That's Christmas: More Sherlock Holmes than James Herriot

That's Christmas: More Sherlock Holmes than James Herriot: More Sherlock Holmes than James Herriot is subtitled The Veterinary Detectives. Written by one such veterinary detective, Roger S. Winds...

Shifting Stories How changing their story can transform people

It's said that everyone has a story. But what if you could help people to change their story? What would happen to them? What would become of them?

In his new book, Shifting Stories How changing their story can transform people, Andrew Scott, a freelance management training consultant and coach who has worked with top blue chip organisations and many universities during the past three decades, points out that you can help people change their story and, therefore, change themselves.

If your job requires you to help others to become more effective in a workplace setting, then this book will be of immense value and help to you.

It uses a completely revolutionary approach  to addressing the life of your organisation in order for oyu to be better able to coach your staff members more effectively, boosting your team to work more successfully, deal with and resolve interpersonal difficulties, bring about change (by leadership!)  and resolve conflicts.

Andrew began a five year process of examining the multitude of different approaches that are available, ranging from Narrative Theraphy to CBT.

He has created a synthesis which has brought about a new and unique method to assist people to re-write the stories within their lives which, Andrew, contends, impede and block their progress, their abilities and their effectiveness.

The book is broken down inot three distinct sections.  

What's the Big Idea?

The ManyStory Approach in Approach in Practice

Concluding Thoughts.

Section one covers how everyone lives our lives through story, how problems could arise because of the stories that people have created, how people can make their stories come true, for good or for ill, sometimes,  and how people can be helped to work with their stories to achieve better, more positive outcomes.

Section two deals with how the ManyStory approach can be applied. There are a number of very helpful case studies that explore and demonstrate all aspects of the system.

The final section, section 3, brings together everything that has been learned, but it also examines instances where the system has been seen to have not worked and he examines the lessons that we can learn from them.

The book will be a useful tool in the tool kit available to anyone in Human Resources, training, business coaching and management.

It costs £14.99 and is published by Matador. Copies are available for purchase at our own book shop at >>> https://goo.gl/qPctIy.

That's Christmas: Actual Reality

That's Christmas: Actual Reality: We have all heard of Virtual Reality, but what of Actual Reality? Cat Mantra has spent his working life as a journalist and as a perform...

The Adventures of a Mzungu

In his latest book, The Adventures of a Mzungu, David Ardron takes a retrospective look back at his times spent travelling through the continent of Africa.

The book is a light-hearted and compelling look back at his times spent in Africa, whilst there for pleasurable travel and also for work.

He was a travelling novice when he first started his sojourns inot the African continent and he saw everything through the fresh and unjaded eyes of a travelling novice.

On his first visit to a shanty town in Nairobi, he was startled by a Masai security guard, enjoyed (if that's the correct word...) is first experience of public transport in Africa and managed to survive his first encounter with African wildlife. You will be glad to know that neither he, or the water buffalo, were any the worse for their mutual experience.

Throughout the coming years David met a great many interesting people, sometimes in hospital and prison visits, flew to and from a number of airports (an adventure in itself, to be honest) met even more wildlife (and, thankfully, continued to survive these encounters) and he even (somehow!) managed to survive his attempts at negotiating African traffic as a driver.

In 2007 he spent a year in Uganda, where he realised that there was a problem with the idea of arranging training for village church leaders. They had not the funding to attend training courses in distant cities, so David hit on the idea of bringing the necessary training to them, instead.

He found the required training course, found training to enable him to present the training courses and this is what he now does, taking the training to even the remotest villages where this training is desperately required.

This is a very inspirational book and it will make an ideal Christmas present for people who want to learn about travel and inspirational people like David Ardron.

The book isd from Matador and costs £11.99.

It's available to purchase at our own shop, here >>> https://goo.gl/qPctIy.

That's Christmas: A Cuddle of Cats

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Telling Tails: the Confessions of a Handyman

You may have heard of author E. James Chapman before.  His first book The Train Now Standing at Platform 3 is a pure joy to read. (I have just checked. It is still available and will make a super Christmas present.)

