Search results for ""author matt"

A classic David & Goliath tale, complete with colourful heroes, cold-hearted villains, and nail-biting games—with the hockey rink serving as an arena for a nation’s resistance. During the height of the Cold War, a group of small-town young men would lead their underdog hockey team from the little country of Czechoslovakia against the Soviet Union, the juggernaut in their sport. As they battled on the ice, the young players would keep their people’s quest for freedom alive, and forge a way to fight back against the authoritarian forces that sought to crush them. From the sudden invasion of Czechslovakia by an armada of tanks and 500,000 Warsaw Pact soldiers, to a hockey victory over the Soviets that inspired half a million furious citizens to take to the streets in an attempt to destroy all representations that they could find of their occupiers, Freedom to Win ranges from iconic moments in history to courageous individual stories. We will witness the fearless escape by three brothers who made up the core of the national team, thrilling world championship games and gold medal matches. We will watch as a one brave player takes a stand and leads ten thousand people in a tear-filled rendition of the Czechoslovak national anthem amid chants of “freedom!” while a revolution raged in the streets of Prague. At the heart of Freedom to Win is the story of the Holíks, a Czechoslovak family whose resistance to the Communists embodied the deepest desires of the people of their country. Faced with life under the cruel and arbitrary regime that had stolen their family butcher shop, the Holík boys became national hockey icons and inspirations to their people. Filled with heart-pounding moments on the ice and unforgettable slices of history, Freedom to Win is the ultimate tale of why sports truly matter.

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The Four Horsemen - War, Pestilence, Famine and Death - first appeared in the Book of Revelations a thousand years ago, but they continue to track us in our own time. This original and inspiring study bycelebrated historian Emily Mayhew traces the advances in science, technology and humanitarianism that are enabling us to take them on, one by one.'The beauty of The Four Horsemen is how she takes her quaking readers to the edge of the abyss . . . I was left moved and uplifted . . . [A] first-class example of popular science' The Times'[A] thoughtful and ultimately uplifting analysis of the unsung heroes of our age' IndependentIt begins in Mosul, our oldest surviving city, and the extraordinary coalition created in a matter of days to save its people from the worst horrors of the liberation battle against ISIS. As the city and the humanitarian operation that helped it to survive are restructured for a new age, Mayhew shows other people whose work gives us hope for the future, from the search to find new ways to discover and use antimicrobial medicines and the innovations in preventing the spread of deadly viruses; the laboratory work being taken to protect crops from disease and reduce famine, and why the potato, not the banana is the future; to the unique courage and resolution of those dedicated to securing the rights of the dead and their families. Standing in the way of the Horsemen is what Emily Mayhew calls, 'the most extraordinary alliance ever to come together in defence of our humanity.' These are the doctors, scientists, statisticians, engineers, peace negotiators, pharmacists, historians, forensic scientists, vaccinators and volunteers who are creating solutions to life and death problems which threaten us all. They are the new heroes of our age and this book is about them.

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Examines how radical bookstores and similar spaces serve as launching pads for social movements How does social change happen? It requires an identified problem, an impassioned and committed group, a catalyst, and a plan. In this deeply researched consideration of seventy-seven stores and establishments, Kimberley Kinder argues that activists also need autonomous space for organizing, and that these spaces are made, not found. She explores the remarkably enduring presence of radical bookstores in America and how they provide infrastructure for organizing—gathering places, retail offerings that draw new people into what she calls “counterspaces.”Kinder focuses on brick-and-mortar venues where owners approach their businesses primarily as social movement tools. These may be bookstores, infoshops, libraries, knowledge cafes, community centers, publishing collectives, thrift stores, or art installations. They are run by activist-entrepreneurs who create centers for organizing and selling books to pay the rent. These spaces allow radical and contentious ideas to be explored and percolate through to actual social movements, and serve as crucibles for activists to challenge capitalism, imperialism, white privilege, patriarchy, and homophobia. They also exist within a central paradox: participating in the marketplace creates tensions, contradictions, and shortfalls. Activist retail does not end capitalism; collective ownership does not enable a retreat from civic requirements like zoning; and donations, no matter how generous, do not offset the enormous power of corporations and governments. In this timely and relevant book, Kinder presents a necessary, novel, and apt analysis of the role these retail spaces play in radical organizing, one that demonstrates how such durable hubs manage to persist, often for decades, between the spikes of public protest.

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Mindfulness is more than a buzzword. It is a vital skill to help you survive and get ahead in your career. Executive coach and business trainer Dr Seeger has been practising and teaching mindfulness since before it was fashionable, and in this short, accessible book she shares a lifetime of hard-earned wisdom and practical advice.This book introduces you to the main themes and ideas, giving you a basic knowledge and understanding of the key concepts, together with practical and thought-provoking exercises. Whether you choose to read it in a week or in a single sitting, Mindfulness at Work In A Week is your fastest route to success:- Sunday: Learn to focus your attention and overcome the multi-tasking myth- Monday: Use mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) to prevent and overcome stress- Tuesday: Discover how mindfulness can optimise your productivity- Wednesday: Use mindfulness to overcome the brain's negativity bias and make the workplace happier for yourself and your colleagues- Thursday: Regulate your emotions and improve your self-control- Friday: Use mindfulness to create new mental maps which will promote insight and creativity- Saturday: Understand how using mindfulness can strengthen relationships with your teamABOUT THE SERIESIn A Week books are for managers, leaders, and business executives who want to succeed at work. From negotiating and content marketing to finance and social media, the In A Week series covers the business topics that really matter and that will help you make a difference today. Written in straightforward English, each book is structured as a seven-day course so that with just a little work each day, you will quickly master the subject. In a fast-changing world, this series enables readers not just to get up to speed, but to get ahead.

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As recent events indicate, Iranian, Middle Eastern, and Islamic politics more broadly have been deeply influential in world affairs. Hamid Dabashi has been a highly visible and prominent commentator on these affairs, explaining, interpreting, and providing a critical perspective. This volume gathers together his most influential and insightful writings.As one of the foremost contemporary public intellectuals and scholars of our time, Dabashi's interests and writings span subjects ranging from Islamic philosophy and political ideology to Iranian art and Persian literature, from Sufism and Orientalism to Iranian and world cinema and contemporary Arab and Muslim visual arts; and from postcolonial theory and globalization to imperialism and public affairs. There is a direct connection between his theoretical innovations and the angle of his public interventions on the urgent global issues of the day. This book brings together some of his most important writings, especially those that offer new ways of understanding Islam, Iran, Islamist ideology, global art, and the condition of global modernity. The book shows the underlying conceptual themes that unify Dabashi's wide-ranging and brilliantly insightful corpus.Dabashi combines deep knowledge of the subject matter about which he writes, and highly refined sociological, hermeneutical, and cultural interpretive skills, moving far beyond the limiting, distorted, and intellectually stifling character of reigning absolutist conventions. He places existing authoritative frameworks under close scrutiny in order to produce novel and penetrating insights. These essays reflect historical and geographical worlds that are best viewed when Hamid Dabashi's work is read as a whole, which this one- volume work makes possible for the first time.

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No stranger to heartache, Carole Holiday artfully braids together her story of overwhelming loss with biblical insights and delicious recipes from the little cottage on the lane--the cooking school she once owned. Carole's journey offers hope that after the ravages of grief and despair, God can bring good back to life through faith, food, and fellowship.How do you survive when everything that gave meaning to your life suddenly disappears? Grief can spark the question, God, when will you see me? Carole Holiday has weathered heartbreaking loss and the despair that whispers, "I don't know who I am anymore." Through her trials, including divorce, job loss, and heart surgery, she has learned that deep grief carves space for a deeper ability to love.Readers who have been shredded by suffering, who have lost hope in God or in life being good again will unpack what it means to be made in God's image; learn how to redirect doubts and despair toward a God-filled identity and purpose; understand that loss offers an enormous capacity to feel more deeply; discover that even though rejected by those they most loved, they still matter to God; and be reminded of the truth that sadness and faith are not mutually exclusive. In her unique, lyrical writing style, Carole shares her story of grief and explores biblical teaching that offers a God-given purpose after pain. As an extra dose of comfort, she seasons her story with savory recipes from a cooking school she once owned, where she learned firsthand the healing that takes place around the table. Carole's humor and warm encouragement gently remind readers that God has good for them--even in a season of severe loss.

