Tom Scott

"David Bodycombe has one of the most devious minds I've ever encountered" - Victoria Coren Mitchell, author and host of Only Connect"The only quiz book where it’s mildly disappointing when you know an answer because you don’t get the satisfaction of working it out" - James Harkin, creator and host of No Such Thing As A FishFrom hit YouTuber Tom Scott and Only Connect question editor David Bodycombe comes a new type of quiz book – but can you outsmart the questions?Why do Australians with swimming pools always make sure there’s a float available, tied to a nearby tree? Where in London might you find a regularly scheduled passenger train that nobody will ever board? And why was the small Californian town of Yreka once famous for its local bread supplier?Welcome to Lateral – where curiosity meets creativity and thinking differently is the only way forward. Each of the 100 questions enclosed within these pages isn’t what it seems at first, and has been designed to make you think outside the box in order to answer it.Whether you’re in the mood for a solitary challenge, or you’re looking for the next big hit for game night, Lateral is the perfect companion for anyone who loves to think outside the box – or just enjoys a fascinating conversation."Excellent, sideways-thinking fun" - Matt Parker, bestselling author of Humble Pi and Love Triangle"Mind-melting, hilarious good fun - the perfect addition to a games night" - Jack Chesher, bestselling author of London: A Guide for Curious Wanderers

The first book based on Tom Scott's hit podcast, LATERAL Unlock a world of mind-bending brainteasers. This massive collection of lateral thinking puzzles features 100 questions with unexpected, fascinating answers. Figuring them out will require you to challenge your assumptions and find new perspectives--but whether you find the solutions or not (even Tom has been stumped ), the answer notes will let you share the "aha " while learning more about the puzzle's subject. Use hints to solve solo or play as a party game; each question is sure to spur hilarious brainstorming and enthusiastic discussion. What You'll Find Inside: 120 Puzzles: Including 40 of the most captivating questions from the LATERAL podcast, 60 brand-new puzzles, and 20 warm-up brainteasers to get you in the zone. Real-World Scenarios: Unlike typical lateral thinking puzzles based on farfetched set-ups and absurd situations, LATERAL features questions based on actual events. For instance, can you figure out why, in 1998, some moviegoers left theaters showing Meet Joe Black before the movie even started? The answer: They only came to see the trailer for Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace Reportedly, some cinemas promised to play the trailer a second time at the end of the movie to encourage Star Wars fans to stick around. Hints and Surprising Solutions: Each puzzle comes with helpful hints and detailed explanations. Even if you're stumped, you'll be entertained by the solutions, which are accompanied by bonus commentary and trivia. Play Solo or with Friends: Use these puzzles for solo solving sessions or turn them into fun group games for parties, family nights, or road trips. Each puzzle is designed to ignite conversations and inspire laughter. Whether you're a fan of logic puzzles, brain buster games, or you're simply looking for a unique adult puzzle book, LATERAL will challenge your assumptions, stretch your mind, and keep you entertained for hours. Plus, with supplementary details on every puzzle, this book doubles as an intriguing dive into the curious side of the world we live in.

Over the last twenty years research on the Reformation in Germany has shifted both chronologically and thematically toward an interest in the ’long’ or ’delayed’ Reformations, and the structure and operation of the Holy Roman Empire. Whilst this focus has resulted in many fascinating new insights, it has also led to the relative neglect of the early Reformation movement. Put together with the explicit purpose of encouraging scholars to reengage with the early ’storm years’ of the German Reformation, this collection of eleven essays by Tom Scott, explores several issues in the historiography of the early Reformation which have not been adequately addressed. The debate over the nature and function of anticlericalism remains unresolved; the mainsprings of iconoclasm are still imperfectly understood; the ideological role of evangelical doctrines in stimulating and legitimising popular rebellion - above all in the German Peasants’ War - remains contentious, while the once uniform view of Anabaptism has given way to a recognition of the plurality and diversity of religious radicalism. Equally, there are questions which, initially broached, have then been sidelined with undue haste: the failure of Reforming movements in certain German cities, or the perception of what constituted heresy in the eyes of the Reformers themselves, and not least, the part played by women in the spread of evangelical doctrines. Consisting of seven essays previously published in scholarly journals and edited volumes, together with three new chapters and an historical afterword, Scott’s volume serves as a timely reminder of the importance of the early decades of the sixteenth century. By reopening seemingly closed issues and by revisiting neglected topics the volume contributes to a more nuanced understanding of what the Reformation in Germany entailed.

