Search results for ""Author . Alexander""

Returning to the world of Shadows of the Short Days, it''s time to go beyond Reykjavík to Hrímland''s remote islands . . .CHANGE DOES NOT ALWAYS HAPPEN FOR THE BETTER.War on the mainland is draining Reykjavík. For some, the remote islands off Hrímland''s coast are their only hope of survival.Elka, a recovering addict, has fled there with her son Sölvi. In their village they find a new life - all thanks to the Deep, a peculiar power their neighbours praise for the booming fishing industry. Everything seems perfect, but Sölvi does not trust the people who take his mother in.Kari is a professor of sorcery, recruited for a career-making venture - an excavation of an ancient power. He must go deep into the magical wasteland, find what is buried there, and turn the tide of the war forever. But the world might not be ready for the storm he will unearth . . .* * * * * * * * * *''A marvellous, quirky,

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The latest instalment from the beloved THE NO. 1 LADIES' DETECTIVE AGENCY seriesCatch up on the latest from Mma Ramotswe, Mma Makutsi and other favourites in this new instalment of Alexander McCall Smith's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series.As the temperature rises in Gaborone, Precious Ramotswe, founder of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, wonders whether the heat could be the reason that business is particularly slow. Luckily, a slower pace in life is her natural preference, unlike her colleague Mma Makutsi, who is alert to every passing observation and inclined to making snap decisions. With fewer cases to handle, Precious has time to contemplate her new neighbours, a couple who, by the sounds of it, have a rather volatile relationship . . .But then a distant cousin of Mma Ramotswe's comes to the agency with a plea for help, and the ladies decide to pursue the issue together. Armed with Mma Ramotswe's circumspection and Mma Makutsi's sharp eye, they proceed with confidence and open hearts. What, after all, could be more straightforward than a family matter?Meanwhile, their colleague Charlie is behaving oddly, borrowing Mma Ramotswe's van and returning it in an unusual condition. Digging a little deeper, the explanation is both strange and extraordinary, and takes Charlie, along with Mma Ramotswe's husband, Mr J. L. B. Matekoni, on a hair-raising night-time expedition.In the end, Precious is reminded of the need to view a picture from every angle, to accept the imperfections in people and situations, and then find a solution - preferably over a delicious slice of her friend Mma Potokwani's fruit cake.'Irresistible'The Times'Every page contains a gem of wit and insight'Scotsman

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THE FIRST INSTALLMENT OF THE MUCH-LOVED ISABEL DALHOUSIE SERIESAmateur sleuth Isabel Dalhousie is a philosopher who also uses her training to solve unusual mysteries. Isabel is Editor of the Review of Applied Ethics - which addresses such questions as 'Truth telling in sexual relationships' - and she also hosts The Sunday Philosophy Club at her house in Edinburgh. Behind the city's Georgian facades its moral compasses are spinning with greed, dishonesty and murderous intent. Instinct tells Isabel that the young man who tumbled to his death in front of her eyes at a concert in the Usher Hall didn't fall. He was pushed.With Isabel Dalhousie Alexander McCall Smith introduces a new and pneumatic female sleuth to tackle murder, mayhem - and the mysteries of life. As her hero WH Auden maintained, classic detective fiction stems from a desire for an uncorrupted Eden which the detective, as an agent of God, can return to us. But then Isabel, being a philosopher, has a thing or two to say about God as well.The Sunday Philosophy Club is the first book in the series, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

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Only few architecture firms in Europe have addressed the villa as a building type as consistently and with such formal rigor as Stuttgart-based Alexander Brenner Architects. The firm is widely known for designs characterised by plastic-geometric facades often resembling constructivist tableaux. What all of Alexander Brenner’s designs have in common is a truly holistic approach to the task. A house’s interior, kitchen, cupboards and other built-in furniture, is attended to with the same care for detail as its exterior. Corresponding gardens with curved sensual forms surround, and contrast, Brenner’s bright white cubic architectural sculptures. This new monograph follows-up on two successful previous volumes published in 2011 and 2015, and features five buildings realised between 2015 and 2021, including the architect’s own home in Stuttgart, the Brenner Research House. They are all documented in rich detail through striking photography, standardised plans and visualisations, as well as concise texts. An essay by Alexander Brenner rounds out this volume that serves again as a source of inspiration for anyone with an interest in residential architecture. Text in English and German.

