The craft of sitcom is possibly the hardest of all screenwriting genres demanding a complex set of skills. How NOT to Write a Sitcom is a troubleshooting guide aimed at both the novice & the practising sitcom writer. It illustrates & explains the many pitfalls in concept characterisation plotting & dramatic/comedic writing which pepper the hundreds of scripts submitted every year. Each point is illustrated with an example of the error & each section contains practical suggestions & exercises for the writer to apply to their own writing. The book makes no assumption of the reader other than an interest in the form. It contains interviews with current producers as well as interviews with successful practioners of the craft. Marc Blake is a script consultant writer & teacher of writing for sitcom. In this book he acts as a script mechanic for writers
- stripping a sitcom down to its component parts isolating the faults & fixing them. What script editors & producers are looking for are scripts that work. Naturally they want a genius in embryo but above all they first want to see something that is roadworthy.
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Never has contemporary fiction been more widely discussed & passionately analysed; recent years have seen a huge growth in the number of reading groups & in the interest of a non-academic readership in the discussion of how novels work. Drawing on his weekly Guardian column Elements of Fiction John Mullan examines novels mostly of the last ten years many of which have become firm favourites with reading groups. He reveals the rich resources of novelistic technique setting recent fiction alongside classics of the past. Nick Hornbys adoption of a female narrator is compared to Daniel Defoes; Ian Mc Ewans use of weather is set against Austens & Hardys; Carole Shields chapter divisions are likened to Fanny Burneys. Each section shows how some basic element of fiction is used. Some topics (like plot dialogue or location) will appear familiar to most novel readers; others (metanarrative prolepsis amplification) will open readers eyes to new ways of understanding & appreciating the writers craft. How Novels Work explains how the pleasures of novel reading often come from the formal ingenuity of the novelist. It is an entertaining & stimulating exploration of that ingenuity. Addressed to anyone who is interested in the close reading of fiction it makes visible techniques & effects we are often only half-aware of as we read. It shows that literary criticism is something that all fiction enthusiasts can do. Contemporary novels discussed include: Monica Alis Brick Lane; Martin Amiss Money; Margaret Atwoods The Blind Assassin; A.S. Byatts Possession; Jonathan Coes The Rotters Club; J.M. Coetzees Disgrace; Michael Cunninghams The Hours; Don De Lillos Underworld; Michel Fabers The Crimson Petal & the White; Ian Flemings From Russia with Love; Jonathan Franzens The Corrections; Mark Haddons The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time; Patricia Highsmiths Ripley under Ground; Alan Hollinghursts The Spell; Nick Hornbys How to Be Good; Ian Mc Ewans Atonement; John le Carres The Constant Gardener; Andrea Levys Small Island; David Mitchells Cloud Atlas; Andrew OHagans Personality; Orhan Pamuks My Name Is Red; Ann Patchetts Bel Canto; Ruth Rendells Adam & Eve & Pinch Me; Philip Roths The Human Stain; Jonathan Safran Foers Everything Is Illuminated; Carol Shieldss Unless; Zadie Smiths White Teeth; Muriel Sparks Aiding & Abetting; Graham Swifts Last Orders; Donna Tartts The Secret History; William Trevors The Hill Bachelors; & Richard Yatess Revolutionary Road. ...

The key tenet of THE HOW OF HAPPINESS is that every human being has a happiness set point which depending on how high or low it is can determine how positive or negative they feel. This book offers a practical approach to help readers increase their set point & find a level of happiness above that which they would normally feel & feel more satisfaction in life. Based on scientific research & trials this is a groundbreaking book that offers a practical plan to enable readers to achieve a more positive outlook at home at work & in their personal life. It will also be of enormous benefit to the hundreds of thousands of people who suffer from depression in the UK as it provides the tools to feel better about life. ...

