Search results for ""author simon""

James Kelman is Scotland’s most influential contemporary prose artist. This is the first book-length study of his groundbreaking novels, and it analyses and contextualises each in detail. It argues that while Kelman offers a coherent and consistent vision of the world, each novel should be read as a distinct literary response to particular aspects of contemporary working-class language and culture. Richly historicised through diverse contexts such as Scottish socialism, public transport, emigration, ‘Booker Prize’ culture and Glasgow’s controversial ‘City of Culture’ status in 1990, Simon Kovesi offers readings of Kelman’s style, characterisation and linguistic innovations.This study resists the prevalent condemnations of Kelman as a miserable realist, and produces evidence that he is acutely aware of an unorthodox, politicised literary tradition which transgresses definitions of what literature can or should do. Kelman is cautious about the power relationship between the working-class worlds he represents in his fiction, and the latent preconceptions embedded in the language of academic and critical commentary. In response, this study is boldly self-critical, and questions the validity and values of its own methods. Kelman is shown to be deftly humorous, assiduously ethical, philosophically alert and politically necessary.

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A scholarly, theoretical discussion about the resemblance between the history of enlightenment in Europe and the intellectual history of welsh-speaking Wales in the 20th century, comprising of a new insight into the work of such figures as R.T. Jenkins, John Gwilym Jones and Hywel Teifi Edwards.

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On a trip to Egypt with their photographer father, Ed and Lin visit the pyramids. Ed seems to know all about mummies but Lin remembers that she read a scary story about a mummy. The children are chased through a pyramid by a shadowy figure. Luckily, the 'mummy' turns out to be a person. He promises to show them some real Egyptian treasures. Part of the Bug Club reading series used in over 3500 schools Helps your child develop reading fluency and confidence Suitable for children age 6-7 (Year 2) Book band: Orange B Phonics phase: 5

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Ed and Lin have gone with their Dad to the rainforest, Lin is worried about dangerous animals especially when Ed tells her about a big, scary cat called a jaguar. Then a jaguar's head appears and they run for their lives. When the villagers laugh at them they discover that two village children are dressed up as a jaguar for a festival. They invite Ed and Lin to join in. Part of the Bug Club reading series used in over 3500 schools Helps your child develop reading fluency and confidence Suitable for children age 6-7 (Year 2) Book band: Turquoise A Phonics phase: 6

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Suitable for children age 7 and above with a reading age of 6 years 6 months to 6 years 11 months Part of the Rapid Reading intervention series by Pearson Rapid Stage: Stage 3 Level 3A (equivalent to orange book band) Design supports readers with dyslexia Proven to help children who are behind in their reading to catch up fast Ideal for home learning Rapid Reading is a catch-up intervention reading scheme that has been proven to help children who are behind in their reading to triple their rate of progress. Each carefully-levelled reading book has a dyslexia-friendly design and supports all struggling learners, including those with SEND, to develop their comprehension skills, reading fluency and confidence. Includes 'Before reading' notes to help children read with confidence and 'Quiz' questions to develop understanding. This book contains one fiction text and one non-fiction text on a similar theme.

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Suitable for children age 7 and above with a reading age of 7 years to 7 years 5 months Part of the Rapid Reading intervention series by Pearson Rapid Stage: Stage 4 Level 4A (equivalent to turquoise book band) Design supports readers with dyslexia Proven to help children who are behind in their reading to catch up fast Ideal for home learning Rapid Reading is a catch-up intervention reading scheme that has been proven to help children who are behind in their reading to triple their rate of progress. Each carefully-levelled reading book has a dyslexia-friendly design and supports all struggling learners, including those with SEND, to develop their comprehension skills, reading fluency and confidence. Includes 'Before reading' notes to help children read with confidence and 'Quiz' questions to develop understanding. This book contains one fiction text and one non-fiction text on a similar theme.

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Suitable for children age 7 and above with a reading age of 7 years to 7 years 5 months Part of the Rapid Reading intervention series by Pearson Rapid Stage: Stage 4 Level 4A (equivalent to turquoise book band) Design supports readers with dyslexia Proven to help children who are behind in their reading to catch up fast Ideal for home learning Rapid Reading is a catch-up intervention reading scheme that has been proven to help children who are behind in their reading to triple their rate of progress. Each carefully-levelled reading book has a dyslexia-friendly design and supports all struggling learners, including those with SEND, to develop their comprehension skills, reading fluency and confidence. Includes 'Before reading' notes to help children read with confidence and 'Quiz' questions to develop understanding. This book contains one fiction text and one non-fiction text on a similar theme.