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Borders traditionally served to insulate nations from other states and to provide bulwarks against intrusion by foreign armies. In the age of terrorism, borders are more frequently perceived as protection against threats from determined individuals arriving from elsewhere. After a deadly terrorist attack, leaders immediately encounter pressure to close their borders. As Nazli Avdan observes, cracking down on border crossings and policing migration enhance security. However, the imperatives of globalization demand that borders remain open to legal travel and economic exchange. While stricter border policies may be symbolically valuable and pragmatically safer, according to Avdan, they are economically costly, restricting trade between neighbors and damaging commercial ties. In Visas and Walls, Avdan argues that the balance between economics and security is contingent on how close to home threats, whether actual or potential, originate. When terrorist events affect the residents of a country or take place within its borders, economic ties matter less. When terrorist violence strikes elsewhere and does not involve its citizens, the unaffected state's investment in globalization carries the day. Avdan examines the visa waiver programs and visa control policies of several countries in place in 2010, including Turkey's migration policies; analyzes the visa issuance practices of the European Union from 2003 until 2015; and explores how terrorism and trade affected states' propensities to build border walls in the post-World War II era. Her findings challenge the claim that border crackdowns are a reflexive response to terrorist violence and qualify globalists' assertions that economic globalization makes for open borders. Visas and Walls encourages policymakers and leaders to consider more broadly the effects of economic interdependence on policies governing borders and their permeability.

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How a nineteenth-century lawsuit over the estate of a wealthy Tunisian Jew shines new light on the history of belongingIn the winter of 1873, Nissim Shamama, a wealthy Jew from Tunisia, died suddenly in his palazzo in Livorno, Italy. His passing initiated a fierce lawsuit over his large estate. Before Shamama's riches could be disbursed among his aspiring heirs, Italian courts had to decide which law to apply to his estate—a matter that depended on his nationality. Was he an Italian citizen? A subject of the Bey of Tunis? Had he become stateless? Or was his Jewishness also his nationality? Tracing a decade-long legal battle involving Jews, Muslims, and Christians from both sides of the Mediterranean, The Shamama Case offers a riveting history of citizenship across regional, cultural, and political borders.On its face, the crux of the lawsuit seemed simple: To which state did Shamama belong when he died? But the case produced hundreds of pages in legal briefs and thousands of dollars in lawyers’ fees before the man's estate could be distributed among his quarrelsome heirs. Jessica Marglin follows the unfolding of events, from Shamama's rise to power in Tunis and his self-imposed exile in France, to his untimely death in Livorno and the clashing visions of nationality advanced during the lawsuit. Marglin brings to life a Dickensian array of individuals involved in the case: family members who hoped to inherit the estate; Tunisian government officials; an Algerian Jewish fixer; rabbis in Palestine, Tunisia, and Livorno; and some of Italy’s most famous legal minds.Drawing from a wealth of correspondence, legal briefs, rabbinic opinions, and court rulings, The Shamama Case reimagines how we think about Jews, the Mediterranean, and belonging in the nineteenth century.

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Higher Education in America is a landmark work--a comprehensive and authoritative analysis of the current condition of our colleges and universities from former Harvard president Derek Bok, one of the nation's most respected education experts. Sweepingly ambitious in scope, this is a deeply informed and balanced assessment of the many strengths as well as the weaknesses of American higher education today. At a time when colleges and universities have never been more important to the lives and opportunities of students or to the progress and prosperity of the nation, Bok provides a thorough examination of the entire system, public and private, from community colleges and small liberal arts colleges to great universities with their research programs and their medical, law, and business schools. Drawing on the most reliable studies and data, he determines which criticisms of higher education are unfounded or exaggerated, which are issues of genuine concern, and what can be done to improve matters. Some of the subjects considered are long-standing, such as debates over the undergraduate curriculum and concerns over rising college costs. Others are more recent, such as the rise of for-profit institutions and massive open online courses (MOOCs). Additional topics include the quality of undergraduate education, the stagnating levels of college graduation, the problems of university governance, the strengths and weaknesses of graduate and professional education, the environment for research, and the benefits and drawbacks of the pervasive competition among American colleges and universities. Offering a rare survey and evaluation of American higher education as a whole, this book provides a solid basis for a fresh public discussion about what the system is doing right, what it needs to do better, and how the next quarter century could be made a period of progress rather than decline.

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The hard work required to make God real, how it changes the people who do it, and why it helps explain the enduring power of faithHow do gods and spirits come to feel vividly real to people—as if they were standing right next to them? Humans tend to see supernatural agents everywhere, as the cognitive science of religion has shown. But it isn’t easy to maintain a sense that there are invisible spirits who care about you. In How God Becomes Real, acclaimed anthropologist and scholar of religion T. M. Luhrmann argues that people must work incredibly hard to make gods real and that this effort—by changing the people who do it and giving them the benefits they seek from invisible others—helps to explain the enduring power of faith.Drawing on ethnographic studies of evangelical Christians, pagans, magicians, Zoroastrians, Black Catholics, Santeria initiates, and newly orthodox Jews, Luhrmann notes that none of these people behave as if gods and spirits are simply there. Rather, these worshippers make strenuous efforts to create a world in which invisible others matter and can become intensely present and real. The faithful accomplish this through detailed stories, absorption, the cultivation of inner senses, belief in a porous mind, strong sensory experiences, prayer, and other practices. Along the way, Luhrmann shows why faith is harder than belief, why prayer is a metacognitive activity like therapy, why becoming religious is like getting engrossed in a book, and much more.A fascinating account of why religious practices are more powerful than religious beliefs, How God Becomes Real suggests that faith is resilient not because it provides intuitions about gods and spirits—but because it changes the faithful in profound ways.

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This is a major, wide-ranging history of analytic philosophy since 1900, told by one of the tradition's leading contemporary figures. The first volume takes the story from 1900 to mid-century. The second brings the history up to date. As Scott Soames tells it, the story of analytic philosophy is one of great but uneven progress, with leading thinkers making important advances toward solving the tradition's core problems. Though no broad philosophical position ever achieved lasting dominance, Soames argues that two methodological developments have, over time, remade the philosophical landscape. These are (1) analytic philosophers' hard-won success in understanding, and distinguishing the notions of logical truth, a priori truth, and necessary truth, and (2) gradual acceptance of the idea that philosophical speculation must be grounded in sound prephilosophical thought. Though Soames views this history in a positive light, he also illustrates the difficulties, false starts, and disappointments endured along the way. As he engages with the work of his predecessors and contemporaries--from Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein to Donald Davidson and Saul Kripke--he seeks to highlight their accomplishments while also pinpointing their shortcomings, especially where their perspectives were limited by an incomplete grasp of matters that have now become clear. Soames himself has been at the center of some of the tradition's most important debates, and throughout writes with exceptional ease about its often complex ideas. His gift for clear exposition makes the history as accessible to advanced undergraduates as it will be important to scholars. Despite its centrality to philosophy in the English-speaking world, the analytic tradition in philosophy has had very few synthetic histories. This will be the benchmark against which all future accounts will be measured.

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A Frenchman rents a Hollywood movie. A Thai schoolgirl mimics Madonna. Saddam Hussein chooses Frank Sinatra's "My Way" as the theme song for his fifty-fourth birthday. It is a commonplace that globalization is subverting local culture. But is it helping as much as it hurts? In this strikingly original treatment of a fiercely debated issue, Tyler Cowen makes a bold new case for a more sympathetic understanding of cross-cultural trade. Creative Destruction brings not stale suppositions but an economist's eye to bear on an age-old question: Are market exchange and aesthetic quality friends or foes? On the whole, argues Cowen in clear and vigorous prose, they are friends. Cultural "destruction" breeds not artistic demise but diversity. Through an array of colorful examples from the areas where globalization's critics have been most vocal, Cowen asks what happens when cultures collide through trade, whether technology destroys native arts, why (and whether) Hollywood movies rule the world, whether "globalized" culture is dumbing down societies everywhere, and if national cultures matter at all. Scrutinizing such manifestations of "indigenous" culture as the steel band ensembles of Trinidad, Indian handweaving, and music from Zaire, Cowen finds that they are more vibrant than ever--thanks largely to cross-cultural trade. For all the pressures that market forces exert on individual cultures, diversity typically increases within society, even when cultures become more like each other. Trade enhances the range of individual choice, yielding forms of expression within cultures that flower as never before. While some see cultural decline as a half-empty glass, Cowen sees it as a glass half-full with the stirrings of cultural brilliance. Not all readers will agree, but all will want a say in the debate this exceptional book will stir.

