Rory Stewart's moving sparsely poetic account of his walk across Afghanistan in January 2002 has been immediately hailed as a classic Caught between hostile nations warring factions & competing ideologies at the time Afghanistan was in turmoil following the US invasion Travelling entirely on foot & following the inaccessible mountainous route once taken by the Mohgul Emperor Babur the Great Stewart was nearly defeated by the extreme hostile conditions Only due to the help of an unexpected companion & the generosity of the people he met on the way did he survive to report back with unique insight on a region closed to the world by twenty-four years of war ' This is traveling at its hardest & travel-writing at its best'
- David Gilmour 'an astonishing achievement a unique journey of great courage'
- Colin Thubron 'wise funny & marvelously humane'
- Michael Ignatieff 'this evocative book feels like a long lost relic of the great age of exploration'
- Guardian ' His encounters with Afghans are tragic touching & terrifying'
- Daily Telegraph




...

One of the most inspiring spiritual teachers of our time offers simple practical advice for living with less fear less anxiety & a more open heart Bought in a hotly contested auction The Places That Scare You is now available in massmarket taking Pema Choedroen 's spiritual teachings to a wider audience We always have a choice Pema Choedroen teaches we can either let the circumstances of our lives harden us & make us increasingly resentful & afraid or we can let them soften us & make us kind This unique book shows us how to awaken our basic goodness & connect to others In her lively contemporary voice Choedroen translates the wisdom of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition for the layperson Her wisdom cuts across all traditions & religions
- appealing to everyone from the Dalai Lama's followers to ordinary people trying to make sense of their lives This title has gone straight onto the bestseller lists in the USA where it has just been published Recently profiled in Oprah's O magazine Pema Choedroen is a spiritual teacher for anyone
- whether they have a spiritual path or not Her heartfelt advice & wisdom (developed in her 20 years of practice as a Tibetan Buddhist nun as well as her years previously as a normal housewife & mother') give her a wide appeal Particularly in these difficult times this advice strikes just the right note offering us comfort & challenging us to live deeply & contribute to creating a more loving world

...

I adore Meades's book I want more of his rule-breaking irreverence in my kitchen' New York Times The Plagiarist in the Kitchen is hilariously grumpy muttering at us Don't you bastards know anything? You can read it purely for literary pleasure but Jonathan Meades makes everything sound so delicious that the non-cook will be moved to cook & the bad cook will cook better' David Hare Guardian The Plagiarist in the Kitchen is an anti-cookbook Best known as a provocative novelist journalist & film-maker Jonathan Meades has also been called the best amateur chef in the world' by Marco Pierre White His contention here is that anyone who claims to have invented a dish is delusional dishonestly contributing to the myth of culinary originality Meades delivers a polemical but highly usable collection of 125 of his favourite recipes each one an example of the fine art of culinary plagiarism These are dishes & methods he has hijacked adapted enhanced upon & made his own Without assuming any special knowledge or skill the book is full of excellent advice He tells us why the British never got the hang of garlic That a purist would never dream of putting cheese in a Gratin Dauphinois That cooking brains in brown butter cannot be enhanced upon & why
- despite the advice of Martin Scorsese's mother
- he insists on frying his meatballs Adorned with his own abstract monochrome images (none of which illustrate' the stolen recipes they accompany) The Plagiarist in the Kitchen is a stylish object both useful & instructive In a world dominated by health fads food vloggers & over-priced kitchen gadgets it is timely reminder that when it comes to food it's almost always better to borrow than to invent

...

The Plague is Albert Camus's world-renowned fable of fear & courage The townspeople of Oran are in the grip of a deadly plague which condemns its victims to a swift & horrifying death Fear isolation & claustrophobia follow as they are forced into quarantine Each person responds in their own way to the lethal disease some resign themselves to fate some seek blame & a few like Dr Rieux resist the terror An immediate triumph when it was published in 1947 The Plague is in part an allegory of France's suffering under the Nazi occupation & a story of bravery & determination against the precariousness of human existence'A matchless fable of fear courage & cowardice' Independent' Magnificent' The Times Albert Camus was born in Algeria in 1913 He studied philosophy in Algiers & then worked in Paris as a journalist He was one of the intellectual leaders of the Resistance movement & after the War established his international reputation as a writer His books include The Plague The Just & The Fall & he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957 Camus was killed in a road accident in 1960 ...

The Plague by Albert Camus is an extraordinary odyssey into the darkness & absurdity of human existence' On the morning of April 16 Dr Rieux emerged from his consulting-room & came across a dead rat in the middle of the landing' It starts with the rats Vomiting blood they die in their hundreds then in their thousands When the rats are all gone the citizens begin to fall sick Like the rats they too die in ever greater numbers The authorities quarantine the town Cut off the terrified townspeople must face this horror alone Some resign themselves to death or the whims of fate Others seek someone to blame or dream of revenge One is determined to escape But a few like stoic Dr Rieux stand together to fight the terror A monstrous evil has entered their lives but they will never surrender to it They will resist the plague'A matchless fable of fear courage & cowardice' Independent Albert Camus was born in Algeria in 1913 He studied philosophy in Algiers & then worked in Paris as a journalist He was one of the intellectual leaders of the Resistance movement & after the War established his international reputation as a writer His books include The Plague The Just & The Fall & he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957 Camus was killed in a road accident in 1960 ...

