Inside Nature’s Giants
¥147.35
With a foreword by Richard Dawkins, and based on the BAFTA award-winning Channel 4 TV series, Inside Nature’s Giants gets under the skin of the largest animals on the planet. See them as you've never seen them before – from the inside out. Inside Nature’s Giants explores the anatomy of the largest animals on the planet to reveal how these amazing creatures really work. Rather than simply telling you how an animal behaves, the book features dissection, CGI and wildlife photography to show how millions of years of evolution have enabled animals to thrive across the world. This is natural history as you’ve never seen it before – from the inside out. Join the Inside Nature’s Giants team of scientists and anatomical experts, including, among others, veterinary scientist Mark Evans, enthusiastic, scalpel-wielding anatomist Joy Reidenberg, science presenter Simon Watt and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, as they unlock the secrets behind some of nature's most extraordinary beasts. Why doesn’t a giraffe keel over and faint, when its head is so far above its heart? Why are crocodiles hopeless at chewing, when they have the strongest bite of all animals, and why does a giant squid have three hearts and pass food through its brain? By rolling up their sleeves to delve into these animals the team discover the answers to these, and many other fascinating, questions, revealing how evolution by natural selection is responsible for the bizarre biology of elephants, sharks, giraffes, big cats, hippos, crocodiles, camels, whales, kangaroos, giant squids and more. Using an interactive approach, Inside Nature’s Giants offers an exciting, alternative take on natural history. By opening the single- and double-page gatefolds readers can go beneath the skins of the animals to experience for themselves how evolution has shaped the anatomy of some of nature’s most magnificent animals.
Redcoat: The British Soldier in the Age of Horse and Musket
¥80.25
Redcoat is the brilliant story of the common British soldier from 1700 to 1900, based on the letters and diaries of the men who served and the women who followed them. Delving into the history of the period – charting events including Wolfe's victory and death at Quebec, Wellington's Peninsular War, Waterloo, the retreat from Kabul and the Sikh wars – celebrated military historian Richard Holmes provides a comprehensive portrait of a fallible but extraordinarily successful fighting force.
The Cracking Code Book
¥53.56
How to make it, break it, hack it, crack it. The secret history of codes and code breaking. Simon Singh’s best-selling title The Code Book now re-issued for the young-adult market. The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography. Simon Singh brings life to an amazing story of puzzles, codes, languages and riddles – revealing the continual pursuit to disguise and uncover, and to work out the secret languages of others. Codes have influenced events throughout history, both in the stories of those who make them and those who break them. The betrayal of Mary Queen of Scots and the cracking of the enigma code that helped the Allies in World War II are major episodes in a continuing history of cryptography. In addition to stories of intrigue and warfare, Simon Singh also investigates other codes, the unravelling of genes and the rediscovery of ancient languages and most tantalisingly, the Beale ciphers, an unbroken code that could hold the key to a $20 million treasure.
The Siege of Leningrad:History in an Hour
¥18.05
Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour. The Siege of Leningrad was one of the longest sieges in history and it inflicted some of the worst civilian casualties of World War Two. When Hitler declared his intention to obliterate the key city of Leningrad on 22 September 1941, he could not have foreseen the grim determination of its citizens. Over the course of 900 days, the city resisted the Germans pounding at its gates. Its survival contributed to the defeat of Nazism. But the price was heavy – over 1 million died in Leningrad from German bombs and artillery, or from disease, the cold or starvation. In its suffering Leningrad became a source of symbolic national pride, of good conquering evil. The story of the siege is one of heroic resistance and stoical survival but it also one of unimaginable suffering and extreme deprivation. THE SIEGE OF LENINGRAD: HISTORY IN AN HOUR is essential reading for all history lovers. Know your stuff: read about the Siege of Leningrad in just one hour.