After living in Spain for several years British expat E. James Chapman has gathered a number of what he describes as "hilarious anecdotes" more, actually, than he could possibly hope to count.

In Telling Tales: the Confessions of a Handyman, he uses a mere seven of these hilarious anecdotes.

He points out that the majority of the stories actually happened to him and his family.

We read a compilation of seven stories that all, really, actually, took place in the southern Spanish area called Costa del Sol.

How did all this happen to him? Perhaps, upon quiet reflection, he might have had an easier life if he had not taken the expat career that he did. That of a property manager-cum-butler within the expat community in the costa del Sol!

In the pages of the book we meet a whole array of characters from the barking mad to the bewildered and from the lustful to the loony. But all, the author assures us, fictional! Of course...

We meet Helga, a sort of Viking troll, the mysterious signals used -or not!- by ladies who might be requiring some type of servicing arrangement, involving a certain brand of powder detergent or a brand of coffee much loved in Spain.

Learn what happened when the secret lift urinator was discovered and his utterly bizarre excuse for micturating in the lift of the complex, why a police officer got hit in a highly unfortunate part og his anatomy by a flying TV remote control, how the advent of a secret CCTV system gave one poor resident far, far more than he bargained for. Or even wanted, poor fellow. Three hours worth, apparently.

There are problematic building contractors, Pepe the plumber -who looked, or so we are told, more like a Chippendale, than a plumber- and a whole host of other characters.

You might like to buy this book as a Christmas present. But if you do, buy two copies, one for you, too! It's published by Matador at £8.99 and includes some amusing line drawings, too.

You can purchase (and his first book) it at our very own shop, right here >>> https://goo.gl/qPctIy.

The Wolf of Dalriada

The Wolf of Dalriada is a historical novel set in the Highlands of Scotland.

It is set in 1793 and deals with the problems faced by Scottish landowners set against the backdrop of the painful and bloody revolution that was then sweeping through France.

If there is one person who is set to ride out these mighty and powerful forces for change, then it would be Malcolm Craig Lowrie. Otherwise known as The Wolf of Dalriada, a man who was a legend within his own lifetime.

The clearances in remote Argyll are causing horrors and heartaches for the populace and they are calling out for justice.

A beautiful and mysterious Frenchwoman is living under the malign thrall of the man who captured her, Sir William Robinson, a man whose debauchery was well known throughout the area.

His people need his protection. But can The Wolf of Dalriada prove equal to this challenge? Can he protect his people? Can The Wolf of Dalriada smash his enemies who, ruthless as they are, threaten to destroy all who are in their path?

And what about the debauched and wicked Sir William and his captured Frenchwoman? What is to become of them?

The Wolf of Dalriada is the start of a series of chronicles penned by debut author Elizabeth Gates and it is ideal for those who love their romances to be well written, historical and exciting.

It is published by Matador at £8.99 and makes an ideal stocking filler for the lover of historical romances.

You can purchase it here>>> https://goo.gl/qPctIy.

Rescuing God From Religion

In this slim volume author Muriel Seltman points out the sceptics should be able to "design their own God, free of religion."

She points out that, throughout the history of the human race, God or Gods have played a key role.

From her position as what she calls a "nontheist" she has written a book for those people who are wavering in their religious beliefs in a "creator-God" as she puts it.

They might feel a requirement for security, both of an intellectual and/or an emotional nature that can arise from the belief in a loving, personal God.

It might be hard, she argues, for individuals in these circumstances to question their faith and to, ultimately, reject their religion.

The purpose of the book is to encourage such sceptics to build their own idea of a God which can provide comfort and consolation but in a way that negates what she describes as "the burden of religious dogma."

It's an interesting book which costs £9.99 and is published by Matador.

It is available for purchase here>>> https://goo.gl/qPctIy.

That's Christmas: Peggy

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That's Christmas: The Haunted Painting on the Wall

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Rethinking Psychotherapy

Rethinking Psychotherapy is a new and very thought-provoking critique of the current mental health system and how psychotherapy is practiced.

Paul Hingston originally trained as a lawyer who began working in the financial sector.