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Suitable for children age 7 and above with a reading age of 8 years - 8 years 5 months Part of the Rapid Reading intervention series by Pearson Rapid Stage: Stage 6 Level 6A (equivalent to gold book band) Design supports readers with dyslexia Proven to help children who are behind in their reading to catch up fast Ideal for home learning Rapid Reading is a catch-up intervention reading scheme that has been proven to help children who are behind in their reading to triple their rate of progress. Each carefully-levelled reading book has a dyslexia-friendly design and supports all struggling learners, including those with SEND, to develop their comprehension skills, reading fluency and confidence. Includes 'Before reading' notes to help children read with confidence and 'Quiz' questions to develop understanding. This book contains one fiction text and one non-fiction text on a similar theme.

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Suitable for children age 7 and above with a reading age of 7 years 6 months - 7 years 11 months Part of the Rapid Reading intervention series by Pearson Rapid Stage: Stage 5 Level 5A (equivalent to purple book band) Design supports readers with dyslexia Proven to help children who are behind in their reading to catch up fast Ideal for home learning Rapid Reading is a catch-up intervention reading scheme that has been proven to help children who are behind in their reading to triple their rate of progress. Each carefully-levelled reading book has a dyslexia-friendly design and supports all struggling learners, including those with SEND, to develop their comprehension skills, reading fluency and confidence. Includes 'Before reading' notes to help children read with confidence and 'Quiz' questions to develop understanding. This book contains one fiction text and one non-fiction text on a similar theme.

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Suitable for children age 7 and above with a reading age of 7 years 6 months - 7 years 11 months Part of the Rapid Reading intervention series by Pearson Rapid Stage: Stage 5 Level 5A (equivalent to purple book band) Design supports readers with dyslexia Proven to help children who are behind in their reading to catch up fast Ideal for home learning Rapid Reading is a catch-up intervention reading scheme that has been proven to help children who are behind in their reading to triple their rate of progress. Each carefully-levelled reading book has a dyslexia-friendly design and supports all struggling learners, including those with SEND, to develop their comprehension skills, reading fluency and confidence. Includes 'Before reading' notes to help children read with confidence and 'Quiz' questions to develop understanding. This book contains one fiction text and one non-fiction text on a similar theme.

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Marian Sutro has survived Ravensbruck and is back in dreary 1950s London trying to pick up the pieces of her pre-war life. Returned to an England she barely knows and a post-war world she doesn''t understand Marian searches for something on which to ground the rest of her life. Family and friends surround her and a young RAF officer attempts to bring her the normalities of love and affection but she is haunted by her experiences and by the guilt of knowing that her contribution to the war effort helped lead to the development of the Atom Bomb. Where, in the complexities of peacetime, does her loyalty lie? When a mysterious Russian diplomat emerges from the shadows to draw her into the ambiguities and uncertainties of the Cold War she sees a way to make amends for the past and to renew the excitement of her double life. Simon Mawer''s sense of time and place is perfect: Tightrope is a compelling novel about identity and deception which constantly surprises the

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What are ‘global crises' and how do they differ from earlier crises? What do recent studies of global crises reporting tell us about the role of the news media in the global age? What are the current trends in the fields of journalism and civil society that are now re-shaping the public communication of crises? From climate change to the global war on terror, from forced migration to humanitarian disasters - these are just some of the global crises addressed in this accessible, ground-breaking book. For the first time, the author situates diverse threats to humanity in a global context and examines how, why and to what extent they are conveyed in today's news media. Global crises are conceived as the dark side of a globalizing world, but how they become reported and constituted in the news media can also help sustain emergent forms of global awareness, global citizenship and global civil society.The book: Draws on original research and scholarship in the field of media and communications Deliberately moves beyond nationally confined research studies Examines diverse global crises and their communicative politics Recognizes global crises and their constitution within global news reporting as defining characteristics of the global age Global Crisis Reporting is key reading for students in media, communications, globalization and journalism studies.

