Search results for ""author christopher""

The topic of anxious children is on the front burner these days, both among parents and mental health professionals and it is only gaining attention as more and more clinicians are presented with anxious children in their practices. Anxiety symptoms—whether panic, OCD, phobias, social or separation anxiety—are one of the primary reasons parents seek help from a mental health professional for their child. And yet, parents may unintentionally reward or encourage the problem through their own behaviour (overprotection on the one hand, punishment on the other, or avoidance of all possible anxiety-provoking situations). This book will tackle that very issue, exploring the critical parent-child "dance" at the centre of child development and uncovering how, with the proper knowledge and tools at hand, therapists can guide parents in changing their dynamic so anxious outbursts are reduced and a child’s confidence and growth are better supported.

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Action-packed, wittily observed and non-PC satire set in California where terrorists are gearing up for the Millenium.

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In this generously illustrated and lively book, Christopher Lloyd sets out and interprets the lifelong achievement of Picasso (1881–1973) as a draftsman. Although there have been many publications about his drawings that have tended to focus on particular periods of his career, this stunning volume specifically examines how drawing serves as the vital thread connecting all of Picasso’s art, just as it also links his private world with his public persona of which he was becoming increasingly aware in his later years. Picasso and the Art of Drawing ultimately showcases how the basis of the titular artist's style as painter, sculptor, printmaker, and designer was manifestly achieved through drawing. Distributed for Modern Art Press

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Challenging cliches of Japanism as a feminine taste, Bachelor Japanists argues that Japanese aesthetics were central to contests over the meanings of masculinity in the West. Christopher Reed draws attention to the queerness of Japanist communities of writers, collectors, curators, and artists in the tumultuous century between the 1860s and the 1960s. Reed combines extensive archival research; analysis of art, architecture, and literature; the insights of queer theory; and an appreciation of irony to explore the East-West encounter through three revealing artistic milieus: the Goncourt brothers and other japonistes of late-nineteenth-century Paris; collectors and curators in turn-of-the-century Boston; and the mid-twentieth-century circles of artists associated with Seattle's Mark Tobey. The result is a groundbreaking integration of well-known and forgotten episodes and personalities that illuminates how Japanese aesthetics were used to challenge Western gender conventions. These disruptive effects are sustained in Reed's analysis, which undermines conventional scholarly investments in the heroism of avant-garde accomplishment and ideals of cultural authenticity.

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Each year, tens of thousands of students who are interested in politics go through a rite of passage: they take a course in research methods. Many find the subject to be boring or confusing, and with good reason. Most of the standard books on research methods fail to highlight the most important concepts and questions. Instead, they brim with dry technical definitions and focus heavily on statistical analysis, slighting other valuable methods. This approach not only dulls potential enjoyment of the course, but prevents students from mastering the skills they need to engage more directly and meaningfully with a wide variety of research. With wit and practical wisdom, Christopher Howard draws on more than a decade of experience teaching research methods to transform a typically dreary subject and teach budding political scientists the critical skills they need to read published research more effectively and produce better research of their own. The first part of the book is devoted to asking three fundamental questions in political science: What happened? Why? Who cares? In the second section, Howard demonstrates how to answer these questions by choosing an appropriate research design, selecting cases, and working with numbers and written documents as evidence. Drawing on examples from American and comparative politics, international relations, and public policy, Thinking Like a Political Scientist highlights the most common challenges that political scientists routinely face, and each chapter concludes with exercises so that students can practice dealing with those challenges.

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Shortlisted for the 2021 Porchlight Business Book Awards, Current Events & Public AffairsThe Wall Street Journal technology columnist reveals the fascinating story behind the misleadingly simple phrase shoppers take for granted—“Arriving Today”—in this eye-opening investigation into the new rules of online commerce, transportation, and supply chain management.We are at a tipping point in retail history. While consumers are profiting from the convenience of instant gratification, rapidly advancing technologies are transforming the way goods are transported and displacing workers in ways never before seen.In Arriving Today, Christopher Mims goes deep, far, and wide to uncover how a single product, from creation to delivery, weaves its way from a factory on the other side of the world to our doorstep. He analyzes the evolving technologies and management strategies necessary to keep the product moving to fulfill consumers’ demand for “arriving today” gratification. Mims reveals a world where the only thing moving faster than goods in an Amazon warehouse is the rate at which an entire industry is being gutted and rebuilt by innovation and mass shifts in human labor practices. He goes behind the scenes to uncover the paradoxes in this shift—into the world’s busiest port, the cabin of an 18-wheeler, and Amazon’s automated warehouses—to explore how the promise of “arriving today” is fulfilled through a balletic dance between humans and machines. The scope of such large-scale innovation and expended energy is equal parts inspiring, enlightening, and horrifying. As he offers a glimpse of our future, Mims asks us to consider the system’s vulnerability and its resilience, and who shoulders the burden, as we hurtle toward a fully automated system—and what it will mean when we are there.

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First in a series of hardback boxed sets celebrating the literary achievement of Christopher Tolkien, featuring double-sided dustjackets. Set 1 contains special editions of THE SILMARILLION and UNFINISHED TALES reproducing the first edition text, together with the two volumes of THE BOOK OF LOST TALES.The Silmarillion is an account of the Elder Days, of the First Age of Tolkien's World. It is the ancient drama to which the characters in The Lord of the Rings look back, and in whose events some of them, such as Elrond and Galadriel, took part. The tales of The Silmarillion are set in an age when Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in Middle-Earth, and the High Elves made war upon him for the recovery of the Silmarils, the jewels containing the pure light of Valinor.Unfinished Tales is a collection of narratives ranging in time from the Elder Days of Middle-earth and the rise of Númenor in the Second Age to the end of the War of the Ring, and provides those who have read The Hobbit and T

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'Packed with insight and anecdote, his story brings the Tower ravens to vivid life, each bird with a personality of its own. I've been fortunate enough to tour the Tower and meet the ravens a few times in years past; after reading this book, I cannot wait to go back' George R. R. Martin For centuries, the Tower of London has been home to a group of famous avian residents: the ravens. Each year they are seen by millions of visitors, and they have become as integral a part of the Tower as its ancient stones themselves. But their role is even more important than that – legend has it that if the ravens should ever leave, the Tower will crumble into dust, and great harm will befall the kingdom. One man is personally responsible for ensuring that such a disaster never comes to pass – the Ravenmaster. The current holder of the position is Yeoman Warder Christopher Skaife, and in this fascinating, entertaining and touching book he memorably describes the ravens’ formidable intelligence, their idiosyncrasies and their occasionally wicked sense of humour. Over the years in which he has cared for the physical and mental well-being of these remarkable birds, Christopher Skaife has come to know them like no one else. They are not the easiest of charges – as he reveals, they are much given to mischief, and their escapades have often led him into unlikely, and sometimes even undignified, situations. Now, in the first intimate behind-the-scenes account of life with the ravens of the Tower, the Ravenmaster himself shares the folklore, history and superstitions surrounding both the birds and their home. The result is a compelling, inspiring and irreverent story that will delight and surprise anyone with an interest in British history or animal behaviour.

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This special collector's edition features all 12 parts of the series bound in three volumes. Each book includes a silk ribbon marker and is quarter-bound in black, with grey boards stamped in gold foil, and the set is presented in a matching black slipcase.J.R.R. Tolkien is famous the world over for his unique literary creation, exemplified in The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. What is less well known, however, is that he also produced a vast amount of further material that greatly expands upon the mythology and numerous stories of Middle-earth, and which gives added life to the thousand-year war between the Elves and the evil spirit Morgoth, and his terrifying lieutenant, Sauron.It was to this enormous task of literary construction that his Tolkien's youngest son and literary heir, Christopher, applied himself to produce the monumental and endlessly fascinating series of twelve books, The History of Middle-earth.This very special collector's edition brings togethe

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Long ago in the deep ocean, there lived ...one smart fish! He wasn't the biggest and he wasn't the boldest, but he was the cleverest. What this smart fish wanted more than anything else was to walk upon the land. But everyone knows that fish can't walk ...can they?

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In Christopher Moore's ingenious debut novel, we meet one of the most memorably mismatched pairs in the annals of literature. The good-looking one is one-hundred-year-old ex-seminarian and 'roads' scholar Travis O'Hearn. The green one is Catch, a demon with a nasty habit of eating most of the people he meets. Behind the fake Tudor façade of Pine Cove, California, Catch sees a four-star buffet. Travis, on the other hand, thinks he sees a way of ridding himself of his toothy travelling companion. The winos, neo-pagans, and deadbeat Lotharios of Pine Cove, meanwhile, have other ideas. And none of them is quite prepared when all hell breaks loose.

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As the nation's oldest serving detectives, we know more about London than almost anyone. After all, we've been walking its streets and impulsively arresting its citizens for decades. Who better to take you through its less savoury side? We'll be chatting about odd buildings, odder characters, lost venues, forgotten disasters, confusing routes, dubious gossip, illicit pleasures and hidden pubs. We'll be making all sorts of odd connections and showing you why it's almost impossible to separate fact from fiction in London. With the help of some of our more disreputable friends, each an argumentative and unreliable expert in his or her own dodgy field, we'll explain why some streets have genders, why only two Londoners got to meet Dracula, how a department store and a prison played tricks on your mind, when a theatre got stranded in the past, how a building vanished in plain sight, what excited Charlotte Brontë about the city and where the devils hide in London. We hope to capture something of the city's restless spirit by wilfully wandering off course, and it goes without saying that we'll bluff and bamboozle you along the way but that's all part of the fun. History is what you remember. London is what you forget (and we've forgotten a lot). So please do join us on this magical mystery tour of our city. Who knows where we'll end up?

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St Mary’s is a vibrant London church on the northern edge of Primrose Hill. It is widely known for its fine liturgy and music in the Anglican tradition, its affirmation of women’s ministry, and its pioneering youthwork and social outreach. It was designed by MP Manning and built by Dove Bros of Islington in two stages (1872 and 1892). This book celebrates the church’s 150th anniversary. It draws on previously untapped archives to chart the history of the building and its worshipping community. The book is split into two parts: 1872-1951 ranges from the church’s origins in the Boys’ Home in Regent’s Park Road to the period of recovery after the Second World War. It is rich in stories: among them St Mary’s part in the Ritualist controversies of the Victorian church; the near collapse of the building through railway tunnelling in the 1870s; the striking innovations of Percy Dearmer (vicar 1901-1915); and the desperate years of the Blitz in the 1940s. 1952-2022 draws also on the personal memories of today’s congregation, exploring how St Mary’s has become the beacon of hope it is today, and taking stock of its particular place in Christian witness, now and for the future.

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Electromagnetism is one of the four fundamental forces in nature, and underlies almost everything we experience in our daily lives, whether we realise it or not. The complete theory was first written down in the late 19th century, and remains an essential part of a scientific education. The mathematics behind the theory, however, can be intimidatingly complex. Furthermore, it is not always clear to beginners why the theory is either useful or interesting, nor how it relates to modern research in theoretical physics.The aim of this book is to guide students towards a detailed understanding of the full theory of electromagnetism, including its practical applications. Later chapters introduce more modern formulations of the theory than are found in traditional undergraduate courses, thus bridging the gap between a first course in electromagnetism, and the advanced concepts needed for further study in physics. The final chapter reviews exciting current research stating that possible theories of (quantum) gravity may be much more closely related to electromagnetism than previously thought.Throughout the book, an informal conversational style is used to demystify intimidating concepts. Relevant mathematical ideas are introduced in a self-contained manner, and exercises are provided with full solutions to aid understanding. This book is essential reading for anyone undertaking a physics degree, but will also be of interest to engineers and chemists.

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Hari has spent his whole life faithfully ‘running the Wheel’ for his colony, generating power for the Light to help outsiders find their way back home. It is the only life he has known, safe and secure under the protection of the Guardians. Only – nobody has even seen any outsider return. When strange events begin to occur which the Guardians seem to cover up, Hari begins to question the life he is leading, and soon finds himself on an unfamiliar journey with his partner Heti to uncover the truth – and a great danger which will threaten the lives of everyone he knows and loves.

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'What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare.' - W.H. DaviesWalking around London is one of life's great pleasures. There is a huge amount that you can only see on foot – but sometimes it is hard to know where to look. Luckily, Christopher Winn, bestselling author of I Never Knew That About London, knows where all the hidden treasures are. This book takes the reader on a series of stimulating original walks through different areas of central London, focusing on one particular period of history, the Victorian, so ubiquitous that we take it for granted, and yet so astonishing and so far reaching in its variety, imagination, ambition and detail.Discover.....the remarkable 300-foot bell tower at the Houses of Parliament you never knew was there.... ..the extraordinary fairytale house in Kensington where the Mikado was inspired.....the best Victorian loos in the world near Old Street... ..a hidden chapel in Bloomsbury described by Oscar Wilde as 'the most delightful private chapel in London'... ..London's best preserved high class Victorian shop near Tottenham Court Road… ...an almost complete Victorian townscape boasting the world's oldest surviving mansion block... Walk through history and discover the hidden gems of Victorian London!

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This charming book takes you through the counties of England, exploring Saxon churches, reflective of simple faith; Norman churches with rugged arches and powerful pillars, stamping their authority, gothic churches with their soaring arches; Decorated and Perpendicular churches made glorious with Early English style and craftsmanship; Victorian churches, resplendent with imperial pomp; eccentric Arts and Crafts churches. Every one of them has a remarkable tale to tell, that will move you to exclaim, again and again: ‘I never knew that!’.

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Christopher Zyda confronts the long-buried and painful memories of his harrowing fifteen-year journey in The Storm: One Voice from the AIDS Generation, a heart-wrenching love story and coming-of-age tale during the early years of the AIDS crisis in Los Angeles.It all begins in early 1984, when Chris, a twenty-one year old UCLA English Literature major, risks ostracism when he comes out of the closet to his fraternity brothers just as the AIDS pandemic is beginning to explode in gay communities across the United States. Soon afterward, Chris meets and falls in love with Stephen, a graduate of Yale University and Law School, and the two of them build a life together as their friends start to fall sick and die from the spreading storm of AIDS.Stephen begins showing symptoms of AIDS in early 1986, and Chris faces a difficult choice as he is certain that he, too, eventually will be stricken by the disease. He abandons his writing career and attends the UCLA business school so that he can earn enough money to pay for healthcare during Stephen's illness.The Storm is filled with heart, optimism, and love, interspersed with Los Angeles history, gay and lesbian history, AIDS history, and the backdrop of the 1980s and 1990s. It is an unflinching and, at times, raw memoir of perseverance, integrity, forgiveness, the power of love, spiritual growth, Carpe Diem, dreams, and, most of all: survival and ultimate triumph.

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The vivid account of how a brilliant plan turned into an epic tragedy - made into the BAFTA award-winning film A BRIDGE TOO FAR'Alive with the detail that evokes the smoking background' DAILY TELEGRAPH'Finely recorded...truly the battle of Arnhem has been fortunate in its historian' SUNDAY TIMESThis book tells the true story of the Battle of Arnhem which was fought in September 1944. Nine thousand men of the First British Airborne Division were parachuted into the peaceful countryside that surrounded Arnhem. Their objective was to capture and hold the bridge over the Rhine ahead of the advancing British Second Army. Nine days later, after some of the fiercest street-fighting of the war, 2000 paratroopers managed to escape to safety.Made famous by the film A BRIDGE TOO FAR

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During the Second World War, the German Fallschirmjger (paratroopers) carried out many successful and daring operations, such as the capture of the Belgian fortress at Eben Emael in 1940 and the invasion of Crete in 1941. Hitler's Sky Warriors is a detailed examination of all the battles and campaigns of the Third Reich's airborne forces, illustrated throughout by many previously unpublished photographs. Hitler's Sky Warriors includes detailed accounts of all the ground campaigns of the parachute divisions, especially in Italy, where their epic defence of Monte Cassino entered military legend. As well as being a comprehensive account of Fallschirmjger battles and campaigns, Hitler's Sky Warriors includes information on the specialist weapons and equipment developed for Germany's airborne forces. These include the paratrooper helmet, the FG 42 automatic rifle, the so-called 'gravity knife', the different jump smocks, parachutes and harnesses, transport aircraft and gliders. Hitler's Sky Warriors also contains biographical details on all the main parachute commanders, such as Kurt Student, Bernhard Herman Ramcke and Richard Heidrich, and includes appendices that contain information about divisional orders of battle and Knight's Cross winners. In this way Hitler's Sky Warriors builds into an extensive and exciting account of one of the elite formations of military history.

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The third novel of the galaxy-spanning Sun Eater series merges the best of space opera and epic fantasy, as Hadrian Marlowe continues down a path that can only end in fire.Hadrian and his Red Company have been serving the Empire in military engagements against the Cielcin, the vicious alien civilisation bent on humanity's destruction. And they've been successful: a cult-like fervour building around following a particularly impressive victory. but popularity comes as a price: an assassination attempt, triggered by those within the Imperial government who are scared of his rise to prominence.Now the Empire has turned dangerous, Hadrian and his crew leave to pursue his true interest: a search for a long-rumoured connection between the first Emperor and the Quiet, the ancient, seemingly long-dead race. And he will find the next key to unlocking their secrets in a massive library on a distant world. The coordinates for their origin planet.A planet that no longer holds life, but may still contain answers.'Empire of Silence is epic science fiction at its most genuinely epic. Ruocchio has made something fascinating here, and I can't wait to see what he does next' James S.A. Corey, New York Times-bestselling author of The Expanse novels'Empire of Silence is a rich tapestry of future history and worldbuilding, a galactic-sized story of a hero, a tyrant, but portrayed as a man' Kevin J. Anderson, New York Times-bestselling author of The Dark Between the Stars

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The Thing Is . . .A novel, a confession, a poem, an autofiction, a commonplace book, a prose poem.By turns serious and playful, profound and trivial, sad and joyful, The Thing Is is a shape-shifting narrative: one that starts out as written by an alien, seeing the earth and its inhabitants from the outside. This perspective then becomes that of an everychild, who vaguely remembers having once been an alien, and evolves into the biography of everybody who has ever lived.The narrative moves deftly from an ingenious theory about the origins of the universe and the emergence of life, to a riff on the poetic power of doorways (and other thresholds); or from stories about things hidden from view or buried by time, to what it feels like to be alive at this particular moment in history.Beautifully wrought, often funny and poignant, The Thing Is is designed to be read in a variety of ways: in gobbets, all in one go, slowly, quickly, repeatedly. This slow/fast read is the perfect novel for our fast/slow times. Whatever The Thing Is to you, it will provide a new twist on the continuing adaptability of the form that we call the novel.

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Have you ever wondered if that game you love was made into a movie? Flip this book open and find out! Explore the fascinating journey of your favourite video games as they make their way to the silver screen! This comprehensive guide contains information on over forty big-screen adaptations of popular video games, including the histories of the series that inspired them. Covering four decades of movies, readers can learn about some of the most infamous movies in video game history, with genres such as horror, martial arts, comedy and children's animation ensuring there's plenty of trivia and analysis to keep gamers hooked. With nearly two-hundred full colour stills, posters and screenshots, the book is a go-to guide to discovering facts about some of the biggest box office hits and the most disappointing critical bombs in history. From bizarre science fiction like Super Mario Bros. to the latest big budget releases like Monster Hunter, and dozens in between, A Guide to Video Game Movies should please film buffs and die-hard game fans alike. Whether you're looking for rousing blockbuster action, family-friendly entertainment or a late-night B-movie to laugh at with your friends, you're bound to find a movie to fit your taste. Put down your controller and grab your popcorn!

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You've seen the movie, now PLAY the movie! Long before gaming came to the big screen, cinema arrived in the homes of millions in the form of licensed video games; playable merchandise that tied in to some of the major tentpoles of cinematic history. Many of these games followed the storylines of the movies on which they were based, as well as providing supplementary adventures to major franchises. Collected in this book are some of the biggest games to come from Hollywood adventures during the '80s and '90s. In this comprehensive book, you'll find over 300 games across 18 chapters, with sections dedicated to major movie franchises such as Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Top Gun, Pixar, Aliens and Indiana Jones, along with nearly 200 full-colour screenshots of major releases. Showcasing the highs and lows of early computer gaming through the 16-bit era and onto the advent of 3D console gaming, A Guide to Movie Based Video Games: 1982 - 2000 covers two decades of video games with trivia, analysis and recommendations. Grab your controller, step into the silver screen and get ready to play!

