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This book was complied as a gift of motivation for you. Keep it on your desk so that you can refer to it often. The collected quotations, sayings, aphorisms, maxims, and epigrams contained within these pages have been specifically selected for their value to the military professional. This book tells you a lot about the military profession, and about what it means to be a leader in the military. It is an anthology from people who have understood that very well and written about it over the ages. Included within its pages are passages that are thousands of years old, extolling the eternal truths of soldiering, and some from people who are living today. There is much in it that is helpful and inspiring, and probably some things with which you will disagree as well. Reading it will cause passages and phrases to echo in your mind and create a resonance that has been a talisman for many in the profession of arms. The quotes show up one unalterable verity of the military profession. Many of the problems faced by military men centuries ago are exactly the same as those faced by soldiers, sailors and airmen today. The Quotes cover a great variety ranging from leadership to behavior on the battlefield, or directly related to sustaining forces in battle. They reflect the complex world of the military profession. Like their predecessors military commanders of today require physical courage, but just as important, and much more difficult, is moral courage. The Quotes includes examples of individuals who placed their careers on the line in defence of a greater principle, but there are just as many examples of individuals who failed the test. Indeed, examples of what not to do are sometimes the more important.

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Although considered as one of the 20th century most central ethical thinkers, Emmanuel Levinas claimed that his task was not to construct an ethics, but to seek the meaning of the ethical. This claim is the point of departure of the present study, which asks how ethics could be regarded as meaningful at all in light of the crisis of meaning that according to Levinas is inherent to being.Ethical meaning is for Levinas sought otherwise than being or beyond essence in terms of a radical responsibility for the Other. At the same time, it is questionable whether the ethical may be said to represent an overcoming of the crisis of meaning. This is visible in Levinas rather harsh descriptions of the ethical situation, involving not only the meaningless, but also feelings like melancholy, trauma, and shame.As the study shows, such feelings can for Levinas not be seen apart from their religious significance, although Levinas does not rely on conventional theology, but rather understands transcendence in a deeply sensible manner. This is shown in the radical passivity and self-emptying to the point of messianism of the responsible subject, which is the only way the meaning of the ethical may be rescued.The study also discusses how the utopian aspect of such a position is problematic in practical life, and why Levinas therefore admits the need for the ethical to be betrayed in ontology, which also implies an involvement with aesthetics as ontological par excellence. Although considered as one of the 20th century most central ethical thinkers, Emmanuel Levinas claimed that his task was not to construct an ethics, but to seek the meaning of the ethical. In this study Stine Holte examines the problem of ethical meaning in Levinas thinking and shows how the articulation of the ethical implies notions like trauma, melancholy, and shame, and hence a questioning of what we normally regard as meaningful.

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Jeffrey Wisdom interprets Paul's citation of Genesis and Deuteronomy in Gal 3.8-10. He surveys the promise to Abraham to bless all nations and the curse of the covenant in the Jewish scripture.Blessing for the nations is an important part of God's covenant purpose for Abraham's descendants from the start. The curse of the covenant is consistently connected with the motifs of failure to do all the law and of the abandonment of the Lord for other gods. Jeffrey Wisdom then identifies and analyzes the various strands of the postbiblical Jewish literature that cite the promise of blessing for the nations and the curse of the covenant. He further argues an interpretation of Gal 3.8-10, in which the importance for Paul's argument of blessing for the nations and the curse on those who are disloyal to the Lord is stressed. Paul's call to preach the gospel to the gentiles and his defense of the truth of the gospel provide the context for the connection between the gospel and the promise to Abraham of blessing for the nations in Gal 3.8, a blessing which has always been God's purpose for Abraham's descendants. The interpretation of Gal 3.10 then builds on this insight. Those who are of works of the law are identified as the troublemakers who have preached another gospel to the Galatians and thereby have been disloyal to God and his purpose for Abraham's descendants. Paul cites Deut 27.26 to support this assertion that they have been disloyal to God and therefore are under the curse. Jeffrey Wisdom traces this interpretation of Gal 3.8-10 through to 3.13-14 and supports it by other traces of the same perspective on the gospel and the curse in Galatians.

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When viewed through a political lens, the act of defining terms in natural language arguably transforms knowledge into values. This unique volume explores how corporate, military, academic, and professional values shaped efforts to define computer terminology and establish an information engineering profession as a precursor to what would become computer science. As the Cold War heated up, U.S. federal agencies increasingly funded university researchers and labs to develop technologies, like the computer, that would ensure that the U.S. maintained economic prosperity and military dominance over the Soviet Union. At the same time, private corporations saw opportunities for partnering with university labs and military agencies to generate profits as they strengthened their business positions in civilian sectors. They needed a common vocabulary and principles of streamlined communication to underpin the technology development that would ensure national prosperity and military dominance. investigates how language standardization contributed to the professionalization of computer science as separate from mathematics, electrical engineering, and physics examines traditions of language standardization in earlier eras of rapid technology development around electricity and radio highlights the importance of the analogy of “the computer is like a human” to early explanations of computer design and logic traces design and development of electronic computers within political and economic contexts foregrounds the importance of human relationships in decisions about computer design This in-depth humanistic study argues for the importance of natural language in shaping what people come to think of as possible and impossible relationships between computers and humans. The work is a key reference in the history of technology and serves as a source textbook on the human-level history of computing. In addition, it addresses those with interests in sociolinguistic questions around technology studies, as well as technology development at the nexus of politics, business, and human relations.

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Oh my goodness. Did you ever get to thinking that "down on your luck" isn't just an expression? And that what we need here is a bigger statement? Something that adequately describes the scope of the situation? Like when your ex-wife spends all of her time angrier than a five-dollar pistol at everything on the planet, but mostly at you (well, really only at you, and she brings back your record collection, but she sets fire to it on your porch and the flames spread to your house and that just proves what you've said all along: that she is crazier than a box of frogs. Or when your ninety-year-old stick of a father uses his gnarled up knuckly fingers to apply "the nut twister" on you every chance that he gets. And you haven't been with a woman for a very long time and about the only chance you will ever have of getting laid again is to crawl up a chicken's ass and wait. This shit is dire. Well, what I mean is that "down on your luck" doesn't quite cut it when bad luck has become a way of life. You just have to remember: You can have everything you want in this life. Provided all you want is a stained mattress and a hangover. Skin House is a story about two guys who end up in the same bar they started out in. Maybe they're slightly better off than they were at the start. Or maybe not. One has a girlfriend though. They both have a little extra cash, enough to order nachos whenever they want to without going through their pockets first. They're not dead, and that's something right there. And they're not arrested, which is the quite surprising part.

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Late-seventies Los Angeles was rampant with killers and shady characters, but all the go-getters at Space Matters saw was possibility. Richard Kasparov was handsome and charismatic; his younger associate, Jerry Schneiderman, brilliant and nerdy. When the pair hired a veteran contractor to oversee construction, the space planning firm they operated out of a hip mansion in LA’s Miracle Mile district appeared poised to transform the boundless skyline into their jackpot.After the promising team imploded, however, the orderly lines on their blueprints succumbed to treachery and secrets. To get even, one of the ex-partners launched a murder-for-profit corporation using, among other peculiar sorts, a bantam-sized epileptic with a deadeye shot and a cross-dressing sidekick. The hapless criminals required a comical number of attempts to execute their first target. Once they did, on a rainy night in the San Fernando Valley, the surviving founder of Space Matters was thrown into a pressure cooker existence out of a Coen Brothers movie. Threatened for money he didn’t have, he donned a disguise, survived a heart-pounding encounter at the La Brea Tar Pits, and relied on an ex-Israeli mercenary for protection. In the end, he had to outfox a glowering murderer, while asking if you can ever really know anyone in a town where dirty deals send men to their graves.In The Darkest Glare, Chip Jacobs recounts a spectacular, noir-ish, true-crime saga from one of the deadliest eras in American history. You’ll never gaze out windows into the dark again.Included as a bonus is an original true crime short from the same unhinged era. In “Paul & Chuck,” a flashy, crusading attorney wages war against the messianic leader of a bloodthirsty cult determined to teach the world to stay away.

