On 15 February 2008 Mark Beaumont pedalled through the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. 194 days & 17 hours previously he had begun his attempt to circumnavigate the world in record time. Mark smashed the Guinness World Record by an astonishing 81 days. He had travelled more than 18 000 miles on his own through some of the harshest conditions one man & his bicycle can endure camping wild at night & suffering from constant ailments. The Man Who Cycled the World" is the story not just of that amazing achievement but of the events that turned Mark Beaumont into the man he is today. From the early years of his free-spirited childhood in the Scottish countryside to present day he has been equally determined not to settle for an average existence but to break free & follow his dreams." ...

Lots of husbands forget things: they forget that their wife had an important meeting that morning; they forget to pick up the dry cleaning; some of them even forget their wedding anniversary. But Vaughan has forgotten he even has a wife. Her name her face their history together everything she has ever told him everything he has said to her
- it has all gone mysteriously wiped in one catastrophic moment of memory loss. & now he has rediscovered her
- only to find out that they are getting divorced. The Man Who Forgot His Wife is the funny moving & poignant story of a man who has done just that. & who will try anything to turn back the clock & have one last chance to reclaim his life.

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Lots of husbands forget things: they forget that their wife had an important meeting that morning; they forget to pick up the dry cleaning; some of them even forget their wedding anniversary. But Vaughan has forgotten he even has a wife. Her name her face their history together everything she has ever told him everything he has said to her
- it has all gone mysteriously wiped in one catastrophic moment of memory loss. & now he has rediscovered her
- only to find out that they are getting divorced. The Man Who Forgot His Wife" is the funny moving & poignant story of a man who has done just that. & who will try anything to turn back the clock & have one last chance to reclaim his life."

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In 1888 the unknown brought death & terror to the streets of Victorian London's East End. The Man Who Hunted Jack the Ripper is the story of Detective Inspector Edmund Reid who was head of the Whitechapel detective force. Having joined the Metropolitan Police Force Reid rose through the ranks & was eventually transferred to the notorious East End. It was at this time that he assumed responsibility to lead his men in a relentless pursuit of Jack the Ripper; his pursuit of the Whitechapel murderer spanned the years 1888 to 1891. Reid retired from the police force in 1896 but in the subsequent years he often reminisced on his involvement in the hunt for the infamous serial killer; from the comfort of his armchair he carefully considered any new theory that came to light about the identity of Jack the Ripper. The Man Who Hunted Jack the Ripper recounts the full story of a series of murders that shocked the world. ...

The Daleks are one of the most iconic & fearsome creations in television history. Since their first appearance in 1963 they have simultaneously fascinated & terrified generations of British children their instant success ensuring & sometimes eclipsing that of Doctor Who. They sprang from the imagination of Terry Nation a failed st&-up comic who became one of the most prolific writers for television that Britian ever produced. Survivors his vision of a post-apocalyptic England so haunted audiences in the Seventies that the BBC revived it over thirty years on & Blakes 7 constantly rumoured for return endures as a cult sci-fi classic. But it is for his genocidal pepperpots that Nation is most often remembered & on the 50th anniversary of their creation they continue to top the Saturday-night ratings. Yet while the Daleks brought him notoriety & riches Nation played a much wider role in British broadcastings golden age. He wrote for Spike Milligan Frankie Howerd & an increasingly troubled Tony Hancock & as one of the key figures behind the adventure series of the Sixties
- including The Avengers The Saint & The Persuaders!
- he turned the pulp classics of his boyhood into a major British export. In The Man Who Invented the Daleks acclaimed cultural historian Alwyn W. Turner explores the curious & contested origins of Doctor Whos greatest villains & sheds light on a strange world of ambitious young writers producers & performers without whom British culture today would look very different.

