Balancing Act
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This is a careful examination of the historical formation of Britain and of key moments in its relations with the European powers. The author looks at the governing discourses of politicians, the mass media, and the British people. The rhetoric of sovereignty among political elites and the population at large is found to conceive of Britain's engagement with Europe as a zero-sum game. A second theme is the power of geographical images - island Britain - in feeding the idea of the British nation as by nature separate and autonomous. It follows that the EU is seen as 'other' and involvement in European decision-making tends to be viewed in terms of threat. This is naive, as nation- states are not autonomous, economically, militarily or politically. Only pooling sovereignty can maximize their national interests. Atsuko Ichijo is Senior Researcher in European Studies at Kingston University.
Economic Imperative
¥63.67
The book explores the role of leisure in modern life. It was written in the belief that leisure sets us apart as a species, that what is "e;useless"e; by commercial standards is probably the best thing we have going for us, and that leisure is under attack, in high danger of being lost, and has been for some time (since at least the end of the Second World War). The source of the problem is the ascendancy of the economic imperative, the subordination of the science of means (philosophy) by the science of ends (economics). The book argues that our leisurely impulse has been so squandered that boredom is now a significant problem in modern life. The essays canvass the distinctive contributions of art, science and religion, and provide a synthetic account of these three forces driving human culture. Although the book covers the science/religion question, this book differs from others on the science/religion debate in that it connects the traditional discussion to questions of economics and social policy. It takes an innovative approach in weaving the fundamentals of human life (art, science, economics and so on) into one fabric, namely, leisure.
Putting Morality Back into Politics
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Machiavelli almost succeeded in removing morality from European politics and, indeed, since his day it has sometimes been assumed that morality and politics are separate. Ryder argues that the time has come for public policies to be seen to be based upon moral objectives. Politicians should be expected routinely to justify their policies with open moral argument.In Part I, Ryder sketches an overview of contemporary political philosophy as it relates to the moral basis for politics, and Part 2 suggests a way of putting morality back into politics, along with a clearer emphasis upon scientific evidence.
Knowledge Monopolies
¥63.67
Historians and sociologists chart the consequences of the expansion of knowledge; philosophers of science examine the causes. This book bridges the gap. The focus is on 'academisation' - the paradox whereby, as the general public becomes better educated to live and work with knowledge, the 'academy' increases its intellectual distance from the public, so that the nature of social and natural reality becomes more rather than less obscure.
Moral Mind
¥63.67
The reality and validity of the moral sense - which ordinary people take for granted - took a battering in the last century. Materialist trends in philosophy, decline in religious faith, and a loosening of traditional moral constraints contributed to a shift in public attitudes, with many decent honest folk both aware of a questioning of moral claims and uneasy with a world that has no place for the moral dimension. Haslam shows how important the moral sense is to the human personality and exposes the weakness in much current thinking that suggests otherwise. His goal is to help the reader to a mature and confident understanding of the moral mind, which constitutes an essential part of what it is to be human.
Exploring the History of Lee-on-the-Solent
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Walking around Lee-on-the-Solent provides tantalising glimpses into its past - whether it's the balconied Victorian buildings in Pier Street, the Art Deco frontages above the shops in Marine Parade West, the airfield with its gliders soaring peacefully overhead, the hovercraft museum, the sight of yachts on the sparkling waters of the Solent, or the lengthy list of names on the War Memorial. And perhaps you remember, or have heard talk of, the Tower with its ballroom and cinema, the Pier Hotel in its heyday, and the outdoor swimming pool?But what's the real story behind the history of Lee-on-the-Solent? Whether you are a resident or a visitor, you are bound to discover something new in this fascinating account. Why would Isle of Wight monks build a windmill at Lee? Why would you have needed the help of the baker's boy if you wanted to get a train at Elmore Halt? What was on offer at Bulson's Stores and Pleasure Retreat? Why was a rainstorm so popular at the Anglican church? Why did the last two Englishmen to fight a duel choose Browndown as the venue? What made prefabs the envy of many residents? And why was a patch of grass in the wildgrounds always tended in the shape of a cross? You'll find the answer to these questions and many more in Exploring the History of Lee-on-the-Solent.Best of all, you'll discover why you should raise a glass to John Robinson, the Victorian entrepreneur without whom Lee-on-the-Solent would surely not exist.
