By tackling the most central ideas in chemistry Why Chemical Reactions Happen provides the reader with all the tools & concepts needed to think like a chemist The text takes a unified approach to the subject aiming to help the reader develop a real overview of chemical processes by avoiding the traditional divisions of physical inorganic & organic chemistry To understand how chemical reactions happen we need to know about the bonding in molecules how molecules interact what determines whether an interaction is favourable or not & what the outcome will be Answering these questions requires an understanding of topics from quantum mechanics through thermodynamics to curly arrows In this book all of these topics are presented in a coherent & coordinated fashion showing how each leads to a deeper understanding of chemical reactions ...

For more than a century from 1900 to 2006 campaigns of nonviolent resistance were more than twice as effective as their violent counterparts in achieving their stated goals By attracting impressive support from citizens whose activism takes the form of protests boycotts civil disobedience & other forms of nonviolent noncooperation these efforts help separate regimes from their main sources of power & produce remarkable results even in Iran Burma the Philippines & the Palestinian Territories Combining statistical analysis with case studies of specific countries & territories Erica Chenoweth & Maria J Stephan detail the factors enabling such campaigns to succeed & sometimes causing them to fail They find that nonviolent resistance presents fewer obstacles to moral & physical involvement & commitment & that higher levels of participation contribute to enhanced resilience greater opportunities for tactical innovation & civic disruption (and therefore less incentive for a regime to maintain its status quo) & shifts in loyalty among opponents' erstwhile supporters including members of the military establishment Chenoweth & Stephan conclude that successful nonviolent resistance ushers in more durable & internally peaceful democracies which are less likely to regress into civil war Presenting a rich evidentiary argument they originally & systematically compare violent & nonviolent outcomes in different historical periods & geographical contexts debunking the myth that violence occurs because of structural & environmental factors & that it is necessary to achieve certain political goals Instead the authors discover violent insurgency is rarely justifiable on strategic grounds ...

Few of us enjoy cleaning it often feels like a thankless repetitive task which we force ourselves to do Linda Thomas is an expert professional cleaner who ran her own ecological cleaning company for over twenty years In this unique book she explores her passion for cleaning & argues that cleaning can have a profound effect not just on the spaces we care for but on our own wellbeing & personal development This lively & readable book is full of anecdotes practical examples & ecological cleaning tips from Linda's decades of cleaning experience Ultimately she argues that if we raise our understanding of cleaning we might even begin to enjoy it! ...

Demography is not destiny As Giacomo Casanova explained over two centuries ago ' There is no such thing as destiny We ourselves shape our own lives' Today we are shaping them & our societies more than ever before Globally we have never had fewer children per adult our population is about to stabilize though we do not know when or at what number or what will happen after that It will be the result of billions of very private decisions influenced in turn by multiple events & policies some more unpredictable than others More people are moving further around the world than ever before we too often see that as frightening rather than as indicating greater freedom Similarly we too often lament greater ageing rather than recognizing it as a tremendous human achievement with numerous benefits to which we must adapt Demography comes to the fore most positively when we see that we have choices when we understand variation & when we are not deterministic in our prescriptions The study of demography has for too long been dominated by pessimism & inhuman simplistic accounting As this fascinating & persuasive overview demonstrates how we understand our demography needs to change again ...

For many people the crucifixion of Jesus by the Romans is just another tragic fact of history
- a cruel travesty of justice perhaps
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When a man plunges down a cliff two adventurous young friends decide to find his killer While playing an erratic round of golf Bobby Jones slices his ball over the edge of a cliff His ball is lost but on the rocks below he finds the crumpled body of a dying man With his final breath the man opens his eyes & says Why didn't they ask Evans?' Haunted by these words Bobby & his vivacious companion Frankie set out to solve a mystery that will bring them into mortal danger ...

What can long-dead dinosaurs teach us about our future? Plenty according to world-renowned paleontologist & recent star of BBC show The Day the Dinosaurs Died Dr Kenneth Lacovara who has discovered some of the largest creatures to ever walk the Earth including the super-massive Dreadnoughtus ' Majestic awe-inspiring & deeply humbling Kenneth Lacovara reveals how dinosaurs have changed how we understand time the world & ourselves' DR ALICE ROBERTS anatomist & anthropologist television presenter author & professor This is a dinosaur book with a difference In lyrical prose Kenneth Lacovara shows how an understanding of the past helps to understand the present The dinosaurs played no role in the great extinction that ended their era we on the other hand are playing a major part in the extinction that is taking place today & unless we change our ways if we continue destroying the natural world this will lead inevitably to our own extinction But unlike the dinosaurs we have the power to turn things around' DR JANE GOODALL DBE conservationist founder of the Jane Goodaal Institute & UN Messenger of Peace Kenneth Lacovara LOVES Dinosaurs LOVES science & truly LOVES telling you about it Few non-fiction writers wield words with more poetic & potent affection for their subject Ken's deep scholarship & clear enjoyment of his subject always makes ME feel smarter A man obsessed not just with his subject matter but with showing us how looking into our deep past can illuminate our future' ADAM SAVAGE of THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL By tapping into the wonder that dinosaurs inspire Dr Lacovara weaves together the stories of our geological awakening of humanity's epic struggle to understand the nature of deep time the meaning of fossils & our own place on the vast & bountiful tree of life Go on a journey back to when dinosaurs ruled the Earth to discover how dinosaurs achieved feats unparalleled by any other group of animals Learn the secrets of how paleontologists find fossils & explore quirky but fascinating questions such as Is a penguin a dinosaur? How are the tiny arms of T rex the key to its power & ferocity? In this revealing book Dr Lacovara offers the latest ideas about the shocking & calamitous death of the dinosaurs & ties their vulnerabilities to our own Why Dinosaurs Matter is compelling & engaging
- a reminder that our place on this planet is both precarious & potentially fleeting As we move into an uncertain environmental future it has never been more important to understand the past
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With a foreword by Tim Rice this book will change the way you see the world Why is it better to buy a lottery ticket on a Friday? Why are showers always too hot or too cold? & what's the connection between a rugby player taking a conversion & a tourist trying to get the best photograph of Nelson's Column? These & many other fascinating questions are answered in this entertaining & highly informative book which is ideal for anyone wanting to remind themselves
- or discover for the first time
- that maths is relevant to almost everything we do Dating cooking travelling by car gambling & even life-saving techniques have links with intriguing mathematical problems as you will find explained here Whether you have a Ph D in astrophysics or haven't touched a maths problem since your school days this book will give you a fresh understanding of the world around you

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Why do you need food & what happens to it inside your body? Which foods give you energy & which ones make you fit & strong? In this book you can explore your amazing insides & discover all kinds of fantastic food facts Usborne Beginners are colourful information books for children beginning to read on their own ...

Why Do We Remember? The Great Fire of London describes the catastrophic fire that laid waste to much of London in September 1666 It explores how we know about the fire from popular songs to diaries & looks at how it led directly to the renaissance of London This simple friendly children's first history series aimed at readers aged 5 & up takes a close look at some key events & personalities through history & reveals how & why they are still important to us today A perfect support to learning about history at Key Stage 1 each book uses a rich variety of historical sources from diaries to paintings to bring events to life while simple historical vocabulary is introduced & explained Each book also features a simple timeline & explores how we find about the past All text has been carefully checked by a historian ...