Archives: Titles

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton (Paperback)

The Full Story

Mark Hughes

No driver has ever made such an instant impact on the sport of F1 racing as Lewis Hamilton. The first black grand prix driver, his astonishing level of success in his rookie season together with his swash-buckling, attacking style has created a sensation. It has also been a central factor in the most exciting and controversial season of F1 in living memory as Hamilton was involved in a three-way fight for the world crown. Industrial espionage, claims of team favouritism and some stunning on-track action have peppered Hamilton's first season in the sport's top category. Here is the in-depth story of this phenomenon – from his upbringing on a Stevenage council estate to the day he first sat in a kart as a seven-year-old to his sensational challenge on the world title. Friends, colleagues, team-mates, rivals, chaperones and engineers who have worked with him here give some remarkable insights into Lewis the man and the driver, as well as into the close but complex relationship with father Anthony, the man who has largely steered his career. In the process, we see how F1 success has changed this young man's life in a very short space of time.



Mark Hughes is recognised as one of Formula One's top journalists and his reports and columns for Autosport magazine have won him wide acclaim. He numbers ITV and Martin Brundle among his clients. He has written a number of books on F1, one of which won the 2005 Illustrated Sports Book of the Year. In the words of Motor Sport magazine: 'None have so effectively combined a passion for and understanding of the human and technical sides of the sport, viewed the political machinations with such wry, subversive humour and informed us so well as to how this affects what happens on the track. He's our own beatnik Kerouac taking the best bits from the journalistic greats and raising the bar for everyone.'


Lewis Hamilton is on the verge of Tiger Woods-like status: forget his skin colour, it's about the emergence of a phenomenon. He's in the process of transcending the whole sport, imprinting himself into the consciousness of people who would normally have little or no interest in Formula One.'The Sunday Times

ABOUT THIS BOOK

about this book

ISBN: 9781840469370

Price: 10.99 GBP

Pages: 224

Publication date: 08/11/2007

Category: Sport

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Paperback

Darkness Visible

Darkness Visible (Paperback)

Inside the World of Philip Pullman

Nicholas Tucker

What do Philip Pullman and J.K. Rowling have in common that has made both of their stories so successful? What does Pullman listen to while he writes – and who, or what, is Dust?

Pullman’s award-winning trilogy His Dark Materials has been appreciated by readers of all ages. It is now set to welcome new fans as it is adapted for television by the BBC, and his new trilogy at last sees publication. 

Nicholas Tucker, a leading authority on children’s literature, writes about the man he knows as a friend. Unpacking and examining Pullman’s life and the sources he drew on for his masterpiece, he explores the world of science, theology, imagination and adventure that Pullman has created.

Including a personal interview with Pullman himself, Darkness Visible offers a unique exploration of the author’s work – and its controversies.

“Enigmas from His Dark Materials are unraveled… Unmissable for all Pullman readers" 

Sussex Express



Nicholas Tucker is the author of nine books about children, childhood and reading, including The Child and the Book, (Cambridge University Press, 1981 and 1990).  He has also written six books for children, broadcasts frequently and reviews in the national press.  He lives in Lewes, East Sussex and sometimes finds himself reading aloud the same books to some of his eight grandchildren as he once did to their mothers and father.


Enigmas from His Dark Materials are unraveled… Unmissable for all Pullman readersSussex Express

ABOUT THIS BOOK

about this book

ISBN: 9781840468489

Price: 6.99 GBP

Pages: 224

Publication date: 01/11/2007

Category: Literature & Language

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Paperback
Paperback

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton (Hardback)

The Full Story

Mark Hughes

No driver has ever made such an instant impact on the sport of F1 racing as Lewis Hamilton. The first black grand prix driver, his astonishing level of success in his rookie season together with his swash-buckling, attacking style has created a sensation. It has also been a central factor in the most exciting and controversial season of F1 in living memory as Hamilton was involved in a three-way fight for the world crown. Industrial espionage, claims of team favouritism and some stunning on-track action have peppered Hamilton's first season in the sport's top category.Here is the in-depth story of this phenomenon – from his upbringing on a Stevenage council estate to the day he first sat in a kart as a seven-year-old to his sensational challenge on the world title. Friends, colleagues, team-mates, rivals, chaperones and engineers who have worked with him here give some remarkable insights into Lewis the man and the driver, as well as into the close but complex relationship with father Anthony, the man who has largely steered his career. In the process, we see how F1 success has changed this young man's life in a very short space of time.



