A funny philosophical book about the universal subject of money by award-winning non-fiction writer Martin Jenkins A funny philosophical look at the universal subject of money by award-winning non-fiction writer Martin Jenkins illustrated by Satoshi Kitamura In the Yap Islands in the South Pacific money can be a stone with a hole in the middle It can be a string of shells a bundle of cloth or a copper slab It's the stuff that makes the world go round & doesn't grow on trees In this fascinating & thought-provoking book Martin Jenkins explores the history of money from its earliest beginnings to the electronic banking of today Along the way we learn about hunter gatherers barter clay tablets goat swapping precious metals hard bargains IOUs interest coins Romans taxes inflation paper money currencies & exchange rates Satoshi Kitamura's quirky satirical drawings perfectly complement the dry humour of the text & in the end we are reminded that money only exists because we believe in it ...

Accompanies BBC2's major new TV series & The Story of Music in 50 Pieces on Radio 3 In his dynamic tour through 40000 years of music from prehistoric instruments to modern-day pop Howard Goodall leads us through the story of music as it happened idea by idea so that each musical innovation
- harmony notation sung theatre the orchestra dance music recording broadcasting
- strikes us with its original force He focuses on what changed when & why picking out the discoveries that revolutionised man-made sound & bringing to life musical visionaries from the little-known Perotin to the colossus of Wagner Along the way he also gives refreshingly clear descriptions of what music is & how it works what scales are all about why some chords sound discordant & what all post-war pop songs have in common

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Gustavo ' Highway' Sanchez is a man with a mission he is planning to replace every last one of his unsightly teeth He has a few skills that might help him on his way he can imitate Janis Joplin after two rums he can interpret Chinese fortune cookies he can stand an egg upright on a table & he can float on his back & of course he is the world's best auction caller
- although other people might not realise this because he is by nature very discreet Studying auctioneering under Grandmaster Oklahoma & the famous country singer Leroy Van Dyke Highway travels the world amassing his collection of ' Collectibles' & perfecting his own specialty the allegoric auction In his quest for a perfect set of pearly whites he finds unusual ways to raise the funds culminating in the sale of the jewels of his collection the teeth of the 'notorious infamous'
- Plato Petrarch Chesterton Virginia Woolf et al Written with elegance wit & exhilarating boldness Valeria Luiselli takes us on an idiosyncratic & hugely enjoyable journey that offers an insightful meditation on value worth & creation & the points at which they overlap

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This Ladybird Book about the story of Napoleon is a gem from the Ladybird vintage archive First published in 1968 this is a classic Ladybird hardback book packed with information about one of the most famous soldiers in history This new edition published alongside the Story of Nelson two hundred years after the Battle of Waterloo is exactly the same as the original with a dust jacket & beautifully reproduced images The story of Napoleon is told dramatically by L du Garde Peach & his adventures are wonderfully illustrated throughout the book ...

Nelson was a young South African with a reputation for trouble-making Who would have thought he would one day lead his people to freedom? 128 pages Hadland Adrian ...

Four friends Twenty years One powerful secret There are certain dates on which you'll always remember where you were The day Princess Diana died 911 The London 2012 opening ceremony The same is true for Sophie Emily Amy & Melissa who have been best friends since they met twenty years ago As history has moved on around them they have seen each other through everything From Sophie's secret fear that she doesn't actually want to be a mother despite having two kids to Amy's perfect-on-the-outside-abusive-on-the inside marriage to Melissa's spiralling alcoholism & Emily's single motherhood But could a lie that spans just as long tear them apart? A moving unputdownable novel about four incredible friendships & the stories we all share The Story of Our Lives is a treat for fans of The Versions of Us & One Day A moving unputdownable novel about four ...

Everyone knows what is feels like to be in pain Scraped knees toothaches migraines giving birth cancer heart attacks & heartaches pain permeates our entire lives We also witness other people
- loved ones
- suffering & we 'feel with' them It is easy to assume this is the end of the story 'pain-is-pain-is-pain' & that is all there is to say But it is not In fact the way in which people respond to what they describe as 'painful' has changed considerably over time In the eighteenth & nineteenth centuries for example people believed that pain served a specific (and positive) function
- it was a message from God or Nature; it would perfect the spirit ' Suffer in this life & you wouldn't suffer in the next one' Submission to pain was required Nothing could be more removed from twentieth & twenty-first century understandings where pain is regarded as an unremitting evil to be 'fought' Focusing on the English-speaking world this book tells the story of pain since the eighteenth century addressing fundamental questions about the experience & nature of suffering over the last three centuries How have those in pain interpreted their suffering
- & how have these interpretations changed over time? How have people learnt to conduct themselves when suffering? How do friends & family react? & what about medical professionals should they immerse themselves in the suffering person or is the best response a kind of professional detachment? As Joanna Bourke shows in this fascinating investigation people have come up with many different answers to these questions over time & a history of pain can tell us a great deal about how we might respond to our own suffering in the present
- & just as importantly to the suffering of those around us




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This is a lively re-telling of the Greek myth in which Pegasus the flying horse helps hero Bellerophon to defeat a fire-breathing monster This is a new title in Young Reading Series One Part of the Usborne Reading Programme Series One has short stories that are full of excitement aimed at children who are starting to read on their own ...

The Story of Philosophy is the ultimate exploration of 2500 years of Western philosophy From the Ancient Greeks to modern thinkers The Story of Philosophy brings a stunning & simple approach to tackle history's biggest ideas Professor Bryan Magee takes you from the origins of philosophy to the present day from Plato to Popper & into the future This essential guide is fully updated to include thoughts on our modern society exploring science & democracy & posing the question where do we go from here? Celebrate the world's most revolutionary concepts & understand how these ideas continue to shape our world Develop your own perspectives & explore relevant issues such as modern logic & religion with this wonderfully comprehensive illustrated guide In a world of evolving ideas The Story of Philosophy is a fantastic resource to revisit again & again Previous edition ISBN 9781405353335 ...

In The Story of Post-Modernism Charles Jencks the authority on Post-Modern architecture & culture provides the defining account of Post-Modern architecture from its earliest roots in the early 60s to the present day By breaking the narrative into seven distinct chapters which are both chronological & overlapping Jencks charts the ebb & flow of the movement the peaks & troughs of different ideas & themes The book is highly visual As well as providing a chronological account of the movement each chapter also has a special feature on the major works of a given period The first up-to-date narrative of Post-Modern Architecture
- other major books on the subject were written 20 years ago An accessible narrative that will appeal to students who are new to the subject as well as those who can remember its heyday in the 70s & 80s
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