My name is Harriet Manners & I am a geek." Harriet Manners knows that a cat has 32 muscles in each ear a "jiffy" lasts 1/100th of a second & the average person laughs 15 times per day. She knows that bats always turn left when exiting a cave & that peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite. But she doesnt know why nobody at school seems to like her. So when Harriet is spotted by a top model agent she grabs the chance to reinvent herself. Even if it means stealing her best friends dream incurring the wrath of her arch enemy Alexa & repeatedly humiliating herself in front of impossibly handsome model Nick. Even if it means lying to the people she loves. Veering from one couture disaster to the next with the help of her overly enthusiastic father & her uber-geeky stalker Toby Harriet begins to realise that the world of fashion doesnt seem to like her any more than the real world did. As her old life starts to fall apart will Harriet be able to transform herself before she ruins everything?" ...

Somewhere in the small dull town of Blue Hills the impossible is happening. Inanimate objects are coming to life. Time travellers from the future are mingling unnoticed with the shoppers in the high street. School children are developing uncanny powers. Strange creatures are lurking within the grounds of a forgotten stately home. & with each of these mysteries comes a terrible threat that just might endanger the entire world... Fortunately help with these extraordinary phenomena is at hand in the form of Gabby Grayling & Barney Watkins aka Geek Inc.! Gabby & Barney are set to investigate all the odd happenings in their town & find out the truth... In the first book in the series Barney & Gabby meet & form a friendship when they investigate a top secret Government technology that brings inanimate objects to life. They also have to contend with the evil machinations of Gloria Pickles the terrifying eleven year old editor of the school newspaper & would-be dictator. ...

Lil Binewski born a Boston aristocrat was in her time the most stylish of geeks. That is to say she made her living by biting the heads off live chickens in front of a Carnival audience. This she gave up for doting motherhood because she had her fairground- owning husband had a money spinning idea. Throughout each pregnancy Lil gobbles pesticides experiments with drugs & douses herself with radiation to ensure that she prodcues infants grotesque enough to keep the turnstiles clicking. She does. Arturo the Aqua Boy is a limbless megalomaniac Electra & Iphigenia are musically gifted Siamese twins with a penchant for prostitution & Fortunato is possessed of stange telekinetic powers. Their story- by turns shocking tender touching & cruel- is narrated by their sister Olympia. She is a bald hunchbacked albino dwarf. ...

The geeks are coming. & our world needs them. Whether we want to improve education or cut crime to enhance public health or to generate clean energy we need the experimental methods of science
- the best tool humanity has yet developed for working out what works. Yet from the way were governed to the news were fed by the media were let down by a lack of understanding & respect for its insights & evidence. In The Geek Manifesto Mark Henderson explains why & how we need to entrench scientific thinking more deeply into every aspect of our society. A new movement is gathering. Lets turn it into a force our leaders cannot ignore. Shortlisted for the Political Book Awards Polemic of the Year 2012.
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Fourteen-year-old Archie is a Geek to his core. In the world of role-playing games he's a Level 5 Mage capable of summoning the Undead. In this world things are rather different. With no rule book to navigate Life's Big Challenges
- warring parents a crass step-father orc-like school bullies & crap hair
- he's teetering on the brink... Then a Beautiful Girl appears in his Geeky world... Despite the fact that the closest he's come to an encounter with a girl is painting an Elven miniature Archie embarks on a Daring Quest to win her heart. Geek meets girl.. .what could possibly go right?

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Fifteen-year-old Jade Flynn & three other girls were the sole occupants of the fourth floor of St Nicholas Care Home for Children. They were forced to take part in special community projects
- drug dealing money laundering gun running. Required to work for a man they called The Geezer. Until a shocking event made them rebel. Steal something that wasnt theirs. So they ran. Disappeared. 10 YEARS LATER.. . Jade Flynn is now living a respectable life as Jackie Jarvis & is getting married. She invites her three best friends to be her maids of honour. But someone else turns up as well
- The Geezer. Hell kill them unless they do one last job for him then they can return to their normal lives. But can they trust him? This time if they disappear they wont be coming back.. .

