In 1934, eleven-year-old Shimon Peres emigrated to the land of Israel from his native Pol&, leaving behind an extended family who would later be murdered in the Holocaust. Few back then would have predicted that this young man would eventually become one of the towering figures of the twentieth century. Peres would go on to serve the new nation as prime minister, president, foreign minister, & the head of several other ministries. He was central to the establishment of the Israeli Defense Forces & the defence industry that would provide the young nation with a robust deterrent power. He was crucial to launching Israel`s nuclear energy programme & to the creation of its high-tech ” Start Up Nation” revolution. His refusal to surrender to conventional wisdom & political conventions helped save the Israeli economy & prompted some of the most daring military operations in history, among them the legendary Operation Entebbe. & yet, as important as his role in creating & deploying Israel`s armed forces was, his stunning transition from hawk to dove
- with its accompanying unwavering commitment to peace
- made him one of the globe`s most recognised, honored & admired statesmen. In his final work, Peres offers a long-awaited examination of the crucial turning points in Israeli history through the prism of having been a decision-maker & eyewitness. Told with the frankness of someone aware this would likely be his final statement, NO ROOM FOR SMALL DREAMS spans decades & events, but as much as it is about what happened, it is about why it happened. Examining pivotal moments in Israel`s rise, Peres explores what makes for a great leader, how to make hard choices in a climate of uncertainty & distress, the challenges of balancing principles with policies, & the liberating nature of imagination & unpredicted innovation. In doing so, he not only charts a better path forward for his beloved country but provides deep & universal wisdom for younger generations who seek to lead
- be it in politics, business, or the broader service of making our planet a safer, more peaceful, & just place.


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No Shitting In The Toilet is named after a sign Peter Moore saw on the door of the lavatory at Jack`s Cafe in Dali, Yunnan Province, in China. It`s a sign that encapsulated his travel philosophy: that things never quite turn out as you expect. You end up in situations that defy logic, rational thought &, quite often, general well-being
- & yet you have a brilliant time, not in spite of these situations, but because of them. & this is the philosophy behind this book & the reason why it isn`t really a normal travel guide. OK, it might look like one in its structure & choice of topics, but in fact it`s quite the opposite. Instead of practical hints, it gives you impractical ones (How to avoid jet lag
- avoid jets.. .) & rather than tell you the best places to stay, it tells you the worst. Instead of celebrating transcendental travel experiences, it revels in the most demeaning ones (On checking the hygiene in restaurants: there are 2 things you don`t really want to see in life. The first is your parents having sex. The second is the state of the kitchen in restaurants catering for backpackers.). But in that sense NSITT is more in touch with the way things really are. The world of NSITT is one where you`re more likely to find a cockroach on your pillow than a complimentary mint, a world where you take your life in your own hands every time you get on a bus, a world where everything goes wrong, & you still end up loving every minute of it. Based on the author`s award-winning travel website, NSITT is not only hugely entertaining but also eminently practical, with advice on everything from Backpacking & Souvenirs, to Sex & Romance & Health & Eating (and some words of advice for vegetarians: hope you like rice...).

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Photoluminescent Vinyl
- 100mm x 300mm. Stanfords is an official distributor of Maritime Progress safety signs. We are able to
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If there`s an adventure to be had, it`s likely that David Hempleman-Adams has been there first. Ranking alongside Ranulph Fiennes & Chris Bonnington in the pantheon of British explorers, he is the first person in history to achieve what is termed the Adventurers` Grand Slam, by reaching the Geographic & Magnetic North & South Poles as well as climbing the highest peaks on all seven continents. The question Hempleman-Adams is most often asked is, simply: what drives him on? Why risk frostbite pulling a sledge to the North Pole? Why experience the Death Zone on Everest? Why fly in the tiny basket of a precarious balloon across the Atlantic? Is it simply the case that he likes to push himself to the limits, or is there something more to it? No Such Thing as Failure answers these questions & more, uncovering what drives arguably the world`s greatest adventurer. ...

Nadine Gordimer is one of our most telling contemporary writers. With each new work, she attacks
- with a clear-eyed lack of sentimentality,
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When Peter Piot was in medical school, a professor warned, ” There`s no future in infectious diseases. They`ve all been solved.” Fortunately, Piot ignored him, & the result has been an exceptional, adventure-filled career. In the 1970s, as a young man, Piot was sent to Central Africa as part of a team tasked with identifying a grisly new virus. Crossing into the quarantine zone on the most dangerous missions, he studied local customs to determine how this disease-the Ebola virus-was spreading. Later, Piot found himself in the field again when another mysterious epidemic broke out: AIDS. He traveled throughout Africa, leading the first international AIDS initiatives there. Then, as founder & director of UNAIDS, he negotiated policies with leaders from Fidel Castro to Thabo Mbeki & helped turn the tide of the epidemic. Candid & engrossing, No Time to Lose captures the urgency & excitement of being on the front lines in the fight against today`s deadliest diseases. ...

From the first rumblings of dissent in 2011, No Turning Back shows the unravelling of a nation: peaceful protests in Damascus collapsing into violence, families on both sides shattered by nighttime shellings, & religious conviction sharpened by rage to a radical point. Abouzeid shows Syrians finding new ways to live & resist even as the cruelty of President Bashar al-Assad`s dictatorial regime
- & the rising threat of Al-Qaeda & the Islamic State
- tears their homeland apart.