He became used to working within a business environment that promoted and celebrated a culture in which a clear focus was maintained on the problem at hand. That also gave great value to the concept of the well-reasoned argument.

After Paul decided to embark on a radical re-think of his career path and to train as a psychotherapist, he was shocked and horrified to discover that there was no such culture within the field of psychotherapy, at all.

Over the last 15 years Paul has been employed as a private practice therapist who has also worked as a front line manager of mental health service providers.

The experiences that he has gained, plus his previous nine years during which he trained at some of the UK's top mental health institutions have combined together to enable him to offer a critique of modern psychotherapy that is worrying, challenging and yet, ultimately, inspiring.

He calls into question some dearly and long-held beliefs. He challenges the efficacy of using a diagnostic approach to the problem of everyday unhappiness.

He also questions the wisdom of, in effect, choosing to label as symptoms of mental illness what are, he asserts, merely perfectly normal and natural reactions to the challenges of life.

Paul believes that modern psychotherapy has it all wrong. Therapists should not, he concludes, provide treatment or encourage introspection. Instead, he avers, they should help clients to learn how to cope with and come to terms with unusual and/or distressing circumstances that they find themselves in by referencing them to a wider social and personal context.

The book will be of great value to all people who work in the field of mental health. It is published by Matador at £9.99 and is available for purchase here >>> https://goo.gl/qPctIy.

That's Christmas: The Film Director's Wife

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Calling Time

Calling Time is a new and extremely important novel by Judith Hereford.

Judith Hereford witnessed terrible cruelty being meted out to elderly people when she was in his first job as a young woman.

So she feels compelled to bring this issue to the attention of others.

(EDITOR: Recent reports of the jailing of two young women for acts of gross cruelty to elderly women at a carehome mean that, sadly, this book is of special relevance and should be read bearing that in mind.)

The novel draws on her own experiences and touches on a wide variety of highly emotive and equally important concepts regarding the provision of care for the elderly.

It follows the lives of two entirely different people, starting in the New Zealand of the 1950s.

There's Kristine and Angela.

Angela is concerned about the quality of life afforded to the elderly. So he decides to take matters into her own hands and kills four of the patients under her care to "put them out of their misery."

But it all goes wrong when a fifth victim causes questions to be asked into the matter.

As a result, Angela is frightened and decides to resign from her position.

However, Kristine is a model carer who would not dream of murdering those vulnerable elderly people who have been placed in her charge.

But after moving to the UK, Kristine finds that looking after her own mother-in-law is much more difficult than she could have imagined.

Eventually she realises that she cannot cope and takes the decision to have her mother-in-law placed within a nursing home.

The novel makes clever use of a variety of voices -care staff, residents, the matron, etc. to tell the story of how things can, and sadly, do, go so badly wrong with the residential care for the elderly.

This novel is published by Matador at £8.99 and is a very creditable debut novel. It is to be hoped that This is only the first of many novels from Judith Hereford.

It is available for purchase from our bookshop which you will find here >>> https://goo.gl/apr0hq.

The Cruelty of Free Will

In his book The Cruelty of Free Will, author Richard Oerton has written a sequel to his previous work, The Nonsense of Free Will.

He does not believe in the concept of free will and he argues his case against the concept of free will in a trenchant and erudite fashion.

He believes that free will is a cruel concept, that it brings about much confusion and causes untold amounts of destruction, incomprehension and outright cruelty.

He points out that the concept of free will is a dangerous one in that it rules out biological determination and cal cause people to blame others for matters that are not a product of free will at all, but of biological and environmental "luck."

This is an interesting book which students of biology, theology and atheism might like to read in order for them to better understand the human condition. And to learn more about their own viewpoints. 

It costs £8.49 and is published by Matador Books and is available to purchase at our very own book shop which you will find here>>>> https://goo.gl/apr0hq.

Madeira in a Nutshell

Madeira in a Nutshell is described as the essential guide to Madeira.

Written and compiled by travel expert Anita Montonen, Madeira in a Nutshell tells you all you need to know about the green and luscious archipelago of Madeira.