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“The foundation has been laid for fully autonomous,” Elon Musk announced in 2016, when he assured the world that Tesla would have a driverless fleet on the road in 2017. “It’s twice as safe as a human, maybe better.” Promises of techno-futuristic driving utopias have been ubiquitous wherever tech companies and carmakers meet. In Autonorama: The Illusory Promise of High-Tech Driving, technology historian Peter Norton argues that driverless cars cannot be the safe, sustainable, and inclusive “mobility solutions” that tech companies and automakers are promising us. The salesmanship behind the driverless future is distracting us from investing in better ways to get around that we can implement now. Unlike autonomous vehicles, these alternatives are inexpensive, safe, sustainable, and inclusive. Norton takes the reader on an engaging ride —from the GM Futurama exhibit to “smart” highways and vehicles—to show how we are once again being sold car dependency in the guise of mobility. He argues that we cannot see what tech companies are selling us except in the light of history. With driverless cars, we’re promised that new technology will solve the problems that car dependency gave us—zero crashes! zero emissions! zero congestion! But these are the same promises that have kept us on a treadmill of car dependency for 80 years. Autonorama is hopeful, advocating for wise, proven, humane mobility that we can invest in now, without waiting for technology that is forever just out of reach. Before intelligent systems, data, and technology can serve us, Norton suggests, we need wisdom. Rachel Carson warned us that when we seek technological solutions instead of ecological balance, we can make our problems worse. With this wisdom, Norton contends, we can meet our mobility needs with what we have right now.

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Rock and roll was born in the United States during the 1950s. Its popularity rapidly grew spreading across the Atlantic to England. The Brits transformed rock bringing it back to the States in a new form with the British Invasion. Since that time the two countries have dominated headlines and histories in terms of rock music.ÞWhat's often forgotten in these histories is the evolution of Canadian rock and roll during the same period. Over the years a huge contingent of Canadian artists has made invaluable contributions to rock and roll. The list of innovative Canadian artists is quite impressive: Neil Young Joni Mitchell Paul Anka Arcade Fire The Band Bryan Adams Rush Leonard Cohen Celine Dion Diana Krall Gordon Lightfoot Sarah McLachlan Alanis Morissette Tegan and Sara Feist Nickelback and many others not to mention the all-star producers such as Daniel Lanois (U2 Bob Dylan Peter Gabriel) Bob Rock (Metallica Aerosmith Bon Jovi) Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd Alice Cooper Kiss) and David Foster (Michael Jackson Celine Dion).ÞThe history of Canadian rock and roll is a lively entertaining and largely untold tale. Bob Mersereau presents a streamlined informative trip through the country's rich history and depth of talent from the 1950s to today covering such topics as: Toronto's club scene the folk rock and psychedelic rock of the 1960s Canadian artists who hit major stardom in the United States the challenges and reform of the Canadian broadcasting system the huge hits of the 1970s Canadian artists' presence all over the pop charts in the 1990s and Canada's indie-rock renaissance of the 2000s.

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'Balkan Glory is an epic chapter in the splendid Kydd canon, weaving knotty political gambits with stirring naval actions, expressively re-creating the often harsh reality Jack Tars witnessed within their wooden walls during the Napoleonic Wars' - Quarterdeck1811. The Adriatic, the 'French Lake', is now the most valuable territory Napoleon Bonaparte possesses. Captain Sir Thomas Kydd finds his glorious return to England cut short when the Admiralty summons him to lead a squadron of frigates into these waters to cause havoc and distress to the enemy. Kydd is dubbed 'The Sea Devil' by Bonaparte who personally appoints one of his favourites, Dubourdieu, along with a fleet that greatly outweighs the British, to rid him of this menace.At the same time, Nicholas Renzi is sent to Austria on a secret mission to sound out the devious arch-statesman, Count Metternich. His meeting reveals a deadly plan by Bonaparte that threatens the whole balance of power in Europe. The only thing that can stop it is a decisive move at sea and for this he must somehow cross the Alps to the Adriatic to contact Kydd directly. A climactic sea battle where the stakes could not be higher is inevitable. Kydd faces Dubourdieu with impossible odds stacked against him. Can he shatter Bonaparte's dreams of breaking out of Europe and marching to the gates of India and Asia?*************************************Readers LOVE Balkan Glory'I can say without a doubt Balkan Glory is Stockwin's best of the series. All these elements make it so. It's great, involving reading (I was surprised when I reached The End!). It's what makes for great historical fiction''By far the best of the Kydd series. Can the next one possibly be as riveting?''One of my must have books each year'

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'The undisputed champion of South African crime. Meyer grabs you by the throat and never lets you go' Wilbur Smith'From its startling opening to its tense and thrilling conclusion, Deon Meyer's The Last Hunt takes you on a whirlwind safari across two continents. In the whole of the Benny Griessel series so far, the stakes have never been higher or the odds so much against' Peter Robinson ***A cold case for Captain Benny Griessel and Vaughn Cupido of the Hawks elite police unit - not what they were looking for. And a difficult case, too. The body of Johnson Johnson, ex-cop, has been found beside a railway line. He appears to have jumped from South Africa's - perhaps the world's - most luxurious train, and two suspicious characters seen with him have disappeared into thin air. The regular police have already failed to make progress and others are intent on muddying the waters. Meanwhile in Bordeaux, Daniel Darret is settled in a new life on a different continent. A quiet life. But his skills as an international hit-man are required one more time, and Daniel is given no choice in the matter. He must hunt again - his prey the corrupt president of his homeland. Three strands of the same story become entwined in a ferocious race against time - for the Hawks to work out what lies behind the death of Johnson, for Daniel to evade the relentless Russian agents tracking him, for Benny Griessel to survive long enough to take another huge step in his efforts to piece together again the life he nearly destroyed - and finally ask Alexa Bernard to marry him. The Last Hunt shows one of the great crime writers operating at the peak of his powers.

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Browning’s Fra Lippo Lippi says that we may pass things a hundred times and never see them. One thing that Browning’s readers have passed without seeing, or at least without remarking upon, is the circular conclusion in so many of his poems. Some sixty poems (almost a third of them) have such conclusions. These sixty span his entire career and include both well-known and neglected poems. The circular conclusion is so called because it returns to the introduction — circles back round to it — by repeating something from the introduction. Although in principle this rhetorical device is quite simple, in practice Browning works many and complex variations on it. Also, by incorporating this repeated words or phrases within the body of the poems, he uses them to make structural divisions. And above all, by selecting for repetition key words or phrases, he indicates central themes in the poems. An analysis of repetition in the poems allows us to see more clearly their circularity, the divisions of the circles, and their themes. It also brings to light thematic dynamism of the poems, some of them concluding with a restatement of the theme set forth in the repetition to trend at a point beyond the original idea, some reversing in their conclusions the statement made in the introduction, and some restating at the end the introductory statement after two reversals. Finally, by focusing on the introductions and conclusions of the poems, we clarify the dramatic situations, which are ordinarily established in these two places, and come to see their relationships with the monologues they encircle. All this we see, not with the optics of modern literary theory, but simply by looking at Browning’s work with the same careful attention Fra Lippo Lippi pays to God’s creation.

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In a negative therapeutic reaction the progress of treatment triggers a particular destructive dynamic in the patient. Initially, therapists considered it to be a result of the patient’s pathology, but contemporary clinicians recognize that the therapist may significantly contribute to this process. Object relations clinicians see the individual as a social being that develops in relation to others whom the individual internalizes as good and bad objects. Jeffrey Seinfeld explores how an internal sabotaging self is identified with a rejecting object. This self is a reservoir of memories of how original caregivers rejected the child's needs, and the patient now expects the world to reject and disappoint her. If patients experience the therapist as a kind or caring person, they may feel that they are being lured into dependency and subsequent disappointment. Paradoxically, if patients feel attached to the therapist, this same attachment is experienced as a threatening dependency that must be destroyed. A relationship that could eventually strengthen the personality is rejected, and instead a negative reaction to the therapist and the therapeutic process is established. Jeffrey Seinfeld shows that in order for patients to heal, they must separate from the internal bad objects.This is often done with aggression against the therapist, who must be able to withstand the intense hostility, rage, and abuse of the patient. Only by surviving this aggression in the negative therapeutic reaction can the therapist allow the patient to integrate good and bad part objects in the transference. The therapist can eventually serve as a bridge in the integration of the divided good and bad selves and objects. Through case histories Seinfeld illustrates his way of entering into the patient’s internal world. By helping patients understand the transference of their internal objects, they begin to understand their own experience of self and others, which leads to character change.

