Social Sciences
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Everything I Learned about Life, I Learned in Dance Class
Ultimate “Tiger Mom” Abby Lee Miller—the passionate, unapologetically outspoken, tough-as-nails star of Lifetime’s phenomenal hit Dance Moms and Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition—offers inspirational, tough love guidance for parents who want to help their children succeed and for readers of all ages striving to become the best they can be.
If you want to help your kid reach the top, you can find no better coach than Abby Lee Miller. While some may criticize her methods, no one argues with her results. Her kids excel, her teams win, and her alumni go on to Broadway careers.
Organized by “Abbyisms,” her unique and effective philosophies on hard work, competition, and life, this straight-talking guide provides clear and proven advice for achieving success, from figuring out your child’s passion to laying the groundwork for an exciting future career. Abby answers tough questions from real moms, shares all the stories fans want to hear, and includes vignettes from shining alums who give their take on her unique approach and how it helped them make their dreams come true.
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War: How Conflict Shaped Us
New York Times 10 Best Books of 2020
Sunday Times best books for Autumn 2020
Guardian critics’ pick for Autumn 2020
Wall Street Journal notable book of 2020The time since the Second World War has been seen by some as the longest uninterrupted period of harmony in human history: the ‘long peace’, as Stephen Pinker called it. But despite this, there has been a military conflict ongoing every year since 1945. The same can be said for every century of recorded history. Is war, therefore, an essential part of being human?
In War, Professor Margaret MacMillan explores the deep links between society and war and the questions they raise. We learn when war began – whether among early homo sapiens or later, as we began to organise ourselves into tribes and settle in communities. We see the ways in which war reflects changing societies and how war has brought change – for better and worse.
Economies, science, technology, medicine, culture: all are instrumental in war and have been shaped by it – without conflict it we might not have had penicillin, female emancipation, radar or rockets. Throughout history, writers, artists, film-makers, playwrights, and composers have been inspired by war – whether to condemn, exalt or simply puzzle about it. If we are never to be rid of war, how should we think about it and what does that mean for peace?
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£8.70£9.50War: How Conflict Shaped Us
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Identity: Contemporary Identity Politics and the Struggle for Recognition
Currently in Bill Gates’s bookbag and FT Books of 2018
Increasingly, the demands of identity direct the world’s politics. Nation, religion, sect, race, ethnicity, gender: these categories have overtaken broader, inclusive ideas of who we are. We have built walls rather than bridges. The result: increasing in anti-immigrant sentiment, rioting on college campuses, and the return of open white supremacy to our politics.
In 2014, Francis Fukuyama wrote that American and global institutions were in a state of decay, as the state was captured by powerful interest groups. Two years later, his predictions were borne out by the rise to power of a series of political outsiders whose economic nationalism and authoritarian tendencies threatens to destabilise the entire international order. These populist nationalists seek direct charismatic connection to ‘the people’, who are usually defined in narrow identity terms that offer an irresistible call to an in-group and exclude large parts of the population as a whole.
Identity is an urgent and necessary book: a sharp warning that unless we forge a universal understanding of human dignity, we will doom ourselves to continual conflict.
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Little Book of Hermès: The story of the iconic fashion house: 14 (Little Book of Fashion)
The iconic bags, the instantly recognizable packaging, the celebrity fans – Hèrmes is the last word in luxurious accessories.
Through the generations, Hermès have created innovative and exquisite accessories for the most glamorous customers. From their nineteenth-century saddlery workshop to 1960s Paris and beyond, Hermès has graced the arms and wardrobes of style icons from Grace Kelly and Jane Birkin to Victoria Beckham and Kim Kardashian. Little Book of Hermès tells the story of the evolution of the House of Hermès, through beautiful illustrations of the most coveted items and authoritative text by fashion historian Karen Homer.
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Folklore and Symbolism of Flowers, Plants and Trees [Illustrated Edition]
2012 Reprint of 1960 Edition. Exact facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. In this unique and fascinating book, two collectors of pictorial symbols tell the story of flower symbolism, explaining its religious, magical and legendary significance and revealing hundreds of curious and little know facts. This is an essential work for folklorists, for artists and designers in all fields, for botanical and gardening specialists, and for all those who would be familiar with the hidden language of flowers, plants and trees. Profusely illustrated.Read more
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David Hume on Morals, Politics, and Society (Rethinking the Western Tradition)
A compact and accessible edition of Hume’s political and moral writings with essays by a distinguished set of contributorsA key figure of the Scottish Enlightenment, David Hume was a major influence on thinkers ranging from Kant and Schopenhauer to Einstein and Popper, and his writings continue to be deeply relevant today. With four essays by leading Hume scholars exploring his complex intellectual legacy, this volume presents an overview of Hume’s moral, political, and social philosophy.
Editors Angela Coventry and Andrew Valls bring together a selection of writings from Hume’s most important works, with contributors placing them in their appropriate context and offering a lively discourse on the relevance of Hume’s thought to contemporary subjects like reason’s dependence on emotion and the importance of social convention in political and economic behavior. Perfect for classroom use, this volume is an invaluable companion for anyone studying an important thinker who advanced the development of moral philosophy, economics, cognitive science, and many other fields of the Western tradition.