Mark Hughes is recognised as one of Formula One's top journalists and his reports and columns for Autosport magazine have won him wide acclaim. He numbers ITV and Martin Brundle among his clients. He has written a number of books on F1, one of which won the 2005 Illustrated Sports Book of the Year. In the words of Motor Sport magazine: 'None have so effectively combined a passion for and understanding of the human and technical sides of the sport, viewed the political machinations with such wry, subversive humour and informed us so well as to how this affects what happens on the track. He's our own beatnik Kerouac taking the best bits from the journalistic greats and raising the bar for everyone.'


Lewis Hamilton is on the verge of Tiger Woods-like status: forget his skin colour, it's about the emergence of a phenomenon. He's in the process of transcending the whole sport, imprinting himself into the consciousness of people who would normally have little or no interest in Formula One.'The Sunday Times

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about this book

ISBN: 9781840468557

Price: 16.99 GBP

Pages: 224

Publication date: 08/11/2007

Category: Sport

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Paperback

From Zeros to Heroes

From Zeros to Heroes (Hardback)

The Story of England's 2007 Rugby World Cup

George Robinson

From Zeros to Heroes follows the England squad around France as they create the most unlikely success story in sport for years, all borne out in perhaps the greatest Rugby World Cup ever staged. In August 2007 England headed for France to defend the Rugby World Cup. No one gave them a prayer. A pathetic display against the USA, arguably the worst team in the tournament, only served to confirm the country's fears. Less than a week later, a 36-0 thrashing at the hands of South Africa left their campaign in tatters. With a difficult clash with the heavy-hitting Samoans to come it looked increasingly likely that they would be heading home as the first defending champions to have fallen at the first hurdle. The England squad got together for a brutally honest appraisal of each other and the team's misgivings in the tournament so far. With the slate wiped clean, it gave them something on which to build. Wins against Samoa and then Tonga followed, but despite a growing confidence within the team, a quarter-final berth against a heavily favoured Australian side would surely spell the end to their campaign. Not a chance. England battled to one of the most unlikely victories in the tournament's history and set-up the mouth-watering semi-final clash with its old foe, France, equally unlikely winners against the tournament favourite All Blacks. Despite England having lost to France twice in the build up to the tournament and the host's home advantage, the resurgent self-belief of the England side saw them to a famous 14-9 victory. We all now know what happened next. They may not quite have won, but no one ever expected them to be finalists. This is the story of that incredible turnaround.



George Robinson goes to every Leicester, England, and British Lions rugby match wherever or whenever it is played. With a burgeoning future in rugby of his own cut short by a recurrent injury, he pursued a successful career in finance. Nevertheless, by his own admission, rugby remains his life.


ABOUT THIS BOOK

about this book

ISBN: 9781840469394

Price: 12.99 GBP

Pages: 224

Publication date: 15/11/2007

Category: Sport

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A Nobel Fellow on Every Floor

A Nobel Fellow on Every Floor - cover coming soon

A Nobel Fellow on Every Floor (Hardback)

A History of the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology

John Finch

In Cambridge in the 1950s, several research groups funded by the Medical Research Council were producing exciting results. In the Biochemistry Department, Sanger determined the amino acid sequence of insulin, and was awarded a Nobel Prize for this in 1958. At the Cavendish Laboratory, in the MRC Unit for the Study of the Molecular Structure of Biological Systems, Watson and Crick solved the structure of DNA, and Perutz and Kendrew produced the first three-dimensional maps of protein structures – haemoglobin and myoglobin – for which all four were later awarded Nobel Prizes.

This made it timely to create, in 1962, a new Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge by amalgamating these groups with other MRC-funded groups from London. The Laboratory has become one of the most successful in its field, and the number of Nobel Prizes awarded over the years to scientists at LMB has risen to thirteen.

This book follows the development of LMB, through the people who moved into the new Laboratory and their research. It describes events and personalities that have given the Laboratory a friendly, family atmosphere, while continuing to be scientifically productive.



John Finch joined Rosalind Franklin as a PhD student at Birkbeck College, London in 1955 studying the structure of viruses by X-ray diffraction. He came to the new LMB in 1962 with the Birkbeck group, which was now led by Aaron Klug after Rosalind’s death in 1958. In addition to continuing the work on virus structure, as the group’s interests diversified, he became involved in other research, studying the structures, for example, of transfer RNA and chromatin. He is at present a ‘retired worker’ at LMB.