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* What are the latest developments in the production, representation and reception of media output, produced by, for or about ethnic minorities?* What informs the questions media researchers ask and pursue when examining the mass media and ethnic minorities?* What are the principal forces of change currently shaping the field?There are few media issues more pressing, or potentially more consequential, than the representation of ethnic minorities. This authoritative text therefore brings together leading international researchers who have examined some of the latest processes of change (and continuity) informing the field of ethnic minorities and the media. Numerous studies of 'race', racism and the mass media have been conducted in the past. However, both the media landscape and the cultural field of ethnic minorities are fast changing, and this book addresses the recent developments which have threatened to outpace our ability to map, understand and intervene in processes of change. Presented in an accessible style, this book provides the reader with an overview of the very latest research findings and informed discussion. It opens with an introductory essay which maps recent approaches to the field, followed by substantive chapters which are structured thematically to address key processes of change such as media representations, media production, and cultures of identity.

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The story of the Stuart dynasty is a breathless soap opera played out in just a hundred years in an array of buildings that span Europe from Scotland, via Denmark, Holland and Spain to England. Life in the court of the House of Stuart has been shrouded in mystery: the first half of the century overshadowed by the fall and execution of Charles I, the second half in the complete collapse of the House itself. Lost to time is the extraordinary contribution the Stuarts made to the fabric of sovereignty. Every palace they built, painting they commissioned, or artwork they acquired was a direct reflection of the lives that they led and the way that they thought. Palaces of Revolution explores this rich history in graphic detail, giving a unique insight into the lives of this famous dynasty. It takes us from Royston and Newmarket, where James I appropriated most of the town centre as a sort of rough-and-ready royal housing estate, to the steamy Turkish baths at Whitehall where Charles II seduced his mistresses. We see the intimate private lives of the monarchs, presented through the buildings in which they lived and the objects they commissioned, creating an entirely new narrative of the Stuart century. Palaces of Revolution traces this extraordinary period across the places and palaces on which the action played out, giving us a thrilling new history of this remarkable dynasty.

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Swiss artist Meret Oppenheim (1913–1985) is far more than just the creator of the iconic fur teacup. In the course of her career she produced a complex, wide-ranging, and enigmatic body of work that has no parallel in modern art. Like an x-ray beam, this book scans Oppenheim’s artistic oeuvre, bringing its variety, playfulness, and poetry to the fore. Instead of simply answering the riddles posed by these intriguing works, it maps out the paths that will lead us to still more clues. Simon Baur is a leading expert in the life and art of Meret Oppenheim. The nine new essays featured in this volume are at once scholarly and easy to read. In them, Baur shares the many fascinating insights and interpretations that he has gleaned from his decades-long engagement with Oppenheim’s work. The result is an anthology that combines both biographical and thematic aspects and takes us on an exciting journey into the poetic cosmos of a truly great female artist.

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What should the future of British foreign policy look like? For too long successive governments have shied away from acknowledging uncomfortable truths about the decline of Britain's military capabilities. As we approach the middle years of the twenty-first century a new set of urgent and daunting challenges - including climate change, technological development and the rise of AI, and a growing threat from China - lie ahead, making the need for us to reconcile ourselves with our position in the world more acute. In this persuasively argued book, Simon McDonald shows how the UK's significant soft-power strengths can be harnessed to expand our international influence. Such a shift will only be possible, he says, if we first acknowledge the challenges of Brexit and the need to reduce our unrealistic hard-power ambitions. Excellence in areas that other countries care about will keep the UK internationally relevant in the second half of the century in a way that nostalgia for a lost pre-eminence will not.

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Book by book, year by year, the ultimate literary trip through Bowie's greatest decade. It is 1973. David Bowie is finally a superstar. All he has to do to remain there is to keep pretending he's Ziggy Stardust, keep playing to thousands, keep selling to millions and keep on staying relatively sane ... As glam rock crashes and burns in a sleazy scandal-ridden Britain, a world tour convinces David to make radical changes with devastating consequences for Ziggy, his fans and his band. However, his planned 'retirement' is anything but quiet - now a friend of the Jaggers, with more lovers than he can count on one hand, more appetites than he can satisfy with one nose and still more success. But at what cost? Continuing his vivid real-time journey through the decade David changed pop forever, the fourth volume of the Bowie Odyssey series sees Simon Goddard mainline to the dark heart of Seventies sex, drugs and debauched rock'n'roll - a gripping, unsentimental portrait of inspiration, insanity and the thin line that divides. PRAISE FOR THE BOWIE ODYSSEY SERIES 'My god, it's brilliant. A delicious romp.' MIKE SCOTT, THE WATERBOYS 'The best book written about its subject... Stupendous.' CLASSIC ROCK 'The wonderful Bowie Odyssey series ... Goddard's prose is like an all-seeing eye.' RECORD COLLECTOR 'A full-on sensory immersion in Bowie's universe.' SUNDAY TIMES 'It's as if we were there.' 4**** MOJO 'Goddard's scintillating series... with its meticulous fact-checking and almost poetic prose, paints a beautifully written portrait that's almost as otherworldly as its subject... [it] strikes the perfect balance... granting us an all-access-areas pass to accompany Bowie to every gig, every engagement and to some of the most important moments in rock' CLASSIC POP 'The project's ambition is matched only by the sumptuousness of Goddard's writing... At times as I read Bowie Odyssey 73 I felt like his shadow.' CHRIS CHARLESWORTH