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Well illustrated, accessibly presented, and drawing on a comprehensive range of historical documents, including British, German and other European images, and literary as well as non-literary texts (many previously unconsidered in this context), this study offers the first interdisciplinary gendered assessment of early modern performing itinerant healers (mountebanks, charlatans and quacksalvers). As Katritzky shows, quacks, male or female, combined, in widely varying proportions, three elements: the medical, the itinerant and the theatrical. Above all, they were performers. They used theatricality, in its widest possible sense, to attract customers and to promote and advertise their pharmaceuticals and health care services. Katritzky investigates here the performative aspects of quack marketing and healing methods, and their profound links with the rise of Europe’s professional actresses, fields of enquiry which are only now beginning to attract significant attention from historians of medicine, economics or the theatre. Women, Medicine and Theatre also recovers women’s roles in the economy of the itinerant quack stage. Women associated with mountebank troupes were medically and theatrically active at every level from major stage celebrities to humble urine sample collectors, but also included sedentary relatives, non-performing assistants, door- and bookkeepers, wardrobe mistresses, prop and costume loaners, landladies, spectators, patrons and clients. Katritzky’s study of the whole range of women who supported the troupes contextualizes the activities of their male counterparts, and rehabilitates a broad spectrum of diversely occupied women. The strength of this title’s research method lies in its comparative examination of documents that are generally examined from the point of view of either their performative or their medical aspects, by historians of, respectively, the theatre and medicine. Taken as a whole, these handbills, literary descriptions a

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Explore ‘Beatle Land’ and the iconic sites associated with The Beatles’ fame. The ‘Fab Four’ – John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr – were all born and brought up in Liverpool, and this illustrated guide reveals why the city was crucial to their musical success. Following in their footsteps around Liverpool and Merseyside, the book explores the places that influenced The Beatles’ musical direction and eventual stardom. Discover the significance of the locations behind hit singles such as ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ and ‘Penny Lane’, as well as iconic music venue The Cavern Club. The book’s handy location map will guide you to all the sights, including: • St Peter’s Church where Paul famously first met John, who was playing in his band The Quarrymen in the grounds. • The Mersey Ferry which provided a great venue for the Beatles to perform in 1961 and 1962. • Strawberry Fields where John visited summer fairs with his aunt, and which was the inspiration behind the hit single ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ • Penny Lane and its bus roundabout, celebrated in the song with the same name. • The Cavern Club, the iconic music venue where The Beatles played 292 times and where Brian Epstein first saw them perform in 1961. • John, Paul, George and Ringo's childhood homes. The book also looks at the band’s early childhood influences including schools, parents and relatives that left an indelible mark on the character of the boys as they grew up, as well as their manager Brian Epstein’s role and influence as another Liverpool lad. Fully illustrated, this is the ultimate Beatles fan’s guide to Liverpool.

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A brilliant scholar of the gospels offers a stunning new translation of the Gospel of John that captures and illuminates the influence and voice of Mary the mother of Jesus—a voice which suffuses and transfigures the original with a mother's deep and universal compassion and wisdom.A New Light on John’s Gospel The Gospel according to John has always been recognized as different from the “synoptic” accounts of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. But what explains the difference? In this new translation and verse-byverse commentary, Michael Pakaluk suggests an answer and unlocks a twothousand-year-old mystery. Mary’s Voice in the Gospel according to John reveals the subtle but powerful influence of the Mother of Jesus on the fourth Gospel. In his dying words, Jesus committed his Mother to the care of John, the beloved disciple, who “from that hour . . . took her into his own home.” Pakaluk draws out the implications of that detail, which have been overlooked for centuries. In Mary’s remaining years on earth, what would she and John have talked about? Surely no subject was as close to their hearts as the words and deeds of Jesus. Mary’s unique perspective and intimate knowledge of her Son must have shaped the account of Jesus’ life that John would eventually compose. With the same scholarship, imagination, and fidelity that he applied to Mark’s Gospel in The Memoirs of St. Peter, Pakaluk brings out the voice of Mary in John’s, from the famous prologue about the Incarnation of the Word to the Evangelist’s closing avowal of the reliability of his account. This remarkably fresh translation and commentary will deepen your understanding of the most sublime book of the New Testament.

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Explore the colourful reefs, volcanic canyons, emerald rainforests, and unspoiled beaches of this sparkling archipelago with Moon Fiji. Inside you'll find:*Flexible itineraries including four days on Taveuni Island, five days of island-hopping in the Yasawas, and the ten-day best of Fiji*Strategic advice for outdoor adventurers, diving enthusiasts, honeymooners, foodies, and more, with guidance on which island is right for you*Must-see highlights and unique experiences: Go scuba-diving and spot barracuda, manta rays, and dolphins. Hike the rain-filled crater of a dormant volcano, raft down the thrilling Navua River, or zip-line through old-growth yesi forests. Share an intoxicating bowl of kava with new friends, tour an inland sugar plantation, or immerse yourself in the vibrant culture of indigenous peoples at a VOU dance performance. Sample fresh papaya, passionfruit, and mangoes from local growers or go off the grid in a traditional Fijian village, where you can practice mountainside yoga and learn to river fish with localsExpert insight: Minal Hajratwala, a writer with lifelong family ties to Fiji, recommends where to eat, how to get around, and where to stay, from guest cottages and beach bungalows to luxurious resorts*Full-colour photos and detailed maps throughout*Reliable background information on the landscape, climate, wildlife, and history, as well as common customs, etiquette, and basic Fijian and Hindi phrasebooks*Handy tips for families, seniors, students, and travellers with disabilities, plus ideas for travelling sustainably and engaging with the cultureWith Moon Fiji's practical tips and local know-how, you can experience the best of Fiji.Exploring the South Pacific? Check out Moon New Zealand.

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From legendary barbecue to famous blues, soak up the best of Bluff City with Moon Memphis. *See the Sites: Immerse yourself in history at the National Civil Rights Museum or the Stax Museum of American Soul Music. Pay respects to the King at Graceland, take an evening stroll down Beale Street where the Memphis blues were born, and watch the march of the ducks at the elegant Peabody Hotel*Get a Taste of the City: Feast on world-famous barbecue, fried chicken, and catfish, savour a homemade plate lunch with cornbread and fried green tomatoes, or opt for a multi-course meal at one of Memphis's classic steakhouses*Bars and Nightlife: Listen to live blues at B.B. King's, tour a brewery and sample a flight, and dance the night away at an old-school juke joint*Honest Advice from Tennessean Margaret Littman on the real Memphis, from local businesses to historic hotspots*Flexible, strategic itineraries including a five-day best of Memphis and tours of the art scene and Civil Rights history, plus day trips to the Mississippi Blues Trail, Tupelo, Little Rock, Hot Springs National Park, and more*Tips for Travellers including where to stay, how to safely bike the city, and more, plus advice for LGBTQ visitors, international travellers, and families with children*Maps and Tools like background information on the history and culture of Memphis, easy-to-read maps, full-colour photos, and neighbourhood guides from Downtown to SoulsvilleWith Moon Memphis's practical tips and local know-how, you can experience the best of the city.Hitting the road? Try Moon Blue Ridge Parkway Road Trip or Moon Nashville to New Orleans Road Trip. Exploring more of the Volunteer State? Check out Moon Tennessee.

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Inspiration Led By PoetryStop cutting yourself short: You must wear your crown at all times. If you were waiting on someone to give it to you, Dear Woman is here to inform you that you can give it to yourself. Every woman is a queen, especially you. Put your crown on and get ready to rule. Take a journey: No one has just one page in their life story. That’s why Dear Woman has everything—quotes, letters, short stories, and poems to educate, motivate, encourage, and provide a little tough love. This open letter is just as multi-faceted and inspirational as you are. Want the best for yourself: Michael E. Read wrote this book because he wants nothing more than for you to be the best woman possible, regardless of circumstance. In Dear Woman, he encourages you to feel the same way. This is more than a self-help book, more than just relationship advice for women—though it does include both of those things. No, this inspirational open letter, full of poetry and wisdom, is life advice just for you. Do it for you: You are an amazing woman. Deep down, you know that. Dear Woman isn’t here to tell you that you need to improve. Rather, it’s here to tell you that you can be your true self—for yourself. This is the life advice you need, because you deserve to thrive for no other reason than the fact that you are a woman. Dear Woman was written in hopes of shedding a little light and love. Let it add some brightness to your life. After reading this book, you will: Love yourself whole-heartedly Know that you deserve the best Be confident regardless of what life throws at you

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After 1948, the 370,000 Jews of Romania who survived the Holocaust became one of the main sources of immigration for the new state of Israel as almost all left their homeland to settle in Palestine and Israel. Romania’s decision to allow its Jews to leave was baldly practical: Israel paid for them, and Romania wanted influence in the Middle East. For its part, Israel was rescuing a community threatened by economic and cultural extinction and at the same time strengthening itself with a massive infusion of new immigrants.In this thoroughly updated edition, Radu Ioanid traces the secret history of the longest and most expensive ransom arrangement in recent times, a hidden exchange that lasted until the fall of the Communist regime. Drawing on a wealth of oral testimonies, recently declassified documents from the archives of the Romanian secret police, and newly available material from the government archives of Ukraine, Moldova, Russia, and Germany, Ioanid follows Israel’s long and expensive ransom arrangement with Communist Romania. He uncovers the elaborate mechanisms that made it successful for decades, the shadowy figures responsible, and the secret channels of communication and payment. The book sheds new light on Romania’s pre-fascist and fascist antisemitic legislation and its implementation. Ioanid explores in greater detail the physical destruction of Romania’s Jewish and Roma communities, including the pogroms of Bucharest and Iasi as well as the deportations and the massacres from Bessarabia, Bukovina, and Transnistria. New chapters consider the forced labor of the Jews, persecution by the Protestant churches, and the decision-making process of the Antonescu government in its treatment of Jews and Roma. As suspenseful as a Cold-War thriller, his book tells the full, startling story of an unprecedented slave trade and its origins.