Famous Prisoners of Wormwood Scrubs
¥63.67
Wormwood Scrubs is Britain's most 'media-soaked' prison. Its celebrity inmates have provided the tabloids with many good stories, from Rolling Stone Keith Richards - banged up for drugs offences - to notorious spy George Blake, whose escape enthralled the country. It has entertained the Master of the Queen's music, Sir Michael Tippett, socialist scrapper Fred Copeman, rebellious soul Pete Doherty, influential writer Joe Orton, lifetime litigant Lord Alfred Douglas, fraudster John Stonehouse and professional con Charles Bronson.In this book, you'll read about the forgotten, as well as the famous; the plain as well as the extraordinary. It is an enthralling gallery of rogues, liars, spies, mountebanks, lovers of courtroom strife and general, all-round villains who did anything to get rich.
Avatar-Philosophy (and -Religion) or FAITHEISM
¥63.67
Are you prepared, either as an atheist or a religious believer, to have your ideas of God, the self, other people, the body, the soul, spirituality, and faith challenged in an unexpected and original way? Here is a book that moves out from under and away from the received notions of those ponderous topics, whether or not you believe in the divine. The author is a confessed atheist but one who rejects the approach of Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Michel Onfray and the rest when they depart from their justifiable criticisms of the historical record of the established creeds and endeavour to rubbish what faith could actually be. The book takes its origin from an exploration of the idea of an avatar; the writing of it was stimulated by seeing the Cameron film, though it subjects that film itself to an assessment of its hidden assumptions. The book finally arrives at specific recommendations for our time, ones to which the argument of the book has been directed throughout.
Shell Shock
¥63.67
This short, diary-style novel, by a British army veteran chronicles the difficulties faced by Tommy, a 23-year-old squaddie, as he desperately tries to conquer post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) - shell shock. His over-emotional responses to the stresses of everyday life - post-office queues, a trip to Ikea, and his relationship with his family and girlfriend - eventually lead to alienation and suicidal urges. Told in the vernacular, with humour and personal understanding, the story highlights the work of the Charity Combat Stress in rehabilitating returning troops.
Werewolves in Their Youth
¥63.67
In this superb book by Michael Chabon, called by Jonathan Yardley "the young star of American letters," the bestselling author of The Mysteries of Pittsburgh and Wonder Boys gives us nine stunning short stories. Beautifully crafted, powerful in its impact, Werewolves in Their Youth takes us into the hearts and lives of young people and people in midlife caught at emotional moments of turning point and change. Brilliant, frightening, funny, these stories are shot through with Chabon's unique vision and uncanny understanding of our mysteries and nightmares, hilarity and pain. In the opening story, "Werewolves in Their Youth," a boy attempts to help a troubled classmate, only to uncover the even more perplexing troubles of the adults around them. In "House Hunting," a young couple mend their strained relationship during an appointment with a strange real estate broker. In the collection's chilling final story, "In the Black Mill," a student archaeologist travels to a small American city to conduct his fieldwork, and finds himself investigating the mysterious fates of the inhabitants. The brilliance of an astonishing American talent is everywhere apparent in Werewolves in Their Youth.
Sherlock Holmes and The Black Widower
¥63.67
In the year 1908 Holmes believed himself to be in retirement. Watson was once again in private practice and unwed. Mrs. Hudson had gone to Sussex to act as Holmes's housekeeper. But the fates had agreed that Martha Hudson and John Watson should be together. Or had they? When Dr. Watson proposes to Martha Hudson it sets off a series of events that only Sherlock Holmes can deal with. Watson has already had three wives, all have died under unfortunate circumstances. Colm Campbell, Martha Hudson's nephew, thinks there is more here than meets the eye. Is Watson just unlucky or are the deaths suspicious? Holmes must come to his best friends defence.
Enemies of Progress
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This polemical book examines the concept of sustainability and presents a critical exploration of its all-pervasive influence on society, arguing that sustainability, manifested in several guises, represents a pernicious and corrosive doctrine that has survived primarily because there seems to be no alternative to its canon: in effect, its bi-partisan appeal has depressed critical engagement and neutered politics.It is a malign philosophy of misanthropy, low aspirations and restraint. This book argues for a destruction of the mantra of sustainability, removing its unthinking status as orthodoxy, and for the reinstatement of the notions of development, progress, experimentation and ambition in its place.Al Gore insists that the 'debate is over', while musician K.T. Tunstall, spokesperson for 'Global Cool', a campaign to get stars to minimize their carbon footprint, says 'so many people are getting involved that it is becoming really quite uncool not to be involved'. This book will say that it might not be cool, but it is imperative to argue against the moralizing of politics so that we can start to unpick the contemporary world of restrictive, sustainable practices.
