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How To Build A Universe
From the hosts of the legendary BBC Radio 4 programme comes this irreverent celebration of scientific marvels – a hectic leap through the grand and bizarre ideas conjured up by human imagination, from dark matter to consciousness via neutrinos and earthworms. Prof Brian Cox and Robin Ince take the musings of the great and the good of British science, producing an insight into the multifaceted subjects involved in building a Universe, with pearls of wisdom from leading scientists and comedians peppered throughout. Covering thousands of concepts and conundrums, they tackle everything from the Big Bang to parallel Universes, fierce creatures to extraterrestrial life, brain science to artificial intelligence. Bringing together the best, most unusual and hilarious of the inquisitive minds that help shape and understand our world, from Neil deGrasse Tyson and Dara Ó Briain to Sir Patrick Stewart, Tim Minchin, Stephen Fry and more, How to Build a Universe is an illuminating and inspirational celebration of science – sometimes silly, sometimes astounding and very occasionally facetious.
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Nightfall
The sky is filled with dragons: the people are ready to burn the regime to the ground. The seas churn with monsters and the tide is changing: revolution is coming.
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Murder Mile
February, 1979, 'The Winter of Discontent'. Economic chaos has led to widespread strikes across Britain. Jane Tennison, now a Detective Sergeant, has been posted to Peckham CID, one of London's toughest areas. As the rubbish on the streets begins to pile up, so does the murder count: two bodies in as many days. There are no suspects and the manner of death is different in each case. The only link between the two victims is the location of the bodies, found within a short distance of each other near Rye Lane in Peckham. Three days later another murder occurs in the same area. Press headlines scream that a serial killer is loose on 'Murder Mile' and that police incompetence is hampering the investigation. Jane is under immense pressure to catch the killer before they strike again.Working long hours with little sleep, what she uncovers leaves her doubting her own mind. 'La Plante excels in her ability to pick out the surprising but plausible details that give her portrayal of everyday life in a police station a rare ring of authenticity' Sunday Telegraph 'Classic Lynda, a fabulous read' Martina Cole on HIDDEN KILLERS
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Elephants: Birth, Death and Family in the Lives of
Elephants are as unique as people. They can be clever and curious or headstrong and impulsive, shy or sociable. Learn to know them as individuals as well as a species in this evocative account of years spent studying elephant behaviour in the wild. Watching a family out for a swim on a hot day, Dr Hannah Mumby notes grandmothers, mothers, sisters and children exchanging noisy greetings, a consistent stream of close-range vocalisations, intermittent touching, co-operative herding of babies and frequent stopping for snacks. A close and interconnected family. But in this family, the adults weigh several tons each and the babies wave trunks playfully at one another. This is a herd of elephants. That elephants are intelligent, sentient beings is common knowledge, but so much about their day-to-day lives and abilities remains unknown. How do they communicate with one another over seemingly impossible distances? How do males spend their lives once they have left their mothers’ herds? And how much do they really remember? In this lyrically written and deeply personal account of several years of field research, Mumby reverently describes her own elephant encounters, alongside an exploration of the most up-to-date discoveries about the lives of these gentle giants. Learn how elephants live, travel, have sex, raise children and relate to one another, and reflect on how they think and feel. Understanding elephants as individuals closes the gap between human and animal and has powerful applications in the critical field of elephant conservation.
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The Story Of Silence
A knightly fairy tale of royalty and dragons, of midwives with secrets and dashing strangers in dark inns. Taking the original French legend as his starting point, The Story of Silence is a rich, multilayered new story for today’s world – sure to delight fans of Uprooted and The Bear and the Nightingale.
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Augustus At War-The Struggle for The Pax Augusta
'A superb analysis of the military power that underpinned Augustus' rise to power, his conquests, and his ability to sustain his rule. Powell's achievement is to demonstrate just how much Augustus deserved his name of `Imperator'.'- Tom Holland, presenter of BBC Radio 4 Making History. Author of Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar. 'Powell meticulously details and analyzes the composition, deployment, and actions of this army and provides a much needed resource of information that has no parallel in astute comprehensiveness. His superb treatment shows Imperator Caesar Augustus in action and helps us understand the military Augustus and his times more clearly.'- Karl Galinsky, Floyd A. Cailloux Centennial Professor of Classics, University of Texas at Austin. Author of Augustus: Introduction to the Life of an Emperor. 'Lindsay Powell provides us with valuable insights into an under-appreciated aspect of Augustus' reign, and does so in his usual highly competent and readable style.'- Philip Matyszak. Author of The Sons of Caesar: Imperial Rome's First Dynasty. The words Pax Augusta - or Pax Romana - evoke a period of uninterrupted peace across the vast Roman Empire. In this new book Lindsay Powell exposes the truth for the lie that it is. Almost every year between 31 BC and AD 14 the Roman Army was in action somewhere, either fighting enemies beyond the frontier in punitive raids or for outright conquest; but it was also entangled in suppressing rebellions within the borders - or itself on the verge of mutiny. Remarkably over the same period Augustus succeeded in nearly doubling the size of the Empire, outperforming either Pompey the Great or Julius Caesar for conquests. How did Augustus, a second-rate field commander, and a man known to become physically ill before and during battle, achieve such extraordinary success? Did he, in fact, have a grand strategy? The decisions Augustus made determined the future of the empire - and of the Europe which followed. Powell reveals Augustus as a brilliant strategist and manager of war. As commander-in-chief he made changes to the political and military institutions to keep the empire together - and to hold on to power. His genius was to build a team of semi-autonomous legati - `deputies' - to ensure internal security and to fight his wars for him. Often bound by ties of blood and marriage, but above all loyalty, these men - more than 50 of whom are profiled in this volume - fought for Augustus, who claimed for himself the credit for their achievements. Augustus at War is lucidly written by the author of the acclaimed biographies Marcus Agrippa and Germanicus. Drawing on archaeology, art, coins, inscriptions and documents of the period, Lindsay Powell presents a new and provocative assessment of the men and events shaping a crucial period in world history, which still reverberates down to our own time.