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Ogilvy on Advertising
David Ogilvy is well known and respected as the most successful adman of all time. His bestselling book, Ogilvy on Advertising, gives valuable advice to young hopefuls and veterans of the industry wanting to improve their success rate
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£9.00£14.20Ogilvy on Advertising
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Film Studies: An Introduction: Teach Yourself
An unpretentious guide for all those who want to learn to analyse, understand and evaluate films.
Film Studies: An Introduction provides an overview of the key areas in film studies, including aesthetics, narrative, genre, documentary films and the secrets of film reviewing. From Hitchcock and Tarantino to Spielberg and Bigelow, you will gain a critical understanding of legendary directors and the techniques and skills that are used to achieve cinematic effects. Whether you are a film studies student or just a film buff wanting to know more, this book will give you an invaluable insight into the exciting and incredibly fast-moving world of film.
Understand Film Studies includes:
Chapter 1: Film aesthetics: formalism and realism
Chapter 2: Film structure: narrative and narration
Chapter 3: Film authorship: the director as auteur
Chapter 4: Film genres: defining the typical film
Chapter 5: The non-fiction film: five types of documentary
Chapter 6: The reception of film: the art and profession of film viewingRead more
£9.10£12.30Film Studies: An Introduction: Teach Yourself
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Drawn to Drink: Fifty Years of the Advertising and Illustration of Drinks (50 Years)
A miscellany of illustrations for advertisements, leaflets, posters, articles, and books on drinks – both alcoholic and non-alcoholic.Read more
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Red Card: The Soccer Star Who Lost It All To Gambling
A blossoming soccer career marred by mishaps which drove him to disaster. Ruined by an addiction to gambling, Tony Kelly lost his career, his partner and all his money. Now he has written his story to “invite the public, family and friends into my secret hell of racism, despair, depression, stardom, gambling addiction and self-destruction”Tony Kelly was football crazy from the age of seven. At sixteen Nyrere Anthony Kelly was the youngest ever player in the first team at Bristol City and in his twenties he went professional, playing for clubs such as Stoke City, Cardiff City, Leyton Orient and Bury in the second and third divisions of the Football League and starring in a Swedish side. But his blossoming soccer career was marred by a series of mishaps and misdeeds which drove him to disaster. Ruined by an addiction to gambling, he lost his job, his career, his partner and all his money. Now he has written his story – as Kelly puts it, to “invite the public, my family and my friends into my secret hell of racism, despair, depression, stardom, gambling addiction and ultimately self-destruction”. Red Card is a tragic yet uplifting story of a sportsman’s battle with his demons, on and off the pitch.Read more
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Adoption Book for Parents: Everything You Should Know about Adopting Your First Child
This book aims to educate parents about what they would have to go through as soon as they decide to push through with their plans for adopting a child. It aims to assist couples who are just starting out on their journey towards adopting their first child, a child that may not come from the flesh of their flesh, but comes from the place where love originates: their hearts.There are many options to choose from when looking for someone to adopt, each of which will be discussed in detail throughout the book.
There is so much that adoptive parents have to learn when adopting their first child, such as the adoption laws in the state where they are located, as well as the requirements that would have to be met in order for the adoption to be approved by a judge. Not only that, prospective parents would also have to learn about the do’s and don’ts of dealing with an adopted child, as well as understand the importance of a relationship formed between the adopted child and his birth mother.
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Dance of the Photons: Einstein, Entanglement and Quantum Teleportation
A Nobel Laureate explains quantum entanglement and teleportation and why Einstein was wrong about the nature of reality
What is the true nature of reality? To find out, Nobel Laureate Anton Zeilinger takes us (along with his fictional students Alice and Bob) on a voyage through a quantum wonderland, explaining entanglement, teleportation, time-travel paradoxes and why our view of the world must change.
Originally published in America in 2012, a new Afterword in the light of the author’s 2022 Nobel Prize means the book brings readers up-to-date with the most recent developments in quantum teleportation. This describes the author’s collaboration to perform the first intercontinental video call encrypted using quantum cryptography, and how Chinese scientists teleported entangled quantum states to an orbiting satellite. Readers also learn how both volunteer humans and astronomical objects billions of light years away have been part of experiments to conclusively prove that quantum states cannot provide a full description of reality at a local level.
Einstein had always refused to accept aspects of quantum theory, deriding the notion of instantaneous communication between faraway ‘entangled’ particles as ‘spooky action at a distance’. However, this playful yet deep book takes readers through a series of ingenious experiments conducted in various locations that demonstrate entanglement is indeed real, and speculates that information is an essential part of reality.
From a dank sewage tunnel under the River Danube to the balmy air between a pair of mountain peaks in the Canary Islands, with various time-travel paradoxes explained along the way, the author and his fictional physics students Alice and Bob demonstrate the true nature of quantum entanglement and teleportation using photons, or light quanta, created by laser beams. The ideas described have laid the foundations for a new era of quantum technology, including the development of quantum computers and much more.
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Made to Stick: Why some ideas take hold and others come unstuck
Why does fake news stick while the truth goes missing?
Why do disproved urban legends persist? How do you keep letting newspapers and clickbait sites lure you in with their headlines? And why do you remember complicated stories but not complicated facts?