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ISBN: 9781840469400

Price: 30.00 GBP

Pages:

Publication date: 01/01/2008

Category: General History

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In the Red

In the Red (Paperback)

The Diary of a Recovering Shopaholic

Alexis Hall

When your debt is more than your share of the mortgage and your partner's threatening to not only leave, but to tell your mother how out of control your spending is, then you know it's time to face reality and take drastic action. So, for one whole year, Alexis Hall sets out to buy nothing except the bare essentials in a bid to reclaim her life from the retail rollercoaster threatening to pitch her into permanent poverty. That might not sound too hard a task, but when you owe over GBP30,000 and you're consumed by consumerism, just making it to lunchtime without buying a pair of sensational shoes suddenly becomes a life-altering act. "In the Red" is Alexis' hilarious diary – full of fashion and frustration – as she battles to transform herself from a spending junkie to a scrupulous saver. You'll soon realize there's a bit of Alexis in all of us!



Alexis Hall is a media relations officer and former broadcast journalist. She lives in Glasgow with her partner, their four-legged, furry child and her large collection of shoes. In the Red is her first book.


'In the Red' provides a humorous look at how she curtailed her spending and offers practical advice on how to get yourself out of debt.Deborah Anderson, Evening Times
Having resolved to give up all non-essential shopping for a year, Alexis wrote a diary of her daily struggle against temptation and the result, 'In the Red,' is a hilarious account of the frustrations and triumphs of her spendthrift year.My Weekly book group
A witty take on our consumer culture through the eyes of one former addict, 'In the Red' is compulsive reading for shopaholics everywhere.My Weekly book group
Her addiction to handbags and fashion accessories, the nonstop journey into a quagmire of debt which is felt by millions in this country was there to be read in this essential and humourous work of literature. The limitless expenditure and the conclusive battle within herself to transform herself is both inspiring and an effective psychological doorway to regain one's own self respect and dignity.Sajid Hussain, Scotland’s Chronicle
Somewhat in similar vein to Sophie Kinsella's shopaholic books, there is great benefit in reading and learning from his work of literature by a unique Scottish writer. Both entertaining and empathic, one cannot go wrong with this book, it is a must for any reader to have, if you fall into debt and need a bit of a 'lift' read 'In the Read,' ye cannae go wrong!!!Sajid Hussain, Scotland’s Chronicle
The book is humerous and playful as well as depply serious….the openness and wit of Hall's account make 'In the Read' compulsive reading for any shopaholic wishing to stop.Stopping Overshopping

ABOUT THIS BOOK

about this book

ISBN: 9781840468601

Price: 10.99 GBP

Pages: 224

Publication date: 10/01/2008

Category: Biography & Memoir, Business & Economics

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Human Being to Human Bomb

Human Being to Human Bomb (Hardback)

The Conveyor Belt of Terror

Russell Razzaque

What makes often intelligent young men (and women) violently kill themselves and others in the name of religion and politics? They all had strict fathers and obsessive personalities. They all studied science-based subjects. They lived in the West, grew to despise it and ultimately killed themselves and numerous innocent others. In November 2001, Osama Bin Laden proclaimed: 'We love death. The West loves life. That is the big difference between us.' But who is this 'we'? How does someone go from being an unremarkable school-leaver to a human bomb? And how can this transformation, from teenager to terrorist, be detected?Having had his first of many encounters with extremist Islam at university in London in 1989, Russell Razzaque has watched this harrowing conversion from close quarters. Unique, personal and expertly researched, "Human Being to Human Bomb" shines a light on the real psychology behind Islamic suicide bombing. It is explored by a writer within the religion itself and concludes by unveiling a new psychological device that will expose those who are vulnerable to extremism before it is too late.



Dr Russell Razzaque, a Muslim, is a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He works as a Consultant in Acute Psychiatry in East London, establishing counselling, leisure, outreach and recreational projects for young Muslims locally. He writes regularly for the Independent and has appeared many times on Sky News.