There are are stunning selection of bright and colourful images, and you'll never be short of places to go and things to do as there are details of in excess of 200 wonderful attractions that you can visit.

Plus there are over 70 festivals and events that you can enjoy attending.

And if you really delight in really getting into the swing of things when you are on holiday, there is a special section that contains a list of some 300 useful words and phrases in Portuguese, to help you really get to know the local population that little bit more.

But that's not all! There's also an amazing food vocabulary plus listings of local speciality foods and drinks for you to try out.

Learn about the wine that Madeira is famed for, visit the wineries and the special wine museums (there's more than just one!)  and enjoy learning about local plants, flowers and trees, especially those housed in over 30 stunning and spectacular parks and speciality gardens.

For those of you who want to get out and about for some great sporting action, you'll learn of 40 sports and activities that are available for your enjoyment on Madeira. Plus there's another section of activities that are specifically aimed at children and teenagers.

Learn about the local geography, the culture, the history and the arts that go together to make Madeira a very unique place for a vacation.

And learn the best places to hunt down great souvenirs in a host of traditional shopping area, some modern shopping centres and speciality shopping streets.

There are also some useful colour maps, too.

There's even a section at the back for you to include your own notes!

This is an ideal Christmas gift for the armchair traveller or for the person who is going to holiday in Madeira.

The book is published by AM-Marketing at £20.00. It is available at the That's Books and Entertainment book and gift shop which you will find here>>> https://goo.gl/WNNZUm.

That's Christmas: Arcanum

That's Christmas: Arcanum: Arcanum is a stunning psychic novel that is set in Ireland, in the past and the present. It is written by author Ann Mann. A troupe of...

A new Detective Inspector Moon novel is out! Blood Ties

Blood Ties is the latest novel in the Detective Inspector Charlie Moon series.

It's two years on from the events in the novel The Silent Passage, which saw DI Moon suspended for not following the rules.

He's now back on the job, yet he has a disturbing, nagging feeling that his superiors are waiting for him to make one more mistake so that they can dispense with his services.

A body is discovered hidden under a pile of leaves deep within the centre of some woodland.

The investigation is given to DI Moon and it sets him off on a case that is interesting and filled with a number of surprises.

The victim is fairly rapidly identified as being a local minor villain by the name of Sean Mattox. The cause of death was identified as being a shotgun blas from fairly close quarters.

There are no links established to the place where the victim was found and the forensic evidence is worryingly scant.

As DI Moon proceeds through the investigation he is stymied by one dead end after another.

He again seeks out the assistance of his journalist friend Jo Lyon. As the investigation stumbles on, they uncover a trail that eventually leads to a case involving a missing person and a case of sexual abuse.

Nothing seems to fit, there are reports of strange events in country lanes, but surely these are unrelated to the murder? DI Moon is not so certain and, eventually, he begins to make some rather startling discoveries.

Will he be able to bring the killer of Sean Mattox to justice? Or will his superiors scupper his chances?

This book will make a great stocking filler for all fans of detective novels and it comes from the pen of Jenny Francis, the pen name of writing team Patricia Scudamore and Hilton Catt.

It's published by Matdor at £8.99 and is available for purchase at the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop, which is just here >>>> https://goo.gl/WNNZUm.

That's Christmas: The A to Z of Stuff The Indispensable compendium o...

That's Christmas: The A to Z of Stuff The Indispensable compendium o...: The A to Z of Stuff, The Indispensable compendium of wisdom, as it is subtitled is one of those "must buy" Christmas presents th...

Religion Can Be Fun

Religion Can Be Fun is a light-hearted and humours approach to how religion can be taught as a subject.

Huib van Hoeven, who lives in the English county of Norfolk has spent a great many years doing religion. This has included a wide range of activities from conducting intercessions to leading morning praise services.

Yet Huib is, rightly, some would say, concerned about how religion is often portrayed as being very serious. And this, he believes, is why it often fails to give a spark to the imagination of younger people.

In his book he points out that religion does not have to be dull or boring and can, actually, be a whole lot of fun, instead.

