Nass, Clifford
| The Man Who Lied to His Laptop
| Current, 2010 | ISBN: 9781617230011
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Computers are not living beings right? Well according to the results described in The Man Who Lied to His Laptop: What Machines Teach Us About Human Relationships by Clifford Nass and Corina Yen, it seems that people often behave as if they were - as if computers are people too.
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Niven, Larry
| The Mote in God's eye
| Pocket | ISBN: 0297770039
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Classic science fiction novel
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Palfrey, John
| Born digital
| BasicBooks, 2008 | ISBN: 9780465018567
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Many of us see the digital revolution as a great transformation of the world we were born into, but to those below a certain age the digital world is the norm. In Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives John Palfrey and Urs Gasser look at how this generation looks at the world, some of the pitfalls which they may not be aware of, and how those of us who may be more cautious about digital life can relate to the digitald›ives.
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Pawley, Martin
| 20th Century Architecture, a readers guide
| Architectural Press, 2000 | ISBN: 0750646357
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Plenty of books have been written about Architecture. 20th Century Architecture, a reader's guide isn't just another one, rather it is a book about such books. Martin Pawley certainly knows his stuff - he has a wide knowledge of the subject and so is able to bring new views to bear on the books he is reviewing. He is probably at his best when reviewing biographies of famous architects - if there are several of the same person then it gives a view of that person from every angle.
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Penn, Mark
| Microtrends
| Allen Lane, 2007 | ISBN: 9781846140426
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Plenty of people try to predict what 'The Next Big Thing' is likely to be. In Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Today's Big Changes, Mark Penn and E. Kinney Zalesne take a different approach. They look at trends which are happening now, which involve a small proportion of the population, which nevertheless adds up to a considerable number of people.
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Pohl, Frederik
| Midas World
| Gollancz, 1983 | ISBN: 0575033746
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Scarcity seems to be a fact of life, and we might imagine that most of our problems would be solved in a world in which scarcity was abolished. But would they really disappear? Frederik Pohl's Midas World: A Novel considers what new problems might arise.
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Pournelle, Jerry
| The Mote in God's eye
| Pocket | ISBN: 0297770039
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Classic science fiction novel
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Prahalad, C.K.
| The fortune at the bottom of the pyramid
| Wharton School Publishing, 2010 | ISBN: 0137009275
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The poorest people in the world have so little money that it seems no-one should see them as a source of profit. C.K. Prahalad argues otherwise. In The fortune at the bottom of the pyramid: eradicating poverty through profits he explains how the poor can be lifted out of poverty by being treated as customers rather than just as recipients aid.
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Pratchett, Terry
| The Colour of Magic
| Corgi Books, 1983 | ISBN: 9780552152921
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The Colour of Magic is the first book in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, set in a disc-shaped world on the back of four elephants standing on the back of a giant turtle.
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| The Light Fantastic
| Corgi Books, 1986 | ISBN: 9780552152594
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The Light Fantastic is the second in the series of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels. In it we hear more of the adventures of Twoflower the tourist and the wizard Rincewind.
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Pullman, Philip
| The Golden Compass
| Scholastic, 1995 | ISBN: 0590660543
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'The Golden Compass' (or 'Northern Lights' as the version I read was titled) is the first book of Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' trilogy. It's the story of Lyra Belacqua, who spends most of her time playing around the Oxford college where she lives. But her playmates are being kidnapped, and her decision to rescue them draws her into much wider conflicts. Pullman shows such inventiveness in creating a new world for his story that it's sometimes hard to put the book down. But Pullman's books haven't had the same kind of bestselling success as some other books of a similar genre. I think part of the reason for this is that Pullman isn't really sure who he is writing for.
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| The Subtle Knife
| Scholastic, 1997 | ISBN: 0590112899
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The Subtle Knife is the second book in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. In this book Lyra crosses into another world, and meets Will a boy from yet another world - our own. One thing to note is that this book needs to be read as part of the trilogy. The first book (The Golden Compass) can just about be read on its own - although there are a few loose ends - but I would advise that to read the second book you need to have read the first and go on to read the third.
