Li Po and Tu Fu were devoted friends who are considered to be among China's greatest poets. Li Po, was an itinerant poet. His sheer escapism and joy is balanced by Tu Fu, who expresses the Confucian virtues of humanity and humility. Together they came to be spoken of as one - Li-Tu' - who covers the spectrum of human life, experience and feeling.

Ilya Ilyich Oblomov is a member of Russia's dying aristocracy a man so lazy that he has given up his job in the Civil Service, neglected his books, insulted his friends and found himself in debt. Too apathetic to do anything about his problems, he lives in a grubby, crumbling apartment, waited on by Zakhar, his equally idle servant.

What have the invention of the wheel, Pompeii, the Wall Street Crash, Harry Potter and the internet got in common? Why are all forecasters con-artists? What can Catherine the Great's lovers tell us about probability? Why should you never run for a train or read a newspaper? This title deals with this questions.