Over ten years of study, Chip and Dan Heath have discovered how we latch on to information hooks. Packed full of case histories and incredible anecdotes, it shows:
– how an Australian scientist convinced the world he’d discovered the cause of stomach ulcers by drinking a glass filled with bacteria
– how a gifted sports reporter got people to watch a football match by showing them the outside of the stadium
– how pitches like ‘Jaws on a spaceship’ (Alien) and ‘Die Hard on a bus’ (Speed) convince movie execs to invest gigantic sums even when they know nothing else about the project
As entertaining as it is informative, this is a timely exploration of a fascinating human behaviour. At the same time, by demonstrating strategies like the ‘Velcro Theory of Memory’ and ‘curiosity gaps’, it offers superbly practical insights.
Made to Stick uses cutting-edge insight to help you ensure that what you say is understood, remembered and, most importantly, acted upon.
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The Traitors: The Interactive Game Book
It’s time to start your adventure. Get them before they get you.
Put your sleuthing skills to the test in a world of deception, betrayal, and strategy. Placed in a castle in the Scottish Highlands, you must figure out if your fellow players are Faithful or a Traitor. Can you trust Jorge, the dentist with an encyclopaedic memory and tendency to smile at everyone? Or Nina, the retiree who acts like the group’s matriarch but has a knowing glint in her eyes..? Beware, for in this treacherous game, trust is a luxury you cannot afford.
In the official book of the BAFTA-winning phenomenon, The Traitors: The Interactive Game Book, the decisions you make will decide what happens next. Take this thrilling journey on your own or with others, pooling your wisdom to make the right choices. With over 20 standalone games to play as a pair or in a group – all with cunning Traitors twists – this is the perfect gift, guaranteed to unleash hours of mischief and fun.
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£9.50£19.00The Traitors: The Interactive Game Book
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Later … With Jools Holland: 30 Years of Music, Magic and Mayhem
’You never knew what you were going to be confronted with when you went on Later…’ Nick Cave
‘Later… is a voyage of discovery for us as well as the viewers’ Dave Grohl
Dave Grohl and Alicia Keys loved it, Björk treasured it, Ed Sheeran’s life was changed by it, Kano felt at home while Nick Cave was horrified but inspired, and they all kept coming back.
This first-hand account of the BBC’s Later… with Jools Holland takes you behind the scenes of one of the world’s great musical meeting places. Legends including Sir Paul McCartney, Mary J. Blige and David Bowie found a regular welcome, alongside the next generation of superstars including Adele, Ed Sheeran and Amy Winehouse. Part of what has made the show so special is the format – all those bands, singers, stars and newbies brought together to listen as well as to perform in Jools’ circle of dreams. But there’s always been plenty of mayhem alongside the magic of convening a room full of musicians hosted by one of their own.
Written by the show’s co-creator and 26-year showrunner, music journalist Mark Cooper, this is the story of how Later… grew into a musical and TV institution. It was Mark who had to explain to Jay-Z why he couldn’t just do his numbers and split, who told Seasick Steve why he had to play ‘Dog House Boogie’ on the Hootenanny and persuaded Johnny Cash that he simply had to come in, even when The Man in Black wasn’t feeling well.
From Stormzy to Björk, from Smokey Robinson to Norah Jones, from Britpop to trip hop, here is the word on how Later… began, evolved and has endured, accompanied by exclusive interviews with some of the show’s regular stars as well as the unique pictorial record of Andre Csillag who photographed the show for over 20 years. A must-read for music fans everywhere, Later… with Jools Hollandpulls back the curtain on classic performances to reveal that the show is just as magical, if even more chaotic, than you imagined.
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Making Room: Cultural Production in Occupied Spaces
Making Room: Cultural Production in Occupied Spaces is an anthology of texts on art, media and aesthetic practice in the context of squatting, occupation and urban space activism. It includes pieces by activist researchers working between the academy and the movements they write about, journalistic first-person narratives by squatters, original photography and interviews with artists, theorists and activists involved in struggles over urban space and creative production in the city. Focused primarily on the European context its international relations and connection, this diverse collection of material is organized into sections by country so as to highlight the contrast between different voices and frames of reference. While many of these voices assert accounts of a cohesive, international squatter movement or are committed to specific political projects the anthology, when taken as a whole, tells a more complex story about constellations of movements and practices intensely engaged with local conditions that have developed – sometimes independently, sometimes in dialog with one another – as people have struggled to survive, express themselves, carve out zones of autonomy and resistance, and push back against the dominance of capitalism in the city. In this, “cultural production” appears in a variety of forms ranging from conventional art practices, to the organizing of communities and networks, to the production of media and setting up of information systems. Likewise, squats, occupations and social centers are figured as art projects themselves, housing and workspaces for artists or, most significantly, constituent parts of an alternative infrastructure for the autonomous production of knowledge, discourse, and aesthetics. Making Room includes stories of the squatter movement in Germany both in the 1980s and ’90s as the Cold War was ending and Neoliberalism taking shape, and in its contemporary manifestations as resistance to gentrification and struggles for housing and the inclusion of migrants. In Northern Europe it recounts episodes in the emergence of militant autonomism from the softer counterculture of the 1960s and ’70s as struggles hardened and utopian exuberance faded in the face of the consolidation of global capitalism and was replaced by grim, determined holding actions. In Italy the housing struggles and social center movement of the 1980s appears as a more popular and pragmatic revival of activism following the decimation of the radical left in the dark years of the anni di piombo. This revival has found new resonance in the resurgence of squatting in Italy and the occupation and debt resistance movement in Spain that have taken much inspiration from it. Other texts in the anthology recount struggles to define the role of creativity as cities in Western Europe and North America have become post-industrial urban economies, organized around knowledge work and affective labor, and gentrification has replaced urban decay as a primary problem. Finally, another narrative thread runs through the anthology tracing a history of radical media from the underground printing and publishing practices of the 1960’s and ’70s through the proliferation of pirate radio and television projects and into contemporary hacker and internet activist culture.Read more
