Children have a knack of asking great but challenging questions: Why is the sea salty? How far away is space? Why cant I tickle myself? What makes me me? But how are we supposed to answer them? Imagine if we could turn to a leading expert & ask them to answer on our behalf. This book gathers over 100 real questions from children & puts them to some of our best-loved & most knowledgeable experts. Alain de Botton explores How are dreams made? Kate Humble explains Why do lions roar? & Heston Blumenthal answers Why do we cook food? Their answers to the Big Questions
- some complex some searching some surreal & some just plain cute
- make this an essential handbook for anyone who wants to understand the complexities of life the universe & why cakes taste so nice.

Includes:: answers from Sir David Attenborough Dame Kelly Holmes Bear Grylls Derren Brown Noam Chomsky Dr Richard Dawkins Alain de Botton Annabel Karmel Jacqueline Wilson Jarvis Cocker Marcus du Sautoy Jessica Ennis Marcus Chown Tracy Emin Harry Hill Dr Christian Jessen & many more. For each book sold a minimum of 67 per cent of net royalty income is donated to the NSPCC (Registered Charity Numbers 216401 & SC037717).



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Ben & Bella are having such a lovely splashy time in the big red bath that soon everyone wants to join in the fun! But will there be room for all the animals.. .even Hippopotamus? A riotous story
- brought to life by young bright friendly illustrations from a bestselling award-winning artist.
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Big Books" are the sound choice in verbs! " The Big Red Book of Spanish Verbs" makes it easy for you to find the word you need to know quickly & easily. Inside you will find 555 fully conjugated verbs current idioms & expressions for each verb extended usage examples for the Top 50 verbs 2 500-plus verbs cross-referenced to conjugation models & much more." ...

Become a Spanish verb virtuoso with this unbeatable reference/interactive combo! The Big Red Book of Spanish Verbs with CD-ROM is the most comprehensive resource available for learning & mastering Spanish verbs. Designed for beginning through advanced learners this indispensable guide will help you conjugate verbs with ease enabling you to communicate in Spanish confidently. Inside you will find: 555 fully conjugated verbs listed alphabetically More than 5 000 example sentences with mini-dialogues Numerous contextual examples for each verb The Top 50 verbs with lots of usage flexibility More than 2 300 verbs cross-referenced to conjugation models A handy guide to deciphering irregular verb forms The enhanced CD-ROM is a dynamic way to help you: Sharpen your skills with more than 400 interactive exercises from fill-in-the-blanks to multiple-choice audio exercises Hear & practice hundreds of sample conversations whether on screen or via MP3 downloads to your iPod Recognize the difference in sound between easily confused verb forms Track & evaluate your progress with a pretest & a comprehensive review test System requirements: Windows 2000 XP Vista; Mac OS Leopard ...

Back by popular demand! Ken Wilson-Maxs popular & innovative novelty transportation books are packed full of tabs to pull flaps to lift & pop-ups to pop. An utter delight for children (and parents!). The bell is ringing in the fire house there is a fire somewhere! Open the doors & drive the big red fire engine across town to the building that is one fire. Put up the big ladder & aim the water hose at the flames to put them out. Well done! You have saved the day. ...

In this triumphant work David Thomson one of films greatest living experts & author of The New Biographical Dictionary of Film" tells the enthralling story of the movies & how they have shaped us. Taking us around the globe through time & across multiple media Thomson tracks the ways in which we were initially enchanted by this mesmerizing imitation of life & let movies
- the stories the stars the look
- show us how to live. But at the same time he shows us how movies offering a seductive escape from the everyday reality & its responsibilities have made it possible for us to evade life altogether. The entranced audience has become a model for powerless citizens trying to pursue happiness by sitting quietly in a dark room. Does the big screen take us out into the world or merely mesmerize us? That is Thomsons question in this great adventure of a book. A passionate feat of storytelling that is vital to anyone trying to make sense of the age of screens
- the age that more than ever we are living in. Reviews: " David Thomson is a giant in the world of film criticism & his book is the chest-crusher you might expect: erudite delightfully tangential & surprisingly polemical". (" The Times"). " David Thomson is I think the best writer on film in our time... He has found & created a marvellous plot for the history of film with insights & revelations on every page as well as a few mcguffins. He is our most argumentative & trustworthy historian of the screen". (Michael Ondaatje). " Equal parts shaman shrink & cinematic preacher Thomson has seen more films than we ever will. Typically eccentric this is not simply a history of film but an attempted autopsy...A devilish dazzling out-there divination.. .[full of] awe poetry & witty iconoclasm... Criticism is rarely this passionate & brilliant". (" Empire"). "A grand aesthetic spiritual & moral account of cinema history assembled around the movies & artists that have meant the most to [ Thomson]...A pungently written brilliant book". (David Denby (author of " Snark")). " Line by line Thomson is still the greatest biographical writer about film of all time.. .to read him on his favourite films is to be sent back with renewed yearning to that land of Californian light & loveliness". (" Sunday Times"). " Subtle erudite & entertaining". (" Economist"). " Fascinating.. .a loose-limbed conversational narrative moving fitfully through time dawdling over directors & films that interest.. .crackling with ideas & vivid impressionisms... Thomsons stylish prose simultaneously erudite & entertaining captivates as it informs... Buffs & casual fans alike will enjoy this extra-large serving of popcorn for thought". (" Publishers Weekly"). " Nobody does it better". (Scott Eyman (author of " Empire of Dreams" & " Lion of Hollywood")). " Of the mediums many distinguished critics none is better informed or more authoritative than David Thomson...[" The Big Screen"] re-awakens in us the thrill & wonder of moving images & the need to know what happens next... It is as close to definitive as any book on film can be". (" Spectator Life"). " Thomsons brain is the ultimate repertory theatre perpetually rerunning our favourites & allowing us to wonder at them all over again. The highest praise I can give him is to say that the images he treasures are just as alive on his pages as they were on the big screen". (Peter Conrad " Guardian"). About the author: David Thomson has a fair claim to be the greatest living writer on film. His major works include " The New Biographical Dictionary of Film" now in its 5th edition & " Have You Seen...?: A Personal Introduction to 1 000 Films including Masterpieces Oddities Guilty Pleasures & Classics (with Just a Few Disasters)". Thomson was born in London & now lives in San Francisco."