What were the principal causes of death in the past? Could your ancestor have been affected? How was disease investigated & treated & what did our ancestors think about the illnesses & the accidents that might befall them? Simon Wills's fascinating survey of the diseases that had an impact on their lives seeks to answer these questions. His graphic detailed account offers an unusual & informative view of the threats that our ancestors lived with & died of. He describes the common causes of death
- cancer cholera dysentery influenza malaria scurvy smallpox stroke tuberculosis typhus yellow fever venereal disease & the afflictions of old age. Alcoholism is included as are childbirth & childhood infections heart disease mental illness & dementia. Accidents feature prominently
- road & rail accidents accidents at work
- & death through addiction & abuse is covered as well as death through violence & war. Simon Wills's work gives a vivid picture of the hazards our ancestors faced & their understanding of them. It also reveals how life & death have changed over the centuries how medical science has advanced so that some once-mortal illnesses are now curable while others are just as deadly now as they were then. In addition to describing causes of death & setting them in the context of the times his book shows readers how to find & interpret patient records death certificates & other documents in order to gain an accurate impression of how their ancestors died.


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Although Parliament is constantly in the news & televised daily much of its work remains a mystery to outsiders & is sometimes perplexing even to its own members. This book provides a unique insight into the work & daily life of Parliament. It sets out plainly & intelligibly what goes on & why things happen but it also analyses the pressures within the institution its strengths & weaknesses & ways in which it might change. Covering every aspect of the work membership & structures of both Houses this book also reflects the profound changes that have taken place in Parliament over the years. ...

What a marvellous book this is.. .de Botton dissects what [ Proust] had to say about friendship reading looking carefully paying attention taking your time being alive & adds his own delicious commentary. The result is an intoxicating as it is wise amusing as well as stimulating & presented in so fresh a fashion as to be unique.. .I could not stop & now much start all over again. Brian Masters Mail on Sunday De Botton not only has a complete understanding of Prousts life.. .but what is particularly charming about this small readable book is its tongue-in-cheek benignity its lightly held erudition & its generous way of lending itself to what is not only the greatest book of the century but also the darkest & the most eccentric Edmund White Observer It contains more human interest & play of fancy than most fiction.. .de Botton in emphasizing Prousts healing advisory aspects does us the service of rereading him on our behalf providing of that vast sacred lake a sweet & lucid distillation. John Updike New Yorker De Bottons little book is so charming amusing & sensible that it may even itself change your life. Allan Massie Daily Telegraph This engaging book is one of the most entertaining pieces of literary criticism I have read in a long while. Sunday Telegraph A very enjoyable book Sebastian Faulks ...

This is a wonderful rhythmic North American Indian folk tale... As the leaves fall from the trees & the wind blows colder the animals wish they had fire to keep them warm. But only the Sky People living high in the mountains have fire & they guard it jealously. Rabbit has a plan however: he makes a special resin-covered headdress tricks the Sky People & steals some fire. All the animals help him in an exciting race to escape capture & each is marked in some way by the stolen fire. Then Deer manages to hide the precious fire in the woods so it can be theirs forever
- but once its hidden how will they get it back?
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What I am offering is a critical overview of ideas about depression some new some old which fall under the discipline of evolutionary psychology (EP). Do most types of depression represent an adaptation
- an evolved mechanism which has enhanced our survival & reproductive value in our ancestral environment? Has depression been selected? Could it still be useful to us today? This book makes a contribution to the field while communicating the issues to a wider audience than EP currently receives & deserves. There are important implications for how we should prevent or treat an increasingly common condition & how we might view the condition in a more constructive way."
- Paul Keedwell in the Preface."

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Beneath the Arctic Polar Ice Cap deep underground is a bustling community with one mission only
- to make Christmas happen! Have
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Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2013. Reeling from a failed marriage Sheila a twentysomething playwright finds herself unsure of how to live & create. When Margaux a talented painter & free spirit & Israel a sexy & depraved artist enter her life Sheila hopes that through close--sometimes too close--observation of her new friend her new lover & herself she might regain her footing in art & life. Using transcribed conversations real emails plus heavy doses of fiction the brilliant & always innovative Sheila Heti crafts a work that is part literary novel part self-help manual & part bawdy confessional. It's a totally shameless & dynamic exploration into the way we live now which breathes fresh wisdom into the eternal questions: What is the sincerest way to love? What kind of person should you be? ...