Sunday Times bestselling author Caroline Taggart brings her usual gently humorous approach to punctuation pointing out what really matters & what doesn't In Roman times blocks of text were commonly written just as blocks without even wordspacingnevermindpunctuation to help the reader to interpret them Orators using such texts as notes for a speech would prepare carefully so that they were familiar with the content & didn't come a cropper over a confusion between say therapists & the rapists As we entered the Christian era & sacred texts were widely read (by priests if not by the rest of us) it became ever more important to remove any likelihood of misinterpretation To a potential murderer or adulterer for example there is a world of difference between ' If you are tempted yield not resisting the urge to commit a sin' & ' If you are tempted yield not resisting the urge to commit a sin' & the only surface difference is the positioning of a comma So yes you SMS-addicts & 'let it all hang out' Sixties children punctuation does matter & contrary to what people who tear their hair out over apostrophes believe it is there to help
- to clarify meaning to convey emphasis to indicate that you are asking a question or"ing someone else's words It also comes in handy for telling your reader when to pause for breath Caroline Taggart who has made a name for herself expounding on the subjects of grammar usage & words generally (and who for decades made her living putting in the commas in other people's work) takes her usual gently humorous approach to punctuation She points out what matters & what doesn't; why using six exclamation marks where one will do is perfectly OK in a text but will lose you marks at school; why hang glider pilots in training really need a hyphen; & how throwing in the odd semicolon will impress your friends Sometimes opinionated but never dogmatic she is an ideal guide to the (perceived) minefield that is punctuation
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A new hilarious book from author Tom Mc Laughlin creator of the highly-acclaimed The Accidental Prime Minister Funny by Name Funny by Nature Jasper Spam is mad about science the problem is that all of his experiments tend to end in a BANG until one day quite accidentally Jasper manages to invent something that will change the world forever One crazy experiment involving a shed a mallet & a poorly aimed laser beam results in Jasper's cat Rover becoming the world's first talking cat Finally an invention that works
- the Cat Chat 2000! Soon people are handing over all of their cash to get a talking cat With his new found wealth Jasper can finally live the life he's always dreamed of
- buying a mansion sports team & producing a Hollywood blockbuster But is there a huge price to pay for bringing talking cats to the world & money won't be able to solve the problem that the Cat Chat 2000 has caused

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The Accidental is Ali Smith's dazzling novel about a family holiday & a stranger who upends it Arresting & wonderful The Accidental pans in on the Norfolk holiday home of the Smart family one hot summer There a beguiling stranger called Amber appears at the door bearing all sorts of unexpected gifts trampling over family boundaries & sending each of the Smarts scurrying from the dark into the light A novel about the ways that seemingly chance encounters irrevocably transform our understanding of ourselves The Accidental explores the nature of truth the role of fate & the power of storytelling'A beguiling page-turner a brilliant creation To read The Accidental is to be excited from first to last' Independent' Joyous a shot across the bows writing as rapture as giddy delight' The Times' Brilliant & engaging frequently hilarious Smith makes one look at the world afresh' Sunday Telegraph ...

Heroes are often defined as ordinary characters who find themselves facing extraordinary circumstances & through courage & a dash of luck cement their place in history Chosen as President Roosevelt's fourth term Vice President for his admired work ethic good judgement & lack of enemies Harry S Truman was the prototypical ordinary man from small-town America That is until he was thrust in over his head following the sudden death of Roosevelt With the world still caught up in the inferno of the Second World War Truman found himself playing the roles of both judge & jury during the founding of the UN the Potsdam Conference the Manhattan Project the German surrender the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps & the decision to drop the Bomb & bring the war to the end Tightly focused meticulously researched & thrillingly told A J Baime's The Accidental President takes readers into the situation room with Truman during these tumultuous history-making few months
- one hundred & twenty days when the stakes were high & the challenges even higher
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The remarkable story of President Harry Truman's first four months in office when this unlikely small-town Washington outsider had to take on Germany Japan Stalin & the atomic bomb with the fate of the world hanging in the balance
- one of the most extraordinary challenges in American presidential history Heroes are often defined as ordinary characters who find themselves facing extraordinary circumstances & through courage & a dash of luck cement their place in history Chosen as President Roosevelt's fourth term Vice President for his admired work ethic good judgement & lack of enemies Harry S Truman was the prototypical ordinary man from small-town America That is until he was thrust in over his head following the sudden death of Roosevelt With the world still caught up in the inferno of the Second World War Truman found himself playing the roles of both judge & jury during the founding of the UN the Potsdam Conference the Manhattan Project the German surrender the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps & the decision to drop the Bomb & bring the war to the end Tightly focused meticulously researched & drawing on documentation not available to previous biographers The Accidental President escorts readers into the situation room with Truman during this tumultuous history-making four months
- when the stakes were high & the challenges even higher

