At a time when the UK bee population is in decline theres no better way to make a difference than to start up your own beehive. Steve Benbows enormous success with urban beekeeping shows how easy it is to keep bees whether youre in the city or in the countryside a beginner or an experienced beekeeper & youll never look back once youve tasted your very own sticky golden honey or lit a candle made from the beeswax from your beehive. Steve Benbow is a visionary beekeeper who started his first beehive ten years ago on the roof of his tower block in Bermondsey & today runs 30 sites across the city. His bees live atop the Tate Modern & Tate Britain Fortnum & Mason & the National Portrait Gallery & he supplies honey to the Savoy tearooms Harvey Nichols Harrods & delis across London. His bees forage in parks cemeteries along railway lines & in window boxes & because of the diversity of the plants & trees in the city produce far richer honey & greater yields than they would in rural areas. The Urban Beekeeper is a fact-filled diary & practical guide to beekeeping that follows a year in the life of Steve & his bees & shows how keeping bees & making your own delicious honey is something anyone can do. It is a tempting glimpse into a sunlit lifestyle that starts with the first rays of the morning & ends with the warm glow of sunset filled with oozing honeycomb recipes for sensational honey-based dishes & honey that tastes like sunshine. A hugely affectionate but practical diary of a beekeepers year & the immense satisfaction of harvesting your own delicious honey. Read it & join the revolution. ...

Anyone can become an Urban Birder. You can do it anywhere & any time whether youve got the day to spare on your way to work during your lunch break or just looking out of a window. Look up & you will see. The book is an inspirational look at the birdlife in our cities or more accurately the authors personal journey of discovery involving encounters with racism air rifle-toting youths girls alcohol music finding urban wildlife oases & of course birds. His story is entertaining & sometimes controversial but the one guarantee is that the reader will be left feeling inspired enough to pick up a pair of binoculars & head to the nearest park. The Urban Birder will be launched at The British Birdwatching Fair in August 2011. ...

The story opens in Chihuahua North Mexico with a chance meeting with a group of itinerant Mexican street performers. Entranced by their stories & free-roaming lifestyle author Catriona Rainsford decides to go with them on what becomes a two-year h&-to-mouth journey across Mexico learning to live off nothing more than a few performance skills initiative & the kindness of strangers. Compelling humorous sometimes violent & full of wonderful descriptions of life on the road this is also a discussion of the morality of h&-to-mouth travel. Packed with stories of the characters she meets on the Mexican streets the book offers an insight into the day-to-day experiences of Mexico's urban poor. Above all it is a tale of the struggle of Mexico's youth to transcend the country's current climate of corruption & violence & create a new identity for themselves inspired by aspects of Mexico's surviving indigenous cultures & the desire to make people smile in the most unprepossessing of places. ' They were travelling malabaristas
- itinerant circus performers who wandered the streets of Mexico hitchhiking from town to town & surviving by whatever means they could. They saw themselves as a modern take on the ancient tradition of the wandering entertainer taking their art to the people & taking whatever the people were prepared to give them to help them on their way'.
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In 1999 Aaron Peckham established Urban Dictionary.com inviting users to define their world by compiling the most epic collection of slang ever. Since then the site has skyrocketed in popularity amassing thousands of definitions & educating millions. Users submit about 2 300 new entries every day! In this totally & awesomely revised edition of the best-selling original readers will find defs--mostly new some updated & all fularious--for the most current word creations. ...

With over half of the global human population living in urban regions urban ecosystems may now represent the contemporary & future human environment. Consisting of green space & the built environment they harbour a wide range of species yet are not well understood. This book aims to review what is currently known about urban ecosystems in a short & approachable text that will serve as a key resource for teaching & learning related to the urban environment. It covers both physical & biotic components of urban ecosystems key ecological processes & the management of ecological resources including biodiversity conservation. All chapters incorporate case studies boxes & questions for stimulating discussions in the learning environment. ...

Growing food is different in the city: life is faster & space is tight. So it is vital to focus on only the most rewarding edible plants. In The Urban Kitchen Gardener" Tom Moggach selects his best city crops from the familiar chillies & strawberries to the more unusual Japanese shiso & Mexican mouse melons. For each entry Tom offers practical advice on growing picking preserving & cooking your harvest. More than 150 delicious recipe ideas include Coriander & Coconut Chutney Chilli Corn Bread Shiso Granita & cocktails such as a Honey & Basil Daiquiri. He also shares expert advice for success with pots & containers & on windowsills patios balconies roof gardens back gardens & allotments. Other chapters cover seed saving & green gardening. This is an inspirational guide to making the most of your urban plot whatever its size." ...

Curry has become an integral part of our staple diet but few of us are aware of what 'authentic' means when it comes to Britain's favourite food
- how it is cooked & what makes it so sublime. Instead we have been patronised with dumbed-down versions of wonderfully spiced dishes through the provision of gooey mixtures that slime their way out of jars. ' No more!' cries self-proclaimed Urban Rajah Ivor Peters. The search for homemade straightforward fragrant food ends here. Packed full of inspiring stories & generations-old recipes this book opens the door into a world of family cooking that will teach us how to cook delicious curry in our own homes. So put down that jar of low-fat chicken tikka masala rip up your takeaway menu & let Ivor lead you through a journey of spice that will leave you revelling in colour yearning for the delicate smells of cardamom & cinnamon & desperate to tear a chapatti to shreds & plunge it into a curry feast of your own making.
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Before roads & rail the industrial hubs of Great Britain were linked to the ports by a network of manmade waterways. These canals fell into disuse in the early part of the twentieth century but in the last fifty years they have undergone a complete revival. These newly transformed waterways have become attractive destinations & for newcomers to a city walking its waterways will unlock famous highlights as well as hidden delights. & that is just what this book does too. With the lavish colour photography for which he is renowned Britains biographer photographer Derek Pratt explores all the major cities & towns linked by waterways bringing to life the canals & their environs with images that are stunning stylish & beautiful. Through interesting informative & typically quirky text Derek also reveals a whole treasure trove of fascinating things most people dont know about these industrial landscapes whilst also explaining the commercial history of the waterways their subsequent decline & recent revitalisation. Towns & cities covered include: London Oxford Bristol Liverpool Manchester Sheffield Stoke on Trent & the Potteries Leeds Gloucester Reading Birmingham & the Black Country Rugby Worcester Coventry Leicester Nottingham & Bath. ...

One of Usborne's most enduring & well-known series has been given an exciting new look. Each guide has been completely updated & has a striking new cover. These guides are perfect companions for enthusiasts who are keen to discover the many fascinating aspects of the natural world. They offer full-colour illustrations of around 100-200 different species per title which have been reproduced from the original artwork using the latest technology. They are an ideal field guides for both children & adults & incredible value for your money. ...

How can we understand the educational disengagement of urban working-class young people? What role do schools & education policies play in these young people's difficult relationships with education? How might schools help to support & engage urban youth? This book critically engages with contemporary notions of 'at risk' youth. It explores the complexity of urban young people's relationships with education & schooling & discusses strategies for addressing these issues. Drawing on a two year study of urban 14-16 year olds educational professionals & parents the book focuses in depth on the views & experiences of ethnically diverse young Londoners who had been identified by their schools as 'at risk of dropping out of education' & as 'unlikely to progress into post-16 education'. It provides an informative & accessible overview of the key issues debates & theoretical frameworks. It is important reading for school leaders teachers & learning support assistants as well as trainee teachers & educational researchers. ...