Search results for ""author ink"

Part travelogue, part history, and part reflective meditation on conflict and reconciliation, Sherry Buchanan’s new book offers both a personal and historical exploration of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, highlighting the critical role women militia and soldiers played in defending the Ho Chi Minh Trail during the Vietnam War. Accompanied by two travelling companions, Buchanan winds her way from Hanoi in the north to Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, in the south. Driving through the spectacular scenery of Vietnam and Laos, she encounters locations from the Truong Son mountains, the Phong Nha Caves, ancient citadels and Confucian temples to the Khmer Temple of Wat Phu at the western-most point of the Trail in Laos. Buchanan records her interactions—both scheduled and spontaneous—with those who experienced the Vietnam War firsthand, and these conversations with combatants and civilians provide new perspectives on the War. She listens to the women who defended the Trail roads against the greatest bombing campaign in modern times, walks through minefields with the demolition teams hunting for unexploded ordnance, and meets American veterans who have returned to Vietnam with an urge to “do something.” Buchanan weaves informative, and often humorous, tales from her journey with excerpts from the accounts of others, situating the locations she visits in their historical and political context. On the Ho Chi Minh Trail brings together geography, history, and personal accounts to readdress the culture of indifference to the War, bringing to light the scale of the tragedy, its lasting legacies, and our memory of it.

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Electric Dreams picks apart the forces that posit sex robots as either the solution to our problems or a real threat to human safety, and looks at what's being pushed aside for us to obsess about something that will never happen.

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Four estranged friends reunite for a motorcycle trip up the Isle of Skye, in the hope of coming to terms with how their lives have splintered since a transformative ride in Northern India fourteen years earlier. In their fumbling attempts to spiritually reconnect, expectant father Raj, recently widowed Vidushei, always youthful Liam and perpetually fragile Bobby test the limits of their friendship around campfires, on twisty roads, in unexpected Ayahuasca ceremonies, and against discussions of belonging, race, and identity. A novel about youth, the spectres of friendship, and colonial legacies in a small but fiercely proud nation, New Skin for the Old Ceremony spans India and Skye, seeing past ghosts exorcised in order to face the present.

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Welcome to Constitution Street. In this updated edition, Jemma Neville explores what real life stories from neighbours on one street in Leith reveal about our recent constitutional crisis in an age of anxiety pre- and post-COVID 19. Part memoir, part social history, part exploration of a new constitution for the day we live in, Neville's debut encourages a reclamation of human rights practice as something that belongs to each of us, too important to be left solely to politicians and lawyers. Jemma gets to know the people and stories that have lived on her street for decades, showcasing real life accounts of perseverance, courage and vulnerability, and that extraordinary stories are waiting behind every door. Constitution Street takes an essential view on the global issue of human rights through the lens of one street and its inhabitants.

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Noah spends his nights drifting between North London pubs and music venues, and his days sleeping off hangovers in the stock room of the floundering record shop where he works. He tries not to think about what will happen when his NHS-allocated therapy hours run out and he's left alone with his mind again. After years away, his favourite band Smiling Politely announce a last-minute set in a nearby venue and everything starts to shift. When the crowd turns violent, Noah runs into the street and meets Dylan, the charming local barman he's never had the courage to approach. Pulled into a toxic and co-dependent relationship with Dylan and his brooding, enigmatic friend Fraser, Noah bounces distractedly between sweaty gigs and clubs, swapping beds and friends along the way. The upcoming Smiling Politely album is a beacon of hope for Noah who craves the connection he finds in their music yet lacks elsewhere, but he has to ask himself what he's willing to lose - friendships, dignity, even his sense of self - to just feel like he belongs.

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In Blind Spot, Maud Rowell challenges readers to think differently about what they may take for granted, carrying them on a whirlwind tour through time and space - from Japanese tube stations to the 18th century museum - to showcase what the world looks like for someone who does not see. She offers practical insights based on her own experiences, as well as spotlighting incredible blind pioneers - explorers, artists, scientists, and more - through history and the current day, unearthed through her own research and interviews. In educating us about the realities of sight loss, Maud shows us how to be aware of our own blind spots, offering the knowledge needed to become better, more tolerant members of diverse communities. Society needs to support everyone - it's time we caught up.