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Homi J. Bhabha A Life
Homi J. Bhabha: A Life is the first full-fledged biography of the theoretical physicist who founded India’s nuclear programme. A Renaissance man, Bhabha was also a lover of music and an accomplished painter. A scientist and aesthete who was equally at home in the world of science and the arts, he was both a visionary and a doer—a man of thought as well as a man of action. A great deal is known of his astonishing intellect, but less about his human side. This biography combines both aspects of him, presenting a more complete picture of the man.
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Bitcoin Billionaires
From Ben Mezrich, the New York Times bestselling author of The Accidental Billionaires and Bringing Down the House, comes Bitcoin Billionaires - the fascinating story of brothers Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss's big bet on crypto-currency and its dazzling pay-off.Ben Mezrich's 2009 bestseller The Accidental Billionaires is the definitive account of Facebook's founding - and the basis for the Academy Award-winning film The Social Network. Two of the story's iconic characters are Harvard students Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss: identical twins, Olympic rowers, and legal foils to Mark Zuckerberg. Bitcoin Billionaires is the story of the brothers' redemption and revenge in the wake of their epic legal battle with Facebook - and the first great book from the world of bitcoin.Planning to start careers as venture capitalists, the brothers quickly discover that no one will take their money for fear of alienating Zuckerberg. While nursing their wounds in Ibiza, they accidentally run into a shady character who tells them about a brand new idea: cryptocurrency. Immersing themselves in what is then an obscure and sometimes sinister world, they begin to realize "crypto" is, in their own words, "either the next big thing or total bulls--t." There's nothing left to do but make a bet.From the Silk Road to the halls of the Securities and Exchange Commission to the Facebook boardroom, Bitcoin Billionaires will take us on a wild and surprising ride while illuminating a tantalizing economic future. On November 26th, 2017, the Winklevoss brothers became the first bitcoin billionaires. Here's the story of how they got there - as only Ben Mezrich could tell it.
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The Day I Killed My Father
Part psychological thriller, part intellectual puzzle, this novel plays on some of humankind's most profound archetypes and fables, all the while lulling the reader with the brilliance of its voice.
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Heartfire
I can't bring myself to give voice to what people have been whispering for weeks - since before we arrived. The remedy no longer protects us. Emmeline has finally made it to the safety of Matisa's settlement. But trouble has followed them. The sickness that the Healing Circle has cured for so long is killing people again. And Matisa's people can't afford any weakness. The Dominion are coming and a fierce battle is on the horizon . . .
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The Forgotten Girl
Nominated for the 2018 Arthur Ellis Award for best crime novel. A dark mystery unfolds in Rio youers's riveting thriller, the forgotten girl. Harvey Anderson is a twenty-six-year-old street performer from New Jersey. He enjoys his peaceful life, but everything turns upside down when he is abducted and beaten by a group of nondescript thugs. Working for a sinister man known as “the spider,” These goons have spent nine years searching for harvey’s girlfriend, Sally Starling. Now they think they know where she lives. And whom she loves. There’s only one problem: Sally is gone and Harvey has no memory of her. Which makes no sense to him, until the spider explains that Sally has the unique ability to selectively erase a person’s memories—an ability she has used to delete herself from harvey’s mind. But emotion runs deeper than memory and Harvey realizes he still feels something for Sally. And so—with the spider threatening—he goes looking for a girl he loves but can’t remember... And encounters a danger that reaches beyond anything he could ever imagine. Political corruption and manipulation. A serial killer dark secrets. An appetite for absolute, terrible power. For Harvey Anderson, finding the forgotten girl comes at quite a cost.
