The Tour de France has it all: extremes of ego temperature & terrain; grazes bruises & streaks; wrecks wheels & winding paths. Now in celebration of 100 years of the Tours infamous mountain section comes the ultimate tribute to cyclings greatest race. World-renowned sports photographer Mike Powell has spent 25 years photographing the greatest sports contests around the globe & has now devoted 2 years to creating the most epic photographic celebration of the Tour de France ever published: vibrant compelling & gritty images of the competitors support crew & spectators beautifully juxtaposed against the breathtaking settings of the Pyrenees the Alps & the French countryside. An introduction by Lewis Blackwell author of 2009s best-selling The Life & Love of Trees details the history of the tour & incorporates a pertinent selection of historical images. The Greatest Race is an epic & stunning tribute to indeed the greatest race. ...

Charles Darwins masterpiece On the Origin of Species" shook society to its core on publication in 1859. Darwin was only too aware of the storm his theory of evolution would provoke but he would surely have raised an incredulous eyebrow at the controversy still raging a century & a half later. Evolution is accepted as scientific fact by all reputable scientists & indeed theologians yet millions of people continue to question its veracity. In " The Greatest Show on Earth" Richard Dawkins takes on creationists including followers of Intelligent Design & all those who question the fact of evolution through natural selection. Like a detective arriving on the scene of a crime he sifts through fascinating layers of scientific facts & disciplines to build a cast-iron case: from the living examples of natural selection in birds & insects; the time clocks of trees & radioactive dating that calibrate a timescale for evolution; the fossil record & the traces of our earliest ancestors; to confirmation from molecular biology & genetics. All of this & much more bears witness to the truth of evolution. " The Greatest Show on Earth" comes at a critical time: systematic opposition to the fact of evolution is now flourishing as never before especially in America. In Britain & elsewhere in the world teachers witness insidious attempts to undermine the status of science in their classrooms. Richard Dawkins provides unequivocal evidence that boldly & comprehensively rebuts such nonsense. At the same time he shares with us his palpable love of the natural world & the essential role that science plays in its interpretation. Written with elegance wit & passion it is hard-hitting absorbing & totally convincing." ...

The Greatest Trade Ever" is the thrilling story of the trader John Paulson who predicted the economic crash in 2008
- & made
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On 3 May 1961 after a trial conducted largely in secret a man named George Blake was sentenced to an unprecedented forty-two years in jail. At the time few details of his crimes were made known. By his own confession he was a Soviet spy & rumours later circulated that his actions had endangered British agents but the reasons for such a severe punishment were never revealed. To the public Blake was simply the greatest traitor of the Cold War. Yet as Roger Hermiston reveals in this thrilling new biography his story touches not only the depths of treachery but also the heights of heroism. In WWII the teenage Blake performed sterling deeds for the Dutch resistance before making a dramatic bid for freedom across Nazi-occupied Europe. Later recruited by British Intelligence he quickly earned an exemplary reputation & was entrusted with building up the Service's networks behind the Iron Curtain. & following a posting to Seoul he also suffered for his adopted country when captured by North Korean soldiers at the height of their brutal war with the South. By the time of his release in 1953 Blake was a hero one of the Service's brightest & best officers. But unbeknownst to SIS they were harbouring a mole. Week after week year after year Blake was assiduously gathering all the important documents he could lay his hands on & passing them to the KGB. Drawing on hitherto unpublished records from his trial new revelations about his dramatic jailbreak from Wormwood Scrubs & original interviews with former spies friends & the man himself The Greatest Traitor sheds new light on this most complex of characters & presents a fascinating shadow history of the Cold War. ...