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A group of zoo animals and a brave messenger pigeon must fight for survival during the London Blitz in this exhilarating third installment of Survival Tails, perfect for fans of the Ranger in Time and I Survived series!World War II is raging across Europe and the German army has their sights set on England. Messenger pigeon Francis carries important notes back and forth between England and her allies, and wants nothing more than to do his part for the war effort. But when Francis is injured on an assignment to deliver the most important message of the war--one which warns of a coming attack on Britain itself--he finds himself stranded in the middle of the London Zoo with no way to complete his mission.Ming, the world-famous panda, has so far managed to avoid being caught up in the war. But that's getting harder and harder to do as the zoo suffers under dwindling food rations and German air raids threaten the city every night. When Francis lands in Ming's enclosure, she knows she can no longer stand by and do nothing. Enlisting the help of a kind zookeeper and a resourceful troop of monkeys, Ming fights to help Francis recover his strength so that he can carry out his mission and deliver his message.But when the war finally arrives in London, threatening everyone in the zoo, Francis, Ming, and the other animals must work together to save themselves...and maybe even London itself.With engaging nonfiction back matter that delves deep into the true story behind the action-packed animal adventure novel, Survival Tails: World War II is sure to keep readers on the edge of their seats.

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Plant-focused meal prep means a fridge stocked with healthy snacks ready to grab on your way out of the door; it means having an easy answer every time the question "what's for dinner" pops into your head; and it means saving time and money while you enjoy flavourful, nutritious meals that come together in minutes. Brittany Mullins has perfected the art of flavour-filled, holistic cooking for the whole family while tacking a busy to-do list and a hectic schedule: now, Mostly Veggies brings you the same tools and tricks Brittany herself uses every day.Mostly Veggies focuses on wholesome ingredients and prioritizes fruits and vegetables, whole grains and plant-based proteins as the foundation of healthy, filling recipes that everyone in your family will love. Here you'll find:* Customizable Overnight Oats and Chia Puddings for grab and go breakfasts* Red Velvet Cake Batter Protein Smoothie for busy mornings* Big batch Butternut Squash Enchiladas to freeze and reheat all week* Pesto Gnocchi sheet pan dinner* A veggie-loaded Cobb Salad with Coconut Bacon* Satisfying Black Bean Cauliflower Burritos* Easy snacks from Pizza Trail Mix to Pecan Cookie Butter* Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites for when a sweet craving hits* English Muffin Pizzas that even the kiddos will love* And so much more!With four weekly meal plans laid out for you based around maximizing fresh produce for each season, as well as the guidelines to create your own meal plans based off of the recipes found here, Mostly Veggies is your key to eating healthy all week long no matter how many things you have on your plate.

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Please lower your shoulder restraint and keep your hands and feet in. You're about to board a roller coaster ride through a year that was at once laughable and lethal.If you've got an anti-anxiety prescription, now would probably be a good time to call in a refill.Please Scream Inside Your Heart is a time capsule; a real-time ride through the maddening hell that was the 2020 news cycle-when historic turmoil and media mania stretched American sanity, democracy, and toilet paper. Who better to examine this unhinged period in all of its twists and turns than news addict Dave Pell, aka the internet's Managing Editor? Fueled by the wisdom and advice of his two Holocaust-surviving parents, for whom parts of this story were all too familiar, Pell puts the key stories of 2020 into context with pith and punch; highlighting turning points that widened America's divisions, deepened our obsession with a media-driven civil war, and nearly knocked the country of its tracks. Pell also examines the role of technology in society-and how we somehow built the exact opposite of what we thought we were building. Why did the lies spread faster than the truth? How did our tech addiction contribute to the nightmare? Why do you feel a vibration in your pocket right now?In 2020, the news was everywhere, and everything was political-even the air we breathed. So brace yourself as you're hurtled through the twists and turns of the corkscrewiest year in American history; one that included two impeachment trials, a global pandemic, Black Lives Matter, the biggest election of a lifetime, a slide towards autocracy, and a warning from the makers of Lysol not to drink their products.

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With their dozens of universities and colleges, the Jesuits held a monopoly over higher education in Catholic Germany in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Using rich, previously untapped sources, Marcus Hellyer traces the development of science instruction at these institutions over a period stretching from the Counter-Reformation to the height of the Enlightenment. He argues that the Scientific Revolution was not an all-or-nothing affair; Jesuit professors enthusiastically adopted particular elements, such as experimental natural philosophy, while doggedly rejecting others, such as mechanical theories of matter. Hellyer's examination of the Jesuit colleges over a span of two centuries, from the late sixteenth century to 1773, demonstrates that digesting the New Science was a lengthy process. crucial components of the Scientific Revolution when the Society was suppressed in 1773. Catholic Physics also explores the fascinating interaction between Jesuit natural philosophy and theology, which, though marked by constant tension, was also quite fruitful. For example, the censorship of natural philosophy by the Jesuit hierarchy in Rome was a negotiated process in which Jesuit professors accepted the necessity of censorship, yet constantly sought to circumvent regulations imposed on them by teaching controversial questions such as Copernican cosmology. After the Galileo affair, jesuit physics professors made sure they declared that heliocentrism was wrong, but they also taught their students the advantages it held over the rival cosmology sanctioned by the Catholic Church. By investigating the neglected yet influential Jesuit colleges of early modern Germany, Hellyer brings new sources and insight to the field of history of science. His pioneering book will be welcomed not only by historians but by those engaged in the important and ongoing debate between science and religion.

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For the first time, the story of how and why we have plumbed the mysteries of reading, and why it matters today. Reading is perhaps the essential practice of modern civilization. For centuries, it has been seen as key to both personal fulfillment and social progress, and millions today depend on it to participate fully in our society. Yet, at its heart, reading is a surprisingly elusive practice. This book tells for the first time the story of how American scientists and others have sought to understand reading, and, by understanding it, to improve how people do it. Starting around 1900, researchers—convinced of the urgent need to comprehend a practice central to industrial democracy—began to devise instruments and experiments to investigate what happened to people when they read. They traced how a good reader’s eyes moved across a page of printed characters, and they asked how their mind apprehended meanings as they did so. In schools across the country, millions of Americans learned to read through the application of this science of reading. At the same time, workers fanned out across the land to extend the science of reading into the social realm, mapping the very geography of information for the first time. Their pioneering efforts revealed that the nation’s most pressing problems were rooted in drastic informational inequities, between North and South, city and country, and white and Black—and they suggested ways to tackle those problems. Today, much of how we experience our information society reflects the influence of these enterprises. This book explains both how the science of reading shaped our age and why, with so-called reading wars still plaguing schools across the nation, it remains bitterly contested.

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The Victorian era was the high point of literary tourism. Writers such as Charles Dickens, George Eliot, and Sir Walter Scott became celebrities, and readers trekked far and wide for a glimpse of the places where their heroes wrote and thought, walked and talked. Even Shakespeare was roped in, as Victorian entrepreneurs transformed quiet Stratford-upon-Avon into a combination shrine and tourist trap. Stratford continues to lure tourists today, as do many other sites of literary pilgrimage throughout Britain. And our modern age could have no better guide to such places than Simon Goldhill. In "Freud's Couch, Scott's Buttocks, Bronte's Grave", Goldhill makes a pilgrimage to Sir Walter Scott's baronial mansion, Wordsworth's cottage in the Lake District, the Bronte parsonage, Shakespeare's birthplace, and Freud's office in Hampstead. Traveling, as much as possible, by methods available to Victorians - and gamely negotiating distractions ranging from broken bicycles to a flock of giggling Japanese schoolgirls - he tries to discern what our forebears were looking for at these sites, as well as what they have to say to the modern mind. What does it matter that Emily Bronte's hidden passions burned in this specific room? What does it mean that Scott self-consciously built an extravagant castle suitable for Ivanhoe - and star-struck tourists visited it while he was still living there? Or that Freud's meticulous recreation of his Vienna office is now a meticulously preserved museum of itself? Or that Shakespeare's birthplace features student actors declaiming snippets of his plays...in the garden of a house where he almost certainly never wrote a single line? Goldhill brings to these inquiries his trademark wry humor and a lifetime's engagement with literature. The result is a travel book like no other, a reminder that even today, the writing life still has the power to inspire.

