A modern understanding of the world is unthinkable without science, but what exactly is it? What does it mean to say that something is scientific? How are its results justified? From the genetic basis of life, to the structures of the universe and the atom, Understand Philosophy of Science explores how the key ideas that shape our world have been developed. This book gives you a broad overview of the history of science in the West and the rise of modern science from the 17th century. It contains an in-depth exploration of the issues of science and authority and its social, political and economic contexts. This fully updated new edition covers recent developments including quantum theory and the mapping of the human genome.

The ability to plan your career is crucial to anyone who wants to advance their career. Written by Wendy Hirsh and Charles Jackson, a leading experts on career planning, this book quickly teaches you the insider secrets you need to know to in order work your way to where you want to be. The highly motivational 'in a week' structure of the book provides seven straightforward chapters explaining the key points, and at the end there are optional questions to ensure you have taken it all in. There are also cartoons and diagrams throughout, to help make this book a more enjoyable and effective learning experience. So what are you waiting for? Let this book put you on the fast track to success!

The ability to give a successful presentation is crucial to anyone who wants to advance their career. Written by Malcolm Peel, a leading expert on presenting as both a coach and a practitioner, this book quickly teaches you the insider secrets you need to know to in order to get your audience to do what you want them to do. The highly motivational 'in a week' structure of the book provides seven straightforward chapters explaining the key points, and at the end there are optional questions to ensure you have taken it all in. There are also cartoons and diagrams throughout, to help make this book a more enjoyable and effective learning experience. So what are you waiting for? Let this book put you on the fast track to success!

The ability to manage a project successfully is crucial to anyone who wants to advance their career. Written by Martin Manser, a leading expert on project management as both a coach and a practitioner, this book quickly teaches you the insider secrets you need to know to in order to run a project successfully from start to finish. The highly motivational 'in a week' structure of the book provides seven straightforward chapters explaining the key points, and at the end there are optional questions to ensure you have taken it all in. There are also cartoons and diagrams throughout, to help make this book a more enjoyable and effective learning experience. So what are you waiting for? Let this book put you on the fast track to success!

This remarkable and original introduction to Roman civilization starts with a tour of Rome, and uses real sights which you can visit today as a starting point for discussions of all aspects of Roman life. From art and architecture, to politics and propaganda, this is a unique and accessible guide to the civlizaton that shaped the world as it is today. Readers will gain new insights into the Roman past, its people, its psychology and its society — and they will feel encouraged and confident to visit Rome themselves or to read its most important texts.

The ability to sell products and services successfully is crucial to anyone who wants to advance their career. Written by Christine Harvey, a leading expert on selling as both a coach and a practitioner, this book quickly teaches you the insider secrets you need to know to in order to achieve profitable sales. The highly motivational 'in a week' structure of the book provides seven straightforward chapters explaining the key points, and at the end there are optional questions to ensure you have taken it all in. There are also cartoons and diagrams throughout, to help make this book a more enjoyable and effective learning experience. So what are you waiting for? Let this book put you on the fast track to success!

Comprehensive and clear explanations of key grammar patterns and structures are reinforced and contextualized through authentic materials. You will not only learn how to construct grammar correctly, but when and where to use it so you sound natural and appropriate. Spanish Grammar You Really Need to Know will help you gain the intuition you need to become a confident communicator in your new language.

Understand Stalin's Russia is a compelling introduction to a man and a nation long enveloped in mystery. It covers all aspects of this fascinating history, from the shadows of Tsarism and the legacy of Lenin, to the implications of Stalin's rule — including the horrific effects of the five-year plans, and the heroic but costly triumph in the Great Patriotic War.

The ability to succeed at interviews is crucial to anyone who wants to advance their career. Written by Alison Straw and Mo Shapiro, leading experts on interviews as both a coaches and a practitioners, this book quickly teaches you the insider secrets you need to know to in order to perform brilliantly when interviewed. The highly motivational 'in a week' structure of the book provides seven straightforward chapters explaining the key points, and at the end there are optional questions to ensure you have taken it all in. There are also cartoons and diagrams throughout, to help make this book a more enjoyable and effective learning experience. So what are you waiting for? Let this book put you on the fast track to success!

The ability to give a successful answers to tough interview questions is crucial to anyone who wants to advance their career. Written by Mo Shapiro and Alison Straw, a leading expert on interviews as both a coaches and practitioners, this book quickly teaches you the insider secrets you need to know to shine at an interview. The highly motivational 'in a week' structure of the book provides seven straightforward chapters explaining the key points, and at the end there are optional questions to ensure you have taken it all in. There are also cartoons and diagrams throughout, to help make this book a more enjoyable and effective learning experience. So what are you waiting for? Let this book put you on the fast track to success!

The ability to make the most of your time is crucial to anyone who wants to advance their career. Written by Declan Treacy, a leading expert on time management whose advice has helped hundreds of thousands of people, this book quickly teaches you the insider secrets you need to know to in order to manage your time successfully. The highly motivational 'in a week' structure of the book provides seven straightforward chapters explaining the key points, and at the end there are optional questions to ensure you have taken it all in. There are also cartoons and diagrams throughout, to help make this book a more enjoyable and effective learning experience. So what are you waiting for? Let this book put you on the fast track to success!

Commissioning editors say good dialogue is one of the first things that make a book stand out from the crowd — and similarly, that clunky direct speech is one of the first things that will send a book straight from the slushpile to the rejections bin. But while many other aspects of writing are pored over in intense detail, there have been very few books on the art of writing successful dialogue. In this practical guide for aspiring writers of all levels, Irving Weinman, himself a published writer and well-known creative writing tutor, uses case studies to help you explore how to write good dialogue, and gives you a range of fun and challenging exercises that will help you, to, to write brilliant dialogue.