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| The Amber Spyglass
| Scholastic, 2000 | ISBN: 043999358X
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The Amber Spyglass is the final book in Philip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy. I felt that it continued the trend away from the action of the first book, towards a Miltonesque saga, which leaves me even more confused as to who the readership of the books is supposed to be. Possibly Pullman expected his readers to grow up as the books were published, so the first is more (although not totally) suitable for children. That is all very well, but now that they are all available, it makes it hard to recommend the trilogy as a whole (which is how it needs to be read) to any particular readers.
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Pushkin, Alexander
| The Queen of Spades
| Oxford University Press, 1997 | ISBN: 9780199538652
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The Queen of Spades and Other Stories is a translation into English of the main prose works of 19th Century Russsian writer Alexander Pushkin
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Rebonato, Riccardo
| Plight of the fortune tellers
| Princeton University Press, 2007 | ISBN: 0691148171
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Banks have lost huge amounts of money in the last few years, but why? They were subject to regulations and employed risk managers, and so things shouldn't have got anything like so bad. Why did things go so wrong? In Plight of the Fortune Tellers: Why We Need to Manage Financial Risk Differently Riccardo Rebonato gives his explanation.
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Regan, Geoffrey
| Lionhearts
| Constable and Co, 1998 | ISBN: 0094781508
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Conflict nowadays is often between different ideologies, and one might expect that this would have been even more so during the crusades. However, in Lionhearts: Saladin and Richard I Geoffrey Regan shows how these two leaders were in fact very similar, in terms of belief in chivalry and the importance of faith.
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Rosen, Emanuel
| Buzz
| Profile Books, 2009 | ISBN: 9781846682483
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Trying to let the world know about your product or service can be a difficult business, with advertisers needing to put in more and more effort to get their message across. What if you could get your customers to transmit your message for you? In Buzz: Real-life Lessons in Word-of-mouth Marketing, Emanuel Rosen talks about how this can be achieved.
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Rosenberg, Scott
| Dreaming in Code
| Crown Publishing, 2007 | ISBN: 9781400082469
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Software projects are notorious for their problems - time and budget overruns, bugs and feature creep. In Dreaming in Code Scott Rosenberg describes the early days of development of Chandler by the OSAF. This was developed as an open source program, but with substantial funding, so one might think it could avoid the usual problems of software development. But it seems nothing is immune, and problems soon arose. In particular, there was little financial pressure to get something out of the door and version 1.0 always seemed to be a couple of years away.
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Rosenberg, Tina
| Join the club
| Norton, 2011 | ISBN: 1848313004
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Peer pressure is a important component of the behaviour of many people, but is often seen as a negative influence. In Join the club: how peer pressure can transform the world Tina Rosenberg shows just how strong peer pressure can be, but also how it can be used to guide people in a positive way.
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Rowlands, Mark
| The philosopher and the wolf
| Granta, 2008 | ISBN: 9781847080592
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In the early 1990's Mark Rowlands bought a wolf cub and called him Brenin. In The philosopher and the wolf: lessons from the wild on love, death and happiness Rowlands tells the story of their lives and of what he, as a philosopher, learned from Brenin.
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Russell, Bertrand
| The Problems of Philosophy
| Oxford University Press, 1912 | ISBN: 0192854232
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What is the nature of knowledge and how do we come to know things? Such epistemological questions form the main subjects of Bertrand Russell's book, The Problems of Philosophy
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Sabbagh, Karl
| Palestine: A Personal History
| Atlantic Books, 2006 | ISBN: 1843543443
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The Sabbagh family have a long history in the region of Palestine, and in this book Karl Sabbagh interleaves the history of his family with that of Palestine and the disputes between the occupants leading up to partition in 1947. Now there are two sides to every question and Sabbagh's account clearly takes one side. How much is this acceptable? Well, my feeling is that everyone has a right to tell their side of the story. On the other hand an author writing a historical account should try to be unbiased. So which is Sabbagh doing? The answer is: a bit of both.
