True stories of discovery Books
ACA Publishing Limited Tu Youyou: China's First Nobel Prize Winner
Book SynopsisAs the first Chinese female scientist to win a Nobel prize (in physiology or medicine) in 2015, what were Tu Youyou’s formative experiences and the major events that shaped her life? How did this remarkable woman − without a medical degree, doctorate or overseas work experience – makesuch a valuable contribution to the control of malaria? This book explores the extraordinary career of this modest, frugal and very unconventional scientist and records her inspirational work.During early clinical trials, Tu traveled to malaria-endemic areas of Hainan and was the first to test her medicine on herself to ensure it was safe after the drug had shown promising results in mice and monkeys. Only then were the clinical trials expanded to include other humans.Afflicted with tuberculosis at the age of 16, Tu Youyou recovered two years later with a determination to make up for lost time. In fact, the illness was the making of her in that it sparked an interest in medicine and pharmacology and a desire to help save the lives of others. Indifferent to fame and wealth, and courageous in the pursuit of truth, she went on to make remarkable scientific achievements.Although born in Ningbo at a time of turmoil, Tu Youyou was among the first intake of female college students in the new China. She made the most of this good fortune by devoting herself to decades of quiet and patient labor in which she embraced Chairman Mao Zedong’s quest for the country to combine traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine.Separated from her family, she led a national research group codenamed ‘Mission 523’ tasked with developing antimalarial drugs from Chinese medicines. Exposing themselves to considerable hardship and danger, the team’s pioneering work led to the discovery of artemisinin, a drug therapy that has since saved millions of lives across the globe, especially in developing countries.
£9.45
Skyscraper Publications Mau Mau Interrogator
Book Synopsis
£18.00
Scribe Publications The Dinosaur Artist: obsession, betrayal, and the
Book SynopsisNew Yorker magazine staff writer Paige Williams delves into the surprisingly perilous world of fossil collectors in this riveting true tale. In 2012, a New York auction catalogue boasted an unusual offering: ‘a superb Tyrannosaurus skeleton’. In fact, Lot 49135 consisted of a nearly complete T. bataar — a close cousin to the more-famous T. rex — that had been unearthed in Mongolia. At 2.4 metres high and 7.3 metres long, the specimen was spectacular, and the winning bid was over $1 million. Eric Prokopi, a 38-year-old Floridian, had brought this extraordinary skeleton to market. A one-time swimmer who’d spent his teenage years diving for shark teeth, Prokopi's singular obsession with fossils fuelled a thriving business, hunting for, preparing, and selling specimens to clients ranging from natural-history museums to avid private collectors like Leonardo DiCaprio. But had Prokopi gone too far this time? As the T. bataar went to auction, a network of paleontologists alerted the government of Mongolia to the eye-catching lot. An international custody battle ensued, with Prokopi watching as his own world unravelled. The Dinosaur Artist is a stunning work of narrative journalism about humans' relationship with natural history, and about a seemingly intractable conflict between science and commerce. A story that stretches from Florida's Land O' Lakes to the Gobi Desert, The Dinosaur Artist illuminates the history of fossil collecting — a murky, sometimes risky business, populated by eccentrics and obsessives, where the lines between poacher and hunter, collector and smuggler, and enthusiast and opportunist can easily blur.Trade Review‘The Dinosaur Artist is a tale that has everything: passion, science, politics, intrigue, and, of course, dinosaurs. Paige Williams is a wonderful storyteller.’ -- Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction‘The Dinosaur Artist is a breathtaking feat of writing and reporting: a strange, irresistible, and beautifully written story steeped in natural history, human nature, commerce, crime, science, and politics. It's at once laugh-out-loud funny and deeply sobering. I was blown away by the depth of its characters, its vivid details, and Paige Williams' incredible command of the facts. Bottom line: this is an extraordinary debut by one of the best nonfiction writers we've got.’ -- Rebecca Skloot, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks‘What a terrific book. A fascinating story of adventure and obsession, and a captivating journey into the world of fossils and fossil peddlers, scientists, museums, international politics, the history of life, and the nature of human nature. Williams writes beautifully about it all. If you love dinosaurs, paleontology, or just a rollicking good tale, you will love this book. I couldn't put it down.’ -- Jennifer Ackerman, New York Times bestselling author of The Genius of Birds‘A cracking combination of true crime, dinosaurs, and top-notch investigative journalism. Paige Williams' riveting tale exposes the dodgy dealings of the black market trade in dinosaurs, an international underworld that that few people have probably heard of, and which breaks my heart as a paleontologist.’ -- Steve Brusatte, bestselling author of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs‘Paige Williams is that rare reporter who burrows into a subject until all of its dimensions, all of its darkened corners and secret chambers, are illuminated. With The Dinosaur Artist, she has done more than reveal a gripping true crime story; she has cast light on everything from obsessive fossil hunters to how the earth evolved. This is a tremendous book.’ -- David Grann, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon‘The Dinosaur Artist is a triumph. With peerless prose and sharp-eyed reporting, Paige Williams weaves a story that, even as it spans continents and transcends geological epochs, is deeply anchored in the passion and hubris of a rich cast of characters. Captivating, funny, and profound, it is easily one of the strongest works of non-fiction in years.’ -- Ed Yong, staff writer, The Atlantic; New York Times bestselling author of I Contain Multitudes‘Paige Williams is as deft as the fossil hunters and skeleton builders she writes about. As they exhume treasures secreted in earthen repositories and assemble brilliant mounts from a scattering of dinosaur bones, she mines exquisite details from a quarry of source materials and pieces together a compelling story out of a spillage of human experience. The result is a work of art.’ -- Jack E. Davis, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Gulf‘I am in awe of Paige Williams. Every line of The Dinosaur Artist — from her deeply informed discussions of paleontology and the law to her often withering and hilarious descriptions — was a pleasure to read. Few nonfiction writers are capable of mining their characters with such a winning blend of sympathy, wonder, and rigour.’ -- Liza Mundy, New York Times bestselling author of Michelle and Code Girls‘Williams' illuminating chronicle questions who has a right to nature.’ * Booklist *‘Prokopi's case is a fascinating example of the pull of prehistoric fossils and the power of law. Nature enthusiasts, scientists, and politics buffs will sink their teeth into this intriguing account.’ -- Jeffrey Meyer * Library Journal *‘New Yorker staff writer Williams uses the story of fossil enthusiast Eric Prokopi to illuminate the murky world of modern fossil hunting in this fascinating account ... a triumphant book that will appeal to a wide audience.’ * Publishers Weekly *‘A palaeontological page-turner … Williams has written a masterful book of suspense and true-crime that is as fair in the portrayal of its protagonists, as it is thorough in the context in which the story is situated.’ * The Inquisitive Biologist *‘Ms. Williams’s writing is often concise and evocative … gripping and cinematic.’ -- Richard Conniff * The Wall Street Journal *‘An intriguing story of dinosaur smuggling … Good fun for fossil freaks.’ * Kirkus *‘Williams’s painstakingly detailed reporting reminds us that events like these are far more complicated than they might seem, and if we want the commercial fossil trade to be anything other than what it currently is, we must understand the intricate pushes and pulls of the industry ... this is where The Dinosaur Artist excels ... details and characters bring home the fact that the challenge of combating fossil smuggling and reforming the trade is truly daunting.’ -- Lydia Pyne * The Los Angeles Review of Books *‘The strange underground world Prokopi inhabits inevitably brings us in contact with some serious oddballs, each of whom is introduced by Williams with the economy and evocative precision of a haiku. In affectless, purposeful prose we get a stream of increasingly strange and piquant factoids about these people, who seem to emerge straight out of a Coen brothers movie.’ -- Peter Brannen * The New York Times Book Review *‘An ambitious and worthy addition to the natural history and science-writing canon, and also to national cultural heritage literature.’ -- Julia Jackson * Readings *‘Williams uses the story of Prokopi to dig into the muddy world of fossil collectors, dealers and sellers. It’s a world where underfunded museums compete with wealthy film stars to buy the most valuable skeletons, and only expert palaeontologists can identify bones that can be easily smuggled from a country where they are protected to a country where they can be sold freely. It’s a fascinating journey to the centre of the modern Jurassic world.’ * Herald Sun *‘New Yorker writer Paige Williams assembles the story as meticulously as a palaeontologist and the result is fascinating, taking in the tales of the protagonists, the tussles between science and commercial fossil hunters and the history of the science itself … A superior piece of investigative writing.’ * Sydney Morning Herald *‘A timely caution on the perils of buried treasure.’ -- Robyn Douglas * Adelaide Advertiser *
£13.49
Monsoon Books The Man who Collected Women
Book SynopsisA novel about eccentric 19th-century Englishman Alexander Hare: a trader and slave-owner in the East and a friend of Thomas Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore, but Hare's chief claim to fame is as the creator of a harem of women from throughout Asia.
