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300 entries

This renowned encyclopedia provides comprehensive coverage of the culture, history, and business of sports around the world. The third edition brings the study of sports into the 21st century by integrating Berkshire's past work on women's sports and extreme sports into a complete sporting library. It includes over 300 updated and new articles on sports management and marketing, branding, sponsorship, doping scandals, sporting goods, extreme and fantasy sports, and technology, as well as on environmental and economic issues. Every sport imaginable is covered, and articles focus on the history, evolution, and future of sports around the world, and offer readers a solid understanding of why sports are played the way they are and what they mean to society.

A comprehensive and accessible survey of the whole of Celtic mythology, legend, saga, and folklore. It covers the people, themes, concepts, places, and creatures of Celtic mythology, from both ancient and modern traditions, in 4,000 entries ranging from brief definitions to short essays.

This collection of fascinating, mysterious, and revealing tales captures the immense sweep and diversity of African mythology. The stories touch on virtually every aspect of belief: gods and goddesses, epic heroes and divine tricksters, along with epics of the world's origins, the struggle between the human and the divine, and much more. Entries cover the entire continent, from the mouth of the Nile to the Cape of Good Hope.

Here, for example, is the tale of Abu Zayd (from the Bani Hilal of Tunisia), an epic hero who battles a jinni; and here too is a myth of how the moon and the toad created the first man and woman, from the Soko of Congo. Each story is told, and information provided about the respective belief system, the main characters, and related stories or variants.

This magnificent collection not only provides hundreds of fascinating myths, but also recaptures their cultural contexts, in which story and storyteller, tradition and performance, all merge.

Meet the supreme Gautama Buddha, the elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesa, and Chang O, the Lunar Toad who is Chinese goddess of the Moon. Journey to the sacred Cambodian ruins of Angkor and golden Mount Meru, home of the Hindu gods. Discover myths like the Stone and the Banana and the Churning of the Ocean of Milk, and explore archetypal themes such as the hero quest, sacrifice, and descent to the underworld.

This dictionary features stories of revered deities, sacred places, key events and epics, with many recurring themes and traditions. Entries address the key mythologies of the regions we now call India, China, Tibet, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and Japan, and broad overviews of specific cultures and their mythic traditions round out the coverage.

Covering thousands of years of intricate creation tales, A Dictionary of Creation Myths is the first and most comprehensive work devoted to creation myths from cultures throughout the world. With an easy-to-use A-Z format, this around-the-world tour provides quick access to information on the beliefs (both exotic and ordinary) of ancient civilizations from Sumeria and Babylonia to Egypt, Greece, and ancient Rome, from India and China to Japan and Indonesia, as well as the rich mythological history of Native Americans, the indigenous peoples of Australia, and many other cultures. We read of the creation myth of the Diegueno tribe of southern California in which the creator, Tu-chai-pai, made the earth female and the sky male and then formed mud into people; the Norse creation story of the gods Odin, Vili, and Ve, who made man and woman out of two fallen trees–Odin breathed life into the new pair, Vili's gift to them was intelligence, and Ve gave the gifts of sight and hearing; and the myth of Japanese creation in which Izanagei, and his sister Izanami, watch the first land form from ocean water dripping from Izanagi's spear. Alongside these ancient beliefs are the more modern, such as Darwin's theory of evolution and the big bang theory.

Each entry identifies the culture associated with the myth, and each myth is retold in clear, eloquent prose, with extensive cross-referencing to guide readers to other entries. Throughout, the authors share insightful analyses of the surprisingly intricate relationship of certain myths across cultures, regions, and time. A Dictionary of Creation Myths is essential for anyone who has ever wondered how the world was created, where we came from, or why we are here at all.

This is a fascinating dictionary covering the wide range of folk beliefs that have survived into our own age. Each superstition is illustrated by quotations tracing its development through the centuries. Entries tell of the traditional significance of animals, colours, days, and the elements; rituals to be observed at certain seasons or when faced with natural and unnatural occurrences; cures, taboos, and the uses to which people have put everyday objects in pursuit of good fortune or knowledge of the future.

This dictionary comprises authoritative, highly accessible entries relating to society and culture—from mythology, media, sexuality, and cultural traditions, to food and drink, art, and sports, among many other subjects. These entries are supplementary to other titles covering society and culture in the Quick Reference collection, and are written by specialist authors. The dictionary is an ongoing project, and more entries will be added over time.