But how can this be achieved, you might ask?

Huib's own worship style is light in heart and aims to bring a smile to the face of those who are wanting to learn more about religion.

He is quoted as saying: "In general the church comes over as heavy and serious and vestments, rituals and practices that are seen as incomprehensible."

He goes on  to say that "though the High Church (so called) has many followers, it has little place for the younger generation. In compiling this book, I hope to show there can be another side to religion, which may be more attractive to younger people."

Huib believes that the church could offer much more to people, especially younger people.

Readers of the book are challenged to experience the impact of the powerful messages that are contained within this book and see the differences they make within themselves.

For those who are sceptical or who are doubters, it is the intention of Huib to show them how they can take the opportunity to rethink their position on their views on God and religion.

Readers who might feel that they are at the end of their tether could, Huib hopes, face their life with renewed vigor and stimulation.

It contains stories from the Bible, including Paul's shipwreck, how to recharge our batteries, a prayer for laughter and a whole host of other contents.

The forward is written by Jonathan Meyrick, the Bishop of Lynn.

Published by Matdor at £7.99, this book is a wonderful companion for those wishing to learn more about the Christian religion.

It's an easy, yet thought-provoking read and will make an admirable Christmas present.

It can be purchased at The That's Books and Entertainment book and gift shop which you can access here https://goo.gl/WNNZUm.

That's Christmas: Love is Small Talk

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That's Christmas: Ben and the Spider Lake

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That's Christmas: Mischief

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That's Christmas: Blackmail

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That's Christmas: The Boathouse

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That's Christmas: Amazing Pages has a perfect stunner of a gift for ...

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Visions of the Righteousness of God

Visions of the Righteousness of God is a new book on theology from Dr Danson Enogiomwan Ubebe.

It starts with the concept of who created god and covers the structure of the human spirit, the soul and the body.

It then takes a renewed look at the Gospel  of grace and offers the reader a fascinating insight into the mystery of what, exactly, the concept of grace is all about,.

It also examines the visible and the invisible world and the fall of Lucifer and of man.

It also covers a wide range of other theological subjects and topics including the Judgement, the Second Coming of Christ, the demise of the world (as we know it) the Garden of Eden and much more besides.

A Theologian told the reviewer: "It is obvious that the author has put an awful lot of work and thought into the studies that underlie this book."

This book will make a fine Christmas present for students of theology or those who want to know things about religious matters.

It is available in paperback at £9.99 and can be bought through the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop at this address:- https://goo.gl/flkjvu.

That's Christmas: Voice Behind the Mask

That's Christmas: Voice Behind the Mask: The book Voice Behind the Mask is a thrilling book by Doctor George Lahoud, MD. From the first page I was gripped by the terse yet compe...

A Healing of Gardens

A Healing of Gardens is a debut novel from the pen of L R Gray.

It's the first part of a two part series and it concentrates on the life of Jackie, who is a young boy who leads a sad life.

He is part English, part German and part Gypsy. But due largely to his appearance (which horrifies and disturbs people) he is cruelly and heartlessly rejected by his own family and rendered utterly friendless.

On his 15th birthday Jackie is taken in bu his paternal grandmother.

Although a "high born" Romany Gypsy, she, too, knows isolation, as she is, in effect, isolated.

She teaches him the secrets of operating her various business enterprises. Unfortunately she also inculcates within him her own warped character traits, her vicious, cold nature, her cruelty and her detestation of any sign of weakness.

This has a deleterious impact on young Jackie as it has a negative impact on his sanity and on the people who try to get close to him.

It's also the story of some beautiful people who are involved within his life.

Especially, there is Suzanne who is a young and attractive artist who he meets later on in his life.

She realises that Jackie is a tormented and troubled soul and she sees within him what ha cannot see within himself.

Their relationship is a troubled one, beset by horrors as cruelty upon cruelty threatens the sanity of both of them.

This is a hardback novel published by Matador and the adult themes that it covers are both disturbing and electrifying.

It costs £10.99 and is available at the That's Books and Entertainment Bookshop https://goo.gl/KUU3gK.