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A comprehensive, beautifully illustrated and practical wood engraving manual. Wood Engraving is an easily-followed, practical manual on wood engraving for beginners. Learn the processes of printing and engraving through clear explanations and use the lists of material requirements to help you get started. In this third, revised edition, discover up-to-date technique variations and all the tips and methods that the author has found helpful in 50 years as a practitioner. Since, or so he says, how to do it cannot be separated from why you are doing it and what it is you think you are doing, the book also touches on the relation of wood engraving to art more generally, and is a companion not only to beginning but also to continuing in this historic art. A beautiful object in its own right and written by a master in the field, this book is a must have if you treasure fine wood engraving and the contribution Simon Brett has made to it.

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Embodied and Whole Life Carbon thinking will change the way buildings are designed, yet carbon emissions associated with the construction and life of buildings are not wholly understood by the profession. Energy is assumed to be the province of services engineers, but energy from materials is as big an issue. Architects have the opportunity to take the lead in redefining how buildings are designed to achieve a low carbon future. Targeting Zero is an accessible and friendly read, introducing and explaining many of the concepts around Embodied and Whole Life Carbon, using case studies taken from in-depth research. It will demonstrate how architects can become central to the carbon resource impacts of the buildings they design and how low carbon approaches should drive innovation.

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'What a rollicking olden-days adventure this is, replete with mystery, secret passages, menacingly elusive enemies and a main character readers will truly root for' JOANNE OWEN, author of MARTHA MAYHEMTen-year-old Beatrix is very good at telling jokes, dancing and throwing knives. She also happens to be a queen of a distant land - though she doesn't know that yet. She also happens to be the queen who is quite possibly destined to lead the Wobblers to bold victory over the Evil Army - though she doesn't know that yet either. Beatrix lives in an enormous golden palace with Aunt Esmerelda the Terrible and Uncle Ivan the Vicious, but as she's only been allowed to see one new room per birthday, she's only ever been inside ten rooms of the palace. Her aunt and uncle have always told her that if she goes beyond the woods outside the palace she'll fall off the edge of the world. And the Dark, Dark Woods and all that lies beyond must be avoided at all costs - what if the dreaded Wobblers were to get her? But finally, the veil Beatrix has been living under is starting to slip. Beatrix knows she needs to be bold. Beatrix knows she needs to look for answers. And she's about to get them.

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‘I have a truly marvellous demonstration of this proposition which this margin is too narrow to contain.’ It was with these words, written in the 1630s, that Pierre de Fermat intrigued and infuriated the mathematics community. For over 350 years, proving Fermat’s Last Theorem was the most notorious unsolved mathematical problem, a puzzle whose basics most children could grasp but whose solution eluded the greatest minds in the world. In 1993, after years of secret toil, Englishman Andrew Wiles announced to an astounded audience that he had cracked Fermat’s Last Theorem. He had no idea of the nightmare that lay ahead. In ‘Fermat’s Last Theorem’ Simon Singh has crafted a remarkable tale of intellectual endeavour spanning three centuries, and a moving testament to the obsession, sacrifice and extraordinary determination of Andrew Wiles: one man against all the odds.

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2017 is the 15th anniversary of the creation of Bob, Man on the Moon, celebrate with this anniversary edition. Bob is everyone's favourite man on the moon; Bob has a special job - looking after the moon. He knows everything about the moon and that there is definitely no such thing as aliens!

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Perfect for fans of Alex Rider and Artemis Fowl, Simon Fox's latest action-packed thriller is ideal for readers too young for Jack Reacher or Line of Duty.Archie Blake thought his policeman father teaching him how to pick locks and open safes was just a bit of fun. But when a diamond necklace is stolen and his dad is arrested, Archie realises the only way to prove Dad's innocence is to go on the run and use everything he's learned to uncover the truth.But Archie soon finds himself deeply tangled in the criminal underworld, where it's hard to know who to trust and even harder to see what's right or wrong. Will Archie be able to find a way out before it's too late?An explosive new adventure from the author of the unputdownable Running Out of Time. Simon Fox is a rising star in a new generation of thriller writers.

