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Extreme Insects
￥120.47
Insects are the most extreme organisms on Earth and, despite their diminutive size, they wield inordinate power. With the exception of the polar icecaps, every terrestrial ecosystem on earth is colonized by them, and they account for almost three-quarters of all named animals – that's one million species at the last count! This book is a celebration of the insect universe, exploring their amazing forms and functions, their fascinating behaviour and the enormous impact they have on our lives. With its lively and informative text, it looks at insects in all their extremes, from the biggest, fastest and fiercest to the best nest builder, most devious hunter and deadliest bride. Insects are extreme in numbers – a single leaf-cutter ant nest, the size of a large camper van, may contain seven million individuals working together as a single giant super-organism. Insects are extreme in their bizarre forms – the stalk-eyed fly, as its name suggests, carries its eyes on the end of two ludicrously long stalks. And insects are invariably extreme in behaviour – take for instance the giraffe-necked weevil that holds head-bobbing contests to win a mate. Yet there is always method in their apparent madness, as each strange form and function is an adaptation designed to solve the extreme pressures that arise through the struggle to survive in a world that is always dangerous, competitive and unforgiving.
Terns (Collins New Naturalist Library, Book 123)
￥257.90
This New Naturalist volume provides a much-anticipated overview of these fascinating birds – the first book on the natural history of British and Irish terns since 1934. Terns are small seabirds that are commonly seen along coastlines and estuaries in the summer months – their graceful flight and command of the air are among their most attractive features. Most of the five species of terns breeding in Britain and Ireland today are under intensive management, involving protection from predators, human interference, egg-collecting, recreational activities, land-use changes, and a range of issues concerning climate change, including rising sea levels and flooding of low-lying colonies. If these protective measures were abandoned then the numbers of terns would inevitably decline, with the possibility of several species ending up on the endangered list. Covering the history of terns in Britain and Ireland, David Cabot and Ian Nisbet explore these diverse issues as well as offering a comprehensive natural history of these stunning seabirds. Drawing on a wealth of new information and research, the authors focus on migrations, food and feeding ecology as well as breeding biology and behaviour. Perhaps most importantly, they highlight recent conservation issues and prospects, and what this means for the future of terns.
Dino Gangs: Dr Philip J Currie’s New Science of Dinosaurs
￥114.48
With his groundbreaking findings and extensive research, palaeontologist and dino hunter Dr Phil Currie challenges the very foundations of traditional dinosaur theories. Seventy million years ago the Mongolian desert was home to the world's biggest, most dangerous carnivores – 5 meters tall, 12 meters long and weighing over 4 tonnes, the Tyrannosaurs were the most formidable hunters to walk the earth. Now, new research emerges that threatens to challenge the foundation of many traditional theories on the biology of these fascinating creatures. Palaeontologist and dino hunter Dr Phil Currie is out to prove how dinosaurs actually lived. He and his team have been searching for the fossilised truth about dinosaurs in the most extreme conditions; searing 40 degree heat, intense sandstorms and the constant threat of illegal poachers. Currie's groundbreaking investigation takes him from Mongolia to Canada and Patagonia in search of new evidence. He is looking for one dinosaur in particular, the ‘Tarbosaurus bataar’ which he believes will lead him to prove that the world's first pack hunters existed millions of years ago, but he also stumbles upon the many new truths behind these mythical animals. ‘Dino Gangs’ contains their exclusive, groundbreaking scientific research that has finally resolved the extraordinary biology of these awe-inspiring creatures.
Collecting the New Naturalists (Collins New Naturalist Library)
￥442.14
Recommended for viewing on a colour tablet. The Collins New Naturalist series is the longest-running and arguably the most influential natural history series in the world with over 120 volumes published in nearly 70 years. Being a numbered series, with a very low print run for some volumes, New Naturalist publications have been and continue to be highly collectable. Second-hand copies of the rarer volumes, in very good condition, can command high prices. As such, there is considerable interest in a detailed bibliography and history of the series. Collecting the New Naturalists offers a detailed insight into the fascinating phenomenon that has gripped Britain since just after World War II and which reflects the country’s continued enthusiasm for wildlife and nature publishing generally. With previously unpublished in-depth insight into the workings of the series and its collectors, the book will comprehensively cover every aspect of the New Naturalists, from rare editions produced for Bloomsbury and the Reader’s Union to foreign editions, interviews with the iconic cover artists and well-known naturalists such as Nick Baker and Alan Titchmarsh telling the story of their own fascination with the series.