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"I always thought I'd rather be dead than paralysed: One slip, one moment and everything changes..." Most of us live life in a safe zone but some individuals look over the edge. A few years ago, Karen Darke was on a rock-climbing expedition on sea cliffs in Scotland. She fell, and was paralysed. This is Karen's story about coming to terms with her lost of movement from the chest down and regaining the will to live. Out of her disability comes strength to embrace, challenge and transform it into an opportunity to learn and grow. It is also about the borderline between body and spirit. Karen is drawn into the world of faith healing and spirit surgeons in the Brazilian jungle. In testing these improbable claims she explores her own inner world and self whilst regaining her confidence. Combining wheels with wilderness, Karen escapes the city and embarks on an evermore daring series of adventures by hand-cycle, ski and kayak. Karen's story is inspiring and energizing; it will help everybody who reads it to respond positively, to overcome adversity, and to strive for their dreams.

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We all want to be happy. But how? Do we even know what we want, what it means? Thoughtful and spiritual, this short book covers what the philosophers and religious leaders have said about the question of happiness down the ages. But mostly, it focuses on what it means to us today, and how we can find true happiness in our own lives. Suffering, money, relationships, marriage, sex, art, forgiveness, healing, and society - they all affect our happiness, and how we view them can help us decide whether we are really going to enjoy happiness or not. Brian Mountford here provides a practical, personal, accessible and wise guide to the best advice on happiness available to us today.

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Meditation might conjure up magical, mystical images, but basically, it's a practice that brings great personal benefit in the form of better awareness, understanding, energy, health and general well being. It harnesses the deep beauty of the inner self, empowering our self confidence, and helps us make sense of our lives. This book shows you how to meditate step by step, in an easy-to-follow and friendly guide. Written in a clear and simple style, each chapter is clarified and embellished by a meditation that enables the reader to reflect on and experience what has been said. Stories and quotes bring home it's relevance for millions of people from ancient times to the present. Used as a course by thousands around the world, these words are now published for the first time.

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This book presents a fantastically comprehensive and intelligent look at all the world's religions, sects, cults, traditions, and ideologies. This is a comprehensive, intelligent and sympathetic guide to all the religions of the world, including the lesser-known traditions, sects, cults and ideologies. "The Thoughtful Guide to Religion" meets today's urgent need for a greater understanding of all religions on an individual, social and global basis. Using aspects from philosophy, psychology, anthropology, and numerous other disciplines, this volume tries to answer the questions - How does religion arise? How does it sustain itself? and Why does it unite some people while it ostracises others? This remarkable volume attempts to understand the most important aspects of all religions. Beginning with a look at myths, rituals, initiation and magic, and ending with a look at the elegant and mystical approach that some physicists have to their work, it provides a holistic approach for anyone who wants to gain a better understanding and appreciation of religion.

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The Celts were a successful and vigorous people who spread all over Europe a few thousand years ago. Our knowledge of them has been growing rapidly over the last few decades. They practiced what many in the medical profession today say is crucial to good health- drinking copious quantities of pure spring water, eating fresh vegetables, fruit and grains, and taking plenty of exercise. They were also a shamanic people, treating their environment with respect. One of the most fascinating aspects of their culture was their use of plant medicine, and central to this was the use of herbs. This book traces that history, from its ancient Druidic roots right up to the present day, where many of these herbs are still used clinically to treat a range of conditions. Each of the herbs is covered in depth, covering its history, myth and symbolism and explaining how to grow, preserve, prepare and use them. Uniquely, here, their properties are examined together with the scientific evidence that they work. Learn from the practice of our ancestors to improve your own health and lifestyle.

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Romanticism, Marxism, pre and post war German theology, non-realism and the nineteen sixties death of God movement, and now many contemporary writers around the world- they have all reshaped our ideas about God, giving it the rich diversity of experience and expression it comprises today. Tracing the history of the key idea in Western thought from its origins through to the present day, this is the story of the intellectual journey that remade God in the image of man, so that he might become one of us.