£8.54
Centrala Ltd Savages: 2023
Book Synopsis
£21.24
Notting Hill Editions Brazil That Never Was
Book SynopsisAs a boy growing up near Liverpool in the 1950s, Andrew Lees would visit the docks with his father to watch the ships from Brazil unload their exotic cargo of coffee, cotton bales, molasses, cocoa - the ships’ names and goods noted down in loving detail in his exercise book. One day, his father gave him a dog-eared book called Exploration Fawcett. The book told the true story of Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Fawcett, a British explorer who in 1925 had gone in search of a lost city in the Amazon, and never returned. The riveting story of Fawcett’s encounters with deadly animals and hostile tribes, his mission to discover an Atlantean civilization, and the many who lost their own lives when they went in search of him, inspired the young Lees to believe that there were still earthly places where one could ‘fall off the edge’.Lees travelled to Manaus in Fawcett’s footsteps. After a time-bending psychedelic experience in the forest, he understood that his yearning for the imaginary Brazil of his boyhood, like Fawcett’s search for an earthly paradise, was a nostalgia for what never was. Part travelogue, part memoir, Lees paints a portrait of an elusive Brazil, and a flawed explorer whose doomed mission ruined lives.Trade Review"A. J. Lees’s new book Brazil That Never Was is an engaging treasure, urgent in its message, thrilling in its telling. His masterful tale marries the grandeur of the natural historian with the passion of the outlier poet. Like the physician Arthur Conan Doyle, and friend and fellow neurologist Oliver Sacks, Lees is a detective, tracking the mysteries of the human mind....We follow two journeys: Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett’s and Lees’s own...Lees’s eloquent tale urges: support Native peoples, protect other species, help win this battle. For soon the real tropical cornucopia of Brazil will likely be lost, as if it never was." —Kathelin Gray, Los Angeles Review of Books “This is a book about daydreams, melancholy and nostalgia in the very best sense. It is also a dramatic travelogue, from boyhood fantasy about an imagined Brazil to its flawed but life-transforming reality. It is a poetic meditation on time past and present, beautifully written and expertly composed.” —Andrew Hussey “This book is about the quest for a place that, like the mythical Lake Parima on ancient maps of South America, is only an illusion. Following in the maddening footsteps of the lost explorer Percy Harrison Fawcett, Andrew Lees explores his own life, and his longing for the deepest places of the mind and the remotest places on Earth. The trip is beautiful even if, in the end, that place is nowhere to be found.” —Héctor Abad “What begins as a personal reflection on the western world's endless fascination with Amazonia and its mysteries, develops in a most unexpected way, as Andrew Lees' prose becomes our Virgil, taking the reader for a leap into the unknown, way further than any other expedition has ever dreamed of.” —Ciro Guerra, director of the Academy Award–nominated Embrace of the Serpent “Reality is no match, it seems, for the rapture of existence conveyed in a long-ago book. Dr. Lees’s own writing can be such an exercise in enthrallment. . . . sentences in Dr. Lees’s elegy for vanished youth flare up and shimmer with revelation, like lost arrowheads upturned by the plow.” —Danny Heitman, The Wall Street Journal
£14.24
Indigo Dreams Publishing Skookum Jim and The Klondike Gold Rush
Book Synopsis
£9.50
Octopus Publishing Group A Normal Family: The Surprising Truth About My
Book SynopsisONE OF PEOPLE MAGAZINE'S BEST SUMMER READS 20225* 'A jaw-dropping memoir' - THE TELEGRAPH'One of the maddest memoirs you'll read this year... a beautiful, warm, funny book.' -The Times'Extraordinary' -The Guardian'A wholly absorbing page-turner that everyone will want to read. You should probably buy two.' -Kirkus Starred Review'A riveting debut.' -People Magazine'By turns hilarious, wrenching, and achingly tender.' -Susan Orlean, New York Times bestselling author'A remarkable and wise book, two memoirs braided together with such tendresse that readers will come to believe the ironic title in earnest' -LA TIMES'Riveting and hilariously funny' - The TimesFor most of her life, Chrysta Bilton was one member of a small, if dysfunctional, family of four. There was her sister, Kaitlyn, her hedonistic, glamorous, gay mum Debra, and Jeffrey, who Debra hand-picked, in an LA hairdressers, to be the father of her children. During Chrysta's unstable childhood, Debra struggled to keep the family afloat and Jeffrey wandered in and out of their lives.Then, in her twenties, Chrysta discovered that her father had secretly donated his sperm over 500 times - and that she had at least 35 other siblings.A Normal Family is a captivating coming-of-age memoir about Chrysta's reckoning with the secrets both parents had carefully kept from her. Heartfelt, warm and funny, it's a story of embracing the family we have, in all the forms we find it.Trade ReviewBilton's twisty life story is fascinating, and her eye for detail and ability to plumb her painful past for meaning make this a riveting debut. * PEOPLE magazine *This beautiful, warm, funny book is a testament to human resilience, forgiveness and humour. It is also a love letter to an extraordinary mother. * The Times *Is there anything original left to say about surviving a dysfunctional upbringing? A Normal Family by Chrysta Bilton takes this question almost as a dare. * BOOKPAGE *Vulnerable and omniscient * USA TODAY *Extraordinary * The Guardian *5* - A jaw-dropping memoir * The Telegraph *One of the maddest memoirs you'll read this year... a beautiful, warm, funny book. * The Times *A wholly absorbing page-turner that everyone will want to read. You should probably buy two. * Kirkus *I thought my family was complicated until I read Chrysta Bilton's wonderful memoir about the unique collection of irresistible characters in her life. Bilton has a big heart, gentle wisdom, keen eye and lovely wit. She's a gifted writer with an astonishing story to tell. * David Sheff, author of Beautiful Boy *By turns hilarious, wrenching, and achingly tender, this is a memoir about family that turns the whole idea of family upside down. Bilton writes beautifully, with sharp insight and a light touch, about her harrowing, astonishing journey into understanding her parents, her (very) extended family, and herself. * Susan Orlean, New York Times bestselling author of 'On Animals' and 'Rin Tin Tin' *A Normal Family had me absolutely riveted from beginning to end. Chrysta Bilton has woven an impeccable narrative about the explosion of love, betrayal, addiction, and menagerie of animals that made up her madcap and calamitous childhood. The story is dominated by Bilton's hedonistic, cult-inclined, womanizing, unstable and uncanny lesbian single mother, who had to make it up as she went along, and is surely one of the most mesmerizing "characters" in recent memoir. A Normal Family narrowly escapes being a tragedy, redeemed by Bilton's compassionate storytelling and unwavering love for her untraditional family. * Stephanie Danler, author of 'Sweetbitter' *It's hard to put into words the many ways this book spoke to me. Normal Family reads like a thriller with its core mystery being the very meaning of life itself: vividly specific but also universal, with family as protagonist and antagonist, but always the hero. * Ry Russo-Young, filmmaker (Nuclear Family) *Chrysta Bilton's astonishing, wildly unpredictable memoir Normal Family starts out as rollicking and suspenseful and only ramps up from there, becoming by turns frightening, riotously funny, and finally quite moving. * Robert Kolker, New York Times bestselling author of 'Hidden Valley Road' *Eloquently written and compulsively readable, Bilton's jaw-dropping coming-of-age memoir-and the love and survival found within its pages-is one readers won't soon forget. * Library Journal *A remarkable and wise book, two memoirs braided together with such tendresse that readers will come to believe the ironic title in earnest * LA Times *An ebullient debut that proves it's love, not DNA, that makes a family * PEOPLE magazine *
