This is a story of the Australian Outback a duck-billed platypus on a quest & what it means to be a hero. Albert is a duck-billed platypus who has escaped from a zoo in Adelaide to look for somewhere that may or may not exist: Old Australia a place where humans never venture & animals still rule. Albert knows its somewhere in the middle of the Outback
- not the ideal habitat for a water-loving animal
- but now hes lost & close to death. Hes saved though by Jack a pyromaniac sardine-loving wombat who promptly gets him into even worse trouble taking him to a marsupial-only bar run by a kangaroo called OHanlin getting him drunk & then burning the bar down. & this is just the beginning of Alberts adventure...A glorious romp of a novel Albert of Adelaide" is a story of friendship loyalty & heroism. & marsupials. Pacy & poignant its completely original
- a book for people (and animals) of all ages."


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Albert Speer was Hitlers architect before the Second World War. Through Hitlers great trust in him & Speers own genius for organisation he became effectively from 1942 overlord of the entire war economy making him the second most powerful man in the Third Reich. Sentenced to twenty years imprisonment in Spandau Prison at the Nuremberg Trails Speer attempted to progress from moral extinction to moral self-education. How he came to terms with his own acts & failures to act & his real culpability in Nazi war crimes are the questions at the centre of this book. The author had access to Speer his family & friends & his private papers. ...

Highly original & magnificent in scope Albion: The Origins of the English Imagination discovers the roots of English cultural history in the Anglo-Saxon period & traces it through the centuries. What does it mean to be English? This dazzling book demonstrates that a quintessentially English quality can be discovered in all forms of English culture not only in literature but also in painting music architecture philosophy & science. Just as London: The Biography guided the reader through the capital city with a mixture of narrative & theme so Albion employing the same techniques engages the reader with stories & surprises
- From Beowulf to King Arthur & the Knights of the Round Table via Chaucer & Shakespeare to the Bronte sisters Alice through the Looking Glass & Lord of the Rings Witty provocative & anecdotal this is Peter Ackroyd at his most brilliant & exuberant.
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In the popular imagination informed as it is by Hogarth Swift Defoe & Fielding the eighteenth-century underworld is a place of bawdy knockabout rife with colourful eccentrics. But the artistic portrayals we have only hint at the dark reality. In this new edition of a classic collection of essays renowned social historians from Britain & America examine the gangs of criminals who tore apart English society while a criminal law of unexampled savagery struggled to maintain stability. Douglas Hay deals with the legal system that maintained the propertied classes & in another essay shows it in brutal action against poachers; John G. Rule & Cal Winslow tell of smugglers & wreckers showing how these activities formed a natural part of the life of traditional communities. Together with Peter Linebaugh s piece on the riots against the surgeons at Tyburn & E. P. Thompson s illuminating work on anonymous threatening letters these essays form a powerful contribution to the study of social tensions at a transformative & vibrant stage in English history. This new edition

Includes:: a new introduction by Winslow Hay & Linebaugh reflecting on the turning point in the social history of crime that the book represents

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Durers prints & drawings inspired centuries of artists both during his life & after his death. Yet his talent as a painter & colourist & his enthusiasm for the scientific world have not been widely appreciated. Durers influence was both international & intergenerational; indeed Picasso claimed to have been inspired by the sixteenth-century artist. Reproduced in stunning detail & including illustrations of Durers most famous prints & drawings a catalogue raisonne of his paintings & biographical research this book presents a Durer for the twenty-first century. Producing more self-portraits than any other artist of his day; mass marketing his best-selling prints; even inventing his own monogram logo; Albrecht Durer was commercially astute long before todays generation of slick self-promoters & savvy mega-bucks artists. There are 55 extant Durers of which 17 are in dispute. Using the very latest scientific research this book puts all arguments to bed resulting in the definitive catalogue raisonne of the paintings. Not since 1971 has such a feat of painstaking research been attempted. After an almost 40-year wait the truth behind the man & his art can finally be revealed. ...

