A dense yellow miasma swirls in the streets of London as Sherlock Holmes & Dr Watson accompany a beautiful young woman to a sinister assignation. For Mary Marston has received several large pearls
- one a year for the last six years
- & now a mystery letter telling her she is a wronged woman. If she would seek justice she is to meet her unknown benefactor bringing with her two companions. But unbeknownst to them all others stalk Londons fog-enshrouded streets: a one-legged ruffian with revenge on his mind --and his companion who places no value on human life...

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Gripping & ingeniously plotted this Sherlock Holmes novel is also an important document of late-Victorian imperialism. Arthur Conan Doyle's second Sherlock Holmes novel is both a detective story & an imperial romance. Ostensibly the story of Mary Morstan a beautiful young woman enlisting the help of Holmes to find her vanished father & solve the mystery of her receipt of a perfect pearl on the same date each year it gradually uncovers a tale of treachery & human greed. The action audaciously ranges from penal settlements on the Andaman Islands to the suburban comfort of South London & from the opium-fuelled violence of Agra Fort during the Indian ' Mutiny' to the cocaine-induced contemplation of Holmes' own Baker Street. This edition places Doyle's tale in the cultural political & social contexts of late nineteenth-century colonialism & imperialism. The appendices provide a wealth of relevant extracts from hard-to-find sources ranging from official reports to memoirs & newspaper editorials to anthropological studies. ...

Every time we choose a route to work decide whether to go on a second date or set aside money for a rainy day we are making a prediction about the future. Yet from the global financial crisis to 9/11 to the Fukushima disaster we often fail to foresee hugely significant events. In The Signal & the Noise" the " New York Times" political forecaster & statistics guru Nate Silver explores the art of prediction revealing how we can all build a better crystal ball. In his quest to distinguish the true signal from a universe of noisy data Silver visits hundreds of expert forecasters in fields ranging from the stock market to the poker table from earthquakes to terrorism. What lies behind their success? & why do so many predictions still fail? By analysing the rare prescient forecasts & applying a more quantitative lens to everyday life Silver distils the essential lessons of prediction. We live in an increasingly data-driven world but it is harder than ever to detect the true patterns amid the noise of information. In this dazzling insiders tour of the world of forecasting Silver reveals how we can all develop better foresight in our everyday lives." ...

Every time we choose a route to work decide whether to go on a second date or set aside money for a rainy day we are making a prediction about the future. Yet from the financial crisis to ecological disasters we routinely fail to foresee hugely significant events often at great cost to society. In The Signal & the Noise" the " New York Times" political forecaster Nate Silver who accurately predicted the results of every single state in the 2012 US election reveals how we can all develop better foresight in an uncertain world. From the stock market to the poker table from earthquakes to the economy he takes us on an enthralling insider's tour of the high-stakes world of forecasting showing how we can use information in a smarter way amid a noise of data
- & make better predictions in our own lives."
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There's never a dull moment in this entertaining collection of experiences as Geoff Body & Bill Parker present often hilarious highlights from the careers of railwaymen around Britain over the last fifty years. Featuring daring robberies royal visits lost passengers bomb scares coffins circus trains & ladies of the night it chronicles both successes & disasters with accounts of moving a farm & a circus 245 miles of marooned railway footplate adventures animal capers & many equally fascinating subjects. Geoff Body & Bill Parker both enjoyed long careers on the railways & they have brought together this assortment of memories from all parts of the country. Signal Box Coming Up Sir!" is an entertaining & instructive journey for anyone with an interest in life on the railways." ...

In Signalmans Twilight Adrian continues the story of his railway life in rural West Berkshire. Adrian revelled in the gentle old-world atmosphere & seized every opportunity on duty & off to talk to the older railwaymen many of whom had begun their careers on the GWR in 1919
- 21 some of whom had served in the trenches with the Wiltshire Regiment in 1916
- 18 & others of whom had worked for the Midland & South Western Junction Railway in 1913 on to 1921 when we took over the Great Western as they put it. He visited other signal boxes rode the footplates of goods trains & express trains alike. Signalmans Twilight recalls the openness of the railway. Adrian could go wherever he liked on the railway & was welcomed
- even riding in the Track Testing Car behind Sudeley Castle at 97 mph. The book recalls the skill & commitment of the railwaymen which was not undermined by their allowing Adrian into their workplaces & onto their engines. He tells the amazing story of how Signalman Abrahams saved what would have been a fatal train crash
- just as he was about to start to demonstrate a new hymn he had learned for next Sundays service. Adrians admiration for the oldhand railwaymen knew no bounds. Then came modernisation dieselisation & station closures under Dr Beechings Axe. Adrian describes how he tried single-handedly to save Challow station only to earn a severe reprimand from high authority. The Axe fell & destroyed not only the stations of the Vale but a happy settled way of life.



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This richly illustrated study is the first consider the manifold functions & meanings of Halss distinctive handling of paint. Atkins explores the uniqueness of Halss approach to painting & the relationship of his manner to seventeenth-century aesthetics. He also investigates the economic motivations & advantages of his methods the operation of the style as a personal & workshop brand & the apparent modernity of the artists style. The book seeks to understand the multiple levels on which Halss consciously cultivated manner of painting operated for himself his pupils & assistants his clients & succeeding generations of viewers. As a result the book offers a wholly new understanding of one of the leading artists of the Dutch Golden Age & one of the most formative painters in the history of art in the Western tradition. It also provides a much needed interrogation of the interrelationships of subjectivity style authorship methods of artistic & commercial production economic consumption & art theory in early modernity. ...

Place-names are important to the historian & the archaeologist. Quite apart from the inherent interest of the original meaning of a place-name the fact that in England there are six successive layers of language reflected in the stock of place-names means that they provide vital evidence for dating & indeed for estimating the mixture of races in the composition of the nation. The author as President of the English Place-Name Society has succeeded in bringing the story of English place-names to a wider public in this fascinating general study. The response to the first edition demonstrated the books appeal to the reader with an interest in the evolution meaning & significance of the names of our towns villages rivers & hills. The Listener said that the book opens up the whole subject in the most enthralling manner while Comment observed.. .a classic in this field essential reading for anyone interested in local history. This new edition emphasises the contribution that this philological discipline can make to the work of the archaeologist & the historian & to our understanding of the long process of human settlement in our isl&. The sub-title of the book is Place-Names & the History of England"... Dr Gelling & her colleagues have made great strides in exploiting the latent store of information about the past preserved in the names of places." ...

Your guardian angels are continuously giving you messages frequently through signs such as seeing rainbows repetitive number sequences finding coins or feathers & hearing meaningful songs. In Signs from Above" Doreen Virtue & her son Charles teach how to understand the signs that are always around you. Youll gain comfort from reading true stories of how angels answered prayers by giving clear signs of their love & protection. Youll also have a better understanding of how to ask the angels for signs along with specific prayers for your relationships career health & other vital areas of your life." ...

The path of true love never runs smoothly & when Gemma is involved it can get exceedingly bumpy! For as long as thirteen-year-old Gemma Stone can remember she has dreamed of becoming an award-winning journalist. Unfortunately as the youngest member of the editorial team on the Green Park High student web-zine she is given the job of writing the horoscopes under the pen name ' Jessica Jupiter'. Not knowing the first thing about astrology Gemma decides to make the most of her unexpected situation by using her new position to play Cupid with her friends writing fictional forecasts to help their romantic dreams come true. But is Gemma to busy with her friends love lives to notice signs of love closer to home? ...