A Business Week New York Times Business & USA Today Bestseller Ambitious & readable.. .an engaging introduction to the oddsmakers whom Bernstein regards as true humanists helping to release mankind from the choke holds of superstition & fatalism." -The New York Times " An extraordinarily entertaining & informative book." -The Wall Street Journal "A lively panoramic book.. . Against the Gods sets up an ambitious premise & then delivers on it." -Business Week " Deserves to be & surely will be widely read." -The Economist "[A] challenging book one that may change forever the way people think about the world." -Worth " No one else could have written a book of such central importance with so much charm & excitement." -Robert Heilbroner author The Worldly Philosophers " With his wonderful knowledge of the history & current manifestations of risk Peter Bernstein brings us Against the Gods. Nothing like it will come out of the financial world this year or ever. I speak carefully: no one should miss it." -John Kenneth Galbraith Professor of Economics Emeritus Harvard University In this unique exploration of the role of risk in our society Peter Bernstein argues that the notion of bringing risk under control is one of the central ideas that distinguishes modern times from the distant past. Against the Gods chronicles the remarkable intellectual adventure that liberated humanity from oracles & soothsayers by means of the powerful tools of risk management that are available to us today. " An extremely readable history of risk." -Barrons " Fascinating.. .this challenging volume will help you understand the uncertainties that every investor must face." -Money "A singular achievement." -Times Literary Supplement " Theres a growing market for savants who can render the recondite intelligibly-witness Stephen Jay Gould (natural history) Oliver Sacks (disease) Richard Dawkins (heredity) James Gleick (physics) Paul Krugman (economics)-and Bernstein would mingle well in their company." -The Australian" ...

This book is not just an invaluable piece of social history & railway folklore it is a treasure trove of tales & a joy to read. The Settle to Carlisle line has become famous far beyond the realms of railway enthusiasts for many reasons. An improbable main line climbing through spectacular mountain scenery it has long been legendary as a magnificent setting for steam locomotives working against the grade. What has until now received less emphasis are the true tales of men
- & women
- who have metaphorically worked against the grade to keep the line running in conditions often challenging in the extreme. Mike Harding says it all in his foreword to this long-awaited book: It is the human stories that have always set the Settle-Carlisle apart from other lesser lines & those you will find here in plenty; true gems told simply by men & women who have worked on the line or lived alongside it. This book is not just an invaluable piece of social history & railway folklore it is a treasure trove of tales & a joy to read". Here is brought to life the drama of keeping the tracks clear of snow in past winters that make the recent conditions of 2010/11 seem comparatively easy. Here too is the saga of the railway family who lived at Blea Moor a location so remote that the only way a daughter could leave for her wedding was in the grimy cab of a steam locomotive! There are many similar tales all firmly set on one of the great railway wonders of the world. Hitherto unpublished photographs & cartoon-style line drawings complete this compelling book."

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Simon Yates is the one who cut the rope in Joe Simpsons award-winning account of their epic struggle for survival in Touching the Void. Afterwards Yates continued mountaineering on the hardest routes. Perhaps the most testing of all was one of the worlds largest vertical rockfaces the 4 000-ft East Face of the Central Tower of Paine in Chile. Battered by ferocious storms & almost crippled with fear just below the summit Yates & his three companions are forced into a nightmare retreat. After resting in a nearby town they return to complete the climb but Yates knows he still has to face one of lifes greatest challenges... ...

The book engages in a polemical critique of recent efforts to revive World Literature models of literary studies (Moretti Casanova etc) on the grounds that they construct their curricula on an assumption of translatability. As a result incommensurability & what Apter calls the untranslatable" are insufficiently built into the literary heuristic. Drawing on philosophies of translation developed by de Man Derrida Sam Weber Barbara Johnson Abdelfattah Kilito & Edouard Glissant as well as on the way in which "the untranslatable" is given substancein the context of Barbara Cassin's Vocabulaire europeen des philosophies: Dictionnaire des intraduisibles the aim is to activate Untranslatability as a theoretical fulcrum of Comparative Literature with bearing on approaches to world literature literary world systems & literary history the politics of periodization the translation of philosophy & theory the bounds of non-secular proscription & cultural sanction free versus privatized authorial property & the poetics of translational difference." ...

Seven Deadly Sins
- Seven Motives For Murder. An attractive hardback of seven of the best Agatha Christie crime thrillers themed
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Agatha Christie was the author of over eighty novels & over a dozen plays including The Mousetrap the longest continuously running play in theatrical history. Her books have been translated into more languages than the works of Shakespeare. Agatha Christie's first home was at Ashfield in Torquay a house that she retained for nearly half a century until she sold it in 1938 in order to buy Greenway her 'dream house' on the River Dart. She spent all her summers there till she died in 1976. It was she wrote: 'the loveliest house in the world.' Now owned by the National Trust Greenway was opened to the public in 2009. Both Devon homes which featured in several of her novels & stories were central to Agatha's life but she also loved the process of acquiring & planning houses in other places
- from Sunningdale to Baghdad: at one time before the Second World War she owned eight properties in London. Her enthusiasm for buying restoring & decorating houses is one of the lesser-known aspects of her life but one that was very important to her. Agatha Christie at Home
- illustrated with photos of her life her homes & of the Devon she loved
- recounts this side of her life & its author Hilary Macaskill writes about some of the houses Agatha Christie lived in her relationship with the staff who ran them & her love of domesticity. Illustrated with rarely-seen archive images & evocative photographs of Greenway & the surrounding countryside Agatha Christie at Home provides an insight into the life & work of a much-loved author.