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Outrageous!: The Story of Section 28 and Britain’s Battle for LGBT Education
On 23 May 1988, Paul Baker sat down with his family to eat cake on his sixteenth birthday while The Six O’Clock News played in the background. But something was not quite right. There was muffled shouting – ‘Stop Section 28!’ – and a scuffle. The morning papers would announce: ‘Beeb Man Sits on Lesbian’. The next day Section 28 passed into law, forbidding local authorities from teaching ‘the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship’. It would send shockwaves through British society, silencing gay pupils and teachers while galvanizing mass protests and the formation of the LGBTQ+ rights groups OutRage! and Stonewall. Now available in paperback, Outrageous! tells the full story: the background to the Act, how the press fanned the flames and what politicians said during debates, how protestors fought back to bring about the repeal of the law in the 2000s, and its eventual legacy. Based on detailed research, interviews with key figures – including Ian McKellen, Michael Cashman and Angela Mason – and personal recollection, it is an impassioned, warm, often moving account of unthinkable prejudice enshrined within law, and of the power of community to overcome it.Read more
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The Red Deal: Indigenous Action to Save Our Earth (Red Media)
When the Red Nation released their call for a Red Deal, it generated coverage in places from Teen Vogue to Jacobin to the New Republic, was endorsed by the DSA, and has galvanized organizing and action.
Now, in response to popular demand, the Red Nation expands their original statement filling in the histories and ideas that formed it and forwarding an even more powerful case for the actions it demands.
One-part visionary platform, one-part practical toolkit, the Red Deal is a platform that encompasses everyone, including non-Indigenous comrades and relatives who live on Indigenous land. We—Indigenous, Black and people of color, women and trans folks, migrants, and working people—did not create this disaster, but we have inherited it. We have barely a decade to turn back the tide of climate disaster. It is time to reclaim the life and destiny that has been stolen from us and rise up together to confront this challenge and build a world where all life can thrive. Only mass movements can do what the moment demands. Politicians may or may not follow–it is up to them–but we will design, build, and lead this movement with or without them.
The Red Deal is a call for action beyond the scope of the US colonial state. It’s a program for Indigenous liberation, life, and land—an affirmation that colonialism and capitalism must be overturned for this planet to be habitable for human and other-than-human relatives to live dignified lives. The Red Deal is not a response to the Green New Deal, or a “bargain” with the elite and powerful. It’s a deal with the humble people of the earth; a pact that we shall strive for peace and justice and a declaration that movements for justice must come from below and to the left.
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BSL Word Search – 100 British Sign Language Puzzles With Solutions Vol 5: Large Print Fingerspelling Alphabet Games Book For Adults – Perfect BSL Gift For Beginners or Fluent…
For true word search addicts or fingerspelling enthusiasts eager to achieve perfection, our BSL Word Search Puzzles book is a must-try. Regardless of your ability level, even if you have never attempted it before: it’s a challenge sure to catch your interest!
Enjoy hours of fun solving the 100 puzzles in this fifth volume of our BSL Word Search book series. It comes with 2 BSL alphabet charts that you can cut out and use for easy reference as well as all the solutions in case you get stuck. Finally, the size of the book (8.5″ x 11″) and the large print will certainly make your experience easier.
Add one to your cart today, you won’t regret it!
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BSL Word Search – 100 British Sign Language Puzzles With Solutions Vol 4: Large Print Fingerspelling Alphabet Games Book For Adults – Perfect BSL Gift For Beginners or Fluent…
For true word search addicts or fingerspelling enthusiasts eager to achieve perfection, our BSL Word Search Puzzles book is a must-try. Regardless of your ability level, even if you have never attempted it before: it’s a challenge sure to catch your interest!
Enjoy hours of fun solving the 100 puzzles in this fourth volume of our BSL Word Search book series. It comes with 2 BSL alphabet charts that you can cut out and use for easy reference as well as all the solutions in case you get stuck. Finally, the size of the book (8.5″ x 11″) and the large print will certainly make your experience easier.
Add one to your cart today, you won’t regret it!
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2023 Social Media Content Planner: Consistently Better Content
2023 Social Media Content Planner: Consistently Better ContentSave time and produce consistently better social media content with the 2023 Social Media Content Planner. Spend as little time as possible getting the best possible results.
Take the headache out of Social Media content creation, week in and week out. What’s included:
- 2023 social media trends and how this will impact your social media posts and ads
- Social media content planning workbook. Complete this to gain clarity on your marketing messages
- How to establish social media content pillars with 95 ideas (including suggested post descriptions and ideas of what images/videos to use)
- 400+ prompts for social media posts (at least one for every day of 2023!)
- Tips on writing social media post descriptions
- Guidelines on running social media paid ads
- A week to view diary including bank holidays from Ireland, UK & US
- Resource web page with €240/£210/$247 worth of helpful tools including a Social Media Content Planning Calendar Template, a Building Your Bio Blueprint & an invitation to a live Social Media Masterclass in February 2023 (with playback).