£15.29
Octopus Publishing Group A Normal Family: The Surprising Truth About My
Book SynopsisONE OF PEOPLE MAGAZINE'S BEST SUMMER READS 20225* 'A jaw-dropping memoir' - THE TELEGRAPH'One of the maddest memoirs you'll read this year... a beautiful, warm, funny book.' -The Times'A wholly absorbing page-turner that everyone will want to read. You should probably buy two.' -Kirkus Starred Review'A riveting debut.' -People Magazine'By turns hilarious, wrenching, and achingly tender.' -Susan Orlean, New York Times bestselling author'A remarkable and wise book, two memoirs braided together with such tendresse that readers will come to believe the ironic title in earnest' -LA TIMES'Riveting and hilariously funny' - The TimesFor most of her life, Chrysta Bilton was one member of a small, if dysfunctional, family of four. There was her sister, Kaitlyn, her hedonistic, glamorous, gay mum Debra, and Jeffrey, who Debra hand-picked, in an LA hairdressers, to be the father of her children. During Chrysta's unstable childhood, Debra struggled to keep the family afloat and Jeffrey wandered in and out of their lives.Then, in her twenties, Chrysta discovered that her father had secretly donated his sperm over 500 times - and that she had at least 35 other siblings.A Normal Family is a captivating coming-of-age memoir about Chrysta's reckoning with the secrets both parents had carefully kept from her. Heartfelt, warm and funny, it's a story of embracing the family we have, in all the forms we find it.Trade ReviewBilton's twisty life story is fascinating, and her eye for detail and ability to plumb her painful past for meaning make this a riveting debut. * PEOPLE magazine *This beautiful, warm, funny book is a testament to human resilience, forgiveness and humour. It is also a love letter to an extraordinary mother. * The Times *Is there anything original left to say about surviving a dysfunctional upbringing? A Normal Family by Chrysta Bilton takes this question almost as a dare. * BOOKPAGE *Vulnerable and omniscient * USA TODAY *Extraordinary * The Guardian *5* - A jaw-dropping memoir * The Telegraph *One of the maddest memoirs you'll read this year... a beautiful, warm, funny book. * The Times *
£10.44
Scribe Publications Veritas: a Harvard professor, a con man, and the
Book SynopsisFrom award-winning author Ariel Sabar comes the gripping, true story of a sensational religious forgery and the scandal that engulfed Harvard University. In 2012, Dr Karen King, a star professor at Harvard Divinity School, announced a blockbuster discovery. She had found an ancient fragment of papyrus — ‘The Gospel of Jesus’s Wife’, as she titled it — in which Jesus called Mary Magdalene ‘my wife’. Her announcement made international headlines. If early Christians believed that Jesus was married, it would upend the 2,000-year history of the world’s predominant faith, threatening not just the celibate, all-male priesthood but sacred teachings on marriage, sex, and women’s leadership. As debates over the manuscript’s authenticity raged, award-winning journalist Ariel Sabar set out to investigate a baffling mystery: where did this tiny scrap of papyrus come from? His indefatigable search for answers became an international true-crime story, in which, remarkably, he managed to solve the crime. Trade Review‘Ariel Sabar tells a fascinating story.’ -- Craig Brown * The Mail on Sunday *‘A dramatic tale of gullibility, deception, ideology and academic politics.’ -- Matthew Reisz * Times Higher Education *‘[A] madcap, unforgettable book … [F]or enthusiasts of ancient Christianity … and readers of idea-driven capers, whether by Daniel Silva or Janet Malcolm. It’s a barely believable tale, crazier than a tweed-sniffer in the faculty lounge.’ -- Mark Oppenheimer * New York Times Book Review *‘It’s a story about journalism done right, about Sabar’s own capable, dogged sleuthing to get to the bottom of those famous headlines … Veritas offers a vital lesson less about Christianity than about what happens when a scholar decides that the story is more important than the truth.’ -- Lucas Wittmann * Time *‘Ariel Sabar is an excellent investigative journalist explaining in detail a con that could have changed all of Christianity. Whatever the scam, the con artist and the victim both have an agenda.’ -- Frank Abagnale, author of Catch Me If You Can‘Mesmerising … [Sabar] has our attention, and slowly, remorselessly, he pays out the rest of his devilish yarn … Savour the denouement — and don't leave at intermission.’ -- Alex Beam * Wall Street Journal *‘Sabar’s meticulous reporting shows how quickly the first victims of a forgery turn into con men themselves, desperately manipulating the evidence to keep plugging holes in a forger’s fragile story. A masterful portrait of desire and a gripping analysis of a scandal that reveals the blurred lines between scholarship, faith, and lies. An unprecedented contribution to the study of forgery.’ -- Dr Erin Thompson, art crime professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and author of Possession: the curious history of private collectors from antiquity to the present‘This astonishing book — part detective story, part exercise in reporting conducted at its highest level — reaches hold of you by the shirt collar and doesn’t let go … Exciting on every level, it poses the deepest question of faith: does it depend on the scholarly verification of ancient fragments or on what Heaney called a journey ‘into the marvellous’? I was bowled over by it.’ -- Caitlin Flanagan, author of Girl Land‘Intriguing religious/true-crime story involving a possible wife of Jesus … A lengthy yet fascinating tale of how one scholar was duped, both by a con man and by herself.’ * Kirkus Reviews *‘Veritas is a fascinating journey into theology and academia, meticulously researched, well-written, consistently engaging.’ -- Gregg Easterbrook, author of It’s Better Than It Looks‘If turning scraps of ancient papyrus into an enthralling true-crime escapade takes a miracle, consider Ariel Sabar a miracle worker … Veritas, Latin for truth and inscribed on the Harvard seal, is an extraordinary and mind-bending adventure into ancient traditions with modern consequences.’ * Shelf Awareness *‘Sabar has written a true story of mystery and intrigue … [B]lending religious history with a tale of deception … [A] well-researched, engrossing backstory of failed discovery from a noted scholar.’ -- Jacqueline Parascandola * Library Journal *‘A work of exemplary narrative nonfiction … [F]itting neatly into the truth-is-stranger-than-fiction category … Provocative and probing.’ STARRED REVIEW * Booklist/American Library Association *‘Fascinating … Ariel Sabar digs out every detail in his engrossing book … The interaction of these two characters, one with a deep need to deceive and the other with a desperate need to believe, presents a wholly human story of frailty and weakness.’ -- Tom Gjelten * NPR *‘[A]n exhaustive examination of the whole affair in a work of exemplary narrative nonfiction … Provocative and probing, this will entice readers interested in the history of early Christianity.’ -- Ilene Cooper * Booklist *‘Extraordinary … [A]stonishing … The book is as good as a detective novel, possessing plot, subplots, hidden motives, bees in eccentric bonnets and startling revelations.’ -- Katherine A. Powers * Minneapolis Star Tribune *‘A tour de force of investigative journalism … Mr. Sabar’s book is a model on how to investigate any new ‘discoveries’ from ancient texts. It is also a cautionary tale about the acceptance of experts and expertise at face value.’ -- Rebecca I. Denova * Pittsburgh Post-Gazette *‘Sabar offers plenty of fascinating arcana about scientific and historical methods for testing and analysing such an object, and he also brings to life many of the people involved … Veritas is packed with details and tells a complex story, but Sabar’s prose is clear and inviting, and the book is structured with a well-tuned sense of suspense. It’s a wonderfully absorbing example of truth being stranger than fiction.’ -- Colette Bancroft * Tampa Bay Times *‘A thriller for eggheads.’ * Boston Globe *‘A testament to the value of investigative journalism … [F]ull of shocking and revelatory moments.’ * Daily Beast *‘Scintillating … Sabar is a master storyteller.’ * Tablet *Praise for My Father's Paradise: ‘A biography, a memoir, a meticulously reconstructed history of a largely vanished people and place … Transcending mere reportage, it acquires a novel-like warp and weft.’ * Los Angeles Times *Praise for My Father's Paradise: ‘Sabar offers something rare and precious — a tale of hope and continuity that can be passed on for generations.’ STARRED REVIEW * Publishers Weekly *Praise for My Father's Paradise: ‘Graceful and resonant.’ * New York Times Sunday Book Review *Praise for Heart of the City: ‘A beguiling romp.’ * New York Times *Praise for Heart of the City: ‘Charming, uplifting tales.’ * Library Journal *Praise for Heart of the City: ‘Quirky true tales about city landmarks and chance encounters.’ * New York Magazine *
£17.09
The Conrad Press Gunpowder, Apples and Cement: the story of an
Book SynopsisThis fascinating, meticulously researched book is an affectionate account of an English country home, Higham Hall in Kent. When you live in a historic house, you are always conscious of your predecessors. 'Gunpowder, Apples and Cement' brings the previous occupants of one such house to life. Detailing a continuous thread of occupation from the mid-seventeenth century to today, tells the story of an English country home and the families who lived there. Full of engrossing details about the social and economic history of Kent, it provides an engaging history of middle-class English life over a period of 450 years. In the process, this captivating story looks at the links between intensely local history and national events - and reminds us that history is made up of individuals and their stories.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1 - Higham - a North Kent village Chapter 2 - Early ownership Chapter 3 - 'New Plants' - Samuel Cordwell and his father in law, Richard Machen Chapter 4 - Samuel Cordwell - gunpowder maker to the King Chapter 5 - Cordwell to Levinge - London lawyers Chapter 6 - The Dutch connection : the Van Heythuysen family Chapter 7 - John, Henry and James Taylor - the Taylors of Taylors Lane Chapter 8 - Tenant farmers Chapter 9 - Nineteenth-century owners and landlords Chapter 10 - The de Michele family Chapter 11 - Beatrice, Dorothy and Adam and their children - the impact of two world wars on one family Chapter 12 - Society women and army officers Chapter 13 - Post-war fortunes and the division of the estate Chapter 14 - A middle-class home in the late twentieth century Chapter 15 - House history and what it tells us Endnotes Appendices Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Appendix 3 Appendix 4
£9.49
Salamander Street Limited Peter Arnott: Two Plays: Tay Bridge / The
Book SynopsisTay BridgeOn the night of Sunday December 28, 1879, the unthinkable happened. Battered by a ferocious storm, the Tay Bridge collapsed. Tay Bridge tells the poignant and unexpected stories of the suddenly interrupted passengers making the journey that night. Who were they? Where were they going? A powerful ensemble piece, Tay Bridge gives a whole new perspective on this famous bridge disaster.The SignalmanWinter 1919. Thomas Barclay is transported back in time by his memories of the night when he was the Signalman who sent the Edinburgh/Burntisland train onto the Tay Rail Bridge forty years before. Who is responsible when accidents occur? Why do we need somebody to blame...even if it's ourselves?Trade ReviewTAY BRIDGE'Peter Arnott's brilliant vignettes about a 1879 railway bridge disaster imagine the lives and hopes of passengers stalked by death. [Arnott] pulls it off brilliantly thanks to vivid writing, political nous and thematic unity.' Guardian 'a thrilling portrait of Scotland at that 19th century moment, with all its inequalities, hypocrisies, tensions and possibilities... offers an unforgettable insight into the terrible sense of shock and tragedy that swept over the city of Dundee, 140 years ago this winter.' The Scotsman THE SIGNALMAN 'Riveting... intense... a dark exploration of fear - and of the moment you realise your fears are real... wonderfully chilling' Thom Dibdin, AllEdinburghTheatre.com The Wee Review The Herald The Scotsman
£12.34
Crumps Barn Studio The Wild Night Sky: space stories and poetry, new
Book SynopsisStars and planets, vast skies and new horizons. A distant future with secrets in its past. A house sitter intercepts a message from a lost craft, while a tree holds the key to an alien invasion. Then a curlew rises from a starlit reedbed, before a child dreams of the moon landings, and a robot uncovers a lie which may just change everything ... Full of mystery and adventure, true memories and poetry, this is a brilliant and far-ranging collection about our present and future relationship with space
£8.54
The Conrad Press Dickens's Favourite Blacking Factory: The story