Este libro de autoayuda altamente aclamado es el producto h brido de dos autores. Uno es abogado y el otro no. Esta combinaci n nica y sin rgica result en un recurso excepcional que contiene informaci n esencial que no se encuentra en ning n otro lugar. Dise ado para los estadounidenses comunes, el libro est repleto de datos imparciales sobre el estado actual del sistema legal de EE. UU.: por qu es como es, hacia d nde se dirige y, lo m s importante, c mo vencerlo en su propio juego.Este es el nico recurso legal de autoayuda que: &#9679 revela reglas secretas, presenta un paradigma at pico y proporciona informaci n reveladora &#9679 contiene una visi n amplia de expertos internos y externos al sistema legal de EE. UU., que le ofrece una visi n completa de 360 &#9679 proporciona t cticas especiales que son cruciales para que una persona promedio pelee una batalla y gane un caso en el sistema legal corruptoLos coautores Sara Naheedy y Tom Scott tienen m s de 35 a os de experiencia legal combinada en una variedad de situaciones dentro y fuera de los tribunales, que comparten en un formato pr ctico y f cil de leer. Aprenda sobre el sistema legal salvajemente corrupto antes Con toda probabilidad, la pregunta no es si golpear sino cu ndo golpear a la persona promedio con poco poder pol tico o influencia. Esta gu a es ideal como una ayuda preventiva para aquellas personas que involuntariamente ser an v ctimas del sistema legal o, en el peor de los casos, indispensable como herramienta de reparaci n para alguien que necesita una comprensi n m s clara o ayuda con un atolladero legal actual. Est mejor preparado para luchar contra una multa de tr nsito y otras citaciones vehiculares y para manejar reclamos menores, asuntos de propietarios e inquilinos, cobro de deudas, acusaciones criminales, divorcios, testamentos, sucesiones y mucho m s.★★★★★ " El libro m s importante escrito este siglo para los estadounidenses " - Amazon ReviewerLo importante que es este libro para usted no puede enfatizarse lo suficiente, ya sea que se d cuenta o no. Las personas sin recursos--dinero o poder--son explotadas por el sistema legal de los EE. UU. Las personas que no hablan Ingl s o lo hacen m nimamente son explotadas a n m s. No te conviertas en una de esas personas. Recuerde que estar protegido de antemano es mucho mejor que tratar de reparar el da o despu s. *** NOTA ESPECIAL DEL PUBLICADOR: si realmente desea solucionar el problema principal que afecta a los Estados Unidos o proteger a sus seres queridos, comparta este libro con ellos o ali ntelos a recoger una copia. Los autores han hecho su parte al proporcionarle la informaci n, pero no pueden hacerlo solos. Necesitas hacer tu parte. Necesitas correr la voz. Necesitas tomar acci n. *** Estar s preparado, no si, sino cuando el sistema legal ataque?

Charles Upham was the most highly decorated soldier in the Commonwealth forces of WWII, and could arguably be called the bravest soldier of the war. An unassuming stock worker/ valuer at the beginning of the war, he stormed through Crete and the Western Desert amazing and confounding his comrades with his exploits. He won two Victoria Crosses (the only combat soldier ever to do so) and in the opinion of his superiors deserved many more. Captured, he became an escape artist and ended his war in the famous Colditz POW camp. Shy and reluctant to take credit for his actions, he deflected all praise onto his soldiers and was described as “distraught” that he had been honoured. He then farmed in North Canterbury until his death in 1994, avoiding the limelight wherever possible. There has been one previous biography, “Mark of the Lion” published in 1962, which was a major bestseller and sells to this day.

The problem that affects almost everyone today is being stuck in a career they hate. People are conditioned to work their lives away for someone else and only get paid for the hour they work. Anyone privileged with the knowledge of passive income in real estate rental properties will never have to work again.

The CIA sends an American Homeland Security Agent on a special assignment to Italy to search for a shipment of smuggled surface-to-air missiles, and the ingredients for a dirty bomb.

Drawn Out is a hilarious, heartbreaking, heart-warming account of Tom Scott's tragicomic childhood, his manic student-newspaper days, his turbulent years stumbling through the corridors of power, his fallings out with prime ministers, his collaborations with comic legends John Clarke, A.K. Grant and Murray Ball, his travels to the ends of the earth with his close friend Ed Hillary, and more...

Renewed interest in Swiss history has sought to overcome the old stereotypes of peasant liberty and republican exceptionalism. The heroic age of the Confederation in the fifteenth century is now seen as a turning-point as the Swiss polity achieved a measure of institutional consolidation and stability, and began to mark out clear frontiers. The Swiss and their Neighbours, 1460-1560 questions both assumptions. It argues that the administration of the common lordships by the cantons collectively gave rise to as much discord as co-operation, and remained a pragmatic device not a political principle. It argues that the Swiss War of 1499 was an avoidable catastrophe, from which developed a modus vivendi between the Swiss and the Empire as the Rhine became a buffer-zone, not a boundary. It then investigates the background to Bern's conquest of the Vaud in 1536, under the guise of relieving Geneva from beleaguerment, to suggest that Bern's actions were driven not by predeterminate territorial expansion but by the need to halt French designs upon Geneva and Savoy. The geopolitical balance of the Confederation was fundamentally altered by Bern's acquisition of the Vaud and adjacent lands. Nevertheless, the political fabric of the Confederation, which had been tested to the brink during the Reformation, proved itself flexible enough to absorb such a major reorientation, not least because what held the Confederation together was not so much institutions as a sense of common identity and mutual obligation forged during the Burgundian Wars of the 1470s.