Our testimonials say it all…
This is like an encyclopedia of tips and knowledge. Little things like profile and cover pics sizes, “national day of”…for every month to add some fun to your posts. A full diary for the year as well. So much knowledge at your fingertips when you own this planner. (Sinead, Social Media Freelancer)
This book does exactly what it says, it is a brilliant guide to help navigate and plan out social media campaigns. 5 stars from me. (J Forde, Transformation Coach).
This is not just a book it’s a tool that you use daily to succeed in your Social media strategy! (A Mallett, Entrepreneur)
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BBC Proms 2024 (BBC Proms Guides)
The BBC Proms is the world’s biggest and longest-running classical music festival and one of the jewels in the crown for the BBC. Held every summer at the Royal Albert Hall in London and across the UK, it is one of the strongest brand names in the music world and attracts a glittering array of artists and orchestras from the UK and around the world. Whether you’re a first-time visitor or an experienced Prommer, watching at home or listening on radio or online, the BBC Proms Guide is an excellent companion to the festival, which you can treasure and return to in years to come.
Filled with concert listings and articles by leading writers, the BBC Proms Guide offers an insight into the performers and repertoire, as well as thought-provoking opinion pieces about music, musicians and music-making.
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The British Bloke, Decoded: From Banter to Man-Flu. Everything finally explained.
‘I laughed a lot and now understand blokes a lot more than I ever wanted to’ – Katherine Ryan‘Geoff is one of the funniest intelligent thinkers in comedy and this book reflects that perfectly’ – Romesh Ranganathan
‘Geoff’s examination of blokeness is Geoff all over – funny and insightful, making serious points without committing the cardinal sin of taking itself too seriously. Top bloke.’ – Adrian Chiles
‘Highly informative. Geoff will make a proper bloke out of me yet.’ – Hugo Rifkind
‘A brilliant and hilarious book which defends blokes without denigrating women’ – Konstantin Kisin
If you see a man drinking a pint in an airport pub alone, that’s a bloke.
If you see a man driving to the tip on a Saturday morning with a smile on his face, that’s a bloke.
And if you see a man heading back from the tip and on the way to the pub, that’s a very happy bloke.The British Bloke appears simple and straightforward. He loves football, cricket, beer, sheds, wearing socks and books about the SAS.
But beneath that simple exterior lies a mysterious and complex being.
In The British Bloke Decoded, writer, comedian and regular bloke, Geoff Norcott peels back the layers of blokedom, revealing the truth behind the sometimes inexplicable behaviour of Britain’s husbands, dads and brothers.
Based on 46 years of field research and almost scientific insights, Geoff digs deep into subjects as wide as: the value of Banter, the surprising roots of Mansplaining, the near impossibility of getting blokes to send birthday cards, and whether there could be a medal system for Hoovering.
And ultimately, he concludes that whilst the toxic men have been grabbing all the publicity – perhaps now’s the time to celebrate the simple British bloke in all his eccentric splendour.
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How They Broke Britain
THE REVEALING, DEFINING ACCOUNT OF THE DARK NETWORK THAT BROKE OUR COUNTRY.
‘An exceptional broadcaster’ – Guardian | ‘Consistently, forensically, brilliant’ – Emily MaitlisSomething has gone really wrong in Britain.
Our economy has tanked, our freedoms are shrinking, and social divisions are growing. Our politicians seem most interested in their own careers, and much of the media only make things worse. We are living in a country almost unrecognisable from the one that existed a decade ago. But whose fault is it really? Who broke Britain and how did they do it?
Bold and incisive as ever, James O’Brien reveals the shady network of influence that has created a broken Britain of strikes, shortages and scandals. He maps the web connecting dark think tanks to Downing Street, the journalists involved in selling it to the public and the media bosses pushing their own agendas. Over ten chapters, each focusing on a particular person complicit in the downfall, James O’Brien reveals how a select few have conspired – sometimes by incompetence, sometimes by design – to bring Britain to its knees.
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£9.60£10.40How They Broke Britain
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Escape from Model Land: How Mathematical Models Can Lead Us Astray and What We Can Do About It
‘A brilliant account of how models are so often abused and of how they should be used’ John Kay
How do mathematical models shape our world – and how can we harness their power for good?
Models are at the centre of everything we do. Whether we use them or are simply affected by them, they act as metaphors that help us better understand the increasingly complex problems facing us in the modern world. Without models, we couldn’t begin to tackle three of the major challenges facing modern society: regulation of the economy, climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet in recent years, the validity of the models we use has been hotly debated and there has been renewed awareness of the disastrous consequences when the makers and interpreters of models get things wrong.
Drawing on contemporary examples from finance, climate and health policy, Erica Thompson explores what models are, why we need them, how they work and what happens when they go wrong. This is not a book that argues we should do away with models, but rather, that we need to properly understand how they are constructed – and how some of the assumptions that underlie the models we use can have significant unintended consequences. Unexpectedly humorous, thought-provoking and passionate, this is essential reading for everyone.
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Abroad in Japan: The No. 1 Sunday Times Bestseller
THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER
‘Chris Broad explores Japan in all its quirky glory..Endlessly fascinating!’
Will Ferguson, author of Hokkaido Highway Blues‘Carves a unique path across Japan bringing him into contact with far too many cats, heartening renewal in Tohoku, and even pizza with Ken Watanabe.’