My Prison, My Home
￥85.65
Robbed in Iran and imprisoned for over 100 days for suspected espionage, this is the true story of one woman's shocking ordeal in the country she called home. The morning of 30 December 2006 began routinely for Haleh Esfandiari. The Iranian-American academic was due to return home to the United States after visiting her ailing mother in Tehran. She got into a taxi to the airport, and was driven by the driver who she always used when in Iran. Fifteen minutes later, Haleh was robbed at knife point by three men, who threatened to kill her. Her baggage, two passports and identification cards were all stolen. Without her documentation, Haleh was unable to leave Iran. What appeared to be an ordinary theft was almost certainly a stage-managed robbery by agents of Iran's Intelligence Ministry, conducted to keep Haleh in the country. This was the beginning of her eight-month Iranian saga - starting with endless hours of interrogation, intimidation and threat, and ending with her release from prison after over 100 days in solitary confinement. Revealing, gripping and, at times, alarming, Haleh Esfandiari's ordeal acts as a microcosm of Iran's difficulties in dealing with the outside world and the modernity that the country only half-embraces.
Harmony: A New Way of Looking at Our World
￥173.05
A practical guide to what we have lost in the modern world, why we have lost it and how easily it is to rediscover. Harmony is a blueprint for a more balanced, sustainable world that the human race must create to survive. For more than 30 years His Royal Highness Prince Charles The Prince of Wales has been at the forefront of a growing ecological movement. Originally treated with scepticism, many of his ideas are now widely accepted and gaining increasing impact and influence. His work has sought to meet a huge range of modern challenges, from urbanisation to deforestation. In every case, however, the philosophy that is the foundation of his work has always been the same, but has always been unspoken, until now. For the first time, Prince Charles, with the help of his two leading advisors, has brought together his vast knowledge and experience to set out this philosophy - a philosophy that is as robust as it is practical. In Harmony, Prince Charles looks at different aspects of our modern world to demonstrate how many of the challenges seen in areas as diverse as architecture, farming and medicine can be traced to how we have abandoned a classical sense of balance and proportion. From the rice farms of India to America's corn belt, Harmony spans the globe, dissecting the specific practices of modern life that have put us at odds with the world and showing how this imbalance manifests itself throughout our lives. Harmony shows how the imbalance that has emerged is at heart of a crisis which now threatens our very civilisation. It tells the story of how our disconnection from Nature has contributed to the greatest crisis in the history of mankind and how seeking balance in our actions will return us to a more considered, secure, comfortable and cleaner world. Drawing on his own practical experience, Prince Charles charts how changes to how we look at the world could lead us toward a better future. He describes how knowledge and perspectives now largely lost could help us meet very modern challenges, including in the built environment, engineering, medicine and farming.
Britain AD: A Quest for Arthur, England and the Anglo-Saxons
￥73.58
Leading archaeologist Francis Pryor retells the story of King Arthur, legendary king of the Britons, tracing it back to its Bronze Age origins. The legend of King Arthur and Camelot is one of the most enduring in Britain's history, spanning centuries and surviving invasions by Angles, Vikings and Normans. In his latest book Francis Pryor – one of Britain’s most celebrated archaeologists and author of the acclaimed ‘Britain B.C.’ and ‘Seahenge’ – traces the story of Arthur back to its ancient origins. Putting forth the compelling idea that most of the key elements of the Arthurian legends are deeply rooted in Bronze and Iron Ages (the sword Excalibur, the Lady of the Lake, the Sword in the Stone and so on), Pryor argues that the legends' survival mirrors a flourishing, indigenous culture that endured through the Roman occupation of Britain, and the subsequent invasions of the so-called Dark Ages. As in ‘Britain B.C.’, Pryor roots his story in the very landscape, from Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh, to South Cadbury Castle in Somerset and Tintagel in Cornwall. He traces the story back to the 5th-century King Arthur and beyond, all the time testing his ideas with archaeological evidence, and showing how the story was manipulated through the ages for various historical and literary purposes, by Geoffrey of Monmouth and Malory, among others. Delving into history, literary sources – ancient, medieval and romantic – and archaeological research, Francis Pryor creates an original, lively and illuminating account of this most British of legends.