Razzaque looks hard at the 9/11 and 7/7 bombers and produces a compelling portrait of the terrorists' psychology.Nick Cohen, Evening Standard
…Razzaque has produced a compelling examination of the terrorist mind. He structures his narrative and develops his argument with a fluency that puts many professional writers to shame.Nick Cohen, Evening Standard
All readers will find something worth thinking about in these pages, while there's so much for the MI5 to ponder on, it could do well to place a bulk order.Nick Cohen, Evening Standard

ABOUT THIS BOOK

about this book

ISBN: 9781840468625

Price: 12.99 GBP

Pages: 224

Publication date: 07/02/2008

Category: General History

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The Father of Forensics

The Father of Forensics (Hardback)

How Sir Bernard Spilsbury Invented Modern CSI

Colin Evans

Before CSI, there was one man who saw beyond the crime, and into the future of forensic science. He was once one of the most famous people in Britain, and, through his use of cutting-edge science, Bernard Spilsbury single-handedly brought criminal investigations into the modern age. Starting out as a charismatic physician in the early 20th century, Spilsbury shook up the English justice system and hit the headlines, garnering a reputation as a real-life Sherlock Holmes. He uncovered evidence others missed, stood above his peers in the field of crime reconstruction, exposed discrepancies between witness testimony and factual evidence, and most importantly, convicted dozens of murderers with hard-nosed, scientific proof.Killers who would have escaped punishment pre-Spilsbury began to drop through the hangman's trap-door. This is the fascinating story of the life and work of Bernard Spilsbury, history's greatest medical detective, and of the cases that not only made him a celebrity, but also inspired the astonishing science of criminal investigation in our own time.



Colin Evans is a veteran writer specialising in forensics. His books include The Casebook of Forensic Detection: How Science Solved 100 of the World's Most Baffling Crimes, and A Question of Evidence: The Casebook of Great Forensic Controversies from Napoleon to O.J. He lives in Trowbridge, Wiltshire.


As an account of Spilsbury's contribution to forensic medicine it is excellent. Evans is a vivid and compelling narrator with – excuse the phrase – a forensic eye for detail. The accounts of the murders Spilsbury investigated are fascinating meditations on man's inhumanity to man or, more often than not, woman.P D Smith, Guardian
…grips from the outset like a thriller transporting the reader back to turn of the century London. .. A riveting story.Good Book Guide

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about this book

ISBN: 9781840468632

Price: 12.99 GBP

Pages: 336

Publication date: 07/02/2008

Category: Popular Science & Mathematics

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Paperback

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton (Paperback)

The Full Story

Mark Hughes

Published to coincide with start of the hotly-anticipated 2008 season, this book is a widely acclaimed and hugely successful hardback published at the climax of the 2007 World Championship. It has considerable brand new material added to the paperback edition. Veteran F1 journalist Mark Hughes unearths the true foundations that have enabled a personable and down-to-earth 22-year-old from a sleepy village in Hertfordshire to achieve the most successful start to a career the sport has ever seen.This book helps you discover how it all began, from the day Hamilton's father bought a hyperactive six-year-old a go-kart, to the British, European and World karting titles that followed. You can learn how at a motorsport awards ceremony in 1995, a plucky 10-year-old Hamilton asked Ron Dennis (the principal of McLaren F1 Racing) of the opportunity to race for his team in the future and how in 1998, at 13-years-old, McLaren duly signed him in a long-term agreement that made him the youngest driver in history with an F1 contract.Hughes takes us through the intervening years, right up to the explosive 2007 Formula one season when he became not only the first black driver ever to race an F1 car, but the first driver of any colour to stand on the podium at the end of their first nine races. As Sir Jackie Stewart said, 'Lewis is a man of the people and the people will love him for it.' Brand new material in this paperback edition includes: interviews with former F1 drivers who proffer their opinion on his qualities, where he needs to make improvements, where he stacks-up against the greats, and what his ultimate potential is; an insider view of testing during close season; and, a preview of the 2008 season and a detailed run-down of his prospects against the new team line-ups, including his new team-mate at McLaren.



MARK HUGHES is recognised as one of Formula One's top journalists, and his reports and columns for Autosport magazine have won him wide acclaim. ITV and Radio 5 Live regularly benefit from his expertise. He has written a number of books on F1, one of which won the 2005 Illustrated Sports Book of the Year. 'He's our own beatnik Kerouac,' say Motor Sport magazine, 'taking the best bits from the journalistic greats and raising the bar for everyone.'


ABOUT THIS BOOK

about this book

ISBN: 9781840469417

Price: 7.99 GBP

Pages: 304

Publication date: 26/02/2008

Category: Sport

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Hardback

The Chilling Stars

The Chilling Stars (Paperback)

A New Theory of Climate Change

Henrik Svensmark

Nigel Calder

Scientists agree that the earth has become hotter over the last century. But on the causes, despite what looks to the public mind like a consensus, there are dissenting voices. Based on Henrik Svensmark's research at the Danish National Space Center, this book outlines a brilliant and daring new theory that has already provoked fresh thinking on global warming. As prize-winning science writer Nigel Calder and Svensmark himself explain, an interplay of the sun and cosmic rays – sub-atomic particles from exploded stars – seem to have more effect on the climate than man-made carbon dioxide. For anyone interested in the real science behind our climate, this book is a must-read.



