The Classics Magpie (eBook)

From chariot-racing hooligans to debauched dinner parties - a miscellany that shakes the dust off the ancient world

Jane Hood

Who first thought of atoms? How much can you learn about archaeology from an oil lamp? Who came up with the theory of the ‘wandering womb’?

Oxford Classicist Jane Hood delves into the history, culture, literature, mythology and philosophy of ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt, using her expert eye to unearth unexpected gems, glittering fragments and quotable nuggets from a lost world.

From ancient cosmetics to the earliest known computer, from the deciphering of ancient languages to the amazing things the Romans did with concrete, this is the essential miscellany for all curious minds, whether you learned the Classics at school or not.

Jane Hood has been a lecturer in Classical Languages and Literature, and in Philosophy, ending up as a Fellow in Ancient Philosophy at the University of Oxford specialising in Aristotle and Ancient Medicine. She has held Research Fellowships in Philosophy in Paris and in Ancient Medicine with the Wellcome Institute in London. She is also a qualified teacher who has taught people from the age of 4 to 72. She likes nothing more than a few peaceful moments by the sea on the Gower in South Wales.

Sciku (eBook)

The Wonder of Science – in Haiku!

Students of The Camden School for Girls

Simon Flynn

An attractive force
Between all objects with mass
Just like you and me

Science is a thing of magic and wonder. It reveals complex patterns – and often thrilling chaos – at the heart of nature; the strange alchemy of reactions between invisible atoms; the bewildering origins of our universe; and the connections in our brains that create love, fear, joy – and poetry. Sciku brings together more than 400 revealing, poignant, witty haiku on scientific subjects. Written by students at The Camden School for Girls, these poems reflect on topics as varied as Newton’s laws, climate change, time travel and evolution. They are also elegiac, enigmatic and often extremely beautiful.

Dissolving confusion
To some, solutions
Are answers; to chemists they
Are still all mixed up.

Camden School for Girls is a comprehensive secondary school for girls, with a co-educational sixth form, in the London Borough of Camden in North London. The girls who contributed to this book range from the ages of 11 to 18.

Simon Flynn is the author of the Science Magpie ('a cornucopia of curious facts, anecdotes and quotations … sure to entertain and surprise' New Scientist) and is a teacher of science at Camden School for Girls.

Sciku (Paperback)

The Wonder of Science – in Haiku!

Students of The Camden School for Girls

Simon Flynn Simon Flynn

An attractive force
Between all objects with mass
Just like you and me

Science is a thing of magic and wonder. It reveals complex patterns – and often thrilling chaos – at the heart of nature; the strange alchemy of reactions between invisible atoms; the bewildering origins of our universe; and the connections in our brains that create love, fear, joy – and poetry. Sciku brings together more than 400 revealing, poignant, witty haiku on scientific subjects. Written by students at The Camden School for Girls, these poems reflect on topics as varied as Newton’s laws, climate change, time travel and evolution. They are also elegiac, enigmatic and often extremely beautiful.

Dissolving confusion
To some, solutions
Are answers; to chemists they
Are still all mixed up.

Camden School for Girls is a comprehensive secondary school for girls, with a co-educational sixth form, in the London Borough of Camden in North London. The girls who contributed to this book range from the ages of 11 to 18.

Simon Flynn is the author of the Science Magpie ('a cornucopia of curious facts, anecdotes and quotations … sure to entertain and surprise' New Scientist) and is a teacher of science at Camden School for Girls.

Do You Still Think You're Clever? (eBook)

Even More Oxford and Cambridge Questions!

John Farndon

From the ever-curious mind that brought you the bestselling Do You Think You’re Clever? comes a brand-new trip to the far reaches of the intellectual universe, courtesy of even more notoriously provocative Oxbridge interview questions.

