Search results for ""author christopher""

In 1966, the most destructive flood in the history of Venice temporarily submerged the city and threatened its extraordinary art and architecture. Among the organizations that mobilized to protect this fragile heritage was Save Venice Inc. Founded in Boston and now headquartered in New York City, this nonprofit has become the largest and most active committee dedicated to preserving the artistic legacy of Venice.Christopher Carlsmith tells the fascinating story of Save Venice Inc., from its origins to its fiftieth anniversary. It continues to provide an influential model for philanthropy in the cultural sector, raising substantial funds to conserve and restore paintings, sculptures, books, mosaics, and entire buildings at risk from human and environmental impacts. Employing extensive archival research, oral interviews, and newspaper accounts, Save Venice Inc. explores a range of topics, including leadership, conservation projects, fundraising, and educational outreach. Using a range of methodologies from cultural history and art history, Carlsmith traces the achievements and challenges faced by this and other historic preservation organizations and by this unique city on the sea.

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Explains how to use medicinal herbs and essential oils to fight infectious illness, strengthen the immune system, and combat antibiotic resistance. Nature offers us many natural antibiotics from the plant kingdom that work powerfully against germs while also being gentle on the body. Knowledge of these safe and natural antibiotics and antivirals is more crucial now than ever as modern antibiotics become less and less effective due to the growing threat of antibiotic-resistant germs. Natural antibiotics even offer an opportunity to reverse antibiotic resistance by reducing the use of pharmaceutical antibiotics to only the most critical cases. In this practical guide, Christopher Vasey presents 18 of the most potent antibiotic and antiviral herbs from around the world and one beehive remedy, propolis. He details how to use them effectively as mother tinctures and essential oils as well as what illnesses each is best suited to treat. Drawing on the latest research, he explains how microbes can’t build resistance against these natural substances due to the many molecules in their make-up and their large spectrum of action in the body, which makes them effective against viruses as well. Offering a way to break free from the threat of antibiotic-resistant germs and improve the body’s immune system and internal terrain, this guide gives each of us the ability to fight infections naturally.

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From aspirin and ibuprofen to antihistamines and cortisone, anti-inflammatory drugs are now the top-selling pharmaceuticals in the world. But daily use of these powerful drugs comes with a price: side effects, many of which can lead to other chronic conditions and the further use of medications. In this practical guide to natural remedies for inflammation, naturopath Christopher Vasey explores 38 anti-inflammatory herbs, such as laurel, basil, turmeric, and devil's claw, as well as other natural substances, such as propolis and fish oil. He explains which conditions each addresses most effectively, proper dosage, and the best methods of ingestion. Vasey explains how, like fever, inflammation is a defensive reaction of the body and also carries out a cleansing process, which natural remedies support but pharmaceuticals can destabilize by contributing more toxins to the internal terrain. He examines many of the most common inflammation-related ailments--such as allergies, asthma, conjunctivitis, bronchitis, sinusitis, cystitis, tendonitis, arthritis, eczema, and sciatica--and explains which medicinal plant or food supplement is best suited to safely alleviate unpleasant symptoms while helping the body complete the healing the inflammation was initiated to perform. Revealing the important role of omega-3s in defending the body against inflammation and reducing the damage caused by chronic inflammation, Vasey explores what foods are rich in these key molecules, how much must be eaten to defend the body, and what omega-3 supplements are most suited to your body's needs. The author also examines how to deacidify the body, as acids have an inflammatory effect, as well as how to use hydrotherapy to calm inflammation.

