The television chat-show host Clive Anderson visits four areas of the world which have become symbols of hell on earth. His brief is to explore this definition & to establish whether it is a fair one, or simply the product of British tabloid misconceptions. As Beirut seeks to recover from 17 years of war & 100, 000 deaths, how will its people cope with rebuilding their lives? In Calcutta, Anderson witnesses the poverty of the slums as well as the rich remnants of the Raj at the smartest cocktail parties. His investigations in Lagos are obstructed by crime, corruption & chaos. & in the Bronx he encounters several industries thriving off the back of New York's borough of crime. ...

If you think you know Irel&, this book will make you think again. Each year on St Patrick`s Day the eighty million people around the world claiming Irish ancestry celebrate their spiritual homel&. Millions more don leprechaun hats & swallow pints of Guinness in an annual global high-fiving of all things Irish. Charlie Connelly was one of them. As a Londoner claiming Irish roots he thought he knew what Ireland was all about. Then, when he was least expecting it, he went to live there. Our Man In Hibernia follows Charlie`s adventures living among the Irish. In an engaging & frequently hilarious tale
- we learn how a tree stump can draw legions of visitors from across the land & why being on a pig`s back is a desirable thing
- Charlie contrasts the cliched shamrock-strewn image with the reality of life in modern Irel&.

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2003: As Croatia lurches from socialism into globalized capitalism, Toni, a cocky journalist in Zagreb, struggles to balance his fragile career, pushy family, & hotheaded girlfriend. But in a moment of vulnerability he makes a mistake: volunteering his unhinged Arabic-speaking cousin Boris to report on the Iraq War. Boris begins filing Gonzo missives from the conflict zone & Toni decides it is better to secretly rewrite his cousin`s increasingly incoherent ramblings than face up to the truth. But when Boris goes missing, Toni`s own sense of reality
- & reliability
- begins to unravel. Our Man In Iraq, the first of Robert Perisic`s novels to be translated into English, serves as an unforgettable introduction to a vibrant voice from Croatia. With his characteristic humor & insight, Perisic gets to the heart of life made & remade by war.

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Since 1997 John Lichfield, The Independents correspondent in France, has been sending dispatches back to the newspaper in London. More than transient news stories, the popular Our Man in Paris series consists of essays on all things French. Sometimes serious, at other times light-hearted, they offer varied vignettes of life in the hexagone & trace the authors evolving relationship with his adopted country. ...

In Our Mathematical Universe, Max Tegmark, one of the most original physicists at work today, leads us on an astonishing journey to explore the mysteries uncovered by cosmology & to discover the nature of reality. Part-history of the cosmos, part-intellectual adventure, Our Mathematical Universe travels from the Big Bang to the distant future via parallel worlds, across every possible scale
- from the sub-atomic to the intergalactic
- showing how mathematics provides the answers to our questions about the world. Where do we come from? What makes the universe the way it is? In essence, why are we here? With dazzling clarity, Max Tegmark ponders these deep mysteries & allows us to grasp the most cutting-edge & mind-boggling theories of physics. What he proposes is an elegant & fascinating idea: that our physical world not only is described by mathematics, but that it is mathematics. ” Our Mathematical Universe is nothing if not impressive. Brilliantly argued & beautifully written, it is never less than thought-provoking about the greatest mysteries of our existence”. (New York Times). ” An amazing ride through the rich landscape of contemporary cosmology... Physics could do with more characters like Tegmark.. .an imaginative intellect & a charismatic presence”. (Clive Cookson, Financial Times Max). Tegmark is author or co-author of more than 200 technical papers, twelve of which have been cited more than 500 times. He has featured in dozens of science documentaries, & his work with the SDSS collaboration on galaxy clustering shared the first prize in Science magazine`s ” Breakthrough of the Year: 2003”. He holds a Ph.D from the University of California, Berkeley, & is a physics professor at MIT.