Over 2,300 entries

Seasoned generously with literary wit, The Diner’s Dictionary is a veritable feast, tracing the origins and history of over 2,300 gastronomical words and phrases. John Ayto spreads across our table a veritable cornucopia, from common fruits and vegetables (apples, cherries, apricots, and broccoli, to name a few), to exotic foreign dishes such as gado-gado, nasi goreng, satay, and dashi, and even junk foods such as doughnuts, brownies, and candy. Thoroughly revised, the second edition boasts 1,000 new entries, including the word origins of affogato, bento, cava, goji berry, jalfrezi, mocktail, rugelach, vache qui rit, and zigni. In addition, Ayto has expanded the coverage of vocabulary from foreign cuisines, such as Thai, Korean, Vietnamese, and parts of South America.

Throughout, Ayto provides fascinating capsule histories of the various foods. He tells us, for instance, that cantaloupe was introduced into Europe from Armenia and was apparently first cultivated at Cantaluppi, a former summer estate of the popes near Rome. We learn the ingredients of haggis and that the name of the Scandinavian drink "aquavit" ultimately derives from Latin aqua vitae or "water of life." From jambalaya and callaloo to arrowroot and shiitake, The Diner's Dictionary is a food-lover's dream, filled with information and fascinating lore.

Winner of the 2005 Annual Book Award at the American Association of Sexuality Educators Counselors and Therapists.

This comprehensive scholarly reference work provides authoritative coverage of the full range of topics in the study of human sexual behavior throughout the world. The Encyclopedia brings together an international team of 200 leading sexologists to provide complete view of the field. Entries represent the highest quality of scholarship, but are written in a manner accessible to student and non-specialist readers. They include full bibliographies to aid further research. A range of topics is explored including gender-conflicted persons, unconventional sexual patterns, contraception, AIDS, sexual dysfunctions, and therapies, and the work features 62 in-depth country overviews.

Includes over 1,250 entries

An absorbing and entertaining guide to English folklore and an authoritative reference source on such legendary characters as Cinderella, Jack the Giant Killer, and Robin Hood. The dictionary gives entertaining and informative explanations of a wide range of subjects in folklore and includes articles on oral and performance genres such as cheese rolling, morris dancing, and rushbearing, superstitions such as crossing fingers and wishbones, beliefs like fairy rings and frog showers, and calendar customs from April Fool's Day to St. Valentine's Day.

Over 2,000 entries

This accessible dictionary is packed full of authoritative information on foods and drinks, types of diet, sports and activities, exercises, physiology, training methods, and calorie requirements. The new edition includes over 200 new entries covering advances in the science of health and diet such as genetic disposition and nutrigenomics, high-profile diets such as the five–two and palaeo, fitness tracking and technologies, and developments in food labelling and the psychology of diet and fitness.

With over seventy diagrams, many providing guidance on how to carry out certain exercises, and tables covering recommended dietary intakes, the composition of selected foods, and average energy expenditure for various activities and sports, this is an ideal quick reference for students of sports and nutrition, and for anyone interested in diet and fitness.

Over 8,000 entries

This dictionary offers jargon-free entries on food, nutrition, diet, and health that clearly explain even the most technical of nutritional terms.

From abalone to zymogens, its coverage spans types of food (including both everyday and little-known foods), nutritional information, vitamins, minerals, and key scientific areas including metabolism and genomics. This new edition includes expanded coverage of food safety and relevant organizations, and of the nutritional information included for many foodstuffs. It also incorporates over 40 new line drawings, including numerous illustrations of the chemical structures of nutrients.

It is an essential resource for students of nutrition, dietetics, food science, and health and human sciences; professionals within the food industry, including nutritionists, cooks, and food manufacturers; and anyone interested in food who wants to discover more about what they eat.

‘the finest reference book of its kind: a brilliant and meticulous interweaving of anecdote and quotation … it provides the ideal way to plan any kind of literary pilgrimage in Britain or Ireland … a book of quite extraordinary evocative power … permanent magic’ Richard Holmes, The Times

First published in 1977, this classic reference work is a gazetteer of almost 2,000 places - villages, towns, cities, and landscapes - in Britain and Ireland detailing their connections with the lives of famous writers. It invites the reader to explore the places where their favourite writers - from Jane Austen to Philip Pullman - were born, lived, were educated, worked, and drew inspiration. The entries elegantly interweave information with anecdote and quotation, to build a vivid picture of the day-to-day lives of the writers. The Guide is the ideal resource and companion for any literary pilgrimage in Britain or Ireland, and for the armchair literary traveller.

