Water is our most vital resource. The growing demands made by an increasing number of people adopting urban lifestyles & Western diets, coupled with a changing & less predictable climate, are putting pressure on the planet`s freshwater supply as never before. By 2025, four billion people may be living in conditions of water stress. &, even where water is plentiful, the poor are unlikely to have ready access to a safe, cheap supply. ...

Two years on from the Gleneagles G8: What has been achieved? What has changed? In July 2005 the first edition of Matthew Lockwood`s The State They`re In asked the key questions of the moment: What are the roots of poverty in Africa & what should now be done about it? How can a better understanding of African politics contribute to an entirely new policy agenda for aid, trade, & debt? This new edition continues to investigate these issues, now placing the arguments in the context of the Make Poverty History campaign of 2005, & the outcomes of the G8 summit in Gleneagles in July 2005 & the WTO summit in Hong Kong in December 2005. It broadens the scope of the first edition to address the American approach to aid & the new `transformational diplomacy` agenda. Finally, with `governance` now centre stage of policy debates on Africa, this edition clarifies how the arguments in the book differ from the standard approaches to governance, & why those approaches will not work. Lockwood draws on a substantial body of research to argue that much thinking on Africa
- from both official donors & from international NGOs alike
- is flawed, because that thinking either does not recognize or does not draw out the implications of the central role of politics & the state in Africa`s development problems.

...

Mount Athos, the spiritual heart of Eastern Orthodox Monasticism, is perhaps the most sacred & mysterious place in Greece: an autonomous state, where no woman can set foot, which has its own calendar & its own time. This ruggedly beautiful peninsula in Macedonia boasts a history that stretches back to Herodotus & has been a sanctuary from the earliest days of Christianity, through the Byzantine & Ottoman eras, two world wars & up to the present day. In 1927, at the age of 22, Robert Byron journeyed to Athos with his friends & embarked on an adventure whose influence would remain with him for the rest of his life. Through compelling descriptions of the monks of Athos, their daily lives & the treasures held in their monasteries, Byron illuminates an ancient & enigmatic world, long shrouded from the eyes of outsiders. Published nine years before his classic The Road to Oxiana, The Station reveals the roots of a fascination with the Byzantine world that would become refined in Byron`s later writings & establish him as one of the pre-eminent writers of his generation. ...

Comprehensive & engaging, this colourful study covers the whole sweep of ritual history from the earliest written records to the present day. From May Day revels & Midsummer fires, to Harvest Home & Hallowe`en, to the twelve days of Christmas, Ronald Hutton takes us on a fascinating journey through the ritual year in Britain. He challenges many common assumptions about the customs of the past, & debunks many myths surrounding festivals of the present, to illuminate the history of the calendar year we live by today. ...

The book asks why it is that China despite its size & once advanced culture & technology did not become a world power centuries ago? Burman traces the answer through Chinese innate sense of superiority which made foreign conquest & trade an irrelevance. This is about to change with the evolution of what is termed the Stealth Empire characterised by world dominance in the production of consumer goods, a growing share of world manufacturing & a strong sense of nationalism. The Chinese believe that they need to do nothing as they evolve by the middle of the century into the dominant world power. Burman`s book opens a window onto this history & growing sense of national destiny. It will be essential reading for anyone wanting to understand what is going on in the Stealth Empire. ...

” Guillermo Stein came to school in the middle of the year, arriving on a bicycle. None of us came to school by bicycle.” The Stein Report, a short novel set in the island of Majorca in the 1960s, kicks off with the arrival of a newcomer that will throw things off balance. Curious about him, Stein`s schoolmates will try to unravel the secrets concealed by this enigmatic character-a quest that will lead them to unveil unanswered questions of their own past & catch a fleeting glimpse of the adult world ahead of them. ...

The women of Stepford are not all that they seem... All the beautiful people live in idyllic Stepford, Connecticut, an affluent, suburban Eden populated with successful, satisfied hubbies & beautiful, dutiful wives. For Joanna Eberhart, newly arrived with her husband & two children, it all seems too good to be true
- from the sweet Welcome Wagon lady to all those cheerful, friendly faces in the supermarket checkout lines. But just beneath the town`s flawless surface, something is sordid & wrong
- something abominable with roots in the local Men`s Association. & it may already be too late for Joanna to save herself from being devoured by Stepford`s hideous perfection.

...

When Steve meets Steve, neither can believe it. Surely one of them must be the first Steve, the best Steve, the Stevest Steve... The claims of each puffin become sillier & sillier as the argument descends into name-calling
- until both Steves realize there`s really no need to fall out over a name. The feuding puffins perfectly reflect the sort of silly arguments children have
- & The Steves shows just how pointless they are. The bold, brilliantly coloured, graphic illustrations will have you laughing out loud in this glorious book from Morag Hood, creator of the hilarious Colin & Lee, Carrot & Pea & I Am Bat.

...

At the turn of the twentieth century, Arctic explorer Edward Mackley sets out to reach the North Pole & vanishes into the icy landscape without a trace. He leaves behind a young wife, Emily, who awaits his return for decades, her dreams & devotion gradually freezing into rigid widowhood. A hundred years later, on a sweltering mid-summer`s day, Edward`s great-gr&-niece Julia moves through the old family house, attempting to impose some order on the clutter of inherited belongings & memories from that ill-fated expedition, & taking care to ignore the deepening cracks within her own marriage. But as afternoon turns into evening, Julia makes a discovery that splinters her long-held image of Edward & Emily`s romance, & her husband Simon faces a precipitous choice that will decide the future of their relationship. Sharply observed & deeply engaging, The Still Point is a powerful literary debut, & a moving meditation on the distances
- geographical & emotional
- that can exist between two people.

...

Pocket-size, brilliantly colourful, & easy to use, THE STOKES BEGINNER`S GUIDE TO THE BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA contains everything you need to identify & enjoy birds in your backyard & beyond. Whether you`re age 9 or 90, whether you`re a novice or advanced birder, this book will help you identify birds quickly & accurately. It offers more than 580 stunning colour photographs, coverage of more than 250 species, key identification clues, descriptions of songs & calls, notes on feeding & nesting behaviour, advice on selecting bird feeders & binoculars, important behavioural information & key habitat preferences, & up-to-date range maps. The culmination of many years of research, observation, & study, this book is factually, visually, & organisationally superior to any other beginner`s guide on the market. ...