time 8,615 Posted December 3, 2010 With only 22 shopping days till Christmas, I thought it might be an opportune time to share with other DL'ers ideas for Christmas gifts... I don't mean I-pods or I-pads (or even eye pads), but those marvellous items like we used to get in the the old Barclaycard magazines, things we didn't know we ever needed. I'll start the ball rolling with the Darts Hand Xtensor, a device designed to strengthen your hands in order to become a better darts player (though I'd imagine that even if you don't play darts, there are a multitude of other reasons you may need to strengthen your hands), and only £39.99! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Godot 149 Posted December 3, 2010 Something tasteful for your mother-in-law. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Toast 16,142 Posted November 4, 2021 The Devil's Atlas The Devil's Atlas : An Explorer's Guide to Heavens, Hells and Afterworlds Edward Brooke-Hitching, author of the international bestseller The Phantom Atlas delivers an atlas unlike any other. The Devil's Atlas is an illustrated guide to the heavens, hells and lands of the dead as imagined throughout history by cultures and religions around the world. Packed with colourful maps, paintings and captivating stories, the reader is taken on a compelling tour of the geography, history and supernatural populations of the afterworlds of cultures around the globe. Whether it's the thirteen heavens of the Aztecs, the Chinese Taoist netherworld of 'hungry ghosts', or the 'Hell of the Flaming Rooster' of Japanese Buddhist mythology (in which sinners are tormented by an enormous fire-breathing cockerel), The Devil's Atlas gathers together a wonderful variety of beliefs and representations of life after death. These afterworlds are illustrated with an unprecedented collection of images, ranging from the marvellous 'infernal cartography' of the European Renaissance artists attempting to map the structured Hell described by Dante and the decorative Islamic depictions of Paradise to the various efforts to map the Garden of Eden and the spiritual vision paintings of nineteenth-century mediums. The Devil's Atlas accompanies beautiful images with a highly readable trove of surprising facts and narratives, from the more inventive torture methods awaiting sinners, to colourful eccentric catalogues of demons, angels and assorted death deities. A traveller's guide to worlds unseen, The Devil's Atlas is a fascinating study of the boundless capacity of human invention, a visual chronicle of man's hopes, fears and fantasies of what lies beyond. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites