Search results for ""author gold"

Das von der internationalen Presse hoch gelobte Buch des bekannten Historikers David Schoenbaum erzählt die Lebensgeschichte der Violine: wie sie, gebaut, verkauft, gespielt und wie sie in der Kunst dargestellt wurde. Entstanden ist dabei eine höchst originelle Gesamtdarstellung. Die Violine ist vielleicht das flexibelste Instrument, das je erfunden wurde. Für Weltmusik, Tanzmusik und Indie-Rock ebenso geeignet wie für Bach und Beethoven, wird es seit jeher im Stehen oder Sitzen gespielt, allein oder in Gruppen, in Bars, Kirchen, Konzertsälen und Rumpelkammern, von Profis und Amateuren, Erwachsenen und Kindern, Männern und Frauen und auf jedem Kontinent. David Schoenbaum hat unzählige Details über Hersteller, Händler und Spieler der Violine zusammengetragen und in einer umfassenden Geschichte der Violine gebündelt. Von den ersten Anfängen, als Geigenbauer ihr Handwerk von Kistenmachern lernten, über Stradivari und das Goldene Zeitalter von Cremona, die die Geige zu einem begehrten Sammlerstück machten, bis hin zu unvergleichlichen Künstlern wie Paganini, Joachim, Heifetz und Oistrach informiert Schoenbaum sachkundig und mitreißend über Kunst und Kultur des vielseitigsten Instruments der Welt.

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You know you're having a senior moment when you decide it's time to pull up your socks - and realize you forgot to put any on! Age is just a number and you're only as old as you feel, but if you're heading into your golden years and you're certifiably "no spring chicken", you might benefit from browsing through the pages of this tongue-in-cheek book to help you decide if your marbles just need a polish or you've well and truly lost them! Inside you'll find examples of classic "senior moments", such as:- Ringing a friend to ask them for their phone number. - Getting annoyed at the fact that your all-in-one remote won't open your garage door. - Going to the store for milk and coming home with a new dog collar, rawl plugs, some plant pots that were on special offer... but no milk. - Feeling frustrated by your computer's instructions to "press any key", when there's no "Any" key on your keyboard. With a sprinkling of reassuring quotes from fellow old-timers, this collection will help you see the funny side of getting older (but not necessarily wiser).

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The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, to give it its full name, owes its origins to the 'Pour le Merite' (Blue Max), an imperial award dating back to 1740. The Complete Knight's Cross volumes tell the story of all 7,364 men who were granted the award (including all the disputed awards). The three volumes have over 200 photos of holders of the medal and over 100 photos of their graves. Volume One deals with 1939-41 (numbers 1-1267) and is subtitled 'The Years of Victory'. Volume Two deals with 1942-43 (numbers 1268-3685) and is subtitled 'The Years of Stalemate'. Volume Three deals with 1944-45 (numbers 3686-7364) and is subtitled 'The Years of Defeat'. The recipients are listed in the order of the date of award. Each entry starts with the recipient's rank and name, followed by details of the action or actions for which they were granted the award. Other interesting facts and stories are also included for many of the awards. Burial locations, where known, are also given. Any higher awards (Oak Leaves, Swords, Diamonds and the ultimate Golden award) are also covered.

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Drawing on death and afterlife traditions from cultures around the world, Mark Mirabello explores the many forms of existence beyond death and each tradition’s instructions to access the afterlife. He examines beliefs on the soul, heaven, hell, and reincarnation and wisdom from Books of the Dead such as the Book of Going Forth by Day from Egypt, the Katha Upanishad from India, the Bardo Thodol from Tibet, the Golden Orphic Tablets from Greece, Lieh Tzu from China, and Heaven and its Wonders and Hell from Things Heard and Seen from 18th-century Europe. Considering the question “What is Death?” Mirabello provides answers from a wide range of ancient and modern thinkers, including scientist Nicholas Maxwell, the seer Emanuel Swedenborg, 1st-century Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna, and Greek philosopher Euripides, who opined that we may already be dead and only dreaming we are alive. He explores the trek of the soul through life and death with firsthand accounts of the death journey and notes that what is perceived as death here may actually be life somewhere else.

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She's always been the girl with the plan . . . until the plan crashed big timeKendall Walsh has exactly one second to save a fancy, five-tiered wedding cake and any possibility of being a wedding planner-not to mention her family's struggling ski resort. All because of one very cute, very furry, golden menace of a retriever who has a serious thing for butter chiffon icing. Which is exactly when Olympic skier Brody James shows up and saves the day . . . and the cake.Brody makes Kendall feel about a million indecipherable things. He's her brother's bestie. Her first crush. And a ridiculously popular Olympic hero, which only reminds her of her own failed Olympic dreams. What Brody isn't telling her is that he's walked away from it all. The fame. The sponsorships. The celebrity girlfriend. Now he and Kendall are both lost somewhere between their past and a future they can't yet see. But four weddings, one mischievous puppy, and a few steamy kisses later, these two might just realize that they are both exactly where they need to be...with each other.

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Liberal left orthodoxy holds that Brexit is a disastrous coup, orchestrated by the hard right and fuelled by xenophobia, which will break up the Union and turn what’s left of Britain into a neoliberal dystopia. Richard Tuck’s ongoing commentary on the Brexit crisis demolishes this narrative. He argues that by opposing Brexit and throwing its lot in with a liberal constitutional order tailor-made for the interests of global capitalists, the Left has made a major error. It has tied itself into a framework designed to frustrate its own radical policies. Brexit therefore actually represents a golden opportunity for socialists to implement the kind of economic agenda they have long since advocated. Sadly, however, many of them have lost faith in the kind of popular revolution that the majoritarian British constitution is peculiarly well-placed to deliver and have succumbed instead to defeatism and the cultural politics of virtue-signalling. Another approach is, however, still possible. Combining brilliant contemporary political insights with a profound grasp of the ironies of modern history, this book is essential for anyone who wants a clear-sighted assessment of the momentous underlying issues brought to the surface by Brexit.

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Many coaching tools and techniques are now well established, but how do they actually work? The third edition of Neuroscience for Coaches answers this question to help coaches and managers deliver greater value to clients and employees. Based on extensive research, Neuroscience for Coaches provides a clear explanation of the aspects of neuroscience that are relevant to coaching so coaches can describe to clients why particular techniques work and the benefits to be gained from using them. It also features interviews with Marshall Goldsmith, Susan Grandfield, Christian van Nieuwerburgh and Kim Morgan on topics including mindfulness and behaviour change in coaching. This fully updated third edition covers the latest neuroscientific research on key brain areas and their functions, such as the Prefrontal cortex and Amygdala which affect attention, processing and emotional regulation. With tips and insights throughout, it crucially demonstrates the ways in which coaches and managers who coach can use this information effectively and practically in their everyday work. Neuroscience for Coaches is a vital resource for improving coaching practice with the latest scientific developments, tools and techniques.

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Meet Bruno Tonioli - Strictly Come Dancing judge, wildcat choreographer and stardust magnet. With his irrepressible personality and Italian exuberance, Bruno has become a TV sensation, settling the fate of Britain's ballroom hopefuls during the nation's favourite Saturday night show.Bruno's journey is mind-blowing. He fled from home at eighteen to join the dance company La Grande Eugene and travelled around Europe; he later coached the actress Goldie Hawn as a dance instructor, and orchestrated lavish productions for TV, film and pop videos, where he worked alongside The Rolling Stones, Freddie Mercury, Duran Duran and Tina Turner.Along the way Bruno has Tangoed with high fashion, performed the Cha Cha Cha with untameable pop vixens Bananarama and danced an emotional Waltz with bereavement and breakdown before settling in the perfect location - a seat on the judging panel of Strictly Come Dancing, where he wowed the nation at home and in Hollywood with his passion for dance and an excitable turn of phrase.My Story tears away the glittery wrapping of this most exuberant and loveable of TV stars. Strap yourselves in for a wild and sexy ride with more frills than Versailles.

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Rome in the 1950s: following the darkness of fascism and Nazi occupation during the Second World War, the city is reinvigorated. The street cafés and nightclubs are filled with movie stars and film directors as Hollywood productions flock to the city to film at Cinecittà Studios. Fiats and Vespas throng the streets, and the newly christened paparazzi mingle with tourists enjoying la dolce vita. It is a time of beauty, glamour – and more than a little scandal. Caroline Young explores the city in its golden age, as the emergence of celebrity journalism gave rise to a new kind of megastar. They are the ultimate film icons: Ava Gardner, Anna Magnani, Sophia Loren, Audrey Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman and Elizabeth Taylor. Set against the backdrop of the stunning Italian capital, the story follows their lives and loves on and off the camera, and the great, now legendary, films that marked their journeys. From the dark days of the Second World War through to the hedonistic hippies in the late 1960s, this evocative narrative captures the essence of Rome – its beauty, its tragedy and its creativity – through the lives of those who helped to recreate it.

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The intense piety of late T'ang essays on Buddhism by literati has helped earn the T'ang its title of the "golden age of Chinese Buddhism." In contrast, the Sung is often seen as an age in which the literati distanced themselves from Buddhism. This study of Sung devotional texts shows, however, that many literati participated in intra-Buddhist debates. Others were drawn to Buddhism because of its power, which found expression and reinforcement in its ties with the state. For some, monasteries were extravagant houses of worship that reflected the corruption of the age; for others, the sacrifice and industry demanded by such projects were exemplars worthy of emulation. Finally, Buddhist temples could evoke highly personal feelings of filial piety and nostalgia.This book demonstrates that representations of Buddhism by lay people underwent a major change during the T'ang-Sung transition. These changes built on basic transformations within the Buddhist and classicist traditions and sometimes resulted in the use of Buddhism and Buddhist temples as frames of reference to evaluate aspects of lay society. Buddhism, far from being pushed to the margins of Chinese culture, became even more a part of everyday elite Chinese life.

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As his mother was dying, Philip Kennicott began to listen to the music of Bach obsessively. It was the only music that didn't seem trivial or irrelevant, and it enabled him to both experience her death and remove himself from it. For him, Bach's music held the elements of both joy and despair, life and its inevitable end. He spent the next five years trying to learn one of the composer's greatest keyboard masterpieces, the Goldberg Variations. In Counterpoint, he recounts his efforts to rise to the challenge, and to fight through his grief by coming to terms with his memories of a difficult, complicated childhood. He describes the joys of mastering some of the piano pieces, the frustrations that plague his understanding of others, the technical challenges they pose, and the surpassing beauty of the melodies, harmonies, and counterpoint that distinguish them. While exploring Bach's compositions he sketches a cultural history of playing the piano in the twentieth century. And he raises two questions that become increasingly interrelated, not unlike a contrapuntal passage in one of the variations itself: What does it mean to know a piece of music? What does it mean to know another human being?

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Rhea - dark, intense and brilliant - and her golden, voluptuous sister Amber are not alike, but they are bound tighter than most: by love, by the loss of their father, and by the man who stands between them. Lewis is Amber's husband and the ferociously driven director of the biotech lab where Rhea is a rising star.In search of funding, academic advancement and in alchemical pursuit of the perfect stem cell - their Holy Grail in one flawlessly reproducing genetic blueprint - Rhea and Lewis inhabit a rarefied world. Putting their trust in science, they are blinkered against the fatal human element: sex and envy, treachery and error. Amber, however, desperate for a child and embarking on fertility treatment, must confront precisely this flawed physicality, and a Faustian pact is forged. As the three are increasingly drawn into a transgressive relationship, the result is a series of betrayals that none, finally, will be able to forgive. Breathing on Glass is both coolly analytical and erotically subversive in its exploration of passion and power intertwined, and breeds a whole DNA sequence of cautionary tales: on weakness, temptation, ambition and the limits of science.

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Long overlooked in histories of finance, women played an essential role in areas such as banking and the stock market during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Yet their presence sparked ongoing controversy. Hetty Green’s golden touch brought her millions, but she outraged critics with her rejection of domesticity. Progressives like Victoria Woodhull, meanwhile, saw financial acumen as more important for women than the vote. George Robb’s pioneering study explores the financial methods, accomplishments, and careers of three generations of women. Plumbing sources from stock brokers’ ledgers to media coverage, Robb reveals the many ways women invested their capital while exploring their differing sources of information, approaches to finance, interactions with markets, and levels of expertise. He also rediscovers the forgotten women bankers, brokers, and speculators who blazed new trails--and sparked public outcries over women’s unsuitability for the predatory rough-and-tumble of market capitalism.Entertaining and vivid with details, Ladies of the Ticker sheds light on the trailblazers who transformed Wall Street into a place for women’s work.

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Scholarship on the history of the British Isles is currently experiencing a golden age. The breakdown of modernism and the eclipse of both the Marxist tradition and the 'Whig interpretation' that sees all history as progress, combined with the trajectories of nationalism in Ireland, Scotland and Wales, have generated unprecedented intellectual activity. Nor has the world stood still: the collapse of communism, the issue of integration into the EU, and the advance of multiculturalism have led more and more people in the English speaking world as a whole to sense that their collective landscape now looks profoundly different from that inhabited by their ancestors even a few decades ago.In A World By Itself, six distinguished historians offer the most definitive and compelling history of the British Isles to date. Tracing the political, religious and material cultures from the Romans to the present day, this is at once an urgent reassessment of our shared past, and an inspirational celebration of British history. It focuses on the major themes and most dramatic moments of the last two millenia: the rise and fall of empires; reformation, revolution and restoration; wars both civil and global; and the enduring question of what it means to be British.

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Having survived their voyage to Carcassonne, you might expect pensioners Terry and Monica Darlington and their whippet, Jim, to retire to a comfortable corner of their favourite pub. But no, they looked to the New World for an extraordinary new adventure...No-one had ever sailed an English narrowboat in the US before, for reasons that became abundantly clear during the 9-month voyage of the Phyllis May - including 30-mile sea crossings, blasting heat, tornadoes, hurricanes and all manner of intimidating wildlife. But the real danger came from the locals: the Good Ole Boys and Girls of the Deep South. Colonels, bums, captains, planters, heroes, drunks, gongoozlers, dancing dicks and beautiful spies - they all want to meet the Brits on the narrow painted boat and their thin dog and take them home and party them to death. Beautifully written, lovingly observed, and very funny, Narrow Dog to Indian River takes you on a dangerous, surprising and always entertaining journey as a thousand miles of the little-known South-East Seaboard unfold at six miles an hour- the golden marshes of the Carolinas, the incomparable cities of Charleston and Savannah, and the lost arcadias of Georgia and Florida.

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In The Chinese Atlantic, Sean Metzger charts processes of global circulation across and beyond the Atlantic, exploring how seascapes generate new understandings of Chinese migration, financial networks and artistic production. Moving across film, painting, performance, and installation art, Metzger traces flows of money, culture, and aesthetics to reveal the ways in which routes of commerce stretching back to the Dutch Golden Age have molded and continue to influence the social reproduction of Chineseness. With a particular focus on the Caribbean, Metzger investigates the expressive culture of Chinese migrants and the communities that received these waves of people. He interrogates central issues in the study of similar case studies from South Africa and England to demonstrate how Chinese Atlantic seascapes frame globalization as we experience it today. Frequently focusing on art that interacts directly with the sites in which it is located, Metzger explores how Chinese migrant laborers and entrepreneurs did the same to shape—both physically and culturally—the new spaces in which they found themselves. In this manner, Metzger encourages us to see how artistic imagination and practice interact with migration to produce a new way of framing the global.

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Finalist, Balsillie Prize for Public Policy and Victoria Butler Book PrizeA Globe and Mail Top 100 BookThe Big One and what we can do to get ready for it.Mention the word earthquake and most people think of California. But while the Golden State shakes on a regular basis, Washington State, Oregon, and British Columbia are located in a zone that can produce the world’s biggest earthquakes and tsunamis. In the eastern part of the continent, small cities and large, from Ottawa to Montréal to New York City, sit in active earthquake zones. In fact, more than 100-million North Americans live in active seismic zones, many of whom do not realize the risk to their community.For more than a decade, Gregor Craigie interviewed scientists, engineers, and emergency planners about earthquakes, disaster response, and resilience. He has also collected vivid first-hand accounts from people who have survived deadly earthquakes. His fascinating and deeply researched book dives headfirst into explaining the science behind The Big One — and asks what we can do now to prepare ourselves for events geologists say aren't a matter of if, but when.