A postmodern visionary and one of the leading voices in twenty-first-century fiction, David Mitchell combines flat-out adventure, a Nabokovian love of puzzles, a keen eye for character, and a taste for mind-bending, philosophical and scientific speculation in the tradition of Umberto Eco, Haruki Murakami, and Philip K. Dick. The result is brilliantly original fiction as profound as it is playful. In this groundbreaking novel, an influential favorite among a new generation of writers, Mitchell explores with daring artistry fundamental questions of reality and identity. Cloud Atlas begins in 1850 with Adam Ewing, an American notary voyaging from the Chatham Isles to his home in California. Along the way, Ewing is befriended by a physician, Dr. Goose, who begins to treat him for a rare species of brain parasite... Abruptly, the action jumps to Belgium in 1931, where Robert Frobisher, a disinherited bisexual composer, contrives his way into the household of an infirm maestro who has a beguiling wife and a nubile daughter... From there we jump to the West Coast in the 1970s and a troubled reporter named Luisa Rey, who stumbles upon a web of corporate greed and murder that threatens to claim her life... And onward, with dazzling virtuosity, to an inglorious present-day England; to a Korean superstate of the near future where neocapitalism has run amok; and, finally, to a postapocalyptic Iron Age Hawaii in the last days of history. But the story doesn't end even there. The narrative then boomerangs back through centuries and space, returning by the same route, in reverse, to its starting point. Along the way, Mitchell reveals how his disparate characters connect, how their fates intertwine, and how their souls drift across time like clouds across the sky. As wild as a videogame, as mysterious as a Zen koan, Cloud Atlas is an unforgettable tour de force that, like its incomparable author, has transcended its cult classic status to become a worldwide phenomenon.

Just after sunset, as darkness grips the imagination, is the time when you feel the unexpected creep into the every day. As familiar journeys take a different turn, ordinary objects assume extraordinary powers. A blind intruder visits a dying man — and saves his life, with a kiss. A woman receives a phone call from her husband. Her late husband. In the emotional aftermath of her baby's sudden death, Emily starts running. And running. Her curiosity leads her right into the hands of a murderer... and soon her legs are her only hope for survival. Enter a world of masterful suspense, dark comedy and thrilling twists which will keep you riveted from the first page. Enter the world of No. 1 bestseller Stephen King.

A collection of tales to invade and paralyse the mind as the safe light of day is infiltrated by the shadows of the night.As you read, the clutching fingers of terror brush lightly across the nape of the neck, reach round from behind to clutch and lock themselves, white-knuckled, around the throat. This is the horror of ordinary people and everyday objects that become strangely altered; a world where nothing is ever quite what it seems, where the familiar and the friendly lure and deceive. A world where madness and blind panic become the only reality.

At midnight comes the point of balance. Of danger. The instant of utter stillness when between two beats of the heart, an alternative reality can slip through, like a blade between the ribs, and switch you into a new and terrifying world. FOUR PAST MIDNIGHT: four heart-stopping accounts of that moment when the familiar world fractures beyond sense, the fragments spinning away from the desperate, clutching reach of sanity...

In this classic collection of four novellas, the grand master takes you on irrestistible journeys into the far reaches of horror, heartache and hope. Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption is the story of two men convicted of murder — one guilty, one innocent — who form the perfect partnership as they dream up a scheme to escape from prison. In Apt Pupil a golden schoolboy entices an old man with a past to join in a dreadful union. The Body sees four young boys venture into the woods and find life, death... and the end of innocence. The Breathing Method is the tale of a doctor who goes to his club and discovers a woman determined to give birth — no matter what.

Every charm bracelet tells a story and Holly O'Neill knows this better than most. Years ago, at a difficult time in her life, a silver bracelet in a pretty wrapped box was delivered anonymously to her, a single charm attached. Some time later, another mysterious charm appeared, and the same thing happened many times over the years. Each charm proved to be significant in her life, as if her unnamed benefactor understood she needed some kind of talisman to help her through challenging times. Since then, she has added her own charms — special reminders of the most important events in her life. Her bracelet makes memories tangible — spelling out the nuances of cherished moments through the shorthand of each tiny charm. For this reason, Holly's charm bracelet is her most prized possession. So when one day, she stumbles across a bracelet that somebody else has lost, she recognises a lifetime spelt out through the very different charms, and knows she must try to reunite it with its owner. In order to try and track this person down, she uses each charm to help discover more about them. But as Holly gradually begins to piece together the details of this person's life, her quest leads her somewhere she never expected.

Five years ago, Nicky was on holiday with a group of friends when her best friend Grace was brutally murdered. No one was ever charged with this terrible crime and Nicky in her grief sought solace in the arms of Grace's widower. They're now married but he is often out of the country for work, and when Nicky meets Adam, who is young, good-looking and obviously interested, she's tempted. But what starts as an innocent flirtation leads to a terrible ordeal, and a dark secret. A secret that involves her husband, and Adam, and what happened to Grace all those years before. Nicky finds herself fighting for answers. But, when love is worth killing for, the price paid for the truth can be very high indeed...

In INSIDE APPLE, Adam Lashinsky provides readers with an insight on leadership and innovation. He introduces Apple business concepts like the 'DRI' (Apple's practice of assigning a Directly Responsible Individual to every task) and the Top 100 (an annual event where that year's top 100 up-and-coming executives are surreptitiously transported to a secret retreat with company founder Steve Jobs). Based on numerous interviews, the book reveals exclusive new information about how Apple innovates, deals with its suppliers, and is handling the transition into the Post Jobs Era. While INSIDE APPLE provides a detailed investigation into the unique company, its lessons about leadership, product design and marketing are universal. INSIDE APPLE will appeal to anyone hoping to bring some of the Apple magic to their own company, career, or creative endeavour.