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Sagan, Carl
| Contact
| Orbit | ISBN: 1857235800
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Science fiction story which stimulated research into traversable wormholes.
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Saint-Exupery, Antoine de
| Wind, sand and stars
| Penguin, 1939 | ISBN: 0141183195
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You probably know of Antoine de Saint-Exupery as the author of The Little Prince, but if you're like me you may not know much else about him. In Wind, sand and stars he tells the story of some of his life.
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Salzman, Marian
| Next Now
| Palgrave, 2006 | ISBN: 1403975647
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The pace of change in all aspects of our lives is constantly accelerating. If you would like to stay ahead of the game, then Next Now: Trends for the Future by Marian Salzman and Ira Matathia gives a wide ranging look at where the world is going in the next few years.
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Savory, Barrie
| The Good Back Guide
| Century, 2006 | ISBN: 1844133958
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Back pain is an unfortunately common occurrence in today's society. In The good back guide Barrie Savory explains how we have adopted a lifestyle which doesn't suit the structure of our bodies and shows that this often leads to some sort of back problem. Admit it you're probably hunched up in a chair at this moment - and the computer mouse is a major culprit in this area. But help is at hand. Savory describes a few simple exercises that can help to deal with back pain within your typical daily schedule.
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Schiffrin, Andre
| The business of books
| Verso, 2000 | ISBN: 1859847633
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André Schiffrin has been in the publishing business for over half a century. The Business of Books: How the International Conglomerates Took Over Publishing and Changed the Way We Read tells his story, and why he thinks that publishing in the USA has taken the wrong direction.
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Schwartz, Barry
Searle's ideas don't really fit into my categories of theories of mind. Maybe this is because these categories are too simplistic, but then again, maybe he is skating round the important issues.
| The Paradox of Choice
| ecco, 2004 | ISBN: 0060005688
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We all want the opportunity to decide things for ourselves, rather than having our lives determined by others. However, the choices available in today's society can be overwhelming, and you may begin to wonder whether choice is such a good thing. In The Paradox of Choice:Why More is Less Barry Schwarz argues that it is not, and give some advice on what we can do about it.
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Scruton, Roger
Searle's ideas don't really fit into my categories of theories of mind. Maybe this is because these categories are too simplistic, but then again, maybe he is skating round the important issues.
| Green philosophy
| Atlantic Books, 2011 | ISBN: 1848870760
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In Green Philosophy: How to Think Seriously About the Planet Roger Scruton presents his views on how to deal with environmental, and other, problems which we are faced with.
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Sedlacek, Tomas
| Economics of good and evil
| Oxford University Press, 2011 | ISBN: 0199767203
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In Economics of Good and Evil: The Quest for Economic Meaning from Gilgamesh to Wall Street Tomas Sedlacek finds economic concepts in a wide variety of sources - from ancient myths to the mathematical theories of today.
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Sen, Amartya
| Identity and Violence
| Allen Lane, 2006 | ISBN: 0713999381
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When we hear of a conflict, we want to know who the two sides are - we need to categorize people in order to work out the reason for the conflict. But In Identity and Violence:The Illusion of Destiny Amartya Sen warns us that we need to take care when attaching labels to people in this way, since the labelling itself can easily become a reason for violence.
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Senge, Peter
| The necessary revolution
| Nicholas Brealey, 2010 | ISBN: 1857885325
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In The necessary revolution: how individuals and organizations are working together to create a sustainable world Peter Senge shows that businesses shouldn't see the practice of sustainability as a public relations cost, but rather as vital to their staying in business in the decades ahead.
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Sikov, Ed
| Mr Strangelove
| Pan books, 2002 | ISBN: 0330482602
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Peter Sellers is well known, not only as the star(s) of Dr Strangelove, but in many other films including the Pink Panther series. And of course there's also The Goon Show. In Mr Strangelove: A Biography of Peter Sellers Ed Sikov tells his story.