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Over the course of his long and storied career, George Mitchell proved to be much more than just that senator from Maine. He is one of the last from a sort of "golden age" of American politics, when opposing parties worked together to accomplish things for the good of the nation, rather than the good of the party. Before becoming senator, Mitchell was an attorney and then a judge in Maine. Among his many public efforts, he is perhaps known for his environmental work and his work on peace and justice, especially his brokering of the peace in Ireland and his efforts in the Middle East.Now, seasoned journalist Douglas Rooks gives us a thoughtful and highly readable look at the man and his public work. While the book traces his personal life, it is primarily a political biography, exploring his time in office as well as his public work before and after his elected terms.Compiled from extensive interviews with Mitchell as well as staffers and others who've known and worked with him, it is as much an exploration of American politics at a time when politics could actually be said to have "worked," as it is a man whose vision and ideals have helped shape the world.

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Fans of Louise Penny and Michael Connelly, meet exasperating homicide detective Michael Green in this gripping police procedural.Ottawa homicide inspector Michael Green is absolutely obsessed with his job, a condition that has almost ruined his marriage several times. When the biggest case of his career comes up, his position, his relationships, and several lives are put in grave danger. A young graduate student, the scion of a rich family, is found expertly stabbed in the stacks of a university library, but no one seems to have the slightest idea why.As Green probes into the circumstances of the young man’s life, a tangled web of jealousy and intrigue is revealed. Green finds himself in the middle of a rivalry in the delicate arena of university politics, where gigantic egos regularly collide. Was it the diligent but socially inept researcher or the macho ladies-man golden boy of the laboratory? Or was it a crime of passion involving the over-protective family of his beautiful new girlfriend? When the murderer strikes again, Green realizes that he must waste no time in solving the case, no matter what the consequences may be.

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If you thought that Enesco*r began with Precious Moments*r, this book will amaze you. Enesco is actually one of the oldest importing companies in the United States, with a history dating back to the late 1800s. Figural ceramic items imported from Japan in the 1950s and 1960s are among today's top collectibles and Enesco imported many highly collectible lines during this period, the most notable being Mother-in-the-Kitchen, or Prayer Lady, as it is commonly called. This book features a huge array of gift, collectible, and decorative items sold by Enesco, including figurines, planters, kitchenware, bells, banks, and head vases -- all shown with current market values. Early lines like Beaver Dam*r, Dearie is Weary*r, Golden Girls*r, and Winkin' Kitten*r are here, along with contemporary favorites like Country Cousins*r, Human Beans*r, Cherished Teddies*r, Coral Kingdom*r, and of course, Precious Moments*r. Also included is a useful chapter picturing collectible lines from other importing companies. This book, which contains over 1,000 pictures showing over 1,500 items, will help you identify Enesco's popular keepsakes and will become a useful and treasured addition to your collectibles library.

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An astounding illustrated biography of American rock 'n' roll legend Eddie Cochran, made possible through unique access to Cochran's possessions in his room at the time of his untimely death. In the golden era of rock'n'roll, there was one name who rivalled Elvis, both in style and talent, and that was Eddie Cochran. It might have been a life tragically cut short when he died in a car crash on his 1960 tour of England, but in just 21 years, Eddie Cochran had changed the face of music forever. Born in a small town to humble beginnings, Eddie unleashed a wave of raw talent and energy that defied the norms of the era as he became a trailblazer of rockabilly. His smash-hits ‘Summertime Blues’, C’mon Everybody’ and ’Three Steps to Heaven’ are still entertaining audiences and influencing musicians today, some sixty years after they were first recorded. Eddie Cochran: In Person not only details the life and career of a rock'n'roll icon, but it also tells the extraordinary story of how a collector came into possession of the contents of Eddie’s childhood bedroom, which had remained undisturbed and unseen by anyone outside of the Cochran family since his death.

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In But Enough About Me, legendary film actor and Hollywood superstar Burt Reynolds recalls the people who shaped his life and career, for better or for worse. From Robert Altman, Cary Grant, Clint Eastwood and Robert Mitchum to Bette Davis, Marlon Brando, Woody Allen and Kirsty Alley, Burt pays homage to those he loves and respected, acknowledges those who've stayed loyal, and calls out the assholes he can't forgive.Recalling his life and career spanning over 50 glorious years, the legendary actor gives special attention to the two great loves of his life, Dinah Shore and Sally Field, his son, Quinton, as well as to the countless people who got in his way on his journey to Hollywood domination. With chapters on his early childhood, how he discovered acting, played poker with Frank Sinatra, received directing advice from Orson Welles, his golden years in Hollywood, his comeback in the late 1990s, and how his life and art led him to found the Burt Reynolds Institute for Film and Theatre, But Enough About Me is a gripping and eye-opening story of one of cinema's true greats.

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Dragons are returning to Earth now to prepare us for the Golden Age - and to help you ascend to the Light! Dragons are celestial beings from the angel realms who have been sent here by Source to assist and protect us. They have been serving our planet since its inception and work with the angels in service for the highest good. In this book, world-renowned ascension and Atlantis expert Diana Cooper shares incredibly detailed and practical knowledge about the dragons and how they can support us. You'll discover: · the history of dragons on Earth, how they came to be here and their mission for humanity · the air, earth, fire and water dragons, and how they act as personal companions · the higher frequency and galactic dragons and the wisdom they bring · how to meet your personal dragon guide and how it can help you on your ascension path Through the visualizations and exercises in this book, you'll learn how to attune to dragon frequencies and expand your consciousness. All you have to do is ask - and watch how the dragons co-operate with the angels to fulfil your soul's deepest desires!

