Book review blog site, with some entertainment material from time-to-time.
Friday, 30 March 2012
That's Parenting: Babies All Wrapped Up - Dr Claire Winstanley
That's Parenting: Babies All Wrapped Up - Dr Claire Winstanley: Bristol based GP Dr Claire Winstanley has just released her first all encompassing baby book for information on dealing with pre...
Wednesday, 21 March 2012
How the Secrets of a Better Memory Lead to Success – Tony Buzan's 'Most Important Graph' Reveals All
How to Remember….And Be Remembered
Tony’s much spoken about and long awaited ‘Most Important Graph’ shines a spotlight on the 7.5 key principles of human memory and demonstrates how you can apply an intelligent and practical approach to both remembering and staying memorable, for the right reasons, in all aspects of your life.
Through a blend of wit and wisdom, common sense and scientific knowledge, he explains how even a simple understanding of memory can open up new possibilities for managing yourself and influencing others, helping you make the jump from ‘average’ to wildly successful in very little time.
Memory – No Longer a Dull Subject
‘The Most Important Graph in the World’, co-written with Jennifer Goddard and Jorge Castaneda, is a culmination of decades of research on learning, recall and achievement. It provides a whole new take on what is traditionally a dry and sterile subject, encapsulating the important memory principles of Primacy, Recency, Von Restorff (Imagination), Association, Understanding and Misunderstanding, Interest and Meaning all in one unique, vivid, vibrant and life-changing graph.
The ‘Most Important Graph’ proves what all great CEOs, speakers, teachers, athletes, parents, professionals and students already know – that being aware of how you and others learn is paramount to what you can do and achieve. Using the Primacy principle (which states that people remember more information from the beginning of an experience) you can make all your first impressions count. Similarly, the Recency principle (which holds that people remember more information from the end of an experience), helps you finish any task, communication or venture on a positive high. Better yet, the Von Restorff principle (people remember anything outstanding, different or unique about an experience) is there to encourage you to add that ‘wow’ factor in everything you do, bringing more and more peaks to your own success graph.
In Tony’s book, you will also learn the value of regular breaks and of making associations, how to overcome misunderstandings, and how to sustain high levels of interest (yours and others) at all times.
A Graph? Or a ‘Formula for Life’?
Tony Buzan says, “The Most Important Graph in the World is far more than just a graph about memory - it’s a formula for life! {{This graph unleashes powerful truths about how we all learn and behave.}} It is my sincere hope that people will pay attention to these truths and, from this moment on, embrace them wholeheartedly to plot new paths of success.”
The vital knowledge presented by this graph empowers you to:
• Deliver speeches and presentations that hit the mark
• Acquire more and more new skills
• Enjoy positive social interactions and harmonious relationships
• Plan any kind of event or meeting
• Develop PR and marketing with real impact
• Design unique products and services
• Raise your creativity and intelligence
• Bring clients to your door
• Maximise your time
• Protect your legacy
…and create a more meaningful, memorable life.
Learn the Secrets of Successful Orators, Athletes and Business Magnates
The people and organisations that already understand and employ the power of this graph are leaders in their respective fields. In this book, readers learn how US President Barack Obama compels his audiences to sit up and listen; how Richard Branson, head of the Virgin empire, never fails to create a dramatic and remarkable impact whenever he launches a new product or service; and how Sir Steven Redgrave became the ultimate Olympic athlete, winning five consecutive gold medals in rowing. All their secrets, and more, are revealed in this single graph.
From 6 Million Copy Bestselling Author and Inventor of Mind Maps
Tony Buzan is a man on a mission. In his long and prolific career as a speaker, consultant and author of over 100 books, Tony has helped countless people around the globe to unlock their creativity, improve their memory and boost their thinking skills. Known to millions as the inventor of Mind Mapping, he has been the instrumental driving force behind global mental literacy. Tony has worked with some of the world’s most high profile organisations, governments, universities, leaders, athletes, performers and academics, as well as children of all ages.
