Chris Helme has been involved with the brass-band world for more than fifty years & this collection draws upon that experience to present a fascinating insight into the lives of thirty of the most famous bandsmen in the business. Filled with archive photographs & with contributions from the men themselves as well as their families friends band mates & colleagues it celebrates triumph & disaster local life & band life national & even international success. What Brass Bands Did For Me" will bring back many happy memories for those who have been involved with bands at any level over the years. An essential record of life in the mill towns as it once was & a triumphant celebration of a community that lives on into the twenty-first century it is a must-have for every lover of music." ...

Did you know that the Cornish pasty was invented to protect tin miners from arsenic poisoning or that the word salary comes from Roman soldiers being paid their wages in salt? Why do we eat goose (or turkey) at Christmas? Is the Scotch egg actually from Scotland & what did some retired crusaders have to do with French toast? Who was the original Earl Grey & what sauce was inspired by Parliament? What dish was invented by Greek bandits on the run? Why were hot cross buns seen as magical & whats so rebellious about a haggis or medicinal about a gin & tonic? Did you know what the romantic history is behind the Bakewell Pudding? Albert Jack tells the strange tales behind our favourite dishes & drinks & where they come from (not to mention their unusual creators). In the colourful wonderful vein of Schotts Food & Drink Miscellany" Albert Jacks " What Caesar Did For My Salad" is bursting with fascinating insights characters & enough stories to entertain a hundred dinner parties. Albert Jack is the author such bestselling titles as " Pop Goes the Weasel" " Shaggy Dogs & Black Sheep" & " The Old Dog & Duck"." ...

The shocking conclusion of Elizabeth Georges previous bestseller WITH NO ONE AS WITNESS saw the wife of New Scotland Yards Thomas Lynley gunned down in the street outside her home. Under arrest for the crime is a twelve-year-old boy Joel Campbell. What possible motive could he have? What chain of events could have led such a child from the housing estates of North Kensington to the elegant streets of Belgravia with such deadly intent? The answer to these questions is a complex mixture of fate & circumstance. Abandoned (albeit involuntarily) by his parents Joel & two siblings are dumped on the doorstep of his aunts house. Kendra childless & with two marriages behind her is doing her best to turn her life around; responsibility for three troubled children is not what she had in mind. Drugs neglect violence & poverty are commonplace in North Kensington. Joel does his best to look out for his family but that involves a Faustian pact. & the Devil will have his pay. ...

What can you see Spot?": There are lots of fun things to see in Spots world. Each page is full of things that your toddler will recognise
- from boats to butterflies & clouds to cats. This book is great for widening your childs vocabulary; encouraging them to talk & improve their visual recognition. Spot goes for a walk has fun at the beach visits the farm & sees a mouse in his house! This fun & colourful book for toddlers is filled with classic Eric Hill illustrations on every page with a mirror surprise to enjoy on the final page."
...

Today most Americans take for granted that China will be the next global superpower. But despite the nations growing influence the average Chinese person is still a mystery
- or at best a baffling set of seeming contradictions
- to Westerners who expect the rising Chinese consumer to resemble themselves. Here Tom Doctoroff the guiding force of advertising giant J. Walter Thompsons (JWT) China operations marshals his 20 years of experience navigating this fascinating intersection of commerce & culture to explain the mysteries of China. He explores the many cultural political & economic forces shaping the twenty-first-century Chinese & their implications for businesspeople marketers & entrepreneurs
- or anyone else who wants to know what makes the Chinese tick. Dismantling common misconceptions Doctoroff provides the context Westerners need to understand the distinctive worldview that drives Chinese businesses & consumers including: why family & social stability take precedence over individual self-expression & the consequences for education innovation & growth; their fundamentally different understanding of morality & why Chinese tolerate human rights abuses rampant piracy & endemic government corruption; & the long & storied past that still drives decision making at corporate local & national levels. Change is coming fast & furious in China challenging not only how the Western world sees the Chinese but how they see themselves. From the new generations embrace of Christmas to the middle-class fixation with luxury brands; from the exploding senior demographic to what the Internet means for the governments hold on power Doctoroff pulls back the curtain to reveal a complex & nuanced picture of a facinating people whose lives are becoming ever more entwined with our own.