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Bibliophile Bart Van Aken has been collecting"es about reading for several years. This book contains his own personal selection. Including such declarations of love as ” Reading is that fruitful miracle of communication in the midst of solitude” (Marcel Proust), surprising, witty statements like ” Outside of a dog, a book is a man`s best friend. Inside of a dog it`s too dark to read” (Groucho Marx) & wise statements to mull over, including ” We can destroy what we have written, but we cannot unwrite it” (Anthony Burgess). Every"e is presented in a unique, original & tailor-made design by Dooreman, with an adapted font or special letter shapes. Where applicable, the"e has also been provided in the original language alongside the English, with a brief explanation, such as the author & context. ...

This is the definitive manual for the hopeless Venetophile. Love of Venice can strike anyone. Among the heavyweights with serious cases were Lord Byron, Richard Wagner, Ezra Pound & Ernest Hemingway. Symptoms today include: wishing that the stars of films set in Venice would move aside so that you can get a better view of the scenery; wondering why people ask if you had good weather when you were there
- as if rain could dampen your love; thinking that people who go to Tuscany or Provence must be mad; believing that the ” Per San Marco” street sign with arrows pointing in opposite directions makes perfect sense; &, consoling yourself when you leave by remembering the generations of Venetian merchants who, as they were borne away from Venice, vowed to be back as soon as they had more money. There is no cure for this affliction. This is a guide to managing it.
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Description: ` One of the greatest escape stories I`ve ever read` Mail on Sunday An ordinary man`s extraordinary escape from Mao`s brutal labour camps Xu Hongci was an ordinary medical student when he was incarcerated under Mao`s regime & forced to spend years of his youth in China`s most brutal labour camps. Three times he tried to escape. & three times he failed. But, determined, he eventually broke free, travelling the length of China, across the Gobi desert, & into Mongolia. It was one of the greatest prison breaks of all time, during one of the worst totalitarian tragedies of the 20th Century. This is the extraordinary memoir of his unrelenting struggle to retain dignity, integrity & freedom; but also the untold story of what life was like for ordinary people trapped in the chaos of the Cultural Revolution. Review: ” One of the greatest escape stories I`ve ever read...will live on as a timeless testament to the resilience of the human spirit” * MAIL ON SUNDAY * ” One of the most compelling & moving memoirs to emerge from Communist China...gripping.” * LOS ANGELES TIMES * ” Riveting... There are many memoirs by Chinese imprisoned during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), but I`ve never read one, by a loyal Party member, like this... While books such as this cannot be openly sold in China, Xu Hongci`s will of course be smuggled in & will amaze readers, especially those under forty.” * JONATHAN MIRSKY, Literary Review * ” While there are notable victims` accounts of Nazi & Soviet atrocities, there has largely been silence from those who actually suffered at first hand the worst of Red China`s astounding inhumanity to its own people. Xu`s moving account [is] a must-read” * DAILY MAIL * ” Xu Hongci is China`s Louis Zamperini, an ordinary man who simply refused to be broken. To understand the deepest source of China`s rise, read Xu Hongci`s astonishing epic, a tale of ingenuity, bravery &, most importantly, unshakeable determination. Xu`s chronicle, masterfully translated by Erling Hoh, is the story of modern China itself: the struggle for freedom of body & mind.” * EVAN OSNOS, China correspondent at the New Yorker & author of the acclaimed Age of Ambition * ”I am struck by the freshness of Xu Hongci`s whole story. We have plenty of reminiscences by intellectuals & party officials in China, but it is rare to find memoirs of ordinary people. & most tend to focus on the Cultural Revolution, whereas Xu Hongci starts his account with the Second World War, giving the reader a much better sense of how the entire Maoist era evolved over time. While most memoirs tell us how the victims are eventually crushed by an unforgiving system, one of the most striking aspects of Xu`s account is his determination to gain freedom. Xu escapes again & again, his moral integrity seemingly unbroken.” * PROF FRANK DIKOTTER, author of Mao`s Great Famine * ” An important book: the gripping & deeply moving account of a man`s lifelong struggle to reach freedom, driven by an indomitable will to survive in Mao`s China.” * XIAOLU GUA, author of Once Upon a Time in the East * ” An understated tribute to those who suffered, & a thrilling account of numerous acts of defiance: small or large, often costly.” * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH * ” Gripping... an inspiring story of the strength of the human spirit in the face of greed & cruelty.” * SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST * ” Reads like a Hollywood film
- but this account is true.” * PRESS ASSOCIATION ` Book of the Week` * ” There are escape stories & then there is this. It deserves to become a classic, like Jung Chang`s Wild Swans, not only for Xu Hongci`s survival against the odds, but for confronting us unsparingly with what happens when folly & intolerance meet unfettered political power.” * THE NATIONAL (Scotland) * ”[ Xu Hongci] takes the reader on a turbulent & fraught journey of capture, escape, evasion, survival & love. Translated with immense skill & talent, it`s a thrilling read.” * The Bookbag * ”A masterpiece... Xu is the only known escapee from Mao`s prisons” * Washington Post * ” Gripping, moving & eye-opening” * Asian Review of Books * Author Biography: Xu Hongci It took Xu Hongci four attempts before he finally escaped the labour camps. He then travelled the length of China into Mongolia
- only to be arrested & sentenced to two years in a Mongolian prison for illegally entering the country. After serving his sentence, Xu Hongci met & married a Mongolian nurse, started a family &, after Mao`s death, returned to China where he died in 2008. Erling Hoh Erling Hoh is a Swedish-Chinese journalist who came across a Chinese copy of Xu Hongci`s memoir in a Hong Kong library. After tracking down Xu Hongci`s Chinese publisher &, eventually, his wife & children, he obtained the original manuscript that contained much richer content than the original Chinese edition.

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