Now for the first time, he has committed to paper the subject which has long captivated his audiences with his new book ‘The Most Important Graph in the World’. In this completely new work, Tony reveals how a simple understanding of memory and its improvement can instantly and dramatically change our lives and the lives of those around us.
‘The Most Important Graph in the World’, published on 12th April 2012 by Proactive Press (£14.99, 210 pages, paperback, ISBN: 978-1-908934-01-7), is available via Amazon.co.uk.
For more information on the book and the author, please visit the Most Important Graph website
Saturday, 17 March 2012
London Labour and the London Poor by Henry Mayhew
London Labour and the London Poor was an extremely important book of the Victorian era and is still used as a textbook on Victorian working-class life.
It was the first book of its kind, examining in great, almost forensic, detail the lives of the poor people of London.
It can with great reason be called ground-breaking because it was the first systemic examination of how the poor of London lived and worked.
It is a readable as a novel, so well-written and sympathetically drawn are the real people that Mayhew captured in print for the very first time.
This edition has been edited by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst who has done an excellent job in selecting items from the original two volumes. It includes some of the original illustrations, too.
It contains an introduction to Henry Mayhew and reveals how and why the book came to be written.
It is in paperback and costs £8.99 and is published by the OUP. It is published on 12th April and will be available from the That's Books bookshop.
It was the first book of its kind, examining in great, almost forensic, detail the lives of the poor people of London.
It can with great reason be called ground-breaking because it was the first systemic examination of how the poor of London lived and worked.
It is a readable as a novel, so well-written and sympathetically drawn are the real people that Mayhew captured in print for the very first time.
This edition has been edited by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst who has done an excellent job in selecting items from the original two volumes. It includes some of the original illustrations, too.
It contains an introduction to Henry Mayhew and reveals how and why the book came to be written.
It is in paperback and costs £8.99 and is published by the OUP. It is published on 12th April and will be available from the That's Books bookshop.
Monday, 12 March 2012
That's Home and Household: Pens Poised For London Stationery Show
That's Home and Household: Pens Poised For London Stationery Show: The pens - and notebooks - we use say a lot about us. Pens and stationery have successfully made the transition from being purely function...
Friday, 9 March 2012
That's Travel: Make Mother's Day An Opportunity To Potter And Rei...
That's Travel: Make Mother's Day An Opportunity To Potter And Rei...: The Lindeth Howe Country House Hotel in Bowness-on-Windermere is turning Mother’s Day on its head this year by inviting children of all ages...
An Unbearable Truth By Trudy Dean Cosh
A horrific inner-city attack on a young woman, a tragic shooting accident in the Gloucestershire countryside. These two unrelated events, divided by geography, time and class, set two men on a deadly collision course that will see them both degraded, imprisoned and driven to commit horrific crimes.
Colin Millard grows up on the poverty line, unloved and unwanted and not his father's son. Driven to despair, he leaves home at fifteen, only to have his trust abused once more and end up eking out an existence in London's underworld. He has become violent, unpredictable and cruel, especially to women. When he meets Jane, she believes he can be redeemed through a life of normality and love, but men like Colin do not know the meaning of redemption, as Jane will soon find out.
Oliver Johnson is deeply affected by the sudden death of his brother, an event that tears his well-to-do family apart. But Oliver is strong, he flourishes academically, builds a successful career and dotes on his wife Elise and young daughter Amelia. That Amelia would ever come into contact with the likes of Colin Millard is naturally unthinkable.
Then the unthinkable happens.
Author: Trudy Dean Cosh gained a BA Honours degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Bedfordshire. She has worked variously as an airline stewardess, a graphic designer and currently with special needs pupils at a Bedford school. She lives in Moggerhanger, Bedfordshire.
Book details:
Out: 26th April 2012
£15.99 Hardback
ISBN: 978-1-84624-689-0
216 x 135 mm
136 pages
FA: Modern and Contemporary Fiction
078: Fiction
This will appeal to fans of hard-hitting female thriller writers such Tess Gerritsen and Val McDermid.
