The pacy sensitive & formidably argued history of the causes of the First World War from acclaimed historian & author Christopher Clark. Sunday Times & Independent Books Of The Year 2012. The moments that it took Gavrilo Princip to step forward to the stalled car & shoot dead Franz Ferdinand & his wife were perhaps the most fateful of the modern era. An act of terrorism of staggering efficiency it fulfilled its every aim: it would liberate Bosnia from Habsburg rule & it created a powerful new Serbia but it also brought down four great empires killed millions of men & destroyed a civilization. What made a seemingly prosperous & complacent Europe so vulnerable to the impact of this assassination? In The Sleepwalkers Christopher Clark retells the story of the outbreak of the First World War & its causes. Above all it shows how the failure to understand the seriousness of the chaotic near genocidal fighting in the Balkans would drag Europe into catastrophe. Reviews: Formidable.. .one of the most impressive & stimulating studies of the period ever published". (Max Hastings Sunday Times). " Easily the best book ever written on the subject...A work of rare beauty that combines meticulous research with sensitive analysis & elegant prose. The enormous weight of its quality inspires amazement & awe... Academics should take note: Good history can still be a good story". (Washington Post). "A lovingly researched work of the highest scholarship. It is hard to believe we will ever see a better narrative of what was perhaps the biggest collective blunder in the history of international relations". (Niall Ferguson). "[ Reading The Sleepwalkers] it is as if a light had been turned on a half-darkened stage of shadowy characters cursing among themselves without reason...[ Clark] demolishes the standard view... The brilliance of Clark's far-reaching history is that we are able to discern how the past was genuinely prologue... In conception steely scholarship & piercing insights his book is a masterpiece". (Harold Evans New York Times Book Review). " Impeccably researched provocatively argued & elegantly written.. .a model of scholarship". (Sunday Times Books of the Year). " Superb.. .effectively consigns the old historical consensus to the bin... It's not often that one has the privilege of reading a book that reforges our understanding of one of the seminal events of world history". (Mail Online). "A monumental new volume... Revelatory even revolutionary... Clark has done a masterful job explaining the inexplicable". (Boston Globe). "superb... One of the great mysteries of history is how Europe's great powers could have stumbled into World War I... This is the single best book I have read on this important topic". (Fareed Zakaria). "A meticulously researched superbly organized & handsomely written account Military History Clark is a masterly historian... His account vividly reconstructs key decision points while deftly sketching the context driving them...A magisterial work". (Wall Street Journal). " This compelling examination of the causes of World War I deserves to become the new standard one-volume account of that contentious subject". (Foreign Affairs). "A brilliant contribution". (Times Higher Education). " Clark is fully alive to the challenges of the subject... He provides vivid portraits of leading figures...[ He] also gives a rich sense of what contemporaries believed was at stake in the crises leading up to the war". (Irish Times). " In recent decades many analysts had tended to put most blame for the disaster [of the First World War] on Germany. Clark strongly renews an older interpretation which sees the statesmen of many countries as blundering blindly together into war". (Stephen Howe Independent Books of the Year). About the author: Christopher Clark is Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge & a Fellow of St Catharine's College. He is the author of The Politics of Conversion " ...

Find out what makes baby snooze & slumber in this gorgeous new title from Usborne's popular & expanding touchy-feely series for babies & toddlers. Catherine Mac Kinnon's delightful pastel illustrations combine with appealing text & the softest of touchy-feely textures on every spread to make this book a delight that's sure to be enjoyed again & again. The tactile touch-feely textures familiar nursery characters & simple words ensure that this book will appeal to every baby toddler & parent. ...

Three little kittens arent sleepy at all! One wants to jump another wants to play & the last wants a bite to eat. But after Mama Cat brushes their fur gives them some milk & sings them a lullaby one two three little kittens drift off to sleep. With gentle rhythmic verse little ones will love to snuggle up with these soft cozy kitties at bedtime. The book Sleepy Kittens is read aloud in a pivotal emotional scene of the animated movie Despicable Me. Our board book will include adorable fuzzy kitten finger puppets! ...

