 1932, at sixteen Bikila joined the Imperial Guard of the Emperor Haile Selassie. It was there that he came to the notice of the Swedish athletics coach Onni Niskanen, whom Selassie had engaged to try and raise his country's profile through sport. Bikila became the focus of these ambitions - and an unwitting figurehead for black African nationalism.Following the 1960 Olympics, Bikila's life took a dramatic turn when he was implicated in a failed coup against Selassie. Bikila was initially sentenced to death but was eventually pardoned following Niskanen's intervention. Despite an attack of appendicitis, Bikila recovered in time to win the Olympic marathon once again. Bikila died in 1973.