In the centuries since Descartes famously proclaimed, 'I think, therefore I am, ' science has often overlooked emotions as the source of a person's true being. Even modern neuroscience has tended until recently to concentrate on the cognitive aspects of brain function, disregarding emotions. This attitude began to change with the publication of Descartes' Error. Antonio Damasio challenged traditional ideas about the connection between emotions & rationality. In this wonderfully engaging book, Damasio takes the reader on a journey of scientific discovery through a series of case studies, demonstrating what many of us have long suspected: emotions are not a luxury, they are essential to rational thinking & to normal social behaviour. ...

This wonderfully acute & unsettling novel charts the trajectory of a woman's life & a couple's relationship during the last decade of the 20th century. Against a backdrop of the seismic nineties, & framed by two air disasters (Lockerbie late 1988 & the twin towers 9/11 2001), it's the story of Genevieve, psychiatric nurse, wife, mother, daughter, who's trying to keep a whole lot of stuff airborne while things fall apart, inside & out. Her husband is a filmmaker, usually absent, at first on small-budget art films (The Snow Queen) in out of the way places. But his career takes off, & suddenly he's making big budget star-vehicle movies (still The Snow Queen) in exotic locations. While her life narrows (babies, breastfeeding, builders), his expands: this is her narrative, addressed to him, trying to make sense of their lives & the forces
- external & internal, family history & genetics, ambition & domesticity
- which pull them apart. Her work, which drives her nuts but keeps her sane, her anarchic friend & colleague Sid, & the sad, crazed women in her charge provide a hilarious, heartbreaking backdrop to a world going off the rails. Unputdownable, funny & sad, Descent marks the arrival of a talented new novelist.

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Famous for its eloquent stating of the simple truths that are often overlooked in the busyness of everyday life, Desiderata (Latin for 'things to be desired') contains a timeless message of faith, hope & charity. The poem was actually written by American Max Ehrmann in 1927, but achieved its greatest fame as the anthem of Sixties' hippie-dom
- becoming the subject of many millions of posters. Over the years, Desiderata has provided a kind & gentle philosophy, a refreshing perspective on life's bigger picture. This beautifully produced new presentation of the poem will bring it to the attention of a whole new audience, appealing both to a younger generation looking to find more meaning in life as well as to baby-boomers who recall it from their youth.
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Sixteen-year-old Walker has accidentally discvered that two female classmates are lovers. When a rabid evangelical preacher arrives in their town, a witch-hunt is launched against gay students & Walker, for some reason, is the prime target. Walker knows the quickest way to divert the attention would be to give away the girls' secret
- but should he sacrifice their peace of mind for his? A powerful, unusual & thought-provoking read from an award-winning author.
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Award-winning writer & journalist Kenny Kemp goes in search of the paying passengers who will make history on the first commercial flight into space. They will be able to experience weightlessness, witness the curvature of the Earth & have a unique view of the Universe seen only by astronauts. Detailing their arduous training & how their bodies will be affected in space, to the science, business & politics behind this incredible breakthrough, Destination Space describes just the beginning of an amazing adventure... ...

Three months after returning to Engl&, Christopher Burton, receives a phone-call at the reception desk of the Rembrandt Hotel, Knightsbridge that informs him of his son's suicide. But why on receiving this terrible news, does Burton immediately decide that he must leave his Italian wife of thirty years standing? Why does he find it so difficult to focus on his grief for his son? Intensely dramatic, dark &, against all odds, hilariously funny, DESTINY is a satisfying story & a profound meditation on marriage & identity. Parks gives us a frightening experience of what it means to tread the narrow line between sanity & psychosis. ...

Soem three months after returning to Engl&, & having at last completed that collection of material that, once assembled in a book, must serve to transform a respectable career into a monument -something so comprehensive & final, this was my plan, as to be utterly irreftuable
- I received, while standing as chance would have it at the reception desk of the Rembrandt Hotel, Knightsbridge, the phonecal that informed me of my son's suicide. Thus the opening sentence of Tim Park's tenth novel. But why, on receiving this terrible news, does Christopher Burton immediately decide that he must leave his Italian wife of almost thirty years standing? Why does he find it so difficult to focus on his grief for his son? Burton feels his pious, raffish & mercurial wife gave him his life in Italy & his career as the foremost journalist on Italian affairs. But surely she ia also the person who has made life impossible for him. Was their son somehow a victim of their explosive love & hate? Or is that thought simply the expression of a deep paranoia?
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