George the steelworker is working his very last day before retirement. He signs his name on a huge girder that will become part of the [ London 2012] [stadium] & his colleagues give a big cheer. But before George leaves he picks up two molten fragments that have fallen from the girder & puts them in his bag. That night George works in his shed shaping the two drops of metal into little figures
- one for his grandson Jack; the other for his granddaughter Lily. A miraculous surprise awaits the children in the morning
- for once unwrapped & placed on the windowsill the figures are hit by the beams of a [rainbow] breaking through the clouds. At one they shiver into life & begin to move. Before long they are attempting to talk & are rushing around the attic room which is full of photographs & books about the [ Olympic] & [ Paralympic] [ Games]. But this is just the beginning of their wonderful journey of discovery. The rainbow returns & [ Wenlock] & [ Mandeville]
- as they will come to be known
- set off on its brilliant beams to learn more about the wonderful country they have arrived in & the amazing sports that will make up the London 2012 Games.



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From the moment Karen Blixen arrived in Kenya in 1914 to manage a coffee plantation her heart belonged to Africa. Drawn to the intense colours & ravishing landscapes Karen Blixen spent her happiest years on the farm & her experiences & friendships with the people around her are vividly recalled in these memoirs. Out of Africa" is the story of a remarkable & unconventional woman & of a way of life that has vanished for ever." ...

Karen Blixens Out of Africa" is the lyrical & luminous memoir of Kenya that launched a million tourist trails beautifully repackaged as part of the Penguin Essentials range. I had a farm in Africa at the foot of the Ngong Hills... Up in this high air you breathed easily.. .you woke up in the morning & thought: Here I am where I ought to be. From the moment Karen Blixen arrived in Kenya in 1914 to manage a coffee plantation her heart belonged to Africa. Drawn to the intense colours & ravishing landscapes Blixen spent her happiest years on the farm & her experiences & friendships with the people around her are vividly recalled in these memoirs. " Out of Africa" is the story of a remarkable & unconventional woman & of a way of life that has vanished for ever. " With its lyrical & luminous picture of Kenya it launched a million tourist trails". (" Guardian") "A compelling story of passion & a movingly poetic tribute to a lost land". (" The Times"). A work of sincere power.. .a fine lyrical study of life in East Africa
- Harold Nicolson " Daily Telegraph" Karen Blixen was born in Rungsted Denmark in 1885. After studying art at Copenhagen Paris & Rome she married her cousin Baron Bror Blixen-Finecke in 1914. Together they managed a coffee plantation in Kenya until they divorced in 1925. She continued on the farm until a collapse in the coffee market forced her back to Rungsted in 1931. Although she had written occasional contributions to Danish periodicals since 1905 (under the nom de plume of Osceola) her real debut took place in 1934 with the publication of Seven Gothic Tales written in English under the pen name Isak Dinesen. " Out of Africa" (1937) is an autobiographical account of the years she spent in Kenya. All of her subsequent books were published in both English & Danish including " Winters Tales" (1942) & " The Angelic Avengers" (1936). Among her other collections of stories are " Last Tales" (1957) " Anecdotes of Destiny" (1958) " Shadows on the Grass" (1960) & posthumously " Ehrengard" (1963). In the 1950s she was mentioned several times as a candidate to receive the Noble Prize in Literature. Baroness Blixen died in Rungsted in 1962. In 1991 her house was opened as The Karen Blixen Museum."
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This book opens with the authors experience with the Lucid Light Stimulator in Switzerl&. This presents him with his first experience of astral travel. From this he takes the reader on a historical theological & mystical journey through the history of the out-of-body experience in all its varieties & forms. The second half of the book discusses the science behind the experience. It reviews some of the latest research in the fields of psychology neurology & neuro-chemistry. It then attempts a short explanation of why quantum physics may be the unlikely source of answers to the mystery of the out-of-body experience. The final section presents the authors new model of how exotic-sounding concepts such as Bose-Einstein Condensates Einstein Rosen Bridges Zero-Point Energy microtubules & coherent light can be used to present a totally new explanation of how Astral Travel really does involve a journey
- into inner not outer space.
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Sam Torrance is British golf's greatest personality. Well known & loved for his insights & anecdotes in his commentary he divulges tall tales from the great the good & the not-so-good in the world of golf from Ryder Cup clinching moments to what really goes on in the clubhouse bar Sam will have you reminiscing & guffawing from one moment to the next. ...

Out of Breath by Rebecca Donovan is the much-anticipated explosive & stunning finale in The Breathing Series. Reason to Breathe ...

In a brilliant synthesis of genetic archaeological linguistic & climatic data Oppenheimer challenges current thinking with his claim that there was only one successful migration out of Africa. In 1988 Newsweek" headlined the startling discovery that everyone alive on the earth today can trace their maternal DNA back to one woman who lived in Africa 150 000 years ago. It was thought that modern humans populated the world through a series of migratory waves from their African homel&. Now an even more radical view has emerged that the members of just one group are the ancestors of all non-Africans now alive & that this group crossed the mouth of the Red Sea a mere 85 000 years ago. It means that not only is every person on the planet descended from one African Eve but every non-African is related to a more recent Eve from that original migratory group. This is a revolutionary new theory about our origins that is both scholarly & entertaining a remarkable account of the kinship of all humans." ...

Set in Alexandria this classic & much-loved memoir chronicles the exploits of Andre Acimans colourful Sephardic Jewish family from its arrival in Egypt at the turn of the century to its forced departure three generations later. Aciman tells a story of childhood innocence of intricate family life & the pain of exile from a place one loves. His memories are adorned with eccentric characters: mysterious Uncle Vili
- soldier salesman Italian Fascist & British spy; the two grandmothers the Princess & the Saint who gossip in six different languages; his melancholy Aunt Flora who warns that Jews lose everything at least twice in their lives; & his father who considers converting to Islam in order to stay in Alexandria. Elegant beautifully-written moving & witty Out of Egypt" bridges cultures & generations & provides a moving portrait of a by-gone world."
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Gaza is being bombed. Rashid wakes to discover hes got a scholarship to London the escape route hes been waiting for. Meanwhile his twin sister Iman frustrated by the atrocities & inaction around her grabs recklessly at an opportunity to make a difference. Sabri the oldest brother works on a history of Palestine from his wheelchair as their mother pickles vegetables & feuds with their neighbours. Out of It follows Rashid & Iman as they try to forge places for themselves in the midst of occupation religious fundamentalism & the divisions between Palestinian factions. It tells of family secrets unlikely love stories & unburied tragedies as it captures the frustrations & energies of the modern Arab World. ...

The struggle for political change in China is reaching a crescendo. From the booming cities to the rural communities Out of Maos Shadow introduces us to some of the courageous people who are dedicated to building a more democratic China despite the grave dangers they face in doing so. Written by one of the leading China correspondents of his generation this book brings together compelling individual testimonies taking us into the lives of people struggling to come to terms with the nations past & to take control of its future. A reminder that even in a nation of 1.3 billion people individuals can make a difference -- & that China still has plenty of heroes left Time Pan takes the reader into bustling cities & into the vast tracts of countryside in search of those determined to preserve the memories of folk martyrs & to win freedom for the generations to come Good Book Guide ...