The authoritative guide to being a man in the 21st century is here, at last. * Ever wondered which is the right way to walk with an umbrella? * Ever questioned just exactly what differentiates different types of beer or where all the single malt whiskies come from? * Ever wanted to work out without actually having to go to the gym & fancied doing it James Bond style? * Ever considered how a batiste shirt differs from a broadcloth one? If you have, you`re in luck. The answers to every question you have ever needed to ask are within these pages, from how to strut your stuff on the dance floor to how to cook a decent chilli. Designed to help you out of any awkward situation, this book gives you any number of tips & hints for witty repartee down the pub, including why it`s better to have an older mistress & the 85 ways to tie a tie. All this & so much more is explained in a systematic & intelligent way, with facts & figures, diagrams & tables. This indispensable guide for all men`s rituals & practical habits belongs in every man`s rear pocket. ...

Curated by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy & Gillian Clarke, the National Poet of Wales, this new anthology gathers from centuries of essential poems. The editors have drawn on the rich languages of these islands, starting with the very first poets whose names we know
- Taliesin & Aneirin, who composed in Welsh & Old Brythoneg in what is now Scotland
- `to begin at the beginning`, to explore the poetry of Ireland & the British Isles in order to tell our story across the ages in this beautiful, vital treasury.

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The Map & the Clock is a celebration of the most scintillating poems ever composed on our islands. Curated by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, & by Gillian Clarke, National Poet of Wales, this anthology gathers fourteen centuries of extraordinary verse
- beginning with the first writings from the old languages of England & Irel&, Scotland & Wales, & culminating in some of our most recent poets, speaking in our present-day tongues. Many of our founding myths & legends are told here
- King Arthur & Gawain, Beowulf & Mad Sweeney, the Mabinogion
- as are the nursery-tales & songs we still sing today. Through these pages we witness the tragedy of European wars & world conflict; we court romance & friendship; we explore nationhood & belonging, identity & belief; & we are welcomed to a celebration of the cultural diversity of the poetries of our twenty-first century. The Map & the Clock is a stunning & essential treasury of the poems that have moulded our languages, examined our worlds, & shaped our islands through time.


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Artist Jed Martin emerges from a ten-year hiatus with good news. It has nothing to do with his broken boiler, the approach of another lamentably awkward Christmas dinner with his father or the memory of his doomed love affair with the beautiful Olga. It is that, for his new exhibition, he has secured the involvement of none other than celebrated novelist Michel Houellebecq. The exhibition brings Jed new levels of global fame. But, his boiler is still broken, his ailing father flirts with oblivion &, worst of all, he is contacted by an inspector requiring his help in solving an unspeakable, atrocious & gruesome crime, involving none other than celebrated novelist Michel Houellebecq... Shortlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 2013. ...

Like all of us, though few so visibly, Alan Greenspan was forced by the financial crisis of 2008 to question some fundamental assumptions about risk management & economic forecasting. How had our models so utterly failed us? Virtually every day, we make wagers on the future
- but, even when we`re not driven by factors entirely beyond our conscious control, the maps by which we are steering are often out-of-date. The Map & the Territory is an important attempt to update our forecasting conceptual grid using twenty-first-century technologies, offering a lucid & empirical grounding in what we can know about economic forecasting & what we can`t.
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Maps are not just diagrams of the route from A to B
- from the earliest times they have helped us make sense of our world, from
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This poster-size Map Colouring Book helps children learn about the world as they colour in the countries, animals, artefacts people & famous sights. As well as 22 maps to colour, there is a section at the back with flags of the world to colour in with the coloured dots to show what colour each section of the flags are in which colour. Each page is perforated so once it has been coloured in, it can be removed easily & the finished masterpiece can be put on display. ...

In 1900, Lady Anna Winterbourne travels to Egypt where she falls in love with Sharif, an Egyptian Nationalist utterly committed to his country`s cause. A hundred years later, Isabel Parkman, an American divorcee & a descendant of Anna & Sharif, goes to Egypt, taking with her an old family trunk, inside which are found notebooks & journals which reveal Anna & Sharif`s secret. ...

` Full of tension & love & danger. This is a beautifully told, magical novel about journeys & finding your way home.` STYLISTNour has lost her father. She has also lost the place she was born in & now lives in the Syrian town of Homs, along with her sisters & mother. & so, by the fig tree in the garden, Nour whispers the stories her Baba once told her, so that the roots of the tree will carry those stories back to where her father is buried & he won`t feel so alone. Her favourite is the story of Rawiya, a young girl from the twelfth century who left her home in search of adventure, dressed as a boy. But Syria is changing & it isn`t long before protests & shelling destroy the peace of the quiet city. As Nour begins her own journey as a refugee, she draws strength & inspiration from the voyage of Rawiya, who became apprenticed to the famous mapmaker, Al Idrisi, & who battled mythical creatures & endured epic battles in the attempt to compile the most accurate map of the world ever made.THE MAP OF SALT & STARS is a breathtakingly beautiful novel that illuminates the story of a country in turmoil, a tale of human resilience & the power of stories to transform. JUST some of the praise from readers of THE MAP OF SALT & STARS:` You know that wonderful feeling when you read the last page of a truly great story & then you clutch the book to your chest as if to hug the world within those pages? That`s how I`m feeling right now.` Goodreads 4 star review`A complex & multi-layered novel told in a rich atmospheric voice destined to be one of the most important works of 2018.` Goodreads 5 star review` This stunningly written, heartbreakingly beautiful (but ultimately, hopeful) story is a rich, multilayered + sweeping saga... A beautiful melding of myth, grief, hope & persistence- I just loved this one.` Goodreads 4 star review`A beautifully written debut novel about stories & storytelling that you won`t soon forget. ” Stories map the soul, in the guise of words.” Goodreads 4 star review`I seriously cannot recommend this book enough. I see fireworks: red, blue, violet, green, with a shower of golden stars. The Map of Salt & Stars is amazing. Please read this book.` Goodreads 5 star review` The Map Of Salt & Stars is really such a fantastic read & once you have started it is impossible to stop.` Goodreads 4 star review` There are parts that will make your heart stop & parts that will make it beat again.` Goodreads 5 star review `I believe this book is to Syrian heritage what the Kite Runner is to Afghanistan. All in all, a great read.` Goodreads 5 star review` Beautifully written with lush detail....stories will give you have a deeper understanding & appreciation that we are all maps & stories. It will also show you what home is & what home means.` Goodreads 5 star review ...

An epic, ambitious & page-turning mystery that will appeal to fans of The Shadow of the Wind, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell & The Time Traveller`s Wife London, 1896. Andrew Harrington is young, wealthy & heartbroken. His lover Marie Kelly was murdered by Jack the Ripper & he longs to turn back the clock & save her. Meanwhile, Claire Haggerty rails against the position of women in Victorian society. Forever being matched with men her family consider suitable, she yearns for a time when she can be free to love whom she choses. But hidden in the attic of popular author
- & noted scientific speculator
- H.G. Wells is a machine that will change everything. As their quests converge, it becomes clear that time is the problem
- to escape it, to change it, might offer them the hope they need...


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