Topographic survey of Catalonia at 1:50, 000 from the Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya, with vivid presentation of the terrain & an overprint for long-distance GR hiking trails. The series provides an excellent alternative to the much smaller sheets in the civilian or military surveys produced for the whole of Spain. The Catalan 50K series has not only a much larger area per sheet (each map covers one comarca, an administrative division of a province) than the maps from the national surveys, but also has more colourful, elegant & clear cartography with contours at 20m intervals, hill shading & fine graphics to portray the relief, vegetation types & landmarks. Most maps also have more tourist-related information, with an overprint highlighting long-distance GR trails & the Via Verde routes. Mountain refuges are marked & a range symbols indicate various places of interest including historical monuments, sport & recreational facilities, etc. Four different types of interesting locations are highlighted: picturesque towns or villages, individual isolated building or monuments, natural sites, & hydrographic features such as waterfalls. The maps have a 5km UTM grid, with latitude & longitude values shown for the map corners. Map legend is in Catalan only. To see other titles in this series please click on the series link. ...

This is the astonishing true story of a young woman`s adventures, & misadventures, in the dangerous world of Nazi-occupied France. For Priscilla, pre-war Paris was an exciting carousel of suitors, soirees & heartbreak, & eventually a lavish wedding to a French aristocrat. But the arrival of the Nazi tanks signalled the end of life as a Vicomtesse, & the beginning of a precarious existence under German Occupation. Over half a century later, her nephew, Nicholas Shakespeare, found a box of Priscilla`s notebooks & journals. He began investigating the rumours that she had escaped a prisoner-of-war camp & fought for the Resistance
- & he finally unearthed the truth behind suspicions of disreputable love affairs & far darker secrets. ” Haunting”. (The Times). ” Extraordinary”. (Observer). ” Vivid”. (Mail on Sunday). ” Gripping”. (New York Times).
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Prisoner of the State is the story of the man who brought liberal change to China & who, at the height of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, tried to stop the massacre & was dethroned for his efforts. When China`s army moved in, killing hundreds of students & other demonstrators, Zhao was placed under house arrest at his home in Beijing. The Premier spent the last 16 years of his life, up until his death in 2005, in seclusion. China scholars often lamented that Zhao never had his final say. As it turns out, Zhao did produce a memoir, in complete secrecy. He methodically recorded his thoughts & recollections on what had happened behind the scenes during many of modern China`s most critical moments. The tapes he produced were smuggled out of the country & form the basis for Prisoner of the State. Although Zhao now speaks from beyond the grave, his voice has the moral power to make China sit up & listen. ...

It’s easy to get complacent about maps. In our everyday lives, they are the things that get us from place to place: from the office to a meeting; from our hotel to a recommended restaurant; from the train station to some summer wedding venue in the back of beyond… We forget they’re not simply a guide to navigating the world; to some degree they define it. This isn’t just an airy philosophical point
- it’s a harsh & complex political reality. Luckily, Tim Marshall’s latest book
- Prisoners of Geography
- is here to explain how politics is nothing without geography, in his usually crisp & compelling style. Each of the book’s ten chapters opens with a map that Marshall then uses as a jumping off point to explore political, economic & cultural issues from the past & present. What he really excels at is capturing the psychology of nations
- not just their leaders
- & giving maps, which we often see as passive participants in our lives, a vigour which politicians have to strive to tame. So, put down your newspaper! Turn off the TV! Fling your phone from the highest hill! Until you understand geopolitics, they’re no use to you. & until you’ve read Prisoners of Geography… Well, you get the idea.




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All leaders are constrained by geography. Their choices are limited by mountains, rivers, seas & concrete. Yes, to understand world events you need to understand people, ideas & movements... but if you don`t know geography, you`ll never have the full picture. To understand Putin`s actions, for example, it is essential to consider that, to be a world power, Russia must have a navy. & if its ports freeze for six months each year then it must have access to a warm water port
- hence, the annexation of Crimea was the only option for Putin. To understand the Middle East, it is crucial to know that geography is the reason why countries have logically been shaped as they are
- & this is why invented countries (e.g. Syria, Iraq, Libya) will not survive as nation states.; Spread over ten chapters (covering Russia; China; the USA; Latin America; the Middle East; Africa; India & Pakistan; Europe; Japan & Korea; & Greenland & the Arctic), using maps, essays & occasionally the personal experiences of the widely travelled author, Prisoners of Geography looks at the past, present & future to offer an essential guide to one of the major determining factors in world history.