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Two weeks, the two of us, nine million Parisians, no contest... This delightful & compelling account of one couple`s attempt to buy their dream flat in Paris is a perfect summer read. Paris has seduced many, but for Ellie Nielsen it`s true love. So deep is her infatuation that, if she can`t have it all to herself she simply has to buy her own little piece of it. The object of her desire seems so simple: the sort of apartment she`s seen a thousand times in magazines & books. Something effortlessly charming, & old, & quirky
- & beautifully done up. A place exuding character & Parisian chic. Something quintessentially French. The only trouble is that she has just 2 weeks in which to realise her fantasy
- can she negotiate a deal in a foreign language without offending the French? Is it possible
- or just a ridiculous fantasy? French phrasebook in h&, plucking up her reserves of savoir faire, & accompanied by her ever-tolerant husband & her young son, Ellie embarks on an adventure. ” Our Own Piece of Paris” is a hilarious love-song to the most stylish city in the world.


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Environmental thought & politics have become parts of mainstream cultural life in Britain. The wish to protect wildlife is now a central goal for our society, but where did these ‘green’ ideas come from? & who created the cherished institutions, such as the National Trust or the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, that are now so embedded in public life with millions of members? From the flatlands of Norfolk to the tundra-like expanse of the Flow Country in northern Scotl&, acclaimed writer on nature Mark Cocker sets out on a personal quest through the British countryside to find the answers to these questions. He explores in intimate detail six special places that embody the history of conservation or whose fortunes allow us to understand why our landscape looks as it does today. We meet key characters who shaped the story of the British countryside – Victorian visionaries like Octavia Hill, founder of the National Trust, as well as brilliant naturalists such as Max Nicholson or Derek Ratcliffe, who helped build the very framework for all environmental effort. This is a book that looks to the future as well as exploring the past. It asks searching questions like who owns the land & why? & who benefits from green policies? Above all it attempts to solve a puzzle: why do the British seem to love their countryside more than almost any other nation, yet they have come to live amid one of the most denatured landscapes on Earth? Radical, provocative & original, Our Place tackles some of the central issues of our time. Yet most important of all, it tries to map out how this overcrowded island of ours could be a place fit not just for human occupants but also for its billions of wild citizens. ...

The Secret History of Our Streets explores one of the great forces shaping our lives: property. Why we live where we live, & how that choice informs the lives we lead. In a modern version of Charles Booth's 1886 Survey of London, this remarkable book tells the story of six London streets, representing the widest possible picture of the city both socially & geographically. Each has a fascinating story of its own. Together, their stories reveal the big underlying forces that have shaped Britain for the last 120 years: gentrification, migration, slum clearance, property speculation & the urban sprawl. The six streets & larger themes they address are Deptford High Street
- the mania for re-development, slum clearances; Portland Road
- gentrification & 'super-gentrification' (the rich being pushed out by the super-rich); Reverdy Road
- the white working class, the Blitz & redevelopment; Caledonian Road
- ownership & landlords, the prison; Arnold Circus
- public housing; Camberwell Grove
- the disappearance of rural idyll, the rise of the suburbs.





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In this beautiful follow-up to 2012`s hit, Our Garden Birds, street artist Matt Sewell offers more watercolours & quirky descriptions of British songbirds. In Matt`s world, the peewit sings the blues, & the bittern fills his neck `like a tweed pair of bellows`. Distinctive & enchanting, with a songbird for each week of the year, this delightful gift book will appeal to birders, children & adults, & art & design fans alike. ...

Addie Moore`s husband died years ago, so did Louis Waters` wife, &, as neighbours in Holt, Colorado they have naturally long been aware of each other. With their children now far away both live alone in houses empty of family. The nights are terribly lonely, especially with no one to talk to. Then one evening Addie pays Louis an unexpected visit. Their brave adventures-their pleasures & their difficulties-form the beating heart of Our Souls at Night. Kent Haruf`s final novel is an exquisite & moving story about love & growing old with grace. It is a lasting tribute to the extraordinary author who wrote it. ...