In What on Earth Happened? Christopher Lloyd tells our story from the very beginning of time to the present day taking giant narrative leaps across millennia & continents. Along the way he explains exactly how Muslim conquest gave Spain its paella how the Earth's collision with another young planet created the moon how dragonflies the size of seagulls emerged out of the prehistoric waters & how the Big Bang can be detected in your television. Accessible & endlessly entertaining this massive book draws on disciplines as wide-ranging as astrophysics & anthropology & will appeal to experts amateur enthusiasts & the simply curious alike. Completed by 250 colourful photographs maps historic paintings engravings & specially commissioned illustrations What on Earth Happened? takes an entertaining & informed sideways look at the last 13.7 billion years in the life of our universe. Do you know What on Earth Happened? Test your knowledge of the earth in a five minute quiz at www.whatonearthhappened.com ...

Clarice Bean needs a science project or shes in BIG trouble. Her brother Kurt just wants to save the planet. Now theyre both up a tree. Clarice Bean is learning about planet Earth at school. She needs to think of a project on the environment but her mind is a blank. Then she discovers that a big neighborhood tree is about to be chopped to pieces so she decides to become an eco-warrior. Clarice joins her quirky family in the tree & saves the day
- & ends up saving her science project too! The inimitable Clarice Bean stars in this hilarious picture book about the environment showing us how little things can make a big difference.
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There is nothing more fascinating than a darkly handsome rake especially one as controlled & elusive as Dillon Caxton protg of Demon Cynster. Despite his dangerous air Dillon is now a man of sterling reputation but it wasnt always so. Years ago an illicit scheme turned into a nefarious swindle & only the help of his cousin Felicity & her husband Demon saved Dillon from ruin. Now impeccably honest his hard-won reputation zealously guarded hes the Keeper of the Register of all racing horses in England the very register Lady Priscilla Dalloway is desperate to see. She has come to Newmarket determined to come to the rescue of her horse-mad brother who has fallen into bad company. Together Dillon & Pris uncover a massive betting swindle. Assisted by Demon Felicity & Barnaby Adair they embark on a journey riddled with danger & undeniable passion as they seek to expose the deadly perpetrators. & along the way they discover the answer to that age old question: What price love? ...

In the eagerly-awaited new book about Wibbly Pig Wibbly & his friends find the perfect name for his new puppy. Mick Inkpen creator of Kipper & many other prizewinning picture books has brought to life a character who has won the hearts of millions of readers the world over & is the star of his own tv cartoon. ...

Wibbly Pig & his friends can't decide what to name his new puppy. Everyone has an idea. But no one can agree. Will Wibbly ever find the perfect name? Mick Inkpen creator of Kipper & many other prizewinning picture books has brought to life a character who has won the hearts of millions of readers the world over & is the star of his own CBeebies cartoon. ...