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The lasting benefits of detoxification and internal cleanses are becoming well-known and accepted--in part, because these practices are more vital than ever for optimal health and longevity and in the fight against environmental and dietary toxins. Christopher Vasey shows how accumulation of toxins is the primary cause of illness and how the key to successful detoxification is identifying the type of toxin--either colloidal or crystalline--polluting your biological terrain. He explains how colloidal toxins hinder circulation and organ function, while crystals move around the body damaging tissues and causing lesions and pain. Left unchecked, the two forms can combine to create “stones”--such as gallstones or kidney stones. Beyond finding the cause of an illness, the most important reason to correctly diagnose your type of toxin is to ensure you choose the most effective method of detoxification and stimulate the appropriate excretory organ--liver, intestines, kidneys, lungs, or skin. For example, a person seeking to purge his system of crystals should increase his fluid intake to stimulate the kidneys not encourage bile production, because crystals cannot be expelled via the liver. With clear, practical instructions and guidance, Vasey explains how to identify which type of toxin is triggering your illness and which medicinal herbs, hydrotherapy techniques, or nutritional options are the best choice for each specific condition or combination of ailments. He reveals which foods produce colloidal and crystalline toxins and should therefore be avoided. This targeted method of detoxification enables each of us to cleanse our bodies of accumulated toxins safely, accurately, and successfully.

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From the pyramids in the north to the temples in the south, ancient artisans left their marks all over Egypt, unique marks that reveal craftsmanship we would be hard pressed to duplicate today. Drawing together the results of more than 30 years of research and nine field study journeys to Egypt, Christopher Dunn presents a stunning stone-by-stone analysis of key Egyptian monuments, including the statue of Ramses II at Luxor and the fallen crowns that lay at its feet. His modern-day engineering expertise provides a unique view into the sophisticated technology used to create these famous monuments in prehistoric times. Using modern digital photography, computer-aided design software and metrology instruments, Dunn exposes the extreme precision of these monuments and the type of advanced manufacturing expertise necessary to produce them. His computer analysis of the statues of Ramses II reveals that the left and right sides of the faces are precise mirror images of each other and his examination of the mysterious underground tunnels of the Serapeum illuminates the finest examples of precision engineering on the planet. Providing never-before-seen evidence in the form of more than 280 photographs, Dunn's research shows that while absent from the archaeological record, highly refined tools, techniques and even mega-machines must have been used in ancient Egypt.

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Now the subject of major Disney film starring Ewan McGregor, this is Christopher Robin in his own words.Millions of readers throughout the world have grown up with the stories and verses of A. A. Milne; have envied Christopher Robin in his enchanted world; laughed at Pooh - a bear of very little brain - and worried about Piglet and his problems. But what was it like to be the small boy with the long hair, smock and wellington boots?At the age of fifty-four Christopher Milne recalled his early childhood, remembering 'the enchanted places' where he used to play in Sussex. The Hundred Acre Wood, Galleon's Lap and Poohsticks Bridge existed not only in the stories and poems but were part of the real world surrounding the Milne home at Cotchford Farm.With deftness and artistry Milne draws a memorable portrait of his father, and an evocative reconstruction of a happy childhood in London and Sussex. The Enchanted Places is a story told with humour and modesty.

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Kinch Na Shannack owes the Takers Guild a small fortune for his education as a thief, which includes (but is not limited to) lock-picking, knife-fighting, wall-scaling, fall-breaking, lie-weaving, trap-making, plus a few small magics. His debt has driven him to lie in wait by the old forest road, planning to rob the next traveler that crosses his path.But today, Kinch Na Shannack has picked the wrong mark.Galva is a knight, a survivor of the brutal goblin wars, and handmaiden of the goddess of death. She is searching for her queen, missing since a distant northern city fell to giants.Unsuccessful in his robbery and lucky to escape with his life, Kinch now finds his fate entangled with Galva's. Common enemies and uncommon dangers force thief and knight on an epic journey where goblins hunger for human flesh, krakens hunt in dark waters, and honor is a luxury few can afford.