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Simms, Andrew
| Tescopoly
| Constable, 2007 | ISBN: 1845295110
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Supermarkets in general and Tesco in particular, have grown and grown in recent years, impinging on more and more of our lives. In Tescopoly: how one shop came out on top and why it matters, Andrew Simms says that enough is enough.
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Smith, Andy
| The dragonfly effect
| Jossey-Bass, 2010 | ISBN: 9780470614
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The social media, which have become available via the internet, offer a powerful tool to get large number of people involved in a project, in particular if you are trying to promote a good cause. However, it can be a daunting task. In The dragonfly effect: quick, effective, and powerful ways to use social media to drive social change, Jennifer Aaker and Andy Smith offer plenty of advice on how to make social media work for your cause.
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Smith, Gina
| iWoz
| Norton, 2006 | ISBN: 0755314069
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Personal Computers are now a huge business, with large numbers of people employed in bringing us the latest design. It's surprising to learn that it started with one person designing and building a computer by himself - and doing it in his spare time. That person was Steve Wozniak and in iWoz he tells his story. Up until now he hasn't written about his life, but in this book one sees how his upbringing led to a fascination with electronics and to him being in the right place at the right time to initiate the personal computer revolution.
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Solity, Jonathan
| The Learning Revolution
| Hodder Education, 2008 | ISBN: 9780340928332
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Most of us don't look particularly fondly back at language lessons at school, and probably don't feel that we got a great deal benefit from them. In Michel Thomas Method:The Learning Revolution Jonathan Solity explains how a different method of teaching has brought impressive results.
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Soros, George
| The New Paradigm for Financial Markets
| Public Affairs, 2008 | ISBN: 9781586486839
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George Soros is well known as a highly successful financier and philanthropist. In The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008 and What It Means he explains his core philosophy of Reflexivity, as well as giving his view on where the world economy is heading.
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Stevenson, Leslie
| Ten Theories of Human Nature
| Oxford University Press, 2004 | ISBN: 9780195169744
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Throughout history we have tried to understand what makes people tick, as well as trying to find rules for the best ways to live our lives. In Ten Theories of Human Nature, Leslie Stevenson and David Haberman look at some of the ideas which have stood the test of time.
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Strathern, Paul
| Dr Strangelove's Game
| Hamish Hamilton, 2001 | ISBN: 0241141346
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We all have our ideas on how to put the world to rights, in particular on how money should be distributed. Various economic ideas have taken hold over the centuries, with differing degrees of success. In Dr Strangelove's Game Paul Strathern tells the stories of some of the originators of these economic theories.
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Stross, Randall
| Planet Google
| Atlantic Books, 2008 | ISBN: 9781843589802
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Google's search engine is so well known that we now have a verb: to google. But Google's aim of organising the world's information means that it is active in plenty of other areas besides web search. In Planet Google: How One Company is Transforming Our Lives Randall Stross describes some of the projects the company is currently involved in.
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Stuart, Tristram
| The Bloodless Revolution
| HarperCollins, 2006 | ISBN: 0007128924
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You might think that vegetarianism is a modern phenomenon - that fifty years ago everyone aimed for 'meat and two veg'. In The Bloodless Revolution: Radical Vegetarians and the Discovery of India Tristram Stuart shows that in fact people have argued against eating meat for hundreds of years.
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Thompson, Flora
| Lark Rise to Candleford
| Penguin, 1947 | ISBN: 9780141037196
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Lark Rise to Candleford: A Trilogy is Flora Thompson's significantly autobiographical account of growing up in and English village in the 1880's.
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Tolstoy, Leo
| Family Happiness
| Harperperennial, 2009 | ISBN: 9780061773730
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This book is a collection of three of Leo Tolstoy's short stories, the main one being the title story Family Happiness. If you want to get into reading Tolstoy's work, but find War and Peace somewhat intimidating then this seems like a good place to start.
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Tonnac, Jean-Philippe de
| This is not the end of the book
| Harvill Secker, 2011 | ISBN: 9781846554513
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In This is not the end of the book Jean-Philippe de Tonnac moderates a discussion between Umberto Eco and Jean-Claude Carriere about the history and future of books.
