We not only live in the air, we live because of it. At ground level air transforms miraculously; it wraps our planet in a blanket of warmth, while the outer layer of our atmosphere soaks up violent flares from the sun. In this fascinating celebration of the Earth`s fragile atmosphere, Gabrielle Walker traces a journey of groundbreaking scientific discovery from the first experiments in the Renaissance to recent findings in space. ...

Permanently crippled in a fall from a horse, Liz Fordred refused to accept the limitations assumed for her in the Rhodesia of the late 1970's. She met & eventually married an equally (if more quietly) determined accident survivor named Pete Fordred, & together they hatched an audacious plan: to build a boat & sail around the world. That they lived more than 1, 000 miles from the ocean & had never sailed before would not stop them. Neither would their lack of money or the fact that basic boat gear was impossible to obtain in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Fabricating metal parts, learning carpentry, & resolutely tackling one seemingly insoluble problem after another, they built their boat in three years, trucked it to the South African coast, rigged it, learned to sail, & ultimately sailed the boat to America. In building the boat, Liz & Pete built their marriage & rebuilt their lives. Fordred's tone is forthright, good-humored, warm, & engaging. The reader can't help but like her. She would be a delightful shipmate. Her matter-of-fact descriptions of their challenges on shore & at sea reveal seemingly inexhaustible reservoirs of fortitude & optimism. All sailors dread those trips to the foredeck to change headsails in a storm, but they'll gain a new perspective on it through the eyes of a paraplegic. Thirty-six hours on deck battling high wind & seas is a hardship under any circumstances, but how much more so unable to st&, with nonfunctional stomach & back muscles, with your legs in spasm, with no way to get down to the cabin to cook or go to the bathroom? With no electronic navigation equipment aboard, they depended on Liz's celestial navigation. Imagine taking a sun sight with a sextant & no leg support on a rolling deck. This inspiring tale of triumph against long odds, now available for the first time in paperback, features a new endorsement from Christopher Reeve. ...

Escape to the sunlight & colour of a wild island in the south Aegean. When Jennifer moves alone into the Honey Factory on a tiny Greek isl&, bringing a laptop, her hiking boots & plans for a peaceful life, she has no idea what surprises are in store. Diving into an exciting new life with a fisherman, she learns something every day. Joining the dancing at local festivals & helping at a cafe on the beach, surviving winter storms & finding a canine companion, she is faced with both challenges & rewards, & discovers that to become an island woman she must live small & think big. ...

January 1895. On a freezing morning in the heart of Paris, an army officer, Georges Picquart, witnesses a convicted spy, Captain Alfred Dreyfus, being publicly humiliated in front of twenty thousand spectators baying ` Death to the Jew!` The officer is rewarded with promotion: Picquart is made the French army`s youngest colonel & put in command of `the Statistical Section`
- the shadowy intelligence unit that tracked down Dreyfus. The spy, meanwhile, is given a punishment of medieval cruelty: Dreyfus is shipped off to a lifetime of solitary confinement on Devil`s Island
- unable to speak to anyone, not even his guards, his case seems closed forever. But gradually Picquart comes to believe there is something rotten at the heart of the Statistical Section. When he discovers another German spy operating on French soil, his superiors are oddly reluctant to pursue it. Despite official warnings, Picquart persists, & soon the officer & the spy are in the same predicament. Narrated by Picquart, An Officer & a Spy is a compelling recreation of a scandal that became the most famous miscarriage of justice in history. Compelling, too, are the echoes for our modern world: an intelligence agency gone rogue, justice corrupted in the name of national security, a newspaper witch-hunt of a persecuted minority, & the age-old instinct of those in power to cover-up their crimes.

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Storytelling kept alive the myths, legends & history of the Blasket Islands. In her old age, Peig Sayers, recounted her life to her son who recorded the tale in this book. She recalls the events of her life & her simple philosophy in a moving poetic style. Such everyday tasks as collecting turf for roots, catching & eating seals, & preparing for a wake are depicted alongside such momentous events as drownings at sea, pilgrimages, & the spread of the news of the Easter uprising in 1916. There were `clouds of sorrow`, but helping to lift them was the friendship she found in the community, which `was like a little rose in the wilderness`. The Blasket Islands are three miles off Irelands Dingle Peninsula. Until their evacuation just after the Second World War, the lives of the 150 or so Blasket Islanders had remained unchanged for centuries. A rich oral tradition of story-telling, poetry, & folktales kept alive the legends & history of the islands, & has made their literature famous throughout the world. The ”7 Blasket Island” books published by OUP contain memoirs & reminiscences from within this literary tradition, evoking a way of life which has now vanished. ...