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This miscellany explores the fascinating & enigmatic world created by the undisputed ' Queen of Crime' Agatha Christie. Examining her place in literary history her books & her iconic characters including Hercule Poirot & Miss Marple this unique collection

Includes:: facts trivia "es that feature in Christie's legendary stories & the subsequent film & television adaptations. The Agatha Christie Miscellany will also delve into the secrets mysteries & tricks that made Christie the most sensational & successful mystery writer of her time. For example how is it that she managed to keep us guessing the murderer until the very end? Looking at her life & the influences on her writing this entertaining & informative miscellany will above all unravel the secrets of Agatha Christie's phenomenal success.

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A brand new learning aid incorporating 2 CDs & a complementary book that uses the stories of the peerless Queen of Crime Agatha Christie to both teach & improve English. A new product designed for those people who wish to improve their English by the tried & tested method of reading hearing & understanding. Using Christies simple yet flawless English the twists & turns of her plots will keep listeners entertained whilst they improve their grammar & vocabulary. Each volume is read by a selection of celebrated readers many of who are already synonymous with Agatha Christie The Queen of Crime after appearing in the world-renowned television adaptations of her work. With each CD specifically featuring a variety of readers listeners will get used to hearing & understanding English spoken in a variety of dialects tones & pitches. CD1 Death by Drowning (read by Joan Hickson) -- an architect stands accused of murdering an unmarried mother-to-be! The Plymouth Express (read by David Suchet) -- the body of a millionaires daughter is found under a train seat! CD2 The Lamp (read by Christopher Lee) -- in a haunted house a young boy discovers an invisible playmate! The Case of the Missing Lady (read by James Warwick) -- an arctic explorer asks Tommy & Tuppence Beresford to find his missing fiancee! ...

Agatha Christies life & career told through the decades from the never-before-published original ending to her first book to the unused ideas for her last complete with two unpublished Agatha Christie stories
- including a lost Miss Marple. In this follow-up volume to the acclaimed Agatha Christies Secret Notebooks Christie archivist & expert John Curran leads the reader through the six decades of Agatha Christies writing career unearthing some remarkable clues to her success & a number of never-before-published excerpts & stories from her archives. Starting his investigation in the 1920s John Curran examines the conventions of detective novels as they existed then & how Agatha Christies publisher talked her into changing the ending of her very first book The Mysterious Affair at Styles a move that almost certainly changed the fortunes of not only her career but the future of the whole crime writing genre. For the very first time this book prints Agathas original ending painstakingly transcribed from her notebooks. Every decade saw Agatha Christies success grow to new heights. The emergence of the world-famous Collins Crime Club in 1930 brought with it the very first Miss Marple mystery the austerity of the 1940s had Agatha Christie preparing to kill off Hercule Poirot & the 1950s saw her experiment increasingly with formats influenced by more modern thrillers. Focusing on the detail of more than 20 Christie novels to illustrate this John Curran shows the evolution of Agathas writing through the decades including the influence of the swinging sixties & seventies concluding the book with a look at Agathas last notebook using his Christie knowledge to speculate about what she had in mind based on her brief notes for an unwritten final book. Also

Includes:: a number of short stories from the archives reproduced in full including the unpublished The Man Who Knew How I Created Hercule Poirot & an early draft for a Miss Marple story The Case of the Caretakers Wife.


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Agatha Christies life & career told through the decades from the never-before-published original ending to her first book to the unused ideas for her last complete with two unpublished Agatha Christie stories
- including a lost Miss Marple. In this follow-up volume to the acclaimed Agatha Christies Secret Notebooks Christie archivist & expert John Curran leads the reader through the six decades of Agatha Christies writing career unearthing some remarkable clues to her success & a number of never-before-published excerpts & stories from her archives. Starting his investigation in the 1920s John Curran examines the conventions of detective novels as they existed then & how Agatha Christies publisher talked her into changing the ending of her very first book The Mysterious Affair at Styles a move that almost certainly changed the fortunes of not only her career but the future of the whole crime writing genre. For the very first time this book prints Agathas original ending painstakingly transcribed from her notebooks. Every decade saw Agatha Christies success grow to new heights. The emergence of the world-famous Collins Crime Club in 1930 brought with it the very first Miss Marple mystery the austerity of the 1940s had Agatha Christie preparing to kill off Hercule Poirot & the 1950s saw her experiment increasingly with formats influenced by more modern thrillers. Focusing on the detail of more than 20 Christie novels to illustrate this John Curran shows the evolution of Agathas writing through the decades including the influence of the swinging sixties & seventies concluding the book with a look at Agathas last notebook using his Christie knowledge to speculate about what she had in mind based on her brief notes for an unwritten final book. Also

Includes:: a number of short stories from the archives reproduced in full including the unpublished The Man Who Knew How I Created Hercule Poirot & an early draft for a Miss Marple story The Case of the Caretakers Wife.


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