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'This is the book I wish I'd had to guide me through my twenties' - Anjelica Huston'A fierce-but-tender guide to conquering our self doubt' - Glennon DoyleBy the time she was in her late twenties, Tara Schuster was a rising TV executive who had worked for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and helped launch Key & Peele to viral superstardom. By all appearances, she had mastered being a grown-up. But beneath that veneer of success, she was a chronically anxious, self-medicating mess. No one knew that her road to adulthood had been paved with depression, anxiety, and shame, owing in large part to her minimally parented upbringing. She realized she'd hit rock bottom when she drunk-dialed her therapist pleading for help. Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies is the story of Tara's path to re-parenting herself and becoming a 'ninja of self-love'. Through simple, daily rituals, Tara transformed her mind, body and relationships, and shows how to: * fake gratitude until you actually feel gratitude * excavate your emotional wounds and heal them with kindness * identify your self-limiting beliefs, kick them to the curb, and start living a life you choose * silence your inner frenemy and shield yourself from self-criticism * carve out time each morning to start your day empowered, inspired, and ready to rule * create a life you truly, totally f*cking LOVE This is the book Tara wished someone had given her and it is the book many of us desperately need: a candid, hysterical, addictively readable, practical guide to growing up (no matter where you are in life) and learning to love yourself in a non-throw-up-in-your-mouth-it's-so-cheesy way.

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Oh my goodness. Did you ever get to thinking that "down on your luck" isn't just an expression? And that what we need here is a bigger statement? Something that adequately describes the scope of the situation? Like when your ex-wife spends all of her time angrier than a five-dollar pistol at everything on the planet, but mostly at you (well, really only at you, and she brings back your record collection, but she sets fire to it on your porch and the flames spread to your house and that just proves what you've said all along: that she is crazier than a box of frogs. Or when your ninety-year-old stick of a father uses his gnarled up knuckly fingers to apply "the nut twister" on you every chance that he gets. And you haven't been with a woman for a very long time and about the only chance you will ever have of getting laid again is to crawl up a chicken's ass and wait. This shit is dire. Well, what I mean is that "down on your luck" doesn't quite cut it when bad luck has become a way of life. You just have to remember: You can have everything you want in this life. Provided all you want is a stained mattress and a hangover. Skin House is a story about two guys who end up in the same bar they started out in. Maybe they're slightly better off than they were at the start. Or maybe not. One has a girlfriend though. They both have a little extra cash, enough to order nachos whenever they want to without going through their pockets first. They're not dead, and that's something right there. And they're not arrested, which is the quite surprising part.

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A young woman from Minnesota searches out the Colombian father she’s never known in this powerful exploration of what family really means He loved Colombia too much to leave it. The explanation from her Minnesotan mother was enough to satisfy a child’s curiosity about her missing father. But at twenty-one, Anika Fajardo wanted more. She wanted to know her father better and to know what kind of country could have such a hold on him. And so, in 1995, Fajardo boarded a plane and flew to Colombia to discover a birthplace that was foreign to her and a father who was a stranger. There she learns that sometimes, no matter how many pieces you find, fitting together a family history isn’t easy.With her tentative entry into her father’s world, Fajardo steps on a path that will take her in surprising directions, toward unsuspected secrets about her family and herself. Set against the changing backdrops of Colombia and the American Midwest, her journey carries her back to the 1970s and the beginnings of her parents’ broken marriage, and forward to the present day, where the magic and reality of love and heartache—and her own experience as a parent—await her. The way is strewn with obstacles, physical and metaphysical—from the perils encountered on a mountain road in Colombia to the death of a loved one to the birth of her own child—but the toughest to negotiate are the shifting place of memory and truth while coming to understand her place in her family and in the world.Vivid and heartfelt in the telling, Fajardo’s story is powerfully compelling in its bridging of time and place and in its moving depiction of self-transformation. Family, she comes to find, is where you find it and what you make of it.

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'The undisputed champion of South African crime. Meyer grabs you by the throat and never lets you go' Wilbur Smith'From its startling opening to its tense and thrilling conclusion, Deon Meyer's The Last Hunt takes you on a whirlwind safari across two continents. In the whole of the Benny Griessel series so far, the stakes have never been higher or the odds so much against' Peter Robinson ***A cold case for Captain Benny Griessel and Vaughn Cupido of the Hawks elite police unit - not what they were looking for. And a difficult case, too. The body of Johnson Johnson, ex-cop, has been found beside a railway line. He appears to have jumped from South Africa's - perhaps the world's - most luxurious train, and two suspicious characters seen with him have disappeared into thin air. The regular police have already failed to make progress and others are intent on muddying the waters. Meanwhile in Bordeaux, Daniel Darret is settled in a new life on a different continent. A quiet life. But his skills as an international hit-man are required one more time, and Daniel is given no choice in the matter. He must hunt again - his prey the corrupt president of his homeland. Three strands of the same story become entwined in a ferocious race against time - for the Hawks to work out what lies behind the death of Johnson, for Daniel to evade the relentless Russian agents tracking him, for Benny Griessel to survive long enough to take another huge step in his efforts to piece together again the life he nearly destroyed - and finally ask Alexa Bernard to marry him. The Last Hunt shows one of the great crime writers operating at the peak of his powers.

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A veteran Silicon Valley insider provides the first comprehensive guide to developing and executing a startup exit strategy—the secret to ultimate entrepreneurial successYou’re facing tough odds as an entrepreneur today. Up to 65 percent of small businesses in the U.S. don’t survive more than five years, and the majority of venture-backed startups fail to fully return the money invested in them. The time is now for a new approach to startups, and this first-of-its-kind guide provides it.If you’re ready to embrace the reality that acquisition is the end goal for startups, Exit Path is for you. In these pages, Silicon Valley entrepreneur, investor, advisor, and M&A expert Touraj Parang argues that starting at the end—i.e., creating and executing an exit strategy as you launch and build your business—is the surest path to ultimate success. You’ll learn everything you need to know about the process, including: Making a strategic plan Developing relationships Cultivating champions Building capabilities Creating leverage Negotiating term sheets Closing the deal The methods in Exit Path are based on Parang’s real-life experience of having no exit plan when he sold his first startup for pennies on the dollar—then embracing exit planning as soon as he joined his next startup, which was acquired for more than $100 million dollars.Exit Path answers the most important questions you’ll face in the life of your startup: How do you maximize your chance of survival in the startup world? When is the right time to start planning for an exit? How do you make that exit successful? And whose advice should you seek in such matters?Parang both demystifies and de-stigmatizes the exit process, while providing invaluable lessons on making sure you do it right.

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Elizabeth I consciously and determinedly provided a Government mediation and arbitration scheme. A wealth of primary sources show that she had a special concern for women, the poor and anyone disadvantaged by the costs and delays of the law. Her Privy Council arranged arbitrations with no fees and with free legal aid for those who needed it. The archives are voluminous, not only in the Acts of the Privy Council but in the National Archives and local collections. Her arbitration scheme dominates this book, but the background was private arbitration, arranged by the parties. In Elizabethan England arbitration was the ordinary way to settle a dispute the parties could not end themselves. Each side chose one or more arbitrators and that even number would try to mediate a settlement. If they failed, they would at least try to get the parties to agree on whom they would appoint to decide for them. The arbitrators include well-known personalities: Cecil and Walsingham, Raleigh and Hawkins, Coke and Bacon. Women are shown participating at all levels, as claimants and defendants, in matters of title to land, commerce and all kinds of family squabbles. They could even act as arbitrator or mediator. Elizabeth I herself did both. Many of the disputes were between foreign merchants and some were submitted to their arbitration. What law there was on arbitration, as the courts developed it over the 45 years of the reign, had little impact on practice. But the most important revelation is the Queen's concern for the poor: 'If the phrases "legal aid" and even "welfare state" had been coined by then, it may be unwise to assume that Elizabeth I's Government would have used them as terms of abuse.'