Evliya Celebi was the Orhan Pamuk of the 17th century, the Pepys of the Ottoman world
- a diligent, adventurous & honest recorder
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` The colonel talked to me about the women coming back to look for their husbands. What if a woman came back with a child fathered by someone from the other side, would they welcome her, ` I asked. He gave me that non-smile. ` To accept a woman who is carrying another man`s child
- that`s all part of national reconciliation.` (Chapter 12, ” War & Peace in Angola”, February 2003) The Angolan story is only another in the fantastic web of indulgence, misery, absurdity & suffering beyond expression that is bred in peace no less than war in `situations` the world over. The story told in this book involves an understanding of what is particular to Angola, but it goes far beyond that. It is a story of the extremes of the human condition &, as such, its relevance is timeless. Combining reportage & analysis, Justin Pearce shows the human face of Angola at a critical juncture in its history. Jonas Savimbi, leader of the rebel movement UNITA, was killed in February 2002. Crippled by the large imbalance between its resources & those of the MPLA government & the death of its messianic leader, UNITA collapsed, giving Angola its first extended period of peace since the nationalist uprising against Portuguese rule in the 1960s. Working as the BBC correspondent based in Luanda, Justin Pearce was the only English-speaking journalist based in Angola in 2001 & 2002. He travelled extensively in Angola, hearing the testimonies of those whose lives were shaped by political divisions & war. He was also able to observe how Angola was governed in a manner which had little in common with the ideals professed by the government since independence. This is an important book. It speaks to the non-specialist reader with an interest in African affairs; or people who have a particular interest in Angola, be it through business, humanitarian or policy development work, & who are looking for a perspective on the country`s recent social history.
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Set in the late Victorian era, An Oxford Scandal is the third book in Norman Russell`s ` Oxford` series of detective novels. The book follows Anthony Jardine, a successful & popular tutor at St. Gabriel`s College, as he finds his loyalties divided between his work, his wife Dora & his mistress Rachel. Unbeknown to Anthony, Dora is an advanced cocaine addict & he comes to resent her outrageous activities more & more, absorbing himself with the discovery of the remains of St Thomas a Becket in a hidden vault at the college. One rainy night Dora is found murdered in a tramcar out at Cowley & Jardine, who had been visiting Rachel in that area, becomes a suspect. The case is investigated by Inspector James Antrobus & his friend Sophia Jex-Blake, the pioneer woman doctor. A complex investigation follows & after Jardine`s mistress is murdered, the clues take Antrobus to London, when the mystery starts to unravel & the killer is revealed in a grand climax... Inspired by the work of Edmund Crispin & John Dixon Carr, An Oxford Scandal takes the form of classical detective fiction with an academic angle. The book also contains a humorous subplot in which Catholics & Anglicans fight over ownership of the relics. The book will appeal to fans of historical & crime fiction, as well as readers who have enjoyed Norman`s previous work. ...

An Teallach & Fisherfield area of Scottish Highlands at 1:25, 000 on a waterproof & tear-resistant, GPS compatible map from Harvey Map Services in their Superwalker series covering popular hiking areas of Great Britain & Irel&, annotated with additional information for walkers. Maps in Harvey’s Superwalker series have contours at 15m intervals, with additional graphics for various types of terrain (crags, large boulders, scattered rocks) & colouring for different kinds of land use or vegetation (pastures, bogs, forests or woodl&, etc). The maps show local hiking paths, indicating where appropriate long-distance routes, & boundaries of national parks or other protected areas. Scottish titles also indicate Munro, Corbett & Graham hills. Some maps in addition highlight local cycle routes. A range of symbols mark various facilities for walkers including youth or independent hostels, campsites & caravan sites, information points, etc. Each map has a 1-km British or Irish national grid. To see other titles in this series please click on the series link. ...

A detailed topographic map of An Teallach & Slioch from the Ordnance Survey Explorer series, covering Kinlochewe & Achnasheen / Achaidh na Sine. Edition A1; Publication date September 2007 About this series: These highly detailed maps show all the administrative boundaries, settlements as small as isolated farms, the road network down to unfenced roads & country tracks, & field boundaries (hedges & drystone walls) which make navigation across the countryside much easier. Steep gradients on roads are indicated. Various landmarks, e.g. powerlines, archaeological sites, windmills, churches & lighthouses are shown & additional graphics indicate natural terrain features such as cliffs, scree, mud & vegetation variations. The contour interval is 5 metres in the lower parts of the country & 10 metres in the uplands, & spot heights are marked. Each map covers an area of 30 x 20km (i.e. approx. 19 x 12 miles), with some double-sided maps covering more, as indicated in the individual descriptions. The maps are fully GPS compatible, with the National Grid shown at 1km intervals & latitude & longitude indicated by margin ticks at 1'. The Explorer series has replaced the earlier, green-cover Pathfinder maps. The Explorer series is now complete & covers all of Engl&, Wales & Scotl&. Some sheets for popular areas like the National Parks are still branded as Outdoor Leisure (OL) maps, but are now included in this series as the cartography is the same as that in the Explorer Maps. The Explorer maps offer a substantial improvement on the Pathfinder series, with greater use of colour, larger area per map, & stronger emphasis on information for ramblers & tourists. This series is ideal for walking & other outdoor pursuits & each map shows a large amount of information for ramblers & tourists. Public rights of way are shown (except in Scotland), together with other routes with public access: National Trails & Recreational Paths, permitted paths & bridleways, & selected cycle routes. Open access land created under the Countryside & Rights of Way Act 2000 is marked. Tourist information

Includes:: caravan & camp sites, Park & Ride locations, recreation/leisure/sport centres, museums, historic buildings, English Heritage & National Trust sites, rural pubs, etc. The map legend is in English only, except for the tourist information content which is also in French & German.

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