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A powerful new novel set in the fourth-century Roman Empire by critically acclaimed historical novelist Simon Turney, Para Bellum will delight fans of Scarrow, Kane and Cornwell. AD 381. Five years have gone by since a Roman governor ordered the deaths of a Gothic king and his attendants at a feast in their honour. This disastrous act led to warfare in the Roman Empire and the death of the Emperor Valens. The Empire is now at peace, but the powerful brother of the murdered king has sworn revenge on the regicides, and will not rest until they are hunted down. For the eight legionaries who carried out the killings, the bloodshed is only just beginning. Flavius Focalis is one of those legionaries. After narrowly surviving an attempt on his life, Focalis seeks to warn his former comrades, for he knows their enemy is implacable. So begins a deadly game of cat-and-mouse across the Empire, with far more than eight lives at stake. For war is coming – and the only question is: do they die now, or die later? 'You should be reading Simon Turney' Anthony Riches

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'Kuper is a shrewd observer [in] this entertaining mix of memoir and anthropology' The Sunday TimesFrom the bestselling author of Chums comes an explorer's tale of a naïf getting to understand a complex, glittering, beautiful and often cruel city. Simon Kuper has experienced Paris both as a human being and as a journalist. He has grown middle-aged there, eaten the croissants, taken his children to countless football matches on freezing Saturday mornings in the city's notorious banlieues, and in 2015 lived through two terrorist attacks on his family's neighbourhood. Over two decades of becoming something of a cantankerous Parisian himself, Kuper has watched the city change. This century, Paris has globalised, gentrified, and been shocked into realising its role as the crucible of civilisational conflict. Sometimes it's a multicultural paradise, and sometimes it isn't. This decade, Parisians have lived through a sequence of shocks: terrorist attacks, record floods and heatwaves, the bu

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Bold, lyrical and imaginative, this space opera is a must for fans of Becky Chambers and Alastair Reynolds Nia Imani is a woman out of place and outside of time. Decades of travel through the stars are condensed into mere months for her, though the years continue to march steadily onward for everyone she has ever known. The captain of a transport ship contracted to the Umbrai corporation, she lives only for the next paycheck, until the day she meets a mysterious boy, fallen from the sky. A boy, broken by his past, and hunted by his present. For he is one of the few born with the gift of the Jaunt. The ability to travel instantly anywhere in the universe. An ability that threatens the vicelike control of the settled worlds by corporations such as Umbrai. Fumiko Nakajima, the great scientist responsible for the design of bird-like Stations that Umbrai uses to control vast tracts of space, has been searching for one such as he for a thousand years. Together, they set out to protect the boy, a journey that will cross the decades and light years all the way out to the fringes of settled space where the laws of civilisation do not apply, and they will have only each other to rely on.

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All is not well in the beautiful county of Midsomer. On the eve of its first Villages In Bloom competition, a man lies dead, smelling of damson jam. Who could have done it?Well, that's where you come in. Step into the shoes of Midsomer CID's newest recruit, choose your own path and decide which way the story goes.Will you get to the bottom of the mystery? Will you bring the perpetrator to justice? And perhaps most importantly of all, could you avoid an untimely, and possibly bizarre, death... will YOU survive Midsomer? Your task is to make the right choices, solve the case and - most tricky of all - stay alive!... Good luck.An official Midsomer Murders Interactive novel set in ITV's most celebrated and murderous county.

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'A deeply human read, wonderfully written, on the foibles of a fascinating, flawed, treacherous and sort of likeable character.' Philippe Sands Those people who were betrayed were not innocent people. They were no better nor worse than I am. It's all part of the intelligence world. If the man who turned me in came to my house today, I'd invite him to sit down and have a cup of tea. George Blake was the last remaining Cold War spy. As a Senior Officer in the British Intelligence Service who was double agent for the Soviet Union, his actions had devastating consequences for Britain. Yet he was also one of the least known double agents, and remained unrepentant. In 1961, Blake was sentenced to forty-two years imprisonment for betraying to the KGB all of the Western operations in which he was involved, and the names of hundreds of British agents working behind the Iron Curtain. This was the longest sentence for espionage ever to have been handed down by a British court. On the surface, Blake was a charming, intelligent and engaging man, and most importantly, a seemingly committed patriot. Underneath, a ruthlessly efficient mole and key player in the infamous 'Berlin Tunnel' operation. This illuminating biography tracks Blake from humble beginnings as a teenage courier for the Dutch underground during the Second World War, to the sensational prison-break from Wormwood Scrubs that inspired Hitchcock to write screenplay. Through a combination of personal interviews, research and unique access to Stasi records, journalist Simon Kuper unravels who Blake truly was, what he was capable of, and why he did it.

