On Your Bike
- the Thames Valley features twenty circular rides, of from 8 to 30 miles each, between the Upper Thames & Maidenhead.
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David Mc Dowall’s Walker’s Guide to The Thames: Hampton to Richmond Bridge gives the reader eight exceptionally detailed walking routes along this stretch of the Thames, which reveal the rich relationship that exists between the river, its landscape & its history. Far from merely outlining routes & providing directions, this guide constitutes one of the best-researched & richly detailed walking guides available for this stretch of the River Thames. Each walk section

Includes:: a route description & is accompanied by an explanatory text, providing an extraordinary amount of information on the River’s rich history of human activity; river craft; its geology, ecology, flora & fauna; the surrounding landscape; & the cast of characters who have lived along the River & have been inspired by it. This wonderful guide also contains many h&-drawn black & white illustrations, diagrams & maps to supplement the text.

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Imagine sitting behind a desk, in a classroom, miles from anywhere in the English countryside, alongside dozens of fellow students, dreaming of being parachuted into Occupied France to undertake daring missions against Hitler`s forces. What were you taught? What text books did they give you, & what homework & exams were you expected to pass in order to make the grade? We now publish the classroom dossier that all secret agents being trained for missions against the Axis forces in the Second World War were supplied with & expected to implement when on service. Full of colourful & imaginative drawings, photographs & diagrams the two-volume set represents a unique piece of British military history at your finger tips. From techniques in camouflage, to setting up communications, concealing weapons caches & constructing booby traps
- this is the original text book our heroes learned, to ply their trade to deadly effect.
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The People Spotter`s Guide, Vol 1 is a tongue-in-cheek catalogue, presenting over 100 types of humans. Every type is illustrated with a photo &
- of course satirical
- text, to help you spot these people in the wild. So you might run into an example of the Homo Securitatis Inferioris (security agents who don`t look like they`re strong) or the Homo Amantus Vestimentatis Identicus (an identically dressed couple). The guide encourages you to go out & explore your own biotope & to take a closer look at the people living in it. Every spotting is awarded with a number of points
- the more rare the behaviour you`ve witnessed, the more points you`ll get.


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The Thief is a seasoned pickpocket. Anonymous in his tailored suit, he weaves in & out of Tokyo crowds, stealing wallets from strangers so smoothly sometimes he doesn`t even remember the snatch. Most people are just a blur to him, nameless faces from whom he chooses his victims. He has no family, no friends, no connections... But he does have a past, which finally catches up with him when Ishikawa, his first partner, reappears in his life, & offers him a job he can`t refuse. It`s an easy job: tie up an old rich man, steal the contents of the safe. No one gets hurt. Only the day after the job does he learn that the old man was a prominent politician, & that he was brutally killed after the robbery. & now the Thief is caught in a tangle even he might not be able to escape. ...

In 1876, a man named Henry Wickham smuggled seventy thousand rubber tree seeds out of the rain forests of Brazil & delivered them to Victorian England`s most prestigious scientists at Kew Gardens. Those seeds, planted around the world in England`s colonial outposts, gave rise to the great rubber boom of the early twentieth century
- an explosion of entrepreneurial & scientific industry that would change the world. The story of how Wickham got his hands on those seeds
- a sought-after prize for many suffered & died
- is the stuff of legend. In this lively account of obsession, greed, bravery & betrayal, author & journalist Joe Jackson brings to life a classic Victorian fortune-hunter & the empire that fueled, then abandoned, him. ” The Thief at the End of the World” is a thrilling true story of reckless courage & ambition.


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The first in Caroline Lawrence`s internationally bestselling Roman Mysteries series, re-issued with a fantastic new cover look. Flavia Gemina is a natural at solving mysteries. The daughter of a ship`s captain living in Ostia, the port of Rome, in AD79, she & her three friends, Jonathan, a Jewish boy (and secretly a Christian); Nubia, an African slave girl; & Lupus, a mute beggar boy, must work together to discover who is beheading the watchdogs that guard people`s homes, & why. A talented storyteller, Caroline Lawrence has created a delightfully readable & accessible series that children will want to read time & time again. ...

” Moves so intensely & inexorably that it almost seems like the war it is describing”. (The New York Times Book Review). ` Is it really worth it to die, to be dead, just to prove to everybody that you`re not a coward?` On Guadalcanal in the south Pacific, the soldiers of C Company are about to enter the war. The men know they face their baptism of fire. But none know if they will be one of `the lucky ones` to make it safely off the isl&. From Captain Stein, who feels like a father to his troops, & ` Mad` Sergeant Welsh, condemning all nations while swigging gin from his canteen, to Private Bell, who just wants to get home to his wife, they will discover the line that divides sanity from madness, & life from death. A scathing critique of heroism, The Thin Red Line is among the greatest masterpieces of war writing. ” The men are real, the words are real, death is real, imminent & immediate”. (Los Angeles Times). ...

One day, the Thing falls from the sky & four strangers stumble across it. Together they decide to work together to take care of the Thing. But before long a media circus builds up around the creature they are protecting & the debate about the Thing spreads far around the world. What is the Thing? Who does it belong to? What does it do? & is it any use for anything at all? This captivating picture book will be many things to many people: a story about thoughtfulness, an adventure in friendship & an intriguing & gentle social commentary on the search for meaning in modern life. Daniel Egneus` unique & engaging artwork beautifully illustrates this enigmatic story & brings the strange Thing to life. With a similar feel to Alexis Deacon`s Beegu & Shaun Tan`s The Lost Thing, this is the perfect bedtime story for children & adults to enjoy together. Praise for The Thing: ” Touching on themes of compassion, kindness & belonging, this quirky tale will undoubtedly instigate crucial questions & topics for further discussion across all age groups”
- Picture Books Blogger Simon Puttock was born in New Zealand &, as a child, wanted to be a vet or an archaeologist. Instead, & after some considerable time & doing other stuff, he became a full-time writer. He has written over 40 books for children & has won several awards, including the 2016 Scottish Children`s Book Award for Mouse`s First Night at Moonlight School. Daniel Egneus was born in Sweden & has had successful collaborations with clients such as Haagen-Dasz, O2 UK, Marie Claire, Time Magazine, Penguin Books & Random House. He was voted best illustrator by the Association of Illustrators in the UK (2005). He has published many books including Little Red Riding Hood (Harper Collins) & Hot Dog cookbook (winner of the Prix Gourmand for Best Illustrated Cookbook in France).
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” When Rachael Weiss left a good job, Thelma the cat & a normal life in Sydney for the romantic dream of being a writer in Prague she intended to stay forever. She lasted just three years, exasperated by the eccentricities of her ancestral city & its mind-boggling bureaucracy & customs. In this surprising & generous memoir full of warmth & unstoppable sociability, Rachael attempts to write her great novel, buy an apartment (any apartment!), dodge unscrupulous employers, & perhaps find love. She gets lost in the woods with a Kyrgyzstani software engineer who wants to eat humans, finds herself leading services at the Spanish synagogue with no real idea of what she is doing & spends long nights drinking beer with a colourful cast of crazy, warm & slightly mad locals & expats. Rich in absurdities & gentle humour, The Thing About Prague...is rife with insight, culture clashes, friendships & above all charm.” ...