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Set in a wild and immaculate landscape threatened by industry and environmental degradation, a compassionate and gripping exploration of one of the world’s most baffling mysteries—the existence of the Sasquatch On the central and north coast of British Columbia, the Great Bear Rainforest is the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world, containing more organic matter than any other terrestrial ecosystem on the planet. The area plays host to a wide range of species, from thousand-year-old western cedars to humpback whales to iconic white Spirit bears. According to local residents, another giant is said to live in these woods. For centuries people have reported encounters with the Sasquatch—a species of hairy bipedal man-apes said to inhabit the deepest recesses of this pristine wilderness. Driven by his own childhood obsession with the creatures, John Zada decides to seek out the diverse inhabitants of this rugged and far-flung coast, where nearly everyone has a story to tell, from a scientist who dedicated his life to researching the Sasquatch, to members of the area’s First Nations, to a former grizzly bear hunter-turned-nature tour guide. With each tale, Zada discovers that his search for the Sasquatch is a quest for something infinitely more complex, cutting across questions of human perception, scientific inquiry, indigenous traditions, the environment, and the power and desire of the human imagination to believe in—or reject—something largely unseen. Teeming with gorgeous nature writing and a driving narrative that takes us through the forests and into the valleys of a remote and seldom visited region, In the Valleys of the Noble Beyond sheds light on what our decades-long pursuit of the Sasquatch can tell us about ourselves and invites us to welcome wonder for the unknown back into our lives.

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More than 300 rare full-color and black-and-white behind-the-scenes images from father-and-son photographers who were granted unprecedented access to Formula 1 races, drivers, and cars. Renowned automotive photographer Daniel Reinhard and his father, Josef (Sepp) Reinhard, have enjoyed unprecedented access to Formula 1 races and drivers since 1950. This book presents more than 300 of their best photos. Discover photos of top drivers like Stirling Moss, Michael Schumacher, Juan Pablo Montoya, and many more. See the drivers on the track, at play, and at rest. Top race cars and teams like McLaren, Alfa Romeo, Porsche, BMW, Alfetta, Ferrari, and more are pictured in full-color dramatic shots. There are shots of the top track and street venues and images of both day and night races in the sun, rain, and snow. No matter how or where or by whom you might imagine a Formula 1 race being run, you'll find it here. In addition, readers will find behind-the-scenes images of the pit crews, the track workers, the fans—even other photographers. Formula 1 racing remains tremendously popular around the world, with a more diverse and younger fan base than ever before. According to a 2021 survey of Formula 1 fans in 187 countries by Nielsen and Motorsports Network, female participation doubled and the average age of a participant dropped four years to 32 since the previous survey in 2017. In 2021, 2.69 million fans attended Formula 1 races even with pandemic-related restrictions. As Formula 1 continues to grow in popularity, the Reinhards' photography is a lasting tribute to the sport, its drivers, its cars, and its fans.

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A brilliant scholar of the gospels offers a stunning new translation of the Gospel of John that captures and illuminates the influence and voice of Mary the mother of Jesus—a voice which suffuses and transfigures the original with a mother's deep and universal compassion and wisdom.A New Light on John’s Gospel The Gospel according to John has always been recognized as different from the “synoptic” accounts of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. But what explains the difference? In this new translation and verse-byverse commentary, Michael Pakaluk suggests an answer and unlocks a twothousand-year-old mystery. Mary’s Voice in the Gospel according to John reveals the subtle but powerful influence of the Mother of Jesus on the fourth Gospel. In his dying words, Jesus committed his Mother to the care of John, the beloved disciple, who “from that hour . . . took her into his own home.” Pakaluk draws out the implications of that detail, which have been overlooked for centuries. In Mary’s remaining years on earth, what would she and John have talked about? Surely no subject was as close to their hearts as the words and deeds of Jesus. Mary’s unique perspective and intimate knowledge of her Son must have shaped the account of Jesus’ life that John would eventually compose. With the same scholarship, imagination, and fidelity that he applied to Mark’s Gospel in The Memoirs of St. Peter, Pakaluk brings out the voice of Mary in John’s, from the famous prologue about the Incarnation of the Word to the Evangelist’s closing avowal of the reliability of his account. This remarkably fresh translation and commentary will deepen your understanding of the most sublime book of the New Testament.

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Plan your goals and find your peace every day of the year with guided meditations and journal prompts to keep you inspired and motivated.Finding the Joy in the Journey: 365 Days of Planning My Goals is the ultimate guide for maintaining a schedule and collecting all of your thoughts in one space. There are 365 days’ worth of journal prompts and guided meditations to help you discover the joy in your journey to success and peace, with beautiful designs throughout to keep you motivated and inspired. On your joyous journey, find inspiration through prompts like: – If money were not an issue, you knew you couldn’t fail, and all your dreams came true, what would your ideal life be like? Write in the present tense as if you are already living it! Get as detailed as possible because this prompt will help you gain clarity. It’s great to repeat because the more you write it out in present tense, the more it’ll feel real to you and help you manifest it. – It’s always great to give yourself space to deeply heal and let go. So, it’s time to release everything that’s bothering you. Write down anything that’s currently bring you down, no matter how small, and then imagine letting it all go. After that, write about the things that you love in your life. Focus on the things that make you smile and make your heart happy. – A fairy godmother is granting you 3 wishes. What would they be? She’s also letting you grant 1 wish to everyone you love. What would they be? After each, take a moment to really envision it happening for yourself and the others. Take the leap and see what you can achieve with Finding the Joy in the Journey!

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With wise advice and helpful exercises, this beautifully designed, interactive workbook will help you find a path toward a more mindful daily life. We are constantly moving, thinking, and dreaming to become the best human being we can be, but our conscious and subconscious constantly get in the way. No matter what your current mindset may be, a mindfulness practice will exponentially improve your life. The practice of mindfulness can be a powerful stress reliever, with proven benefits for sleep quality, blood pressure, chronic pain, and more. This workbook offers you guidance and valuable rituals to help you reach your highest self. Inside, you’ll find a holistic practice with physical, mental, and personal benefits on the way to becoming fully present in your life: Become more aware of your body and its needs Learn about your thought patterns Identify your belief system Harness the power of music to enhance your emotions Connect with the purest and truest parts of yourself This workbook is a rewarding, immersive guide that’s straightforward and easily accessible for anyone seeking direction and purpose. Throughout the book you’ll find inspiring, colorful illustrations and engaging activities to help you find the joy in your mindfulness practice. The Wellness Workbooks series from Wellfleet Press offers guidance on a wide range of self-help and mental health topics. Each book presents a thoughtful, evidence-based collection of straightforward exercises in an accessible, enjoyable format that will keep you engaged and inspired. With a distinctive design and full-color illustrations throughout, these workbooks deliver a practical path to personal growth in a beautiful package. Other titles include Find Your Calm, Find Your Strength, and Find Good Habits.

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WINNER OF THE TELEGRAPH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2020 – GENERAL OUTSTANDING SPORTS WRITING 'A fascinating book about the psychology of elite sport… Mind Games explores compelling territory.' - Don McRae, the Guardian 'An amazing book that I very much enjoyed.' - Simon Mundie, Don't Tell Me the Score (BBC Podcast) '...a fascinating book' - Daily Mail It’s well known that to reach the top in elite sport, you need to have spent years honing and perfecting your physical ability. However this is only part of the template required to win – the other half is about mind games. Throughout her career as one of the world’s top athletes, Annie Vernon struggled with existential questions about the purpose of sport in our comfortable, first-world society: Why do we do it? What is it in our psyche that makes us push ourselves to the limit? What allows us to mentally overcome the physical pain? Now retired from competition, Olympic silver medallist and world champion rower Annie Vernon has decided to look for answers to these questions. Drawing on her personal experiences and interviews with some of the best coaches, athletes and psychologists from across the world of sport – including Lucy Gossage, Katherine Grainger, Matthew Pinsent, Brian Moore, Brian Ching and Dr Steve Peters – Annie discovers the secrets of how athletes train their brains in order to become world beaters. Annie debunks the myth that elite performers are universally cool, calm and brimming with self-assurance. Through exploring the bits on the inside that nobody can see, Annie instead creates a new understanding of what it takes to be successful in sport and uncovers that, in fact, an elite athlete is not that different from you and me. It’s simply a question of mind games.