How would you poison someone without the police finding out? (Medicine, Cambridge)
What makes a strong woman? (Theology, Oxford)
Instead of politicians, why don’t we let the managers of IKEA run the country? (Social and Political Sciences, Cambridge)
How do you organise a successful revolution? (History, Oxford)

Whether you’re interested in going to Oxbridge or just want to give your brain a workout, join polymath John Farndon on another exhilarating journey through the twists and turns of thought, and explore just what it means to be genuinely clever – rather than just smart.

John Farndon is the author of numerous bestsellers on science, ideas and the natural environment, as well as being a playwright, composer and poet.

He has been shortlisted a record five times for the Royal Society Junior Science Book Prize. Do You Think You’re Clever? was shortlisted for the Society of Authors Education Award. Canada’s Globe and Mail named his Atlas of Oceans as a 2011 top ten science book. He is currently writing The Omnipaedia for Square Peg.

A Charm of Magpies (eBook)

An ebook bundle of The Science Magpie, The Antiques Magpie and The Nature Magpie

Daniel Allen

Marc Allum Simon Flynn

The Science Magpie is Simon Flynn’s bestselling collection of enthralling facts, stories, poems and more from science’s history, from the Large Hadron Collider rap to the sins of Isaac Newton.

With Antiques Roadshow regular Marc Allum as your guide, go in search of stolen masterpieces, explore the first museums, learn the secrets of the forgers and brush up on your auction technique with The Antiques Magpie.

And with acclaimed nature writer Daniel Allen, join naturalists, novelists and poets as they explore the most isolated parts of the planet and discover which plants can be used to predict the weather in The Nature Magpie.

Simon Flynn was a publisher and is now training as science teacher. He has degrees in Chemistry and Philosophy. Marc Allum is a freelance art and antiques writer and consultant based in Wiltshire. Marc has been a miscellaneous specialist on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow programme since 1998. Dr Daniel Allen is a British author making a name for himself in the world of animal/nature writing.

Allum's Antiques Almanac 2015 (eBook)

An Annual Compendium of Stories and Facts From the World of Art and Antiques

Marc Allum

From the BBC Antiques Roadshow specialist and author who brought you The Antiques Magpie comes the first annual almanac keeping you bang up to date with the vibrant, pacey and often amusingly idiosyncratic global art and antiques market.

Find out:

* How much the wedding ring of Lee Harvey Oswald sold for
* What the world’s most expensive printed book cost per word
* Which First World War artefacts have enthused collectors amid the centenary commemorations

…and much more

Written with Marc’s trademark blend of knowledge, enthusiasm, irreverence and wit, Allum’s Antiques Almanac 2015 provides a unique insight into a boundless world fuelled by history, avarice and passion, making it a must-read for the inherent collector in all of us.

Marc Allum is a freelance art and antiques writer, broadcaster, consultant and lecturer based in Wiltshire. He has been
a miscellaneous specialist on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow since 1998. He writes regularly for magazines, has contributed
to numerous books and is the author of The Antiques Magpie (Icon, 2013).

One Stop, One Life (eBook)

From market stall to 1000 shops in 25 years

Kevin Threlfall

In the 1970s Kevin Threlfall built up the chain of Lo-Cost discount stores from a single grocery stall on Cannock market.

Having sold out to RCA of America he then went on to build an empire of 1,215 shops in just 25 years from a single cigarette kiosk on Wolverhampton market.

Trading as Supercigs, Dillons, Preedy, One-Stop and Day & Nite, T&S Stores plc became the largest specialised convenience store group in Britain, eventually selling out to Tesco in 2002 for £530 million.

But it was not all plain sailing, as among other challenges he survived having his appendix removed without anaesthetic. Then on 23 April 2014, before completing this book, he dropped down dead for 40 minutes on the golf course and was saved only by the actions of his quick-thinking golf partners.

This is the remarkable story of his life, in which passion, hard work, good timing and luck all played a part in bringing together a fascinating tale that is a real page-turner of a book.