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This is a pioneering and enlightening volume on how colours affect us and how we can tune-in to our very own colours. Colours are everywhere in our lives - from the inside of our homes, to cars we drive - but they can also be found within us. "Colours of the Soul" shows how tuning into the colours of our auras and chakras can help us find balance and harmony in our lives. Finding the right colours for ourselves can have far reaching implications - from how we dress and what we eat, to the way we live and our personal health and well-being. The colour discovery insets and exercises in this pioneering volume will help readers find the right colours for every part of their lives and precipitate positive changes. This is a must read for anyone who wants to brighten up their life.

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These quintessential sayings of the Buddha offer a rich tapestry of spiritual teachings and reflections on the spiritual path. More than just a collection of Buddhist sayings, The Dhammapada's message is timeless and crosses all cultural boundaries. It offers the reader a constant source of inspiration, reflection and companionship. It is a treasure trove of pure wisdom that has something to offer to everyone. Everyday Buddha brings the original teaching and traditional text of The Dhammapada into our 21st century lifestyle, with a contemporary context. Without straying far from the Pali text it renders it in a fresh and modern idiom, with a universal appeal. An introduction provides a background to the life and times of the historical Buddha, and his teachings on the four noble truths and eight fold noble path. Foreword by H.H. The Dalai Lama, with his seal of approval.

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Contrary to popular belief, Western civilisation as we know it today is not the end result of steady progress. For over half a millennium revolution has succeeded revolution like a succession of tidal waves. At one level this book is a chronological narrative of these revolutions, from the Renaissance to the Russian. It shows how Utopian visions of ideal societies end in massacres and the guillotine, and therefore appeals to and challenges both left and right. At a second level it offers a new and original theory of why revolutions happen. An idealist has a vision, which others state in intellectual terms. This becomes corrupted by a political regime, and results in physical repression. The unique approach that The Secret History takes is that this vision has never been part of Establishment thought or practice. Indeed it usually has its roots in ideas and influences that have hitherto been unexpressed, "secret." But all these ideas have a common thread. They can be traced back to the heretical sects - Gnostics, Templars, Cathars and Rosicrucians - and secret organizations such as the mysterious Priory of Sion. Their influence powered the Protestant Revolution, which in turn provided the ideological foundations of the English, American, French and Russian revolutions. Factions within Freemasonry and families such as the Rothschilds have figured prominently in all these upheavals. They add up to a tide of world revolution that is reaching high water mark in our own time, as Hagger has shown in the companion volume to this work, The Syndicate: The Story of the Coming World Government.

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Most of what has been written in the name of astrology refers to personality and prediction. Divine Astrology presents Astrology in its true sense as a spiritual rather than predictive system. It sees personality as being an expression of Spirit, and life as being a journey of Spirit driven by cosmic forces and governed by definite laws. Seen in this way the user is no longer simply a hapless puppet of the astrological influences prevailing at birth and through life. He or she is seen as an entity who can become en rapport with the very energies that are the stuff of astrology, the Planetary Powers. It relates these to the nature of God, to other religions and to modern cosmology and physics. We are co-creators with God, and by communing with the Hands of God, the Planetary Powers, we can change our destiny for the better. To this end, Divine Astrology first equips the reader with the "Scriptures", the planets, Signs and Houses that tell what forces we are all subject to. But we are direct expressions of these Powers and Conditions, and so are able to commune with them. This paves the way for the esoteric teaching that we are able to become as Gods. It leads onto the "Rituals" that are the Practice of Astrology, the Cosmic Religion. Like any religion, this involves prayer and ceremony, but more precisely "Invocation". The "equipment" of these Rituals are the 40 Cards that come with the book. The seeker is shown ways to resolve problems, have questions answered, attain support and security, receive enlightenment, become empowered. The book closes with "God's Skywriting" which demonstrates in simple tabular form how all the major events of the 20th and early 21st Century are correlated to the Cycles of various Planetary Pairs. It shows us how we are all caught up in something far greater and more universal than we usually believe.

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