Four books that explain why the world is burning

Our ancestors managed the land with controlled fires that reduced the accumulation of dry wood and vegetation. Not doing so means we now have giant fuel stores. Sometimes, the old ways are the best

Osama Esber

Shubbak is Back

[caption id="attachment_55242614" align="alignnone" width="620"] Dana Al-MojilStill from the film "Wonderland: A True Story"Courtesy of The Mosaic Rooms[/caption]Following the highly successful and…

Celia Topping

Keep Bridging the Gap

[caption id="attachment_55242444" align="alignnone" width="620"] A photo of the Bosporus river and Istanbul's Asian (Bottom) and European (Top) shores. (PATRICK BAZ/AFP/Getty Images)[/caption] Three…

Hugh Pope

Visions of Taksim

[caption id="attachment_55242342" align="alignnone" width="620"] Thousands of people gather in Taksim Square after the government said it would clear the protest within 24 hours, on June 13, 2013, in…

Vedica Kant

The Writer's Block

[caption id="attachment_55242321" align="alignnone" width="620"] Israeli settlements and the separation wall in the West Bank village of Nilin. (ABBAS MOMANI/AFP/Getty Images)[/caption] When…

Nicholas Blincoe

Memories of Spring

[caption id="attachment_55242290" align="alignnone" width="620"] A demonstration outside the Egyptian High Court in Cairo on April 17, 2013. GIANLUIGI GUERCIA/AFP/Getty Images[/caption][inset_left…

James Denselow

Pingu and Çapulcu

[caption id="attachment_55242213" align="alignnone" width="620"] FREDERICK FLORIN/AFP/Getty Images[/caption] The Antarctic penguins may not be aware, but they have become a symbol of resistance in…

Barçin Yinanç

The Nutcracker and the Brotherhood King

[caption id="attachment_55242162" align="alignnone" width="620"] The Cairo Opera Ballet Company performing Verdi's Aida in May 2013. (MOURAD HESHMAT)[/caption] Last month, during a session of the…

Ati Metwaly

The Beast of Bağözü

[caption id="attachment_55241964" align="alignnone" width="620"] Phea, mother of God, riding her lions to fight with the Giants in a reconstruction of the Zeus Altar from Pergamum, now in modern day…

Nicholas Birch

The Bookseller of Istanbul

[caption id="attachment_55241969" align="alignnone" width="620"] A woman checks books in a bookstore in Istanbul. BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images[/caption]When Orhan Pamuk won the Nobel Prize in…

Vedica Kant

Evolutionary, not Revolutionary

[caption id="attachment_55241806" align="alignnone" width="620"] Saudi students sit for their final high school exams at the end of the school year in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, June 19, 2010…

Grace Perriman