Henrik Svensmark leads the Center for Sun-Climate Research at the Danish National Space Center.Nigel Calder is a former editor of the New Scientist, and an award-winning science writer. His Magic Universe (OUP, 2003) was shortlisted for the Aventis Prize in 2004.


The new totem of the climate-change sceptics'Times

ABOUT THIS BOOK

about this book

ISBN: 9781840468663

Price: 7.99 GBP

Pages: 288

Publication date: 07/02/2008

Category: Popular Science & Mathematics

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The Top 100 Formula One Drivers of All Time

The Top 100 Formula One Drivers of All Time (Hardback)

Alan Henry

If you want a heated debate among motor racing enthusiasts, then just throw into the conversation the name of the Formula 1 driver you think is the best the sport has ever seen, and watch the sparks fly. Well, to fuel the fires of disagreement further, legendary F1 journalist Alan Henry now reveals his top 100 Grand Prix drivers of all time. Although skills behind the wheel and the resultant success are obviously notable factors, Henry gives his subjects a much more rigorous assessment. He also considers the qualities of dignity, tenacity and the ability of a driver to inspire the team around him – basically every part of the complex mix which goes into making a truly great practitioner of motor racing's most senior category. But who will make it into that coveted number one spot proffered by one of the sport's most respected authorities? Whether they agree with his choice or not, there will be motor racing fans across the world waiting to find out …



Alan Henry has been part of the F1 paddock for 35 years, covering 553 races and almost 2 million miles in the process. He is now editor of Autocourse, editor-at-large for F1 Racing and Grand Prix correspondent for Autocar, and has been motor racing correspondent for the Guardian since 1987. He is one of the most respected motorsport journalists in the world.


I hope you enjoy the controversy as much as I have done.Steve Cropley, Autocar
'So, get yourself a copy of Alan's book. Read it. Disagree with it. Throw it across the room every so often in disgust. Let a few minutes of reflection pass, then go and pick it up again and read some more. Then throw it at the cat. Then pick it up again, etc'.Autosport
In this case the man is unusually well qualified on the grounds of experience and soundness of judgement, the mixture leavened with a sometimes mischievous sense of humour and the occasional burst of full-throttle subjectivity.Guardian
This is a great, fun bookDaily Telegraph
A small but perfectly formed volume by the doyen of his tradeGuardian
Alan Henry's judgment in these matters is pretty much at Supreme Court levelAutocar
Enormous fun, backed up with great knowledge and personal experience … a great, fun book'Daily Telegraph
Already guaranteed to be the most contentious motorsport book of the yearAutosport

ABOUT THIS BOOK

about this book

ISBN: 9781840468946

Price: 14.99 GBP

Pages: 192

Publication date: 06/03/2008

Category: Sport

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Wholly Irresponsible Experiments

Wholly Irresponsible Experiments (Paperback)

Sean Connolly

Do try these at home! "Wholly Irresponsible Experiments" brings back the fun of being twelve. Scores of experiments take in a dazzling array of explosions, geysers, rockets and some outright oddities. The sparkling text includes ingredients, methods, outcomes, scientific explanations – and warnings – for each experiment. Charming illustrations recall the age of inspired amateurs. Amaze your friends with: a fire started with ice; a smoke bomb worthy of Harry Potter; a 5-metre-high cola fountain, perfect for turning enemies into a sticky mess; and a dramatic rocket – from a very ordinary film canister.And if you need any excuses, the exploding sandwich bag is, after all, demonstrating a neat chemical reaction. That bit of King Edward potato launched from a tube and ricocheting around the kitchen – simple: Boyle's Law! Irresponsible – maybe. Cracking fun – definitely!



Sean Connolly, father of three and author of more than 50 books aimed at children and adults, is ideally placed to explain the nuts and bolts of these fantastic experiments. And as someone more at home with water balloons than bank statements, he's only an occasional visitor to the 'real world'.