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From the author of Liars Poker" Michael Lewiss international bestseller " The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine" is the extraordinary true story of the men who made millions from global economic meltdown. From the jungles of the trading floor to the casinos of Las Vegas " The Big Short" tells the outrageous story of the misfits renegades & visionaries who saw that the biggest credit bubble of all time was about to burst bet against the banking system
- & made a killing. " In the hands of Michael Lewis anything is possible.. .if you want to know how a nation lost its financial mind
- & have a good laugh finding out
- this is the book to read". (" Sunday Times"). " Magnificent.. .a perfect storm of brilliant writer meeting big subject". (" Guardian"). "A triumph.. .riveting..." The Big Short" reads like a thriller". (" The Times"). "A terrifying story superbly well told". (" Daily Telegraph"). "A rollicking good yarn". (" Financial Times"). " Probably the single best piece of financial journalism ever written". (" Reuters"). Michael Lewis was born in New Orleans & educated at Princeton University & the London School of Economics. He has written several books including the " New York Times" bestseller " Liars Poker" widely considered the book that defined Wall Street during the 1980s " Panic!" " Moneyball" later adapted into a film of the same name starring Brad Pitt " The Blind Side" adapted into an Oscar-winning film starring Sandra Bullock & Boomerang. Lewis is contributing writer for the " New York Times Magazine" columnist for " Bloomberg" & " Slate"."


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People reckon my life has been glamorous. Well if this is glamour then they are just off their heads Unbeknown to both of them it was to be Carl Williams last conversation behind bars with his unlikely confident reporter Adam Sh&. Shorlty after saying these words the notorious murderous drug boss was once again in the papers...but this time he was in a gold coffin. In the late 1990s a feud raging between rival underworld families
- a clash of a new generation with the criminal establishment
- erupted in a spate of gangland slayings on Melbournes streets. These gangland wars are now familiar to everyone largely due to the popular TV drama Underbelly. But this is the real story as told to the author by the key figures
- both the victims & the suspects
- including Carl & Roberta Williams & Mick Gatto. The author developed a surprising rapport with the Williams family & got closer than anyone to unravelling the complicated personal entaglements behind the shocking headlines. It wasnt a relationship without risks. Crackling with tension Big Shots documents Shands brave plunge into Melbournes disorganised crime scene. While uncovering the facts he finds himself questioning his objectivity...and even whether he is being used to further murderous ends. This fully revised & definitive edition of the book concludes with notorious criminals transformed into red-carpet celebrities & the brutal murder that Carl Williams always knew was coming...



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It's great detective work that's needed now. Bill Peter & Joe are falsely accused of setting boats adrift & the whole river is against them. Only Dick Dorothea & Tom Dudgeon are there to stand by their friends & they soon set to work to investigate the crimes & trap the real criminals ...

ALARM BELLS...OR WEDDING BELLS? Meeting Ian Kincaid set something off inside Jenna Bowen! Back in Northbridge raising an infant niece she needed to sell the family farm before the IRS took it away from her. The handsome dealmaker had an offer on the table
- but he didnt want to honour her terms. So why did her opponent have to be so irresistible? Ian savoured the idea of prolonging negotiations but this was a zero-sum game. If he clinched the deal this spirited woman & her adopted daughter would suffer. & letting down his family business was out of the question. But the bell was tolling for Ian. It was time for him to make a choice...
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