The lands surrounding the Black Sea share a colourful past. Though in recent decades they have experienced ethnic conflict, economic collapse, & interstate rivalry, their common heritage & common interests go deep. Now, as a region at the meeting point of the Balkans, Central Asia, & the Middle East, the Black Sea is more important than ever. In this lively & entertaining book, which is based on extensive research in multiple languages, Charles King investigates the myriad connections that have made the Black Sea more of a bridge than a boundary, linking religious communities, linguistic groups, empires, & later, nations & states. ...

A condensed guide to life from the bestselling author of ” The Black Swan”, Nassim Nicholas Taleb`s ” The Bed of Procrustes” is an invaluable collection of aphorisms navigate the modern world. Why are we so often unwilling to accept that life is unpredictable? In this brilliant book Nassim Nicholas Taleb distils his idiosyncratic wisdom to demolish our illusions, contrasting the classical values of courage, elegance & erudition against modern philistinism & phoniness. Only by accepting what we don`t know, he shows, can we see the world as it really is. ” Happily provocative.. .blistering.. .his observations concern superiority, wealth, suckerdom, academia, modernity, technology & the all-purpose, ignorant ”they”.. .very"able”. (” The New York Times”). ”A master philosopher”. (” The Times”). ” Taleb`s crystalline nuggets of thought stand alone like esoteric poems”. (” Financial Times”). ” Opinionated & witty... It showcases his wit & learning, & provides ways to fillet his enemies”. (” Independent on Sunday”). Nassim Nicholas Taleb spends most of his time as a flaneur, meditating in cafes across the planet.A former trader, he is currently Distinguished Professor of Risk Engineering at New York University. He is the author of ” Fooled by Randomness” & ” The Black Swan”, an international bestseller which has become an intellectual, social, & cultural touchstone. ...

Formed into a regiment in 1739 & named for the dark tartan of its soldiers` kilts, The Black Watch has fought in almost every major conflict of nation & empire between 1745 & the present, & has a reputation second to none. Following on from The Highland Furies, in which she traced the regiment`s history to 1899, Victoria Schofield tells the story of The Black Watch in the 20th & 21st centuries. She tracks its fortunes through the 2nd South African War, two World Wars, the `troubles` in Northern Ireland & the war in Iraq
- up to The Black Watch`s merger with five other regiments to form the Royal Regiment of Scotland in 2006. Drawing on diaries, letters & interviews, Victoria Schofield weaves the many strands of the story into an epic narrative of a heroic body of officers & men. In her sure hands, the story of The Black Watch is no arid recitation of campaigns & battle honours, but a rewarding account of the fortunes of war of a regiment that has played a distinguished role in British, & world, history.
...

With its enchanting song, striking orange bill & endearing willingness to share our living space, the blackbird is one of our best-loved birds. But robins, swifts, goldfinches & blue tits can captivate us equally &, in The Blackbird Diaries, Karen Lloyd shares her deep-rooted affection for all our treasured garden wildlife. Over the four seasons, she intimately chronicles the drama & the joy, the perils & the pleasures of the natural world as it all unfolds in her garden & on her daily walks in the limestone hills & valleys of Cumbria`s South Lakel&. What emerges is a celebration of landscapes that rarely feature in the existing canon of nature writing, & rare insights into the lives of the species that may be common but are remarkable creatures all. ...

Espionage, adventure & a hard-boiled heroine not to be trifled with
- this classic noir will have you gripped from start to finish.
...

The Blackmore Vale in 1903 in a series of reproductions of Ordnance Survey’s famous ” Inch to the Mile” maps published in the Alan Godfrey Editions to provide a historical record of England & Wales in the second half of 19th & early 20th century. The map covers the area of north Dorset known as the Blackmore Vale, stretching from North Wootton & Folke eastward to Win Green & Tarrant Hinton, & from Shaftesbury southward to Winterborne Stickl&. Other locations include Ashmore, Belchalwell, Bishops Caundle, Blandford Forum, Blandford St Mary, Buckland Newton, Caundle Marsh, Child Okeford, Compton Abbas, Durweston, East Orchard, East Stour, Fifehead Magdalen, Fifehead Neville, Fontmell Magna, Goathill, Hammoon, Hanford, Haselbury Bryan, Haydon, Hinton St Mary, Holnest, Holwell, Ibberton, Iwerne Courtney or Shroton, Iwerne Minster, Kington Magna, Langton Long Blandford, Lydlinch, Manston, Mappowder, Margaret Marsh, Marnhull, Melbury Abbas, Okeford Fitzpaine, Pimperne, Pulham, Purse Caundle, Shillingstone, Stalbridge, Steepleton Iwerne, Stoke Wake, Stour Provost, Stourpaine, Stourton Caundle, Sturminster Newton, Sutton Waldron, Tarrant Gunville, Tarrant Rawston, Todber, Turnworth, West Orchard, West Stour, Winterborne Houghton, Woolland & Wootton Glanville; plus in Somerset Charlton Horethorne, Henstridge, Horsington, Milborne Port, Stowell & Templecombe. On the reverse is a detailed map of Stalbridge. About the Alan Godfrey Editions of the OS Inch to the Mile Maps: the maps provide an invaluable overview of a wider area, typically 18 x 12 miles (29 x 19 kms approx.), & offer historical mapping for small towns & villages not covered by the more detailed series for which the Godfrey Editions are better known. On the reverse all the maps have historical notes & most titles also include a more detailed, large scale map of a small town or a village in the area. To see other titles in this series please click on the series link. ...

Jim Francis has finally found the perfect life
- & is now unrecognisable, even to himself. A successful painter & sculptor, he
...

Jim Francis has finally found the perfect life
- & is now unrecognisable, even to himself. A successful painter & sculptor, he
...

He had always been scared of flying. Now, the fear is real. A plane crash. The water is rising over his mouth. In his nostrils. Lungs. As Daniel gasps, he swallows; & punches at his seat-belt. Nancy, the woman he loves, is trapped in her seat. He clambers over her, pushing her face into the headrest. It is a reflex, visceral action made without rational thought... But Daniel Kennedy did it. & already we have judged him from the comfort of our own lives. Almost a hundred years earlier, Daniel`s great-grandfather goes over the top at Passchendaele. A shell explodes, & he wakes up alone & lost in the hell of no-man`s-l&. Where are the others? Has he been left behind? & if he doesn`t find his unit, is he a deserter? Love; cowardice; trust; forgiveness. How will any of us behave when we are pushed to extremes? ...

The digital age. An age of isolation, warped communication, disintegrating community. Where unfiltered & unregulated information pours relentlessly into our lives, destroying what it means to be human. Or an age of marvels. Where there is a world of wonder at our fingertips. Where we can communicate across the globe, learn in the blink of an eye, pull down the barriers that divide us & move forward together. Whatever your reaction to technological culture, the speed with which our world is changing is both mesmerising & challenging. In The Blind Giant, novelist & tech blogger Nick Harkaway draws together fascinating & disparate ideas to challenge the notion that digital culture is the source of all our modern ills, while at the same time showing where the dangers are real & suggesting how they can be combated. Ultimately, the choice is ours: engage with the machines that we have created, or risk creating a world which is designed for corporations & computers rather than people. This is an essential handbook for everyone trying to be human in a digital age. ...