Hours of fun… a marvellous way to excite children about the wonders of science'Sunday Express
In the gee-whiz spirit of The Dangerous Book for Boys'Financial Times

ABOUT THIS BOOK

about this book

ISBN: 9781840468762

Price: 7.99 GBP

Pages: 176

Publication date: 03/04/2008

Category: Popular Science & Mathematics

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Foul Play

Foul Play (Paperback)

What's Wrong with Sport

Joe Humphreys

Common wisdom decrees that sport has an overwhelmingly positive influence on our civilisation. It's good for your health, builds character, unites nations and generates peace and love and understanding across the globe…Or so we are told by sporting evangelists who spread the word on the back – and now increasingly the front – pages of our newspapers. But are we being sold a lie? "Foul Play" shows how our belief in the value of sport is misplaced.Tracing the history of organised game-playing, it argues that sport is a last refuge for sexism, racism, homophobia and animal cruelty. It cites neglected research in psychology, showing how playing sport tends to impinge negatively on your morals. And it asks why sports fans are so judgemental about what is, after all, only a game."Foul Play" is for anyone who believes that their head is not just for keepie-uppies.



Joe Humphreys is an Irish journalist and author. Having been a (highly-unsuccessful) racing tipster, he is currently a staff journalist with the Irish Times, writing news, features, and even occasionally sport. Born and raised in Ireland, he holds an MA in Political Philosophy, supports West Ham United, and lives currently in South Africa.


One of the year's most amusing reads, a carefully controlled rant backed with well-researched facts, which makes for thought-provoking, if not always comfortable, reading.Observer
This is a timely book, and one that, being written in very easy-to-read prose, takes the fight right to the enemy.Guardian
Foul Play offers an impressive extended essay into sport's many failings.Metro
The book is provocative, well-researched and turns up a lot of interesting and amusing anecdotal evidence.Daily Telegraph
It is eminently readable, humorous in parts, breathtakingly cynical in others, but throughout argues that sport is bad for mind, body and soul.Scotland on Sunday
Entertaining, thought-provoking and well worth a read.Scotland on Sunday
Well, Joe Humprhreys is mad as hell and he's not going to take it anymore, and has written a shibboleth-busting polemic to prove it. No opportunity is overlooked not only to debunk popular assumptions of the social and personal utility of sport but to expose the various hypocrisies and inconsistencies of the major sports' governing bodies.Irish Times

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about this book

ISBN: 9781840468908

Price: 8.99 GBP

Pages: 208

Publication date: 03/04/2008

Category: Sport

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New World Order

New World Order (Paperback)

Every Country on Earth. Sorted.

Dixe Wills

Left-field geographer and anti-travel author Dixe Wills presents a uniquely new look at each of the 198 countries of the world. With a handy grading system to reveal who are the globe's real top nations and which ones are letting the side down on a monumental scale, Dixe Wills goes in search of, and definitively reveals, the best country in the World.



Dixe Wills is the author of Places to Hide in England, Scotland and Wales and The Z to Z of Great Britain, both of which remain the benchmarks of their respective genres. A former human rights reporter in Guatemala, he now lives in the relative safety of Bethnal Green.


Exquisitely dotty, yet irresistibly charming. A project so pointless as to be vital to our national well-being.'Stephen Fry
A jocular guide… Dixe Wills has boldly gone to these backs of beyond to prove that we don't need to'Sunday Telegraph

ABOUT THIS BOOK

about this book

ISBN: 9781840468748

Price: 7.99 GBP

Pages: 240

Publication date: 03/04/2008

Category: General History, Social & Cultural History

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The Truth That Sticks

The Truth That Sticks (Paperback)

New Labour's Breach of Trust

Martin Bell

New Labour surged to power eleven years ago on the promise to be 'whiter than white', but their record in office and abuse of trust have proved a bitter disappointment for millions who believed this pledge to clean up politics.Martin Bell, a journalist whose career has been made reporting from the world's unquiet corners, and one-time Independent MP elected on an anti-sleaze platform, asks – what went wrong? Wide-ranging and pulling no punches, "The Truth That Sticks" is a crushing analysis of a decade of deception, dishonesty and abuse of power, delivered with precision and great passion.It is a book that only Martin Bell could have written, and, as Martin's new postscript shows, it's a critique just as relevant now with Gordon Brown in charge.



Martin Bell OBE has covered assignments for the BBC in more than 80 countries and eleven wars, including Bosnia, where millions watched as he was nearly killed by shrapnel. In 1997 Martin became the first independent MP to be elected to Parliament since 1950.