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China in Drag
Approaching the end of his nine year stint as a BBC journalist in Beijing, Michael Bristow decided he wanted to write about the country’s modern history. To assist him he asked for the help of his language teacher, who was born just two years after the communist party came to power in 1949. The changing fortunes of his life have mirrored the ups and downs of his country, which has moved from communist poverty to capitalist wealth in just a single generation. It came as a surprise though, to learn that the teacher was also a cross-dresser. Michael gradually realised that the teacher’s story is the story of modern China.
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How to Think Like a Philosopher
An exploration into the ideas and ways of thinking of some of the world's greatest minds
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The Courage To Be Disliked
he Courage to be Disliked shows you how to unlock the power within yourself to become your best and truest self, change your future and find lasting happiness. Using the theories of Alfred Adler, one of the three giants of 19th century psychology alongside Freud and Jung, the authors explain how we are all free to determine our own future free of the shackles of past experiences, doubts and the expectations of others. It's a philosophy that's profoundly liberating, allowing us to develop the courage to change, and to ignore the limitations that we and those around us can place on ourselves. The result is a book that is both highly accessible and profound in its importance. Millions have already read and benefited from its wisdom. Now that The Courage to be Disliked has been published for the first time in English, so can you.
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The Mammoth Book of The World’s Greatest Chess Gam
The 125 greatest chess games of all time, selected, analysed, re-evaluated and explained by a team of British experts and illustrated with over 1,000 chess diagrams. Join the authors in studying these games, the cream of two centuries of international chess, and develop your own chess-playing skills - whatever your current standard. Instructive points at the end of each game highlight the lessons to be learned.First published in 1998, a second edition of The Mammoth Book of the World's Greatest Chess Games in 2004 included an additional 12 games. This edition includes a further 13 games as well as some significant revisions to the analysis and information regarding other games in earlier editions of the book, facilitated by the use of a variety of chess software.
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Don’t Tell Teacher
For Lizzie Riley, switching her eight-year-old son Tom to the local academy school marks a fresh start, post-divorce. With its excellent reputation and outstanding results, Lizzie knows it’ll be a safe space away from home. But there's something strange happening at school. Parents are forbidden from entering the grounds and inside, there are bars across the classroom windows. Why is Tom coming home exhausted, unable to remember anything about his day? What are the strange marks on his arm? And when Lizzie tries to question the other children, why do they seem afraid to talk? Tom’s new school might seem picture-perfect. But sometimes appearances can be deceiving…
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Jihad: The Ottomans and the Allies
The tragic news of the ISIS-inspired massacres in Europe and countless other locations throughout the Middle East, in conjunction with the failed political coup against Erdogan in Turkey, have raised the spectre of an ideological struggle that is more than a century old. As the West struggles with the consequences and implications of its ‘War on Terror’, parallels with this earlier jihad become manifest. The sprawling Ottoman Empire was at the point of dissolution by November 1914 when she declared a Holy War against the Allied Powers and threw in her lot with Germany. It was a disastrous decision that set in chain a series of cataclysmic events, which culminated in the demise of an ancient regime and the emergence of a modern, secular republic. The first jihad in the Arab world since the Crusades was to continue long after the Armistice of 1918, as the defeated empire faced a triumphalist Greece, supported by Britain, seeking to re-establish hegemony over Anatolia. This caused outrage throughout the Muslim world, threatened British paramountcy in India, and fractured diplomatic relations with close allies and the unity of her empire. Confronted with the indefatigable resistance of one man, Kemal Ataturk, Greek dreams ended in ashes, whilst the stubborn support of Lloyd George for Britain’s ally resulted in his own political extinction. It is a warning from history, including as it does ethnic cleansing, pogroms, regime change and political hubris. It is a story of steely determination and dogged bravery in the face of brazen territorial expansionism. It is also the history of the first modern jihad.
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Redemption - Clone Rebellion Book 7
Earth, 2516 A.D.: The Unified Authority has spread human colonies across the Milky Way, keeping strict order with a powerful military made up almost entirely of clones. But now the clones have formed their own empire, and they aim to keep it... no matter who they must defeat.
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Sedition: The Clone Rebellion Book 8
Earth, A D 2519. Less than a year has passed since the clone military of the Enlisted Man's Empire toppled the government of the Unified Authority. Now the clones rule Earth, but a new enemy has emerged - and set off civil war.
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Betrayal: The Clone Rebellion Book 5
Lt Wayson Harris was born and bred as the ultimate soldier. But he is unique, possessing independence of thought. And when the military brass decide to blame the clones for the decimation of the U A republic, Lt Harris decides to stop being the scapegoat, with all the firepower he can muster.
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Republic: The Clone Rebellion Book 1
Private first-class Wayson Harris was raised among thousands of clones to be the ultimate soldier. But Harris isn't like the other Marines: he has a mind of his own. He figures he's paying for that when his first assignment is the smallest Marine outpost in the whole UA.