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The most comprehensive and accessible introduction to scriptural art yet written Literary Study of the Bible: An Introduction approaches each book of the Bible (including several of the apocrypha) with non-sectarian literary questions, exploring the meanings that the Bible reveals when we read it like a poem, narrative, or play. As a unique hybrid of introductory guide, essential handbook, historical survey, and absorbing commentary, this book fills a gap in literary Bible study with its fresh perspectives on the biblical writers’ many arts. Readers will engage in wide range of textual approaches and interpretive traditions through this broadly informed, accessibly written text. Dr. Christopher Hodgkins has taught Literary Study of the Bible for 25 years, over which time he has field-tested the many lenses—of genre, image, language, characterization, plot, and craft—used throughout this book. Tracing the sources, composition, and influences of the Biblical text, this book places the Bible in a tradition of ancient near eastern, Hebrew, and Hellenistic literary art, giving new depth to the way we understand the familiar stories of scripture. Unlike other literary introductions to the Bible, this book uniquely combines these elements: Approaches the Bible as a richly collaborative and coherent work of literary art, exploring how earlier books influence the creation and interpretation of later ones Provides illuminating commentary supplemented by explanatory textboxes, maps, illustrations, and study questions to enhance interest and expand learning Introduces poetic and narrative devices like doubling, juxtaposition, and irony within the context of scriptural art and editorial design Gives extensive attention to each biblical book, resulting in the most comprehensive introduction to literary Bible study to date Presents these materials through an accessible and lively text permeated with references to both high and popular culture Literary Study of the Bible will be a welcome addition to personal, school, college, and congregational libraries, as well as an excellent text for students of the Bible in both secular and faith-based settings.

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The new Must Know series is like a lightning bolt to the brainEvery school subject has must know ideas, or essential concepts, that lie behind it. This book will use that fact to help you learn in a unique way. Most study guides start a chapter with a set of goals, often leaving the starting point unclear. In Must Know High School Pre-calculus, however, each chapter will immediately introduce you to the must know idea, or ideas, that lie behind the new pre-calculus topic. As you learn these must know ideas, the book will show you how to apply that knowledge to solving pre-calculus problems.Focused on the essential concepts of pre-calculus subjects, this accessible guide will help you develop a solid understanding of the subject quickly and painlessly. Clear explanations are accompanied by numerous examples and followed with more challenging aspects of pre-calculus. Practical exercises close each chapter and will instill you with confidence in your growing pre-calculus skills.Must Know High School Pre-calculus features: • Each chapter begins with the must know ideas behind the new topic• Extensive examples illustrate these must know ideas• Students learn how to apply this new knowledge to problem solving• 250 practical review questions instill confidence• IRL (In Real Life) sidebars present real-life examples of the subject at work in culture, science, and history• Special BTW (By the Way) sidebars provide study tips, exceptions to the rule, and issues students should pay extra attention to• Bonus app includes 100 flashcards to reinforce what students have learned

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Fractal Noise is the thrilling prequel to the masterful space opera To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by internationally bestselling author of Eragon, Christopher Paolini.On the planet Talos VII, twenty-three years before the events of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, an anomaly is detected: a vast circular pit, with dimensions so perfect that it could only have been the result of conscious design. So a small team is assembled to learn more – perhaps even who built the hole and why. Their mission will take them on a hazardous trek to the very edge of existence.For one explorer, this is the opportunity of a lifetime. For another, a risk not worth taking. And for xenobiologist Alex Crichton, it’s a desperate attempt to find meaning in an uncaring universe. But every step they take towards that mysterious abyss is more punishing than the last. Ultimately, no one is prepared for what they will encounter.Praise for To Sleep in a Sea of Stars:'Big and fun – the book Paolini fans have been waiting for' – John Scalzi'A fun, fast-paced epic that science fiction fans will gobble up' – Kirkus Reviews'An epic tale of first contact, travels to the edge of the galaxy, and just maybe the fate of all humankind' – Goodreads

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Norman Rockwell gave us a picture of America that was familiar - astonishingly so - and at the same time unique, because only he could bring it to life with such authority. Rockwell best expressed this vision of America in his justly famous cover illustrations for the Saturday Evening Post, painted between 1916 and 1963. All of his Post covers are reproduced in splendid full colour in this oversized volume, with commentaries by Christopher Finch, the noted writer on art and popular culture.

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Boxing Day 1962: Sunderland’s star striker Brian Clough suffers a career-ending knee injury when he collides with an outrushing goalkeeper. After a forlorn battle to regain fitness, he retires early and sinks into deep despair.October 1965: Clough persuades ex-’Boro teammate Peter Taylor to join him in managing perennial North-East strugglers Hartlepools United, lying next to bottom of the Fourth Division.A magical football odyssey has begun.Alchemy reveals the bittersweet reality of Brian Clough and Peter Taylor’s first management job together. Lower-league Hartlepools United are penniless, with a meddling chairman, a ramshackle ground and want-away players. Yet the management pair tackle every challenge head-on, forging a winning blueprint that later transforms unfashionable Derby County and Nottingham Forest into League and European Cup champions.Exploiting a wealth of archive newspapers, plus interviews with those present at the creation, Alchemy exposes the humble origins of Clough & Taylor’s meteoric rise to the top of the football tree.