When a letter arrives at Tradmouth police station addressed to a DCI Norbert it causes quite a stir For though DCI Norbert has long since moved on the letter claims to have evidence that the man convicted of murdering the Rev Shipbourne Vicar of Belsham during the course of a robbery in 1991 is innocent Despite having a full case load including investigating a series of vicious attacks on a local supermarket chain DI Wesley Peterson is forced to at least follow up on the letter writer's claims Meanwhile archaelologist Neil Watson is excavating as site in Pest Field near Belsham church He discovers a mass grave that leads him to conclude that the site
- earmarked for development
- is one of an ancient medieval plague pit But more disturbing is the discovery that the grave is home to a more recent resident

...

' Witty & amazing L C Tyler has a wicked sense of humour' M C Beaton 1665 & the Great Plague has London in its grip Where better then to hide a murdered man than among the corpses on their way to the Plague pit? When a supposed Plague victim is found with a knife in his back John Grey now a successful lawyer is called in to investigate The dead man was known to be carrying a compromising letter from the Duke of York to the French ambassador Now the letter has vanished & Secretary of State Lord Arlington wants it But Arlington is not the only one trying to recover the letter Somebody has killed once trying to obtain it
- & is prepared to kill again Grey must set off on a journey through Plague-ravaged England to fulfil his commission & keep himself safe from his enemies
- if the Plague doesn't get him first Praise for LC Tyler' Tyler juggles his characters story wit & clever one liners with perfect balance' The Times'A historical thriller but one written with tongue firmly in cheek Tyler is a witty writer & this third outing for Grey is great fun'
- Sunday Times' An exciting well-plotted & brilliantly witty historical mystery' For Winter Nights


...

A modern-day Bildungsroman The Plane Story follows young artist Kevin Sacco as he inches his way into the New York commercial art scene of the 1970s Along the way we are introduced to his Communist-turned-ad exec father a mother he never knew he had a cigarette-smoking guardian angel & a bevy of characters that all influence his fate The Plane Story tells the universal story of a young man with a dream as he encounters the world complicated realities ...

Please note this is a region 2 DVD & will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play Blu Planet& The Blue Planet& narrated by Sir David Attenborough is an epic new guide to the strange & spectacular denizens of our world’s vast oceans We know less about the oceans than we do about the surface of the moon yet the sea covers two-thirds of our planet From the familiar to the unknown The Blue Planet reveals the sea & its communities at their most fearsome & alluring The Blue Planet has taken 5 years to film by the BBC’s celebrated Natural History Unit Over the course of eight episodes it focuses on every type of marine landscape & The Blue Planet& chronicles the mysteries of the deep; coastline populations; sea mammals; tidal & climatic influences & the complete biological system that relies on & revolves around the world’s oceans All eight episodes of this incredible BBC television series are available in this triple-disc set Planet Earth The makers of The Blue Planet present the epic story of life on Earth Five years in production over 2000 days in the field using 40 cameramen filming across 200 locations this is the ultimate portrait of our planet A stunning television experience that combines rare action unimaginable scale impossible locations & intimate moments with our planet&s best-loved wildest & most elusive creatures From the highest mountains to the deepest rivers this blockbuster series takes you on an unforgettable journey through the challenging seasons & the daily struggle for survival in Earth&s most extreme habitats Using a budget of unprecedented proportions photography & unique specially developed filming techniques Planet Earth takes you to places you have never seen before to experience sights & sounds you may never experience again Frozen Planet Narrated by Sir David Attenborough & from the award-winning team behind Planet Earth & Blue Planet comes the ultimate portrait of the earth&s Polar regions The Arctic & Antarctic remain the greatest wildernesses on Earth The scale & beauty of the scenery & the sheer power of the elements
- the weather the ocean & the ice
- is unmatched anywhere else on our planet Yet these harsh environments are teeming with life home to iconic animals from polar bears to emperor penguins & from killer whales to wandering albatrosses Using the latest camera technology to film on land from the air underwater & below the ice caps Frozen Planet follows their fascinating lives throughout the seasons as they struggle to survive With spectacular polar landscapes & amazing animal behaviour often filmed for the first time it captures the drama of an extreme natural world With both Poles under grave threat from climate change this extraordinary series may be the last chance to witness these great wildernesses before they change forever

...

Twenty years ago the search for planets outside the Solar System was a job restricted to science-fiction writers Now it's one of the fastest-growing fields in astronomy with thousands of exoplanets discovered to date & the number is rising fast These new-found worlds are more alien than anything in fiction Planets larger than Jupiter with years lasting a week; others with two suns lighting their skies or with no sun at all Planets with diamond mantles supporting oceans of tar; possible Earth-sized worlds with split hemispheres of perpetual day & night; waterworlds drowning under global oceans & volcanic lava planets awash with seas of magma The discovery of this diversity is just the beginning There is a whole galaxy of possibilities The Planet Factory tells the story of these exoplanets Each planetary system is different but in the beginning most if not all young stars are circled by clouds of dust specks that come together in a violent building project that can form colossal worlds hundreds of times the size of the Earth The changing orbits of young planets risk dooming any life evolving on neighbouring worlds or alternatively can deliver the key ingredients needed to seed its beginnings Planet formation is one of the greatest construction schemes in the Universe & it occurred around nearly every star you see Each results in an alien landscape but is it possible that one of these could be like our own home world? ...