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Reflections On A Summer Sea
By Trevor Norton. 2001
This is the funny and touching story of a menagerie of eccentric and talented ecologists who, mainly as a hobby,…
spent forty summers at Lough Ine, a stunning marine lough in a corner of Ireland, where myths seep from the ground like will o' the wisps and, in one of the most unlikely projects in the history of science, were responsible for the reinvention of marine biology. Among the stars of the book are the marine creatures that occupy the lake: sea urchins that won't dine unless they wear a hat, otters that steal experiments, and worms that will only mate by order of the moon. The creatures' eccentric behaviour is matched only by that of the ecologists themselves, whose antics and interactions with their Irish neighbours are all lovingly described with Norton's keen eye for both the wonderful and the absurd. But for all its humour, the book is also a moving account of two ecologists who collaborated for forty years until their friendship came to a tragic end. The book brings together all the rich flavours of Ireland, the wonders of natural history and the magic of being a marine biologist just for the fun of it.The Red Arrows: The Sunday Times Bestseller
By David Montenegro. 2022
SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLERDAILY MAIL BOOK OF THE WEEKTHE FIRST OFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE RED ARROWS'Heart-pounding, exhilarating . .…
. A fascinating testimony of jeopardy, cool heads and the sheer exultant addiction of flying.' SINCLAIR MCKAY'Fantastic . . . It was wonderful to read about so many old chums and truly legendary aviators. Highly recommended.' JOHN NICHOL (Twitter)'An exhilarating read! The next-best thing to taking the controls of a Hawk fast-jet. And you're much less likely to throw up.' BEN MILLER'Inspirational . . . Precision, style and dedication. The Red Arrows are the ultimate in teamwork.' TIM PEAKE'Perfectly enjoyable . . . As the Red Arrows head towards their 60th anniversary, it's clear the team's place in our hearts is secure.' DAILY MAIL'A wild ride . . . The ultimate insider guide, relating with great enthusiasm and insight what it means to be inside the cockpit as you scream through the skies at 350 to 450 miles per hour, within what feels like touching distance of your wingman, making continual nanosecond decisions that will result in certain death if you get them wrong.' TELEGRAPH, Patrick Bishop_________________________________________"Occasionally, you and the team come within read of perfection, up there in the rarefied air of the skies. You never know when those moments will come, but it's what you yearn for as a pilot."The Red Arrows represent the very best speed, agility and precision aerobatic flying in the Royal Air Force, and the people who wear those iconic red flight suits are rigorously selected not just for their flying skills, lightning-fast reflexes and nerves of steel, but for their mental resilience, courage and humility.Written by the Officer Commanding and former Red 1 Team Leader, Wing Commander David Montenegro, and full of never-before-shared tales from pilots past and present, this thrilling history is both a faithful record and a fascinating account of not only what it takes, but what it means, to be a Red Arrow._________________________________________Praise for the Red Arrows:'A lifetime's ambition . . . I still can't believe I've been in a fighter jet. It was fantastic - just to feel the G-force was spectacular.' LEWIS HAMILTON'So tight, crisp and professional' CHRIS HADFIELD'I can never quite believe that anyone can fly and aircraft with such precision' PROF. BRIAN COX'The skill level they have is just off the scale. The Red Arrows is an amazing display of quality' DAVID COULTHARDThe Real Gorbals Story: True Tales from Glasgow's Meanest Streets
By Colin MacFarlane. 2007
Colin MacFarlane was born in the Gorbals in the 1950s, 20 years after the publication of No Mean City, the…
classic novel about pre-war life in what was once Glasgow's most deprived district. He lived in the same street as its fictional 'razor king', Johnnie Stark, and subsequently realised that a lot of the old characters represented in the book were still around as late as the 1960s. Men still wore bunnets and played pitch and toss; women still treated the steamie as their social club. The razor gangs were running amok once again, and filth, violence, crime, rats, poverty and drunkenness abounded, just like they did in No Mean City.MacFarlane witnessed the last days of the old Gorbals as a major regeneration programme, begun in 1961, was implemented, and, as a street boy, he had a unique insight into a once great community in rapid decline. In this engrossing book, MacFarlane reveals what it was really like to live in the old Gorbals.Reading Clausewitz
By Beatrice Heuser. 2011
Clausewitz's On War, first published in 1832, remains the most famous study of the nature and conditions of warfare. Contemporaries…