Kevin Threlfall was born in 1948 and educated at Denstone College near Uttoxeter. He has spent his whole working life in retail, beginning as a stallholder on Cannock market before moving into convenience stores, eventually amassing over 1,000 shops in total and selling his business to Tesco. Along the way he was a Director of Lo-Cost Discount Stores and Chairman and founder of T&S Stores plc. He is currently Chairman of ABC Leisure Group, a governor of Denstone College and President of Fordhouses Cricket Club. His hobbies include playing golf and watching Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club, and he enjoys travelling and watching most sports. He is married to Gill and together they have two children, Nicholas and Jade, and four grandchildren.

The Year of Living Danishly (eBook)

Uncovering the Secrets of the World’s Happiest Country

Helen Russell

* NOW WITH A NEW CHAPTER *

'A hugely enjoyable romp through the pleasures and pitfalls of setting up home in a foreign land.'- Guardian

Given the opportunity of a new life in rural Jutland, Helen Russell discovered a startling statistic: Denmark, land of
long dark winters, cured herring, Lego and pastries, was the happiest place on earth.

Keen to know their secrets, Helen gave herself a year to uncover the formula for Danish happiness.

From childcare, education, food and interior design to SAD and taxes, The Year of Living Danishly records a funny,
poignant journey, showing us what the Danes get right, what they get wrong, and how we might all live a little more Danishly
ourselves.

In this new edition, six years on Helen reveals how her life and family have changed, and explores how Denmark, too – or
her understanding of it – has shifted. It’s a messy and flawed place, she concludes – but can still be a model for a better
way of living.

Helen Russell is a journalist and former editor of MarieClaire.co.uk. She now lives in rural Jutland and works as a Scandinavia correspondent for the Guardian, as well as writing a column on Denmark for the Telegraph.

Science for Life (eBook)

A manual for better living

Brian Clegg

In Science for Life acclaimed science writer Brian Clegg cuts through the vested interests and confusing contradictory statements that litter the media and the internet, to give a clear picture of what science is telling us right now about changing our lives for the better.

Discover the much-advertised antioxidants that aren’t good for you, the truth about fat and sugar and why one of the healthiest foods contains carcinogens and 21 E-numbers. Find out what does and what doesn’t enhance brainpower – from the failure of playing Mozart to babies to the surprising abilities of caffeine and nicotine. Understand the tools that advertisers use to persuade us and how to turn the psychological pressure back on them.

From the shortcomings of the five second rule to the truth about phone masts and nuclear power, kept up-to-date on a partnering website, Science for Life is your guide to surviving and thriving in the modern world.

Science writer Brian Clegg studied physics at Cambridge University and specialises in making the strangest aspects of the universe, from infinity to time travel and quantum theory, accessible to the general reader. He is editor of www.popularscience.co.uk and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. His previous books include Inflight Science, The Universe Inside You, Dice World, The Quantum Age and Introducing Infinity: A Graphic Guide.

Light Years (eBook)

The Extraordinary Story of Mankind's Fascination with Light

Brian Clegg

This is the story of light and the people who were determined to unlock the secrets of one of the greatest puzzles of the Universe.

Acclaimed science writer Brian Clegg recounts how civilisations from the Ancient Egyptians to the Mayans understood light spiritually, and looks at the first scientific grapplings with light by the ancient Chinese sage Mo Ti, the Greek philosopher Empedocles, Arab genius Alhazen and others.

Clegg also explores the contribution of artists such as Brunellschi, Leonardo de Vinci and Durer to our understanding of light and examines the great revolutionaries of light theory including Galileo, Descartes, Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday and Albert Einstein.

In this new edition of one of his best-loved books, Clegg finally discusses the work of scientists such as Maxwell, Edison and Gould that led to light-driven inventions from the camera to the laser, CDs and optical computers and explains the mind-bending advances of quantum physics.

Science writer Brian Clegg studied physics at Cambridge University and specialises in making the strangest aspects of the universe, from infinity to time travel and quantum theory, accessible to the general reader. He is editor of www.popularscience.co.uk and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. His previous books include Inflight Science, The Universe Inside You, Dice World, The Quantum Age and Introducing Infinity: A Graphic Guide.