ABOUT THIS BOOK

about this book

ISBN: 9781840468786

Price: 9.99 GBP

Pages: 304

Publication date: 01/05/2008

Category: Current Affairs & Politics

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Atom

Atom (Paperback)

Piers Bizony

Jim Al-Khalili

No one ever expected the atom to be as bizarre, as capricious, and as weird as it turned out to be. Its tale is one riddled with jealousy, rivalry, missed opportunities and moments of genius.Piers Bizony tells the story of the young misfit New Zealander, Ernest Rutherford, who showed that the atom consisted mainly of empty space, a discovery that turned 200 years of classical physics on its head, and the brilliant Dane, Niels Bohr, who made the next great leap into the incredible world of quantum theory.Yet he and a handful of other Young Turks in this revolutionary new science weren't prepared for the shocks that Nature had up her sleeve. At the dawn of the Atomic Age, a dangerous new force was unleashed with terrifying speed…



Piers Bizony is a science journalist and space historian who writes for magazines such as Focus and Wired as well as the BBC's Sky at Night magazine. His last book, The Man Who Ran the Moon, was described as a 'firebrand of a book' by Publisher's Weekly.


Bizony's insightful, compelling book chronicles our quest to understand the atom through the personalities of those who looked furthest into its abyss – a human drama wrought with frustration, love, guilt and genius.'New Scientist

ABOUT THIS BOOK

about this book

ISBN: 9781840468731

Price: 8.99 GBP

Pages: 256

Publication date: 01/05/2008

Category: Popular Science & Mathematics

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Making Time

Making Time (Paperback)

Why Time Seems to Pass at Different Speeds and How to Control it

Steve Taylor

Why does time seem to speed up as we get older? Why does it seem to drag when we're bored or in pain, or to go slowly when we're in unfamiliar environments? Why does it slow down dramatically in accidents and emergency situations, when sportspeople are 'in the zone', or in higher states of consciousness?

Making Time explains why we have these different perceptions of time, suggesting that there are five basic 'laws' of psychological time and uncovering the factors which cause them. It uses evidence from modern physics and unusual states of consciousness to suggest that our normal sense of time is an illusion, 'created' by our minds. But perhaps more importantly, on a practical level, this book shows us what we can do to control our sense of time passing, to make it pass slowly or quickly in different situations. It suggests that it is possible for us to live through more time in our lives, and so effectively increase the amount of time which we are alive for.

In the final chapter, Steve Taylor uses insights from Buddhism – investigating the practices of mindfulness and meditation – to show how we can actually transcend linear time, and learn to live fully in the present moment.



Steve Taylor PhD is the author of several best-selling books on psychology and spirituality, and is a senior lecturer in psychology at Leeds Beckett University. He is the current chair of the Transpersonal Psychology Section of the British Psychological Society. His other books include Waking From Sleep, The Fall, Out of the Darkness, Back to Sanity, The Leap and Spiritual Science. He lives in Manchester with his wife and children.


Raising some fascinating questions about the nature of time and answering them admirably, this book will grab your attention, befuddle you slightly and leave you feeling invigorated with a new perspective, if not thoroughly enlightened. Using both psychological and physical science Taylor explores these ideas in an entirely accessible and engaging way, leading the reader calmly through a tangle of theory and philosophy. Time you read it.Crack
In what is both a practical manual and a text-book of psychology, [Steve Taylor] illustrates that time itself is in some senses an illusion determined by circumstances such as our age, our boredom threshold, and our childlike eagerness for exciting things. It is possible to alter our perceptions in order to make time pass quickly or slowly, just as we wish, and Taylor shows how it can be done.Good Book Guide
A fascinating book completely worth reading.Odyssey
Provocative and freewheeling, wilfully unscientific without ever dabbling in pseudoscience, this book will really start you thinking about how you can try to be free.Independent
A fascinating inquiry … Taylor's book is so absorbing that time will fly by as you read it.Herald

ABOUT THIS BOOK

about this book

ISBN: 9781848310018

Price: 8.99 GBP

Pages: 272

Publication date: 03/07/2008

Category: Psychology

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The Armchair Naturalist

The Armchair Naturalist (Paperback)

How to be Good at Nature without Really Trying

Johnson P. Johnson

If only everything in the countryside came with helpful name tags and instructions attached, knowing stuff about nature would be child's play.

Until that day, "The Armchair Naturalist" is at hand to guide even the most urban of settlers in the ways of Britain's flora and fauna.

Teeming with illustrations, The Armchair Naturalist will transform you overnight into an expert on anything Mother Nature may throw at you, from funny animals to fir trees, cows to cowslips, blue tits to bluebells, toads to toadstools, and much more besides.Astonish your friends as you plunge your hands into nettles without being stung.