World War One:History in an Hour
¥18.05
Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour. The ‘Great War’, from July 1914 to November 1918, was without parallel. It brought to an end four dynasties, ignited revolution, and forged new nations. It introduced killing on an unprecedented scale, costing an estimated nine million lives. It was the war that destroyed any notion of romance or chivalry in battle; it pulled in combatants from nations across the globe and shattered them, body and mind. The War involved all of the world’s great powers – the Central Powers, dominated by Germany and Austria-Hungary; the Triple Entente, lead by Britain, France and Russia; and America. World War One: History in an Hour explains the unprecedented battles on land, sea and in the air and describes the Home Front, espionage, and the politics behind them. This, for the first time in history, was ‘total war’. Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour…
GI Brides:The wartime girls who crossed the Atlantic for love
¥42.67
The Sunday Times bestseller From the bestselling authors of The Sugar Girls, G.I. Brides weaves together the real-life stories of four women who crossed the ocean for love, providing a moving true tale of romance and resilience. The 'friendly invasion' of Britain by over a million American G.I.s caused a sensation amongst a generation of young women deprived of male company during the Second World War. With their exotic accents, smart uniforms and aura of Hollywood glamour, the G.I.s soon had the local girls queuing up for a date, and the British boys off fighting abroad turning green with envy. But American soldiers offered something even more tantalising than a ready supply of chocolate, chewing gum and nylon stockings. Becoming a G.I. bride provided an escape route from Blitz-ravaged Britain, an opportunity for a whole new life in America - a country that was more affluent, more modern and less class-ridden than home. Some 70,000 G.I. brides crossed the Atlantic at the end of the war to join the men who had captured their hearts - but the long voyage was just the beginning of a much bigger journey. Once there, the women would have to adapt to a foreign culture and a new way of life thousands of miles away from family and friends, with a man they hardly knew out of uniform. Some struggled with the isolation of life in rural America, or found their heroic soldier was less appealing once he returned to Civvy Street. But most persevered, determined to turn their wartime romance into a lifelong love affair, and prove to those back home that it really was possible to have a Hollywood ending. www.gibrides.com
Margaret’s Story (GI Brides Shorts, Book 2)
¥9.71
This is Margaret’s story, one of four true stories from the book GI Brides. “Margaret’s eyes were on the handsome officers who milled around the US Army headquarters. But it was one young second lieutenant that she particularly looked out for… And she secretly deteThe room was filled with GIs – some playing pool, some jostling for control of rmined to make him hers.” An attractive young English girl, Margaret finds herself working at the US Army headquarters in London, where she meets a dashing American officer who breaks her heart. Soon she falls pregnant by another GI, marries, and follows him to America’s deep south. What she finds out in Georgia about her husband's true character will shock her. Margaret’s story is extracted from GI Brides, written by the bestselling authors of The Sugar Girls. It tells the true stories of four of the 70,000 British women who crossed the Atlantic for love after the Second World War.
Yorkshire Dales (Collins New Naturalist Library, Book 130)
¥257.90
A definitive natural history of the Yorkshire Dales, covering the range of wildlife habitats, rich cultural heritage and ecological history of one of our best-loved National Parks. The Yorkshire Dales National Park is a special place: its outstanding scenery and the diversity of habitats is perhaps unrivalled in any other National Park in Britain. This rich biodiversity has been a great attraction to naturalists for over two centuries. But to fully appreciate the present-day plant and animal communities, their status and the constraints upon them, it is important to understand the geology and landscape history of the National Park, including the role that human populations have played in modifying the environment. In this long-anticipated New Naturalist volume, John Lee introduces the National Park, exploring both its geology and geomorphology, and describing the role of early naturalists and the Yorkshire Naturalists Union in recording and understanding the natural history of the Dales. He describes the major habitats or groups of habitats which underline the ecological importance of the Dales. Lee covers the earliest settlement times to the modern day, and he focuses in particular on the most iconic plant of the Dales, the Lady’s Slipper Orchid, arguably the rarest of native British plants, which until recently was thought to be confined to a single plant in the Dales. Lee takes a historical approach, describing its near eradication and early attempts to conserve it – including the establishment of a secret society – concluding with recent scientific conservation approaches.
