It is 2003, & Paul Arimond is serving as a paramedic in Afghanistan. The twenty-four-year-old has no illusions of becoming a hero. Rather, he has chosen the army to escape the tragedies of his past & his own feelings of guilt. As a result, he finds himself in the same l&, now war-torn, where an ancestor of his, Ambrosius Arimond, a late eighteenth-century traveler & ornithologist, once explored & developed the theory of a universal language of birds. As visceral horrors & everyday banalities of the war threaten to engulf Paul, he, like his great-great-grandfather, finds his very own refuge in Afghanistan s natural world. In a diary filled with exquisite drawings of birds & ruminations on the life he left behind, Paul describes his experiences living with two comrades who are fighting their own demons & his befriending of an Afghan man, Nassim, as well as his dreams of escaping the restrictive base camp & visiting the shores of a lake visible from the lookout tower. But when he finally reaches the lake one night, he finds himself in the midst of a chain of events that, with his increasingly fragile state of mind, has dramatic & ultimately heartbreaking consequences. A meditative novel that shows a new side to the conflict in Afghanistan, The Language of Birds takes a moving look at the all-too-human costs of war & questions what it truly means to fight for freedom. ” ...

The director of the Design Museum defines the greatest artefact of all time: the city We live in a world that is now predominantly urban. So how do we define the city as it evolves in the twenty-first century? Drawing examples from across the globe, Deyan Sudjic decodes the underlying forces that shape our cities, such as resources & l&, to the ideas that shape conscious elements of design, whether of buildings or of space. Erudite & entertaining, he considers the differences between capital cities & the rest to understand why it is that we often feel more comfortable in our identities as Londoners, Muscovites, or Mumbaikars than in our national identities. ...

This beautifully packaged & accessible guide is the perfect companion to learning the phrases of London's East End & the interesting origins behind Cockney Rhyming Slang
- a language first invented as a secret code among the thieves of London's underworld. Organized thematically, rather than alphabetically, this book allows the reader to gain a full & comprehensive understanding of how to use a range of cockney phrases in each given scenario. Covering all the popular, traditional cockney phrases, as well as some more modern additions that aren't as well known, hundreds of sayings are featured & explained. So, if you're gagging to get your Hampstead Heath into popular reference at its most fascinating, pull up a Vanity Fair, pour your self a cup of Rosie Lee & get stuck into this highly enter taining Captain Cook.
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Steve Jones`s highly acclaimed, double prize-winning, bestselling first book is now fully revised to cover all the new genetic breakthroughs from GM food to Dolly the sheep.` An essential sightseer`s guide to our own genetic terrain.` Peter Tallack, Sunday Telegraph ` Superb & stimulating...an exhilarating trip around the double spiral of DNA, a rush of gravity-defying concepts & wild swerves of the scientific imagination.` J.G. Ballard, Daily Telegraph ` Not so much divination as demystification... An attempt to bring genetics & evolution more into the public domain. If, for instance, you ever wondered just what genetic engineering is about, here is as good a place as any to discover. Few have Jones`s ability to communicate a difficult idea with such humour, clarity, precision & ease.` Laurence Hurst, Times Higher; ` Sensitive to the social issues raised by genetics...yet Jones`s interest reaches beyond contemporary social issues to the human past, to what genetics can & cannot tell us about our evolution & patterns of social development. He interleaves a broad knowledge of biology with considerations of cultural, demographic &
- as his title indicates
- linguistic history. At once instructive & captivating.` Daniel J. Kevles, London Review of Books

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This third edition of Kenneth Katzner`s best-selling guide to languages is essential reading for language enthusiasts everywhere. Written with the non-specialist in mind, its user-friendly style & layout, delightful original passages, & exotic scripts, will continue to fascinate the reader. This new edition has been thoroughly revised to include more languages, more countries, & up-to-date data on populations. Features include: *information on nearly 600 languages *individual descriptions of 200 languages, with sample passages & English translations *concise notes on where each language is spoken, its history, alphabet & pronunciation *coverage of every country in the world, its main language & speaker numbers *an introduction to language families ...