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Topham, Sean
| Where's my Space Age
| Prestel, 2003 | ISBN: 3791328441
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Now that it's getting on for 40 years since the first man on the moon, the era has a strange feeling of unreality. It augered so much for the future, which never happened. In 'Where's my Space Age?' Sean Topham looks back at the how the space program affected society at the time, and in particular how designers created a fitting end to the modernist era. A principal part of the book is the pictures, both of the space program, and of the many aspects of design which were affected. Sometimes one feels that copyright problems have prevented a particular image from being shown, but there are plenty in the book so this doesn't matter too much. The copy I read had a bright pink cover, highlighting the sense of fun and novelty that the book is presenting.
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Uttley, Alison
| Country World
| Faber & Faber, 1984 | ISBN: 0571133282
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Alison Uttley is best known for her Little Grey Rabbit books and similar stories. Country World: Memories of childhood is a collection of her autobiographical work telling of her early years, selected by Lucy Meredith. The book tells of how Uttley (née Taylor) was born on a Derbyshire farm in the depths of winter some way from the nearest village. But being cut off from the rest of the world was not so much of a problem: throughout the book we learn about the self-sufficiency of the farm, which was virtually a community in itself.
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Van den Brink-Budgen, Roy
| Critical Thinking for Students
| How To Books, 1996 | ISBN: 1857036344
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Critical Thinking is an important skill, and it is now a subject which is more and more being taught in its own right. Critical Thinking for Students: Learn the Skills of Critical Assessment and Effective Argument by Roy van den Brink-Budgen is aimed at those who are starting to learn the subject of critical thinking. The book analyses the structure of arguments, looking at whar is and what isn't an argument, and, if there are several reasons supporting an argument, looks at whether they do so independently or whether they form a chain of reasoning.
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Vise, David
| The Google story
| Macmillan | ISBN: 0405053712
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No one with an internet connection can have missed the spectacular rise of the Google search engine in the last few years. This book tells the story of this rise - how the founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin came to top the list of young billionaires without it seems having a particular interest in making money. Thus we hear about how Google has challenged the established way of doing things in business, and the legal problems which they have faced as a result. The book is well written -no technical knowledge required - and is recommended for anyone who want to catch up with what has been happening in the computing world.
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Vonnegut, Kurt
| A man without a country
| Bloomsbury, 2005 | ISBN: 0747584060
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At the start of A man without a country Kurt Vonnegut explains how as a child in a large family he took to humour as a way of getting himself heard. I thought to myself 'Well that explains a lot'. For I have to say I have never got on with his work, and it seems to me to be constantly saying 'look at me, aren't I strange'. The book starts off OK, with details of Vonnegut's life - but it doesn't last, and really the best recommendation I can give for this book is that it's fairly short, and would serve as a taster, to see how you felt about Vonnegut's writing.
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Wallen, Martin
| Fox
| Reaktion Books, 2006 | ISBN: 1861892977
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From when we are very young we are likely to hear stories involving foxes, and these are likely to affect our views concerning these creatures as we grow older. In Fox, Martin Wallen looks at how foxes are viewed in different cultures, and how this has shaped our relationship with them.
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Ward, Michael
| Planet Narnia
| Oxford University Press, 2008 | ISBN: 9780195313871
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The seven Narnia books have been bestsellers ever since they were first published, and much has been written about the messages which they contain. In Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C. S. Lewis Michael Ward argues for a previously unrecognised link of each book to one of the medieval planets.
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Wells, H G
| The war in the air
| Penguin, 1908 | ISBN: 0141441305
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When I started reading this book, I was rather surprised not to find any film version of the story. There is plenty of action with the smuggling of secret plans, followed by a large scale aerial attack on the USA. If the book had continued in this vein, with initial setbacks but eventual victory over the aggression (and perhaps the setting up of a better world order as in Wells' other books) then it would definitely have been material for the cinema, especially with monorails, that epitome of modernity, everywhere. However, the war doesn't go that way, instead we hear about the struggles of the hero, Bert Smallways (who has been mostly a spectator in the first part of the book), in a post-apocalyptic world. Since we've had plenty of exposure to this sort of idea nowadays it felt a bit of a letdown.