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In King Leopold II’s infamous Congo ‘Free’ State at the turn of the century, severed hands became a form of currency. But some in the Belgian government had no sense of historical shame, as they connived for an independent Katanga state in 1960 to protect Belgian mining interests. What happened next was extraordinary. It was an extremely uneven battle. The UN fielded soldiers from twenty nations, America paid the bills, and the Soviets intrigued behind the scenes. Yet to everyone’s surprise the new nation’s rag-tag army of local gendarmes, jungle tribesmen and, controversially, European mercenaries, refused to give in. For two and a half years Katanga, the scrawniest underdog ever to fight a war, held off the world with guerrilla warfare, two-faced diplomacy and some shady financial backing. It even looked as if the Katangese might win. Katanga 1960–63 tells, for the first time, the full story of the Congolese province that declared independence and found itself at war with the world.

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This illustrated survey of 600 years of fashion investigates its cultural and social meanings from medieval Europe to 20th-century America. It provides a guide to the changes in style and taste, and challenges existing fashion histories, showing that clothes have always played a pivotal role in defining a sense of identity and society, especially when concerned with sexual and body politics. With a chronological structure, each chapter focuses on both male and female fashion of a specific period, covering its fascinating developments. It discusses: androgynous dressing; body piercing; fabrics, clothing and the rise of city life; dress, and the changing shape of the human body; controversies surrounding trousers and leg wear for both men and women; exposure of flesh; fashion and social status; and the dissemination of fashion through travel, film, magazines and catwalk shows.

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From the bestselling author of The Sleepwalkers, a book about how the exercise of power is shaped by different concepts of timeThis groundbreaking book presents new perspectives on how the exercise of power is shaped by different notions of time. Acclaimed historian Christopher Clark draws on four key figures from German history—Friedrich Wilhelm of Brandenburg-Prussia, Frederick the Great, Otto von Bismarck, and Adolf Hitler—to look at history through a temporal lens and ask how historical actors and their regimes embody unique conceptions of time. Elegantly written and boldly innovative, Time and Power reveals the connection between political power and the distinct temporalities of the leaders who wield it.

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Monsters have preoccupied mankind from the earliest times: even cave art includes animal-human monsters. Certainly monsters were present in the ancient religions of Egypt and Mesopotamia; the Old Testament describes the giant land and sea monsters Behemoth and Leviathan, while in the world of Classical mythology, monsters embody the fantasies of the gods and the cruellest punishments of human beings. While we may no longer worry about being eaten by trolls on the way home, there remains a fascination with these creatures who have shadowed us throughout history. This book explores monsters down the ages and throughout the world. It provides a dark yet engrossing visual history of the human mind, lit up by flashes of wild and unearthly inspiration.

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A compelling and authoritative overview of the drawings of Vincent van Gogh, one of the most celebrated and intriguing figures in the history of art. Vincent van Gogh believed that drawing was the ‘root of everything’. This was reflected in the remarkable number of more than a thousand graphic works produced by the artist during his short, dramatic life – many of them personal, often lonely explorations of the emerging modern world, anxieties that still speak to us today. The Drawings of Vincent van Gogh is a comprehensive account celebrating the genius and singularity of the artist’s achievements in this field. Arranged by theme – from drawings of humble harvesters to beautifully rendered depictions of landscape, pensive life studies to memorable sketches of the famous Yellow House in Arles and other places – Van Gogh’s works on paper are explored from a fresh perspective by art historian Christopher Lloyd, who records the artist’s successes, failures, experiments, trials and disappointments. Primarily self-taught, Van Gogh approached drawing instinctually, but soon recognized the importance of mastering the grammar of art – anatomy, modelling, foreshortening, perspective – as well as materials and techniques, in order to convey his emotional responses to a subject as vividly as possible. Using examples from the artist’s voluminous and highly charged family correspondence, sketchbooks, as well as comparative artworks by Rembrandt, Dürer and others, the resulting overview gives us a greater understanding of why drawing is so important within Van Gogh’s unique oeuvre and equals the intensity and reputation of his paintings.