What She Saw Waitress Haley Martin might just be next on a murderers hit list & its former military cop Buck Devlins job to protect her
- hes had worse cover stories than pretending to be in love with a beautiful blonde. But the more danger they expose the harder it is to remember their love story is just a cover... Deadly Force It was the one case Detective Sam Vernelli couldnt solve: the murder of his fiancee more than a decade ago. So hes not about to let her sister Claire Fontaine go it alone against whoever is threatening her. As Sam & Claire begin to uncover the truth the price of revealing it could be more than they bargained for.
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Suddenly in the twenty-first century religion has become a political power. It affects us all whether were religious or not. If were not in danger of being blown up by a suicide bomber weve got leaders to whom God speaks ordering them to start a war. Were beset by people who demand that we give ourselves to Jesus while they smugly assure us of their own superiority & inherent goodness. Were surrounded by those who noisily reject science while making full use of the benefits science brings; by the spiritual ones; the ones who believe in magic; & theres the militant atheists berating us all for our stupidity. We wouldnt object to what people believed if only theyd keep it to themselves. We want to make up our own minds about what we believe but its difficult to do this. Everyone has to face the dilemma that we all die but no one knows for certain what death actually is. Is it the end of our identity or a doorway to another life? Whichever we choose our choice is a fantasy that determines the purpose of our life. If death is the end of our identity we have to make this life satisfactory whatever satisfactory might mean to us. If it is a doorway to another life what are the standards we have to reach to go to that better life? All religions promise to overcome death but theres no set of religious or philosophical beliefs that ensures that our life is always happy & secure. Moreover for many of us what we were taught about a religion severely diminished our self-confidence & left us with a constant debilitating feeling of guilt & shame. Through all this turmoil comes the calm clear voice of eminent psychologist Dorothy Rowe. She separates the political from the personal the power-seeking from the compassionate. She shows how if we use our beliefs as a defence against our feelings of worthlessness we feel compelled to force our beliefs on to other people by coercion or aggression. However it is possible to create a set of beliefs expressed in the religious or philosophical metaphors most meaningful to us which allow us to live at peace with ourselves & other people to feel strong in ourselves without having to remain a child forever dependent on some supernatural power & to face life with courage & optimism. ...

Toddlers & parents everywhere will recognize Small Rabbits lack of enthusiasm as the story opens. He just doesnt want to go for a walk & he comes up with all sorts of excuses to stay indoors. But Big Rabbit is having none of it. She bundles him into his coat & out they go with Small Rabbit shivering & grumbling as he shuffles along. Perhaps its because hes too far behind Big Rabbit perhaps its because the wind is howling but when Big Rabbit says Try to keep up! what Small Rabbit hears is Jump in the mud! & so he does. In fact everything Big Rabbit says-thanks to the wind-turns from a rather humdrum instruction into something much more exciting & Small Rabbit finds himself having a really wild time. Becoming muddier by the moment & causing more & more mayhem Small Rabbit romps ahead. Big Rabbits last instruction as Small Rabbit bounds home to their burrow is Please dont go inside! (shes worried about muddy footprints & leaves all over her lovely clean burrow). But Small Rabbit thinks shes asking him to find somewhere to hide & the story ends with a resounding Boo! from Small Rabbit as he jumps from his hiding place into Big Rabbits arms declaring Windy walks are lots of fun! ...

How do you convince men to charge across heavily mined beaches into deadly machine-gun fire? Do you appeal to their bonds with their fellow soldiers their patriotism their desire to end tyranny & mass murder? Certainly
- but if youre the US Army in 1944 you also try another tack: you dangle the lure of beautiful French women waiting just on the other side of the wire ready to reward their liberators in oh so many ways. Thats not the picture of the Greatest Generation that weve been given but its the one Mary Louise Roberts paints to devastating effect in What Soldiers Do". Drawing on an incredible range of sources including news reports propaganda training materials official planning documents wartime diaries & memoirs Roberts tells the fascinating & troubling story of how the US military command systematically spread
- & then exploited
- the myth of French women as sexually experienced & available. The resulting chaos
- ranging from flagrant public sex with prostitutes to outright rape & rampant venereal disease
- horrified the war-weary & demoralized French population. The sexual predation & the blithe response of the American military leadership also caused serious friction between the two nations just as they were attempting to settle questions of long-term control over the liberated territories & the restoration of French sovereignty. While never denying the achievement of D-day or the bravery of the soldiers who took part " What Soldiers Do" reminds us that history is always more useful
- & more interesting
- when it is more honest & when it goes beyond the burnished beauty of nostalgia to grapple with the real experiences & real mistakes of the people who lived it."






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Why will there never be another Bradman? How do you win 33 games in a row? Why did Zidane lose his rag on the world's stage? Foraying deep into sport's leftfield Ed smith asks the questions we rarely ask of our teams & players. When is cheating really cheating? Is the free market good for sport? Can talent be a curse? Does luck matter? His answers often controversial & always thought provoking will delight anyone who has ever wondered why sport matters. ...