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A Financial Times 'Best Thing I Read This Year' 2017LONGLISTED FOR THE FT & MCKINSEY BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARDGoogle. Amazon. Facebook. The modern world is defined by vast digital monopolies turning ever-larger profits. Those of us who consume the content that feeds them are farmed for the purposes of being sold ever more products and advertising. Those that create the content – the artists, writers and musicians – are finding they can no longer survive in this unforgiving economic landscape. But it didn’t have to be this way. In Move Fast and Break Things, Jonathan Taplin offers a succinct and powerful history of how online life began to be shaped around the values of the entrepreneurs like Peter Thiel and Larry Page who founded these all-powerful companies. Their unprecedented growth came at the heavy cost of tolerating piracy of books, music and film, while at the same time promoting opaque business practices and subordinating the privacy of individual users to create the surveillance marketing monoculture in which we now live.It is the story of a massive reallocation of revenue in which $50 billion a year has moved from the creators and owners of content to the monopoly platforms. With this reallocation of money comes a shift in power. Google, Facebook and Amazon now enjoy political power on par with Big Oil and Big Pharma, which in part explains how such a tremendous shift in revenues from creators to platforms could have been achieved and why it has gone unchallenged for so long.And if you think that’s got nothing to do with you, their next move is to come after your jobs. Move Fast and Break Things is a call to arms, to say that is enough is enough and to demand that we do everything in our power to create a different future.

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A hard-hitting history of the U.S. airborne unit who made a name for themselves in the unforgiving jungles of South Vietnam. “It was easier killing than living.” Third Battalion 506th Airborne veteran Drawing on interviews with veterans, many of whom have never gone on the record before, Ian Gardner follows up his epic trilogy about the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment in World War II with the story of the unit's reactivation at the height of the Vietnam War. This is the dramatic history of a band of brothers who served together in Vietnam and who against the odds lived up to the reputation of their World War II forefathers. Brigadier General Salve Matheson's idea was to create an 800-strong battalion of airborne volunteers in the same legendary “Currahee” spirit that had defined the volunteers of 1942. The man he chose to lead them was John Geraci, who would mold this young brotherhood into a highly cohesive and motivated force. In December 1967, the battalion was sent into the Central Highlands of Lam Dong Province. Geraci and his men began their Search and Destroy patrols, which coincided with the North Vietnamese build-up to the Tet Offensive and was a brutal introduction to the reality of a dirty, bloody war. Gardner reveals how it was here that the tenacious volunteers made their mark, just like their predecessors had done in Normandy, and the battalion was ultimately awarded a Valorous Unit Citation. This book shows how and why this unit was deserving of that award, recounting their daily sanguinary struggle in the face of a hostile environment and a determined enemy. Through countless interviews and rare personal photographs, Sign Here for Sacrifice shows the action, leadership, humor and bravery displayed by these airborne warriors.

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**Winner of the British Fantasy Award for Best Fantasy Novel** The electrifying second book in the award-winning Winnowing Flame trilogy - the sequel to The Ninth Rain. Epic fantasy for fans of Robin Hobb and Adrian Tchaikovsky.'An absolute joy to read... jam-packed with breath-taking inventiveness' James Oswald'Incredible heroines... incredible fantasy... Escapism at its finest' Stylist The Ninth Rain has fallen. The Jure'lia are awake. Nothing can be the same again.Tormalin the Oathless and the fell-witch Noon have their work cut out rallying the first war-beasts to be born in Ebora for three centuries. But these are not the great winged warriors of old. Hatched too soon and with no memory of their past incarnations, these onetime defenders of Sarn can barely stop bickering, let alone face an ancient enemy who grow stronger each day.The key to uniting them, according to the scholar Vintage, may lie in a part of Sarn no one really believes exists - a distant island, mysteriously connected to the fate of two legendary Eborans who disappeared long ago.But finding it will mean a perilous journey in a time of war, while new monsters lie in wait for those left behind.Join the heroes of THE NINTH RAIN as they battle a terrible evil, the likes of which Sarn has never known.What readers are saying about THE BITTER TWINS:'The sequel to the brilliant Ninth Rain kicks it up a notch with more action, scarier monsters and a more expansive story''Be ready for some great reveals and twists that may break your heart, but that will overall leave you fist pumping the air''The world building continues to blow my mind

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In 2013, a series of high-profile court cases sent shockwaves through the West Midlands town of Telford. Seven men, all from the town’s Pakistani heritage community, were jailed for selling vulnerable young girls for sex. The convictions made national news, but for one girl the chilling headlines were all too real. Holly Archer was just fourteen when her life changed forever after becoming embroiled in a frightening web of exploitation and abuse. Enduring countless violent rapes and death threats, she was forced to sleep with several men a night. As her abusers’ grip tightened, she fell into despair, twice becoming pregnant. Hours after her last GCSE exam, Holly took an overdose in a desperate attempt to end the nightmare that had become her life. Her escape eventually came when, old enough to leave home, she fled to Birmingham. She moved house every six months, fearing her abusers would hunt her down. She eventually found the strength to return to Telford shortly after giving birth to a daughter, around the same time the police launched an investigation into the exploitation of young girls in the town. She underwent hours of rigorous police interviews but in the end decided she could not face her abusers in court. Nonetheless, seven men were convicted of sex offences and jailed as a result of the investigation. Holly slowly began to pick up the pieces of her life and was given a job with a rape prevention charity. Having survived her ordeal, she now tells her full, shocking story for the first time.I Never Gave My Consent is a courageous yet uplifting memoir of someone who faced the cruelest of circumstances. Perfect for readers of Cathy Glass.

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Making the most of ground meat in 50 fantastic recipes and 300 photographs. This is a new way of looking at one of our most versatile ingredients, with recipes for minced beef, chicken, pork, lamb and even fish. It features 50 delicious recipes using minced meat of all kinds. It includes dishes to suit all occasions and all tastes, from Dim Sum and Beef Stroganoff for supper parties, to Cheeseburgers and Calzone for the kids. It contains over 300 inspirational photographs with both step-by-step pictures and close-ups of the finished dishes. It demonstrates all the techniques that you will need, from stir-frying and blanching to mincing with a food processor or machine. It suggests herbs, spices and common store cupboard ingredients that will enhance mince recipes. Virtually any kind of meat can be minced, and the variety of dishes that can be made is endless. Mince of all kinds is used to make the family recipes in this book: tasty pies, pizzas, burgers, ragouts, pasta sauces and stroganoffs. Many dishes from around the world are made from minced meat, and this book offers authentic spicy Samosas and Koftas, tasty Nachos and exotic Dim Sum and Spring Rolls, all of which are ideal for entertaining. Traditional family recipes such as Meatloaf, Beef Stew with Dumplings, Cannelloni, and Beef Pasties are also featured, as well as innovative dishes such as Chicken Bouche - minced chicken and red currants in a creamy sauce with a crispy cheese and oatmeal topping. Never has mince been so tempting, whether for everyday meals, special occasions, cooking for kids or just a quick snack. This is a collection of recipes you will refer to again and again.