The Frozen Water Trade (Text Only)
¥72.99
The story of the 19th-century ice trade, in which ice from the lakes of New England – valued for its incredible purity – revolutionised domestic life around the world. In the days before artificial refrigeration, it was thought impossible to transport ice for long distances. But one man, Frederic Tudor, was convinced it could be done. This is the story of how, almost single-handedly, and in the face of near-universal mockery, he established a vast industry that would introduce the benefits of fresh ice to large parts of the globe. Thanks to Tudor, the American fashion for drinks ‘on the rocks’ spread to tropical areas such as the West Indies and British India. By the 1830s fleets of schooners carried the frozen cargo, packed with sawdust and tarpaulins for insulation, to all corners of the world. The harvesting of the ice from New England’s lakes employed thousands of men. The frozen water trade had a profound influence on the tastes of a large part of the world, but with the development of artificial cooling systems in the first quarter of the 20th century, the huge industry established by Frederic Tudor vanished as if it had never been. Note that it has not been possible to include the same picture content that appeared in the original print version.
Bird Migration (Collins New Naturalist Library, Book 113)
¥206.30
The phenomenon of bird migration has fascinated people from time immemorial. The arrivals and departures of different species marked the seasons, heralding spring and autumn, and providing a reliable calendar long before anything better became available. Migration is shown by many kinds of animals, including butterflies and other insects, mammals, marine turtles and fish, but in none is it as extensively developed as in birds. The collective travel routes of birds span almost the entire globe, with some extreme return journeys covering more than 30,000 km. As a result of migration, bird distributions are continually changing – in regular seasonal patterns, and on local, regional or global scales. Migration has repeatedly prompted familiar questions, such as where birds go or come from, why do they do it, how do they know when and where to travel, and how do they find their way? In this book, Ian Newton sets out to answer these – and other – questions. The book is divided into four main sections: the first is introductory, describing the different types of bird movements, methods of study, and the main migration patterns seen around the British Isles; the second part is concerned mainly with the process of migration – with timing, energy needs, weather effects and navigation; the third with evolution and change in migratory behaviour; and the fourth with the geographical and ecological aspects of bird movements.
Sisters, Secrets and Sacrifice
¥57.09
Two sisters. Two special agents. One War. Sisters, Secrets and Sacrifice is the incredible true story of British special agents Eileen and Jacqueline Nearne, two sisters who risked everything to fight for our freedom during the Second World War. The death of an eccentric recluse is rarely an event to be given more than a few lines in a local newspaper. But when, in September 2010, police were called to a tiny, cluttered flat in Torquay and discovered the body of local ‘cat lady’ Eileen Nearne, they also found a small bundle of possessions that told an amazing story. For Eileen Nearne had been an agent for the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War, going undercover in Nazi-occupied France to send wireless messages of crucial importance to the Allies. Astonishingly, Eileen was not the only special agent in the family – her sister Jacqueline had also been an SOE. Rarely had two members of the same family sacrificed so much to such dangerous work. Sisters, Secrets and Sacrifice pays tribute to these fiercely patriotic women with hearts of courage, who fought for freedom at much personal cost. While Jacqueline narrowly avoided capture several times, tirelessly couriering secret documents for the resistance, Eileen was arrested and tortured by the Gestapo before being incarcerated at Ravensbrück concentration camp. She was only 23. This is a true story of triumph and tragedy, of two sisters who sacrificed themselves to defend our freedom, who stood shoulder to shoulder during the darkest of days.