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Lysander Hawkley combined breathtaking good looks with the kindest of hearts. He couldnt pass a stray dog an ill-treated horse or a neglected wife without rushing to the rescue. & with neglected wives the rescue invariably led to ecstatic bonking which didnt please their erring husbands one bit. Lysanders mid-life crisis had begun at twenty-two. Reeling from the death of his beautiful mother he was out of work drinking too much & desperately in debt. The solution came from Ferdie his fat fast-operating friend: if Lysander was so good at making husbands jealous why shouldnt he get paid for it? Let loose among the neglected wives of the ritzy county of Rutshire Lysander causes absolute havoc. But it is only when he meets Rannaldini Rutshires King Rat of Rutshire & a temperamental fiendishly promiscuous international conductor that the trouble really starts. The only unglamorous woman around Rannaldini was Kitty his plump young wife who ran his life like clockwork. Soon Lysander was convinced that Kitty must be rescued from Rannaldini at all costs even if it means enlisting the help of the old blue-eyed havoc maker: Rupert Campbell-Black. ...

Oliver Sacks has become the world's best-known neurologist. His case studies of broken minds offer brilliant insight into the mysteries of consciousness". (" Guardian"). In his most extraordinary book Oliver Sacks recounts the stories of patients lost in the bizarre apparently inescapable world of neurological disorders. These are case studies of people who have lost their memories & with them the greater part of their pasts; who are no longer able to recognize people or common objects; whose limbs have become alien; & who are afflicted & yet are gifted with uncanny artistic or mathematical talents. In Dr Sacks' splendid & sympathetic telling each tale is a unique & deeply human study of life struggling against incredible adversity. " Populated by a cast as strange as that of the most fantastic fiction.. . Dr Sacks shows the awesome powers of our mind & just how delicately balanced they have to be". (" Sunday Times"). " This book is for everybody who has felt from time to time that certain twinge of self-identity & sensed how easily at any moment one might lose it". (" The Times"). "A gripping journey into the recesses of the human mind". (" Daily Mail")." ...

Jean Gionos beautiful allegorical tale is legendary. Written in the 1950s its message was ahead of its time inspiring readers to rediscover the harmonies of the countryside & prevent its wilful destruction. The narrator journeying by foot across the barren plains of the lower Alps has his thirst assuaged by the well water drawn by the shepherd Elzeard Bouffier. Here begins the subtle parable which Giono weaves of the life-giving shepherd who chooses to live alone & carry out the work of God. Over forty years the desolate hills & lifeless villages which so oppressed the traveller are transformed by the didication of one man. All with the help of a few acorns. Gionos hope was to set in motion a worldwide reforestation programme that would rejuvenate the earth. The Man who Planted Trees is a hymn to creation & a purveyor of confidence in mans ability to change his- indeed the worlds- lot. ...

In 2000 Daniel Suelo left his life savings-all thirty dollars of it-in a phone booth. He has lived without money-and with a newfound sense of freedom & security-ever since. The Man Who Quit Money" is an account of how one man learned to live sanely & happily without earning receiving or spending a single cent. Suelo doesnt pay taxes or accept food stamps or welfare. He lives in caves in the Utah canyonlands forages wild foods & gourmet discards. He no longer even carries an I.D. Yet he manages to amply fulfill not only the basic human needs-for shelter food & warmth-but to an enviable degree the universal desires for companionship purpose & spiritual engagement. In retracing the surprising path & guiding philosophy that led Suelo into this way of life Sundeen raises provocative & riveting questions about the decisions we all make by default or by design about how we live-and how we might live better." ...

For almost a decade psychic medium Joe Power has used his extraordinary powers to investigate high-profile unsolved murder cases around the world including most recently the disappearance of Shannon Matthews. But it wasnt always this way. Joe had denied his psychic abilities until the day his brother was found dead. Then messages from the spirit world led him to see the shocking truth behind the tragedy.. .his brother had been murdered. Joe realized he could no longer ignore the startling visions & voices in his head. He vowed to use his psychic gift to help solve the murder cases that were leaving detectives baffled & loved ones without closure. In The Man Who Sees Dead People" he tells the astonishing story of his life for the first time." ...