Colin Millard grows up on the poverty line, unloved and unwanted and not his father's son. Driven to despair, he leaves home at fifteen, only to have his trust abused once more and end up eking out an existence in London's underworld. He has become violent, unpredictable and cruel, especially to women. When he meets Jane, she believes he can be redeemed through a life of normality and love, but men like Colin do not know the meaning of redemption, as Jane will soon find out.
Oliver Johnson is deeply affected by the sudden death of his brother, an event that tears his well-to-do family apart. But Oliver is strong, he flourishes academically, builds a successful career and dotes on his wife Elise and young daughter Amelia. That Amelia would ever come into contact with the likes of Colin Millard is naturally unthinkable.
Then the unthinkable happens.
Author: Trudy Dean Cosh gained a BA Honours degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Bedfordshire. She has worked variously as an airline stewardess, a graphic designer and currently with special needs pupils at a Bedford school. She lives in Moggerhanger, Bedfordshire.
Book details:
Out: 26th April 2012
£15.99 Hardback
ISBN: 978-1-84624-689-0
216 x 135 mm
136 pages
FA: Modern and Contemporary Fiction
078: Fiction
This will appeal to fans of hard-hitting female thriller writers such Tess Gerritsen and Val McDermid.
Off Beam, Off Side, Off Menu An Appeal From The Catholic Pews By Kevin Clarke
Off Beam, Off Side, Off Menu An Appeal from the Catholic Pews by Kevin Clarke
A personal, impassioned analysis of the failings of the Catholic Church
Kevin Clarke was born into a Catholic household and brought up within a staunchly Catholic community in England. As a youngster, he accepted the teachings and routines of the Church without question. Decades later, he is still an enthusiastic Catholic, but is now prepared to ask questions and demand answers from those responsible for leading the Church.
In an effort to understand just how the Church reached its present condition, he goes right back to basics and the foundations of the faith. He looks first at God's gifts to us, including creation, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and then moves on to examine our own response to God: what makes up the Church, how does it all work, and what effect have the various Church Councils had over the centuries? In the light of Vatican II and its aftermath, he raises some very pertinent questions about change and the Church's current direction. Finally he asks, 'Where do we go from here?' in the positive hope that the future will bring forth a Church more closely 'attuned to the joys and hopes, the grief and anguish of the peoples of our time'.
Author:
Kevin Clarke is a Chartered Surveyor and has worked in the private sector for 40 years in the UK, US, Middle East and Far East. He gained an MA in Comptemporary Theology and Canon Law both at Heythrop College in the University of London. He lives in London W8.
Book details:
Out: 26th April 2012
£9.99 Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-84624-685-2
216 x 135 mm
234 pages
HRCC7: Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholic Church
079: Non-Fiction
Passionately argued personal appeal to the Catholic Church to rethink its attitudes in today's world. An intelligent and thoughtful approach by an ordinary 'man in the pew'. An inspirational challenge to leaders and laity alike.
A personal, impassioned analysis of the failings of the Catholic Church
Kevin Clarke was born into a Catholic household and brought up within a staunchly Catholic community in England. As a youngster, he accepted the teachings and routines of the Church without question. Decades later, he is still an enthusiastic Catholic, but is now prepared to ask questions and demand answers from those responsible for leading the Church.
In an effort to understand just how the Church reached its present condition, he goes right back to basics and the foundations of the faith. He looks first at God's gifts to us, including creation, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and then moves on to examine our own response to God: what makes up the Church, how does it all work, and what effect have the various Church Councils had over the centuries? In the light of Vatican II and its aftermath, he raises some very pertinent questions about change and the Church's current direction. Finally he asks, 'Where do we go from here?' in the positive hope that the future will bring forth a Church more closely 'attuned to the joys and hopes, the grief and anguish of the peoples of our time'.