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From bestselling author and provocateur Christopher Hitchens, the classic guide to the art of principled dissent and disagreementIn Letters to a Young Contrarian, bestselling author and world-class provocateur Christopher Hitchens inspires the radicals, gadflies, mavericks, rebels, and angry young (wo)men of tomorrow. Exploring the entire range of "contrary positions"--from noble dissident to gratuitous nag--Hitchens introduces the next generation to the minds and the misfits who influenced him, invoking such mentors as Emile Zola, Rosa Parks, and George Orwell. As is his trademark, Hitchens pointedly pitches himself in contrast to stagnant attitudes across the ideological spectrum. No other writer has matched Hitchens's understanding of the importance of disagreement--to personal integrity, to informed discussion, to true progress, to democracy itself.

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We could tell you about the bodies. We could tell you their names, where they were found, the state they were in. We could tell you about the suspects too, the evidence, the investigators; join a few dots, even throw you a motive. But what would be the point? You're going to make your own assumptions anyway. After all, you know these people, don't you? You went to school with them. We all did. Granted, that was twenty years ago, but how much does anybody really change? Exactly. So if you really knew them then, you'll already have all the answers. If you really knew them then...Put on your uniform and line up in an orderly fashion for the funniest and most accurate trip back to the classroom you are likely to read, as well as a murder mystery like nothing that has gone before it. Forget the forensics: only once you've been through school with this painfully believable cast of characters will you be equipped to work out what really happened decades later. Even then, you'll probably guess wrong and be made to stand in the corner.

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An unprecedented analysis of the crucial but underexplored roles the United States and other nations have played in shaping Syria’s ongoing civil war“One of the best informed and non-partisan accounts of the Syrian tragedy yet published.”—Patrick Cockburn, Independent Syria’s brutal, long-lasting civil war is widely viewed as a domestic contest that began in 2011 and only later drew foreign nations into the fray. But in this book Christopher Phillips shows the crucial roles that were played by the United States, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar in Syria’s war right from the start. Phillips untangles the international influences on the tragic conflict and illuminates the West’s strategy against ISIS, the decline of U.S. power in the region, and much more. Originally published in 2016, the book has been updated with two new chapters.

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The theory of architecture implicit in our world today, Christopher Alexander believes, is bankrupt. More and more people are aware that something is deeply wrong. Yet the power of present-day ideas is so great that many feel uncomfortable, even afraid, to say openly that they dislike what is happening, because they are afraid to seem foolish, afraid perhaps that they will be laughed at. Now, at last, there is a coherent theory which describes in modern terms an architecture as ancient as human society itself. The Timeless Way of Building is the introductory volume in the Center for Environmental Structure series, Christopher Alexander presents in it a new theory of architecture, building, and planning which has at its core that age-old process by which the people of a society have always pulled the order of their world from their own being. Alexander writes, "There is one timeless way of building. It is thousands of years old, and the same today as it has always been. The great traditional buildings of the past, the villages and tents and temples in which man feels at home, have always been made by people who were very close to the center of this way. And as you will see, this way will lead anyone who looks for it to buildings which are themselves as ancient in their form as the trees and hills, and as our faces are."