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A powerful case that the economic shocks of the 1970s hastened both the end of the Cold War and the rise of neoliberalism by forcing governments to impose austerity on their own people.Why did the Cold War come to a peaceful end? And why did neoliberal economics sweep across the world in the late twentieth century? In this pathbreaking study, Fritz Bartel argues that the answer to these questions is one and the same. The Cold War began as a competition between capitalist and communist governments to expand their social contracts as they raced to deliver their people a better life. But the economic shocks of the 1970s made promises of better living untenable on both sides of the Iron Curtain. Energy and financial markets placed immense pressure on governments to discipline their social contracts. Rather than make promises, political leaders were forced to break them.In a sweeping narrative, The Triumph of Broken Promises tells the story of how the pressure to break promises spurred the end of the Cold War. In the West, neoliberalism provided Western leaders like Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher with the political and ideological tools to shut down industries, impose austerity, and favor the interests of capital over labor. But in Eastern Europe, revolutionaries like Lech Walesa in Poland resisted any attempt at imposing market discipline. Mikhail Gorbachev tried in vain to reform the Soviet system, but the necessary changes ultimately presented too great a challenge.Faced with imposing economic discipline antithetical to communist ideals, Soviet-style governments found their legitimacy irreparably damaged. But in the West, politicians could promote austerity as an antidote to the excesses of ideological opponents, setting the stage for the rise of the neoliberal global economy.

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Alginate Fibers and Wound Dressings Comprehensive resource on the science and research behind alginate fibers, along with their many functional applications in different fields Alginate Fibers and Wound Dressings: Seaweed Derived Natural Therapy offers a general introduction to the sources of alginate and the production methods for alginate fibers and wound dressings, in addition to the novel properties and applications of these functional materials in wound management. Taking into consideration of the latest results of clinical researches conducted around the world, this book summarizes the unique properties of alginate wound dressings, including their ‘gel blocking’ properties and the ability to promote wound healing, facilitate haemostasis, reduce pain, suppress bacteria growth, and lower treatment cost in the treatment of a wide range of wounds, including leg ulcers, burn wounds, pressure sores, surgical wounds, and many other types of wounds with high levels of exudates. Sample topics covered in Alginate Fibers and Wound Dressings include: Why alginate fibers can be used as a carrier to deliver zinc, copper, silver, and other bioactive metal ions How alginate wound dressings can help maintain a physiologically moist microenvironment that promotes healing and the formation of granulation tissue Unique properties of alginate fibers that are highly useful for functional textile materials and medical textile products, such as gel forming properties when in contact with body fluid Other excellent performance characteristics of alginate fibers, such as haemostatic, antimicrobial, skin whitening, and many other unique bioactivities Providing comprehensive coverage of the subject, Alginate Fibers and Wound Dressings is an essential resource for students, researchers, and professionals involved in professions and programs of study that intersect with the subject.

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"If you think you're too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito." - Dalai Lama In 2009, one nightshift spent on duty at his emergency vet clinic changed everything for Marc Abraham. Eight very sick puppies came in needing Marc's help. He subsequently discovered they'd all been purchased from a pet shop and had been born in the same cruel puppy farm. Since that fateful night, no one could have ever predicted the impact those poorly pups would have on the world of animal welfare, or indeed the future of grassroots campaigning in the UK, and beyond. Fast forward to June 2019 and over 10 years since Marc treated those eight sick puppies and 'Lucy's Law', named after a rescued puppy farm breeding dog whose pups were also sold through pet shops, passed into law by the UK Government. It bans the selling of puppies (and kittens) by pet shops and dealers, making all breeders accountable. Now, in his new book, #BeMoreMosquito, Marc has put together the ultimate guide for individuals to campaign for what they believe in - no matter what their cause or belief. It shows how YOU have the power to create change - and that YOUR voice matters. He shares in detail his personal campaigning tips, toolkit, and experiences from his own extraordinary journey, which included over 300 visits to Westminster. From meeting MPs and engaging with A-list celebrities, to the role of e-government petitions and developing your own campaign brand, Marc helps guide you through how to raise awareness, dispel myths, change public and even corporate behaviour, and importantly, how to make that all-important progress and influence legislation that can make our world a better place, and all for free.

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Have you ever found that once you are between the sheets Madame Bovary is too heavy, magazines are too slippery, and The Guns of Navarone too long? In that case A Gentleman's Bedside Book is perfectly designed to satisfy those final moments of the days with facts, stories, ideas and instructions that will help every bright boy to become a smarter man with a well rounded curriculum of lessons in Science, English, Home Economics, R.E, Modern Languages, P.E, Art, Music and Woodwork. A lucky dip of bedside derring-do, humour, and oddity, written in his unique style by best-selling humourist Tom Cutler. Constantly surprising, ridiculously fascinating, and very, very funny.Includes such entries as: Human anatomy for the practical man; the most frequent dream subjects; delicious caustic curries you can make; Emergency meals from nowhere; Shaving: top tips from the pros; Deerstalkers and why they matter; How to grow a dashing moustache; How to open a Champagne bottle with a sword; Samuel Pepys: the rude bits; Best ever book titles; Tongue twisters; Those you may not marry, from The Book of Common Prayer; The worst ever movie dialogue; Useful foreign chat-up lines; An international swearing dictionary; filthy foreign food; Historic dumb predictions; The history of concrete; Dad rock; Coming out on top in a pub brawl; How to dissolve your wife; Mental arithmetic tricks for the practical man: ten tricks; Famous car crashes and victims; The seven habits of the highly effective Lothario; Really bad chat-up lines; Best urban legends: a list; Sword swallowing for fun and profit; How to develop a gigantic memory; Mind blowing mind reading for the complete novice.

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Discover the Tarot and learn how to use it to explore your emotions, reveal and plan for the future, manifest your desires and heighten your spiritual practice. Learn how to use the Tarot to unlock life's mysteries, change your physical reality and discover your path to true happiness.The Tarot Life Planner is an essential bible for every Tarot practitioner. Each card entry includes information on how to interpret its appearance in a spread and exercises for working with that card individually to connect with and channel its unique energy. Explore questions about the present and future in gradual and increasing complexity, with over 30 spreads accompanied by sample readings to help demonstrate how to interpret the cards in the context of a spread. With detailed guidance on how to seek answers for specific questions about your inner self, your priorities, career, love life and journey towards true happiness, anyone can become a master at reading the Tarot.You will also discover how to deepen your spiritual practice using the Tarot with exercises, meditations and rituals that go beyond conventional readings. Learn how to use the Tarot to:- Scry revelations from a single card- Use the Tarot to guide your meditations- Reveal your inner-self- Engage in spiritual healing- Find the daily affirmation you need- Open yourself up to love- Find your Heartmate- Manifest the life you wantThis book is illustrated with the Soprafino deck from 1835, illustrated in the tradition of the Tarot of Marseilles. However, the wealth of information provided will help anyone familiar with the Rider-Waite deck to interpret the cards, and work with any Tarot of their choice.

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Change is an essential part of life. How we meet that change is where it can get interesting. When a person goes through a conversion experience, there is an automatic assumption that they have it all figured out immediately, and they know exactly what God wants them to do. This is not the case. We only have to look at St. Paul. While his conversion was dramatic, Paul tells us in his letters that he had to spend considerable time in the wilderness pondering what had happened to him, and figuring out what exactly God wanted him to do. The same is true of St. Ignatius of Loyola. St. Ignatius had a dramatic conversion which shattered not only his leg but all his previous dreams and aspirations. Such a change was not easy to get his head around, and he was forced to enter into his own period in the wilderness. This time of reflection not only brought him closer to God, but it also gave him a greater insight into himself. In this booklet, you will be able to witness the transformation which took place in the life of Ignatius from a vainglorious young man obsessed with his own success, to one who put the service of God and other people before anything else. This transformation, while dramatic, was not immediate. It took time and reflection and took him across various locations. In all of his travels, Ignatius was focused on one thing, what was God calling him to do? Ignatius conversion will allow the reader to get a perspective on how Ignatius faced the challenges which transformed his life, and hopefully, the reader may be able to make time in their own life to explore things which brought about changes in their life and see how God was operating within this change.

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The great value of this book is that it helps people to explore together how they can live life more fully and with authentic freedom. Part one outlines three convictions that guide its direction and the programme it describes. Firstly, God desires what is best for all people and invites each one personally to know him. Secondly, every baptised Christian is called to reach out beyond themselves in a way that proclaims and expresses the goodness of God, through action and words and thus enriches those whom they meet. Thirdly, the parish is an important entity in the renewal of God’s people as a dwelling place of God among them. Part two provides a practical outline for people to plan, launch and direct the programme in a way that helps participants come to know God’s providence and love, and to live their relationships in a spirit of joyful service and with love towards all whom they meet, and in a way that enhances renewal and community connections within their parish. Each week presents an important facet of Christian living in a style that is easy to follow, while at the same time inspirational. It all means that hosting this programme is within the capacity of anyone who knows a genuine encounter with God, and a desire to share his love with others. Part three consists of a scripture passage and a brief reflection for each day for the duration of the programme. It supports the theme of each week. It seeks to help people to pray with the help of the scriptures; to inspire a new or more personal relationship with Christ; and to yield to the mystery of God’s loving. Then what may have proved to be elusive in the past becomes part of one’s own personal story.