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“After five decades, twenty books, and countless columns, [John Gierach] is still a master,” (Forbes) and his newest book only confirms this assessment, along with his recent induction into the Flyfishing Hall of Fame. In A Fly Rod of Your Own, Gierach brings his ever-sharp sense of humor and keen eye for observation to the fishing life and, for that matter, life in general.Known for his witty, trenchant observations about fly-fishing, Gierach’s “deceptively laconic prose masks an accomplished storyteller…his alert and slightly off-kilter observations place him in the general neighborhood of Mark Twain and James Thurber” (Publishers Weekly). A Fly Rod of Your Own transports readers to streams and rivers from Maine to Montana, and as always, Gierach’s fishing trips become the inspiration for his pointed observations on everything from the psychology of fishing (“Fishing is still an oddly passive-aggressive business that depends on the prey being the aggressor”); why even the most veteran fisherman will muff his cast whenever he’s being filmed or photographed; the inevitable accumulation of more gear than one could ever need (“Nature abhors an empty pocket. So does the tackle industry”); or the qualities shared by the best guides (“the generosity of a teacher, the craftiness of a psychiatrist, and the enthusiasm of a cheerleader with a kind of Vulcan detachment”). As Gierach likes to say, “fly-fishing is a continuous process that you learn to love for its own sake. Those who fish already get it, and those who don’t couldn’t care less, so don’t waste your breath on someone who doesn’t fish.” A Fly Rod of Your Own is an ode to those who fish that “brings a skeptical, wry voice to the peril and promise of twenty-first-century fishing” (Booklist).

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The Year of Less In her late twenties, Cait Flanders found herself stuck in the consumerism cycle that grips so many of us: earn more, buy more, want more, rinse, repeat. Even after she worked her way out of nearly $30,000 of consumer debt, her old habits took hold again. When she realized that nothing she was doing or buying was making her happy—only keeping her from meeting her goals—she decided to set herself a challenge: she would not shop for an entire year.The Year of Less documents Cait’s life for twelve months during which she bought only consumables: groceries, toiletries, gas for her car. Along the way, she challenged herself to consume less of many other things besides shopping. She decluttered her apartment and got rid of 70 percent of her belongings; learned how to fix things rather than throw them away; researched the zero waste movement; and completed a television ban. At every stage, she learned that the less she consumed, the more fulfilled she felt.The challenge became a lifeline when, in the course of the year, Cait found herself in situations that turned her life upside down. In the face of hardship, she realized why she had always turned to shopping, alcohol, and food—and what it had cost her. Unable to reach for any of her usual vices, she changed habits she’d spent years perfecting and discovered what truly mattered to her.Blending Cait’s compelling story with inspiring insight and practical guidance, The Year of Less will leave you questioning what you’re holding on to in your own life—and, quite possibly, lead you to find your own path of less.

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A beautifully written personal account of the discovery of late antiquity by one of the world’s most influential and distinguished historiansThe end of the ancient world was long regarded by historians as a time of decadence, decline, and fall. In his career-long engagement with this era, the widely acclaimed and pathbreaking historian Peter Brown has shown, however, that the “neglected half-millennium” now known as late antiquity was in fact crucial to the development of modern Europe and the Middle East. In Journeys of the Mind, Brown recounts his life and work, describing his efforts to recapture the spirit of an age. As he and other scholars opened up the history of the classical world in its last centuries to the wider world of Eurasia and northern Africa, they discovered previously overlooked areas of religious and cultural creativity as well as foundational institution-building. A respect for diversity and outreach to the non-European world, relatively recent concerns in other fields, have been a matter of course for decades among the leading scholars of late antiquity.Documenting both his own intellectual development and the emergence of a new and influential field of study, Brown describes his childhood and education in Ireland, his university and academic training in England, and his extensive travels, particularly in the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. He discusses fruitful interactions with the work of scholars and colleagues that include the British anthropologist Mary Douglas and the French theorist Michel Foucault, and offers fascinating snapshots of such far-flung places as colonial Sudan, midcentury Oxford, and prerevolutionary Iran. With Journeys of the Mind, Brown offers an essential account of the “grand endeavor” to reimagine a decisive historical moment.

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‘Popular history at its very best, thought-provoking and accessible. Underpinned by serious research, and written with panache, it summons up a vanished world’ SUNDAY TELEGRAPH This is an astonishing new account of Alexander the Great – one of the most important figures of the ancient world, whose earlier years have until now been a mystery. Alexander the Great’s story often reads like fiction: son to a snake-loving mother and a battle-scarred father; tutored by Aristotle; a youth from the periphery of the Greek world who took part in his first campaign aged sixteen, becoming king of Macedon at twenty and king of Asia by twenty-five; leading his armies into battle like a Homeric figure. Each generation has peered through the frosted glass of history and come to their own conclusion about Alexander, be it enlightened ruler, military genius, megalomaniac, drunkard or despot. Yet the first two decades of his life have until now been a mystery – a matter of legend and myth. This extraordinary history draws on new discoveries in archaeology to tell the early story of Alexander and his rise – including detail on the tempestuous relationship between Alexander’s parents, Philip and the Molossian princess Olympias, his education by Aristotle and the strict military training which would serve him so well in later years. And more than ever, it emerges, the story of Alexander’s reign confronts us with difficult questions that are still relevant today – of the relationship between East and West, the legacy of colonialism and the impacts of authoritarian rule. Drawing together startling modern archaeological discoveries, this book brings Alexander’s ancient world back into focus. With each fragment of this shattered past, excavated by shovel, pick and trowel, a new history is being written. The forgotten story of young Alexander is being unearthed.

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A memory-packed hardback gift book full of nostalgia, recounting not only memories from the decade of birth, but also memories from the decade of the formative teenage years. The perfect, meaningful gift for someone 'born in the 60s'. The 1960s and 70s were two incredible decades, from credit cards to The Beatles. Born In The 60s will bring back many memories and literally put a smile on everyone's face! Over two years of research has gone into creating this incredible gift. Covering two decades (1960s and 1970s), the book has beautifully illustrated and colourful double-page spreads, including the foods eaten, the hairstyles experimented with, and the clothes worn, possibly with regret! With a luxury soft touch cover and space for a handwritten personal message in the front, it's a real celebration of the world that shaped the recipient. Born In The 60s will evoke wonderful feelings and memories as time spent in the school playground, radio listened to, TV shows loved, games played, music from the period, movies watched, cars travelled in and the cutting-edge technology of the day are all recalled, accompanied by photos from two decades. Six titles are available: Born In The 40s, Born In The 50s, Born In The 60s, Born In The 70s, Born In The 80s and Born In The 90s. Made with paper & love, from you to me. Why we love it This is the most amazing gift you could give someone Born In The 60s, no matter what the occasion. The soft touch cover enhances the luxury feel of the gift, which is packed with information that takes the recipient on a wonderful journey down memory lane. Everyone is guaranteed to say, 'I remember that!'.

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A memory-packed hardback gift book full of nostalgia, recounting not only memories from the decade of birth, but also memories from the decade of the formative teenage years. The perfect, meaningful gift for someone 'born in the 50s'. The 1950s and 60s were two incredible decades, from music to motorways. Born In The 50s will bring back many memories and literally put a smile on everyone's face! Over two years of research has gone into creating this incredible gift. Covering two decades (1950s and 1960s), the book has beautifully illustrated and colourful double-page spreads, including the foods eaten, the hairstyles experimented with, and the clothes worn, possibly with regret! With a luxury soft touch cover and space for a handwritten personal message in the front, it's a real celebration of the world that shaped the recipient. Born In The 50s will evoke wonderful feelings and memories as time spent in the school playground, radio listened to, TV shows loved, games played, music from the period, movies watched, cars travelled in and the cutting-edge technology of the day are all recalled, accompanied by photos from two decades. Six titles are available: Born In The 40s, Born In The 50s, Born In The 60s, Born In The 70s, Born In The 80s and Born In The 90s. Made with paper & love, from you to me. Why we love it This is the most amazing gift you could give someone born in the 50s, no matter what the occasion. The soft touch cover enhances the luxury feel of the gift, which is packed with information that takes the recipient on a wonderful journey down memory lane. Everyone is guaranteed to say, 'I remember that!'.

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Have you ever found that once you are between the sheets Madame Bovary is too heavy, magazines are too slippery, and The Guns of Navarone too long? In that case A Gentleman's Bedside Book is perfectly designed to satisfy those final moments of the days with facts, stories, ideas and instructions that will help every bright boy to become a smarter man with a well rounded curriculum of lessons in Science, English, Home Economics, R.E, Modern Languages, P.E, Art, Music and Woodwork. A lucky dip of bedside derring-do, humour, and oddity, written in his unique style by best-selling humourist Tom Cutler. Constantly surprising, ridiculously fascinating, and very, very funny.Includes such entries as: Human anatomy for the practical man; the most frequent dream subjects; delicious caustic curries you can make; Emergency meals from nowhere; Shaving: top tips from the pros; Deerstalkers and why they matter; How to grow a dashing moustache; How to open a Champagne bottle with a sword; Samuel Pepys: the rude bits; Best ever book titles; Tongue twisters; Those you may not marry, from The Book of Common Prayer; The worst ever movie dialogue; Useful foreign chat-up lines; An international swearing dictionary; filthy foreign food; Historic dumb predictions; The history of concrete; Dad rock; Coming out on top in a pub brawl; How to dissolve your wife; Mental arithmetic tricks for the practical man: ten tricks; Famous car crashes and victims; The seven habits of the highly effective Lothario; Really bad chat-up lines; Best urban legends: a list; Sword swallowing for fun and profit; How to develop a gigantic memory; Mind blowing mind reading for the complete novice.