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'Winningly eccentric . . . London, in all its non-homogenous, sprawling splendour, is as much a character as Fowler's sleuthing duo' Barry Forshaw, Financial TimesThe Peculiar Crimes Unit has solved many extraordinary cases over the years, but some were hushed up and hidden away. Until now.Arthur Bryant remembers these lost cases as if they were yesterday. Unfortunately, he doesn't remember yesterday, so the newly revealed facts could come as a surprise to everyone, including his exasperated partner John May.Here, then, is the truth about the Covent Garden opera diva and the seventh reindeer, the body that falls from the Tate Gallery, the ordinary London street corner where strange accidents keep occurring, the consul's son discovered buried in the unit's basement, the corpse pulled from a swamp of Chinese dinners, a Hallowe'en crime in the Post Office Tower, and the impossible death that's the fault of a forgotten London legend. All of the unit's oddest characters are here, plus the detectives' long-suffering sergeant Janice Longbright gets to reveal her own forgotten mystery.These twelve crimes must be solved without the help of modern technology, mainly because nobody knows how to use it. Expect misunderstood clues, lost evidence, arguments about Dickens, churches, pubs and disorderly conduct from the investigative officers they laughingly call 'England's Finest'!_______________________What readers are saying:***** 'Another gem from Christopher Fowler'***** 'I've loved Bryant & May since I first discovered them'***** 'A perfect collection of implausibly, improbably impossible mysteries for readers of Bryant and May both old and new'

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Publisher's Note: Products purchased from Third Party sellers are not guaranteed by the publisher for quality, authenticity, or access to any online entitlements included with the product.Get the edge you need on the Writing section of the SATThe SAT is coming up, and you need extra help to tackle the tough Writing section--including the dreaded SAT essay. Revised and updated, McGraw-Hill's Conquering SAT Writing, Third Edition, is packed with intensive practice for the new multiple-choice writing questions, plus teacher-recommended strategies for writing a high-scoring essay. You also get sample scored SAT essays with readers' comments! Specially created by a nationally known test-prep expert, this first-rate guide has everything you need to get ready for this difficult part of the SAT, and to help you achieve your best writing score ever.McGraw-Hill's Conquering SAT Writing includes:• 3-full-length practice SAT Writing Tests with complete explanations• Complete coverage of all SAT reading comprehensive problem types• Complete review of all grammar rules you need to know for the test• Strategies for answering the challenging multiple-choice questions• A classroom-tested, step-by-step program for writing an outstanding SAT essay• Sample scored SAT with readers’ comments

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The words of its writers are part of the texture of Dublin, an invisible counterpart to the bricks and pavement we see around us. Beyond the ever-present footsteps of James Joyce's characters, Leopold Bloom or Stephen Dedalus, around the city centre, an ordinary-looking residential street overlooking Dublin Bay, for instance, presents the house where Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney lived for many years; a few blocks away is the house where another Nobel Laureate, W. B. Yeats, was born. Just down the coast is the pier linked to yet another, Samuel Beckett, from which we can see the Martello Tower that is the setting for the opening chapter of Ulysses. But these are only a few. Step-by-step, Dublin: A Writer's City unfolds a book-lover's map of this unique city, inviting us to experience what it means to live in a great city of literature. The book is heavily illustrated, and features custom maps.

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Near the end of the 21st century, Earth is in chaos from environmental devastation and a vicious undeclared war against binaries, genetically engineered assassins. Composed of a single consciousness inhabiting two human bodies, binaries are ruled by an alpha breed, the Royal Caste. Nick Smith, computer programmer and brilliant strategist, hooks up with Annabel Bakana, the savvy new director of E-Tech, an organization dedicated to limiting runaway technological growth. Together they secretly assemble a small combat team to hunt and kill binaries. But there's a fly in the ointment, the mysterious team leader, Gillian. A tormented soul with an unseemly attraction to Annabel, his actions just might help the Royal Caste's cause and draw the world closer to Armageddon. File Under: Science Fiction [ Paratwa | Double Trouble | Corporations Kill | An Undying Connection ]