found him 'endearing' or 'totally unpalatable', while later generations called him 'the father of modern strategical study', whose tenets have 'eternal relevance', or dismissed him as outdated. Was it really he who made the discovery that warfare is a continuation of politics? Was he the 'Mahdi of mass and mutual massacre', in part responsible for the mass slaughter of the First World War, as Liddell Hart contended? Can the idea of total war be traced back to him? Complex and often misunderstood, Clausewitz has fascinated and influenced generations of politicians and strategic thinkers. Beatrice Heuser's study is the first book, not only on how to read Clausewitz, but also on how others have read him - from the Prussian and German masters of warfare of the late nineteenth century through to the military commanders of the First World War, through Lenin and Mao Zedong to strategists in the nuclear age and of guerrilla warfare. The result is an accessible and comprehensive introduction to the work and influence of the greatest classic on the art of war.Queen of the Ploughing
By Anna May McHugh. 2017
'The embodiment of the spirit of rural Ireland'Anna May McHugh's name is synonymous with 'the Ploughing' - the annual Championships…
of the National Ploughing Association. The event is the biggest outdoor agricultural show in Europe and Anna May is the driving force behind its spectacular growth.Anna May now tells her story. Her description of growing up as part of a large family in rural County Laois is an evocative and affectionate account of an Ireland that is now gone. But in her account of how she went from being a secretary of the Ploughing Association, her first job, to becoming - to her own amazement - its managing director twenty years later is a story of leadership and people skills that are very much of the twenty-first century. Anna May was truly ahead of her time.Still living in County Laois, close to where she grew up, and now in her eighties, Anna May still runs the multi-million euro operation from her home, alongside her daughter, Anna Marie. Queen of the Ploughing is a captivating read, full of warmth, lively stories and Anna May's sharp observations. And it's not just about Anna May's life, but is also a celebration of the best of Irish life over eight decades.Quantum Mechanics (The Ladybird Expert Series #2)
By Jim Al-Khalili. 2017
What is quantum mechanics? Learn from the experts in the ALL-NEW LADYBIRD EXPERT SERIESA clear, simple and entertaining introduction to…
the weird, mind-bending world of the very, very small.Written by physicist and broadcaster Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Quantum Mechanics explores all the key players, breakthroughs, controversies and unanswered questions of the quantum world.You'll discover:- How the sun shines- Why light is both a wave and a particle- The certainty of the Uncertainty Principle- Schrodinger's Cat- Einstein's spooky action- How to build a quantum computer- Why quantum mechanics drives even its experts completely crazy'Jim Al-Khalili has done an admirable job of condensing the ideas of quantum physics from Max Planck to the possibilities of quantum computers into brisk, straightforward English' THE TIMESLearn about other topics in the Ladybird Experts series including The Big Bang, Gravity, Climate Change and Evolution.Written by the leading lights and most outstanding communicators in their fields, the Ladybird Expert books provide clear, accessible and authoritative introductions to subjects drawn from science, history and culture. For an adult readership, the Ladybird Expert series is produced in the same iconic small format pioneered by the original Ladybirds. Each beautifully illustrated book features the first new illustrations produced in the original Ladybird style for nearly forty years.Prisons of Light: Black Holes
By Kitty Ferguson. 1973
What is a black hole? Could we survive a visit to one? Perhaps even venture inside? What would we find?…
Have we yet discovered any real black holes? And what do black holes teach us about what physicist John Archibald Wheeler called “the deep, happy, mysteries of the universe”?These are just a few of the tantalizing questions examined in this jargon-free review of one of the most fascinating topics in modern science. In search of the answers, we trace a star from its birth to its death throes, take a fabulous hypothetical journey to the border of a black hole and beyond, spend time with some of the world’s leading theoretical physicists and observational astronomers scanning the cosmos for evidence of real black holes, and take a whimsical look at some of the wild ideas black holes have inspired.Principles of Geology
By Charles Lyell. 1997
One of the key works in the nineteenth-century battle between science and Scripture, Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology (1830-33) sought…
to explain the geological state of the modern Earth by considering the long-term effects of observable natural phenomena. Written with clarity and a dazzling intellectual passion, it is both a seminal work of modern geology and a compelling precursor to Darwinism, exploring the evidence for radical changes in climate and geography across the ages and speculating on the progressive development of life. A profound influence on Darwin, Principles of Geology also captured the imagination of contemporaries such as Melville, Emerson, Tennyson and George Eliot, transforming science with its depiction of the powerful forces that shape the natural world.Preventable: How a Pandemic Changed the World & How to Stop the Next One
By Devi Sridhar. 2022
**THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER | BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK**The definitive story of COVID-19 and how global politics…
shape our health - from a world-leading expert and the pandemic's go-to science communicator Professor Devi Sridhar has risen to prominence for her vital roles in communicating science to the public and speaking truth to power. In Preventable she highlights lessons learned from outbreaks past and present in a narrative that traces the COVID-19 pandemic - including her personal experience as a scientist - and sets out a vision for how we can better protect ourselves from the inevitable health crises to come.In gripping and heartfelt prose, Sridhar exposes the varied realities of those affected and puts you in the room with key decision makers at crucial moments. She vibrantly conveys the twists and turns of a plot that saw: deadlier varients emerge (contrary to the predictions of social media pundits who argued it would mutate to a milder form); countries with weak health systems like Senegal and Vietnam fare better than countries like the US and UK (which were consistently ranked as the most prepared); and the quickest development of game-changing vaccines in history (and their unfair distribution)Combining science, politics, ethics and economics, this definitive book dissects the global structures that determine our fate, and reveals the deep-seated economic and social inequalities at their heart - it will challenge, outrage and inspire.'A brutally compelling reminder that if voices like Devi's had been listened to, so many more could have lived' OWEN JONES'One of the most brilliant scientists in the world who has been proven consistently right in this crisis' PIERS MORGAN'Excellent . . . Fair, clear and compelling' NICOLA STURGEON'Those who have found Professor Devi Sridhar's expertise and calm advice invaluable since the arrival of Covid-19 will be glad to know that she has written Preventable' RACHEL COOKE, Guardian, Non-fiction to look out for in 2022How do plate tectonics work? Learn from the experts in the ALL-NEW LADYBIRD EXPERT SERIESDiscover in this accessible and authoritative…
introduction the fundamental theory of how our dynamic planet works.You'll learn about the make up of the Earth in the past and the present, from monsoon-like currents in our planet's radioactive interior to magnetic force lines and what the planet would look like without water.You will learn about:- Our planet as an active living system- The planetary force field- Fault lines that cross continents- How plates tectonics protects life on Earth- And much more . . .Written by the celebrated geologist, academic and popular science presenter Iain Stewart, Plate Tectonics explores the Earth as a planetary machine and investigates the people and ideas that changed the way we look at the world.Learn about other topics in the Ladybird Experts series including Gravity, Quantum Physics, Climate Change and Evolution.Written by the leading lights and most outstanding communicators in their fields, the Ladybird Expert books provide clear, accessible and authoritative introductions to subjects drawn from science, history and culture.For an adult readership, the Ladybird Expert series is produced in the same iconic small hardback format pioneered by the original Ladybirds. Each beautifully illustrated book features the first new illustrations produced in the original Ladybird style for nearly forty years.Plant Trees, Sow Seeds, Save The Bees: Simple ways to bee-friendly
By Nicola Bradbear. 2021
Discover the wonder of bees (and other stripey insects) and how to help them survive. In this little book of…
bees, wasps, hoverflies and more, discover the easy ways to make your gardens, window boxes and pots insect havens. Rewild your garden with plants for bees and honeybees - simple acts of kindness to save the planet. Expert Nicola Bradbear, from Bees for Development charity, shows you how and why it's so important.There are lots of fun things you can do to make a big difference.With every book sold, proceeds will be donated to Bees for Development (www.beesfordevelopment.org)Planet Earth III: Accompanies the Landmark Series Narrated by David Attenborough
By Matt Brandon, Michael Gunton, Jonny Keeling. 2023
The official tie-in to the third instalment in the legendary Planet Earth franchiseFew places on Earth remain untouched by humans,…
creating challenges for the wildlife we share it with. We have entered a new age, and we must look at the splendour of the natural world through a different lens.From the depths of our oceans, to scorching deserts and the most remote jungles, Planet Earth III features spectacular places and surprising animal behaviours from all corners of our world. And for the first time, a human element is introduced to each landscape, highlighting how, in the age of the Anthropocene, today's planet has been forever changed by humanity and that wildlife now faces new challenges in our crowded, modern world.Featuring over 250 beautiful full-colour photographs, Planet Earth III reveals the wonders and trials of life on an increasingly fragile planet, bringing you closer than ever before to our world’s most intriguing species, unseen landscapes and natural phenomena.A Pipeline Runs Through It: The Story of Oil from Ancient Times to the First World War
By Keith Fisher. 2022
'Fascinating revelations' Max Hastings, Sunday Times'Wonderfully detailed and colourful' Steven Poole, Daily Telegraph'The book I have long been waiting for...…