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From soulful self-reflection to boisterous jubilation, let New York based astrologer Sandy Sitron show you how to harness the changing energies of the moon and start living the life you've always wanted.'Beautiful and powerful' -- ***** Reader review'There is so much love and creativity in this book - every page has its own magic' -- ***** Reader review'So helpful and inspiring' -- ***** Reader review 'Beautiful journal, lots of helpful advice and tips' -- ***** Reader review'I've been waiting for a journal like this' -- ***** Reader review'Magical! Beautifully designed and great insights!' -- ***** Reader review********************************************************************************************Through astrological guidance, rituals and journaling, learn to live in a more connected way and in harmony with the moon and cycles of nature. Living like this is the path to becoming more grounded, less stressed, more focused on your dreams and goals and starting to live the life you always wanted.This journal encourages you to set monthly goals in tune with the moon's phases and reflect on them - regardless of the result. A wonderful tool and prompt, it will help you to get into the habit of taking that time out to stop and think about what you really want in life, what's working for you and what isn't - no matter what realm: dieting, dating, career development, fitness...A beautiful hardback, complete with a pearlescent foil finish and ribbon marker, offering daily, weekly and monthly astrological guidance alongside space to record your journey of self-discovery, this is the first step to a more fulfilling life.Adapt your lifestyle to the phases of the moon and align yourself with the universe to live your life to the full every day.

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The third book in the DI Nicholas Lowry series, for fans of Peter James and Stuart Macbride.It's November 1983 in Essex and there are reasons to be cheerful. Uptown Girl is sitting pretty at the top of the charts, Risky Business is raking it in at the box office, and there are now four channels on the telly. However, social tensions are beginning to bubble beneath the surface: Mrs Thatcher has embarked on her second controversial term, and the situation in Northern Ireland is ever-escalating.Yet in the garrison town of Colchester, it's another deadly standoff that is hogging the headlines. The body of a nineteen-year-old Lance Corporal has been discovered on the local High Street, the result of what appears to be a bizarre, chivalrous duel. It seems he was the victim of a doomed army love triangle. As such, the military police are wishing to keep the matter confined within military ranks.This is all just fine, as far as Colchester CID is concerned. They have enough on their plate as is: with DI Nick Lowry in a tailspin following the breakdown of his marriage, WPC Jane Gabriel exasperated by the male-favoured system, Detective Daniel Kenton relying on substance abuse to quieten his demons from his last case; and their boss, DCS Sparks, shortly to become a first-time father at 55.However, it is not long before the blood from the duel runs into civilian police affairs, and the trail presents CID with a local rogues' gallery. A savvy entrepreneur. A wayward skinhead. A member of the landed gentry. And a shadowy Mauritian travel agent with a chilling reputation. Soon, they will discover, a real estate deal, a racist, and the town's Robin Hood pub hold the key to the killing...

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'A serious - and seriously readable - book about the deep issues that our shallow age has foolishly tried to dodge' - Douglas Murray 'A crystal-clear analysis of the multiple failures of "me-first" contemporary liberalism' - Giles FraserFor millennia, philosophical, ethical and theological reflection was commonplace among the intellectually curious. But the wisdom that some of the greatest minds across the centuries continue to offer us remains routinely ignored in our modern pursuit of self-fulfilment, economic growth and technological advancement. Sohrab Ahmari, the influential Op-Ed editor at the New York Post, offers a brilliant examination of our postmodern Western culture, and an analysis of the paradox at its heart: that the 'freedoms' we enjoy - to be or do whatever we want, subject only to consent, with everything morally neutral or relative - are at odds with the true freedom that comes from the pursuit of the collective good. Rather than the insatiable drive to satisfy our individual appetites, this collective good involves self-sacrifice and self-control. It requires us to diminish so that others may grow. What responsibility do we have to our parents? Should we think for ourselves? Are sexual ethics purely a private matter? How do we justify our lives? These, and other questions - explored in the company of a surprising range of ancient and contemporary thinkers - reveal how some of the most ancient moral problems are as fresh and relevant to our age as they were to our ancestors.By plumbing the depths of each question, the book underscores the poverty of our contemporary narratives around race, gender, privilege (and much else), exposing them as symptoms of a deep cultural crisis in which we claim a false superiority over the past, and helps us work our way back to tradition, to grasp at the thin, bare threads in our hands, while we still can.

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'A serious - and seriously readable - book about the deep issues that our shallow age has foolishly tried to dodge' - Douglas Murray'A crystal-clear analysis of the multiple failures of "me-first" contemporary liberalism' - Giles FraserFor millennia, philosophical, ethical and theological reflection was commonplace among the intellectually curious. But the wisdom that some of the greatest minds across the centuries continue to offer us remains routinely ignored in our modern pursuit of self-fulfilment, economic growth and technological advancement.Sohrab Ahmari, the influential Op-Ed editor at the New York Post, offers a brilliant examination of our postmodern Western culture, and an analysis of the paradox at its heart: that the 'freedoms' we enjoy - to be or do whatever we want, subject only to consent, with everything morally neutral or relative - are at odds with the true freedom that comes from the pursuit of the collective good.Rather than the insatiable drive to satisfy our individual appetites, this collective good involves self-sacrifice and self-control. It requires us to diminish so that others may grow. What responsibility do we have to our parents? Should we think for ourselves? Are sexual ethics purely a private matter? How do we justify our lives? These, and other questions - explored in the company of a surprising range of ancient and contemporary thinkers - reveal how some of the most ancient moral problems are as fresh and relevant to our age as they were to our ancestors.By plumbing the depths of each question, the book underscores the poverty of our contemporary narratives around race, gender, privilege (and much else), exposing them as symptoms of a deep cultural crisis in which we claim a false superiority over the past, and helps us work our way back to tradition, to grasp at the thin, bare threads in our hands, while we still can.

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A forensic study of war, imperial history and international relations, following the Second World War and leading into the Cold War and defeat of Western imperialism in Asia. And above all, the story of the pivotal battle and French defeat at Dien Bien Phu. It shows France's revanchist attempt to regain imperial 'glory' in her former Asian empire following humiliation in the Second World War - defeat and Vichy. The effort was spurred by de Galle's chauvinism and desire to recover France’s honour and reputation, after so many humiliations by friend and foe. The Communist led Vietminh, were guided to victory by ruthless revolutionary Ho Chi Min - far from the attractive 'Uncle Ho' who is revered as a communist saint in contrast to louche playboy emperor Bao Dai – and the very able General Giap. Communist strength in rural Vietnam society - the Vietminh represented a nation in arms – was backed by supplies from Communist China and the Soviet Union. It was an existential struggle on the French side - the end of cafe society, and the gravy train for planters, officials, the military, and politicians. Military matters including General Giap’s strategy and tactics are analysed in detail,l but it was a 'soldiers' war', told at ground-level, and readers will feel the heat and fear of battle, be shocked at war crimes, and intrigued by the tales of Graham Greene et al. The global importance was not lost on the powers following exhaustion from world war and in the shadow of the Cold War. All great leaders were involved, Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Churchill, Stalin, Khruschev, Chou En-Lai and Mao Zedong, Under the shadow of the A bomb, a negotiated peace and first detent of the Cold War would end in the sumptuous salons of Geneva.