Waterloo: Napoleon's Last Gamble
￥73.58
Part of the ‘Making History Series’ – ‘Waterloo’ is an exciting retelling of one of the moments that shook the world – Waterloo, one of the truly decisive battles of history. The illustrious ‘Making History Series’, edited by Lisa Jardine and Amanda Foreman, explores an eclectic mix of history's tipping points. In ‘Waterloo’, Roberts provides not only a fizzing account of one of the most significant forty-eight hour periods of all time, but also a startling interrogation into the methodology of history – is it possible to create an accurate picture from a single standpoint? What we can say for certain about the battle is that it ended forever one of the great personal epics. The career of Napoleon was brought to a shuddering halt on the evening of 18 June 1815. Interwoven in the clear-cut narrative are exciting revelations brought to light by recent research: accident rather than design led to the crucial cavalry debacle that lost the battle. Amongst the all-too-human explanation for the blunder that cost Napoleon his throne, Roberts sets the political, strategic and historical scene, and finally shows why Waterloo was such an important historical punctuation mark. The generation after Waterloo saw the birth of the modern era: ghastly as the carnage here was, henceforth the wars of the future were fought with infinitely more ghastly methods of trenches, machine-guns, directed starvation, concentration camps, and aerial bombardment. By the time of the Great War, chivalry was utterly dead. The honour of bright uniform and tangible spirit of élan met their final dance at Waterloo.
The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror
￥95.75
Shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize and winner of the Royal Society Prize for Science Books, Richard Holmes’s dazzling portrait of the age of great scientific discovery is a groundbreaking achievement. The book opens with Joseph Banks, botanist on Captain Cook’s first Endeavour voyage, who stepped onto a Tahitian beach in 1769 fully expecting to have located Paradise. Back in Britain, the same Romantic revolution that had inspired Banks was spurring other great thinkers on to their own voyages of artistic and scientific discovery – astronomical, chemical, poetical, philosophical – that together made up the ‘age of wonder’. In this breathtaking group biography, Richard Holmes tells the stories of the period’s celebrated innovators and their great scientific discoveries: from telescopic sight to the miner’s lamp, and from the first balloon flight to African exploration.
The Lighthouse Stevensons (Stranger Than…)
￥46.11
Bella Bathurst’s epic story of Robert Louis Stevenson’s ancestors and the building of the Scottish coastal lighthouses against impossible odds. ‘Whenever I smell salt water, I know that I am not far from one of the works of my ancestors,’ wrote Robert Louis Stevenson in 1880. ‘When the lights come out at sundown along the shores of Scotland, I am proud to think they burn more brightly for the genius of my father!’ Robert Louis Stevenson was the most famous of the Stevensons, but not by any means the most productive. The Lighthouse Stevensons, all four generations of them, built every lighthouse round Scotland, were responsible for a slew of inventions in both construction and optics, and achieved feats of engineering in conditions that would be forbidding even today. The same driven energy which Robert Louis Stevenson put into writing, his ancestors put into lighting the darkness of the seas. ‘The Lighthouse Stevensons’ is a story of high endeavour, beautifully told; indeed, is was one of the most celebrated works of historical biography in recent memory. ‘My own interest in the Lighthouse Stevensons is threefold. Firstly, from the writings of Robert Louis Stevenson, who turned his family’s trade into the raw gold of all his best fiction. Secondly, from various trips around Scotland. The country’s coast is a mass of storm-beaten rocks and treacherous headlands on which even the seagulls have trouble landing. It is impossible not to speculate what combination of courage and skill built the lighthouses around such an environment. And thirdly, because somewhere in there, unrecognised and unsung, is the most wonderful story!’