Book Synopsis‘Dickens’s Favourite Blacking Factory’ is the extraordinary story of Charles Day, a self-made nineteenth-century boot-blacking entrepreneur, the dispute over whose Will led Charles Dickens to create the apparently endless case of ‘Jarndyce and Jarndyce’ in his novel ‘Bleak House’. In this remarkable and highly imaginative telling of a true story, after a decades-long search for information on his ancestor, the author makes a fluke discovery, revealing a sweeping story of Regency and early-Victorian London. An actual 170,000-word document uncovered in the National Archives exposes the tragic last two months of the life of Charles Day. This includes his deteriorating mental faculties resulting from tertiary syphilis, his remarkable philanthropy, blackmail by a dodgy solicitor, the inertia of the contemporary legal system and the shame of illegitimacy, particularly in the wealthy classes. Perhaps the plot of Dickens’s ‘Bleak House’ even reflects aspects of Charles Day’s own life?Table of ContentsIllustrations 11 Family Trees 13 Maps 17 Preface 23 I. Prologue 29 II. Life 39 1. Small beginnings to big success 40 2. Introductions in Regency times 55 3. Competition and intellectual property 71 4. Edgware and the Peake sisters 84 5. The Peakes of Stafford, a likeness and lavish living 95 6. Births, deaths and almshouses 111 7. The troublesome daughter and making provisions 132 8. Towards the end 147 III. Death 167 The diary of William Foote 168 Preface 169 Dramatis Personae 171 Introduction 173 The Diary 187 IV. Aftermath 285 1. The beginnings of legal proceedings 286 2. Dufaur 300 3. The Price boys and a census 306 4. The Court of Chancery 316 5. Caterham 331 6. The destination of Charles Day’s fortune 339 7. The Dickens connection 354 V. Epilogue 371 The Unmasking of John (or Charles) Price 372 Appendix One The responses of Susannah Peake in PC53 402 Appendix Two The Will and Codicils of Charles Day 414 Sources, notes and references 440 Bibliography 453 Acknowledgements 455 Table of Contents Preface 3 Chapter 1: On Optimism, Hope, and False Hope 9 Chapter 2: On People and Human Nature 19 Chapter 3: On Negotiation and Cooperation 37 Chapter 4: On Stupidity 45 Chapter 5: On Creation of Artifacts and Things 49 Chapter 6: On Futility and Exasperation 59 Chapter 7: On Acceptance 79 Chapter 8: On Being Poor 85 Chapter 9: On the Value of Discipline 91 Chapter 10: On the False Promise of First Impressions 101 Chapter 11: On Wisdom 105 Chapter 12: On Competition 113 Chapter 13: On Trying to be Something You’re Not 125 Chapter 14: On Caution, Omens, and Sympathy 131 Chapter 15: On Leaders & Leadership 137 Chapter 16: On Patience 143 Chapter 17: On Making the Best of a Bad Situation 147 Chapter 18: On Accepting Consequences 151 Chapter 19: On Burdens, Luck & Fate 157 Glossary 165 Gloss: On Optimism, Hope, and False Hope 167 Gloss: On People and Human Nature 173 Gloss: On Negotiation and Cooperation 185 Gloss: On Stupidity 191 Gloss: On Creation of Artifacts and Things 195 Gloss: On Futility and Exasperation 201 Gloss: On Acceptance 215 Gloss: On Being Poor 219 Gloss: On the Value of Discipline 223 Gloss: On the False Promise of First Impressions 229 Gloss: On Wisdom 231 Gloss: On Competition 237 Gloss: On Trying to be Something You’re not 245 Gloss: On Caution, Omens, and Sympathy 249 Gloss: On Leaders & Leadership 253 Gloss: On Patience 257 Gloss: On Making Best of a Bad Situation 261 Gloss: On Accepting Consequences 263 Gloss: On Burdens, Luck & Fate 267 About the authors 272
£11.39
Crafty Birdie Designs The Great Scottish Women Colouring Book
Book Synopsis
£8.99
HARBOUR MOON PUBLISHING WHERE ONCE WE STOOD
Book Synopsis
£18.74
Simon & Schuster Dirty John and Other True Stories of Outlaws and
Book Synopsis
£16.20
Simon & Schuster The Director: My Years Assisting J. Edgar Hoover
Book SynopsisThe first book ever written about FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover by a member of his personal staff—his former assistant, Paul Letersky—offers unprecedented, “clear-eyed and compelling” (Mark Olshaker, coauthor of Mindhunter) insight into an American legend.The 1960s and 1970s were arguably among America’s most turbulent post-Civil War decades. While the Vietnam War continued seemingly without end, protests and riots ravaged most cities, the Kennedys and MLK were assassinated, and corruption found its way to the highest levels of politics, culminating in Watergate. In 1965, at the beginning of the chaos, twenty-two-year-old Paul Letersky was assigned to assist the legendary FBI director J. Edgar Hoover who’d just turned seventy and had, by then, led the Bureau for an incredible forty-one years. Hoover was a rare and complex man who walked confidently among the most powerful. His personal privacy was more tightly guarded than the secret “files” he carefully collected—and that were so feared by politicians and celebrities. Through Letersky’s close working relationship with Hoover, and the trust and confidence he gained from Hoover’s most loyal senior assistant, Helen Gandy, Paul became one of the few able to enter the Director’s secretive—and sometimes perilous—world. Since Hoover’s death half a century ago, millions of words have been written about the man and hundreds of hours of TV dramas and A-list Hollywood films produced. But until now, there has been virtually no account from someone who, for a period of years, spent hours with the Director on a daily basis. Balanced, honest, and keenly observed, this “vivid, foibles-and-all portrait of the fabled scourge of gangsters, Klansmen, and communists” (The Wall Street Journal) sheds new light on one of the most powerful law enforcement figures in American history.Trade Review“There has never been an account quite like The Director…Letersky has mined his experience to draw a vivid, foibles-and-all portrait of the fabled scourge of gangsters, Klansmen, and communists.” —Wall Street Journal“[Recounts] Letersky’s years in the FBI’s innermost circles….A fly-on-the-wall portrait of interest to students of crime—and rumor.” —Kirkus Reviews“A fascinating and long overdue look, from the inner sanctum, at J. Edgar Hoover’s decades-spanning dictatorial grip on the FBI. Paul Letersky takes you deep inside the psyche of the man who knew all the secrets and played them like a card shark. With a fistful of aces, Hoover imposed his will while protecting his own mysterious inner life.” —Tom Brokaw, Special Correspondent for NBC News and bestselling author of The Greatest Generation“There have been plenty of books about J. Edgar Hoover but this one brings new meaning to the term, ‘the devil is in the details’…. Letersky is a fine writer and storyteller and he told me things I never knew about the man—love him or hate him—who was a major figure in American history.” —Bob Schieffer, CBS News“Fascinating and engaging… Letersky brings to life a bygone era of G-Men, galoots, and molls—and, delightfully, Hoover's motherly gatekeeper “Miss Gandy,” who plays Moneypenny to the author's Bond.” —Chris Whipple, New York Times bestselling author of The Gatekeepers and The Spymasters“I have been writing about the FBI for a quarter century, and as a kid I even trick-or-treated at J. Edgar Hoover’s house. Even so, I discovered in former Special Agent Paul Letersky’s The Director new and fascinating insights...Neither a paean nor a hatchet job, this clear-eyed and compelling account of the author’s years with the director, followed by his adventures as a street agent, is a welcome contribution to the history of law enforcement and the culture of its most famous agency.” —Mark Olshaker, coauthor of Mindhunter, The Killer Across the Table, and The Killer’s Shadow“I entered the FBI under Mr. Hoover who turned out to be the best Director I served under in my twenty-seven years at the Bureau. This book is an honest and accurate portrayal of Hoover's personality and acts of kindness as well as the control he had over not just the FBI but politicians. A must read.” —Joe Pistone aka Donnie Brasco, former FBI Special Agent“Folksy and fascinating. Letersky had unusual personal access to Hoover and he documents many of his boss’ worst instincts and rigid eccentricities, but also debunks some of the