Set in the volatile Paris summer of 1938, ” The Age of Reason” follows two days in the life of Mathieu Delarue, a philosophy teacher, & his circle in the cafes & bars of Montparnasse. Mathieu has so far managed to contain sex & personal freedom in conveniently separate compartments. But now he is in trouble, urgently trying to raise 4, 000 francs to procure a safe abortion for his mistress, Marcelle. Beyond all this, filtering an uneasy light on his predicament, rises the distant threat of the coming of the Second World War. ...

”` How are you?` said Mathieu. `I thought you were dead.`” Following a Parisian philosophy teacher through the cafes & bars of Montparnasse over two days in the sweltering summer of 1938, Sartre`s searing novel explores what it truly means to be free. ...

An international bestseller & finalist for the Prix Goncourt; a suspenseful tale of a tangled love triangle in the long shadow of the war on terror. Manhattan attorney Sam Tahar appears to have it all: fame, fortune, an enviable marriage to a prominent socialite, & two children. But his charmed life is built on a lie
- he isn`t the person he pretends to be. As the son of a Tunisian immigrant growing up in a grimy Paris tower block, Samir Tahar seemed destined to stay on the margins
- until he decided to `cut through the bars of his social jail cell, even if he had to do it with his teeth`. At law school, he became friends with Jewish student Samuel Baron. The two were inseparable until the irresistible Nina, torn between the men, chose Samuel. Samir fled to America, where he assumed Samuel`s identity while his former friend remained trapped in a French suburb, a failed writer seething at Samir`s triumphs. Years later, the three meet again & Samir`s carefully constructed existence is blown apart, with disastrous consequences. The Age of Reinvention is a smart, captivating story about the temptations & terrible costs of remaking oneself.

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`A great storyteller... you would be hard pushed to find a more knowledgeable or entertaining [guide]` Icon` Such an interesting book... I cannot recommend it enough.` Lauren Laverne In Dubai, a luxury apartment block is built in the shape of a giant iPod. In China, President Xi Jinping denounces the trend of constructing `bizarre` new buildings in wacky shapes & colours. In Cincinnati, celebrity architect Zaha Hadid is paid millions to design a single `iconic` structure
- with the hope of single-handedly transforming the region`s ailing fortunes. These incidents are all part of the same story: the rise of the age of spectacle. Over the last fifty years, there has been a revolution in how our cities operate. In The Age of Spectacle, Tom Dyckhoff tells the story of how architecture became obsessed with the flashy, the monumental & the ostentatious
- & how we all have to live with the consequences. Exploring cityscapes from New York to Beijing, & from Bilbao to Portsmouth, Dyckhoff shows that we are not just witnessing a new kind of building: we are living through a fundamental transformation in how our urban spaces work. The corporate explosion of the last few decades has fundamentally shifted the relationship between architects, politicians & cities` inhabitants, fostering innovative new kinds of engineering & design, but also facilitating ill-conceived vanity projects & commercial power-grabs. Timely, passionate & bursting with new ideas, The Age of Spectacle is both an examination of how twenty-first century cities work, & a manifesto for a radically new kind of urbanism. Our cities, Dyckhoff shows, can thrive in the age of spectacle
- but only if they engage us not just with dazzling structures, but by responding to the needs of the people who inhabit them.` Engaging... The ”iconic” building is the most obvious architectural phenomenon of our age yet, somehow, no one has quite done what Tom Dyckhoff does with The Age of Spectacle, which is to tell its story clearly & plainly.` Rowan Moore, Observer` First class. Finally, a book that nails the iconic movement
- Tom Dyckhoff`s The Age of Spectacle is the book that I wish I had written.` Simon Jenkins` Unusually accessible [and] well argued.` Evening Standard



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Man has always been fascinated by Equus caballus, recasting horse power into many forms: a hunk of meat, an industrial & agricultural machine, a luxury good, a cherished dancer, a comrade in arms & a symbol of a mythical past. From the wild tarpans sought by the Nazis to jade-laden treasure steeds in Ancient China, broken-down nags recycled into sausages & furniture stuffing, stallions that face fighting bulls & brewery horses that charmed the founder of the Sikh Empire, The Age of the Horse knits the history of the horse into that of humans, through revolution, war, social change & uneasy peace. It also uncovers new roles for the horse in the twenty-first century as a tool in the fight against climate change & as a therapist for soldiers damaged in unwinnable conflicts. In this captivating book, Susanna Forrest takes a journey through time & around the world, from the Mongolian steppes to a mirrored manege at Versailles, an elegant polo club in Beijing & a farm, a fort & an auction house in America, exploring the horse`s crucial role & revealing how our culture & economy were generated, nourished & shaped by horse power & its gifts & limits. ...

This book contains stunning images for use as a graphic resource, or inspiration. All the illustrations are stored in high-resolution ...

THE ULTIMATE SURVIVAL GUIDE for anyone who thinks they`d survive the world`s most hostile environments
- or at least imagine they
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` An engrossing story of audacious entrepreneurism` -- Charles Duhigg` Captures the remarkable journey of Airbnb exceedingly well` -- Reid Hoffman`fast paced, fun dive into one of the seminal firms of our time` -- Rana Foroohar In 2008, two broke art school graduates & their coder-whiz friend set up a platform that
- in less than a decade
- became one of the largest provider of accommodations in the world. Now valued at $31 billion, Airbnb is in the very top tier of Silicon Valley`s `unicorn` startups. Yet the company has not been without controversy
- disrupting a $500 billion hotel industry makes you a few enemies. This is also a story of regulators who want to shut it down, hotel industry leaders who want it to disappear & neighbourhoods that struggle with private homes open for public rental. But beyond the headlines & the horror stories, Airbnb has changed the terms of travel for a whole generation
- where a sense of belonging has built trust between hosts & guests seeking a more original travel experience that hotels have struggled to replicate. This is the first, definitive book to tell the remarkable story behind Airbnb in all its forms
- cultural zeitgeist, hotel disruptor, enemy to regulators
- & the first in-depth character study of its leader Brian Chesky, the company`s curious co-founder & CEO. It reveals what got Airbnb where it is today, why they are nothing like Uber, & where they are going next.





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An action-packed ride through the history of aircraft. ” The Aircraft Book” is all about the men, machines, & landmark technology behind the most iconic aircraft from the Supermarine Spitfire to the Concorde. Featuring over 1, 000 of the greatest military & commercial aircraft in the world, this is an amazing visual guide tracing their evolution over the past 10 decades. A captivating, international view of aircraft through time from Germany`s Zeppelins to the USA`s ” Blackbird” with histories of how famous marques like Boeing & Lockheed came to be household names. Plus, go on a virtual tour inside the engines of some of the legendary planes to see just what powers their performance. ” The Aircraft Book” is essential for aviation buffs, covering the enduring impact that aircraft has on society as an object of curiosity, a symbol of luxury, & an essential weapon of war. ...

Three classic adventure tales from the bestselling author of The No. 1 Ladies` Detective Agency, now together in paperback for the first time. Imagine living in the heart of Africa. Imagine living in a place where the sun rises every morning over blue mountains. Akimbo & his parents live on the edge of an African game reserve. It`s his father`s task to protect the thousands of amazing animals who make it their home, & wildlife-loving Akimbo dreams of helping him. In these three adventures, Akimbo protects elephants from poachers, saves a lion cub from a trap, & rescues a man from a crocodile! This 3-in-1 collection contains Akimbo & the Elephants, Akimbo & the Lions & Akimbo & the Crocodile Man. ...