When Eve falls for the secretive, charming Dom, their whirlwind relationship leads them to purchase Les Genevriers, an abandoned house in a rural hamlet in the south of France. As the beautiful Provence summer turns to autumn, Eve finds it impossible to ignore the mysteries that haunt both her lover & the run-down old house, in particular the mysterious disappearance of his beautiful first wife, Rachel. Whilst Eve tries to untangle the secrets surrounding Rachel`s last recorded days, Les Genevriers itself seems to come alive. As strange events begin to occur with frightening regularity, Eve`s voice becomes intertwined with that of Benedicte Lincel, a girl who lived in the house decades before. As the tangled skeins of the house`s history begin to unravel, the tension grows between Dom & Eve. In a page-turning race, Eve must fight to discover the fates of both Benedicte & Rachel, before Les Genevriers` dark history has a chance to repeat itself. ...

Lanterne rouge: French / noun 1. The red lantern that hangs on the rear of a train 2. The competitor who finishes last in the Tour de France. If you complete a bike race of over 3, 000 kilometres, overcoming mountain ranges & merciless weather conditions while enduring physical & psychological agony, in the slowest time, should you be branded the loser? What if your loss helped a teammate win? What if others lacked the determination to finish? What if you were trying to come last? Froome, Wiggins, Merckx
- we know the winners of the Tour de France, but Lanterne Rouge tells the forgotten, often inspirational & occasionally absurd stories of the last-placed rider. We learn of stage winners & former yellow jerseys who tasted life at the other end of the bunch; the breakaway leader who stopped for a bottle of wine & then took a wrong turn; the doper whose drug cocktail accidently slowed him down & the rider who was recognised as the most combative despite finishing at the back. Lanterne Rouge flips the Tour de France on its head & examines what these stories tell us about ourselves, the 99 per cent who don`t win the trophy, & forces us to re-examine the meaning of success, failure & the very nature of sport.
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`A charming & brilliantly entertaining novel... shot through with the light-hearted Nesbit touch` Penelope Lively, from the introduction” When did two girls of our age have such a chance as we`ve got
- to have a lark entirely on our own? No chaperone, no rules, no...” No present income or future prospects, ” said Lucilla. It`s 1919 & Jane & her cousin Lucilla leave school to find that their guardian has gambled away their money, leaving them with only a small cottage in the English countryside. In an attempt to earn their living, the orphaned cousins embark on a series of misadventures
- cutting flowers from their front garden & selling them to passers-by, inviting paying guests who disappear without paying
- all the while endeavouring to stave off the attentions of male admirers, in a bid to secure their independence.` To come upon any Nesbit today, hitherto unread... is like receiving a letter from a friend whom you have believed dead` New York Times


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Step-by-step home baking recipes from France`s foremost culinary resource, Larousse, & Parisian master baker Eric Kayser. The Larousse Book of Bread features more than 80 home baking recipes for breads & pastries from two of France`s most trusted authorities. From traditional Boule & Cob & specialty Ryes & Multigrains, to gluten-free Organic Sour Doughs & Spelts & sweet Brioches, Kayser`s easy-to-follow recipes feature detailed instructions & step-by-step photography. No matter if you are creating quick & simple Farmhouse Breads or gourmet treats like Croissants & Viennese Chocolate Bread, with it`s unique structure & a comprehensive guide to techniques, ingredients & equipment, The Larousse Book of Bread is the ideal baking resource for both home cooks & professionals. ...

Product Description The Olympic Gold Medallist explains how to win in this, the most competitive class. Beautifully illustrated with colour photo sequences of Ainslie in action. An online video including footage of him demonstrating every manoeuvre from starting, tacking upwind to downwind technique is also available. Details of where to view the online videos can be found within the book. From the Back Cover Ben Ainslie is the fastest laser sailor on the planet. Here are the secrets that won him Olympic gold, shown in words, photo--sequences, video clips & his commentary. This pack is a colourful, detailed account of how to dominate the worlds hottest class. The book contains text & photo--sequences on: * Psychology & goal setting. * Getting the boat right. * Speed around the course. * Fitness & training. * How to win a championship. The video, available to view online & contains footage video clips & commentary on: * Starting. * Beating. * Tacking. * Roll Tacking. * Windward mark. * Reaching. * Gybing. * Running. * Leeward mark. ...