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The latest installment in the warm and welcoming 44 Scotland Street series finds all our favorite residents of Scotland's most celebrated address navigating their enchanting and eventful lives.Angus Lordie is approached in the park by a shadowy, Deep Throat-like figure with government secrets to share, who mistakes him for a journalist. Now Angus is privy to some controversial plans of the Scottish Parliament—but just what is he meant to do about it? Elsewhere, Big Lou’s husband Bob hires a personal trainer who changes his entire outlook on life, much to Lou’s dismay. At the schoolhouse, young Bertie Pollock’s class has a new ringleader, Galactica MacFee, who quickly comes between Bertie and Olive. All this proves too much for Bertie to bear, and he flees to Glasgow with best friend Ranald Braveheart MacPherson in tow. And the indomitable Irene again finds herself in Edinburgh ... and it looks like there might be romance in the air. 

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The twenty-fourth book in the multi-million copy bestselling and perennially adored No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series.

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‘An enthralling guide to one of the world’s great cities – that blends history and insights into the present day from one of the most astute commentators on the politics of Istanbul' PETER FRANKOPAN 'A love letter to this ancient capital' THE TIMES Walking along the crumbling defensive walls of Istanbul and talking to those he passes, Alexander Christie-Miller finds a distillation of the country’s history, a mirror of its present, and a shadow of its future. Caught between two seas and two continents, Istanbul lies at the centre of the most pressing challenges of our time. With environmental decay, rapacious development and tightening authoritarianism straining its social fabric to breaking point, it represents the precipitous moment civilizations around the world are currently facing. In and around its crumbling Byzantine-era fortifications, Alexander Christie-Miller meets people who are experiencing the looming crisis and fighting back, sometimes triumphing despite the odds. To the City seamlessly blends two narratives: the story of Turkey’s tumultuous recent past told through the lives of those who live around the walls, and the story of Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II’s siege and capture of the city in 1453. That event still looms large in Turkey, as Recep Tayyip Erdoğan like a latter-day sultan invokes its memory as part of his effort to transform the country in an echo of its imperial past. This is a meditation on the soul of Istanbul, a paean to its resilience and fortitude. Walk with Christie-Miller and see the danger, beauty and hope. 'Deftly weaving together Istanbul’s past and present, Christie-Miller’s work is a beautifully written, nuanced examination of a city whose story is so often told in binaries' Louise Callaghan, Turkey and Middle East correspondent for the Sunday Times and author of Father of Lions Speak

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John Wenlock, first Lord Wenlock, was a leading diplomat, courtier and soldier during the Wars of the Roses whose remarkable career offers us a fascinating insight into one of the most turbulent periods in English medieval history. And yet he has hitherto been overshadowed by his more illustrious contemporaries. Alexander Brondarbit's meticulously researched and perceptive biography is overdue. It establishes Wenlock as a major figure in his own right and records in vivid detail how this shrewd nobleman found his way through the brutal conflicts of his times. Wenlock served in Henry V's military campaigns in France in the 1420s before moving on to a career in the royal households of Henry VI, Margaret of Anjou and Edward IV. As a diplomat, he led multiple embassies to Burgundy and France and, in addition to the kings he served, he was closely connected with other notable figures of the age such as Richard Neville, earl of Warwick. But Wenlock's speciality was on the battlefield - he took part in many raids, skirmishes and sieges and in three major battles including the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471 where he lost his life. Using primary sources as well as contemporary assessments in chronicles and letters, Alexander Brondarbit gives a nuanced description of the main episodes in Wenlock's long career and throws new light on the motivation of a man who has been labelled a Prince of Turncoats' because of his frequent changes of allegiance.

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THE FOURTEENTH BOOK IN THE BELOVED NO. 1 LADIES' DETECTIVE AGENCY SERIESThe one with the one hundred per cent new addition . . . There are joyful tidings at the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency with the arrival of Mma Makutsi's baby. However, while her assistant is busy with motherhood, Mma Ramotswe must tackle tea-making and detective work alone. Well-known troublemaker Violet Sephotho may or may not be behind a smear campaign against the Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon, and a dispute over the will of a local dignitary points to a shocking family secret. But the agency is resilient, adaptable and open to useful lessons - in particular, that our enemies and allies are not always obvious.

