This is the true story as told to the doctor who looked after him just before he died of the life of one of the last traditional yakuza in Japan. It wasnt a good" life in either sense of the word but it was an adventurous one; & the tale he has to tell presents an honest & oddly attractive picture of an insider in that separate unofficial world. In his low hoarse voice he describes the random events that led the son of a prosperous country shopkeeper to become a member & ultimately the leader of a gang organizing illegal dice games in Tokyos liveliest entertainment area. He talks about his first police raid & the brutal interrogation & imprisonment that followed it. He remembers his first love affair & the girl he ran away with & the weeks they spent wandering about the countryside together. Briefly & matter-of-factly he describes how he cut off the little finger of his left hand as a ritual gesture of apology. He explains how the games were run & the profits spent; why the ties between members of "the brotherhood" were so important; & how he came to kill a man who worked for him. What emerges is a contradictory personality: tough but not unsentimental; stubborn yet willing to take life more or less as it comes; impulsive but careful to observe the rules of the business he had joined. & in the end when his tale is finished you feel you would probably have liked him if youd met him in person. Fortunately Dr. Sagas record of his long conversations with him provides a wonderful substitute for that meeting." ...

As an Economic Hitman (EHM) John Perkins helped further American imperial interests in countries such as Ecuador Panama Indonesia & Saudi Arabia. As Chief Economist for the international consulting firm Chas. T. Main he convinced underdeveloped countries to accept massive loans for infrastructure development & ensured that the projects were contracted to multinational corporations. The countries acquired enormous debt & the US & international aid agencies were able to control their economies. He tried to write this book four times but was threatened or bribed each time to halt. The events of 9/11
- a direct result of the activities of EHMs in the 1970s
- finally forced him to confront the role he played himself & to reveal the truth to the rest of the world. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man has become a word-of-mouth bestseller in the US. It has been called the book that finally 'connects the dots the book that best explains what is really going on in the world'.

...

In the first part of this famous work published in 1821 but then revised & expanded in 1856 De Quincey vividly describes a number of experiences during his boyhood which he implies laid the foundations for his later life of helpless drug addiction. The second part consists of his remarkable account of the pleasures & pains of opium ostensibly offered as a muted apology for the course his life had taken but often reading like a celebration of it. The Confessions of an English Opium-Eater is thus both a classic of English autobiographical writing
- the prose equivalent in its own time of Wordsworths The Prelude or Growth of a Poets Mind
- & at the same time a crucial text in the long history of the Western Worlds ambivalent relationship with hard drugs. Full of psychological insight & colourful descriptive writing it surprised & fascinated De Quinceys contemporaries & has continued to exert its powerful & eccentric appeal ever since.

...

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY HOWARD MARKS. Once upon a time opium (the main ingredient of heroin) was easily available over the chemist's counter. The secret of happiness about which philosophers have disputed for so many ages could be bought for a penny & carried in the waistcoat pocket: portable ecstasies could be corked up in a pint bottle. Paradise? So thought Thomas de Quincey but he soon discovered that 'nobody will laugh long who deals much with opium'. ...

This book contains flash blokes glamorous girls expensive cars & false boobs. The tans may be fake but everything you read really happened. Becci Fox is an Essex girl through & through. She just wants to be comfortable & spoilt taken out to nice places & showered with presents. & she is. She lives in the grounds of her parents manor house drives a Mercedes SLK & had a boob job when she was eighteen. Shes ambitious working very hard during the day as a bridal buyer. & at night she plays hard clubbing at Sugar Hut & Faces mixing with celebrities & soap stars. She knows how to handle the footballers who buy you Cristal champagne & make you feel like the most special person in the room (only theyve got five other girls on speed dial). But when she falls for a sexy racing driver is she finally out of her league? Becci shares six dramatic months in her life as she & her friends have fun fall in love handle heartache & betrayal & even plan a big fat Essex wedding. ...

We have all heard the story of Cinderella the beautiful child cast out to slave amongst the ashes. But what of her stepsisters the homely pair exiled into ignominy by the fame of their lovely sibling? What fate befell those untouched by beauty.. .and what curses accompanied Cinderella's looks? Set against the backdrop of seventeenth-century Holland CONFESSIONS OF AN UGLY STEPSISTER tells the story of Iris an unlikely heroine who is swept from the lowly streets of Haarlem to a strange world of wealth artifice & ambition. Iris's path becomes intertwined with that of Clara the mysterious & unnaturally beautiful girl destined to become her sister. While Clara retreats to the cinders of the family hearth Iris seeks out the shadowy secrets of her new household
- & the treacherous truth of her former life.
...

The final book in one of the greatest epic adventures of all time: The Sword of Truth from bestselling fantasy author Terry Goodkind. Descending into darkness about to be overwhelmed by evil those people still free are powerless to stop the coming dawn of a savage new world while Richard faces the guilt of knowing that he must let it happen. Alone he must bear the weight of a sin he dare not confess to the one person he loves...and has lost. Join Richard & Kahlan in the concluding novel of one of the most remarkable & memorable journeys ever written. It started with one rule & will end with the rule of all rules the rule unwritten the rule unspoken since the dawn of history. When next the sun rises the world will be forever changed. ...

Princess Evie is crazy about her ponies. But Princess Evie's ponies aren't like any other ponies
- oh no! Her ponies are magic
...

I got a letter one day a long letter that wasnt signed. Camille reads this narration of events from pre-war France certain that it has been sent to her by mistake. Then more letters start to arrive
- They tell of a friendship struck up between a young village girl Annie & Madame M a bourgeois lady. To begin with the women simply share a love of art but when Annie offers to carry a child for her infertile friend their lives become intimately entwined. The child is born on the eve of the German invasion of France & the repercussions of her birth are still felt decades later. This powerful first novel by Helene Gremillion is a gripping study of the destruction unleashed when human desires for love & motherhood turn to obsession.
...

This is a hands-on self-help guide to gaining long-lasting confidence & overcoming fear using mindfulness-based therapy. The author explains how many of us are playing the confidence game using the wrong rules & guides the reader through clear simple exercises designed to help you manage difficult emotions such as anxiety & build genuine confidence. The Confidence Gap" has a gentler more thoughtful approach to teaching confidence than the typically aggressive/peppy self-help approach. It is instructive reassuring & gentle in tone which will appeal to women as well as men & the business market." ...