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Two months after D-Day, just as the battle of Normandy was reaching its climax, with all eyes on the Falaise Pocket, the Allies unleashed the second invasion of France not in the Pas de Calais but the French Riviera. Immaculately planned, effectively undertaken, the Allies quickly broke out of their bridgehead, drove 400 miles into France in three weeks, and liberated 10,000 square miles of French territory while inflicting 143,250 German casualties. On September 10 they linked up with Patton’s Third Army and advanced into the Vosges Mountains, taking Strasbourg and holding the area against the Germans’ final big attack in the west: Operation Nordwind in January 1945. US Seventh Army and 6th Army Group undertook a successful campaign placing a third Allied army group with its own independent supply lines, in northeastern France at a time when the two northern Allied army groups were stretched to the limit. Without this force the Allies would have struggled to hold the frontage to Switzerland and Third Army would have been exposed to attack in its southern flank—something that could have had disastrous repercussions particularly during the Ardennes offensive of December 1944.The images of palm trees and azure seas obscure our view of this campaign. It was no cakewalk. The Germans knew the Allies were coming and had strong defences in the area. A shortage of landing craft, vehicles, and matériel meant that the US Seventh and French First armies were restricted in the assault. The heavy fog and anti-glider defences made for a difficult airborne assault, but it was carried out effectively, the amphibious assault was textbook in execution and the invasion of southern France ended up as a significant victory. But the story of 6th Army Group wasn’t finished. Taking up a position on the east flank of Third Army it fought its way through the Vosges and withstood the Germans’ last throw: Operation Nordwind—the vain attempt to relieve pressure on the Ardennes assault by attacking in the Vosges. Heavy fighting pressed hard towards Strasbourg but the Allies were ultimately victorious, inflicting severe losses on the Germans.

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Bee shamanism may well be the most ancient and enigmatic branch of shamanism. It exists throughout the world--wherever in fact the honeybee exists. Its medicinal tools--such as honey, pollen, propolis, and royal jelly--are now in common usage, and even the origins of Chinese acupuncture can be traced back to the ancient practice of applying bee stings to the body’s meridians. In this authoritative ethnography and spiritual memoir, Simon Buxton, an elder of the Path of Pollen, reveals for the first time the richness of this tradition: its subtle intelligence; its sights, sounds, and smells; and its unique ceremonies, which until now have been known only to initiates. Buxton unknowingly took his first steps on the Path of Pollen at age nine, when a neighbor--an Austrian bee shaman--cured him of a near-fatal bout of encephalitis. This early contact prepared him for his later meeting with an elder of the tradition who took him on as an apprentice. Following an intense initiation that opened him to the mysteries of the hive mind, Buxton learned over the next 13 years the practices, rituals, and tools of bee shamanism. He experienced the healing and spiritual powers of honey and other bee products, including the “flying ointment” once used by medieval witches, as well as ritual initiations with the female members of the tradition--the Mellisae--and the application of magico-sexual “nektars” that promote longevity and ecstasy. The Shamanic Way of the Beeis a rare view into the secret wisdom of this age-old tradition.

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Longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 2013'Funny, erudite, frequently irritating . . . and never boring' Sarah Bakewell, Financial Times 'An excellent, rich and amusing read' The Times, Book of the WeekFor centuries much of Europe was in the hands of the very peculiar Habsburg family. An unstable mixture of wizards, obsessives, melancholics, bores, musicians and warriors, they saw off – through luck, guile and sheer mulishness – any number of rivals, until finally packing up in 1918. From their principal lairs along the Danube they ruled most of Central Europe and Germany and interfered everywhere – indeed the history of Europe hardly makes sense without them.Danubia plunges the reader into a maelstrom of alchemy, skeletons, jewels, bear-moats, unfortunate marriages and a guinea-pig village. Full of music, piracy, religion and fighting, it is the history of a dynasty, but it is at least as much about the people they ruled, who spoke many different languages, lived in a vast range of landscapes, believed in many rival gods and often showed a marked ingratitude towards their oddball ruler in Vienna. Joining Germania and Lotharingia in Simon Winder's endlessly fascinating retelling of European history, Danubia is a hilarious, eccentric and witty saga.