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NOW A MAJOR GOLDEN GLOBE-WINNING NETFLIX SERIES'Superb' Time Out 'Mesmerizing' Newsweek'Gripping' Financial Times'Sheer entertainment. It is a book I reread every few years - for the pure pleasure and skill of it' Michael Ondaatje 'Don't pick this up if you want a night's sleep' Scotsman When she is sent to an orphanage at the age of eight, Beth Harmon soon discovers two ways to escape her surroundings, albeit fleetingly: playing chess and taking the little green pills given to her and the other children to keep them subdued. Before long, it becomes apparent that hers is a prodigious talent, and as she progresses to the top of the US chess rankings she is able to forge a new life for herself. But she can never quite overcome her urge to self-destruct. For Beth, there's more at stake than merely winning and losing.'I loved it. I just loved it, it really drew me in and I know nothing about chess... The writing about addiction is just fantastic. I underlined so many bits of it... I didn't want it to end' Bryony Gordon on BBC Radio 4'Few novelists have written about genius - and addiction - as acutely as Walter Tevis' Telegraph

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A highly collectable, limited facsimile edition Stephen Shore is one of the most important photographers of the twentieth century. A pioneer of colour photography, his photographs of everyday American scenes paved the way for future art photographers like Martin Parr, Nan Goldin and Thomas Struth. This special, highly collectible, limited edition book – numbered and signed by the photographer – is a complete reproduction of the journal that Shore made on a month-long American road trip in 1973, during which he began work on his influential project Uncommon Places. In the journal Shore included his own photographs, lists detailing information on his travels like where he stayed, what he ate, how many miles he drove, and various ephemera like receipts and postcards. Each page of the journal is reproduced along with a plate section featuring every photograph he took on his journey to provide the complete story of the journey at this seminal moment in his career. The book also includes a set of postcards, reproductions of cards that Shore himself made and distributed on his journey, to ensure this is an essential title for any collector, photography enthusiast, or student.

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Beginning in the 16th century, the golden age of European navigation brought about the flowering of an abundant textile trade, spurred by Western tastes for Eastern spices. While previous studies have focused on this story from the viewpoint of trade, Interwoven Globe is the first book to explore it as a history of design – and to approach it with from a truly universal perspective. Fascinating and richly illustrated texts explore the inter-relationship of textiles, commerce and taste from the Age of Discovery to the 19th century, and 120 works from around the globe are discussed in detail. From India and its renowned, ancient mastery of dyed-and-painted cotton goods to the sumptuous silks of Japan and China, Turkey and Iran, the paths of influence are traced westward to Europe and the Americas. Essential to this exchange was the trade in highly valued natural dyes and dye products, underscoring the impact of global exploration on the aesthetics and techniques used to produce textiles. Shaped by an emerging worldwide visual culture, the resulting fashion for the exotic’ in textiles, as well as other goods and art forms, gave rise to what can be called the first global style.

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Long-listed for the FT & Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award 2011 The true story of how risk destroys, as told through the ongoing saga of AIG From the collapse of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, the subject of the financial crisis has been well covered. However, the story central to the crisis-that of AIG-has until now remained largely untold. Fatal Risk: A Cautionary Tale of AIG's Corporate Suicide tells the inside story of what really went on inside AIG that caused it to choke on risk and nearly brining down the entire economic system. The book Reveals inside information available nowhere else, including the personal notes and records of key players such as the former Chairman of AIG, Hank Greenberg Takes readers behind the scenes at the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Details how an understanding of risk built AIG, but a disdain for government regulators led to a run-in with New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer Fatal Risk is the comprehensive and compelling true story of the company at the center of the financial storm and how it nearly caused the entire economic system to collapse.

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The second book in the bestselling Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. Now with a new cover look! Discover the story behind the Disney+ series.HALF BOY - HALF GOD - ALL HERO.I've almost made it a year without one of my teachers turning into a monster. Just one more day to go. Surely even I can get through that?Percy Jackson's life has been surprisingly quiet since he stopped all-out war on Mount Olympus. That is until an innocent game of dodgeball turns monstrously ugly. . .Now Camp Half-Blood - the only safe place on earth for demigods like Percy - is under attack, and unless he can find the magical Golden Fleece, everything he's come to love will be destroyed.Percy and his friends must journey into the Sea of Monsters to save their camp. But as the son of the sea god - how hard can this quest be?Return to the World of Percy Jackson in the best-selling, brand-new adventure featuring the original hero in Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Chalice of the Gods – out now!And don't miss the trio's next adventure in Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Wrath of the Triple Goddess, coming soon!

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The airline business is a hundred years old. In that time uncountable airliners have been conceived, designed and built but, for all their diversity, less than a hundred types have ever sold in large numbers and, unlike military aircraft, only a handful are truly iconic. The shortlist, in fact, is so brief (rarely more than six) they can be named in a sentence. Because such rankings can spark passionate debates among the cognoscenti, it’s better that you write your own. All that can be said is that you will be hard-pressed to leave out one of the few commercial aircraft that still stirs hearts across the world: Lockheed’s graceful masterpiece — the Constellation. Her elliptical wings, triple tail, insect legs and dolphin-shaped fuselage still make her instantly recognisable to almost everyone, even those who could identify few other aeroplanes. For post-war travellers she came to symbolise panache and elegance in what is sometimes known as flying’s ‘Golden Age’. Today, eighty years after her birth, she is loved by another generation for her retro-style and 1940s glamour.