New to this edition are special feature entries on writers particularly associated with places, including the Brontes, Walter Scott, and James Joyce, contributed by high-profile authors including Margaret Drabble and John Sutherland. The Guide also provides an index of author names, with mini biographies, enabling the reader to track down all the places associated with their favourite writers.

"A handy guide to more than a hundred types of food for which health claims have been made." Catholic Library World

The health food industry is a billion-dollar business in the United States today and is thriving worldwide. However, despite the widespread consumption of these foods, little information is available to validate their actual therapeutic and nutritional value.

The Oxford Book of Health Foods is a comprehensive, up-to-date, and scientifically based guide to a variety of foods associated with good health. From fruits, herbs, and grains to vitamins, minerals, and dietary supplements, this resource offers not only the claims associated with each food, but also the scientific truths behind these claims. Written in elegant and accessible prose, the book begins with an account of modern concepts of human nutrition, followed by a series of over one hundred entries on individual health foods and dietary supplements. Each entry provides full information on the food's origins, a thorough description, the claims and myths associated with it, and the scientific evidence to support - or refute - these claims. The text is further supplemented by a glossary explaining the more technical terms. A straightforward and authoritative reference, The Oxford Book of Health Foods is a must-have for all who are interested in general health and nutrition.

Over 1,100 entries

1st Place Winner of the 2012 Gourmand Award for Best in the World in the Beer category.

The first major reference work to investigate the history and vast scope of beer, The Oxford Companion to Beer features more than 1,100 A-Z entries written by 166 of the world's most prominent beer experts. Attractively illustrated with over 140 images, the work covers everything from the agricultural makeup of various beers to the technical elements of the brewing process, local effects of brewing on regions around the world, and the social and political implications of sharing a beer. Entries not only define terms such as "dry hopping" and "cask conditioning" but give fascinating details about how these and other techniques affect a beer's taste, texture, and popularity. Cultural entries shed light on such topics as pub games, food pairings and the development of beer styles. Readers will enjoy vivid accounts of how drinking traditions have changed throughout history, and how these traditions vary in different parts of the world, from Japan to Mexico, New Zealand, and Brazil, among many other countries. The pioneers of beer-making are the subjects of biographical entries, and the legacies these pioneers have left behind, in the form of the world's most popular beers and breweries, are recurrent themes throughout the work.

Packed with information, this comprehensive resource also features a foreword by Chef Tom Colicchio, and includes thorough appendices covering beer festivals, beer publications, and more. Written by an outstanding team of authors that includes leading brewers, academics, master cellarmen, craft brewers, and homebrewers, this book is as broad, deep, and companionable as the world of beer itself, and is the perfect shelf-mate to Oxford's renowned Companion to Wine.

Over 850 entries

The Oxford Companion to Cheese is the first truly comprehensive reference work dedicated to the exploration of how four basic ingredients—milk, microorganisms, salt, and enzymes—are transformed into the more than fourteen hundred named cheese varieties enjoyed throughout the world. From cottage cheese to Camembert, from Gorgonzola to Gruyère, the Companion examines cheese on the farm, under the microscope, in the shop, and on the plate.

More than just a pizza topping or cracker spread, cheese has been the founding capital of a few European banking systems, a religious sacrament, and an inspiration for writers and artists as far back as Homer. The Companion reveals these hidden depths in more than 850 wide-ranging entries. Here you will read about rightly famous cheeses, but also some that are not well known outside of their area of production, such as the traditional Turkish and Iranian cheeses ripened in sheep's or goat's skin. You will learn about animal species whose milk is commonly used (cow, goat, and sheep) and not so commonly used (yak, camel, and reindeer) in cheesemaking, as well as a few highly important breeds within each species (the Nubian goat or Lacaune sheep). You will explore regional cheesemaking traditions that date back millennia, and both ancient and modern cheesemaking technology and equipment. And you will delve into the vibrant interior world of cheese: the blooms, veins, sticky surfaces, gooey interiors, crystals, and yes, for some, the strong olfactory notes, are all due to microbial action and growth.

To discuss cheese in its countless forms and contexts, the Companion enlisted 325 authors, including leading cheesemakers, mongers, dairy scientists, microbiologists, anthropologists, historians, journalists, archaeologists, and more, from backgrounds as diverse as cheese itself. This is the definitive guide to one of humankind's greatest discoveries.