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This is the first book ever to present the authentic ninja techniques in a highly accessible, illustrated 'how to' format. The shadowy figure of the ninja – expert commando, secret agent, maverick who operates outside social norms – continues to exert fascination in the West, yet much of what is presented as ninja fact today is distorted or wrong. Drawing on the scrolls created by historical Japanese ninjas (or shinobi, as they were then known), this book offers the real ninja teachings in 150 easy-to-follow, illustrated lessons designed to draw contemporary students of ninja straight into the world of these skilled spy-commandos. The truth about the ninja is so much more complex and intriguing than the Hollywood clichés we know today. We may think, for example, of a ninja as being always garbed in black and fighting with 'throwing stars' but in fact, a ninja had clothes in different colours to serve as disguises for different times of day, and their arsenal of weaponry could include anything from poison, poison gas, pepper spray and fire-creating tools to swords, spears and knives (but no throwing stars). The 150 lessons in this book cover all the basics of ninja warcraft, including clever ideas for infiltrating an enemy compound (from wearing 'silent sandals' to faking passes and passwords), tactics for hiding and retreat (in the racoon dog retreat, a ninja will crouch low and halt, allowing the pursuer to collide with him at speed, whereupon the agent kills his enemy), and ways of crossing marshes and water (for example, with special shoes made of boards, or using a foldaway floating seat). The description is made all the more vivid by step-by-step photographs of the fighting techniques, diagrams outlining military tactics and beautiful samples of Japanese calligraphy.

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'Lorraine Mace has done it again. Crime fiction at its absolute finest' MARION TODD'What an opening! Lorraine certainly knows how to write a gripping thriller. A chilling read' KAREN KINGIF HE WANTS YOU . . . THERE'S NO ESCAPE.A brutal murder . . .Responding to a tip-off, newly promoted Detective Chief Inspector Paolo Sterling arrives at an apartment block to find the dismembered body of a young woman. And with no indication of a break-in, all signs suggest the killer was known to her.An abduction in plain sight . . . Then the victim's friend is snatched with no witnesses and the unanswered questions mount up.At the same time, Sterling's team are leading the surveillance of a local club, thought to be involved in a drug operation. But when one of his colleagues ends up in hospital close to death, Paolo begins to lose his grip.A detective on the edge . . .With the odds stacked against him, and time running out, can DCI Sterling uncover the truth before it's too late? Or will this case finally tip him over the edge?Lorraine Mace returns with the fifth instalment in her dark, gritty and unflinching DI Sterling series. Perfect for fans of Angela Marsons, M. J. Arlidge and Karin Slaughter.LOVE FOR LORRAINE MACE'S WRITING:'I. Am. Not. Okay. That ending - mind blown!!!! Rage and Retribution deserves ALL the stars! It is AMAZING!' 5* Reader Review'Wow, just wow is all I can say. The whole series is just too good to miss.' 5* Reader Review'I am an absolutely massive fan of this series . . . the books are just getting better and better' 5* Reader Review'I am blown away by this story and LOVE everything about it. I cannot wait for the next instalment.' 5* Reader Review'OMG! That opening scene' 5* Reader Review'I could not put my kindle down while reading this!' 5* Reader Review

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Whatever life throws at you, learn to deal with it in a healthier and more rational way. When it comes to destructive emotions and unhelpful behaviours, you are your own worst enemy. Rather than people or situations driving you to depression, distraction or doughnuts, all too often it’s your own unhealthy beliefs and thought habits that hold you back and f**k everything up. But, what can you do about it?Highly Experienced REBT (Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy) psychotherapist Daniel Fryer can stop these thoughts from messing up your life using a simple but effective model. In The Four Thoughts that F**k You Up … And How to Fix Them he reveals the four unhealthy beliefs that hold you back (Dogmatic Demands, Dramas, I Can’t Copes and Pejorative Put-Downs) and shows you how to replace them with four healthy beliefs (Flexible Preferences, Perspectives, I Can Copes and Unconditional Acceptance) – in as little as six weeks. Yes, you read that right: Just six weeks to a new you.Developed in the mid-fifties by psychotherapist Albert Ellis, REBT is known as the first form of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT). Not only is it an effective therapy, but it’s also an excellent philosophy for every day life. With this model, Daniel will help you identify a specific personal challenge and then reframe how you react to it, leading to a calmer, happier you. This approach is especially helpful if you struggle with stress, anxiety, depression, anger or self-doubt, or if you want to improve your relationships with family, colleagues and peers or, simply, yourself.When you free your mind from the thoughts that f**k you up, you’ll never look at anything the same way again. Want to get started?

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Gear Up and Throw Down! When sword and spell just won't be enough to win the day, it's time to power up your game with clockwork gears, lightning coils, and black powder! Guns & Gears, the latest hardcover rulebook for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game (Second Edition), brings the excitement of firearms and fantasy technology to your tabletop!Unravel the secrets of clockworks with the new inventor class or blow away your opposition as a firearm-wielding gunslinger! In addition to new classes, a plethora of archetypes, backgrounds, vehicles, siege engines, gadgets, and the new automaton ancestry are all ready to expand your game with options for battlefields large and small.Guns & Gears features:Two new classes: the clever inventor and the sharpshooting gunslingerAutomaton ancestry for players who want to play a customizable constructFirearms of all stripes, from the simple and effective flintlock pistol to versatile gunbladesMore than a dozen new archetypesScores of new gadgets and vehiclesSiege engines and accompanying rulesA gazetteer of Golarion revealing how firearms and technology fit into the Age of Lost Omens, including a look at the technology of the continents of Arcadia and Tian Xia and never-before-revealed secrets of the rough-and-tumble, gritty city of AlkenstarWritten by: Michael Sayre, Mark Seifter, and Logan Bonner, Jessica Catalan, John Compton, Andrew D. Geels, Steven Hammond, Sen H.H.S., Brent Holtsberry, Jason Keeley, Dustin Knight, Luis Loza, Ron Lundeen, Chris Mastey, Liane Merciel, Jacob W. Michaels, Dave Nelson, Samantha Phelan, Mikhail Rekun, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, Sydney Meeker, Kendra Leigh Speedling, Andrew Stoeckle, Calliope Lee Taylor, Sara Thompson, Andrew White, and Scott D. Young

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JAMES TAYLOR was born in Burrough on the Hill, Leicestershire, in 1990\. A sporting phenomenon from an early age, he chose to forge a life in cricket, establishing himself as one of the country's leading batsmen and an England regular. And then tragedy struck. In April 2016, a serious heart condition left Taylor fighting for his life in the changing room. Told he faced possible death if he played cricket, or exercised, ever again, James's bright and brilliant career was over at the age of 26. In Cut Short, Taylor reveals his route to the top. On the way, he describes how he encountered prejudice against his size and how his Test debut was overshadowed by the negative attentions of Kevin Pietersen. He takes us through the highs and lows of his international career, including a century against the Australians and a closeup view of the unsavoury nature of David Warner. With the world at his feet, Taylor reveals just what it was like to have sporting ambition snatched away right at the point of international breakthrough. He relives in breathless detail the horrific events of the day he thought he was going to die and his desolation at watching a fine sporting career torn from his grasp. The aftermath was a battle bigger than any he ever encountered on the pitch, a battle to rebuild his life and make sense of the personal bombshell with which he had been afflicted, and, unexpectedly, a battle for his future. At the same time, he was getting used to a body which, on several occasions, left him fearing for his existence. That James has emerged from these dark days with courage, good humour, and renewed ambition is testament to a remarkable personality. Cut Short is the story of a true never-say-die character.

