Be manly; seek no undue advantage. Science & pluck give advantage enough The Noble English Art of Self-Defence is part of ` Found on the Shelves`, published with The London Library. The books in this series have been chosen to give a fascinating insight into the treasures that can be found while browsing in The London Library. Now celebrating its 175th anniversary, with over 17 miles of shelving & more than a million books, The London Library has become an unrivalled archive of the modes, manners & thoughts of each generation which has helped to form it. ...

A great book to drool over when bad weather keeps you out of the saddle & it's too dark in the shed to be messing around with ball bearings & grease. With a foreword by Lance Armstrong & 250 colour photographs, this is a celebration of this fantastic machine in the many designs that have appeared throughout its evolution. ...

When the photographer Enzo Barracco decided to mount a photographic expedition to Antarctica, inspired by the example of Sir Ernest Shackleton, he had much more than simple cold to contend with. As the world`s last empty continent, the snowy lands of the South Pole are a challenge for the most seasoned explorer, with their merciless winds, treacherous seas & vast sheets of ice. Even to arrive on the continent itself involves a perilous journey by sea from southern Argentina through the notoriously rough Drake Passage. THE NOISE OF ICE: ANTARCTICA explores what drove Barracco to embark on his journey, & tells the story of the expedition in words & astonishing photographs, all of them captured during the trip & many obtained in hazardous conditions. In his gripping text, Barracco explains how even his journey to Antarctica itself was undertaken with the essential help of an ice pilot, to spot & avoid icebergs that ship`s radar can miss. He tells of how the waves on that first journey threw him to the deck & brought home how hostile such an environment is, & of his constant battle to protect his photographic equipment & all-important memory cards from the extreme cold. Most importantly, he explains that in capturing these beautiful landscapes, his intention is to remind us all of the precarious position in which this part of the world finds itself. As the explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes puts it in his foreword to THE NOISE OF ICE, ”witnessed by only a few, Antarctica should be enjoyed by many & protected by all”. ...

In May 1937 a man in his early thirties waits by the lift of a Leningrad apartment block. He waits all through the night, expecting to be taken away to the Big House. Any celebrity he has known in the previous decade is no use to him now. & few who are taken to the Big House ever return. ...

From Margaret Wise Brown-author of the childhood favorite Goodnight Moon-and Caldecott-winning illustrator Leonard Weisgard comes The Noisy Book, now back in print in a sturdy board book! The little dog, Muffin, hears a noise. Squeak squeak squeak. What could it be? Originally published in 1939, the classic story of the little dog, Muffin, accompanied by big & bright illustrations will introduce children to the sounds around them. ...

The Manga is one of Africa`s most wild & remote regions: a hostile & unforgiving landscape inhabited by nomads. Situated in south-eastern Niger, in the shadow of the Old Salt Road, it has been mislaid by the modern world; no westerner had been seen there in living memory. The Nomad`s Path is a beautifully-rendered account of a journey across this inhospitable region at a time of Tuareg insurgency in 2004 & 2008. Carr sets out to explore the centuries-old link between the Barbary Coast & the Sahel along the Old Salt Road, while conjuring to life a lost wilderness & those who survive within it. At its heart is the story of a daring journey across the Sahel with the Tubu nomads. With tales of rebellion, lost civilisations, explorers
- both intrepid & eccentric
- & an epic seventeenth-century odyssey, Carr captures a sense of the intangible nature of the Sahel & delivers an evocative portrait of the Tubu
- a people living on the tide-line of the Sahara & the edge of the world.


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Ducks growing out of bananas? A mouse catching a cat? What`s wrong with this book? Yes, there`s something strange, something funny & even downright preposterous on every page of this book (and even the cover!). But it`s not a mistake
- it`s nonsense! & it`s also surrealism. Nonsense lies at the heart of many beloved nursery rhymes. Children readily accept odd statements like ”the cow jumped over the moon” & ”the dish ran away with the spoon.” This fanciful bending of reality is also basic to surrealism. In this book, nonsense & surrealism combine to spark creativity & imagination. What`s true? What`s impossible? What`s absolutely absurd? From Eric Carle, creator of the classic, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, comes a book to make children laugh & think, preparing them for a lifetime of loving both words & art.
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From the award-winning author of Red Dust, comes a virtuoso piece of `red humour`
- a darkly funny novel about the absurdities
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For over half a century, noodlemaker Gyalo Thondup has been a familiar figure in the Himalayan hill town of Kalimpong. But it was not until 2010 that the townsfolk discovered his true identity: Gyalo Thondup is none other than the older brother of the Dalai Lama & his special envoy, a trusted interlocutor between Tibet & foreign leaders from Chiang Kai-shek to Jawaharlal Nehru, Zhou Enlai to Deng Xiaoping. Indeed, only the Dalai Lama himself has played a more important role in the political history of modern, tragedy-ridden Tibet. Now, for the first time, Gyalo Thondup is prepared to tell his story. His remarkable account offers an intimate, personal look at the Dalai Lama & his immediate family, as well as an insider`s view of the vicious & sometimes deadly struggles within the Potala Palace
- the seat of power in Tibet. His is a story of the `real` Tibet
- a country that is secular as well as sacred, where the source of conflict is not just with China but between Tibetans themselves. Candid & insightful, this long-awaited account reveals Gyalo Thondup to have been a key figure in the great game played out by China, India, Russia & the United States over the strategically important Tibetan plateau.

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For over half a century, noodlemaker Gyalo Thondup has been a familiar figure in the Himalayan hill town of Kalimpong. But it was not until 2010 that the townsfolk discovered his true identity: Gyalo Thondup is none other than the older brother of the Dalai Lama & his special envoy, a trusted interlocutor between Tibet & foreign leaders from Chiang Kai-shek to Jawaharlal Nehru, Zhou Enlai to Deng Xiaoping. Indeed, only the Dalai Lama himself has played a more important role in the political history of modern, tragedy-ridden Tibet. Now, for the first time, Gyalo Thondup is prepared to tell his story. His remarkable account offers an intimate, personal look at the Dalai Lama & his immediate family, as well as an insider`s view of the vicious & sometimes deadly struggles within the Potala Palace
- the seat of power in Tibet. His is a story of the `real` Tibet
- a country that is secular as well as sacred, where the source of conflict is not just with China but between Tibetans themselves. Candid & insightful, this long-awaited account reveals Gyalo Thondup to have been a key figure in the great game played out by China, India, Russia & the United States over the strategically important Tibetan plateau.

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