Iain Maloney, author of The Only Gaijin in the Village‘Fascinating, fact-packed and very funny..An excellent and enjoyable read for the Japan-curious. I loved it and learned a lot.’
Sam Baldwin, author of For Fukui’s Sake: Two years in rural JapanWhen Englishman Chris Broad landed in a rural village in northern Japan he wondered if he’d made a huge mistake. With no knowledge of the language and zero teaching experience, was he about to be the most quickly fired English teacher in Japan’s history?
Abroad in Japan charts a decade of living in a foreign land and the chaos and culture clash that came with it. Packed with hilarious and fascinating stories, this book seeks out to unravel one the world’s most complex cultures.
Spanning ten years and all forty-seven prefectures, Chris takes us from the lush rice fields of the countryside to the frenetic neon-lit streets of Tokyo. With blockbuster moments such as a terrifying North Korean missile incident, a mortifying experience at a love hotel and a week spent with Japan’s biggest movie star, Abroad in Japan is an extraordinary and informative journey through the Land of the Rising Sun.
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Unscripted: Sex and Lies in Hollywood’s Most Powerful Company
‘Explosive’ Esquire
‘Epic’ Financial Times
‘Riveting’ Vanity FairSumner Redstone was the CEO of Hollywood’s most influential company: the powerhouse behind Indiana Jones and Star Wars, film studios and TV production companies, a fleet of private jets and tailor-made jewellery lines. He was notorious for his fearsome temper, his all-consuming ambition and his pledge to live forever. Until, one day, he lost control.
Unscripted is the story of an empire embroiled in scandal, a will in tatters, and a family on the edge of self-destruction. It sounds too outrageous to be true – except it is.
Longlisted for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award
‘A racy tale of big money, bigger egos and #MeToo disgrace.’ The Times
‘Addicted to Succession? Well, here’s the real thing.’ Hollywood Reporter
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Whatever Happened to the C86 Kids?: An Indie Odyssey
‘You will love this book.’ – RICHARD OSMANShortlisted for the Penderyn Music Book Prize
A Rough Trade Book of the Year
A Resident Book of the Year
A Monorail Book of the Year
A Virgin Radio Book of the YearIn 1986, the NME released a cassette that would shape music for years to come. A collection of twenty-two independently signed guitar-based bands, C86 was the sound and ethos that defined a generation. It was also arguably the point at which ‘indie’ was born.
But what happened next to all those musical dreamers?
Some of the bands, like Primal Scream, went on to achieve global stardom; others, such as Half Man Half Biscuit and The Wedding Present, cultivated lifelong fanbases that still sustain their careers today. Then there were the rest – the ones who endured general indifference from the record-buying public and ultimately returned to civvy street.
Now, thirty-five years on, journalist Nige Tassell tracks down the class of C86, unearthing members of all twenty-two bands and sharing the stories, both tragic and uplifting, of these long-lost musicians.
Told with warmth, compassion and humour, this is a very human account of ambition, hope, varying degrees of talent and what happens after you give up on music – or, more accurately, after music gives up on you. It’s a world populated by bike-shop owners, dance-music producers, record-store proprietors, ornithologists, driving instructors, solicitors, caricaturists and possibly even an Olympic sailor. And let’s not forget the musician-turned-actor gainfully employed as Jeremy Irons’ body double…
More than simply the tale of the tape, Whatever Happened to the C86 Kids? is an exploration of C86’s wide-reaching and often surprising legacy.
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A Brief History of Life in Victorian Britain (Brief Histories)
The Victorian era has dominated the popular imagination like no other period, but these myths and stories also give a very distorted view of the 19th century.
The early Victorians were much stranger that we usually imagine, and their world would have felt very different from our own and it was only during the long reign of the Queen that a modern society emerged in unexpected ways.
Using character portraits, events, and key moments Paterson brings the real life of Victorian Britain alive – from the lifestyles of the aristocrats to the lowest ranks of the London slums. This includes the right way to use a fan, why morning visits were conducted in the afternoon, what the Victorian family ate and how they enjoyed their free time, as well as the Victorian legacy today – convenience food, coffee bars, window shopping, mass media, and celebrity culture.
Praise for Dicken’s London:
Out of the babble of voices, Michael Paterson has been able to extract the essence of London itself. Read this book and re-enter the labyrinth of a now-ancient city.’ Peter Ackroyd
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The A-Z of Victorian Crime
Few things are more evocative of Victorian Britain than its criminals; they are, together with railways, gas lamps and swirling fog, vital ingredients in any Victorian melodrama. The truth, however, was often stranger, more thrilling and more horrifying than fiction. In this book, four eminent crime historians reveal the realities of this aspect of Victorian life, illuminating not just the criminals and their victims, but also the policemen, forensic scientists and others who rubbed shoulders with the nineteenth-century underworld. Notorious crimes – the Road Hill Murder, the Balham Mystery and Jack the Ripper – stand alongside long-forgotten, neglected cases; the most shocking and terrifying cases appear next to everyday horrors, some stunning and some merely sad. This unique work of reference deserves a place on every true crime reader’s bookshelf.Read more
£9.60£10.40The A-Z of Victorian Crime
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Interaction of Color: 50th Anniversary Edition
The 50th anniversary edition of a classic text, featuring an expanded selection of color studies
“The landmark 1963 book by Josef Albers . . . isn’t just for aspiring artists. Its mesmerizing illustrations are a revelation for anyone interested in color theory and human perception.”―Pilar Viladas, New York Times
“A visionary work.”―Malcolm Jones, Newsweek
Josef Albers’s classic Interaction of Color is a masterwork in art education. Conceived as a handbook and teaching aid for artists, instructors, and students, this influential book presents Albers’s singular explanation of complex color theory principles.