Who are the fifteen best players ever to represent Wales at rugby? We all know the answers but all our answers are different! In pubs & clubs in classrooms & chat rooms the length & breadth of this rugby-mad nation this is a question that prompts energetic & entertaining debate; a question that has divided households & destabilized lifelong friendships. In The Greatest Welsh XV Ever which

Includes:: over 130 full-colour photographs Eddie Butler has gone where angels (and ex-international back-row forwards) fear to tread. Devoting a chapter to each position on the field he produces a shortlist of the great players before making his final decisive definitive choice in each case. So will it be Barry John or Phil Bennett at number 10? Jamie Roberts or John Dawes at number 12? Graham Price or Adam Jones at number 3? This is your chance to join in the greatest national debate since devolution.

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Greece is the cradle of civilisation & the Peloponnese is the cradle of Greece: Olympia is here so are the mountains of Arcadia & Homer's Mycenae. But Bradt's Greece: The Peloponnese" also embraces the living world: the traditional panagyria (village festivals) & the people who still embody the Greek spirit of philoxenia or hospitality to strangers. It leads travellers to idyllic campsites by ancient theatres; picnic spots in olive groves; buzzing towns & hidden communities; & tells them the best places to hike kayak or to spot the famous loggerhead turtle. & if you want to dance on the same beach as Zorba the Greek or wonder why newborn babies cause old women to spit over their shoulders
- you'll find the answers in the pages of this the best guide to the best of Greece."
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In this sumptuous guide to twelve centuries of military development Peter Connolly combines a detailed account of the arms & armies of Greece & Rome with his superb full-colour artwork. Making use of fresh archaeological evidence & new material on the manufacture & use of the weapons of the period the author presents an attractive & impressive volume that is both scholarly & beautifully presented with illustrations that are quite rightly recognised as being the best & most accurate representation of how the soldiers from these formidable military empires appeared. Greece & Rome at War lucidly demonstrates the face of battle in the ancient world. Covering the wars between the Greeks & the Persians & the epic contest between the Romans & their most capable opponent Hannibal as well as organisation tactics armour & weapons & much more this excellent work brings the armies of Greece Macedon & Rome vividly to life. This new revised edition contains a Preface by Adrian Goldsworthy. ...

Greece in the Making 1200-479 BC" is an accessible & comprehensive account of Greek history from the end of the Bronze Age to the Classical Period. The first edition of this book broke new ground by acknowledging that barring a small number of archaic poems & inscriptions the majority of our literary evidence for archaic Greece reported only what later writers wanted to tell & so was subject to systematic selection & distortion. This book offers a narrative which acknowledges the later traditions as traditions but insists that we must primarily confront the contemporary evidence which is in large part archaeological & art historical & must make sense of it in its own terms. In this second edition as well as updating the text to take account of recent scholarship & re-ordering Robin Osborne has addressed more explicitly the weaknesses & unsustainable interpretations which the first edition chose merely to pass over. He now spells out why this book features no rise of the polis & no colonization & why the treatment of Greek settlement abroad is necessarily spread over various chapters. Students & teachers alike will particularly appreciate the enhanced discussion of economic history & the more systematic treatment of issues of gender & sexuality." ...

Most travellers want to have fun & feel relaxed from the moment they arrive at their holiday destination
- thats what Marco Polo
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Five Men. One Robbery. A deadly game of greed revenge & betrayal is about to begin. Fresh out of the SAS Matt Browning is down on his luck. He owes $500 000. If he doesn't get the money soon he dies. From nowhere he is offered a lifeline. A hit on al-Queda sanctioned & helped by MI5. Matt gathers a small team of former SAS men to steal $10 million in gold & diamonds from the world's most deadly terrorist organisation. MI5 will give them all the equipment & information they need. No charges will ever be pressed. Matt thinks it's the perfect crime. Safe quick & patriotic. But after the money is stolen the killing starts. Someone is taking down the members of the team one by one. A silent expert assassin is stalking the team gruesomely murdering both them & their families. & Matt knows that he's next. Greed is an explosive story of what happens when terrorism money love & jealously combust
- an explosively violent tale from the established master of the military thriller.
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