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'Witty and geekily eclectic' The TimesAn erudite and amusing exploration' Financial Times'Full of jawdropping facts' Mail on Sunday'Remarkable . . . engrossing' Sunday Times'A pleasure' Spectator'An infectiously enthusiastic history' Times Literary SupplementThe encyclopaedia once shaped our understanding of the world. Now these huge books sell for almost nothing on eBay while we derive information from our phones. What have we lost in this transition? All the Knowledge in the World tracks the story from Ancient Greece to Wikipedia, from modest single-volumes to the 11,000-volume Chinese manuscript that was too big to print. It exposes how encyclopaedias reflect our changing attitudes towards sexuality, race and technology, uncovers a fascinating part of our shared past and wonders whether the promise of complete knowledge - that most human of ambitions - will forever be beyond our grasp.

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The encyclopaedia once shaped our understanding of the world. Created by thousands of scholars and the most obsessive of editors, adults cleared their shelves in the belief that wisdom was now effortlessly accessible in their living rooms. Contributions from Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Orville Wright, Alfred Hitchcock, Marie Curie and Indira Gandhi helped millions of children with their homework. But now these huge books gather dust and sell for almost nothing on eBay, and we derive our information from the internet, apparently for free. What have we lost in this transition? And how did we tell the progress of our lives in the past? All the Knowledge in the World is a history and celebration of those who created the most ground-breaking and remarkable publishing phenomenon of any age. It tracks the story from Ancient Greece to Wikipedia, from modest single-volumes to the 11,000-volume Chinese manuscript that was too big to print. It looks at how Encyclopaedia Britannica came to dominate the industry and how an army of ingenious door-to-door salesmen sold their wares to guilt-ridden parents. It explains how encyclopaedias have reflected our changing attitudes towards sexuality, race and technology, and exposes how these ultimate bastions of trust were often riddled with errors and prejudice. With his characteristic ability to tackle the broadest of subjects in an illuminating and highly entertaining way, Simon Garfield uncovers a fascinating and important part of our past, and wonders whether the promise of complete knowledge - that most human of ambitions - will forever be beyond our grasp.

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BERLIN. JANUARY 1940. After Germany's invasion of Poland, the world is holding its breath and hoping for peace. At home, the Nazi Party's hold on power is absolute.One freezing night, an SS doctor and his wife return from an evening mingling with their fellow Nazis at the concert hall. By the time the sun rises, the doctor will be lying lifeless in a pool of blood.Was it murder or suicide? Criminal Inspector Horst Schenke is told that under no circumstances should he investigate. The doctor's widow, however, is convinced her husband was the target of a hit. But why would anyone murder an apparently obscure doctor? Compelled to dig deeper, Schenke learns of the mysterious death of a child. The cases seem unconnected, but soon chilling links begin to emerge that point to a terrifying secret.Even in times of war, under a ruthless regime, there are places in hell no man should ever enter. And Schenke fears he may not return alive . . .Readers raved about BLACKOUT - Simon Scarrow's first Berlin Wartime Thriller'Taut and chilling - I was completely gripped' Anthony Horowitz'A terrific depiction of the human world within the chilling world of the Third Reich' Peter James'Mesmerising. Nail-biting. Unputdownable' Damien Lewis

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The Sunday Times bestseller - a thrilling new adventure in Simon Scarrow's acclaimed Eagles of the Empire series. Perfect for readers of Conn Iggulden and Bernard Cornwell. READERS CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF SIMON SCARROW'S BOOKS!'I could not put it down' ***** - AMAZON REVIEW'Awesome read . . . ' ***** - AMAZON REVIEW'A storytelling master . . . I loved this novel and can't wait for the next' ***** - AMAZON REVIEW'If you have read the previous books, you already know how good they are . . . If you have not read any of these books, then get started!' ***** - AMAZON REVIEWA.D. 57. Battle-scarred veterans of the Roman army Tribune Cato and Centurion Macro return to Rome. Thanks to the failure of their recent campaign on the eastern frontier they face a hostile reception at the imperial court. Their reputations and future are at stake. When Emperor Nero's infatuation with his mistress is exploited by political enemies, he reluctantly banishes her into exile. Cato, isolated and unwelcome in Rome, is forced to escort her to Sardinia. Arriving on the restless, simmering island with a small cadre of officers, Cato faces peril on three fronts: a fractured command, a deadly plague spreading across the province...and a violent insurgency threatening to tip the province into blood-stained chaos. IF YOU DON'T KNOW SIMON SCARROW, YOU DON'T KNOW ROME!MORE PRAISE FOR SIMON SCARROW'S NOVELS'Scarrow's [novels] rank with the best' Independent'Blood, gore, political intrigue' Daily Sport'Always a joy' The Times

