The war raged across the galaxy. Billions had died billions more were doomed. Moons planets the very stars themselves faced destruction cold-blooded brutal & worse random. The Idirans fought for their Faith; the Culture for its moral right to exist. Principles were at stake. There could be no surrender. Within the cosmic conflict an individual crusade. Deep within a fabled labyrinth on a barren world a Planet of the Dead proscribed to mortals lay a fugitive Mind. Both the Culture & the Idirans sought it. It was the fate of Horza the Changer & his motley crew of unpredictable mercenaries human & machine actually to find it & with it their own destruction. Consider Phlebas
- a space opera of stunning power & awesome imagination.
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Bee Wilson is the beloved food writer & historian who writes as the Kitchen Thinker" in the " Sunday Telegraph" & is the author of " Swindled!". Her charming & original new book " Consider the Fork" explores how the implements we use in the kitchen have shaped the way we cook & live. A wooden spoon
- most trusty & loveable of kitchen implements
- looks like the opposite of 'technology' as the word is normally understood. But look closer. Is it oval or round? Does it have an extra-long handle to give your hand a place of greater safety from a hot skillet? Or a pointy bit at one side to get the lumpy bits in the corner of the pan? It took countless inventions to get to the well-equipped kitchens we have now where our old low-tech spoon is joined by mixers freezers & microwaves but the story of human invention in the kitchen is largely unseen. Discovering the histories of our knives ovens & kitchens themselves Bee Wilson explores among many other things why the French & Chinese have such different cultures of the knife; & why Roman kitchens contain so many implements we recognize. Encompassing inventors scientists cooks & chefs this is the previously unsung history of our kitchens."

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Do lobsters feel pain? Did Franz Kafka have a sick sense of humour? What is John Updike's deal anyway? & who won the Adult Video News' Female Performer of the Year Award the same year Gwyneth Paltrow won her Oscar? David Foster Wallace answers these questions & more in his new book of hilarious non-fiction. For this collection David Foster Wallace immerses himself in the three-ring circus that is the presidential race in order to document one of the most vicious campaigns in recent history. Later he strolls from booth to booth at a lobster festival in Maine & risks life & limb to get to the bottom of the lobster question. Then he wheedles his way into an L.A. radio studio armed with tubs of chicken to get the behind-the-scenes view of a conservative talkshow featuring a host with an unnatural penchant for clothing that only looks good on the radio. In what is sure to be a much-talked-about exploration of distinctly modern subjects one of the sharpest minds of our time delves into some of life's most delicious topics. ...

Winner of the Blue Peter Book Award 2012 Fourteen-year-old Mariel returns to England for her grandmother's funeral. It is the first time she has been back since she emigrated with her mother as a baby & it is the beginning of the uncovering of some really extraordinary truths about the Considine family. Why did Mariel's mum argue with Grandma all those years ago? Why does Amelia wear so much perfume? Why is there a very large cat flap in Louvre House? Why does Gerald seem scared of his brother's appetite? Did Grandma Considine really break her neck falling down the stairs? & most importantly what is the dark secret that lies at the heart of the family? ...

The Consolations of Philosophy" is Alain de Botton's internationally bestselling guide to life. It is the inspiration for the TV series " Philsophy: A Guide to Happiness. Alain de Botton bestselling author of " How Proust Can Change Your Life" has set six of the finest minds in the history of philosophy to work on the problems of everyday life. Here then are Socrates Epicurus Seneca Montaigne Schopenhauer & Nietsche on some of the things that bother us all: lack of money the pain of love inadequacy anxiety; the fear of failure & the pressure to conform. " Singlehandedly de Botton has taken philosophy back to its simplest & most important purpose: helping us live our lives". (" Independent"). " No doubt about it philosophy is the new rock & roll & Alain de Botton is its Colonel Tom Parker.. .A pleasure to read. & good writing like good philosophy is always a consolation". (John Banville " Irish Times"). " Few discussions on the great philosophers can have been so entertaining.. .an ingenious imaginative book". (Humphrey Carpenter " Sunday Times"). " Witty thoughtful entertaining.. .a stylish book which manages to make philosophy both enjoyable & relevant". (Anthony Clare " Literary Review"). " Gentle helpful & humane.. . De Botton's instinct is surely right: if we are to bring philosophy to life we should look again at those thinkers who have sought to be not clever or paradoxical but simply wise". (Roger Scruton " Mail on Sunday"). Alain de Botton was born in 1969 & is the author of non-fiction essays on themes ranging from love & travel to architecture & philosophy. His bestselling books include " Essays in Love"; " The Romantic Movement"; " Kiss & Tell"; " Status Anxiety"; " How Proust Can Change Your Life"; " The Pleasures & Sorrows of Work"; " The Art of Travel"; & " The Architecture of Happiness & Religion for Atheists". He lives in London & founded The School of Life & Living Architecture." ...

The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was the Second World War's most numerous Allied heavy bomber &
- at over 18 000 made
- the

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Throughout history some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves
- & each other. They have
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THE ROMAN EMPIRE IS DEAD. LONG LIVE THE CHURCH OF ROME! 609 AD. Rome is torn apart by war plague & internal power struggles between the Emperor the aristocracy & the Church. Into this morass stumbles the young & handsome Briton Aelric. His father was murdered his inheritance stolen. Forcibly separated from the woman he loves he is determined to win back all that he has lost. Through his naivety & ambition he unwittingly becomes involved in a heretical plot that will lead to fraud high treason & murder. Introducing the most compelling anti-hero since Flashman CONSPIRACIES OF ROME takes you back to one of the darkest & least known periods of history. ...

Jack Norton is a Ghost Walker a genetically enhanced sniper with a merciless sense of justice a phantom welcomed by the anonymity of the night. But a mission to rescue his brother in the jungle has left him vulnerable to rebel forces. His only salvation is his power of telepathy. Then he meets Briony an unusual beauty on a mission of her own. But they share more than the sweltering heat.. . Briony shares the Ghost Walker powers. Yet she's different. She doesn't know what she is or what she's capable of. But her enemies do. & Jack & Briony's flight will take them into frightening conspiracy of mind & body
- across the globe & into the heart of darkness where the shocking truth is something neither of them could have foreseen
- or can escape...

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Eve Dallas must stray into the bowels of New York City when she is called to a street sleeper's homicide. All expectations go out the window when she discovers a laser-perfect hole where his heart used to be
- the work of a highly skilled surgeon. Research reveals that similar deaths have been occurring across America & Europe but all her efforts to work out why are confused by the fact that the organs are always faulty. As she digs further & the medical community shuts against her Eve's problems become much worse as an internal investigation leaves her suspended from action & fighting to retain her fragile sense of identity. Eve & those loyal to her must go to even greater lengths as they get closer to the mastermind killer & the stakes are raised.
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