Essential reading' Michael KlarePetroleum has always been used by humans: as an adhesive by Neanderthals, as a waterproofing agent in Noah's Ark and as a weapon during the Crusades. Its eventual extraction from the earth in vast quantities transformed light, heat and power. A Pipeline Runs Through It is a fresh, comprehensive in-depth look at the social, economic, political and geopolitical forces involved in our transition to the modern oil age. It tells an extraordinary origin story, from the pre-industrial history of petroleum through to large-scale production in the mid-nineteenth century and the development of a dominant, fully-fledged oil industry by the early twentieth century.This was always a story of imperialist violence, political disenfranchisement, economic exploitation and environmental destruction. The near total eradication of the Native Americans of New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio has barely been mentioned as a precondition for the emergence of the first industrialised oil region in the United States. Britain's invasion of Upper Burma in 1885 was perhaps the first war fought, at least in part, for access to oil; the growth of Royal Dutch-Shell involved the genocidal subjugation of people of the Dutch East Indies and the exploitation of oil in the Middle East arose seamlessly out of Britain's prior political and military interventions in the region.Finally, in an entirely new analysis, the book shows how the British navy's increasingly desperate dependence on vulnerable foreign sources of oil may have been a catalytic ingredient in the outbreak of the First World War. The rise of oil has shaped the modern world, and this is the book to understand it.Peter 2.0: The Human Cyborg
By Peter Scott-Morgan. 2021
The incredible book behind the primetime Channel 4 documentary, Peter: The Human Cyborg'A remarkable account of what it means to…
be human and what technology can really achieve' Sunday Telegraph'Peter's story is one of the most extraordinary you will ever hear. I urge people to read it' Stephen Fry'A remarkable story . . . you're left desperate to take nothing for granted' Radio Times __________ Peter, a brilliant scientist, is told that he will lose everything he loves. His husband. His family. His friends. His ability to travel the world. All will be gone. But Peter will not give up. He vows that this will not be the end and instead seeks a completely new beginning . . . Peter has Motor Neurone Disease, a condition universally considered by doctors to be terminal. He is told it will destroy his nerve cells and that within about two years, it will take his life too. But, face-to-face with death, he decides there is another way. Using his background in science and technology, he navigates a new path, one that will enable him not just to survive, but to thrive. This is the astonishing true story about Peter Scott-Morgan: the first person to combine his very humanity with artificial intelligence and robotics to become a full Cyborg. His discovery means that his terminal diagnosis is negotiable, something that will rewrite the future.And change the world. By embracing love, life and hope rather than fear, tragedy and despair, he will become Peter 2.0. __________'Compelling . . . Scott-Morgan is a true one-off. It is in the telling of the love story, rather than the technical details of becoming a cyborg, that this book succeeds' The Times 'What's striking is Peter's constant optimism, bravery and his ability to find radical answers to problems that have confounded Britain's brightest minds' Daily Telegraph 'A soaring love story' Financial Times 'Fascinating and extremely moving' SunA Perfect Planet
By Huw Cordey. 2020
There is no place like home.The conditions of Earth are not just good for life, they are perfect. Everything about…
our planet - its size, its distance from the Sun, its spin and tilt, its moon - is perfectly suited to our existence, and our planet's forces serve to nurture its spectacular biodiversity. A Perfect Planet shows in stunning detail how Earth has always been more than the sum of its parts. Unlike any other astronomical body, it is a living world.Focusing on four key natural forces - global weather systems distributing fresh water to all corners; marine currents delivering nutrients to the deepest reaches of the ocean; solar energy warming and electrifying everything it touches; and volcanic activity fertilising the earth's surface - Huw Cordey reveals to us new levels of this living world, a place populated with astonishing characters living remarkable lives. From Arctic wolves prowling moonlit landscapes or wood frogs, frozen in winter and magically thawing back to life, to flamingos flying thousands of miles to a vast volcanic lake in Africa to breed, we see time and again how animals are perfectly adapted to whatever the environment throws at them.Packed with over 250 full-colour images, and including a foreword by Alastair Fothergill and stills from the BBC series' spectacular footage, A Perfect Planet is a stunning exploration of life on Earth - life that is increasingly precious and rare.Pandora's Breeches: Women, Science and Power in the Enlightenment
By Patricia Fara. 2004
'Had God intended Women merely as a finer sort of cattle, he would not have made them reasonable.' Writing in…