No detailed comparison of the city-state in medieval Europe has been undertaken over the last century. Research has concentrated on the role of city-states and their republican polities as harbingers of the modern state, or else on their artistic and cultural achievements, above all in Italy. Much less attention has been devoted to the cities' territorial expansion: why, how, and with what consequences cities in the urban belt, stretching from central and northern Italy over the Alps to Switzerland, Germany, and the Low Countries, succeeded (or failed) in constructing sovereign polities, with or without dependent territories. Tom Scott goes beyond the customary focus on the leading Italian city-states to include, for the first time, detailed coverage of the Swiss city-states and the imperial cities of Germany. He criticizes current typologies of the city-state in Europe advanced by political and social scientists to suggest that the city-state was not a spent force in early modern Europe, but rather survived by transformation and adaption. He puts forward instead a typology which embraces both time and space by arguing for a regional framework for analysis which does not treat city-states in isolation, but within a wider geopolitical setting.

Over the last twenty years research on the Reformation in Germany has shifted both chronologically and thematically toward an interest in the ’long’ or ’delayed’ Reformations, and the structure and operation of the Holy Roman Empire. Whilst this focus has resulted in many fascinating new insights, it has also led to the relative neglect of the early Reformation movement. Put together with the explicit purpose of encouraging scholars to reengage with the early ’storm years’ of the German Reformation, this collection of eleven essays by Tom Scott, explores several issues in the historiography of the early Reformation which have not been adequately addressed. The debate over the nature and function of anticlericalism remains unresolved; the mainsprings of iconoclasm are still imperfectly understood; the ideological role of evangelical doctrines in stimulating and legitimising popular rebellion - above all in the German Peasants’ War - remains contentious, while the once uniform view of Anabaptism has given way to a recognition of the plurality and diversity of religious radicalism. Equally, there are questions which, initially broached, have then been sidelined with undue haste: the failure of Reforming movements in certain German cities, or the perception of what constituted heresy in the eyes of the Reformers themselves, and not least, the part played by women in the spread of evangelical doctrines. Consisting of seven essays previously published in scholarly journals and edited volumes, together with three new chapters and an historical afterword, Scott’s volume serves as a timely reminder of the importance of the early decades of the sixteenth century. By reopening seemingly closed issues and by revisiting neglected topics the volume contributes to a more nuanced understanding of what the Reformation in Germany entailed.

No detailed comparison of the city-state in medieval Europe has been undertaken over the last century. Research has concentrated on the role of city-states and their republican polities as harbingers of the modern state, or else on their artistic and cultural achievements, above all in Italy. Much less attention has been devoted to the cities' territorial expansion: why, how, and with what consequences cities in the urban belt, stretching from central and northern Italy over the Alps to Switzerland, Germany, and the low countries, succeeded (or failed) in constructing sovereign polities, with or without dependent territories. Tom Scott goes beyond the customary focus on the leading Italian city-states to include, for the first time, detailed coverage of the Swiss city-states and the imperial cities of Germany. He criticizes current typologies of the city-state in Europe advanced by political and social scientists to suggest that the city-state was not a spent force in early modern Europe, but rather survived by transformation and adaption. He puts forward instead a typology which embraces both time and space by arguing for a regional framework for analysis which does not treat city-states in isolation but within a wider geopolitical setting.

This collection of essays covers relations between town and country, regional economic systems, and historical regional studies in late medieval and early modern Germany, in particular how these bear upon social and religious change in the age of the Reformation. Starting from case-studies of South-West Germany, Switzerland and Alsace, the essays broaden out to consider the formation of economic landscapes, the development of urban territories, and the survival of forms of serfdom throughout Germany as a whole. While issues of economic and social structure take pride of place, they are accompanied by analysis of regional mentalities and cultural identities as well. With an Introduction by Tom Brady.

Society and Economy in Germany, 1300-1600 surveys the social and economic development of the German-speaking lands from the age of the Black Death to the eve of the Thirty Years War. It examines the political geography and social structure of the Holy Roman Empire as a constitutional polity in both church and state deeply etched by feudal-aristocratic values. The book questions the validity of a 'late medieval agrarian crisis', and the traditional account of the divergent social and economic development between simple landlordship in the West and a revived seigneurialism east of the Elbe. Tom Scott examines in detail patterns of regional and economic change and town-country relations, and the emergence of city-states in Germany and Switzerland. Broad coverage is given to demands for reform within the Empire, which influenced the sixteenth-century religious reformers, as well as to the many urban and rural revolts. The book concludes with reflections on Germany in the age of confessionalization and social discipline, including the rise of a witch craze. This comprehensive survey incorporates the latest research, emphasising regional analysis as the only way to comprehend Germany's diversity.

The current debate about the best methods of European organization - central or regional - is influenced by an awareness of regional identity, which offers an alternative to the rigidities of organization by nation-state. Yet where does the sense of regionalism come from? What are the distinctive factors that transform a geographical area into a particular 'region'? Tom Scott addresses these questions in this study of one apparently 'natural' region - the Upper Rhine - between 1450 and 1600. This region has been divided between three countries and so historically marginalized, yet Dr Scott is able to trace the existence of a sense of historical regional identity cutting across national frontiers, founded on common economic interests. But that identity was always contingent and precarious, neither 'natural' nor immutable.