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Do your students trip up over long and difficult spellings? Then look no further! How to Become a Snappy Speller is bursting full of useful tips to get your students' spelling needs up to speed! Packed full of awesome activities and hints and tips, How to Become a Snappy Speller will have your students mastering the art of spelling in no time!

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Threats to an organization's operations, such as fraud, IT disruption or poorly designed products, could result in serious losses. Understand the key components of effective operational risk management with this essential book for risk professionals and students. Fundamentals of Operational Risk Management outlines how to implement a sound operational risk management framework which is embedded in day-to-day business activities. It covers the main operational risk tools including categorisation, risk and control self-assessment and scenario analysis, and explores the importance of risk appetite and tolerance. With case studies of major operational risk events to illustrate each concept, this book demonstrates the value of ORM and how it fits with other types of risk management. There is also guidance on the regulatory treatment of operational risk and the importance of risk culture in any organization. Master the essentials and improve the practice of operational risk management with this comprehensive guide.

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WINNER: CMI Management Book of the Year 2022 SHORTLISTED: Business Book Awards 2022 - Diversity, Inclusion & Equality category Good intentions are not enough - real diversity is about change. This book explains why it's our differences and how we combine them that creates true diversity and generates innovation, fresh thinking and ultimately, success. With clarity and wit, The Power of Difference brings together the author's own experiences with the latest research to explain why inclusion is more than just being nice to people, why unconscious bias training isn't the fix we need and why listening to all individual voices, not just assuming that one viewpoint represents a group, is key. Offering insight, analysis and practical solutions, The Power of Difference is a must read for all managers, leaders and HR professionals as well as anyone looking to engage with the topic, who doesn't know where to start. Exploring how to confront bias, question assumptions and avoid generalizations, this book illustrates why diversity should be part of the overall business strategy, not separate from it. It shows how for innovation and diversity to flourish, we must create spaces that are safe for disagreement, not from disagreement. Written in an engaging yet practical style, this book courageously tackles some of the most significant issues at work today.

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From the author of The History of the World in 100 Animals, a BBC Radio Four Book of the Week, comes an inspirational new book that looks at the 100 plants that have had the greatest impact on humanity, stunningly illustrated throughout. As humans, we hold the planet in the palms of ours hands. But we still consume the energy of the sun in the form of food. The sun is available for consumption because of plants. Plants make food from the sun by the process of photosynthesis; nothing else in the world can do this. We eat plants, or we do so at second hand, by eating the eaters of plants. Plants give us food. Plants take in carbon dioxide and push out oxygen: they give us the air we breathe, direct the rain that falls and moderate the climate. Plants also give us shelter, beauty, comfort, meaning, buildings, boats, containers, musical instruments, medicines and religious symbols. We use flowers for love, we use flowers for death. The fossils of plants power our industries and our transport. Across history we have used plants to store knowledge, to kill, to fuel wars, to change our state of consciousness, to indicate our status. The first gun was a plant, we got fire from plants, we have enslaved people for the sake of plants. We humans like to see ourselves as a species that has risen above the animal kingdom, doing what we will with the world. But we couldn’t live for a day without plants. Our past is all about plants, our present is all tied up with plants; and without plants there is no future. From the mighty oak to algae, from cotton to coca here are a hundred reasons why.

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Exam Board: Edexcel Level: GCSE Subject: History First teaching: September 2016 First exams: Summer 2018 Series Editor: Angela Leonard This Student Book: covers the essential content in the new specification in an engaging way, using detailed narrative, sources, timelines, key words, helpful activities and extension material uses the 'Thinking Historically' approach and activities to help develop conceptual understanding of areas such as evidence, interpretations, causation and change, through targeted activities has 'Writing Historically' features that focus on the writing skills most important to historical success. This literacy support uses the proven Grammar for Writing approach used in many English departments includes lots of exam guidance, with practice questions, sources, sample answers and tips to support preparation for GCSE assessments. * These resources have not yet been endorsed. This information is correct as of 31st July 2015, but may be subject to change. You do not have to purchase any resources to deliver our qualification.

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