From bestselling author Stephen Pinker The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature" shatters the myths surrounding human behaviour & 'nature versus nurture'. Recently many people have assumed that we are shaped by our environment: a blank slate waiting to be inscribed by upbringing & culture with innate abilities playing little part. " The Blank Slate" shows that this view denies the heart of our being: human nature. Violence is not just a product of society; male & female minds are different; the genes we give our children shape the more than our parenting practices. To acknowledge our nature Pinker shows is not to condone inequality but to understand the very foundations of humanity. " Magnificent & timely". (" Sunday Telegraph"). "A passionate defence of the enduring power of human nature.. .both life-affirming & deeply satisfying". (Tim Lott " Daily Telegraph" Books of the Year). " Brilliant.. .enjoyable informative clear humane". (" New Scientist"). Steven Pinker is a best-selling author & Professor of Psychology & Director of the Center for cognitive Neuroscience at MIT. Pinker has been awarded research prizes from the National Academy of Sciences & the American Psychological Association graduate & undergraduate teaching prizes from MIT & book prizes from the American Psychological Association the Linguistics Society of America & the " Los Angeles Times". He is the author of " How the Mind Works" " The Blank Slate" " The Better Angels of Our Nature" & " The Language Instinct"." ...

Over 100 different blanket squares can be knitted up to create a dozen unique afghans in a variety of styles. Projects range from baby's first comfort blanket in subdued pastels to brightly coloured motifs embellished with beads & buttons for the spirited teenager. Full instructions are given for each square including expert advice on how to knit with several colours plus how to bead with complete confidence. Moreover step-by-step instructions show you how to piece the squares together to create the finished afghan. You can follow the patterns given for the twelve designs or experiment with your own choice of squares & create a one-of-a-kind treasure to pass on from generation to generation. From an eye-popping Candy Mixture to the pastel perfection Queen of Hearts each design combines a range of techniques & textures in a variety of sumptuous yarns. Fabulous in-close colour photographs of each individual square & a full colour picture of the finished afghan show off these knitted treasures in all their glorious detail. ...

He had always been scared of flying. Now the fear is real. A plane crash. The water is rising over his mouth. In his nostrils. Lungs. As Daniel gasps he swallows; & punches at his seat-belt. Nancy the woman he loves is trapped in her seat. He clambers over her pushing her face into the headrest. It is a reflex visceral action made without rational thought... But Daniel Kennedy did it. & already we have judged him from the comfort of our own lives. Almost a hundred years earlier Daniels great-grandfather goes over the top at Passchendaele. A shell explodes & he wakes up alone & lost in the hell of no-mans-l&. Where are the others? Has he been left behind? & if he doesnt find his unit is he a deserter? Love; cowardice; trust; forgiveness. How will any of us behave when we are pushed to extremes? ...

He had always been scared of flying. Now the fear is real. A plane crash. The water is rising over his mouth. In his nostrils. Lungs. As Daniel gasps he swallows; & punches at his seat-belt. Nancy the woman he loves is trapped in her seat. He clambers over her pushing her face into the headrest. It is a reflex visceral action made without rational thought... But Daniel Kennedy did it. & already we have judged him from the comfort of our own lives. Almost a hundred years earlier Daniels great-grandfather goes over the top at Passchendaele. A shell explodes & he wakes up alone & lost in the hell of no-mans-l&. Where are the others? Has he been left behind? & if he doesnt find his unit is he a deserter? Love; cowardice; trust; forgiveness. How will any of us behave when we are pushed to extremes? See Judys Review See Richards Review See Nigel Farndale talk about his book Reading Group Questions Read our exclusive Q&A with Nigel Farndale Write a Review for The Blasphemer Judys Review This novel gripped me from start to finish. The impossible demands placed on young men like Andrew in the trenches of the Great War; the fight-or-flight reflex that overwhelms his great grandson after a terrifying plane crash: Nigel Farndale uses both as jumping off points for a story about faith courage cowardice & redemption. & the possibilities of the infinite too. An old photograph of Andrew with an unnamed comrade taken just before the hellish battle of Passchendaele may not be what it seems. Nor are the sightings of a strangely familiar wide-eyed man that Daniel keeps glimpsing usually just before & after moments of great peril. Following a freakishly lucky escape from a terrorist bombing in London Daniel the unbeliever begins to wonder if his survival is anything to do with luck at all. There are wonderful characters in this book. Daniel&8217;s father Philip an ex-military man who hides his love for his son behind a rigid emotional froideur; the truly wicked Wetherby a professor who poses as Daniel&8217;s friend at the university they both teach at but who is in fact a Judas plotting to betray him. Interestingly &8211; & amusingly
- Wetherby is the most devoutly religious figure in the whole story. The Blasphemer is a powerful morality tale with a tantalising nod to the possibility that angels may indeed move among us. Unforgettable. Richards Review How would any of us react in a mo"
...