‘the best food reference work ever to appear in the English language … read it and be dazzled’ – Bee Wilson, New Statesman

Over 3,000 entries

First published in 1999, this ground-breaking Companion was an immediate success and won prizes and accolades around the world. Its combination of serious food history, culinary expertise, and entertaining serendipity, was and remains unique.

Interest in food, cooking, and the culture surrounding food has grown enormously in the intervening period, as has the study of food and food history. University departments, international societies, and academic journals have sprung up dedicated to exploring the meaning of food in the daily lives of people around the world, alongside an ever-increasing number of articles, books, programmes, and websites in the general media devoted to the discussion of food.

The great quality of this Companion is the way it includes both an exhaustive catalogue of foods – whether they be biscuits named for battles, divas or revolutionaries, body parts from nose to tail, toe to cerebellum, or breads from the steppes of Asia or the well-built ovens of the Mediterranean – and a richly allusive commentary on the culture of food, whether expressed in literature and cookery books, or as dishes peculiar to a country or community.

In the third edition the editor has taken the opportunity to update the text and alert readers to new perspectives in food studies. There is new coverage of approaches to food such as those offered by anthropology and sociology as well as the culture surrounding food exemplified by etiquette, gastronomy, and photography, and our shifting concerns surrounding food, including convenience food, obesity, and local food. In its new edition the Companion maintains its place as the foremost food reference resource for study and home use.

Over 1200 entries

Anthropologists and historians have confirmed the central role alcohol has played in nearly every society since the dawn of human civilization, but it is only recently that it has been the subject of serious scholarly inquiry. The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails is the first major reference work to cover the subject and explores the historical, technical, and cultural aspects of this branch of the alcohol family. Compiled by world authority David Wondrich, with the assistance of a team of experts from around the globe, it stands beside the hugely successful Oxford Companions to Wine and Beer, providing an authoritative, enlightening and entertaining overview of this third branch of the alcohol family.

With entries ranging from Manhattan and mixology to sloe gin and stills, the Companion combines coverage of the range of spirit-based drinks around the world with clear explanations of production processes, and the history and culture of their consumption.

Over 595 entries

This is the most ambitious and eclectic reference work of its kind, a sweeping collection of nearly 600 entries on all things sweet, written by 265 expert contributors. Its coverage begins with the human proclivity for sweetness, an attribute shared by nearly all mammals. From the simple image of a baby smiling when tasting sweet foods, the Companion continues across many thousands of years and around the globe many times, affording glimpses deep into the brain as well as stratospheric flights into the world of sugar-crafted fantasies. More than just a compendium of pastries, candies, ices, sweet preserves, and all manner of confections, this work explores the notion of the sweet as one that has brought richness to our language, our art, and of course, our gastronomy.

Readers expecting to find entries on the history of candy, the evolution of the dessert course, and the production of chocolate will not be disappointed. But the Companion also includes less-well-known material that may offer a sense of discovery and delight. Readers will learn about “sugar of lead” (lead acetate), prescribed for stomach troubles in the nineteenth century, and about castoreum (beaver extract), beloved by the modern food industry for the sweet taste it imparts. An entry on bird’s milk, an Eastern Europe candy, tells how its name reflects its physical scarcity during Soviet era shortages (obtaining a box of these candies was a coup nearly as unlikely as milking a bird). The Companion celebrates the allure of sweetness, but it also recognizes the darker aspects of our enthrallment with sugar, beginning with the inseparable links between sugar and slavery. The damage continues in the child labor used in harvesting cacao beans; in the sugar-heavy diet that undermines health in many communities; and in the stereotypes still associated with certain forms of sweets.

The Companion features a preface by the legendary anthropologist Sidney Mintz, whose Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History was the first serious study of sugarcane in relation to economics and colonial power. It also has an extensive index and four appendices: on sweets in cinema, museums dedicated to sweets, the world's best pastry shops, and on songs that are in some way constructed around sweetness.

‘a word of warning - there's no quick escape from this marvellous book’, Hugh Johnson

This Companion is devoted to gardens of every kind and the people and ideas involved in their making. It combines a survey of the world's gardens with articles on a range of topics, such as garden visiting, horticulture, scientific issues, and the social history of gardens, as well as biographies of garden designers, nurserymen, and others. Over half the entries are devoted to individual gardens, ranging from palace gardens such as Versailles to private gardens of outstanding design or plant interest, botanic gardens and arboreta, and late 20th-century land art. The geographical coverage is worldwide, with contributions from leading authorities and top garden writers from more than 25 countries.