Originally published by Yale University Press in 1963 as a limited silkscreen edition with 150 color plates, Interaction of Color first appeared in paperback in 1971, featuring ten color studies chosen by Albers, and has remained in print ever since. With over a quarter of a million copies sold in its various editions since 1963, Interaction of Color remains an essential resource on color, as pioneering today as when Albers created it.
Fifty years after Interaction’s initial publication, this anniversary edition presents a significantly expanded selection of close to sixty color studies alongside Albers’s original text, demonstrating such principles as color relativity, intensity, and temperature; vibrating and vanishing boundaries; and the illusion of transparency and reversed grounds. A celebration of the longevity and unique authority of Albers’s contribution, this landmark edition will find new audiences in studios and classrooms around the world.Read more
£9.70£11.40Interaction of Color: 50th Anniversary Edition
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Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World
From the Iranian hostage crisis through the Gulf War and the World Trade Centre bombing, the West has been haunted by a spectre called ‘Islam’. As portrayed by the news media – and by a chorus of government, academic and corporate experts – ‘Islam’ is synonymous with terrorism and religious hysteria. At the same time, Islamic countries use Islam to justify unrepresentative and often oppressive regimes.
In this landmark work, for which he has written a new introduction, one of our foremost public thinkers examines the origins and repercussions of the media’s monolithic images of Islam. Combining political commentary with literary criticism, Edward Said reveals the hidden assumptions and distortions of fact that underlie even the most ‘objective’ coverage of the Islamic world.
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Unfinished Business – The Life & Times of Danny Gatton
(Book). Danny Gatton was a players’ guitar player, hailed by both Rolling Stone and Guitar Player as the greatest unknown guitarist anywhere. His legend has only grown since his untimely suicide in 1994, along with appreciation for his blinding speed, effortless genre-hopping, flawless technique, and never-ending appetite for tinkering and problem-solving. Drawing from first-hand interviews with dozens of friends, family members and fellow musicians, Unfinished Business places Gatton’s musical contributions into context, and documents his influence on those peers who admired him most, including Albert Lee, Vince Gill, Arlen Roth and Lou Reed.Read more
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The Politics of Genocide
In this impressive book, Edward S. Herman and David Peterson examine the uses and abuses of the word “genocide.” They argue persuasively that the label is highly politicized and that in the United States it is used by the government, journalists, and academics to brand as evil those nations and political movements that in one way or another interfere with the imperial interests of U.S. capitalism. Thus the word “genocide” is seldom applied when the perpetrators are U.S. allies (or even the United States itself), while it is used almost indiscriminately when murders are committed or are alleged to have been committed by enemies of the United States and U.S. business interests. One set of rules applies to cases such as U.S. aggression in Vietnam, Israeli oppression of Palestinians, Indonesian slaughter of so-called communists and the people of East Timor, U.S. bombings in Serbia and Kosovo, the U.S. war of “liberation” in Iraq, and mass murders committed by U.S. allies in Rwanda and the Republic of Congo. Another set applies to cases such as Serbian aggression in Kosovo and Bosnia, killings carried out by U.S. enemies in Rwanda and Darfur, Saddam Hussein, any and all actions by Iran, and a host of others. With its careful and voluminous documentation, close reading of the U.S. media and political and scholarly writing on the subject, and clear and incisive charts, The Politics of Genocide is both a damning condemnation and stunning exposé of a deeply rooted and effective system of propaganda aimed at deceiving the population while promoting the expansion of a cruel and heartless imperial system.Read more
£9.90£10.40The Politics of Genocide
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The Extra Mile: The Inspirational Number One Bestseller
THE INSPIRATIONAL NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER
The extraordinary memoir of the sporting icon, devoted friend and fundraising hero who has inspired the nation in his fight against MND
‘An inspirational and life-affirming read. What Kevin Sinfield has achieved on and off the field is truly remarkable. His inspiring leadership and relentless focus on fundraising for MND shows how we should all strive to care more for each other’ Gareth Southgate
‘If you want inspiring, uplifting and empowering… give this amazing man some of your time’ Jake Humphrey
‘Kevin Sinfield is adored and respected . . . he is the best of men’ Brian Moore, Daily Telegraph
‘I’ve always thought Kevin Sinfield was a hero. His quiet, calm, committed leadership makes people want to support him and we are all doing that as he supports Rob Burrow and everyone living with MND’ Clare Balding
‘The friendship between Kevin Sinfield and Rob Burrow gives you faith in humankind’ Sir Chris Hoy
The Extra Mile is no ordinary sports memoir. But Kevin Sinfield is no ordinary sportsman. A one-club legend of Leeds Rhinos, who has now crossed codes as a defence coach for the England national rugby union team, Kevin Sinfield is a rugby icon. But in recent years has shown heroism of a very different kind through his selfless and extraordinary fundraising for motor neurone disease (MND), the terminal illness that has affected his best mate and former teammate Rob Burrow.