pointless and nasty rumors.” —Sanford J. Ungar, former Director of Voice of America and host of “All Things Considered,” and author of FBI: An Uncensored Look Behind the Walls“For a span of decades that defies belief, J. Edgar Hoover wielded more power than any other lawman in American history. Paul Letersky’s rich eyewitness stories of a supercop who could be both steel-fisted and strangely soft makes this by far the most illuminating portrait of Hoover I’ve read.” —Don Brown, former prosecutor and bestselling author of Travesty of Justice“Though I worked for the FBI for a quarter century, I found many of the things Letersky talks about in The Director shockingly new, simply because no one dared speak them until now. The book rounds out what we know about J. Edgar Hoover. Yes, he was demanding, odd at times, secretive, and vindictive, but he was far more complex than most people imagine. Only could a person working by his side, who answered his phone and read his mail and dealt with his fits of pique and bursts of enthusiasm, give us this insight.” —Joe Navarro, former Special Agent and author of Three Minutes to Doomsday“Letersky draws back the curtain of history to offer a rare, cinematic glimpse into the psychology and motivation of the Bureau’s first Director, J. Edgar Hoover….A must read for anyone interested in the most celebrated of American law enforcement agencies.” —Robert K. Wittman, Founder of the FBI Art Crime Team and New York Times bestselling author of Priceless and The Devil’s Diary“Anyone interested in American history will find fascinating what the book reveals about ‘The Director’ and his agents. As a former member of Special Operations who learned to make maximum use of intel, I found entertaining what Letersky shows about the power of secrets.” —Tom Satterly, author of All Secure and, also, retired Delta Force operator whose life was portrayed in Black Hawk Down
£11.69
Simon & Schuster Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A
Book SynopsisThe definitive account of the disastrous siege at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, featuring never-before-seen documents, photographs, and interviews, from former investigative reporter and bestselling author Jeff Guinn.Waco breaks new ground that will change the perception of the dramatic events that happened in Waco, Texas, in 1993. Among other revelations, the book shows how David Koresh directly based his famous End Time prophecies on the writings of a previous “prophet” laying claim to the name Koresh—Cyrus Teed, in Fort Myers, Florida, in the late 1890s. More than a dozen former AFT agents who participated in the initial February 28, 1993 raid on Mount Carmel speak for the first time on the record about the poor decisions of their raid commanders that led to this deadly confrontation. They also provided Guinn with documents and photographs that have never been published. An FBI agent/analyst who was involved in the fifty-one-day siege offers fresh information about why the FBI agent in charge chose to end the siege with the use of CS gas and about a failed FBI cover-up afterward. There is also documentation of the direct links between the Branch Davidian tragedy and the modern militia movement in America—notorious conspiracist Alex Jones is a part of the Waco story. Jeff Guinn puts you right alongside the ATF agents as they embarked on the disastrous initial assault, unaware that the Davidians knew they were coming and were armed and prepared to resist—which the agents had been told would not happen. Drawing on new eyewitness accounts, Jeff Guinn again does what he did with his bestselling books about Charles Manson and Jim Jones, shedding new light on a story that everyone thinks they know.Trade Review"Gripping. . . . [Guinn] tells stories we thought we knew and makes us realize we really didn’t. He takes devils of the popular imagination and carefully explains that they’re actually human — a fact that makes them even more terrifying." -- Chris Vognar * Houston Chronicle *“Impressively researched and written with storytelling verve.” -- Barton Swaim * Wall Street Journal *"Thoroughly researched, the many lingering debates explored with the most rigor. [Guinn] He begins with what may be the best account of the ATF raid on Mount Carmel yet written, stocked with new details from interviews with veteran agents and written with clarity and drama." -- Eric Benson * Texas Monthly *"Guinn, whose reporting draws heavily on interviews with ATF agents present at Waco, is sympathetic to the agency’s rank-and-file. . . . But overall, [Waco] sketch[es] a portrait of an operation mishandled at almost every level of government." -- Quinta Jurecic * Washington Post *“Riveting. . . . As the author did in previous reports on Charles Manson and Jonestown, Guinn dives deeply into his subject to present a vivid combination of well-researched facts, personal testimonials, and controversial perspectives. A convincing and chilling coda to this investigation is the correlations Guinn draws among the Davidian compound raid, the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, and the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.” * Kirkus Reviews *“Guinn focuses on the standoff and the myriad bad decisions by the ATF and the FBI, capably tracing a throughline to the increase in anti-government hate groups. . . . Extremely well done and thought-provoking.” * Booklist *"[A] comprehensive and judicious account. . . . Scrupulous and frequently enthralling, this is a sobering account of a tragedy woven into the fabric of modern America." * Publishers Weekly *
£19.00
Kohlhammer Maximilian I.: Herrscher Und Mensch Einer
Book Synopsis
£24.65
De Gruyter Wie die Bilder ins Museum kamen: Biografien von
Book SynopsisOft erzählen Bilder Geschichten. Bilder haben aber auch selbst eine Geschichte, wenn sie auf dem Weg in ein Museum durch viele Hände gegangen sind. Sie verfügen über eigene Biografien. Der Autor, der sich auf Ergebnisse einschlägiger Provenienzforschung stützt, geht den Lebensbeschreibungen von Kunstwerken aus dem Wallraf-Richartz-Museum Köln auf die Spur: So musste die Stadt Köln 19 Jahre um ein Gemälde von Cranach gegen die Tochter Hermann Görings prozessieren; der Erwerb eines anderen Gemäldes musste teuer bezahlt werden, weil man es als Geschenk nicht haben wollte, und ein mutiger Museumsdirektor setzte seine Kunstankäufe gegen viele Widerstände durch. In diesem Buch für alle Museumsbesucher und Leser, die mehr über die Exponate erfahren wollen, werden die Geschichten hinter den Bildern lebendig.
£16.62
Harrassowitz Justus Samuel Scharschmid (1664-1724). Seine
Book Synopsis
£54.40
New Era Publications International APS L. Ron Hubbard: Adventurer Explorer: Daring Deeds
Book SynopsisTrek through the untamed American West, soar through the skies over the majestic Midwest and set sail with L. Ron Hubbard through his early adventures and explorations at the beginning of his epic journey. Anecdotes, articles and photographs illuminate it all.
£28.00
New Era Publications International APS L. Ron Hubbard: Early Years of Adventure: Letters
Book SynopsisExperience the real texture of living in L. Ron Hubbard's letters and journals. Accompany him as he photographs the secluded hinterlands of Puerto Rico, the captivating voyages across the Pacific, the island of Guam and the, then, rarely visited Great Wall of China - in the 1920ies and 1930ies.