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You can use this book to design a house for yourself with your family; you can use it to work with your neighbors to improve your town and neighborhood; you can use it to design an office, or a workshop, or a public building. And you can use it to guide you in the actual process of construction. After a ten-year silence, Christopher Alexander and his colleagues at the Center for Environmental Structure are now publishing a major statement in the form of three books which will, in their words, "lay the basis for an entirely new approach to architecture, building and planning, which will we hope replace existing ideas and practices entirely." The three books are The Timeless Way of Building, The Oregon Experiment, and this book, A Pattern Language. At the core of these books is the idea that people should design for themselves their own houses, streets, and communities. This idea may be radical (it implies a radical transformation of the architectural profession) but it comes simply from the observation that most of the wonderful places of the world were not made by architects but by the people. At the core of the books, too, is the point that in designing their environments people always rely on certain "languages," which, like the languages we speak, allow them to articulate and communicate an infinite variety of designs within a forma system which gives them coherence. This book provides a language of this kind. It will enable a person to make a design for almost any kind of building, or any part of the built environment. "Patterns," the units of this language, are answers to design problems (How high should a window sill be? How many stories should a building have? How much space in a neighborhood should be devoted to grass and trees?). More than 250 of the patterns in this pattern language are given: each consists of a problem statement, a discussion of the problem with an illustration, and a solution. As the authors say in their introduction, many of the patterns are archetypal, so deeply rooted in the nature of things that it seemly likely that they will be a part of human nature, and human action, as much in five hundred years as they are today.

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The New York Times bestseller from business journalist Christopher Leonard infiltrates one of America’s most mysterious institutions—the Federal Reserve—to show how its policies spearheaded by Chairman Jerome Powell over the past ten years have accelerated income inequality and put our country’s economic stability at risk.If you asked most people what forces led to today’s unprecedented income inequality and financial crashes, no one would say the Federal Reserve. For most of its history, the Fed has enjoyed the fawning adoration of the press. When the economy grew, it was credited to the Fed. When the economy imploded in 2008, the Fed got credit for rescuing us. But here, for the first time, is the inside story of how the Fed has reshaped the American economy for the worse. It all started on November 3, 2010, when the Fed began a radical intervention called quantitative easing. In just a few short years, the Fed more than quadrupled the money supply with one goal: to encourage banks and other investors to extend more risky debt. Leaders at the Fed knew that they were undertaking a bold experiment that would produce few real jobs, with long-term risks that were hard to measure. But the Fed proceeded anyway…and then found itself trapped. Once it printed all that money, there was no way to withdraw it from circulation. The Fed tried several times, only to see the market start to crash, at which point the Fed turned the money spigot back on. That’s what it did when COVID hit, printing 300 years’ worth of money in a few short months. Which brings us to now: Ten years on, the gap between the rich and poor has grown dramatically, inflation is raging, and the stock market is driven by boom, busts, and bailouts. Middle-class Americans seem stuck in a stage of permanent stagnation, with wage gains wiped out by high prices even as they remain buried under credit card debt, car loan debt, and student debt. Meanwhile, the “too big to fail” banks remain bigger and more powerful than ever while the richest Americans enjoy the gains of a hyper-charged financial system. The Lords of Easy Money “skillfully” (The Wall Street Journal) tells the “fascinating” (The New York Times) tale of how quantitative easing is imperiling the American economy through the story of the one man who tried to warn us. This is the first inside story of how we really got here—and why our economy rests on such unstable ground.

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Guidebook to walking the whole of the England Coast Path from the River Exe to the River Severn, covering the coastlines of Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Avon.

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Get exam ready with our new edition National 5 English Study Guide! Written by the author of some of our bestselling English titles, Christopher Nicol, this guide will give you all the tools you need to succeed in National 5 English. In this Study Guide, you will find up-to-date coverage of the key content you need to know to succeed at National 5; clear and concise explanations of all the crucial course components, including Close Reading, the Critical Essay, Context Work, Spoken Interactions, and Critical Listening; Don’t Forget pointers that offer advice on key facts and how to avoid common mistakes; Things to Do and Think About sections which provide you with plenty of opportunities to put your knowledge into practice. This guide is also supported by a host of free additional material available on the BrightRED Digital Zone!

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Scruffy Bear sees a red ball, and does what comes naturally - kicks it! But the ball is lost, high up in a tree, and the owners aren't very pleased. Never fear, plucky Scruffy Bear can climb trees. Even very, very high trees with all kinds of cross creatures in them.