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Topographic survey of France at 1:25, 000 in IGN`s excellent TOP25 / Série Bleue series. All the maps are GPS compatible, with a 1km UTM grid plus latitude & longitude lines at 5’ intervals. Contours are at 5m intervals except for mountainous areas where the maps have contours at 10m intervals, vividly enhanced by hill shading & graphics for rocky terrain. Colouring with graphics indicates different types of vegetation or land use (deciduous or coniferous forests, moors, orchards, vineyards, etc). PLEASE NOTE: coverage of France at this scale is currently being revised – the format & the presentation of each title are indicated by the letters at the end of its Sheet Reference number (e.g. 0416ET, 3531ETR, 1923SB, etc.)MAPS WITH FULL TOURIST OVERPRINT & AN ENGLISH MAP LEGEND: all TOP25 maps & the SB editions of Série Bleue have an overprint highlighting waymarked walking trails including long-distance GR routes &, where appropriate, ski routes. Symbols indicate campsites, gîtes d’etape, refuges, equestrian centres & other recreational facilities or sites, tourist information centres, cultural heritage, etc. Towns & locations of particular interest are highlighted.- ET or OT = single-sided TOP25 map covering approx. 29x 21 km / 18x 13 miles.- ETR or OTR = waterproof & tear resistant TOP25 map covering the same area as the corresponding ET or OT number, but double-sided, printed on a smaller size sheet with a good overlap between the sides.- SB = Série Bleue map with full tourist overprint; these maps, first introduced in summer 2014, each cover approx. 29x 24km / 18x 15 miles.SÉRIE BLEUE maps with numbers ending in E (Est) or O (Ouest): most editions now indicate the GR routes, but do not show any other tourist information. Map legend is in French only. Each map covers approx. 14x 20km / 9x 12 miles. ...

In ” Private Battles”, award-winning writer Simon Garfield has skilfully interwoven the diaries of four ordinary people as they struggle to cope with the day-to-day reality of life during the Second World War. Their voices combine to create one of the most compelling & refreshing takes on the period ever published. Meet Maggie Joy Blunt, a perceptive but frustrated young writer living alone near Slough. Pam Ashford, a shipping clerk in Glasgow who writes of office life as if it were an episode of The Archers. Edward Stebbing, a 20-year-old discharged soldier living with a stern landlady in Essex. & Ernest Van Someren, a research chemist in Hertfordshire, father of two children & proposer of several unique scientific ways to beat the Nazis. Perhaps here, for the first time, is the true story of how the ordinary people of Britain won the Second World War. & of how we almost didn`t. ...

Celebrating 51 Glorious Years! The very best of Private Eye`s unique blend of wit & humour. This 2012 Annual presents the year`s best cartoons, jokes & spoofs, illustrated in colour throughout with sketches & photo-bubbles. A seasonal institution & a preennial Christmas bestseller with sales of over 75, 000 copies. ...

The 2014 Private Eye Annual presents the year`s best cartoons, jokes & spoofs from the UK`s most successful satirical magazine. Illustrated in colour throughout with cartoons, sketches & photo-bubbles. Now in its 18th year the Private Eye Annual has become both a collector`s item & a perennial Christmas bestseller with sales in excess of 60, 000 copies. ...

The Private Eye Annual 2017 present`s the year`s best cartoons, jokes & spoofs from the UK`s best selling satirical magazine. Illustrated in colour throughout with cartoons, sketches & photo-bubbles. Now in its 21st year the Private Eye Annual has become both a collector`s item & a perennial Christmas bestseller
- the perfect secret Santa gift at under a tenner!
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