£28.00
Brill Do I Look at You with Love?: Reimagining the
Book SynopsisDo I Look at You with Love? were the words uttered by Mark Freeman’s mother when she learned, once again, that he was her son. This book explores the experience of dementia as it transpired during the course of the final twelve years of her life, from the time of her diagnosis until her death in 2016 at age 93. As a longtime student of memory, identity, and narrative, as well as the son of a woman with dementia, he had a remarkable opportunity to try to understand and tell her story. Much of the story is tragic. But there were other periods and other dimensions of relationship that were beautiful and that could not have emerged without her very affliction. In the midst of affliction there were gifts, arriving unbidden, that served to alert Freeman and his family to what is most precious and real. These are part of the story too. Part narrative psychology, part memoir, part meditation on the beauty and light that might be found amidst the ravages of time and memory, Freeman’s moving story is emblematic of nothing less than the bittersweet reality of life itself.Trade Review"In Do I Look, the autoethnographic form enables Freeman to make the fullest use of himself as a person reflecting on his own life and as a scholar who can frame those reflections in relation to others’ thinking. (…) Do I Look at You with Love? broadens our imagination of research, while it troubles our sense of personal, community, and clinical responsibility." – Arthur W. Frank in the Journal of Medical Humanities, 17 July 2021. “Written in a prose which is both scholarly and profoundly compassionate, Mark Freeman recounts the journey of his mother’s dementia from a son’s perspective, using insights gained from his years of thinking about how we come to tell the stories we live, what happens when those threads fall apart, and exploring what cultural tools are available to us to tell stories of decline and death. This book will bring fresh insights combined with a deep sense of recognition to anyone interested in questions of memory and identity, who has lived with someone with dementia, or even struggled with the gradual loss of a loved one. While the story told here is about a particular person, in a particular time and place, with a particular son, Freeman offers the reader a philosophical contemplation on the meaning of love and loss, inviting us to reflect on who we are in relation to others in our lives, and the trouble of making sense when those others can no longer be present.” – Molly Andrews, Professor of Political Psychology and co-director, Centre for Narrative Research, University of East London, author of Narrative Imagination and Everyday Life and Shaping History: Narratives of Political Change “Through his deep, intimate portrait of his relationship with his mother over more than a decade of dementia, Freeman investigates questions central to being human: How do we locate ourselves in space and time? Do we still have a self when we don’t have our story? How do we discover our deepest level of connection to others? This engaging book gently challenges each of us to question our part in upholding society’s disdain for aging, illness and death and digs to the bedrock of what is needed for us to be good to one another. In a humble yet scholarly manner, Freeman invites us to develop our own understandings through visiting with him and his beloved mother on her journey through dementia to death.” – Susan Bluck, Professor of Psychology and Director, Life Story Lab, University of Florida “For more than thirty years, Mark Freeman’s philosophically inspired contributions to narrative inquiry have widened and deepened our conceptual understanding of how stories work in and on our sense-making lives. In Do I Look at You with Love?, Freeman embarks on a different kind of inquiry, attempting to join his academic dexterity to his own (and his mother’s) lived experience in order to reimagine dementia. The result is a daring, refreshing, and intimate portrait that merges the academic and the personal, the intellectual and the spiritual, the desire to make sense and the attentiveness to let go of the sense one has made. Do I Look at You with Love? is a gift that guides readers to a deeper understanding of the human condition, the sacred, and the unknown. Freeman’s most ingenious observations show how identities too often are imposed on us, requiring us to challenge the moral understanding and consequences of the stories, or fragments of story, that circulate widely in the community in which we find or locate ourselves. This makes the task of keeping the door open without expectations nearly impossible. We become entrapped by our own (or our culture’s) story. Freeman shows the many ways in which the caregiver of a parent with dementia lives in a canonical story saturated with dread, terror, worry, and hopelessness. Typically, the parent is ill and the caregiver wounded. How then to care with compassion, patience, and generosity; with gentleness, humanity, and honesty; with loving kindness? Freeman approaches these questions by candidly fusing doubt and hope, seeking a story that might prepare future caregivers (and students of the human sciences) for both the perils and the joys lying ahead. Refusing to romanticize or revile, Freeman gradually recognizes that what may violate, deprive, or disrupt us may also bring us closer to the moral good and a capacity to ‘be with’ that validates the priority of the other and allows a measure of beauty and joy to arise. In the process, he shows us what it can mean for an academic and/or a caregiver to strive for an acute self-consciousness and an appropriately shameless subjectivity. This is Freeman’s intellectual and spiritual gift to readers. Do I Look at You with Love? made me feel as if I was in conversation with another consciousness intent on feeling less alone and more human, and helping me, the reader, to feel that way as well. If this represents Freeman’s goals for an artful human science, I am all in.” – Art Bochner, Distinguished University Professor Emeritus, University of South Florida, author of Coming to Narrative: A Personal History of Paradigm Change in the Human Sciences and co-author (with Carolyn Ellis), Evocative Autoethnography: Writing Lives and Telling Stories “Not only does Mark Freeman honor his mother's memory with this remarkable book, he honors his readers by entrusting them with a self—and soul—searching account of his mother's last 12 years with dementia. He has managed to incorporate many aspects of his philosophical scholarship and understanding of narrative psychology into a work that reads like an intimate conversation, often poetic in its beauty. At the same time, perhaps because he emphasizes the irreducible uniqueness of his relationship with his mother, it seems impossible to read his book without asking questions about the meaning of love and finitude and relation to the Other in one’s own life.” – Doris Brothers, Psychologist/Psychoanalyst, author of Toward a Psychology of Uncertainty: Trauma-Centered Psychoanalysis and Falling Backwards: An Exploration of Trust and Self-Experience “Mark Freeman writes of his mother's dementia with a son's sharp wonderment and intimate sorrow. Layered over these, he offers a psychologist's search for understanding, a search that yields as many questions as answers. What is a self without memory, without narrative? Tracing the progression of his mother's loss, he discovers profound sweetness alongside the pain; moments of startling, salty humor; and eventually a kind of found poetry in their increasingly pared-down verbal exchanges, which read almost like nursery rhymes, full of puzzlement and beauty and love.” – Leah Hager Cohen, James N. and Sarah L. O'Reilly Barrett Professor in Creative Writing, College of the Holy Cross, author of Strangers and Cousins and The Grief of Others “In Do I Look at You with Love?, Mark Freeman invites readers into his deep and complicated relationship with his mother as she moves through messy stages of Alzheimer’s disease. As he bears witness to his mother’s life—and his own—Mark rises to the needs of the situation by gradually giving himself over to the ‘priority of the other.’ Acknowledging both the terror and the joy of ‘being with’ his mother over years of her steady decline, Mark’s love story evokes empathy and identification with the demands of a life circumstance akin to being held ‘hostage.’ The stories he tells about their time together evoke the tragic dimensions yet ‘sacred beauty of finite life,’ the sometimes quiet joy of cognitive decline, and the love and care between mother and son. The astute conceptual analysis of the stages she (and they) go through provide insight into the mortal reality of the life we all live. The ethical questions that arise lead to innovative thinking about our role as researchers and characters in the personal stories we tell, and how we represent the ‘other.’ Do I Look at You with Love? is storytelling and analysis at its best, written by the most keenly observant and sensitive narrative psychologist of our time. Mark has accomplished his goal to ‘memorize’ his mother, and now this story lives with readers, no doubt moving us to do the same with our loved ones.” – Carolyn Ellis, Distinguished University Professor Emerita, University of South Florida, author of Revision: Autoethnographic Reflections on Life and Work and Final Negotiations: A Story of Love, Loss, and Chronic Illness “Mark Freeman, a major thinker in narrative psychology, tells the story of his mother’s evolving dementia with his penetrating mind and his expansive heart. As he struggles to stay emotionally connected to her, he analyzes with his penetrating insight, the role and limits of narrative in our lives. This beautifully written book is both moving and illuminating, a must-read for anyone who lives or works with people with dementia or any psychologist interested in how we are created by, but exist beyond, our life narratives.” – Ruthellen Josselson, Professor of Clinical Psychology, Fielding Graduate University, author of Narrative and Cultural Humility: Lessons from the “Good Witch” Teaching Psychotherapy in China and Paths to Fulfillment: Women’s Search for Meaning and Identity “In ‘memorizing’ carefully the phases of his mother’s journey with dementia, a journey he shared with her, Freeman draws on a wealth of insight into the links between memory, identity, and narrative to pen for us not just a moving tribute to what he calls dementia’s ‘tragic promise,’ but also a deeply thoughtful meditation on the precious beauty of Life itself, in all its complexity and mystery, transiency and loss.” – William Randall, Professor of Gerontology, St. Thomas University, author of In Our Stories Lies Our Strength: Aging, Spirituality, and Narrative and The Narrative Complexity of Ordinary Life: Tales from the Coffee ShopTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: A Different Kind of Story Chapter 1: A Relational Perspective on Dementia Chapter 2: Protest Chapter 3: Presence Chapter 4: Dislocation Chapter 5: Release Chapter 6: Death, Dementia, and the Face of the Divine Coda: Reimagining Dementia, Reimagining Life References About the Author
£25.60
Rupa Publications India Pvt Ltd. WILDLIFE INDIA50
Book SynopsisIn 1972, concerns over wildlife loss led to the Wildlife Protection Act in India. 50 years later, progress has been made but more could have been achieved. "Wildlife India @ 50" reflects on this journey through diverse author experiences.
