A tale of an unexpected friendship an unlikely hero & an improbable journey Alexs story treads the fine line between light & dark laughter & tears. & it might just strike you as one of the funniest most heartbreaking novels youve ever read. Alex Woods knows that he hasnt had the most conventional start in life. He knows that growing up with a clairvoyant single mother wont endear him to the local bullies. He also knows that even the most improbable events can happen
- hes got the scars to prove it. What he doesnt know yet is that when he meets ill-tempered reclusive widower Mr Peterson hell make an unlikely friend. Someone who tells him that you only get one shot at life. That you have to make the best possible choices. So when aged seventeen Alex is stopped at Dover customs with 113 grams of marijuana an urn full of ashes on the passenger seat & an entire nation in uproar hes fairly sure hes done the right thing.
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A tale of an unexpected friendship an unlikely hero & an improbable journey... This novel might just strike you as one of the funniest most heartbreaking novels you've ever read. This is the story of seventeen-year-old Alex Woods
- born to a clairvoyant mother & a phantom father victim of an improbable childhood accident
- who is stopped at Dover customs in possession of 113 grams of marijuana & the ashes of his best friend Vietnam veteran Isaac Peterson. What follows is a highly original & compelling account of Alex's life & the strange series of events that brought him here.

The Universe Versus Alex Woods is part of the Richard & Judy Summer 2013 Book Club. Find out how you can get involved with Britain's biggest & best book club. Visit the brand new Book Club website Â- ...

In The Universe Within" Neil Shubin one of the worlds leading experts reveals to us the extraordinary cosmic & evolutionary adventure of our own bodies. During the past 13.7 billion years (or so) since the Big Bang our universe has evolved stars have formed & died & our planet congealed from the matter in space. For aeons the earth has circled the sun while mountains seas & entire continents have come & gone. Against this epic backdrop humanitys place in the cosmos can look tiny & insignificant. But as Neil Shubin shows in this revelatory new book the one place where universe solar system & planet merge is inside your body. Shubin shows how the origin of the Moon is tied to our internal body clocks; how the vast amounts of water on Earth & inside all living creatures crossed the deepest stretches of space to us; how strange fluctuations in the orbits within our solar system have led to our irregular ice-ages; & how tiny imbalances in the chaos immediately after the Big Bang can explain why matter exists at all. Delving below the earths surface & into the frozen Arctic exploring the smallest atomic structures & the vast reaches of space Neil Shubin uncovers a sublimely beautiful almost magical truth: that in every one of us lies the most profound story of all
- how we & our world came to be. " Shubin is not only a distinguished scientist but a wonderfully lucid & elegant writer; he is an irrepressibly enthusiastic teacher.. .a science writer of the first rank". (Oliver Sacks). Neil Shubin is a palaeontologist in the great tradition of his mentors Ernst Mayr & Stephen Jay Gould. He has discovered fossils around the world that have changed the way we think about many of the key transitions in evolution & has pioneered a new synthesis of expeditionary palaeontology developmental genetics & genomics. He trained at Columbia Harvard & Berkeley & is currently a Professor in the Department of Organismal Biology & Anatomy at the University of Chicago. His previous book is " Your Inner Fish: The Amazing Discovery Of Our 375-Million-Year-Old Ancestor"."
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Leaving home & going to university is one of the most exciting challenges you can face. But there are bound to be questions fears & worries in the back of your mind & this book sets out to address all of these issues. Packed with practical advice from real students this step-by-step guide will take you through the entire process: from deciding what to pack & choosing accommodation to making the most of freshers week & settling into your course. Sex relationships living with flat mates keeping healthy registering with the health clinic reading lists exams & money matters are just some of the many topics discussed. Current students & new graduates share their experiences reveal where they went wrong & what would have helped at the time. Whatever your age this guide will help you prepare for university equipping you with all the knowledge & information needed to survive the experience of a lifetime. ...

For almost 50 years University Challenge has served as a bastion of general knowledge regularly testing our finest young minds with a dizzying array of subjects. Now
- if you think you're up to the challenge
- you can pit your own wits against the trickiest quiz around. With over 3 500 challenging quiz questions The University Challenge Quiz Book will probe the murkiest corners of your intellect. Leaving no stone unturned in-depth questions cover every aspect of history science language economics culture & more & will put even the hardiest quiz veteran through their paces. With games to play either on your own or in teams (no conferring) here is a collection to challenge surprise & stimulate
- from your first starter for ten to the final gong. Come on come on!


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Your research has generated gigabytes of data & now you need to analyse it. You hate using spreadsheets but it is all you know so what else can you do? This book will transform how you work with large & complex data sets teaching you powerful programming tools for slicing & dicing data to suit your needs. Written in a fun & accessible style this step-by-step guide will inspire & inform non-programmers about the essential aspects of Unix & Perl. It shows how with just a little programming knowledge you can write programs that could save you hours or even days. No prior experience is required & new concepts are introduced using numerous code examples that you can try out for yourself. Going beyond the basics the authors touch upon many broader topics that will help those new to programming including debugging & how to write in a good programming style. ...

* UNIX For Dummies has been the standard for beginning UNIX references for nearly ten years & this latest edition continues that tradition of success * This unparalled resource is updated to cover the latest applications of UNIX technology including Linux & Mac desktops as well as how UNIX works with Microsoft server software * Thorough coverage of how to handle UNIX installation file management software utilities networks Internet access & other basic tasks * Aimed at the first-time UNIX desktop user growing accustomed to the ins & outs of the OS as well as the beginning administrator who needs to get a handle on UNIX networking basics * Written by John Levine & Margaret Levine Young longtime UNIX experts & highly experienced For Dummies authors ...

Unix Shell Programming is a tutorial aimed at helping Unix & Linux users get optimal performance out of their operating out of their operating system. It shows them how to take control of their systems & work efficiently by harnessing the power of the shell to solve common problems. The reader learns everything he or she needs to know to customize the way a Unix system responds. The vast majority of Unix users utilize the Korn shell or some variant of the Bourne shell such as bash. Three are covered in the third edition of Unix Shell Programming. It begins with a generalized tutorial of Unix & tools & then moves into detailed coverage of shell programming. Topics covered include: regular expressions the kernel & the utilities command files parameters manipulating text filters understanding & debugging shell scripts creating & utilizing variables tools processes & customizing the shell. ...

It's summer on Gotland & an international group of archaeology students are excavating an ancient Viking site. The camaraderie & holiday spirits of the group are shattered when one of their number a Dutch student called Martina disappears. Rumours abound about a secret relationship she was having with someone on the island but is her disappearance simply a lover's intrigue? When the body of a horse is discovered in a local farmer's field other rumours begin to circulate. The horse had been decapitated & the head has vanished. As Inspector Knutas begins his investigation echoes from Gotland's Viking past begin to trouble his search. When Martina's naked body is found hanging from a tree with what look like ritualistic markings on her skin there can be little further question. Someone is calling to the old Gods of Gotl&. Martina has been killed according to the Viking ritual of the three-fold death & the one thing the ritual points to is that more deaths will follow. ...

Miles from anywhere Darracott Place is presided over by irascible Lord Darracott. The recent drowning of his eldest son has done nothing to improve his temper. For now he must send for the unknown offspring of the uncle whom the family are never permitted to mention. Yet none of that beleaguered family are prepared for the arrival of the weaver's brat & heir apparent.. . Yet again Georgette Heyer shows the qualities that made her one of the most successful & best-loved romantic novelists of her age & why her popularity endures to this day. ...