Be secretly amazed at your newfound talent for predicting the weather, befriending seabirds, and knocking up a nourishing breakfast from even the most unpromising undergrowth.



Johnson P. Johnson has become legendary among naturalists for his keen eye, feel for plant life, and Dolittlesque affinity with animals. With The Armchair Naturalist he at last shares the wisdom acquired through a lifetime's research into Britain's flora and fauna with a wider audience.


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about this book

ISBN: 9781840468823

Price: 7.99 GBP

Pages: 240

Publication date: 05/06/2008

Category: Popular Science & Mathematics

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Bob Wilson's Ultimate Collection of Peculiar Sporting Lingo

Bob Wilson's Ultimate Collection of Peculiar Sporting Lingo (Paperback)

Bob Wilson

This is the comprehensive collection of sport's strangest terms encountered in the 50-year career of one of British sport's greatest sages.Have you ever flashed at a googly in the corridor of uncertainty while on a sticky dog? Maybe you've seen someone hit a mulligan out of the screws to grab a birdie at Amen Corner, or had to deal with a falling leaf from God while trying to survive the Group of Death?The world of sport has its own language, wonderfully rich in strange words and phrases, whose origins often stretch back centuries. Collected together for the first time, Veteran BBC presenter and football legend Bob Wilson has pulled together his widely acclaimed and hugely successful books of the last two years ("Googlies", "Nutmegs & Bogeys" and "Rucks, Pucks & Sliders") and added considerable new material to create the most comprehensive guide to peculiar sporting terminology ever compiled. In this ultimate and brilliantly illustrated guide, discover the fascinating true meanings, heritage and evolution of all the great sporting terms we use today.



Bob Wilson is the veteran presenter of nine World Cups, Grandstand, Football Focus, Sportsnight and Match of the Day, and was goalkeeper for Scotland and Arsenal. His Willow Foundation charity, set up in memory of his daughter, Anna, who died of cancer aged 31, receives royalties from the sale of his books.


ABOUT THIS BOOK

about this book

ISBN: 9781848310025

Price: 8.99 GBP

Pages: 432

Publication date: 03/07/2008

Category: Sport

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The Great Books

The Great Books (Paperback)

From "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" to Goethe's "Faust": A Journey Through 2,500 Years of the West's Classic Literature

Anthony O'Hear

Anthony O'Hear presents a personal tour of the most impressive, influential and era-defining books mankind has ever produced.

Paradise Lost, The Canterbury Tales, Don Quixote: great literature can be read by anyone, with a little help. Anthony O'Hear leads the way with this captivating journey through two-and-a-half millennia of books as dark, powerful, erotic, thrilling, politically astute and awe-inspiring as any modern bestseller.

We begin with Homer, whose poems of epic struggle have made him the father of Western literature. After Greek tragedy, Plato, and Virgil's Aeneid comes Ovid, whose encyclopaedic Metamorphoses is an inexhaustible source for European art and literature. Via St Augustine we reach Dante, the author of The Divine Comedy, a sublime, terrifying tour through "Hell", "Purgatory" and an ecstatic vision of "Paradise". Chaucer, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Milton, Pascal, Racine and finally Goethe complete the cast list.

In each case, O'Hear patiently draws out themes, focuses on key passages and explains why they are important. Personal, passionate, painstakingly researched and beautifully illustrated, this is a grand work of reference. But it is also a narrative history shot through with a love of literature, and a deeply-held belief in its power to shape everyone's world.



Anthony O'Hear is Weston Professor of Philosophy at the University of Buckingham, Director of the Royal Institute of Philosophy, and Editor of the journal Philosophy. His journalism has featured notably in the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mail and the Express, and he is often on Radio 4's Today programme and Radio 3's Night Waves.


In this carefully researched labour of love, O'Hear conveys his enthusiasm for the outstanding authors we know we should read, but often don't.The Good Book Guide
O'Hear shows how rewarding it can be to rediscover 'The Canterbury Tales,' 'Don Quixote,' and other era-defining, yet timeless, classics.The Good Book Guide
O'Hear's range is extraordinarily wide and he has a rare ability to explain complex ideas in a straightforward fashion.Sunday Telegraph
Impassioned and impressive.John Gray, Independent
Salty and addictive.Daily Telegraph
Fascinating.Alain de Botton, Observer

ABOUT THIS BOOK

about this book

ISBN: 9781848310063

Price: 10.99 GBP

Pages: 480

Publication date: 07/08/2008

Category: Literature & Language

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