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There are commentaries and there are books on preaching - but very few books that combine elements of both to enable the preacher or Bible teacher to prepare a series on specific sections of Scripture.This series gives the Bible teacher suitable tools to understand the context of Biblical books; doctrinal themes; the methods of interpretation; the key interpretation points and how to communicate that message for the hearer.Whilst very useful for preachers, this book is also aimed at equipping small group study leaders, youth workers and other Bible teachers.The books are purposefully practical. Section One contains 'navigation' material to enable you to access the text of Romans. Section 2 works systematically through a suggested preaching or Bible study series. Preaching outlines and Bible study questions are included for each passage.

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God invented marriage. So it seems rather obvious to look to our Maker for marriage instructions. Yet by nature we prefer to work it out for ourselves, starting with our own needs, hopes and desires. This book turns our thinking upside down. The author examines the Bible's teaching on marriage, while remaining firmly earthed in the twenty-first-century world where messing up, heartbreak, divorce and sexual chaos are distressingly common. Starting with God's grace applied to our pain and failure, the author centres on God's plan for sex and marriage, one of service. Whether you are an engaged couple preparing for marriage, or have been married for many years, this Biblical wisdom will help you grow your love and commitment both to one another and to God.

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Why does a good God allow innocent suffering? Why does a just God act unfairly? Why does a sovereign God let disease and evil run rampant? These are not questions asked from the onlooker's armchair, nor from the academic's desk, but from the anguish of the sickbed and the frustration of the wheelchair. The problem of pain is considered with the heart as well as the head. Christopher Ash leads us through the biblical story of Job as we wrestle with these questions today. He honestly explores the lonely and cruel nature of suffering and whether God can be found in the midst of it. He exposes the shortcomings of Job's friends who deny the possibility of innocent suffering, and are unaware of the roles that Satan, the fall and the cross have to play. With compassion and clarity he takes the reader through Job's long debate with God - towards a humbling and hopeful resolution.

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How did the intellectually intimidating, industrious architect of the New Labour project become its maligned and feckless undertaker? In this scathing, witty indictment of Gordon Brown's tenure as prime minister, Christopher Harvie says goodbye to Broon by exploring the Britain New Labour helped create. It is a place where the gap between rich and poor grows ever wider and manufacturing has been replaced by 'retail, entertainment and recreation' (for which read shopping, gambling and drinking). Now that the casino economy has veered wildly out of control, and our public utilities and industries have been auctioned to the highest bidder, Broonland is both an essential anatomy of a country on the brink of collapse and a caustic, darkly funny portrait of a decade that took Britain from boom through bust to busted.

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Charlie Asher is a pretty normal guy. A little hapless, somewhat neurotic, more of a Beta than an Alpha Male. Charlie's been lucky, though. He owns a building in the heart of San Francisco, and runs a second-hand store with the help of a couple of loyal, if marginally insane, employees. He's married to a bright and pretty woman who actually loves him for his normality. And she, Rachel, is about to have their first child. But normal service is about to be interrupted. As Charlie prepares to go home after the birth, he sees a strange man dressed in mint-green at Rachel's hospital bedside - a man who claims that no one should be able to see him. But see him Charlie does, and from here on out, things get really weird. . . .People start dropping dead around him, giant ravens perch on his building, and it seems that everywhere he goes, a dark presence whispers to him from under the streets. Strange names start appearing on his nightstand notepad, and before he knows it, those people end up dead, too. Yep, it seems that Charlie Asher has been recruited for a new job, an unpleasant but utterly necessary one: Death. It's a dirty job. But hey, somebody's gotta do it.

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Teenager Ruben, entrusted with a time travelling cube, must save the world... it's not just a toy. The Cube has been brought to Earth by a time-travelling, biomechanical, shape-shifting alien dude, from a badass murderous nation, from a dusty corner of the cosmos, who are hell-bent on the annihilation of all breathing life forms. This alien nation needs somewhere new to live and Earth fits their requirements almost perfectly, once they have evicted the current tenants. The powerful object becomes the centre of a jealous and deadly power struggle and is nearly destroyed in a war between royal Hungarian twin brothers circa 898A.D. in Central Europe. Remains of the damaged Cube pass down through the generations, until it falls into the hands of young, twenty-first- century, Ruben Novak. Ruben is your average teenager about to spend his summer vacation surfing, swimming, and hanging out at the beach in L.A. with his girlfriend. His preordained destiny, written many hundreds of years ago, means the fun must stop and his gap year will have to wait. However, part of the alien cleansing process has already begun, with a ring of detonating spore bombs dumping deadly DNA-altering nano-particles high up in the upper atmosphere. The atomic clock is ticking, and Ruben hasn't even had breakfast yet. Guided by a powerful Overlord alien being, via the Cube, he will travel through time on five dangerous adventures to collect the remnants of the device needed to restore its full functionality and solve the ultimate puzzle: how to preserve life on Earth. At every twist and turn Ruben will be pursued by the mysterious and deadly Time-Warriors who are determined to take the Cube from him. They are a well-organised team of merciless henchmen whose actions are being directed, through time. Ruben's mission is critical; only he and the Cube will prevent the total annihilation of life on Earth