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In the early 1930s the tramcar in Blackpool was at a crossroads; the system needed investment in both new track and new trams whilst there was a serious threat that the 'town' routes - as elsewhere in Britain as operators faced the same challenges - might have been converted to bus operation. The appointment of Walter Luff as the new general manager was, however, to prove a turning point. Working closely with English Electric, based in nearby Preston, Luff developed a series of streamlined trams - both single-deck and double-deck - that were to revolutionise the town's tramway. By the end of 1930s, the corporation had acquired more than 100 new trams - the majority built by English Electric but with 20 coming from Brush - that ensured the survival not only of the key route along the Promenade to Fleetwood but also of the bulk of the 'town' routes. Over the next 70 years these trams were to form the cornerstone of the Blackpool system. Almost from the start, when a number were modified to cater for the changed requirements during the Second World War, many of the trams were rebuilt - into the power cars that worked with the trailers, for example, or the one-man operated cars of the early 1970s - that extended their lives and saw them outlast more modern designs. It was only with the modernisation of the Blackpool system in the first decade of the 20th century that, finally, they became largely obsolete but still, as part of the heritage fleet, they remain very much part of the contemporary Blackpool scene. This book examines the history of Blackpool's streamlined trams of the 1930s from development through to preservation.

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'The undisputed champion of South African crime. Meyer grabs you but the throat and never lets you go' Wilbur Smith'From its startling opening to its tense and thrilling conclusion, Deon Meyer's The Last Hunt takes you on a whirlwind safari across two continents. In the whole of the Benny Griessel series so far, the stakes have never been higher or the odds so much against' Peter Robinson***A cold case for Captain Benny Griessel and Vaughn Cupido of the Hawks elite police unit - not what they were looking for. And a difficult case, too. The body of Johnson Johnson, ex-cop, has been found beside a railway line. He appears to have jumped from South Africa's - perhaps the world's - most luxurious train, and two suspicious characters seen with him have disappeared into thin air. The regular police have already failed to make progress and others are intent on muddying the waters.Meanwhile in Bordeaux, Daniel Darret is settled in a new life on a different continent. A quiet life. But his skills as an international hit-man are required one more time, and Daniel is given no choice in the matter. He must hunt again - his prey the corrupt president of his homeland.Three strands of the same story become entwined in a ferocious race against time - for the Hawks to work out what lies behind the death of Johnson, for Daniel to evade the relentless Russian agents tracking him, for Benny Griessel to survive long enough to take another huge step in his efforts to piece together again the life he nearly destroyed - and finally ask Alexa Bernard to marry him.The Last Hunt shows one of the great crime writers operating at the peak of his powers.

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The Times Best Literary Non-fiction Books 2021 - 'a super yarn''Rick Gekoski's encyclopaedic knowledge of rare books is matched only by the enthusiasm and brio with which he writes about them' Ian RankinRick Gekoski has been traversing the rocky terrain of the rare book trade for over fifty years. The treasure he seeks is scarce, carefully buried and often jealously guarded, knowledge of its hiding place shared through word of mouth like the myths of old.In Guarded by Dragons, Gekoski invites readers into this enchanted world as he reflects on the gems he has unearthed throughout his career. He takes us back to where his love of collecting began - perusing D.H. Lawrence first editions in a slightly suspect Birmingham carpark. What follows are dizzying encounters with literary giants as Gekoski publishes William Golding, plays ping-pong with Salman Rushdie and lunches with Graham Greene. A brilliant stroke of luck sees Sylvia Plath's personal copy of The Great Gatsby fall into Gekoski's lap, only for him to discover the perils of upsetting a Poet Laureate when Ted Hughes demands its return.Hunting for literary treasure is not without its battles and Gekoski boldly breaks the cardinal rule never to engage in a lawsuit with someone much richer than yourself, while also guarding his bookshop from the most unlikely of thieves. The result is an unparalleled insight into an almost mythical world where priceless first editions of Ulysses can vanish, and billionaires will spend as much gold as it takes to own the manuscript of J.K. Rowling's Tales of Beedle the Bard.Engaging, funny and shrewd, Guarded by Dragons is a fascinating discussion on value and worth. At the same time, Gekoski artfully reveals how a manuscript can tell a thousand stories.

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In the sun-drenched Sicilian hills, four women learn the lessons of a lifetime at the Food of Love Cookery School.In a remote Sicilian mountain town, four women arrive at a cookery school, each at a turning point in their lives.Moll is a foodie and an exhausted working mum on the holiday of a lifetime. Tricia, a top London lawyer is taking a break from the demands of her job and her family. Valerie, consumed by grief following the death of her partner, is trying to figure out how to live a life without him. And recently divorced Poppy has come to Sicily to learn about the place that her grandfather was born before emigrating to Australia.Luca Amore runs the school, using the recipes passed down to him by generations of Amore women. He expects this course to be much like all the others - but as sparks fly, friendships are made and secrets are shared. And for each of them nothing will ever be the same.Readers are loving Nicky Pellegrino!'I could smell the fresh pasta, feel the sunshine, smell the sea breeze and feel my worries wash away. It was lovely to stumble down the cobbled paths and stroll along the beautiful scenery''Through Italy, through food, through heartbreak, through love, through family. Add in a pinch of karmic justice and you have the perfect read with a joyful ending!''Once again Nicky Pellegrino had me captivated with this amazing story. It made me laugh, made me cry. I read it in one afternoon''I will say that if you are a woman on the cusp of discovering who you are and what your heart desires...then you will devour this book as I did''Such a great escapism read, full of emotions and family drama with love'

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Discover the classic mystery from Dick Francis, one of the greatest thriller writers of all time'Brilliant . . . I was riveted from the first to the last page' 5***** Reader Review'Banker has it all: murder, heroics, low tricks and high finance. I highly recommend it' 5***** Reader Review'Intelligent, well-paced, will grip you to the end' 5***** Reader Review______Tim Ekaterin has a lot of money. Unfortunately, it belongs to other people, and it is his job to invest it wisely, or get fired.And right now he's taken a big risk: using £5 million to stud a champion racing stallion.When the resulting foals have birth defects, Tim is worried and decides that there may be something else going on at the stables. And when one of those helping with the horses is murdered, his suspicions are confirmed.Now it's not just about money, but about life and death. Determined to get answers, Tim puts himself in danger's path to discover the truth . . .Packed with intrigue and hair-raising suspense, Banker is just one of the many blockbuster thrillers from legendary crime writer Dick Francis.Praise for Dick Francis:'As a jockey, Dick Francis was unbeatable when he got into his stride. The same is true of his crime writing' Daily Mirror'The narrative is brisk and gripping and the background researched with care . . . the entire story is a pleasure to relish' Scotsman'Dick Francis's fiction has a secret ingredient - his inimitable knack of grabbing the reader's attention on page one and holding it tight until the very end' Sunday Telegraph'A regular winner . . . as smooth, swift and lean as ever' Sunday Express'The master of suspense and intrigue' Country Life'Francis writing at his best' Evening Standard'Still the master' Racing Post

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Discover the classic mystery from Dick Francis, one of the greatest thriller writers of all time'Once you start reading you won't be able to stop' 5***** Reader Review'Couldn't put it down. I was awake half the night even on the second read!' 5***** Reader Review______As an amateur jockey, Roland Britten was lucky, and as an accountant he was rigorous. He knew he was on the hate list of several fraudsters, but never thought pen-pushers got kidnapped. And not from a racecourse right after beating the odds to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Held prisoner, Britten has no idea who his kidnappers are nor why they have abducted him. Only when resourceful school headmistress Hilary Pinlock gives him the opportunity to escape is he able to seriously think about what has happened and turn his logical mind to track down his abductors. But his kidnappers haven't finished with him yet - and they'll risk anything to get hold of him once again . . .Packed with intrigue and hair-raising suspense, Risk is just one of the many blockbuster thrillers from legendary crime writer Dick Francis.Praise for Dick Francis:'As a jockey, Dick Francis was unbeatable when he got into his stride. The same is true of his crime writing' Daily Mirror'The narrative is brisk and gripping and the background researched with care . . . the entire story is a pleasure to relish' Scotsman'Dick Francis's fiction has a secret ingredient - his inimitable knack of grabbing the reader's attention on page one and holding it tight until the very end' Sunday Telegraph'A regular winner . . . as smooth, swift and lean as ever' Sunday Express'The master of suspense and intrigue' Country Life'Francis writing at his best' Evening Standard'Still the master' Racing Post