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Despite inhabiting a great city renowned for its impeccable restraint, the extended family of 44 Scotland Street is trembling on the brink of reckless self-indulgence. Matthew and Elspeth receive startling - and expensive - news on a visit to the Infirmary, Angus and Domenica are contemplating an Italian menage a trois, and even Big Lou is overheard discussing cosmetic surgery. But when Bertie Pollock - six years old and impatient to be seven - mislays his meddling mother Irene one afternoon, a valuable lesson is learned: that wish-fulfilment is a dangerous business. Warm-hearted, wise and very funny, The Importance of Being Seven brings us a fresh and delightful set of insights into philosophy and fraternity among Edinburgh's most loveable residents.

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Isabel Dalhousie is a new mother and a connoisseur of philosophy; she'd rather not be a sleuth. But when a chance conversation at a dinner party draws her into the case of a doctor whose career has been ruined, she cannot ignore what may be a miscarriage of justice. Because for Isabel ethics are not theoretical at all, but an everyday matter of life and death. As she attempts to unravel the truth behind Dr Thompson's disgrace, Isabel's patient intelligence is also required to deal with challenges in her own life. There is her baby son Charlie; Cat's deli to look after, not to mention her vulnerable assistant Eddie; and a mysterious and unlikeable composer who has latched on to Jamie, making Isabel fear for the future of her new family. Isabel treads a difficult path between trust and gullibility, philanthropy and interference, while keeping in her sights the small but certain comforts of family, philosophy and a fine Saturday morning.

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THE SEVENTH BOOK IN THE BELOVED NO. 1 LADIES' DETECTIVE AGENCY SERIESThe one with the witch who flew away . . .Mma Ramotswe is happily married to Mr J. L. B. Matekoni, but her work seems more hectic than ever. Among the raft of cases coming the way of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency are blackmail, witchcraft and theft, all calling for the wisdom of a traditionally built detective.It's enough to make her wonder what the secret of happiness is, and whether she is right to find it in small things such as a pair of blue shoes, a slice of cake, or a red sunset over Kalahari.

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The scientists affiliated with the early Royal Society of London have long been regarded as forerunners of modern empiricism, rejecting the symbolic and moral goals of Renaissance natural history in favor of plainly representing the world as it really was. In Aesthetic Science, Alexander Wragge-Morley challenges this interpretation by arguing that key figures such as John Ray, Robert Boyle, Nehemiah Grew, Robert Hooke, and Thomas Willis saw the study of nature as an aesthetic project. To show how early modern naturalists conceived of the interplay between sensory experience and the production of knowledge, Aesthetic Science explores natural-historical and anatomical works of the Royal Society through the lens of the aesthetic. By underscoring the importance of subjective experience to the communication of knowledge about nature, Wragge-Morley offers a groundbreaking reconsideration of scientific representation in the early modern period and brings to light the hitherto overlooked role of aesthetic experience in the history of the empirical sciences.

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Alexander McCall Smithis the author of the highly successfulNo. 1 Ladies' Detective Agencyseries, which has sold over twenty-five million copies. Since then he has devoted his time to the writing of fiction and has seen his various series of books translated into over forty-six languages and become bestsellers throughout the world. These include the44 Scotland Streetnovels, first published as a serial novel in theScotsman, theIsabel Dalhousienovels, theVon Igelfeldseries and theCorduroy Mansionsnovels.

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For millennia, cavalry was the premier combat arm. Horses gave armies mobility and speed; often cavalry charges, either on the enemy’s flanks and into his rear or through his center, led to the decision in a battle. This book analyzes the use of mounted troops from prehistoric times to recent conflicts in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. In contrast to many military history treatises that seek to identify a decline of cavalry over time in favor of modern infantry, Alexander Querengässer argues that only modern motor vehicles were able to replace cavalry. The book examines the many historical uses of cavalry, analyzing conditions for its employment, the role of geographic and climatic factors in its use, and developments in equipment and tactics. More than two hundred contemporary illustrations round out the volume.

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With the outbreak of the Hussite Revolution in 1419, Bohemia found itself opposed by a superior force of European crusader armies. German knighthood was experiencing its last heyday. But the Bohemian heretics’ army, under the leadership of energetic commanders like Jan Zizka, developed tactics with which they won one battle after another. The employment of the defensive Wagenburg (“wagon castle”) and intensive use of the first cannon as field artillery brought them many successes. The Hussites were the first soldiers since Roman times to employ all the available branches in coordination on the battlefield. This book highlights not just the history of the conflicts, but also the weapons and military branches, organization and tactics of the Hussite armies.

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