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| The first men in the moon
| House of Stratus, 1901 | ISBN: 0755104013
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I found this to be rather a plotless book - it seems to be more of an exercise in descriptive writing than a proper story. There doesn't seem to be much of an attempt to make the science sound realistic - it ends up seeming much more like magic (of course I'm writing with hindsight, over 35 years after we actually went to the moon). But the real problem is that the characters seem to be more spectators than anything else - there's a bit of action in the middle, but even then I didn't feel any empathy with the main characters
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| The Time Machine
| Penguin Books, 1895 | ISBN: 0141439971
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'The Time machine' is H G Wells' first published science fiction story. It's a short book - Well's commented 36 years later that this was due to the hurry to get it published and he would like to have written a longer work. However I prefer to read somewhat 'naive' early works of sci-fi writers before they have learnt to write 'proper' literature. Reading this book gives and insight into what Well's wanted to write - we see that from the beginning he was more interested in possible futures for society than high tech gizmos. It's also worth reading if you've only seen the film version and want to know more about Wells' work.
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| The Stolen Bacillus and Other Incidents
| Westholme Publishing, 1895 | ISBN: 1594160201
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The Stolen Bacillus and other incidents was first published in 1895, before H G Wells had made his name with his longer stories. I sometimes feel that his later works concentrate too much on social commentary, and that the short stories of this book allow the reader to see more of Wells' unique inventiveness. There are are stories involving attacks by mysterious animals, as well as a couple of deadly plants. If you want to see how Wells' began his career as a novelist, or if you just like to read short stories then you'll probably enjoy the plot twists of these early examples.
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Wharton, Edith
| The Age of Innocence
| David Campbell, 1920 | ISBN: 1857152026
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Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence is set in upper class New York society in the 1870's. Newland Archer is engaged to May Welland and when May's cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska arrives to escape from an unhappy marriage in Europe, Archer agrees to help with to introduce her to the ways of New York society. But he soon sees her as much more than May's cousin. Now for other men the consequences would be simple, a respectable marriage to May and a clandestine affair with Ellen. Archer doesn't want that - but what exactly does he want?
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Wheeler, Sara
| Travels in a Thin Country
| Abacus Travel, 1994 | ISBN: 0349105847
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For those of us living in the Northern hemisphere, Chile is a far-away country. Sara Wheeler decided to get to know the country better. In this book she describes her journey from the one end of the country to the other (and on to Antarctica). On the way she visited some remote places with spectacular scenery, but the book isn't so much about geography, it's more about the stories of individual people living there, together with the history of the country, and in particular its path towards democracy. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to hear about the story of Chile and about life in some of the remotest areas of the world.
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Williams, Raymond
| Culture and Materialism
| Verso, 1980 | ISBN: 9781844676637
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Raymond Williams has written many books on Marxism, Literary Criticism and Culture. Culture and Materialism is a selection of his essays, mostly written in the 1970's.
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Wilson, A N
| God's Funeral
| Abacus, 1999 | ISBN: 0349112657
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The gap between religious believers and non-believers is surprisingly wide - arguments on one side or the other often seem to be just 'preaching to the converted'. So how did this gap come about. In God's Funeral, A N Wilson shows how this the legacy of nineteenth century thinkers has a lot to do with it.
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Winchester, Simon
| The Professor and the Madman
| Harperperennial, 1998 | ISBN: 006099486x
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The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester is a story of the beginnings of the Oxford English Dictionary. James Murray took the job as editor of this work, but many others were involved in its creation. Winchester gives interesting details about several of these, such as Frederick Furnivall - thought to be the inspiration for Ratty in The Wind in the Willows. This book however, is primarily about one contributor, William Minor. Minor seemed like an ordinary contributor, but when Murray decided to visit him he was in for a surprise - Minor was an inmate of Broadmoor Asylum. Winchester has looked into this fascinating tale, separating out the myth from the reality, and the result is a highly enjoyable book.