Case Against a Democratic State
¥63.67
The history of the last two hundred years is a story of the immense and relentless growth of the State at the expense of other social institutions. We are now so familiar and accepting of the State's pre-eminence in all things, that few think to question it, and most suppose that democratic endorsement legitimizes it. The aim of this essay is to present a sustained and compelling argument against both presumptions. It contends that the gross imbalance of power in the modern State between ruler and ruled is sorely in need of justification, and that democracy simply masks this need with an illusion of popular sovereignty. Although this is an essay in cultural criticism whose argument should be fully accessible to the general reader, it is written from within the European tradition of political philosophy from Plato to Rawls. Gordon Graham is Regius Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Universities
¥63.67
Research assessment exercises, teaching quality assessment, line management, staff appraisal, student course evaluation, modularization, student fees - these are all names of innovations (and problems) - in modern British universities. How far do they reflect a more conscientious approach to the effective promotion of higher education, and how far do they constitute a significant departure from traditional academic concerns and values? Using some themes of Cardinal Newman's classic The Idea of a University as a springboard, this extended essay aims to address these questions.
Why Spirituality is Difficult for Westeners
¥63.67
Dr Hay is Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Aberdeen. A zoologist by profession, his research has been guided by the hypothesis that religious or spiritual awareness is biologically natural to the human species and has been selected for in the process of organic evolution because it has survival value. Although naturalistic, this hypothesis is not intended to be reductionist with regard to religion. Nevertheless it does imply that all people, including those who have no religious belief, have a spiritual life. His research has included a number of national and in-depth surveys of reports of religious or spiritual experience in the United Kingdom.
Mycroft Holmes and the Adventure of the Desert Wind
¥63.67
Sherlock Holmes is missing. Dr. Watson receives a cursed note, summoning him to the city of Milan. In his plight, he turns to the one person who can help him: Mycroft Holmes, secret agent and eternally concerned elder brother. Mycroft has to team up with Dr. Watson and fellow agent Victoria Trevor to follow Sherlock's trail and stand against the dark forces that threaten his life.
Politics and Neo-Darwinism
¥63.67
This collection of essays is eclectic, covering certain political, ethical, cultural, and philosophical topics. But running through all the material is the evolutionary-naturalistic perspective stated in the opening essay, which gives the book its title. Another emphatic feature is a focus on the Western cultural outlook, as the context in which the large number of topics is viewed. This focus is important as a way of re-affirming the distinctive character of Western intellectual and cultural history, at a time when that character is, arguably, not sufficiently recognised and appreciated. Authors referred to include Aristotle, Shakespeare, Voltaire, and Sartre.
Athenian Option
¥63.67
Before New Labour came to power and when even the prospect of reform of Britain's House of Lords was regarded with scepticism, Anthony Barnett and Peter Carty developed the idea of selecting part of a new upper house by lot: creating a jury or juries, that are representative of the population as a whole while being selected at random, to assess legislation. This new edition of the original proposal includes an account of the reception of the idea, their evidence before the Commission on the Lords established by Tony Blair, and a response to the great advances in citizen-based deliberation that have taken place since the mid-1990s. It concludes with a new appeal to adopt their approach as efforts to reform the Lords continue.
Independent
¥63.67
Martin Bell, Ken Livingstone and Richard Taylor (the doctor who became an MP to save his local hospital) are the best known of a growing band of British politicians making their mark outside the traditional party system. Some (like Livingstone) have emerged from within the old political system that let them down, others (Bell, Taylor) have come into politics from outside in response to a crisis of some kind, often in defence of a perceived threat to their local town or district.Richard Berry traces this development by case studies and interviews to test the theory that these are not isolated cases, but part of a permanent trend in British politics,a shift away from the party system in favour of independent non-aligned representatives of the people.
Unlearning
¥63.67
One view of education (appealing to the Latin root "e;educare"e; - "e;to train or mold"e;) aims to fill students' heads with knowledge and turn them into disciplined, normalized and potentially productive members of the workforce.An alternative (appealing to the Latin root "e;educere"e; - "e;to lead out or draw out"e;) wants to produce well-trained minds and create individuals capable of questioning, critical thinking, imagination, and self-reflective deliberation as engaged citizens.This book commends a third way, inspired by the Greek notion of "e;paideia"e;, which sees education as 'the process of educating person into their true form, the real and genuine human nature'.This education is not about learning a trade. It is a dynamic living thing in which the ability to UNlearn is essential for developing a good and capable citizen, trained for freedom, autonomy, and virtue.
Seeking Meaning and Making Sense
¥63.67
Collection of short essays that range across philosophy, politics, general culture, morality, science, religion and art, focusing on questions of meaning, value and understanding.

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