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*WINNER OF THE GOLDSMITHS PRIZE 2017**SHORTLISTED FOR THE GORDON BURN PRIZE 2018**LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2018*A GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE YEARA TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEARAN INDEPENDENT BOOK OF THE YEARFrom the internationally acclaimed, Man Booker-shortlisted Nicola Barker comes a new novel, a post-post apocalyptic story that overflows with pure creative talent.Imagine a perfect world where everything is known, where everything is open, where there can be no doubt, no hatred, no poverty, no greed. Imagine a System which both nurtures and protects. A Community which nourishes and sustains. An infinite world. A world without sickness, without death. A world without God. A world without fear.Could you...might you be happy there?H(A)PPY is a post-post apocalyptic Alice in Wonderland, a story which tells itself and then consumes itself. It's a place where language glows, where words buzz and sparkle and finally implode. It's a novel which twists and writhes with all the terrifying precision of a tiny fish in an Escher lithograph – a book where the mere telling of a story is the end of certainty.

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A murder mystery featuring Lord Edward Corinth and Verity BrowneAugust 1939, the last hot days of a perfect English summer as the certainty of war descends. Newlyweds Lord Edward Corinth and Verity Browne are determined to spend these last days of peace quietly in their new house in a sleepy Sussex village - a honeymoon of sorts. But fight against it as he might, for Edward it turns out to be a busman's holiday. When poet Byron Gates is bizarrely murdered after the village fete - executed, in fact, his head chopped off on a wooden block - Edward is asked to investigate.Alas, murder is not yet done with Verity and Edward, for even in the hallowed studios of Broadcasting House, murder dares to rear its ugly head. Before Verity can take up her new foreign posting, there are more deaths and the intrepid couple embark on one of their most dangerous investigations to date.Praise for David Roberts:'A gripping, richly satisfying whodunit with finely observed characters, sparkling with insouciance and stinging menace' Peter James'A really well-crafted and charming mystery story' Daily Mail'A perfect example of golden-age mystery traditions with the cobwebs swept away' Guardian

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Grand seaside hotels dominate Britain’s seaside resorts with bold, largescale buildings, often magnificent examples of the most fashionable architectural style of the time. First emerging in the eighteenth century, their golden age came in the second half of the nineteenth, when a showpiece luxury hotel was a must-have for any successful seaside resort. These imposing Grands, Royals and Imperials, filled with every modern convenience of the period and containing opulent restaurants and ballrooms, are fascinating buildings that reflect the fortunes of those who built and visited them throughout the years. Karen Averby takes us through the rise, the fall and the modern-day resurgence of the grand seaside hotel across the whole of the UK, from their exclusive and luxurious nineteenth-century beginnings, through their renaissance in the interwar years, decline in the 1970s as foreign package holidays became popular and their recent, more accessible refurbished form today. This book is part of the Britain’s Heritage series, which provides definitive introductions to the riches of Britain’s past, and is the perfect way to get acquainted with seaside hotels in all their variety.

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The reckoning is coming...In an isolated house by Dugort pier a body is found. DS Lucy Golden is shocked to discover that the victim, Sandra Byrne, is a sister of one of her old school friends. To further complicate matters, Ben Lively, one of Lucy's colleagues, is the chief suspect. Lucy must put aside her bias in order to uncover the truth. But the deeper she digs into Sandra's life, the more the past starts to unravel and the less she seems to know. How do you solve a murder when all you have are lies?As Lucy desperately tries to sort out what is true from what is not, Rob, her ex-husband and ex-con, makes a reappearance.And when the reckoning for past mistakes finally arrives, nothing is what it seems.Praise for Martina Murphy'The Branded pulls you straight into the story, snares you, and won't let you escape until you turn the last page' Patricia Gibney'A novel that raises the bar for crime procedurals. . . artful, measured and gripping' Shots Magazine'A twisty mystery, a moody setting and a troubled cop on a tricky case. What more could you want?' Peterborough Evening Telegraph

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The autobiography of football icon Jimmy GreavesJames Peter 'Jimmy' Greaves was one of the greatest footballers to have graced the English game, a goalscorer of legendary prowess. His gripping and characteristically humorous autobiography journeys from Jimmy's childhood in the East End, via his early career at Chelsea and his short and troubled stay at A.C. Milan, to his emergence as one of the great stars of sixties football while at Spurs and an outstanding England forward. Jimmy's record as a striker is extraordinary - he was the leading goalscorer in the First Division (now Premier League) for six seasons and during his playing career was never out of the top five. There are darker aspects too: the bitter disappointment of failing to make the World Cup-winning team of 1966, and the battle against the alcoholism that followed his retirement from the game.This book is both Jimmy's story and the story of football in the golden era of the fifties and sixties before money changed the game. It is populated by the great players whom Jimmy played with and against and animated by wonderful anecdotes about the game. It is an account of how football was then and how it has changed.

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'Never, even in his most optimistic moments, had he visualised a scene of this nature - himself in one arm-chair, a police officer in another, and between them - a mystery.' The Reverend Dodd, vicar of the quiet Cornish village of Boscawen, spends his evenings reading detective stories by the fireside - but heaven forbid that the shadow of any real crime should ever fall across his seaside parish. But the vicar's peace is shattered one stormy night when Julius Tregarthan, a secretive and ill-tempered magistrate, is found at his house in Boscawen with a bullet through his head. The local police inspector is baffled by the complete absence of clues. Suspicion seems to fall on Tregarthan's niece, Ruth - but surely that young woman lacks the motive to shoot her uncle dead in cold blood? Luckily for Inspector Bigswell, the Reverend Dodd is on hand, and ready to put his keen understanding of the criminal mind to the test. This classic mystery novel of the golden age of British crime fiction is set against the vividly described backdrop of a fishing village on Cornwall's Atlantic coast . It is now republished for the first time since the 1930s.