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London is under siege. A banking scandal has filled the city with violent protests, and as the anger in the streets detonates, a young homeless man burns to death after being caught in the crossfire between rioters and the police. But all is not as it seems; an opportunistic killer is using the chaos to exact revenge, but his intended victims are so mysteriously chosen that the Peculiar Crimes Unit is called in to find a way of stopping him. Using their network of eccentric contacts, elderly detectives Arthur Bryant and John May hunt down a murderer who adopts incendiary methods of execution. But they soon find their investigation taking an apocalyptic turn as the case comes to involve the history of mob rule, corruption, rebellion, punishment and the legend of Guy Fawkes. At the same time, several members of the PCU team reach dramatic turning points in their lives - but the most personal tragedy is yet to come, for as the race to bring down a cunning killer reaches its climax, Arthur Bryant faces his own devastating day of reckoning.‘I always said we’d go out with a hell of a bang,’ warns Bryant.

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The river Thames is London’s most important yet neglected artery. When a young woman is found chained to a post in the tide, no-one can understand how she came to be drowned there. At the Peculiar Crimes Unit, Arthur Bryant and John May find themselves dealing with an impossible crime committed in a very public place. Soon they discover that the river is giving up other victims, but as the investigation extends from the coast of Libya to the nightclubs of North London, it proves as murkily sinister as the Thames itself. That’s only part of the problem; Bryant’s rapidly deteriorating condition prevents him from handling the case, and he is confined to home. To make matters worse, May makes a fatal error of judgement that knocks him out of action and places everyone at risk.With the PCU staff baffled as much by their own detectives as the case, the only people who can help now are the battery of eccentrics Bryant keeps listed in his diary, but will their arcane knowledge save the day or make matters even worse? Soon there’s a clear suspect in everyone’s sights – the only thing that’s missing is any scrap of evidence.As the detectives’ disastrous investigation comes unstuck, the whole team gets involved in some serious messing about on the river. In an adventure that’s as twisting as the river upon which it’s set, will there be anything left of the Peculiar Crimes Unit when it’s over?

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It’s the late 1970s and 20-something Christopher Fowler is a film freak, obsessively watching lousy films in run-down fleapit cinemas. He longs to be a famous screenwriter and put his dreams on the big screen. And so he heads for Wardour Street, Britain’s equivalent of Hollywood. But he’s made a spectacular mistake, arriving just as the nation’s filmmakers are falling to their knees, brought low by the arrival of video and the destruction of the old movie palaces. The only films being made are smutty low budget farces and TV spinoffs and instead of being asked to write another 'Bullitt’, he's churning out short films advertising boilers and nylon sheets. Somehow, against the odds, he finds success – although in a very different guise to the one he expected.From the sticky Axminster of the local cinema to the red carpet at Cannes, Film Freak is a grimly hilarious and acutely observed trawl through the arse-end of the British film industry that turns into an ultimately affecting search for friendship and happiness.

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Winner of CrimeFest 2013's 'eDunnit Award' for 'the best crime fiction ebook published in 2012 in both hardcopy and in electronic format'.Two small children are playing a game called 'Witch-Hunter'. They place a curse on a young woman taking lunch in a church courtyard and wait for her to die. An hour later the woman is indeed found dead inside St Bride's Church - a building that no-one else has entered.Unfortunately Bryant & May are refused the case. Instead, there are hired by their greatest enemy to find out why his wife has suddenly started behaving strangely. She's become an embarrassment to him at government dinners, and he is convinced that someone is trying to drive her insane. She has even taken to covering the mirrors in her apartment, and believes herself to be the victim of witchcraft.Then a society photographer is stabbed to death in a nearby park and suddenly a link emerges between the two cases. And so begins an investigation that will test the members of the Peculiar Crimes Unit to their limits, setting Arthur Bryant off on a trail that leads to Bedlam and Bletchley Park, and into the world of madness, codes and the secret of London's strangest relic.As the members of the Peculiar Crimes Unit dig behind the city's facades to expose a world of private clubs, hidden passages and covert loyalties, they realise that the case might not just end in disaster - it might also get everyone killed.

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