The New York Times bestseller' Silicon Valley needed a history lesson & Ferguson has provided it' Eric Schmidt What if everything we thought we knew about history was wrong? From Niall Ferguson the global bestselling author of Empire The Ascent of Money & Civilization this is a whole new way of imagining the world Most history is hierarchical it's about popes presidents & prime ministers But what if that's simply because they create the historical archives? What if we are missing equally powerful but less visible networks
- leaving them to the conspiracy theorists with their dreams of all-powerful Illuminati? The twenty-first century has been hailed as the Networked Age But in The Square & the Tower Niall Ferguson argues that social networks are nothing new From the printers & preachers who made the Reformation to the freemasons who led the American Revolution it was the networkers who disrupted the old order of popes & kings Far from being novel our era is the Second Networked Age with the computer in the role of the printing press Once we understand this both the past & the future start to look very different indeed' Ambitious & illuminating the historian who more than most connects our age to its past' Evening Standard Books of the Year' Captivating & compelling' The New York Times' Niall Ferguson has again written a brilliant book In 400 pages you will have restocked your mind Do it' Wall Street Journal
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Historians love to write about rulers--kings emperors presidents--or about vast social forces--migration industrialisation--but what if they are all missing the point? Thinking about our own lives isn't it clear that what makes the world go round are families colleagues teams associations in other words networks? Many old Italian towns have the same central structure a large square where people gather & a tower where the town's elite ruled from Throughout history you can express the battle between the two as a battle of networks
- who knows who who works with who guilds families fellowships clans cabals all cooperating to make sometimes huge changes Sometimes the power lies with those lurking in the tower & sometimes with those in the square Access to information to credit to ideas to news
- all constantly shift Whether in the Renaissance or in the present day what makes the world work is an astonishing tangle of networks
- & this was as true for the effort that went into discovering the New World as it is now for fighting elections or just talking to friends online In his enormously enjoyable new book Niall Ferguson celebrates the myriad ways in which the battle between rival networks makes history happen


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Set between 1989 & the downfall of Ceausescu & 2013 The Squeeze travels between Edinburgh Romania & Oslo & sees this -multi-award-winning & bestselling author at the height of her powers Marta a teenager trafficked from Romania in the early 1990s is forced to work as a prostitute in Edinburgh Mats a Norwegian businessman who longs only to be a good husband & father becomes involved with Marta & both their lives are wrenched
- for good or ill
- in new directions Told in a splintered narrative style that allows glimpses into several points of view The Squeeze explores the transactions that take place between men & women Sex money & the desire for love are at its heart

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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 A retired safecracker living in Mexico is lured back to New York City for one last job Unfortunately the promised heist is in fact a double cross putting him in danger Actors Lee Van Cleef Karen Black Directors Anthony Dawson Language English Number of discs 1 ...

Please note this is a region 2 DVD & will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play Based on the true childhood experiences of Noah Baumbach & his brother The Squid & the Whale tells the touching story of two young boys dealing with their parents& divorce in Brooklyn in the 1980s In his third feature director Noah Baumbach scores a triumph with an autobiographical coming-of-age story about a teenager whose writer-parents are divorcing The father (Jeff Daniels) & mother (Laura Linney) duke it out in half-civilized half-savage fashion while their two sons adapt in different ways shifting allegiances between parents The film is squirmy-funny & nakedly honest about the rationalizations & compensatory snobbisms of artistic failure as well as the conflicted desires of adolescents for sex & status In detailing bohemian-bourgeois life in brownstone Brooklyn Baumbach is spot on Everyone proceeds from good intentions & acts rather badly in spite or because of their manifest intelligence Fulfilling the best traditions of the American independent film this quirky wisely written feature explores the gulf between sexes generations art & commerce Brooklyn & Manhattan ...

Please note this is a region 2 DVD & will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play Rising Damp creator Eric Chappell&s 22 years as a travelling auditor gave him an unequalled opportunity to observe offices & their inhabitants at close quarters & this hit sitcom
- created & written by Chappell with additional scripts by Phil Redmond & Kenneth Cope among others
- wryly explores the perils of the mid-seventies office environment A tyrannical boss unchecked male chauvinism pranks malingering & in-fighting are among the workplace hazards for the staff of the accounts department of International Rentals with Bernard Hepton Ken Jones & Patsy Rowlands featuring in the line-up of a frustrated & occasionally rebellious team (and wife!) Guest stars include Philip Madoc Leslie Schofield & Alun Armstrong This set contains all 22 existing episodes (out of 29) Scripts for some of the missing episodes are included in PDF format on disc one Actors Bernard Hepton Ken Jones Patsy Rowlands Alan David Ellis Jones & Karin Mac Carthy Certificate 12 years & over Year 1974
- 1976 Screen 1331 Languages English Duration 9 hours & 10 minutes (approx)


