From the author of The Tipping Point" Malcolm Gladwells international bestseller " Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking" is a revolution in the understanding of the mind. An art expert sees a ten-million-dollar sculpture & instantly spots its a fake. A marriage analyst knows within minutes whether a couple will stay together. A fire-fighter suddenly senses he has to get out of a blazing building. A speed dater clicks with the right person... This book is all about those moments when we know something without knowing why. Here Malcolm Gladwell explores the phenomenon of blink showing how a snap judgement can be far more effective than a cautious decision. By trusting your instincts he reveals youll never think about thinking in the same way again. " Trust my snap judgement buy this book: youll be delighted". (" The New York Times"). " Compelling fiendishly clever". (" Evening Standard"). " Brilliant.. .the implications for business let alone love are vast". (" Observer"). " Superb.. .this wonderful book should be compulsory reading". (" New Statesman"). "" Blink" might just change your life". (" Esquire"). " Should you buy this book? You already know the answer to that". (" Independent on Sunday"). Author journalist cultural commentator & intellectual adventurer Malcolm Gladwell is a staff writer for the " New Yorker" magazine. His first book " The Tipping Point" captured the worlds attention with its theory that a curiously small change can have unforeseen effects. His other international bestselling books are " Outliers" which looks at the stories of exceptional individuals & reveals the secrets of their success " Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking" & " What The Dog Saw" a collection of his most provocative & entertaining " New Yorker" pieces." ...

As a young man in Glasgow's underworld Ian ' Blink' Mac Donald fought robbed & slashed his way to the top developing a taste for the high life along the way. His notoriety earned him an offer of work from Scotland's most feared gangster Arthur Thompson but Mac Donald had other plans: to finance a new life in Spain with the multimillion-pound proceeds of a high-risk armed bank robbery. But the job went badly wrong & Mac Donald was jailed for 16 years. In prison he met scores of high-profile inmates including torture-gang boss Eddie Richardson high-society serial killer Archie Hall notorious lifer Charles Bronson & Ronnie O' Sullivan senior father of the snooker star. On his release Mac Donald became a magnet for trouble enjoying a hedonistic drug-fuelled lifestyle & finding himself drawn into conflict with police gangsters & businessmen. Rearrested several times he was the target of more than one terrifying murder attempt. In Blink Mac Donald provides an eye-opening account of his highly eventful journey through life in Glasgow's brutal gangl&. ...

In the four decades since his first book appeared in print Terry Pratchett has become one of the worlds best-selling & best-loved authors. Here for the first time are his short stories & other short form fiction collected into one volume. A Blink of the Screen" charts the course of Pratchetts long writing career: from his school days through to his first writing job on the Bucks Free Press & the origins of his debut novel " The Carpet People"; & on again to the dizzy mastery of the phenomenally successful Discworld series. Here are characters both familiar & yet to be discovered; abandoned worlds & others still expanding; adventure chickens death disco & actually some quite disturbing ideas about Christmas all of it shot through with his inimitable brand of humour. With an introduction by Booker Prize-winning author A.S. Byatt illustrations by the late Josh Kirby & drawings by the author himself this is a book to treasure." ...

In the four decades since his first book appeared in print Terry Pratchett has become one of the worlds best-selling & best-loved authors. Here for the first time are his short stories & other short form fiction collected into one volume. A Blink of the Screen" charts the course of Pratchetts long writing career: from his schooldays through to his first writing job on the Bucks Free Press ; to the origins of his debut novel " The Carpet People"; & on again to the dizzy mastery of the phenomenally successful " Discworld" series. Here are characters both familiar & yet to be discovered; abandoned worlds & others still expanding; adventure chickens death disco & actually some quite disturbing ideas about Christmas all of it shot through with his inimitable brand of humour. With an introduction by Booker Prize-winning author A.S. Byatt illustrations by the late Josh Kirby & drawings by the author himself this is a book to treasure." ...

West is a high school senior who has everything going for him
- until an accident leaves him paralysed. Strapped down in his hospital
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When novelist Charles Condomine invites a medium into his house in order to learn about the occult for his new book the last thing he or his second wife dream is that the seance will bring back his first wife Elvira who wants Charles all to herself! Things are further complicated by the fact that only Charles can see her which results in some hilarious exchanges & misunderstandings. Elvira's plots to get him to 'the other side' do not go to plan however & instead of Charles dying in her contrived 'accident' his new wife does. Many consider this to be one of Coward's best & most unusual farces. ...

BLITZ is a thrilling wartime tale about two siblings evacuated to Wales. It's 1940 & with London under fire Edie & her littl brother are evacuated to Wales. Miles from home & missing he family Edie is determined to be strong but when life in the countryside proves tougher than in the capital she is torn between obeying her parents & protecting her brother... ...

Its May 1941: over 43 000 civilians had been killed & over a million houses destroyed following endless nights of bombing raids. Yet London & other cities that had been targeted survived their spirit undaunted their people resilient. Revisionist historians have sought to dampen the notion of the Blitz spirit but the writings & surviving records all point to a resilience that would remain unbroken despite the death toll rising to almost 52 000 from bombing alone. Illustrated with archive photographs & other materials & illuminated by first hand recollections of the Blitz" this human history of the bombing raids on Britain is the perfect introduction to this dark episode in British history." ...

As the Second World War loomed everyone expected it would bring a new kind of conflict to Britain. Raids by airships in the First World War & the attack on Guernica in the Spanish Civil War had given a terrifying taste of what was to come. So when war was declared in September 1939 massive air raids against civilians were anticipated. Cities & strategic ports were the first to be hit. London was a major target throughout the war. But it was not only the capital that suffered: on 8 November 1940 30 000 incendiary bombs rained down on Coventry laying waste to the city including famously its cathedral. Port cities such as Plymouth Bristol & Liverpool also suffered especially badly. In Blitz Diary" historian Carol Harris has collected together a remarkable series of accounts from the war's darkest days with heart-warming stories of survival perseverance solidarity & bravery the preservation of which becomes increasingly important as the Blitz fades from living memory." ...

From the dangers of London streets during the Blitz to working on the high seas in the Merchant Navy during the Atlantic Convoy children were on the frontline of battle during the Second World War. In Sean Longdens gripping retelling of the conflict he explores how the war impacted upon a whole generation who lost their innocence at home & abroad on the battlefield & the home front. Through extensive interviews & research Longden uncovers previously untold stories of heroism & courage: the eleven year old boy who was sunk on the SS Benares & left in frozen water for two days; the teenage Girl Guide awarded the George Medal for bravery; the merchant seaman sunk three times by the age of seventeen; the fourteen year old who signed up for the army three times before finally seeing action in the Normandy campaign; the fourteen year old Boy Buglers of the Royal Marines on active service onboard battleships; as well as the harrowing experiences of the boy who was survived the Bethnal Green Tube Disaster; the horrors of being a child captive in the German Po W camps. Blitz Kids" will change forever the way one sees the relationship between the Second World War & the generation
- our grandparents & great grandparents- who bravely faced the challenge of Nazism. Allowing them to tell their stories in their own words Sean Longden brings both the horrors & the humour of young lives lived in troubled times. The book

Includes:: stories of: the seventeen year old boy who signed up 4 times before he made it onto the beaches at Normandy; the Girl Guide who saved a family during the blitz; the teenage merchant seaman who was sunk three times; & what it was like to be a teenage POW after the disasters of Dunkirk."


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