A Practical Guide to Well-being (eBook)

Live Well & Stress-Free

Patricia Furness-Smith

This book is full of expert, practical advice which teaches you to use the latest scientific knowledge to achieve a healthy state of mind and body.

BECOME MORE ENERGIZED by adopting quality sleep patterns.

OPTIMIZE MENTAL AND PHYSICAL HEALTH by harnessing your natural ability to heal.

ACHIEVE CALM by learning to manage your stress levels.

DISCOVER HAPPINESS AND FULFILLMENT by investing in yourself and others.

Patricia Furness-Smith is a psychologist and accredited practitioner with over 25 years of experience in clinical practice. Her other books include Overcoming Phobias: A Practical Guide and Overcoming Problem Eating: A Practical Guide, and she co-authored Flying with Confidence: The Proven Programme to Fix your Flying Fears, based on the work she does with British Airways and its 'Flying with Confidence' training.

It's Not About the Shark (eBook)

How to Solve Unsolvable Problems

David Niven

When we have a problem, most of us zero in, take it apart, and focus until we have it solved. Steven Spielberg tried that when the scenes with his expensive prosthetic shark just weren’t scary. Psychologist, social scientist and million-selling author David Niven shows us that focusing on the problem is exactly the wrong way to find an answer. And Jaws built its famous menace precisely because the shark hardly ever appears in shot.

Putting problems at the centre of our thoughts shuts down our creative abilities, depletes stamina, and feeds insecurities. Niven shows how working harder, and having absolute confidence in finding a solution, actually hides answers.

It’s Not About the Shark shows how to transform your daily life with a simple but rock-solid principle: If you start by thinking about your problems, you’ll never make it to a solution. If you start by thinking about a solution, you’ll never worry about your problems again.

DAVID NIVEN is known internationally for translating powerful research findings into practical advice anyone can apply to their daily lives. David’s The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People – and seven other titles in the series – have sold more than 1 million copies in the U.S., and has been translated in 30 languages around the globe. His work has been featured in USA TODAY, US Weekly, The Washington Post, Reader’s Digest, Redbook, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and Health.

I, Superorganism (eBook)

Learning to love your inner ecosystem

Jon Turney

Every human body carries a secret cargo: a huge population of microorganisms living in the mouth, on the skin, in the gut. They help digest our food. They make essential vitamins. They break down toxins and metabolise drugs. They exert an invisible influence on our hormones, our immune systems, perhaps even our brains.

This is the human microbiome – a living, shifting system of previously unimagined importance and complexity.

In this first book-length account of this new realm of human biology, award-winning science writer Jon Turney explores the microbiome in detail, charting its birth and development, investigating how it works, and assessing its many implications for our health, including its potential to shed new light on conditions such as bowel diseases, cancer, allergies and asthma. He considers the potential impacts of our modern disinfectant and antibiotic obsessions, and ponders a future of designer microbiomes and mood-altering probiotics.

This book will make you think again about your relationship with your body, your habits – even your sense of who and what you are – as it reveals what it means to be a 21st century superorganism.

Jon Turney is a science writer and former features editor of the Times Higher Education Supplement. He has taught at Imperial College and was head of the Department of Science and Technology Studies at UCL. He was popular science editor at Penguin Press and is the author, among much else, of The Rough Guide to the Future (Rough Guides, 2010) and Lovelock and Gaia (Icon, 2003), and editor of A Quark for Mister Mark: 101 Poems about Science (Faber, 2000).

I, Superorganism (Paperback)

Learning to love your inner ecosystem

Jon Turney

Every human body carries a secret cargo: a huge population of microorganisms living in the mouth, on the skin, in the gut. They help digest our food. They make essential vitamins. They break down toxins and metabolise drugs. They exert an invisible influence on our hormones, our immune systems, perhaps even our brains.

This is the human microbiome – a living, shifting system of previously unimagined importance and complexity.