£19.04
Unknown Invisible Housemates
£13.23
Niyogi Books Of Giants and Windmills: An Autobiography
Book SynopsisDuring the early decades post India's independence, Moosa Raza, a young IAS officer hailing from a small village in Tamil Nadu, was tasked with governing huge, diverse and complex territories in the newly formed state of Gujarat. Raza had the distinction of heading four districts (today's seven) as district magistrate and collector in Gujarat, and rose to become principal secretary to the chief minister of Gujarat.This book is an elaborately layered account of Raza's experiences and encounters with maharajas, politicians, tribals, tigers and a variety of other inhabitants of the country. With tongue-in-cheek humour, Raza details his head-on collisions with public figures, gold smugglers and bureaucrats, and his attempts to deawith them with tact while trying to hold his own. Raza describes well-known figures, including C.V. Raman, Morarji Desai, Indira Gandhi and others, with a lot of wit, honesty and empathythey live again in these pages.
£21.84
Talisman Publishing Memories of Chinatown
Book SynopsisMemories of Chinatown is a Singapore classic and is now republished with a new visual interpretation by watercolour artist Graham Byfield. Both a memoir and a narrative guide to the vibrant spirit of a bygone Singapore, it is written by much loved 'walking treasure' and heritage tour pioneer Geraldene Lowe-Ismail. Blessed with a rich trove of stories and personal knowledge stretching over 50 years, Geraldene delivers a unique insight into the glory and past of one of Southeast Asia's truly original Chinatowns. For anyone interested in heritage architecture and culture, this is a fascinating read.
£8.99
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd Majorana Case, The: Letters, Documents,
Book Synopsis'The Majorana Case is beautifully written, with a pleasant style, and concatenates a great deal of material. A text that could only be written by those who know the life and work of Ettore Majorana very well, as Prof Recami. The book traces the extraordinary life of Ettore Majorana — through his letters, documents and several testimonies from his friends and family members. What makes it more fascinating is that the author presented it also as a detective-story, by exploring his mysterious disappearance at young age. The personal testimonies also give to the book a welcome surplus. The Majorana Case, therefore, is both a pleasant biography and a mystery book.'Contemporary PhysicsEttore Majorana was born in the Sicilian city of Catania. He joined Enrico Fermi's 'Via Panisperna boys' at an early age and was part of the team who first discovered the slow neutrons (the research that would lead to the nuclear reactor and eventually, the atomic bomb). Enrico Fermi considered him one of brightest scientists, comparable to Galileo and Newton.On March 25, 1938, Ettore Majorana mysteriously disappeared at 31. When the author moved to the University of Catania, Sicily, from Milan University back in 1968, he soon discovered important documents pertaining to Majorana's life and works. Together with his own investigative materials and full cooperation from Majorana's family members, he published a book on his disappearance in Italian (after having helped the famous Italian writer, Leonardo Sciascia, to write down his known Essay, by supplying him with copy of some of the discovered documents). Recami's book was entitled Il Caso Majorana — Epistolario, Documenti, Testimonianze and when it first appeared in Italy, it drew interest from all the major newspapers, publications and TVs & broadcast media.Even after his disappearance, Ettore Majorana's name appeared in many areas of frontier physics research, ranging from elementary particle physics to applied condensed matter, to mathematical physics, and more. His long lasting contributions is a testimony of his brilliance and farsightedness and has continued to draw interest from scientists not only in Italy, but from all over world until today.An English version of the original is very appropriate at this juncture, when more and more scholars in the world are getting convinced that he was really a genius 'like Galileo and Newton'. This book traces the extraordinary life of Ettore Majorana — through his letters, documents and testimonies from his friends and family members. What makes this book more fascinating (as a detective-story too) is his mysterious disappearance at young age. This book, therefore, is both a biography and a mystery book.
£85.50
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd Majorana Case, The: Letters, Documents,
Book Synopsis'The Majorana Case is beautifully written, with a pleasant style, and concatenates a great deal of material. A text that could only be written by those who know the life and work of Ettore Majorana very well, as Prof Recami. The book traces the extraordinary life of Ettore Majorana — through his letters, documents and several testimonies from his friends and family members. What makes it more fascinating is that the author presented it also as a detective-story, by exploring his mysterious disappearance at young age. The personal testimonies also give to the book a welcome surplus. The Majorana Case, therefore, is both a pleasant biography and a mystery book.'Contemporary PhysicsEttore Majorana was born in the Sicilian city of Catania. He joined Enrico Fermi's 'Via Panisperna boys' at an early age and was part of the team who first discovered the slow neutrons (the research that would lead to the nuclear reactor and eventually, the atomic bomb). Enrico Fermi considered him one of brightest scientists, comparable to Galileo and Newton.On March 25, 1938, Ettore Majorana mysteriously disappeared at 31. When the author moved to the University of Catania, Sicily, from Milan University back in 1968, he soon discovered important documents pertaining to Majorana's life and works. Together with his own investigative materials and full cooperation from Majorana's family members, he published a book on his disappearance in Italian (after having helped the famous Italian writer, Leonardo Sciascia, to write down his known Essay, by supplying him with copy of some of the discovered documents). Recami's book was entitled Il Caso Majorana — Epistolario, Documenti, Testimonianze and when it first appeared in Italy, it drew interest from all the major newspapers, publications and TVs & broadcast media.Even after his disappearance, Ettore Majorana's name appeared in many areas of frontier physics research, ranging from elementary particle physics to applied condensed matter, to mathematical physics, and more. His long lasting contributions is a testimony of his brilliance and farsightedness and has continued to draw interest from scientists not only in Italy, but from all over world until today.An English version of the original is very appropriate at this juncture, when more and more scholars in the world are getting convinced that he was really a genius 'like Galileo and Newton'. This book traces the extraordinary life of Ettore Majorana — through his letters, documents and testimonies from his friends and family members. What makes this book more fascinating (as a detective-story too) is his mysterious disappearance at young age. This book, therefore, is both a biography and a mystery book.
£42.75
Blacksmith Books Strangers on the Praia: A Tale of Refugees and
Book Synopsis
£7.59
Vajra Publications Dakini: The Himalayan Quarter
Book SynopsisWith his lucid language and vivid storytelling Rana is bound to make a major comeback in contemporary literature.
£24.69
Diversion Publishing - Ips Murder on the Mississippi
£22.50
