Powerful new research methods are providing fresh & vivid insights into the makeup of life. Comparing gene sequences examining the atomic structure of proteins & looking into the geochemistry of rocks have all helped to explain creation & evolution in more detail than ever before. Nick Lane uses the full extent of this new knowledge to describe the ten greatest inventions of life including DNA sex sight & consciousness based on their historical impact role in living organisms today & relevance to current controversies. Lane also explains how these findings have come about & the extent to which they can be relied upon. The result is a vivid gripping & lucid account of the ingenuity of nature & a book which is essential for anyone who has wondered at how we came to be here. ...

The debut of a female Steve Jones
- likeable literate lucid & laconic. A sprightly lavishly illustrated book on the science of
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Electras family is falling apart. Her dads moving out her mums given in to her daytime TV addiction & her little brother (aka The Little Runt) has just been caught shoplifting. Even the guinea-pigs gone mental. & all Electra can think about is whether green eyeliner compliments or clashes with blue eyes. Where can a girl turn in her hour of need? To her best friends of course. Together they think up a plan: persuading the class geek to stalk her dad seemed like a good idea at the time.. . ...

The aim of this course is to explore the Beatitudes which encapsulate the teaching of Jesus. Jesus himself lived out the Beatitudes in his earthly life & called his followers to do the same. This five-session group study course encourages Christians to examine their lifestyle in the light of Jesus radical teaching & to live out these kingdom values
- now. This course takes a two-pronged approach to studying the Beatitudes deepening our understanding of Jesus & challenging our deepest personal values; & helping us understand how they should impact on our approach to major global issues such as environmental pollution & the deep-seated hostilities & injustices that afflict our world. Each session of the course contains enough material for 90 minutes &

Includes:: guidelines for group study with full background notes for leaders interactive activities including questions for group discussion & multimedia suggestions a wide range of suggestions for Lenten prayer & meditation & a challenge to practical action.


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As Britain's leading psychic medium perhaps it's not surprising that more than 200 000 people buy tickets every year to see Colin Fry's theatre tour up & down the country (and in New Zealand). It's also not surprising that his top-rating TV show 6ixth Sense is now in its 7th series & continues to hold an average of 100 000 viewers per month. With such an enormous fan base there is therefore huge interest in Colin Fry's first book Life Before Death. A compelling read full of extraordinary stories from his life & work it also investigates a theme which comes up time & again in his conversations with people who come to him for readings: how do you make the most of your time in this world. Colin Fry has a gift for being able to receive messages from souls in the spirit world. Remarkable & fascinating as this is he feels strongly that the messages he receives should be used to help us maximise our life's potential. Life Before Death explains how he was able to develop his gift & what being a psychic medium actually means. But it also gives advice on how to make better connections with your friends & family how to be open to new things in life how to both forgive & give more readily & how to accept all that happens to you. ...

Wendy Lawson has an autism spectrum disorder. Considered to be intellectually disabled & almost incapable of doing as she is told" at school she was later misdiagnosed as schizophrenic
- a label that stuck with her for more than 25 years. Her sense of self was then non-existent but Wendy is now a mother of four with two university degrees; she is a social worker & adult educator & operates her own business. She is also a poet & writer sharing her understanding of autism with others to help "build a bridge.. .from my world to theirs". This book is part of that bridge."
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Last year the telly-watching public was gripped by Downton Abbey"
- the most successful British period drama in years & the
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* From the cook butler & housekeeper to the footman ladys maid & nanny this is a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes of some of Britains grandest houses. * An entertaining social history steering the reader through the minefield of etiquette & hierarchy that kept Britains great houses running like clockwork. * A bygone era is brought vividly to live through letters journals interviews lively descriptions & stunning photography of the places & possessions left behind. The largely untold stories of innumerable rather humble lives spent in service are lying just below the surface of many great houses; the physical evidence can be seen in surviving servants quarters the material of their everyday life even their uniforms & possessions. This account provides a fascinating glimpse at whos who behind the scenes from the cook butler & housekeeper to the footmen ladys maids governesses & tutors nannies & nursemaids. Giving a fascinating insight into the heirarchy within the servants quarters
- from the power-wielding cook to the ever-discreet butler
- this guide describes how relationships were forged & changed as the gap between upstairs & downstairs was bridged. Describing their typical working day as well as the holidays entertainments & pastimes enjoyed on a rare day off not to mention the whirl of the social season this previously unwritten history recalls vividly the nature of their lives below stairs.

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By the end of the 1920s domestic service remained the largest female occupation in Britain. We view it today as an undesirable job owing to the class divide it has come to represent & this is reflected in the portrayals of mistresses & servants in books & on the screen in such dramas as Upstairs Downstairs & Downton Abbey. But what do we really know about how girls felt when taking up these positions in other peoples houses or how they were treated? Pamela Horn uses first-hand accounts & reminiscences as well as official records & newspaper reports to extract the truth about the lives & status of men & women in domestic service from 1900 to 1939. ...

John Izbicki has an exciting story to tell. Berlin-born he lived through the horrors of Nazi persecution & on the day after his eighth birthday he witnessed the Kristallnacht & the smashing of his parents shop windows. On the day Germany invaded Poland & Berlin experienced its first wartime blackout the Izbickis escaped to Holland & from there on to Engl&. The author describes what it feels like to have been a refugee unable to speak or understand a single word of English & how he was persuaded by a kind policeman to change his name from Horst to John. He also leads the reader along the remarkable journey he travelled from school to university the first of his family to enter higher education & through his adventurous time as a commissioned army officer during two years of national service spent in Egypt & Libya. But the best part of his life was yet to come when this young refugee decided to make journalism his profession. The boy who not that many years earlier could speak not a word of English became the distinguished education correspondent of the countrys leading quality newspaper the Daily Telegraph. After eighteen years in that responsible position he was sent to Paris to head the Telegraphs office there. When he left the newspaper to join the Committee of Directors of Polytechnics he played a leading part in transforming the countrys polytechnics into its new universities. ...