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'The truth was stranger than any of the fictions that have since been offered to explain her away'Drawing upon Queen Victoria's previously unpublished journals, Elizabeth Longford's classic biography recalls the contrasts and curiosities of an earlier era with exquisite detail - and transforms the queen from a severe, time-worn effigy into a human being who loved, feared and fumed. Longford probes the contradictions of a woman who wore a bonnet instead of a crown at her Golden Jubilee and yet was recognised always as both dignified and formidable. She chronicles both the Queen's public life and her emotional travails, including surprisingly stormy passages in her and Prince Albert's otherwise loving marriage. A refreshingly human image of the Queen emerges: voluble, passionate, politic and articulate, with an irresistible mixture of grandeur and simplicity.'Dazzlingly readable, and very enjoyable' Stella Gibbons'Queen Victoria has in Lady Longford her fullest and best-informed, most sensible and sympathetic biographer' The Times'Gives us more than the general reader has ever had, revealing the Queen as a character at once simple and complex, authoritarian and humble' Daily Telegraph

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'Captivating' Sunday Times 'Will utterly terrify you - in the best way possible' Buzzfeed 'While it is a mystery, the true strength of the novel comes from the honesty of the girls' portrayal' Guardian'A hypnotic debut' Elle 'We couldn't put this one down' Marie Claire This is not a story of bad things happening to bad girls. I say this because I know you, Dex, and I know how you think. I'm going to tell you a story, and this time, it will be the truth. Hannah Dexter is a nobody, ridiculed and isolated at school by golden girl Nikki Drummond. But in their junior year of high school, Nikki's boyfriend walks into the woods and shoots himself. In the wake of the suicide, Hannah befriends new girl Lacey and soon the pair are inseparable, bonded by their shared hatred of Nikki. Lacey transforms good girl Hannah into Dex who is up for any challenge Lacey throws at her. The two girls bring their combined wills to bear on the community in which they live and think they are invulnerable.But Lacey has a secret, about life before her better half, and it's a secret that will change everything . . .

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'A fresh and funny book that wears its learning lightly' IndependentDiscover the era of William Shakespeare and Elizabeth I through the sharp, informative and hilarious eyes of Ian Mortimer. We think of Queen Elizabeth I's reign (1558-1603) as a golden age. But what was it actually like to live in Elizabethan England? If you could travel to the past and walk the streets of London in the 1590s, where would you stay? What would you eat? What would you wear? Would you really have a sense of it being a glorious age? And if so, how would that glory sit alongside the vagrants, diseases, violence, sexism and famine of the time? In this book Ian Mortimer reveals a country in which life expectancy is in the early thirties, people still starve to death and Catholics are persecuted for their faith. Yet it produces some of the finest writing in the English language, some of the most magnificent architecture, and sees Elizabeth's subjects settle in America and circumnavigate the globe. Welcome to a country that is, in all its contradictions, the very crucible of the modern world.'Vivid trip back to the 16th century...highly entertaining book' Guardian

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An updated new edition of Richard Adams Carey's illuminating journey across the globe to uncover the secrets of the sturgeon. From the acclaimed eco-journalist Rick Carey comes a fascinating chronicle of a fast-disappearing fishand of the people whose lives and livelihoods depend on it. Since the days of the Persian Empire, caviar has trumpeted status, wealth, prestige, and sex appeal. In this remarkable journey to caviar's source, Carey immerses himself in the world of the sturgeon, the fish that lays these golden eggs. The sturgeon has a fascinating biological pastand a very uncertain future. Sturgeon populations worldwide have declined seventy percent in the last twenty years. Meanwhile, the beluga sturgeon, producer of the most coveted caviar, has climbed to number four on the World Wildlife Fund's most-endangered species list. A high-stakes cocktail of business, crime, diplomacy, technology, and the dilemmas of conservation, The Philosopher Fish is the epic story of a 250-mill

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Now in paperback, Fred Van Lente’s brilliant debut is both a savagely funny homage to the Golden Age of Mystery and a thoroughly contemporary show-business satire.As the story opens, nine comedians of various acclaim are summoned to the island retreat of legendary Hollywood funnyman Dustin Walker. The group includes a former late-night TV host, a washed-up improv instructor, a ridiculously wealthy “blue collar” comic, and a past-her-prime Vegas icon. All nine arrive via boat to find that every building on the island is completely deserted. Marooned without cell phone service or wifi signals, they soon find themselves being murdered one by one. But who is doing the killing, and why? A darkly clever take on Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None and other classics of the genre, Ten Dead Comedians is a marvel of literary ventriloquism, with hilarious comic monologues in the voice of every suspect. It’s also an ingeniously plotted puzzler with a twist you’ll never see coming!

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Hearing you say my name was a way of seeing myself as I had never seen myself you gave my name new meaning, new weight.'Nerdy and shy, scholarship student Daniel de La Luna arrives at college nervous to meet his golden-haired, athletic roommate, whose Facebook photos depict a boy just like those who made Daniel's school years hell.Sam Morris is not what he had imagined, though. As the two settle into college life they drink tequila under the stars, go on long runs through snow-covered hills,explore freshmannightlife, and inch closer until they find themselves in love.But their blissful first year is over all too soon. Daniel's summer in his ancestral homeland of México becomes a rollercoaster of revelations, before his life is brutally upended by the unimaginable.How We Named the Starsis atale oflove, heartache and learning to honour the dead.Daniel and Sam will leave you forever changed.