...

I woke up in a cold sweat knowing for a definite fact that death was a teenage girl & that she had been standing silently by my bed during the night... Jim Beaudry or Biscuit as hes known is a teenage boy trying to stay out of trouble. But trouble has a way of finding him. Especially after his cousin L.A. turns up on his doorstep. When one summer afternoon Biscuit & L.A. discover the body of a teenage girl in the Texas wilderness an investigation begins that will put both of their lives in grave danger. ...

Now available for the first time in picture book format Richard Scarry's classic title What Do People Do All Day?. Packed with pictures & things to spot on every page this classic has been refreshed to bring the world of Richard Scarry to a new generation of readers. What do people do all day? Everyone is busy in Busytown
- from train drivers to doctors from mothers to sailors in police stations & on fire engines. Follow a colourful collection of busy people working through their busy days. Captain Salty & his crew are getting ready to go on a voyage Sergeant Murphy is working very hard to keep things safe & peaceful & engineers are building new roads. Another busy day in Busytown!
...

This is a fascinating introduction to the world of religion. Why are we here? What happens after we die? What Do You Believe?" unpacks the big questions about life God morality & science vs. religion. Written by BBC TV & Radio personality Aled Jones it presents faith & religion in a totally unbiased way allowing children to better understand some of the challenging questions we face today. Tracing the history of religion around the world & charting key events & theories this book helps us to understand the motivation behind beliefs & why some people do or dont have faith. Tricky concepts are explained & broken down into manageable chunks with clear curriculum-based information " What Do You Believe?" promotes understanding tolerance & respect for people whatever they believe." ...

What Do You Care What Other People Think? Further Adventures of a Curious Character" is a captivating collection of reminiscences from freewheeling scientific genius Richard P. Feynman. Richard Feynman
- Nobel Laureate teacher & iconic intellect
- possessed an unquenchable thirst for an adventure & an unparalleled gift for telling the extraordinary stories of his life. In this collection of short pieces Feynman describes everything from his love of beauty to college pranks to how his father taught him to think. He takes us behind the scenes of the space shuttle Challenger investigation where he dramatically revealed the cause of the disaster with a simple experiment. & he tells us of how he met his beloved first wife Arlene & their brief time together before her death. Sometimes intensely moving sometimes funny these writings are infused with Feynmans curiosity & passion for life. " Feynmans voice echoes raw & direct through these pages". (" The New York Times"). " Outrageously gifted iconoclastic irrepressible... Richard Feynman still has the capacity to suprise". (" Observer"). " One of the greatest minds of the twentieth century.. .he was also stubborn irreverent playful intensely curious & highly original in practically everything he did". (" New York Review of Books"). " If more scientists were like Feynman the world really would be a better & better understood place". (" Independent on Sunday"). Richard P. Feynman (1918-1988) was one of this centurys most brilliant theoretical physicists & original thinkers. Feynmans other books also available in Penguin include "QED" " Six Easy Pieces" " Six Not-so-Easy Pieces" " Dont You Have Time to Think" " The Pleasure of Finding Things Out" " What Do You Care What Other People Think?" & " The Meaning of it All"."

...

What Do You Say After You Say Hello? explains what makes the winners win the losers lose & the in-betweens so boring... In it Dr Eric Berne reveals how everyone's life follows a predetermined script
- a script they compose for themselves during early childhood. The script may be a sad one it may be a successful one; it decides how a person will relate to his colleagues what sort of person he will marry how many children he will have & even what sort of bed he will die in... What Do You Say After You Say Hello? demonstrates how each life script gets written how it works & more important how anyone can improvise or change his script to make a happy ending...
...