In this first book-length account of this new realm of human biology, award-winning science writer Jon Turney explores the microbiome in detail, charting its birth and development, investigating how it works, and assessing its many implications for our health, including its potential to shed new light on conditions such as bowel diseases, cancer, allergies and asthma. He considers the potential impacts of our modern disinfectant and antibiotic obsessions, and ponders a future of designer microbiomes and mood-altering probiotics.

This book will make you think again about your relationship with your body, your habits – even your sense of who and what you are – as it reveals what it means to be a 21st century superorganism.

Jon Turney is a science writer and former features editor of the Times Higher Education Supplement. He has taught at Imperial College and was head of the Department of Science and Technology Studies at UCL. He was popular science editor at Penguin Press and is the author, among much else, of The Rough Guide to the Future (Rough Guides, 2010) and Lovelock and Gaia (Icon, 2003), and editor of A Quark for Mister Mark: 101 Poems about Science (Faber, 2000).

Things I Wish I'd Known (eBook)

Women tell the truth about motherhood

Victoria Young

THE PERFECT GIFT FOR MOTHER'S DAY!

Look at the front cover of any parenting book and what do you see? Glowing mothers-to-be, or pristine, beautifully-behaved children.

But the reality is, your pregnancy might be a sweaty, moody rollercoaster, and your children will almost certainly spend the first few years of their lives covered in food, tears and worse. And the experience is no less magical for it.

In this no-holds-barred collection of essays, prominent women authors, journalists and TV personalities explore the truth about becoming mothers. Covering topics from labour to the breastapo, twins to IVF, weaning to post-birth sex, and with writers including Cathy Kelly, Adele Parks, Kathy Lette and Lucy Porter (and many more), Things I Wish I’d Known is a reassuring, moving and often hilarious collection that will speak to mothers – and mothers-to-be – everywhere.

Victoria Young is a journalist and magazine editor. She started her career in New York where she worked at the New York Times for three years, then returned to London to work at YOU magazine, Red and the Evening Standard. She's written for the Guardian, the Independent, Grazia, Marie Claire and was also script advisor on BAFTA award-winning screenplay Kiss of Life directed by Emily Young. Most recently she was assistant editor of woman&home magazine. Tory lives with her husband and son in London.

Junk DNA (eBook)

A Journey Through the Dark Matter of the Genome

Nessa Carey

From the author of the acclaimed The Epigenetics Revolution (‘A book that would have had Darwin swooning’ – Guardian) comes another thrilling exploration of the cutting edge of human science.

For decades after the structure of DNA was identified, scientists focused purely on genes, the regions of the genome that contain codes for the production of proteins. Other regions – 98% of the human genome – were dismissed as ‘junk’. But in recent years researchers have discovered that variations in this ‘junk’ DNA underlie many previously intractable diseases, and they can now generate new approaches to tackling them.

Nessa Carey explores, for the first time for a general audience, the incredible story behind a controversy that has generated unusually vituperative public exchanges between scientists. She shows how junk DNA plays an important role in areas as diverse as genetic diseases, viral infections, sex determination in mammals, human biological complexity, disease treatments, even evolution itself – and reveals how we are only now truly unlocking its secrets, more than half a century after Crick and Watson won their Nobel prize for the discovery of the structure of DNA in 1962.

Nessa Carey has a PhD in virology from the University of Edinburgh and worked in the biotech and pharma industry for thirteen years. She is a Visiting Professor at Imperial College, London. Her previous book, The Epigenetics Revolution, was published by Icon Books in 2011. and described as a 'book that would have had Darwin swooning – anyone seriously interested in who we are and how we function should read this.'

How to be a Knowledge Ninja (eBook)

Study smarter. Focus better. Achieve more.

Graham Allcott

In the world of smartphones, instant internet access and on-demand documentaries, studying should be easier than ever. Yet all this background noise can make us unfocused and inefficient learners.

So how can you cut through the distractions and get back to productive, rewarding learning? Four little words: Think like a Ninja.

Paralysed by procrastination? Harness some Ninja Focus to get things started. Overwhelmed by exam nerves? You need some Zen-like Calm to turn those butterflies into steely focus. Surrounded by too many scrappy notes and unfinished to-do lists? Get Weapon-savvy with the latest organizational technology.

