Sceptre Burn. A Story of Fire, Woods and Healing Short Ben

From the author of Unbroken – a major motion picture releasing in 2015 – this is the bestselling true story of three men and their dreams for a racehorse, Seabiscuit • In 1938 one figure received more press coverage than Mussolini, Hitler or Roosevelt. He was a cultural icon and a world-class athlete – and an undersized, crooked-legged racehorse by the name of Seabiscuit • Misunderstood and mishandled, Seabiscuit had spent seasons floundering in the lowest ranks of racing until a chance meeting of three men. Together, they created a champion. This is a story which topped the bestseller charts for over two years; a riveting tale of grit, grace, luck and an underdog’s stubborn determination to win against all odds

В триумфальной работе "Большой экран. История фильмов и того, что они с нами сделали" Дэвид Томсон, один из величайших ныне живущих экспертов в области кино и автор Нового биографического словаря кино, рассказывает захватывающую историю кино и о том, как оно сформировало нас • Путешествуя с нами по всему миру, во времени и в различных средствах массовой информации, Томсон отслеживает, как мы изначально были очарованы этой завораживающей имитацией жизни, и позволяет фильмам - историям, звездам, внешнему виду - показывать нам, как жить. Но в то же время он показывает нам, как фильмы, предлагающие соблазнительный побег от повседневной реальности и связанных с ней обязанностей, позволили нам полностью уйти от жизни • Книга на английском языке • In this triumphant work David Thomson, one of film's greatest living experts and author of The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, tells the enthralling story of the movies and how they have shaped us

Einstein’s Fridge tells the story of how scientists uncovered the least known and yet most consequential of all the sciences, and learned to harness the power of heat and ice • The laws of thermodynamics govern everything from the behaviour of atoms to that of living cells, from the engines that power our world to the black hole at the centre of our galaxy. Not only that, but thermodynamics explains why we must eat and breathe, how the lights come on, and ultimately how the universe will end. The people who decoded its laws came from every branch of the sciences – they were engineers, physicists, chemists, biologists, cosmologists and mathematicians • Their discoveries, set over two hundred years, kick-started the industrial revolution, changed the course of world wars and informed modern understanding of black holes

Lu Xun (Lu Hsun) is arguably the greatest writer of modern China, and is considered by many to be the founder of modern Chinese literature. Lu Xun's stories both indict outdated Chinese traditions and embrace China's cultural richness and individuality. This volume presents brand-new translations by Julia Lovell of all of Lu Xun's stories, including 'The Real Story of Ah-Q', 'Diary of a Madman', 'A Comedy of Ducks', 'The Divorce' and 'A Public Example', among others. With an afterword by Yiyun Li

Sergei Shchukin was a highly successful textiles merchant in the latter half of the nineteenth century, but he also had a great eye for beauty. He was one of the first to appreciate the qualities of the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists and to acquire works by Cezanne, Matisse, and Picasso. A trailblazer in the Russian art world, Shchukin and his collection shocked, provoked, and inspired awe, ridicule, and derision among his contemporaries • This is the first English language biography of Sergei Shchukin, written by art historian Natalya Semenova and adapted by Shchukin's grandson Andre Delocque. Featuring personal diary entries, correspondence, interviews, and archival research, it brings to light the life of a man who has hitherto remained in the shadows, and shows how despite his controversial reputation, he opened his collection to the public, inspiring a future generation of artists and changing the face of the Russian art world

Winner of the Duff Cooper Prize, King Leopold's Ghost is the true and haunting account of Leopold's brutal regime and its lasting effect on a ruined nation. With an introduction by award-winning novelist Barbara Kingsolver • In the late nineteenth century, when the great powers in Europe were tearing Africa apart and seizing ownership of land for themselves, King Leopold of Belgium took hold of the vast and mostly unexplored territory surrounding the Congo River. In his devastatingly barbarous colonization of this area, Leopold stole its rubber and ivory, pummelled its people and set up a ruthless regime that would reduce the population by half. While he did all this, he carefully constructed an image of himself as a deeply feeling humanitarian