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Discover the classic mystery from Dick Francis, one of the greatest thriller writers of all time'A real cracker of a story, fast-paced and extremely well written' 5***** Reader Review'Gripping . . . Dick Francis holds you to the final chapter' 5***** Reader Review'Excellent gripping story with a lot of twists' 5***** Reader Review______When Kelly Hughes rides the favourite into second place, he gets penalised. Not only has he lost the race, but also his licence, as the Jockey Club suspends him - believing he threw the race. Only he knows that the problem lay with the horse's performance, not his own. Suspecting he was framed, Kelly sets about finding out how it was done, and then who might have done it. But the closer he gets to the perpetrators, the more danger he finds himself in. Now there's more than his reputation and career at stake. There's also his life . . .Packed with intrigue and hair-raising suspense, Enquiry is just one of the many blockbuster thrillers from legendary crime writer Dick Francis.Praise for Dick Francis:'As a jockey, Dick Francis was unbeatable when he got into his stride. The same is true of his crime writing' Daily Mirror'The narrative is brisk and gripping and the background researched with care . . . the entire story is a pleasure to relish' Scotsman'Dick Francis's fiction has a secret ingredient - his inimitable knack of grabbing the reader's attention on page one and holding it tight until the very end' Sunday Telegraph'A regular winner . . . as smooth, swift and lean as ever' Sunday Express'The master of suspense and intrigue' Country Life'Francis writing at his best' Evening Standard'Still the master' Racing Post

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'An electrifying read! If you like your thrillers pulsing with tension, you're going to LOVE Good Girls Die Last!' LESLEY KARA'Impossible to put down... I absolutely loved it.' ANDREA MARA'Brilliant' WOMAN & HOME'This thought-provoking thriller confronts what it means to be a woman in today's world' WOMAN'S WEEKLYToday, nothing is going right for Em. And it's about to get much worse.Heartbroken by a recent split, with her 30th birthday looming, she loses her job and her home in the same morning because of two swaggering, dishonest men - the boss who sexually harassed her and the flatmate sleeping with her behind his fiancée's back. But all Em can think about is catching a flight to attend her sister's wedding and see her dying mother.With a record-breaking heatwave, and a serial killer making the streets unsafe, London is completely gridlocked. Em's life has always been full of men getting their own way, and today the scorched city teems with them standing between her and home. As Em's troubled past returns to haunt her, she refuses to let them win. Her defiance leads to shocking consequences that soon spiral wildly out of control.In a world where men don't listen, and girls have no voice, one woman can change everything.Today, no one will be staying silent.'What an amazing trip! Kept me riveted every step of the way' KIRSTEN MILLER'Completely gripping from start to finish. It's feminist, fierce and smart' CHRISTINA SWEENEY-BAIRD'Blisteringly powerful, devastatingly timely and utterly gripping - as empowering as it is thrilling. A sunkissed nightmare of a book. I loved it!' BEA FITZGERALD'A fearless and explosive thriller, one moment terrifying, the next intimate. Warning: it is impossible to put this book down!' AJ WEST

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For the twentieth anniversary of the start of the Matthew Bartholomew series, Sphere is delighted to reissue all of the medieval monk's cases with beautiful new series-style covers.------------------------------------The winter of 1353 has been appallingly wet, there is a fever outbreak amongst the poorer townspeople and the country is not yet fully recovered from the aftermath of the plague. The increasing reputation and wealth of the Cambridge colleges are causing dangerous tensions between the town, Church and University. Matthew Bartholomew is called to look into the deaths of three members of the University of who died from drinking poisoned wine, and soon he stumbles upon criminal activities that implicate his relatives, friends and colleagues - so he must solve the case before matters in the town get out of hand...It's August, 1354, and physician-monk Matthew Bartholomew jumps at the chance to travel to Ely with his friend and colleague Brother Michael, as it will give him a unique opportunity to study in the richly stocked library of the Benedictine priory. Michael has been summoned to the city by his bishop, but it isn't until they arrive that they discover the reason - the bishop has been accused of murder. The charge seems ludicrous, but Michael takes the investigation seriously and energetically sets about his task. At the same time Bartholomew comes across an underground movement of rebellion against the church and the tithes they demand from the laity, and the two men also learn that there has been a spate of burglaries which are being blamed on a band of travellers. Then a fellow of the priory is murdered almost under their noses. Can this death be connected to the others? Are all the killings linked to the burgeoning rebellion in the city?

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Discover the classic mystery from Dick Francis, one of the greatest thriller writers of all time'The characters are superb, the plotting as clever as it gets, the climax nightmarish, the retribution delicious' 5***** Reader Review'You can always rely on Dick Francis for a page-turner, and this is no exception' 5***** Reader Review______Edward Lincoln has scaled the Himalayas, survived deadly car chases, and defeated scores of assassins. As a movie action man he's even suffered stoically at the hands of sadistic directors. After finishing his latest film, he's asked to visit South Africa to discover why a dying friend's horses are suddenly failing on the racetrack. Unfortunately, Lincoln's attempt to help a friend soon puts him in harm's way.From a nearly fatal interview to a dangerous accident in a gold mine, it seems only luck is keeping him alive. And in life, unlike the big screen, there's no coming back from dead . . .Packed with intrigue and hair-raising suspense, Smokescreen is just one of the many blockbuster thrillers from legendary crime writer Dick Francis.Praise for Dick Francis:'As a jockey, Dick Francis was unbeatable when he got into his stride. The same is true of his crime writing' Daily Mirror'The narrative is brisk and gripping and the background researched with care . . . the entire story is a pleasure to relish' Scotsman'Dick Francis's fiction has a secret ingredient - his inimitable knack of grabbing the reader's attention on page one and holding it tight until the very end' Sunday Telegraph'A regular winner . . . as smooth, swift and lean as ever' Sunday Express'The master of suspense and intrigue' Country Life'Francis writing at his best' Evening Standard'Still the master' Racing Post

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Now a major TV series on Prime Video The seventh novel in the Wheel of Time series - one of the most influential and popular fantasy epics ever published.The war for humanity's survival has begun.Rand al'Thor, the Dragon Reborn, has escaped the snares of the White Tower and the first of the rebel Aes Sedai have sworn to follow him. Attacked by the servants of the Dark, threatened by the invading Seanchan, Rand rallies his forces and brings battle to bear upon Illian, stronghold of Sammael the Forsaken . . . In the city of Ebou Dar, Elayne, Aviendha and Mat struggle to secure the ter'angreal that can break the Dark One's hold on the world's weather - and an ancient bane moves to oppose them. In the town of Salidar, Egwene al'Vere gathers an army to reclaim Tar Valon and reunite the Aes Sedai . . . And in Shadar Logoth, city of darkness, a terrible power awakens . . .'Epic in every sense' Sunday Times'With the Wheel of Time, Jordan has come to dominate the world that Tolkien began to reveal' New York Times'[The] huge ambitious Wheel of Time series helped redefine the genre' George R. R. Martin'A fantasy phenomenon' SFXThe Wheel of Time series:Book 1: The Eye of the WorldBook 2: The Great HuntBook 3: The Dragon RebornBook 4: The Shadow RisingBook 5: The Fires of HeavenBook 6: Lord of ChaosBook 7: A Crown of SwordsBook 8: The Path of DaggersBook 9: Winter's HeartBook 10: Crossroads of TwilightBook 11: Knife of DreamsBook 12: The Gathering StormBook 13: Towers of MidnightBook 14: A Memory of LightPrequel: New SpringLook out for the companion book: The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time

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An uplifting and moving love story about second chances and destiny, perfect for fans of Jojo Moyes, Josie Silver and Holly Miller.'Emotionally heart wrenching!'⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ reader review'It's been so long since a book properly made me cry . . . I was sobbing'⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ reader review'I couldn't put it down. Emotional and beautifully written'⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ reader review'A love story to remember'⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ reader review________Have you ever wondered What If . . . ?Lou feels like she is stuck on the wrong path: alone, in a city far from home, watching other people being happy. When the man she's in love with announces his engagement to someone else, Lou is consumed by 'what ifs'.Then she finds herself slipping back in time to a night two years ago, where one small decision changed everything.Suddenly, Lou has a chance to fix her mistakes. But as she finds herself stuck in a loop, living out alternate versions of her life, her choices lead her down roads she could never have imagined.And in each life, she notices her path intersecting with one person again and again . . .Lou is about to realise that the greatest love stories aren't the ones we expect, but the ones we choose to fight for.________Readers are falling in LOVE with One Last Chance . . .'Reminiscent of Matt Haig's The Midnight Library and Rebecca Serle's In Five Years' Booklist'A heart-wrenching emotional rollercoaster' Ashley Winstead'Jost threads her novel with humour' The Times'An absorbing love story . . . Heartbreakingly poignant' Samantha Young'Tugs at the heartstrings' Publisher's Weekly'Captivating and poignant' Annette Christie'Gorgeous, heart-breaking' Saskia Sarginson'Moving, compelling' Francesca Hornak'Irresistible' Margarita Montimore'Full of hope and heart' Glendy Vanderah

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