Ten Fighter Boys
￥66.22
The extraordinary stories of ten fighter pilots, told in their very own words during the Second World War. First published by Collins in 1942, this utterly compelling collection of first-hand accounts of ten fighter pilots’ experiences at the helm of the Spitfires of 66 Squadron paints one of the most realistic depictions of the battle for the skies over wartime Europe. Offering incredible personal insights into the wartime experience – both in the air and on the ground – the stories are told with unaffected zest, by men who were living in the constant presence of death. Five of the original contributors were killed before the book was originally printed, including the books editors, Wing Commander Athol Forbes and Squadron Leader Hubert Allen. Jimmy Corbin, the last surviving contributor and author of the foreword, passed away in December 2012. Written right in the middle of the war, in the pilots’ own words, Ten Fighter Pilots is a truly original and unique account of a terrifying time.
More Than Just a Game: Football v Apartheid
￥58.86
The most important football story ever told. `It is amazing to think that a game that people take for granted all around the world, was the very same game that gave a group of prisoners sanity – and in a way, gave us the resolve to carry on the struggle'. Anthony Suze, Robben Island Prisoner. This is the astonishing story of a unique group of political prisoners and freedom fighters who found a sense of dignity in one of the ugliest hellholes on Earth: South Africa’s infamous Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was famously incarderated. Despite all odds and regular torture, beatings and daily backbreaking hard labour, these extraordinary men turned soccer into an active force in the struggle for freedom. For nearly 20 years, these prisoners found the energy, spirit and resolve to organise a 1400 prisoner-strong, eight club football league which was played with strict adherance to FIFA rules. The prisoners themselves represented a broad array of political beliefs and backgrounds, yet football became an impassioned and unified symbol of resistance against apartheid. They refused to let their own political differences sway their devotion to the sport, which allowed them to organise and maintain leadership right under the noses of their captors. This league not only provided sanctuary and respite from the prisoners’ cruel surroundings, it kept their minds active and many credit it with keeping them alive. More Than Just a Game chronicles their story, the politics of the time, the extraordinary characters, their heroism and the thrilling matches themselves.
The Number Mysteries: A Mathematical Odyssey through Everyday Life
￥66.22
From the author of The Music of the Primes and Finding Moonshine comes a short, lively book on five mathematical problems that just refuse be solved – and on how many everyday problems can be solved by maths. Every time we download a song from i-tunes, take a flight across the Atlantic or talk on our mobile phones, we are relying on great mathematical inventions. Maths may fail to provide answers to various of its own problems, but it can provide answers to problems that don't seem to be its own – how prime numbers are the key to Real Madrid's success, to secrets on the Internet and to the survival of insects in the forests of North America. In The Num8er My5teries, Marcus du Sautoy explains how to fake a Jackson Pollock; how to work out whether or not the universe has a hole in the middle of it; how to make the world's roundest football. He shows us how to see shapes in four dimensions – and how maths makes you a better gambler. He tells us about the quest to predict the future – from the flight of asteroids to an impending storm, from bending a ball like Beckham to predicting population growth. It's a book to dip in to; a book to challenge and puzzle – and a book that gives us answers.
Heroes: The Greatest Generation and the Second World War
￥82.01
‘Heroes’ is the story of an extraordinary generation of young men, mostly British, who came of age in the Second World War. These young men – and women – found themselves facing life-threatening danger and the kind of responsibility few would be prepared to shoulder today. Whether fighting in the jungles of Burma or on the D-Day beaches, as submariners, pilots, spies or prisoners of war, young soldiers in WWII displayed astonishing courage and resilience, united by honour and bound by the fellowship of their comrades. Those who made it home are now a passing generation, and for many this is the last chance for them to tell their stories – men like football legend Tom Finney, who saw action in southern Italy; or James Bond set-designer Ken Adam, a German Jew who flew as a fighter pilot for the RAF; or identical twins Tom and Dee Bowles, who landed together on Easy Red beach on D-Day. Many of these young men never returned home and those who did faced insurmountable challenges assimiliating back into civilian life. ‘Heroes’ is a moving and uplifting tribute to an remarkable generation.