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A stunning new picture book from Onjali Q. Raúf and Pippa Curnick, the creative duo behind the bestselling and award-winning The Boy at the Back of the Class.There''s a new girl in my class. She has eyes as wide and as golden as a tiger''s, a face as pale as a glass of milk, and hair as shiny as a mirror. I''d like to be her friend. But she never wants to play with me in the playground or make sandcastles in the sandpit.The cleverest people I know say that the new girl is sad because she had to leave her home, her family, her school, her toys, her books and all her friends too. But I''ve got a plan! There''s something I can do to make her feel better when she''s missing everything she''s left behind . . .With bold, beautiful artwork by Pippa Curnick, this heartfelt story about the power of friendship and kindness shows young readers what steps they can take to make refugee children feel welcome.

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Drawing together the evidence of archaeology, palaeoecology, climate history and the historical record, this first environmental history of Scotland explores the interaction of human populations with the land, waters, forests and wildlife.This volume spans 450 years that saw profound transformation in Scotland's environment. It begins in the fifteenth century, when the Golden Age' of the early 1200s was but a fading folk memory in a land gripped by the gathering grimness of a little ice age'. Colder, wetter, stormier weather became the new normal, interspersed with brief episodes of warmer but still moist conditions, all of which brought huge challenges to a society on the knife-edge of subsistence. Viewing the religious and political upheavals of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries against the cycles of disease and dearth that were ever-present into the later 1700s, the book explores the slow adoption and application of the ideas of Improvement' and the radical disruption of Scotl

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In this engaging social history of the impact of railroads on American life, H. Roger Grant explores the railroad's "golden age" of 1830–1930. To capture the essence of the nation's railroad experience, Grant looks at four fundamental topics—trains and travel, train stations, railroads and community life, and the legacy of railroading in America—illustrating each topic with carefully chosen period illustrations. Grant recalls the lasting memories left by train travel, both of luxurious Pullman cars and the grit and grind of coal-powered locals. He discusses the important role railroads played for towns and cities across America, not only for the access they provided to distant places and distant markets but also for the depots that were a focus of community life. Finally, Grant reviews the lasting heritage of the railroads preserved in word, stone, paint, and memory. Railroads and the American People is a sparkling paean to American railroading by one of its finest historians.

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Grab your passport and let the Shergill sisters take you on a journey… Meet the Shergill Sisters. The know-it-all, Rajni.The drama queen, Jezmeen.The golden child, Shirina. They have never been close. But their mother’s dying wish was for them to take a pilgrimage across India together, to carry out her final rites. And so, the sisters are thrown together for one last (and very strange) family holiday. The three women seem to have nothing in common, apart from the fact that each of them has a secret she would prefer to keep hidden. But as one unlikely adventure follows another, it’s not long before they start to realise that they might need each other now more than ever. After all, there are no secrets between sisters… Readers love the Shergill sisters! 'Fresh, funny and moving' 'A heartwarming story' 'Funny and poignant' 'Wonderfully written'

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It is hard to think of the passenger liners from the golden era of Mediterranean cruising without also conjuring the nostalgic, dream-like vision of azure-blue waters, bright sunshine and swimming pools with clusters of umbrellas and sunbathing passengers. The great age of Mediterranean passenger liners began in the 1920s when the Italians built their first big ships, such as the Augustus, Saturnia and Conte Grande. In the 1930s, things got really interesting with the creation of the superliners Rex and Conte di Savoia. In the 1950s and ’60s, as Italy built a huge post-war fleet, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Turkey and Israel commissioned their biggest ships yet. William Miller has written ninety books on passenger ships and is an acknowledged world expert in his field. Full of colour and the first-hand memories of passengers and crew, this endearing reflection on the majestic world of Mediterranean travel cannot be missed. Quick, the whistles are sounding!

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NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTUREOscar Nominated For Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay Set amid the civil rights movement, the never-before-told true story of NASA’s African-American female mathematicians who played a crucial role in America’s space program. Before Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of professionals worked as ‘Human Computers’, calculating the flight paths that would enable these historic achievements. Among these were a coterie of bright, talented African-American women. Segregated from their white counterparts, these ‘colored computers’ used pencil and paper to write the equations that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space. Moving from World War II through NASA’s golden age, touching on the civil rights era, the Space Race, the Cold War, and the women’s rights movement, Hidden Figures interweaves a rich history of mankind’s greatest adventure with the intimate stories of five courageous women whose work forever changed the world.

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The Zohar, or Book of Splendour, is the foundation text of the Kabbalah, the famous theosophical teaching central to Jewish mysticism. This marvellous book, attributed to a 2nd-century rabbi, Schimeon Ben Yochai, was at first kept secret and only brought to wider notice by the 13th-century Spanish rabbi Moses de León. Kabbalah is the principal source of Jewish mysticism and has inspired centuries of mystical experience, influenced initially by personal encounters with God, such as those of Ezekiel and Moses in the Hebrew Bible. Its influence has penetrated Christian esotericism, and today Jews and non-Jews alike derive spiritual meaning from the Kabbalah. This fine and authoritative translation of essential passages in the Zohar is by Samuel Liddel MacGregor Mathers, a key figure in the Order of the Golden Dawn. The foreword is by the renowned Kabbalah scholar Z'ev ben Shimon Halevi. The Sacred Text series offers essential selections from the major writings of the world's spiritual traditions in reliable and accessible translations – editions to treasure and inspire.

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