Springwatch British Wildlife:Accompanies the BBC 2 TV series
¥147.35
Springwatch British Wildlife is the perfect year-round countryside introduction to the much-loved wildlife of the popular BBC2 television series. The book guides you through Britain's rich and diverse natural heritage, allowing you to enjoy the nation's wildlife at its finest – learning how the animals live and where to find them, why they do what they do and how we can appreciate them. You will be introduced to the birds, mammals and plants that inhabit our gardens, cities and countryside, with detailed species de*ions and beautiful photographs allowing you to understand their appearance, behaviour and habitats. Discover the best-kept secrets about garden birds, fascinating fungi facts and what leaves and seeds tell us about our thriving plant life. Join the Springwatch team as they help you to explore the natural world and unlock the mysteries to British wildlife.
Broke:Who Killed the Middle Classes?
¥66.22
If you thought being middle-class meant your own home, something set aside for the kids and a comfortable retirement – think again. For the first time ever, today’s middle classes will struggle to enjoy the same privileges of security and comfort that their grandparents did. How did this situation come about? What can be done about it? In this beautifully shaped inquiry, David Boyle questions why the middle classes are diminishing and how their status, independence and values are being eroded. From Thatcher’s boost of the mortgage market to Blair and Brown’s posturing over public services, ‘Broke’ examines the key moments in recent history that created ‘the squeezed middle’. Can the middle classes be revived? Should they be? Although they were not innocent in their downfall, Boyle argues that a newly galvanised middle class could be the key to future economic stability. The middle class may be broke, but it is not beyond repair.
Birds of South America:Passerines (Collins Field Guide)
¥294.79
Recommended for viewing on a colour tablet. South America has long been known for its bountiful flora and fauna. The richness in bird life has attracted visitors from all over the world and has helped to make South America an increasingly popular wildlife tourist spot. This major new field guide to the birds of South America covers all the passerines (perching birds), with all plumages for each species illustrated, including males, females and juveniles. The text gives information on key identification features, habitat, and songs and calls. Beautiful artwork featured across 195 colour plates appears opposite the relevant text for quick and easy reference. Distribution maps are included, showing where each species can be found and how common it is, to further aid identification.
The Steel Bonnets
¥114.48
From the author of the famous ‘Flashman Papers’ and the ‘Private McAuslan’ stories.
The Sugar Girls - Joan’s Story
¥18.74
This is Joan’s story, one of four stories from The Sugar Girls.During the Blitz and the years of rationing, the Sugar Girls kept Britain sweet. The work was back-breakingly hard, but the Tate & Lyle factory was more than just a workplace - it was a community, a calling, a place of love and support and an uproarious, tribal part of East London. ‘Joan had joined Tate & Lyle expressly for the social life, and she was determined to make the most of it. She could see that her old friend Peggy already had an established group of her own among the sugar girls, so she set about building a new set of friends. It wasn’t difficult for Joan, whose cheerful self-confidence, natural chattiness and naughty sense of humour acted as a magnet to those around her.’ In the years leading up to and after the Second World War thousands of women left school at fourteen to work in the bustling factories of London’s East End. Despite long hours, hard and often hazardous work, factory life afforded exciting opportunities for independence, friendship and romance. Of all the factories that lined the docks, it was at Tate & Lyle’s where you could earn the most generous wages and enjoy the best social life, and it was here where The Sugar Girls worked This is an evocative, moving story of hunger, hardship and happiness, providing a moving insight into a lost way of life, as well as a timeless testament to the experience of being young and female. Includes Joan’s own personal photographs of life as a sugar girl.
A Book of Voyages
¥69.26
Never previously published in this country, A Book of Voyages presents writings by various travelers, annotated and introduced by Patrick O Brian. Most are taken from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; O Brian felt that, unlike Elizabethan or Victorian accounts, these writings were relatively unknown in our time. On her journey through the Crimea, Lady Craven witnesses barbaric entertainments in the court of the Tartar Khan. John Bell tells us of his day s hunting with the Manchu emperor in 1721 outside Peking. An English woman in Madras gives us a detailed de*ion of the extraordinary costume and body decoration of a high-born Indian woman, wife of a nabob. These and other selections are glimpses of a world, now gone forever, that few readers would ever see for themselves. They are also quite possibly the inspiration for the travels and adventures of O Brian s own fictional heroes Captain Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin."