It is 1941. There may be a 'war of chaos' in the skies over London, but 'the perpetual war against the underworld of crime' must nevertheless continue on the streets below • At 12 o'clock on a Spring day in a London Coroner's Court, famed forensic pathologist Dr Keith Simpson asks young journalist Molly Lefebure if she might like to become his secretary. Recalling the 'horror of secretarial work and secretarial young ladies', she turns him down flat, resolving to stick to twelve-hour days covering 'everything from Boy Scout meetings to the blitz' • By 3 o'clock that afternoon, curious about exactly what goes on behind a mortuary door, Molly has changed her mind. It is the beginning of an extraordinary adventure. 'Miss Molly' becomes Dr Simpson's right-hand woman, following him to crime scenes, courtrooms and mortuaries, taking notes, collecting evidence and witnessing the most shocking of sights

Inflammation is the body's response to injury and foreign microbes. But as our environments and diets have changed, low-level inflammation, simmering quietly and undetected, has been identified behind everything from heart disease and cancer to mysterious autoimmune conditions • Shilpa Ravella is a doctor at the forefront of this field, specialising in gut transplants, nutrition and the microbiome. In A Silent Fire she interweaves the latest research with unusual case studies from her own practice to explain what we know about this elusive phenomenon. She debunks common myths about 'anti-inflammatory' lifestyles and explains the simple principles by which we can reform our relationship with food and our microbiomes to benefit our health

Trees have starred in stories ever since Ovid described the nymph Daphne's metamorphosis into a laurel, and the landscape of literature has long been enlivened by wild woodlands, sacred groves, and fertile orchards. This delightful collection ranges from Ovid to Austen and from Robin Hood's Sherwood Forest (via Thomas Love Peacock's Maid Marian) to Washington Irving's 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow'. Here are forest-haunted fairy tales both classic (the Brothers Grimm) and inventively retold (Angela Carter). There is room in these woods for comedy as well as terror, in Stella Gibbons's Cold Comfort Farm, and Alexander McCall Smith's 'Head Tree'. Notable writers from around the world contribute arboreal fiction-from South Africa, Finland, France, Zimbabwe, Russia, Martinique, and India, as well as Britain, Ireland, Canada and America

Caught up in an oil spill, a dying seagull scrambles ashore to lay her final egg and lands on a balcony, where she meets Zorba, a big black cat from the port of Hamburg. The cat promises the seagull to look after the egg, not to eat the chick once it’s hatched and – most difficult of all – to teach the baby gull to fly. Will Zorba and his feline friends honour the promise and give Lucky, the adopted little seagull, the strength to discover her true nature? • A moving, uplifting and life-enhancing story with a strong environmental theme, Luis Sepulveda’s instant children’s classic has been a worldwide best-seller and is presented here with new drawings by acclaimed illustrator Satoshi Kitamura

On 24th November 1859, Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species was first published, selling out almost immediately. Describing the now well known theory that humans evolved through a process called natural selection, it became an instant classic and cemented Darwin as one of the greatest biologists of all time • However, he couldn't have done it without the support, encouragement and advice from those who believed in him. None more so than Joseph Hooker, his friend, confidant and fellow collector, who supported and helped Darwin when he didn't dare ask anyone else. Hooker, too, had his own adventures and made his own discoveries – many of which not only aided Darwin, but went on to change what the world knew about plants. Becoming head of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, he came to be one the world's most influential botanists

William Cavendish, the father of the first Earl, dissolved monasteries for Henry VIII. Bess, his second wife, was gaoler-companion to Mary Queen of Scots during her long imprisonment in England. Arbella Stuart, their granddaughter, was a heartbeat away from the throne of England and their grandson, the Lord General of the North, fought to save the crown for Charles I • With the help of previously unpublished material from the Chatsworth archives, The Devonshires reveals how the dynasty made and lost fortunes, fought and fornicated, built great houses, patronised the arts and pioneered the railways, made great scientific discoveries, and, in the end, came to terms with changing times