Author:
Kevin Clarke is a Chartered Surveyor and has worked in the private sector for 40 years in the UK, US, Middle East and Far East. He gained an MA in Comptemporary Theology and Canon Law both at Heythrop College in the University of London. He lives in London W8.
Book details:
Out: 26th April 2012
£9.99 Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-84624-685-2
216 x 135 mm
234 pages
HRCC7: Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholic Church
079: Non-Fiction
Passionately argued personal appeal to the Catholic Church to rethink its attitudes in today's world. An intelligent and thoughtful approach by an ordinary 'man in the pew'. An inspirational challenge to leaders and laity alike.
Sunday, 4 March 2012
Forget the Fear of Food, The Essential Guide, by Dr Chris Finn
Forget the Fear of Food The Essential Guide by Dr Chris Finn is an interesting book.
Nutritional consultant Dr Finn covers a wide variety of topics in her book. She asks, and answers a number of questions such as:-
Why can low fat foods make you fat? How can 'dieting' make you put on weight? And how do you stop food controlling you?
The book contains much good advice and information on what happens when we eat, why some people eat more than they really should, the psychology of eating and dieting and how we can learn to control what we eat and not let what we eat control us.
However, a point of caution. The book seems to point out problems but fails to address them adequately. Dr Finn seems to imply that exercise will not help to reduce weight, and that sugar is the food of the devil.
She bases this on the fact that in 1972 John Yudkin published a book called 'Pure, White and Deadly' in which he roundly attacks sugar as being responsible for much of the ills besetting mankind. Although doubt has been placed on the results of his research. ("What's that professor? You fed a rat the equivalent of a human eating 100 pounds a day and it fell ill? Remarkable!" is a parody of the arguments raised, but there is a fair point. Rats aren't people and deal with sugar in a different way to people. )
I feel that the book would have worked better with an index, but it is a worthwhile book, even so.
It is published by Need to Know Books in paperback at £9.99.
Nutritional consultant Dr Finn covers a wide variety of topics in her book. She asks, and answers a number of questions such as:-
Why can low fat foods make you fat? How can 'dieting' make you put on weight? And how do you stop food controlling you?
The book contains much good advice and information on what happens when we eat, why some people eat more than they really should, the psychology of eating and dieting and how we can learn to control what we eat and not let what we eat control us.
However, a point of caution. The book seems to point out problems but fails to address them adequately. Dr Finn seems to imply that exercise will not help to reduce weight, and that sugar is the food of the devil.
She bases this on the fact that in 1972 John Yudkin published a book called 'Pure, White and Deadly' in which he roundly attacks sugar as being responsible for much of the ills besetting mankind. Although doubt has been placed on the results of his research. ("What's that professor? You fed a rat the equivalent of a human eating 100 pounds a day and it fell ill? Remarkable!" is a parody of the arguments raised, but there is a fair point. Rats aren't people and deal with sugar in a different way to people. )
I feel that the book would have worked better with an index, but it is a worthwhile book, even so.
It is published by Need to Know Books in paperback at £9.99.
Friday, 2 March 2012
Equality, Freedom & Religion a book by Roger Trigg
In this lively well-written and excellent book Roger Twigg looks at the difficult field of religious freedom and equality.
He asks some hard and pertinent questions. Whilst acknowledging that equality and human rights are of vital importance he wonders if the religious freedom of some people are being curtailed in the pursuit of equality?
If enough is being dome to maker accommodations for those in society who are motivated by their religious beliefs and their religious conscience?
He notes that in some societies the right to exercise religious beliefs -enshrined in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, the U.S. Constitution and the European Convention of Human Rights amongst other such formal and legal espousals of human rights- are increasingly becoming subordinated or even set aside in the pursuit of other priorities such as social policy, etc.
He examines several very knotty issues. He gives examples of a number of cases in which there is what could be viewed as an erosion of freedom of religion.