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Two greedy squirrels learn to share in the third hilarious rhyming adventure from the bestselling creators of THE LION INSIDEGreedy squirrels Cyril & Bruce both have their sights on a very special prize THE VERY LAST NUT OF THE SEASON! As the nut bounces crazily though the forest the squirrels race after it between the trees over boulders down the river &
- ARGH!
- right to the edge of a waterfall! Working together might be the only way to save themselves now A laugh-out-loud tale about friendship & sharing from the bestselling creators of THE LION INSIDE & THE KOALA WHO COULD Perfect for competitive friends & sibling rivals! Praise for THE LION INSIDE'A heartfelt message delightfully conveyed' Parents in Touch 'A delight to read over & over again' WRD' Captivating' Books for Keeps ' Will easily win over readers' The Book List' Field is on top form offering so many imaginative framings & irreverent characterizations that readers will feel carried along by his visual & comedic generosity' Publishers Weekly ' Brilliant had me in hoots of laughter' The Bookbag

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Two greedy squirrels learn to share in the third hilarious rhyming adventure from the bestselling creators of The Lion Inside & The Koala Who Could Greedy squirrels Cyril & Bruce both have their sights on a very special prize THE VERY LAST NUT OF THE SEASON! As the nut bounces crazily though the forest the squirrels race after it between the trees over boulders down the river &
- ARGH!
- right to the edge of a waterfall! Working together might be the only way to save themselves now A laugh-out-loud tale about friendship & sharing from the award-winning creators of The Lion Inside & The Koala Who Could Perfect for competitive friends & sibling rivals! Praise for The Lion Inside'A heartfelt message delightfully conveyed' Parents in Touch 'A delight to read over & over again' WRD' Captivating' Books for Keeps ' Will easily win over readers' The Book List' Field is on top form offering so many imaginative framings & irreverent characterizations that readers will feel carried along by his visual & comedic generosity' Publishers Weekly ' Brilliant had me in hoots of laughter' The Bookbag Praise for The Koala Who Could' Fabulous rhymes I'm in love with Kevin & would like to buy this for all my friends' children' Claudia Winkleman

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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 The Belles Of St Trinians Joyce Grenfell takes the lead as a clumsy young police sergeant gone undercover to investigate the dubious goings on at Millicent Fritton&s establishment for young ladies which turn out to include the use of a chemistry lab as a liquor distillery & low tactics on the hockey field which are rather less than jolly! (Dir Frank Launder 1954) Blue Murder At St Trinians The anarchic schoolgirls head to Rome having won a UNESCO prize trip where they become unwittingly involved with a jewel thief (Dir Frank Launder 1957) The Pure Hell Of St Trinians Those outrageous St Trinians girls are back with a vengeance in the second sequel of anarchy & chaos A rich Arab Sheikh visits the school hunting for gym-slipped recruits for his harem which might explain the sudden interest in geography lessons However he doesn&t know what he&s let himself in for! (Dir Frank Launder 1960) The Great St Trinians Train Robbery A bunch of criminals infiltrate the school & plan to use the dubious educational establishment to stash the loot But the train robbers fall foul of the schoolgirls & their need to have a good time causing havoc! (Dir Sidney Gilliat Frank Launder Colour 1966) Actors Terry-Thomas Alastair Sim Joan Sims George Cole Cecil Parker Joyce Grenfell Thorley Walters Irene Handl Dennis Price Sid James John Le Mesurier Frankie Howerd Dora Bryan Reg Varney & Terry Scott Director Frank Launder & Sidney Gilliat Certificate Universal Suitable for All Screen Fullscreen 43 Languages English
- Dolby Digital (10) Mono Duration 5 hours 51 minutes (approx)
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A comprehensive political & design theory of planetary-scale computation proposing that The Stack -- an accidental megastructure -- is both a technological apparatus & a model for a new geopolitical architecture What has planetary-scale computation done to our geopolitical realities? It takes different forms at different scales -- from energy & mineral sourcing & subterranean cloud infrastructure to urban software & massive universal addressing systems; from interfaces drawn by the augmentation of the hand & eye to users identified by self -- quantification & the arrival of legions of sensors algorithms & robots Together how do these distort & deform modern political geographies & produce new territories in their own image? In The Stack Benjamin Bratton proposes that these different genres of computation -- smart grids cloud platforms mobile apps smart cities the Internet of Things automation -- can be seen not as so many species evolving on their own but as forming a coherent whole an accidental megastructure called The Stack that is both a computational apparatus & a new governing architecture We are inside The Stack & it is inside of us In an account that is both theoretical & technical drawing on political philosophy architectural theory & software studies Bratton explores six layers of The Stack Earth Cloud City Address Interface User Each is mapped on its own terms & understood as a component within the larger whole built from hard & soft systems intermingling -- not only computational forms but also social human & physical forces This model informed by the logic of the multilayered structure of protocol "stacks" in which network technologies operate within a modular & vertical order offers a comprehensive image of our emerging infrastructure & a platform for its ongoing reinvention The Stack is an interdisciplinary design brief for a new geopolitics that works with & for planetary-scale computation Interweaving the continental urban & perceptual scales it shows how we can better build dwell within communicate with & govern our worldsthestackorg ...