He's got a plan. But he hasn't got a clue. Clayton Blaisdell's capers are strictly small-time until he meets George Rackley. With Blaze's brawn & George's brains they pull off a hundred successful cons. Then George plans the one big score every small timer dreams of: kidnapping the infant heir to a family fortune. The trouble is that by the time the deal goes down the brains of the operation has died. Or has he? Now Blaze is running into the white hell of the Maine woods with a baby as hostage. The crime of the century just turned into a race against time.. . ...

The teams on tour & anything that can go wrong...will! Bob Cattells cricketing capers are enough to keep any fan happy forhours
-
...

BALTIC MISSION 1807: HMS Antigone is ordered to the Baltic. Napoleon's relentless advance across Europe has brought him to the very brink of Holy Russia. & Captain Nathaniel Drinkwater is faced with the most perilous mission of his career. IN DISTANT WATER From the very start of her mission to the Pacific when Captain Nathaniel Drinkwater has to hang a deserter His Majesty's Cruiser Patrician is dogged by ill-luck. Mutiny is in the air the seas of Cape Horn are cruel & Drinkwater's top-secret orders are infuriatingly vague. A PRIVATE REVENGE 1808: In the aftermath of a typhoon Captain Nathaniel Drinkwater brings His Britannic Majesty's frigate Patrician
- dangerously overcrowded with Russian prisoners
- into the shelter of the Pearl River on the China coast. When an apparently routine task goes wrong Drinkwater is forced is forced to take risks with his ship his crew & his life...

...

I was never alone except in the toilet where I soon found that locking myself into a cubicle was not much protection from hearing myself talked about by young men standing at urinals. (Jesus hes looking rough." " And its only Monday.") Reviews for Clive Jamess fourth volume of memoirs North Face of Soho included several that specifically requested a further volume; Clive James duly obliged & here in all its glory is Unreliable Memoirs V otherwise known as The Blaze of Obscurity. Perhaps his most brilliant book yet The Blaze of Obscurity tells the inside story of his years in television: part Clive James on TV & part Clive James on TV it shows Clive James on top form -- both then & now. In the case of many people who attempt an autobiography even a single volume is one too many.. . In the case of Clive James the volumes now in existence are too few. If the final tally puts him up there with Marcel Proust so much the better Financial Times" ...

The volcano at Stonewin is frozen over & the lands are blasted with a deadly cold. This is the work of Blaze the Ice Dragon sent by wicked Wizard Malvel to thwart Tom's quest to save his father. Can he defeat Blaze & win the next piece of Amulet before it's too late? ...

Ichigo knows that to retrieve Rukia from the Soul Society he'll have to enter that world himself. But his fight with Rukia's brother Byakuya showed in no uncertain terms that Ichigo still has a great deal of rigorous study & training ahead of him. Deep beneath Kisuke's Urahara Shoten Ichigo practices his fighting & hones his spiritual energies & now he must face the most daunting challenge of all: prevent his Chain of Fate from consuming itself or be forever transformed into a soul-devouring Hollow! ...