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Liza Dalby author of The Tale of Murasaki is the only non-Japanese woman ever to have become a geisha. This is her unique insight into the extraordinary closed world of the geisha a world of grace beauty & tradition that has long fascinated & enthralled the West. Taking us to the heart of a way of life normally hidden from the public gaze Liza Dalby shows us the detailed reality that lies behind the bestselling Memoirs of a Geisha & opens our eyes to an ancient profession that continues to survive in today's modern Japan. ...

I can identify the exact moment when things began to change. It was a cold winter afternoon. I had just turned three. Emerging shyly from her hiding place Mineko encounters Madam Oima the formidable proprietress of a prolific geisha house in Gion. Madam Oima is mesmerized by the childs black hair & black eyes: she has found her successor. & so Mineko is gently but firmly prised away from her parents to embark on an extraordinary career of which she will become the best. But even if you are exquisitely beautiful & the darling of the okiya the life of a geisha is one of gruelling professional demands. & Mineko must first contend with her bitterly jealous sister who is determined to sabotage her success.. . Captivating & poignant GEISHA OF GION tells of Minekos ascendancy to fame & her ultimate decision to leave the profession she found so constricting. ...

Gelato is not simply the Italian word for ice cream. A good gelato should be rich in flavour but you shouldnt feel full even after youve eaten a pint of it. Trust me! So says Adriano di Petrillo owner of Dri Dri the fashionable London-based gelateria. authentic Italian gelato is made with milk rather than cream so its much lighter & significantly lower in fat. Gelato is made by a process called mantecazione where it is frozen & churned very slowly so it doesnt absorb too much air. This achieves a creamy texture without the fat. Gelato is surprisingly easy to make at home with a domestic ice cream maker. Try Adrianos simple recipes for Vanilla Coffee Bitter Chocolate Cookies & Cream & Tiramis A. Also included are recipes for fresh & fruity sorbets & granitas including Green Apple & Mixed Berries. Suggestions for delicious ways to serve your creations include Bitter Chocolate Gelato with Cherry Compote; Lemon Gelato with Brioche; & Almond Gelato drowned with hot espresso. Ideas for gelato-based drinks include Italian classics such as a Rossini (strawberry sorbet with Prosecco) & Sgroppino (lemon gelato blended with vodka or Prosecco). ...

The long-awaited thorough update of the definitive work on one of the most popular improvement methods Gemba Kaizen Gemba Kaizen: A Commonsense Approach to a Continuous Improvement Strategy Second Edition is an in-depth revision of this renowned bestselling guide. The book is now expanded with 50% new material including specific case studies tracking success stories from a wide variety of industries & practitioners worldwide. Since its publication by Mc Graw-Hill in 1997 the book has introduced the concepts of Kaizen to hundreds of thousands of people & their companies as they search for ways to survive & prosper. This trend will only grow amid increasingly intense global competition. Masaaki Imai is a leading authority in the field--the man who introduced the concepts of Kaizen to the English-speaking world. Fourteen years since the publication of Gemba Kaizen the world sees the wide application of Gemba Kaizen going far beyond its manufacturing origins & now carried into hospitals government offices hotels ports retailers mining operations software development construction & even universities. The Kaizen Institute the consulting firm founded by Masaaki Imai is at the forefront of this movement to adopt & promote Gemba Kaizen around the world. This new edition features global case studies from a wide range of sectors sharing the keys to successful implementation of Gemba Kaizen. Gemba Kaizen: A Commonsense Low-Cost Approach to Management Second Edition Features current case studies a new foreword & 50% new material Explains the original clear & correct meaning of Gemba Kaizen & how to apply it in practice Shows how Gemba Kaizen reduces cost improves quality & increases customer satisfaction Gives relevant global examples in a wide variety of industries & applications Shows how Gemba Kaizen is used in conjunction with aspects of Six Sigma Lean Manufacturing & other methodologies to achieve continuous improvement

Includes:: success stories from various industries both public & private & from industrialized & developing nations

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