Britains best-loved comic genius Stephen Fry turns his celebrated wit & insight to unearthing the real America as he travels across the continent in his black taxicab. Stephens account of his adventures is filled with his unique humour insight & warmth in the fascinating book that orginally accompanied his journey for the BBC1 series. Stephen Fry is a treasure of the British Empire.
- The Guardian Stephen Fry has always loved America in fact he came very close to being born there. Here his fascination for the country & its people sees him embarking on an epic journey across America visiting each of its 50 states to discover how such a huge diversity of people cultures languages beliefs & landscapes combine to create such a remarkable nation. Starting on the eastern seaboard Stephen zig-zags across the country in his London taxicab talking to its hospitable citizens listening to its music visiting its landmarks viewing small-town life & Americas breath-taking landscapes
- following wherever his curiosity leads him. Stephen meets a collection of remarkable individuals
- American icons & unsung local heroes alike. Stephen starts his epic journey on the east coast & zig-zags across America stopping in every state from Maine to Hawaii. En route he discovers the South Side of Chicago with blues legend Buddy Guy catches up with Morgan Freeman in Mississippi strides around with Ted Turner on his Montana ranch marches with Zulus in New Orleans Mardi Gras & drums with the Sioux Nation in South Dakota; joins a Georgia family for thanksgiving picks with Bluegrass hillbillies & finds himself in a Tennessee garden full of dead bodies. Whether in a club for failed gangsters (yes those are real bullet holes) or celebrating Halloween in Salem (is there anywhere better?) Stephen is welcomed by the people of America
- mayors sheriffs newspaper editors park rangers teachers & hobos bringing to life the oddities & splendours of each locale. A celebration of the magnificent & the eccentric the beautiful & the strange Stephen Fry in America is our authors homage to this extraordinary country.



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Stephen Hawking is one of the most remarkable figures of our time
- a Cambridge genius who has earned international celebrity &
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Stephen Hawking is arguably the most famous physicist since Albert Einstein. His decades-long struggle with ALS (Lou Gehrigs disease) combined with his singular brilliance as a cosmologist has fascinated both the public & his colleagues in science. In this engagingly written biography Kristine Larsen a physicist & astronomer herself presents a candid & insightful portrait of Hawkings personal & professional life. Avoiding the hero-worship sometimes found in popular works on Hawking Larsen emphasises that Hawking is first & foremost a scientist whose work has made significant contributions to our understanding of the nature & origins of the universe. Writing in non-technical language for the lay reader Larsen clearly explains Hawkings complex scientific accomplishments while telling the story of his challenging life. The topics include Hawkings early lack of focus as a college student; the impact of ALS on his career & personal life; his groundbreaking work on radiating black holes; his later cutting-edge theories of black holes cosmology & the anthropic principle; the amazing publishing success of A Brief History of Time"; & his status as a pop icon & spokesperson for the interplay of science & society. Larsen situates Hawkings sometimes-controversial work within the broader context of scientific peer review & public debate & discusses his personal life with compassion respect & honesty." ...

For the first time in one volume each with a fascinating introduction come the stories of Rita Hayworth & Shawshank Redemption Hearts in Atlantis (Low Men in Yellow Coats) 1408 The Mangler & Children of the Corn. These five classic tales were turned into successful international films starring some of the world's most famous actors from Morgan Freeman & Tim Robbins in The Shawshank Redemption through Anthony Hopkins in Hearts in Atlantis to John Cusack in 1408. Now you can read & re-read & own the originals. ...

This second collection of plays by Simon Stephens winner of the 2005 Olivier Award for Best New Play for On the Shore of the Wide World perfectly showcases the development of one of the most exciting & impressive theatre talents of recent years. The range of plays in this volume displays a tough sensibility & a courage to confront the more unsettling challenges of our times. One Minute first produced in 2003 & revived in London in 2008 has an uncomfortable resonance as it follows five characters variously affected by the disappearance of Daisy an 11-year-old girl from Seven Dials Covent Garden. Country Music spotlights four fateful moments in the life of Jamie Carris during & after the prison sentences he has served for glassing one man & for killing another. Motortown written in response to the War on Terror is a blistering account of a young soldiers return home from Basra to an England he no longer recognises or connects with. Pornography captures Britain as it crashes from the euphoria & promise of the 2012 Olympics announcement into the devastation of the London bombings of 7/7. The final play Sea Wall is a one-act monologue about grief following the drowning of a young child. ...

