It reveals that Michel de Nostredame, a 16th-century French doctor, was more Renaissance man that arcane magician-and that his prognostications can be compellingly astute.

In this Edition all of the cryptic short verses of Nostradamus` s Centuries appear in the original French, with new translations. Uncanny prophecies such as those of the French Revolution and the rise of Hitler are examined in detail. Here too are interpretations of the many verses believed to augur future events.

Editor Ned Halley works in fields of journalism as diverse as medicine, wine and business. He takes a Plain English approach to `a subject far too often wreathed in language that seems calculated to obscure, rather than to demonstrate, the truth`.