1673, Bathsua Makin was one of the first women to insist that girls should receive a scientific education. Despite the efforts of Makin and her successors, women were excluded from universities until the end of the nineteenth century, yet they found other ways to participate in scientific projects.Taking a fresh look at history, Pandora's Breeches investigates how women contributed to scientific progress. As well as collaborating in home-based research, women corresponded with internationally-renowned scholars, hired tutors, published their own books and translated and simplified important texts, such as Newton's book on gravity. They played essential roles in work frequently attributed solely to their husbands, fathers or friends.Pain: A Ladybird Expert Book (The Ladybird Expert Series #39)
By Irene Tracey. 2020
PART OF THE ALL-NEW LADYBIRD EXPERT SERIES- What is pain and can we measure it?- What is chronic pain and…
can we treat it?- Can we make pain pleasant?UNDERSTAND the causes and the reasons for pain. This complex, subjective but vital perception is experienced by the entire animal kingdom. We may not enjoy feeling it, but living without pain would be dangerous - it is our body's way of telling us when something isn't right.YOUR BODY'S BUILT IN ALARM SYSTEMWritten by Professor of Anaesthetic Neuroscience at the University of Oxford, Irene Tracey, PAIN is an accessible and fascinating illustrated introduction to one of our body's most important sensory and emotional experiences.Out of the Desert: My Journey From Nomadic Bedouin to the Heart of Global Oil
By Ali Al-Naimi. 2016
The extraordinary memoir of global oil's former central bankerAli Al-Naimi is the former Saudi oil minister - and OPEC kingpin…
- a position he held for the two decades between August 1995 and May 2016. In this time, Al-Naimi's briefest utterances moved markets. But it wasn't always that way.Al-Naimi was born into abject poverty as a nomadic Bedouin in the 1930s, just as US companies were discovering vast quantities of oil under the baking Arabian deserts. From his first job as a shepherd boy, aged four, to his appointment to one of the most powerful political and economic jobs in the world, Out of the Desert charts Al-Naimi's extraordinary rise to power. Described by Alan Greenspan as 'the most powerful man you've never heard of', Al-Naimi's incredible journey proves that anyone can make it - even a poor Bedouin shepherd boy. This is his exclusive inside story of power, politics and oil.His Excellency Ali Ibrahim Al-Naimi is the former Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. One of the most powerful economic and political jobs in the world, he held this post from August 1995 to May 2016.Prior to that he held a wide range of leadership positions in the Kingdom's national oil company, Saudi Aramco. He was the first Saudi national to be named President of the company in 1984 and became the first Saudi CEO in 1988. Al-Naimi joined the company, then called Aramco, as an office boy in 1947. A Bedouin, he was born in the deserts of eastern Arabia in 1935.The Other Side of Happiness: Embracing a More Fearless Approach to Living
By Dr Brock Bastian. 2018
'Required reading ... Brock Bastian expertly picks apart the fundamental idea that humans thrive when they approach pleasure and avoid…
pain, explaining why hardship sometimes yields richer lives that are laden with meaning, deep social connections, and unexpected bliss' Adam Alter, author of Drunk Tank Pink In today's culture, happiness has become the new marker of success, while hardships are viewed as personal weaknesses, or problems to be fixed. We increasingly try to eradicate pain through medication and by insulating ourselves from risk and offence, despite being the safest generation to have ever lived. Yet in his research, renowned social psychologist Brock Bastian has found that suffering and sadness are neither antithetical to happiness nor incidental to it: they are a necessary ingredient for emotional well-being.Drawing on psychology, neuroscience and internationally acclaimed findings from Bastian's own lab, The Other Side of Happiness encourages us to take a more fearless approach to living. The most thrilling moments of our lives are often balanced on a knife edge between pleasure and pain, whether it is finding your true love, holding your new-born for the first time, finishing a marathon or even plunging into an icy sea. This is because pain and the threat of loss quite literally increase our capacity for happiness, as Bastian reveals, making us stronger, more resilient, more connected to other people and more attuned to what truly matters. Pain even makes us more mindful, since in our darkest moments we are especially focused and aware of the world around us. Our addiction to positivity and the pursuit of pleasure is actually making us miserable. Brock Bastian shows that, without some pain, we have no real way to achieve and appreciate the kind of happiness that is true and transcendent.With his revolutionary work The Origin of Species Charles Darwin overthrew contemporary beliefs about Divine Providence and the beginnings of…
life on earth. Written for the general public of the 1850s, it is a rigorously documented but highly readable account of the scientific theory that now lies at the root of our present attitude to the universe. Challenging notions such as the fixity of species with the idea of natural selection, and setting forth the results of pioneering work on the ecology of animals and plants, it made a lasting contribution to philosophical and scientific thought.