All about the Sleepiest Sloth in the World! Sammy the sloth does nothing but.. .yawn.. .dream all day &.. .yawn.. .sleep all night. Can anything wake him up? The Animal Crackers series is back by popular demand with an attractive & fresh new cover design. Inside the pages have clear easy-to-read type & fun colour illustrations throughout each book. They also include joke sections & are published in a large child-friendly format. ...

Its rare for a young woman to die from a stroke & when three such deaths occur in short order it starts to look like an epidemic. Then a sharp pathologist notices traces of benzodiazepine in one of the victims blood samples & just traceable damage to the ligaments in her neck & their cause of death is changed from natural to murder. The police arent making much progress in their hunt for the killer until he appears to make a mistake: Alison Willetts is found alive & D.I. Tom Thorne believes the murderer has made a mistake which ought to allow them to get on his tracks. But it was the others who were his mistakes: he doesnt want to take life he just wants to put people into a state where they cannot move cannot talk cannot do anything but think. When Thorne helped by the neurologist looking after Alison starts to realise what he is up against he knows the case is not going to be solved by normal methods
- before he can find out who did it he has to understand why hes doing it.
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What can magic tell us about ourselves & our daily lives? If you subtly change the subject during an uncomfortable conversation did you know youre using attentional misdirection a core technique of magic? & if youve ever bought an expensive item youd sworn never to buy you were probably unaware that the salesperson was like an accomplished magician a master at creating the illusion of choice. Leading neuroscientists Stephen Macknik & Susana Martinez-Conde meet with magicians from all over the world to explain how the magicians art sheds light on consciousness memory attention & belief. As the founders of the new discipline of Neuro Magic they combine cutting-edge scientific research with startling insights into the tricks of the magic trade. By understanding how magic manipulates the processes in our brains we can better understand how we work
- in fields from law & education to marketing health & psychology
- for good & for ill.

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This book offers a new look at maths without the Boring Bits.. . How many trillions are there in a googol? Which fractions are vulgar? What famous mathematician refused to eat beans? & which one never travelled without his pet spider in an ivory box? Mathematical theorems & equations are inextricably entangled with the great & often eccentric thinkers who made breakthrough discoveries. Teacher & numbers expert Liz Strachan takes readers beyond the classroom combining anecdotes proofs & party tricks to reveal the foundations of algebra geometry & trigonometry in a clear & entertaining style. From the Difference Engine to magic squares & from the Fibonacci rabbits to Fermats Last Theorem this fascinating tour of the weird world of numbers imaginary real or infinite will appeal to anyone with an enquiring mind. ...

Nevil Shute was a power & a pioneer in the world of flying long before he began to write the stories that made him a bestselling novelist. This autobiography charts Shute's path from childhood to his career as a gifted aeronautical engineer working at the forefront of the technological experimentation of the 1920s & 30s. The inspiration for many of the themes & concerns of Shute's novels can be identified in this enjoyable & enlightening memoir. ...

All of London is abuzz over the imminent arrival of Wulfric Bedwyn the reclusive cold-as-ice Duke of Bewcastle at the most glittering social event of the season. Some whisper of a tragic love affair. Others say he is so aloof & passionless that not even the greatest beauty could capture his attention. But on this dazzling afternoon one woman does catch the duke's eye
- & she is the only female in the room who isn't even trying. Christine Derrick is intrigued by the handsome duke...all the more so when he invites her to become his mistress. But Christine has very definite views on men morals & marriage & confounds Wulfric at every turn. Yet even as the lone wolf of the Bedwyn clan vows to seduce her any way he can something strange & wonderful is happening. Now for a man who thought he'd never lose his heart nothing less than love will do.
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Charlie & friend Marv are in search of strange & tricky creatures. & they would like to search without Lola bothering & interrupting. Luckily Lola knows exactly how to catch strange & tricky creatures & enlists a little bit of help from her invisible friend Soren Lorensen. (And of course one or three drops of pink milk.) Child is as visually inventive & verbally dexterous as ever.. .classic."
- Guardian " The Child recipe at its fresh playful best."
- Observer "A typically exuberant imaginative whirl of a story."
- Angels & Urchins " Child is second to none when it comes to capturing the imagination of young children."
- Daily Express "A witty book that reminds us why we fell in love with Charlie & Lola in the first place."
- Junior"




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