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Wollheim, Richard
| Germs: a memoir of childhood
| Black Swan, 2004 | ISBN: 055277314X
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Richard Wollheim is renowned for his works on the philosophy of mind and in particular its relationship to the visual arts. But even if you don't know about his philosophical work, you may well be fascinated by Germs: a memoir of childhood. This is not a typical romaticised view of childhood. It tell of how Wollheim, born in 1923, was often a sickly boy, mixing little with other children of his age. His parents were well off, but, as was fairly typical for such families, they also seemed rather distant. Thus much of his time was spent with his nanny or governess, and of course his books.
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Wolverton, Lisa
| Reinventing knowledge
| Pari Publishing, 2008 | ISBN: 0393065065
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Reinventing knowledge: from Alexandria to the Internet by Ian McNeely and Lisa Wolverton looks at the various methods societies have used to preserve knowledge, from the ancient Greeks to the present.
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Wozniak, Steve
| iWoz
| Norton, 2006 | ISBN: 0755314069
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Personal Computers are now a huge business, with large numbers of people employed in bringing us the latest design. It's surprising to learn that it started with one person designing and building a computer by himself - and doing it in his spare time. That person was Steve Wozniak and in iWoz he tells his story. Up until now he hasn't written about his life, but in this book one sees how his upbringing led to a fascination with electronics and to him being in the right place at the right time to initiate the personal computer revolution.
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Wrigley, Christopher
| Return of the Hero
| Book Guild, 2005 | ISBN: 1857769902
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The success of Harry Potter, the Lord of the Rings and Philip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy is something of a surprise. Even adult readers seem to prefer these books to more 'serious' literature. In 'Return of the Hero' Christopher Wrigley analyses why this should be the case, and looks at how the books relate to sexuality, religion and in particular the idea of an initiation rite. Now I feel one shouldn't take such analysis too seriously. If it is done in a negative way - implying that the critic has 'found out' the hidden faults of the work - then it usually becomes simply annoying. But Wrigley is writing as a fan of the books he is analysing, and does offer plenty of insightful comment on these three works.
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Yen, Corina
| The Man Who Lied to His Laptop
| Current, 2010 | ISBN: 9781617230011
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Computers are not living beings right? Well according to the results described in The Man Who Lied to His Laptop: What Machines Teach Us About Human Relationships by Clifford Nass and Corina Yen, it seems that people often behave as if they were - as if computers are people too.
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Zalesne, E. Kinney
| Microtrends
| Allen Lane, 2007 | ISBN: 9781846140426
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Plenty of people try to predict what 'The Next Big Thing' is likely to be. In Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Today's Big Changes, Mark Penn and E. Kinney Zalesne take a different approach. They look at trends which are happening now, which involve a small proportion of the population, which nevertheless adds up to a considerable number of people.
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Zimbardo, Philip
| The Time Paradox
| Rider, 2008 | ISBN: 9781846041549
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There are plenty of hours in the day, but time is one thing we never seem to have enough of. In The Time Paradox: The New Psychology of Time That Will Change Your Life Philip Zimbardo and John Boyd argue that the way we think of time plays an important part in how we live our lives.
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Zucker, Jonny
| Never in a million years
| Orion Books, 2011 | ISBN: 1409140229
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Many people have speculated about what the future will be like. The trouble is that the future eventually gets here. In Never in a million years: a history of hopeless predictions from the beginning to the end of the world Ivor Baddiel and Jonny Zucker look at some predictions which haven't been bourne out by reality.
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Zusak, Markus
| The Book Thief
| Transworld Publishers, 2005 | ISBN: 9780552773898
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Nazi Germany. For reasons she doesn't quite understand - something to do with the word Kommunist - nine year old Liesel is going to live with a foster family. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is her story.
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