The Trial: A History from Socrates to O. J. Simpson
￥94.67
In an extraordinary history of the criminal trial, Sadakat Kadri shows with wit, legal insight and a travel writer’s eye for detail, how the irrationality of the past lives on in the legal systems of the present. A bold and brilliant debut from a prize-winning writer. ‘The Trial’ spans a vast distance in time, opening in the dread silence of the Egyptian Hall of the Dead and ending with the melodramas and hubbub of the 21st-century trial circus. Reconciliation and vengeance, secrecy and spectacle, superstition and reason all intertwine continually. The book crosses from the marbled courtrooms of Athens through the ordeal pits of Anglo-Saxon England, past the torture chambers of the Inquisition to the judicial theatres of 17th-century Salem, and from 1930s Moscow and post-war Nuremberg to the virtual courtrooms of modern Hollywood. Kadri shows throughout how the trial has always been concerned with doing more than guaranteeing fairness and holding human beings to account for their deliberate crimes. He recounts how insentient and irrational defendants from caterpillars to corpses were once summonsed to court, before being exiled for their failure to attend or sentenced to die again – and argues that the same urge to punish lives on in today's trials of children and the mentally ill. But although Justice’s sword has always been double-edged – as ready to destroy a community’s enemies as to defend its dreams of due process – the judicial contest also operates to enshrine some of the western world’s most cherished values. The show trials of Stalin's Soviet Union were shams, but Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib are a reminder that a lack of a trial is equally unjust, and at a time when our constitutional landscape seems to be melting away, an appreciation of the criminal courtroom’s history is more necessary than ever. As the Labour government launches an almost annual attempt to truncate trial by jury, and as authorities on both sides of the Atlantic are indefinitely detaining people in the name of an endless war on terror, ‘The Trial’ could hardly be more timely. Note that it has not been possible to include the same picture content that appeared in the original print version.
Beyond the Call of Duty: Heart-warming stories of canine devotion and bravery
￥63.77
A second collection of incredible and heart-warming canine stories from around the world, from the bestselling author of The Dog That Saved My Life. Animals have accompanied man into battle since war first waged. Since those times, many stories have been told of the bears, camels, cats, dolphins, monkeys, mules, rats and other creatures that have served with the Armed Forces during both world wars and beyond. The four stories in this book represent the devotion and unquestioning loyalty of the canine companion in the darkest days of war. From the stub-tailed Bull Terrier that became a hero of the First World War, and the most decorated dog in history, after his bravery in the trenches of Flanders, to the remarkable loyalty of an Iraqi stray dog who attached himself to British troops in North Port and then patrolled their camp every night, protecting them from being attacked by the vicious packs of dogs living in the desert, each is an incredible tale of wartime bravery as well as an example of inspiring commitment and courage.
Carbon Counter (Collins Gem)
￥36.79
What effect are you having on the environment? If you buy Kenyan green beans what is the CO2 cost? What about your journey to work, your fridge or your clothes? The Gem Carbon Counter is your portable instant green reckoner. This handy little book includes: ? Introduction by Mark Lynas author of Hide Tide: News from a Warming World ? Welcome to the Greenhouse: Explains what the Greenhouse effect actually is, all the issues surrounding global warming and your carbon footprint? ? Your Carbon Footprint: Measure your own carbon footprint covering all aspects of your life from your food shopping to your work, holidays and clothes. Starting with your home gas and electricity supplies and usage, the handy green reckoner takes you through each part of your life and helps you add up the impact you are making on the environment. So, in turn, it allows you to identify the key parts of your life which you’ll need to adapt to reduce your carbon footprint: from which coffee you drink to how often you go on holiday. ? Sustainability: How do you measure up in comparison to the average person’s carbon footprint? What can you do to generate your own energy and therefore reduce your footprint and what sort of targets can you set yourself? ? Helpful Appendices: Includes information on carbon emissions for journeys by car, train and plane. A list of corporate companies, their emissions and what they are doing to reduce their carbon footprint so that as a consumer, you can make decisions on who you support. A helpful carbon diary where you can record your carbon footprint for the year. Useful websites where you can read more about green issues.