A global phenomenon The Alchemist has been read & loved by over 62 million readers topping bestseller lists in 74 countries worldwide. Now this magical fable is beautifully repackaged in an edition that lovers of Paulo Coelho will want to treasure forever. Every few decades a book is published that changes the lives of its readers forever. This is such a book
- a beautiful parable about learning to listen to your heart read the omens strewn along life's path & above all follow your dreams. Santiago a young shepherd living in the hills of Andalucia feels that there is more to life than his humble home & his flock. One day he finds the courage to follow his dreams into distant lands each step galvanised by the knowledge that he is following the right path: his own. The people he meets along the way the things he sees & the wisdom he learns are life-changing. With Paulo Coelho's visionary blend of spirituality magical realism & folklore The Alchemist is a story with the power to inspire nations & change people's lives.
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THE 1 BESTSELLER Ben Hope lives on the edge. A former elite member of the SAS Ben is tortured by a tragedy from his past & now devotes his life to finding kidnapped children. When Ben is recruited to locate an ancient manuscript which could save a dying child he embarks on the deadliest quest of his life. The document is alleged to contain the formula for the elixir of life discovered by the brilliant alchemist Fulcanelli decades before. But it soon becomes apparent that others are hunting this most precious of treasures
- for far more evil ends. When the secrets of alchemy hidden within the pages remain impenetrable Ben teams up with beautiful American scientist Dr Roberta Ryder to crack the code. It seems that everyone
- from the Nazis during WW2 & powerful Catholic organisation Gladius Domini
- wants to unearth the secrets of immortality. The trail leads Ben & Roberta from Paris to the ancient Cathar strongholds of the Languedoc where an astonishing secret has lain hidden for centuries...


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Dark secrets haunt the manor house at Selden in Buckinghamshire where Emilie Selden motherless fiercely intelligent & beautiful has been raised in near isolation by her father. John Selden student of Isaac Newton is conducting a secret experiment. He aims to turn Emilie into a brilliant natural philosopher & alchemist & fills her with knowledge while recording every step she takes. In the spring of 1725 when Emilie is eighteen father & daughter begin their most daring adventure
- an attempt to breathe life into dead matter. But they are interrupted by the arrival of two strangers. During the course of a sultry August Emilie is caught up in the passion of first love & listening for the first time to her heart rather than her head she makes her choice...with consequences that are far-reaching & tumultuous.
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This new & completely redesigned edition creates a colourful & vibrant guide to the secret art. Klossowski de Rola elucidates the mysterious language & polyvalent symbolism from a variety of perspectives practical spiritual elemental & historical & explains how the true alchemist differs from the modern chemist & the false practitioner. Gold is only a by-product & emblem of the Great Work of the alchemist. The latter part of the book comprises the full text of a seventeenth-century exposition upon an alchemists dream-poem & five richly illustrated Themes sections reproducing full sequences of alchemical thought art & paraphernalia. ...

New chapter by Soros on the secrets to his success along with a new Preface & Introduction. New Foreword by renowned economist Paul Volcker An extraordinary.. .inside look into the decision-making process of the most successful money manager of our time. Fantastic." -The Wall Street Journal George Soros is unquestionably one of the most powerful & profitable investors in the world today. Dubbed by Business Week as "the Man who Moves Markets " Soros made a fortune competing with the British pound & remains active today in the global financial community. Now in this special edition of the classic investment book The Alchemy of Finance Soros presents a theoretical & practical account of current financial trends & a new paradigm by which to understand the financial market today. This edition's expanded & revised Introduction details Soros's innovative investment practices along with his views of the world & world order. He also describes a new paradigm for the "theory of reflexivity" which underlies his unique investment strategies. Filled with expert advice & valuable business lessons The Alchemy of Finance reveals the timeless principles of an investing legend. This special edition will feature a new chapter by Soros on the secrets of his success & a new Foreword by the Honorable Paul Volcker former Chairman of the Federal Reserve. George Soros (New York NY) is President of Soros Fund Management & Chief Investment Advisor to Quantum Fund N.V. a $12 billion international investment fund. Besides his numerous ventures in finance Soros is also extremely active in the worlds of education culture & economic aid & development through his Open Society Fund & the Soros Foundation." ...