He points out that some efforts to promote human rights by attempting to control what religious people are allowed to do can have unforeseen and negative consequences. He gives as an example the decision in Britain to repeal the Blasphemy Law which protected the rights of followers of the Christian faith to be protected from "scurrilous attack."
Trigg points out that the aim of that law was not to prevent "rational debate and trenchant criticism on the one hand, and attempts to denigrate religious beliefs in ways that are shocking, and often obscene, on the other."
He went on to suggest that there was no suggestion that the blasphemy law curtailed debate (the law, as Trigg notes was rarely invoked) but that the main objection to the law that seemed to be only intended to place a "thin veneer" of civility upon the discussion of religion was that it gave special protection to the beliefs of Christians.
Rather than decide to extend this protection to cover all religious beliefs, the decision to remove it from Christian faiths was taken. This, then, points out Trigg, was equality of a sort. All religions were, apparently, to be equal in that all could be subject to abuse or intolerance!
As Trigg notes this form of equality is not favoured by most people of other faiths, although their feelings was a reason (excuse?) for this action in the first place.
He looks at historical examples of tolerance and intolerance (the works of John Locke and what they helped to create) and how his support for the so-called Glorious Revolution changed religious freedom in Britain.
He takes an interesting look at those who apparently feel that there should be a theocratic government and those who feel that religion should have no place in public life whatsoever.
It is a very interesting book and will be of great value to students of human rights and religious tolerance all over the world.
It is published by the Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-957685-2.
It costs £25.00 in hardback, but is available at the discounted price of £23.75 at this location:-
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Equality-Freedom-Religion-Roger-Trigg/dp/0199576858/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330685339&sr=8-1
He asks some hard and pertinent questions. Whilst acknowledging that equality and human rights are of vital importance he wonders if the religious freedom of some people are being curtailed in the pursuit of equality?
If enough is being dome to maker accommodations for those in society who are motivated by their religious beliefs and their religious conscience?
He notes that in some societies the right to exercise religious beliefs -enshrined in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, the U.S. Constitution and the European Convention of Human Rights amongst other such formal and legal espousals of human rights- are increasingly becoming subordinated or even set aside in the pursuit of other priorities such as social policy, etc.
He examines several very knotty issues. He gives examples of a number of cases in which there is what could be viewed as an erosion of freedom of religion.
He points out that some efforts to promote human rights by attempting to control what religious people are allowed to do can have unforeseen and negative consequences. He gives as an example the decision in Britain to repeal the Blasphemy Law which protected the rights of followers of the Christian faith to be protected from "scurrilous attack."
Trigg points out that the aim of that law was not to prevent "rational debate and trenchant criticism on the one hand, and attempts to denigrate religious beliefs in ways that are shocking, and often obscene, on the other."
He went on to suggest that there was no suggestion that the blasphemy law curtailed debate (the law, as Trigg notes was rarely invoked) but that the main objection to the law that seemed to be only intended to place a "thin veneer" of civility upon the discussion of religion was that it gave special protection to the beliefs of Christians.
Rather than decide to extend this protection to cover all religious beliefs, the decision to remove it from Christian faiths was taken. This, then, points out Trigg, was equality of a sort. All religions were, apparently, to be equal in that all could be subject to abuse or intolerance!
As Trigg notes this form of equality is not favoured by most people of other faiths, although their feelings was a reason (excuse?) for this action in the first place.
He looks at historical examples of tolerance and intolerance (the works of John Locke and what they helped to create) and how his support for the so-called Glorious Revolution changed religious freedom in Britain.
He takes an interesting look at those who apparently feel that there should be a theocratic government and those who feel that religion should have no place in public life whatsoever.
It is a very interesting book and will be of great value to students of human rights and religious tolerance all over the world.
It is published by the Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-957685-2.
It costs £25.00 in hardback, but is available at the discounted price of £23.75 at this location:-
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Equality-Freedom-Religion-Roger-Trigg/dp/0199576858/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330685339&sr=8-1
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