Dusty Warriors: Modern Soldiers at War (Text Only)
￥72.30
Foremost military historian Richard Holmes offers us a compelling and at times terrifying account of what it means to be a contemporary soldier. In this remarkable book, Holmes draws on the testimonies and personal photographs of the 700 soldiers of the Princess of Wales Royal Regiment in Iraq to vividly capture their day-to-day experiences of the conflict, from camp kitchens to the heart of an armoured convey barrelling out across the desert. As colonel-in-chief of the Princess of Wales Royal Regiment himself from 1999 until 2007, Holmes combines acute observation with heartfelt experience to produce a gripping and deeply moving vision of his regiment at war.
Men of War: The Changing Face of Heroism in the 19th Century Navy (Text Only)
￥221.12
Through the lives of three outstanding naval officers – each considered the most brilliant commander of his generation – David Crane offers a unique portrait of the Royal Navy at a time when it held unchallenged dominion over the world's oceans. Although all three died young, their careers covered virtually every war of significance in which the navy was involved during the nineteenth century. They fought against French and Americans, Russians, Turks, Egyptians, Indians and Chinese, in fleet engagements and naval bombardments, on the walls of Canton and the banks of the Mississippi, against Malay pirates and sepoy mutineers. As an eleven-year-old volunteer, Frank Hastings saw action at Trafalgar, and he went on to be revered as a hero of the Greek War of Independence. Yet, as the architect and captain of the first successful steam warship and the champion of gunnery and total war, he unwittingly prepared the way for much that would be bloodiest in the century ahead. Nobody who saw him in the trenches of the Crimea would ever forget William Peel's air of inviolable self-mastery under fire, and it was the same in India, where he could ride through a landscape of decomposing corpses as if it were some mythological world conjured up to try his knightly resolve. What was it that enabled a man of his intelligence, temperament, piety and background to fight with such brilliance in defence of an Ottoman Empire that was repugnant to every tenet he held most strongly? If James Goodenough chased Glory as assiduously as Hastings and Peel had done, it was the Glory of the next world, and not this. Throughout his career he strove to reconcile the demands of his faith and his profession, but when he finally met his martyrdom at the hands of the 'savages' of the Pacific islands, a shocked nation was left to face up to the inconsistencies, hypocrisies and self-deceptions on which floated its vision of divine election. Combining thrilling scenes of battle with acute psychological insight, Men of War provides a remarkable picture of the nature of courage, command and warfare. Note that it has not been possible to include the same picture content that appeared in the original print version.
William Shakespeare: History in an Hour
￥18.05
Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour. In a writing career that spanned over twenty years during the explosion of poetic and theatrical creativity of late Elizabethan and early Jacobean periods, William Shakespeare produced a body of work that has become the bedrock of human thought, literature and language in English. His poetry and plays have endured for almost 450 years, such is their universal appeal and understanding of the human condition. And yet Shakespeare wrote almost nothing of himself. Who was this socially ambitious wordsmith who had neither pedigree nor university education? What was his family life like? How did he work? Shakespeare: History in an Hour is the essential guide to the life of Shakespeare, his relationships, colleagues and his breathtaking works. From the Elizabethan world to which he was born, to the theorists and critics that continue to debate him to this day, this is the story of the most revered writer of all time. Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour…
Martyrs and Mystics
￥115.56
A guided tour of Britain’s spiritual heritage Did Joseph of Arimathea really bring the holy grail to Glastonbury? Why do many conspicracy theorists believe architects such as Wren and Hawksmoore secretly built London according to principles from the Old Testament? What were the true reasons for the executions of martyrs such as Ridley, Wycliffe and Cranmer? All these intriguing questions, and many more, are answered in Ed Glinert’s unusual and fascinating new book. Glinert travels round Britain unearthing the most interesting spiritual characters and stories from over 2,000 years of British history. From martyrs to mystics, millenialists to malingerers, and ‘messiahs’ magicians magicians, Britain’s turbulent religious history has thrown up a wealth of intriguing characters. Ed Glinert tells their stories in readable, bitesized chunks.