With nine Ninja techniques to learn, there is a solution here for everyone who wants to learn better – and they don’t involve giving up the rest of your life.

Written by one of the world’s foremost productivity experts, How to be a Knowledge Ninja is a fun, accessible and practical guide on how to get the most out of your studying and love the quest for knowledge again.

Graham Allcott is the author of How to be a Productivity Ninja and the founder of Think Productive, one of the world’s leading productivity training companies. Think Productive’s diverse list of clients includes eBay, the British Library and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Get the Truth (eBook)

Former CIA Officers Teach You How to Persuade Anyone to Tell All

Michael Floyd

Philip Houston Susan Carnicero

Former CIA agents and the bestselling authors of Spy the Lie, Philip Houston, Mike Floyd and Susan Carnicero are among the world’s best at recognising deceptive behaviour and drawing out the truth from even the most accomplished liars.

Using techniques developed in real-life counterterrorism and criminal investigations, in Get the Truth they present a step-by-step guide that empowers readers to elicit the truth from others – whether that’s in the boardroom, the classroom, or our own homes.

Using thrilling anecdotes from their careers in counterintelligence, and with easy-to-follow instructions, the authors provide a foolproof means of getting absolutely anybody to give an honest answer.

Get the Truth is the easy and effective way to learn how to get to the truth every time.

PHILIP HOUSTON's twenty-five-year career with the CIA included thousands of interviews and interrogations for the CIA and other federal agencies, both as an investigator and as a polygraph examiner. He, along with former CIA agents MIKE FLOYD and SUSAN CARNICERO, founded Qverity, a provider of behavioral analysis and screening services for private- and public-sector clients worldwide. Houston is also the author of Spy the Lie.

The New Wild (eBook)

Why invasive species will be nature's salvation

Fred Pearce

Veteran environmental journalist Fred Pearce used to think of invasive species as evil interlopers spoiling pristine ‘natural’ ecosystems. Most conservationists would agree. But what if traditional ecology is wrong, and true environmentalists should be applauding the invaders?

In The New Wild, Pearce goes on a journey to rediscover what conservation should really be about. He explores ecosystems from Pacific islands to the Australian outback to the Thames estuary, digs into the questionable costs of invader species, and reveals the outdated intellectual sources of our ideas about the balance of nature.

Keeping out alien species looks increasingly flawed. The new ecologists looking afresh at how species interact in the wild believe we should celebrate the dynamism of alien species and the novel ecosystems they create.

In an era of climate change and widespread ecological damage, we must find ways to help nature regenerate. Embracing the ‘new wild’ is our best chance.

Fred Pearce has been environment and development consultant at New Scientist magazine since 1992, reporting from 85 countries. He has written fourteen previous books, including When the Rivers Run Dry and The Land Grabbers, which have been translated into 23 languages. He also writes for the Guardian and is a regular broadcaster on radio and TV. He won a lifetime achievement award for his journalism from the Association of British Science Writers in 2011, and was voted UK Environment Journalist of the Year in 2001.

Get Your Inbox Down to Zero (eBook)

from How to be a Productivity Ninja

Graham Allcott

Is your inbox overloaded? Feel like your email is controlling your life?

You need the ninja way of email management!

In this short ebook, an edited extract from Graham Allcott’s acclaimed How to be a Productivity Ninja, you’ll learn the simple skills to get your inbox down to zero – and keep it there, day after day.

Following Allcott’s straightforward advice, anyone – from a student to a Chief Executive – can keep on top of their messages and feel in command, calm and up to date. You’ll learn to be ruthless, to separate thinking from doing, and how to make your email inbox work for you – and not the other way around!

Graham Allcott is the author of How to be a Productivity Ninja, How to be a Knowledge Ninja and Introducing Productivity. He is the founder of Think Productive, one of the world’s leading productivity training companies, whose diverse list of clients include eBay, the British Library and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.