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The Suit unpicks the story of this most familiar garment, from its emergence in western Europe at the end of the seventeenth century to today. Suit-wearing figures such as the Savile Row gentleman and the Wall Street businessman have long embodied ideas of tradition, masculinity, power and respectability, but the suit has also been used to disrupt concepts of gender and conformity. Adopted and subverted by women, artists, musicians and social revolutionaries through the decades – from dandies and Sapeurs to the Zoot Suit and Le Smoking – the suit is also a device for challenging the status quo. For all those interested in the history of menswear, this beautifully illustrated book offers new perspectives on this most mundane, and poetic, product of modern culture.

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The most celebrated French storyteller of the nineteenth century, Guy de Maupassant was a master of the modern short story. Offering an intriguing picture of French life, the enduring appeal of his stories derives from understated artistry, extreme craftsmanship and the universality of his characters and their aspirations and misfortunes. In this insightful and compelling biography, the only one in English currently available, Christopher Lloyd situates Maupassant’s life and work in the literary and social context of nineteenth-century France. Lloyd skilfully introduces the reader to Maupassant’s most famous works, such as Boule de suif, Bel-Ami and Pierre et Jean, as well as highlighting the important stages and achievements of his life and legacy.

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Drawing on his extensive experience in pastoral ministry and spiritual direction, Christopher Chapman explores the parallels between personal growth and nurturing a garden. In human life as in the natural world, growth can often be a struggle. God, like a patient gardener, chooses to grapple with what stands in the way of our fruitfulness, but requires our cooperation if we are to come into fullness of life. Earthed in God digs deeply into the riches of scripture and the Christian spiritual tradition to find resources for our growth, flourishing and abundance.

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By 1943, Henri Lafont was the most powerful Frenchman in occupied Paris. Once a petty criminal running from the French police, when he found himself recruited by the Nazis his life changed for ever. Lafont established a motley band of sadistic oddballs that became known as the French Gestapo and included ex-footballers, faded aristocrats, pimps, murderers and thieves. The gang wore the finest clothes, ate at the best restaurants and threw parties for the rich and famous out of their headquarters on the exclusive rue Lauriston. In this vivid portrait, Christopher Othen explores how Lafont and his criminal clan rampaged across Paris through the Second World War - until the Allies liberated France, and a terrible price had to be paid.

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What’s behind a picture? The term “metadata” is used to describe the information that travels with a digital image file but is unseen within the image itself. In our networked digital environment, metadata is accessed by both human users and artificial intelligences. Software algorithms orchestrate what images we see and exchange while collecting the valuable data generated by our interactions. In our moment, dominated by image-based social media and surveillance, we are becoming increasingly aware that understanding the information that circulates unseen around photographic images is just as important as seeing what they represent. This fascinating, fully-illustrated publication explores new paradigms for understanding the ecology of the photographic image through the work of an international selection of contemporary artists and visual activists. This includes not just the tags or descriptors attached to image files, but the power relationships, biases, and economic interests that are not always visible in the image itself.

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In I Never Knew That About New York Christopher Winn digs beneath the gleaming towers and mean streets of New York and discovers its secrets and its hidden treasures. Learn about the extraordinary people who built New York into one of the world's great cities in just 400 years. New York is one of the most photographed and talked about cities in the world but Winn unearths much that is unexpected and unremembered in this fast moving, ever changing metropolis where history is made on a daily basis!

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