Sinfield’s epic challenges have included running 7 ultra marathons in 7 days, and running over 101 miles in 24 hours. In the process, Sinfield has captured the hearts of the nation and over £7 million for MND. He was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday honours for his efforts, along with the Freedom of Leeds and a special BBC Award for his fundraising.
Told with Sinfield’s characteristic warmth, dry wit and inspirational leadership, The Extra Mile is the story of an astonishing life, of an enduring friendship, of perseverance against the most difficult of challenges, and of a remarkable, humble human being who has defied the odds. The book equips readers with the tools and the mindset to embrace togetherness and to overcome their own challenges. It leaves the reader with the urgent question: Who would you go the extra mile for to help in life?
PRAISE FOR KEVIN SINFIELD
‘Inspirational does not do him justice, he’s that and much, much more’ Matt Dickinson‘Kevin Sinfield is an incredible human being’ Gabby Logan
‘A total hero’ Yvette Cooper
‘Britain’s greatest sportsman (off the pitch) … Kevin Sinfield’s fundraising is a poignant story of friendship and human endeavour’ The Times
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The Neanderthals Rediscovered: How A Scientific Revolution Is Rewriting Their Story
There is a little Neanderthal in all of us. Although they have been extinct for 40,000 years, our genetic inheritance means that they are not entirely gone. Since the publication of the first Neanderthal genome in 2010, our understanding of the Neanderthals – and our connection to them – has changed dramatically. Once stereotyped as simple and brutish, recent discoveries by archaeologists and geneticists have painted a different picture of Neanderthals, and one more familiar to us: they buried their dead, cared for the sick, and even painted cave walls. We can now delve into their DNA to trace their evolution in Europe and movements across Asia, and piece together how they lived and died in amazing detail.This fully updated edition presents cutting-edge research on our fascinating hominin relatives: their interbreeding with humans and other species including the recently discovered Denisovans, their social behaviours such as smiling to indicate friendliness, and the genes they have passed down to us that could be affecting our health. By confronting our differences and similarities to the Neanderthals, this book addresses the biggest question of all: what it means to be human.
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Greek Mythology for Teens: Enthralling Tales and Myths from Ancient Greece (Greek Mythology and History)
Did you know that Zeus was considered to be both the youngest and the oldest brother?Thanks to their enthralling narratives and relatable characters, Greek myths have captured our imagination for millennia. Despite being thousands of years old, these tales still manage to touch on something in the core of our souls, connecting humans from across all time periods and all stages of life. That is because myths speak to raw truths that are felt and observed by us all, and to study them is to study that which shapes our world and that which makes us human.
This book is divided into six chapters and explores the most famous narrative of four famous heroes of Greek mythology. While it is impossible to gather all the most important Greek myths in their entirety in one short collection, this book provides the interested reader with a nice, if somewhat modest, assortment of narratives that have greatly influenced our culture to this day.
Some of the myths you’ll discover by reading this book are:
- The rise of the Olympians
- Theseus’s epic fight against the Minotaur
- Perseus beheading the Gorgon Medusa
- Jason and Medea’s murderous affair
- The bloody curse of the House of Atreus
- And so much more!
Scroll up and click the “add to cart” button to learn more about Greek mythology!
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Rituals & Myths in Nursing: A Social History
Nursing is a complex profession steeped in tradition and history. Tried and tested ways of working have been the mainstay of how and why nurses do what they do. Completing tasks in a certain way because Sister says so describes the custom and practice of nursing, passed on through the generations that existed for most of the 20th Century and can still hold sway today. Science and evidence-based practice have weakened the hold on tradition but ritual is still part of the fabric of nursing. Packed with amusing and sometimes poignant reminiscences this book paints a picture of nursing from the first registration of SRN No 1, Ethel Bedford Fenwick in 1919, to the present day. Each chapter follows a theme, explores the historical background and brings it to life with stories told by nurses from different eras. We have tales of alcohol prescribed to dilate blood vessels or simply for the feel good factor. Enemas were less fun, given for almost all bowel conditions; High, hot and a helluva lot!’ was the phrase for remembering this ritual. Written with humour and a light touch, readers don’t need a nursing background to enjoy these stories, but those who trained as nurses will identify with many of the amusing and often eccentric traditions retold by generations of nurses.Read more
£10.10£14.20Rituals & Myths in Nursing: A Social History
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This is Europe: The Way We Live Now
‘Thrilling’ – The Financial Times
‘Vivid, urgent and unsettling’ – Tom Holland
_____What does it now mean to call yourself European? Who makes up this population of some 750 million, sprawled from Ireland to Ukraine, from Sweden to Turkey? Who has always called it home, and who has newly arrived from elsewhere? Who are the people who drive our long-distance lorries, steward our criss-crossing planes, lovingly craft our legacy wines, fish our depleted waters, and risk life itself in search of safety and a new start?
In a series of vivid, ambitious, darkly visceral but always empathetic portraits of other people’s lives, journalist Ben Judah invites us to meet them. Drawn from hours of painstaking interviews, these vital stories reveal a frenetic and vibrant continent which has been transformed by diversity, migration, the internet, climate change, Covid, war and the quest for freedom.
Laid dramatically bare, it may not always be a Europe we recognize – but this is Europe.
_____‘An astonishing achievement’ – Evening Standard
‘Brilliantly told . . . highly readable’ – The Times
‘Unflinching’ – The GuardianRead more
£10.40