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Have you ever wondered how the ideas for some things come about? Surprisingly it is often as much down to chance as a single person's brilliance The Accidental Scientist explores the role of chance & error in scientific medical & commercial innovation outlining exactly how some of the most well-known products gadgets & useful gizmos came to be Encompassing everything from DNA profiling to fingerprinting & TNT to the telephone this book explores many of the discoveries that we are all so familiar with today yet have the most interesting origins because of the story behind them Not all discoveries require brilliance & as The Accidental Scientist demonstrates sometimes a special ingredient is needed luck ...

Schoolboy turns secret agent in this hilarious spy spoof! Before you read this I want you to carefully check that no-one is reading over your shoulder
- go ahead do it now First off that was terrible
- really obvious If I'm going to tell you top secret government information you're going to have to be a bit more stealthy Try again Was anyone looking? No? Right then I'll begin This year the secret service made a major mix up they mistook a 13-year-old boy called Kevin for a secret agent (I know so much for an 'intelligence' agency) This was the sort of kid that would try & zip wire across a building & end up falling head first into a fountain with his bum on show so can you imagine what happened when he was allowed access to the amazing sort of spy gadgets that James Bond would use? Despite this it was up to Kevin to save us all from an evil supervillain It was the most dangerous daring mission in the history of the secret service & also its biggest blunder This top secret book uncovers the entire story of Kevin's fateful & hilarious mission

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Please note this is a region 2 DVD & will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play Jackie Chan is Bei a less-than-successful exercise equipment salesman who yearns for excitement in his life One day Bei follows his instincts & trails two suspicious men into action & foils their plans The resulting publicity from Bei&s heroism brings him to the attention of a private investigator who informs him that he is actually the long-lost son of a wealthy businessman! Actors Jackie Chan Eric Tsang Vivian Hsu Kim Min-jeong & Wu Hsing-kuu Director Teddy Chan Certificate 12 years & over Year 2001 Screen Widescreen 2351 Anamorphic Languages English
- Dolby Digital (51) Duration 1 hour & 25 minutes (approx)
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Winner of the Scottish Children's Book Award 2013 Younger Readers (8-11 years) category One ordinary day Saul is on his way to the corner shop when a girl appears suddenly in the middle of the road She doesn't understand traffic or the things in shops & she's wearing a long dress with ruffled sleeves Her name is Agatha Black Agatha Black is from 1812 & Saul needs to find a way to get her back there With help from his mates Will & Robbie he tries to work out how to make time travel happen This pacy time-travelling adventure from Janis Mackay author of the Magnus Fin series is full of funny misunderstandings & gripping action ...

When Simon Rimmer bought a small vegetarian restaurant he had no idea how to cook Armed with two cookbooks & heaps of enthusiasm he & a friend created the best vegetarian restaurant in Manchester famous for its unusual food & lovely atmosphere A confirmed meat eater Simon had to rethink his cooking & has created vegetarian recipes to please even the most dedicated carnivore This book is a collection of some of his recipes that are quick to prepare but totally delicious From good old favourites like macaroni cheese to Simon's more exotic fusion creations such as spicy beetroot & coconut soup The Accidental Vegetarian will kill the lentil & sandal image of vegetarianism forever! ...