Shaky Game
¥265.87
In this new edition, Arthur Fine looks at Einstein's philosophy of science and develops his own views on realism. A new Afterword discusses the reaction to Fine's own theory."e;What really led Einstein . . . to renounce the new quantum orderFor those interested in this question, this book is compulsory reading."e;-Harvey R. Brown, American Journal of Physics"e;Fine has successfully combined a historical account of Einstein's philosophical views on quantum mechanics and a discussion of some of the philosophical problems associated with the interpretation of quantum theory with a discussion of some of the contemporary questions concerning realism and antirealism. . . . Clear, thoughtful, [and] well-written."e;-Allan Franklin, Annals of Science"e;Attempts, from Einstein's published works and unpublished correspondence, to piece together a coherent picture of 'Einstein realism.' Especially illuminating are the letters between Einstein and fellow realist Schrdinger, as the latter was composing his famous 'Schrdinger-Cat' paper."e;-Nick Herbert, New Scientist"e;Beautifully clear. . . . Fine's analysis is penetrating, his own results original and important. . . . The book is a splendid combination of new ways to think about quantum mechanics, about realism, and about Einstein's views of both."e;-Nancy Cartwright, Isis
Rereading the Fossil Record
¥288.41
Rereading the Fossil Record presents the first-ever historical account of the origin, rise, and importance of paleobiology, from the mid-nineteenth century to the late 1980s.?Drawing on a wealth of archival material, David Sepkoski shows how the movement was conceived and promoted by a small but influential group of paleontologists and examines the intellectual, disciplinary, and political dynamics involved in the ascendency of paleobiology. By tracing the role of computer technology, large databases, and quantitative analytical methods in the emergence of paleobiology, this book also offers insight into the growing prominence and centrality of data-driven approaches in recent science.
Visible Empire
¥529.74
Between 1777 and 1816, botanical expeditions crisscrossed the vast Spanish empire in an ambitious project to survey the flora of much of the Americas, the Caribbean, and the Philippines. While these voyages produced written texts and compiled collections of specimens, they dedicated an overwhelming proportion of their resources and energy to the creation of visual materials. European and American naturalists and artists collaborated to manufacture a staggering total of more than 12,000 botanical illustrations. Yet these images have remained largely overlooked-until now.In this lavishly illustrated volume, Daniela Bleichmar gives this archive its due, finding in these botanical images a window into the worlds of Enlightenment science, visual culture, and empire. Through innovative interdisciplinary scholarship that bridges the histories of science, visual culture, and the Hispanic world, Bleichmar uses these images to trace two related histories: the little-known history of scientific expeditions in the Hispanic Enlightenment and the history of visual evidence in both science and administration in the early modern Spanish empire. As Bleichmar shows, in the Spanish empire visual epistemology operated not only in scientific contexts but also as part of an imperial apparatus that had a long-established tradition of deploying visual evidence for administrative purposes.
Studies on the Abuse and Decline of Reason
¥529.74
Studies on the Abuse and Decline of Reason is a series of fascinating essays on the study of social phenomena. How to best and most accurately study social interactions has long been debated intensely, and there are two main approaches: the positivists, who ignore intent and belief and draw on methods based in the sciences; and the nonpositivists, who argue that opinions and ideas drive action and are central to understanding social behavior. F. A. Hayek's opposition to the positivists and their claims to scientific rigor and certainty in the study of human behavior is a running theme of this important book.Hayek argues that the vast number of elements whose interactions create social structures and institutions make it unlikely that social science can predict precise outcomes. Instead, he contends, we should strive to simply understand the principles by which phenomena are produced. For Hayek this modesty of aspirations went hand in hand with his concern over widespread enthusiasm for economic planning. As a result, these essays are relevant to ongoing debates within the social sciences and to discussion about the role government can and should play in the economy.