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'The undisputed champion of South African crime. Meyer grabs you but the throat and never lets you go' Wilbur Smith'From its startling opening to its tense and thrilling conclusion, Deon Meyer's The Last Hunt takes you on a whirlwind safari across two continents. In the whole of the Benny Griessel series so far, the stakes have never been higher or the odds so much against' Peter Robinson***A cold case for Captain Benny Griessel and Vaughn Cupido of the Hawks elite police unit - not what they were looking for. And a difficult case, too. The body of Johnson Johnson, ex-cop, has been found beside a railway line. He appears to have jumped from South Africa's - perhaps the world's - most luxurious train, and two suspicious characters seen with him have disappeared into thin air. The regular police have already failed to make progress and others are intent on muddying the waters.Meanwhile in Bordeaux, Daniel Darret is settled in a new life on a different continent. A quiet life. But his skills as an international hit-man are required one more time, and Daniel is given no choice in the matter. He must hunt again - his prey the corrupt president of his homeland.Three strands of the same story become entwined in a ferocious race against time - for the Hawks to work out what lies behind the death of Johnson, for Daniel to evade the relentless Russian agents tracking him, for Benny Griessel to survive long enough to take another huge step in his efforts to piece together again the life he nearly destroyed - and finally ask Alexa Bernard to marry him.The Last Hunt shows one of the great crime writers operating at the peak of his powers.

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Level UP and master more manga with YouTube's most popular art instructor, Mark Crilley! It's here! The highly anticipated follow-up to the best-selling Mastering Manga provides everything you need, regardless of your skill-level, to learn how to draw manga like a pro. Graphic novelist and YouTube's most popular art instructor Mark Crilley is back to lead you on your artistic journey. No matter what your experience, Mastering Manga 2 will have you creating manga in no time. You'll master the basics of facial and body proportions as your drawing skills increase to the next level. Clear and easy step-by-step instruction will walk you through the mechanics of how to draw manga. You'll learn to create characters in diverse settings and scenes, as well as a variety of styles. Lessons on background and perspective will help you pull it all together into a full manga story panel. More than 30 step-by-step demonstrations! Proportion. Learn to draw all types of bodies, faces, ages and ethnicities in profile, from behind, and more, including how to turn a full-sized character into an adorable chibi. Clothing and body language. Reveal your character's personality through hairstyles, expressions, clothing styles and accessories. Useful poses. Tweak 16 classic manga poses to make them your own, or follow along with specific step-by-step demonstrations on drawing characters sitting, fighting, kissing and more. Environments. Create all types of habitats and moods using forest elements, rain, and the effects of water and weather. Anatomy of a manga panel. Learn how to choose the correct composition, background, depth and balance to create the most effective panel layout for your story. Grab a pencil and learn all the secrets needed to bring your manga story to life!

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There’s plenty of good reasons that millions of people around the world study martial arts. Besides the fact you can get a great workout when you study a martial art, you may also experience a rewarding balance between your mind, body, and spirit that you just won’t find anywhere else. Plus, it can be a lot of fun! No matter what shape you’re in, martial arts is a great way to drop extra pounds, learn to defend yourself, and develop personal and physical discipline. Whether you’re already studying a style of fighting or you’re just considering it, you’ll find everything you need to know in this helpful, friendly guide (including which movies to check out!). The book breaks down the differences and presents the basics of each style of fighting, so you can make an informed choice about which style you want to study. You’ll also find out what makes for a good instructor, so you can be sure that you’re learning from the best. And there’s much more. You’ll find out: What martial arts is and is not Five resolutions you must accept Understanding the role of the instructor How to set goals for yourself All about the proper clothes, shoes, and equipment How to prevent injuries The philosophy of self defense All about competing in tournaments About Meditation and breathing techniques The lowdown on weapons There’s also a helpful glossary of foreign-language terminology that you’ll frequently encounter in the dojo – that’s the training hall – so you’ll always be prepared. Whether you’re looking for a new way to get in shape, or a new way to sharpen your mind, Martial Arts For Dummies is all you need to get started in Karate, Kung Fu, Tae Kwon Do, or any other style!

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LONGLISTED FOR THE CWA GOLD DAGGER 2021THRILLERS OF THE MONTH - ObserverBEST CRIME FICTION, SEPT 2020 - The Times'BRUTAL, SHOCKING AND FUNNY' - M. W. Craven'A STONE COLD HIT! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED' - Adam Hamdy'A RIOTOUS BELTER OF A BOOK' - Abir Mukherjee'A BONE-CRUNCHING CRIME THRILLER' - James Swallow'A FAST AND FIERCE THRILL RIDE' - Chris WhitakerSet in the heart of West London's Asian community, this is the latest instalment in the unmissable ZAQ & JAGS series . . . Trying - and failing - to keep his head down and to stay out of trouble, ex-con Zaq Khan agrees to help his best friend, Jags, recover a family heirloom, currently in the possession of a wealthy businessman. But when Zaq's brother is viciously assaulted, Zaq is left wondering whether someone from his own past is out to get revenge. Wanting answers and retribution, Zaq and Jags set out to track down those responsible. Meanwhile, their dealings with the businessman take a turn for the worse and Zaq and Jags find themselves suspected of murder. It'll take both brains and brawn to get themselves out of trouble and, no matter what happens, the results will likely be deadly. The only question is, whether it will prove deadly for them, or for someone else . . . ?Praise for Amer Anwar and the Zaq & Jags series: 'An engaging hero, a cunning plot and a fascinating journey into Southall's underworld. We'll be hearing a lot more from Amer Anwar' MICK HERRON'A fresh and exciting new voice' ANN CLEEVES'Tense and pacey . . . fast and furious' GUARDIAN'An authentic slice of Brit Asian noir . . . Gripping' VASEEM KHAN'Gritty, startlingly original and great fun' ROBERT BRYNDZA'Utterly convincing . . . Terrific dialogue and much humour' THE TIMES

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THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER ‘If you only read one book this year, Guilty Women won't disappoint. It will leave you breathless’ The Express ‘Guilty Women’s stamped it’s razor sharp, blood-stained stiletto heel firmly in the lead to be 2022’s book of the year’ The Daily Mirror Can they get away with murder? On a beautiful island off the English coast, four TV actresses gather.Their fifth member is missing – and only they know why she was killed.As the secret between them threatens to come out, tensions on set run high.The women are determined that the show must go on – no matter what it costs.But one of them is on the edge of telling the truth – and no show in the world could survive this scandal… All of the women have something to hide – but the question is, are they all guilty? The cast of RUTHLESS WOMEN is back – but this time they’re in trouble… PRAISE FOR GUILTY WOMEN: “You'll laugh, cry, be shocked and left wanting more… Guilty Women is an unmissable read. Pure escapism. 5 stars!”Ok! Magazine “Revenge, murder, sex and greed… Guilty Women has it all. Blake's latest novel proves she's here to stay as the new queen of the blockbuster novel. Jackie Collins would have loved it”Bella Magazine “Not for the faint hearted! An unputdownable, revenge and lust filled romp of a read that you won’t want to end!”Heat Magazine “The perfect killer thriller with sexy scenes that’ll keep you reading late into the night”Notebook Magazine “If you only read one book this year, then Guilty Women won't disappoint. It will leave you breathless”The Express

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In the decades following the Mexican Revolution, regional strongmen vied with powerful generals and popular rebels for control of Mexico’s future. During this era of uprisings, government corruption, and political intrigue, Mexico took its first, faltering steps toward democracy. In the midst of the turmoil, plainclothes agents, traveling under multiple aliases and reporting in code to their superiors, served as “the eyes and ears” of the national government.In Spies, Politics, and Power: El Departamento Confidencial en México, 1922–1946, Joseph A. Stout traces the development of Mexico’s Departamento Confidencial (Confidential Department) from the years of its infancy to its later incarnation as a fully fledged international espionage agency on the order of the CIA, Russian KGB, and German Gestapo. Stout charts the department’s evolution under the administration of several powerful presidents—and a handful of puppets—from the postrevolutionary period through World War II, when the agency turned its attention from monitoring internal threats to focus on matters of national security. Stout devotes special attention to the agency’s wartime role in the investigation and containment of individuals whose Axis ties made them objects of government suspicion.Offering a twist on conventional history, Stout takes us behind the political curtain to illuminate the crucial role played by an unlikely assortment of government bureaucrats, international spies, low-ranking agents, and office clerks within the drama of Mexican nationhood. In his comprehensive and thoroughly researched account, Stout offers a narrative propelled not by the back-and-forth of rebel violence and brutal reprisal—though there is no dearth of such material—but by a story driven by the power of information. For Stout, intelligence, as much as military might, is the key to political power and the engine of national formation.A work rich in primary sources, Spies integrates details culled from archived letters and agent reports into the broader framework of Mexican politics and society in the first half of the twentieth century. In his unconventional approach, Stout sheds new light on the means and motivations of some of the period’s most influential figures.

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