The unhappiness that I need & long for.. .is of the kind that will let me suffer with eagerness & die with lust. That is the unhappiness or happiness that I am waiting for. Alienated from society Harry Haller is the Steppenwolf wild strange & shy. His despair & desire for death draw him into an enchanted Faust-like underworld. Through a series of shadowy encounters romantic freakish & savage by turn Haller begins to rediscover the lost dreams of his youth. Adopted by the Sixties counterculture Steppenwolf" captured the mood of a disaffected generation that was beginning to question everything." ...

A modernist work of profound wisdom that continues to enthral readers with its subtle blend of Eastern mysticism & Western culture the Penguin Modern Classics" edition of Hermann Hesse's " Steppenwolf" is revised by Walter Sorell from the original translation by Basil Creighton. At first sight Harry Haller seems a respectable educated man. In reality he is the Steppenwolf: wild strange alienated from society & repulsed by the modern age. But as he is drawn into a series of dreamlike & sometimes savage encounters
- accompanied by among others Mozart Goethe & the bewitching Hermione
- the misanthropic Haller discovers a higher truth & the possibility of happiness. This blistering portrayal of a man who feels himself to be half-human & half-wolf was the bible of the 1960s counterculture capturing the mood of a disaffected generation & remains a haunting story of estrangement & redemption. Herman Hesse (1877-1962) suffered from depression & weathered series of personal crises which led him to undergo psychoanalysis with J. B. Lang; a process which resulted in " Demian" (1919) a novel whose main character is torn between the orderliness of bourgeois existence & the turbulent & enticing world of sensual experience. This dichotomy is prominent in Hesse's subsequent novels including " Siddhartha" (1922) " Steppenwolf" (1927) " Narcissus & Goldmund" (1930) & his magnum opus " The Glass Bead Game" (1943). Hesse was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946. If you enjoyed " Steppenwolf" you might like Hesse's " Siddhartha" also available in " Penguin Classics". "A savage indictment of bourgeois society...the gripping & fascinating story of disease in a man's soul". (" The New York Times")."

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This is the very first biography of Peter Tosh rude boy founder member of The Wailers & a compelling recording artist in his own right. Tosh was an abrasive man who would eventually fall victim to his own uncompromising personality ultra-radical politics & a fearsome 'gangsta' reputation. One of reggae's most extraordinary stories the life of Peter Tosh could have only one end. He was murdered in a gunfight at his own home in 1987. One year later his album No Nuclear War" won the first ever Grammy award for best reggae album. Here are the women the drugs & the story behind Legalise It Tosh's famous early plea for the decriminalisation of marijuana. His personal musical odyssey is explored in detail as he strove to emerge from the shadow of Bob Marley eventually signing a contract with Rolling Stones Records. Tosh's darker side is also revealed & the book

Includes:: an account of a notorious standoff with Keith Richards involving a machete & a loaded rifle!"

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Kitty OBriens husband is a drunken thug & in order to feed her starving children she sells her body on the Liverpool docks. Her daughter Lizzie is pregnant by her father & still weak after her abortion she kills him. Her mother takes the blame but Lizzie cannot blot out the painful memories of her childhood. Eventually with a failed marriage behind her she finds fame fortune & friendship in Hollywood
- but happiness still escapes her. & so she returns to her roots & it is her final marriage & its disastrous consequences that at last force her to face her past & find the happiness & peace of mind that have always eluded her.
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The Sterling Bonds & Fixed Income Handbook aims to fill the knowledge gap for sterling-base investors & their advisors. Whilst investors in the equity markets can rely on numerous resources to select stocks & build portfolios there is little information available for those who wish to buy bonds. This book takes the reader through the key features of gilts & sterling corporate bonds & offers a practical guide to putting money to work in this important & profitable asset class. ...