oldcastle books ltd united kingdom harpenden herts (61 results)

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Africa. The cradle of civilisation. From the dawn of human time in prehistoric Africa right through to the so-called 'Arab Spring' of 2011, Gordon Kerr offers a comprehensive introduction to the sprawling history of this enormous continent. He begins with the origins of the human race and the development of stone age technology, through ancient and medieval times and the significance of the Arab presence, the Muslim states and the trans-Saharan trade. Kerr continues with the rise and fall of nation states and kingdoms prior to the arrival of Europeans , Ghana, the Kingdoms of the Forest and Savanna, Yoruba, Oyo, Benin, Asante, Luba, Lunda, Lozi and many others, on to the beginning of the slave trade, and the European conquest and colonization of sub-Saharan Africa, the 'Scramble for Africa'. Finally moving onto the often bitter struggles for independence from that period of colonization and exploitation, Kerr concludes with an assessment of Africa in the 21st century. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. In this classic book, Jon Bradshaw singled out from the world of full-time gamblers six men who consistently win - the men who year after year, deal after deal and proposition after proposition come away with their pockets filled and their sense of infallibility intact. Bradshaw follows three legendary poker players - Johnny Moss, Pug Pearson, and Titanic Thompson; tennis player Bobby Riggs; pool player Minnesota Fats and backgammon player Tim Holland. His evocation of ambience and his dramatic description of the games themselves are fascinating but Bradshaw also deftly probes their minds and hearts as he attempts to define what make some men winners and most men losers. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Who is Who? A Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey with two hearts and thirteen lives? A folk hero who entertained and enthralled us in the warm glow of our TV sets on dark winter evenings? A rebellious iconoclast who toppled corrupt dictatorships and freed the oppressed? Or a bumbling British eccentric who for 26 years fought rubber monsters in a cheap and cheerful BBC kids' show? Well, he's all of these things - and a whole lot more besides. The story of Doctor Who is the story of British television in the final third of this century. It is also the story of the hopes and fears of generations of children - and grown-ups too - from the counter-culture 60s to the shallow waters of the 90s. Along the way there are shock revelations, melodramatic cliff-hangers and liberal doses of humour (intentional or otherwise); but be warned - there is also heart-ache, disappointment and death. Every taste is catered for in the world of Doctor Who. As well as an introductory essay, each Doctor's era is put under the microscope with facts and informed opinion on all their stories. There's an in-depth reference section detailing further reading, fascinating and bizarre Doctor Who websites, and a short history of spin-off stories and merchandising. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. A witty and indispensable guide to assist readers on their path to true love. With sections on: Men Seeking Women, Women Seeking Men, Men Seeking Men, Women Seeking Women - and then there's the Casual Encounters. Includes everything anyone needs to know about blogging, snogging, dogging; the 10 golden rules of dating etiquette; handy tips on composing the perfect Lonelyheart. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Dedicated to any woman who's ever been a few pounds overweight Sad, lonely Sharon Plunkett is size eighteen. She's tried every fad, every diet and every cream, but like stains of grease on a pure silk blouse, her rolls of fat refuse to budge. The man of her dreams isn't interested, and her skinny friend Debbee only uses her to look good. But all that changes when Sharon magically finds herself in a fantastic, reversed world - where it's suddenly 'in' to be fat, and 'out' to be slim! Feted and adored for her curvaceous body and stunning looks, she goes from supermodel to Hollywood icon in a matter of months. Until. it all starts to go very wrong. A deliciously wicked satire, Fat Chance bites back at the 'skinny insanity' currently gripping the western world - Size Zero, celebrity weight-obsessed magazines, the fashion and advertising industries, high society and Hollywood. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. 1940 to 1958 was the heyday of Film Noir, that elusive mixture of stark film lighting and even starker emotions. Many films of that period explored the dark side of society - gangsters, hoodlums, prostitutes and killers - and showed how it corrupted the good and the beautiful. Even worse, sometimes the so-called good and the beautiful revealed themselves to be even sicker than the dregs of society. What's in this Pocket Essential guide? As well as an introductory essay on the origins of Film Noir, a variety of subjects are explained by a more detailed examination of specific noir films, plus there is a handy multimedia reference guide. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Clint Eastwood's career has been unmatched in the history of Hollywood. A popular TV star, he was catapulted to film stardom as 'The Man With No Name' in Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns. Once established as a star, he became the John Wayne of his era, an American icon whose box-office drawing power remained undiluted three decades later, despite unfriendly critics, unfavourable gossip and unspectacular forays into politics and political life. Uniquely, Eastwood used his new-found star status to launch a second, and arguably more successful career as a director, which reached its apex when he was awarded the 1992 Best Picture Oscar for Unforgiven. Following his other mentor, Don Siegel, Eastwood's reputation as a director is that of a solid professional who makes films without wasting time or money. His output has followed a dual path of popular action films and more personal projects which display a range which confounds those who label him as an action star. Those paths intersect in his epic westerns, several of which can stand with the great films of the genre. This book analyses all of Eastwood's films as a director, and includes information about his acting career, particularly those films directed by members of his 'stock company', as well as tracing the influences of Leone, Siegel and others on his work. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. It has been over twenty-five years since the Americans pulled out of Vietnam, their most ignominious defeat ever. With nearly 60,000 dead and over 300,000 wounded the long-fought war was seen as a PR disaster by some and a focus of anti-war sentiment by others. The war helped defeat two Presidents, left hundreds of thousands suffering, and is still one of the hottest debating subjects across America. From The Deer Hunter to Platoon the Vietnam cycle of films that America has been producing since the 1970s has had an impact on audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. The Pocket Essential Vietnam War offers an overview of the genre - including its many sub-genres: the training film Full Metal Jacket, the anti-war diatribe Platoon, the Vietnam Vet saga Rambo: First Blood, and the surreal Apocalypse Now. The book aims to show the ways in which these films operate as fantasy wish-fulfillment (re-writing the war in The Green Berets and Rambo II), an attempt to come to terms with the war as an event (The Deer Hunter) and simply as the opportunity for action (Hamburger Hill). Loved by audiences, debated over by critics, and frequently used on film studies and history courses, the Vietnam War film has a wide appeal. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Muses have fascinated for millennia yet seldom receive as much exposure as the artistic geniuses they inspire. Of any age, descent or gender, muses enchant simply by being themselves; this innate capacity to inspire has been commonplace for many years yet these catalysing forces are little understood. New science places much emphasis on the role of the observer as the catalyst or creator of reality, and explains what is happening 'energetically' when two human beings relate to each other in the same space and time - or even when they're not in each others' presence. Challenging dualistic Cartesian philosophy and classical Newtonian physics by proposing an interconnected, quantum view of the world, new science can help us to better understand the magic of muses and it can even help us to channel inspiration more prominently into our everyday lives. Offering an 'ecology' of inspiration, The Muses lends a fresh perspective to what happened when Lewis Carroll played with Alice Liddell; when Rainer Maria Rilke dreamt of Lou Andreas Salome or when John Lennon wrote for his one and only Yoko Ono. Taking this new insight to the edges of the 21st century, the book finishes with a chapter on the future of inspiration. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Fair. Euro Noir by Britain's leading crime fiction expert Barry Forshaw (author of Nordic Noir) examines the astonishing success of European fiction and drama. This is often edgier, grittier and more compelling than some of its British or American equivalents, and the book provides a highly readable guide for those wanting to look further than the obvious choices. The sheer volume of new European writers and films is daunting but Euro Noir provides a roadmap to the territory and is also a perfect travel guide to the genre. Barry Forshaw covers influential Italian authors, such as Andrea Camilleri and Leonardo Sciascia and Mafia crime dramas Romanzo Criminale and Gomorrah, along with the gruesome Gialli crime films. He also considers important French and Belgian writers such as Maigret's creator Georges Simenon to today's Fred Vargas, cult television programmes Braquo and Spiral, and films, from the classic heist movie Rififi to modern successes such as Hidden, Mesrine and Tell No One. German and Austrian greats are covered including Jakob Arjouni and Jan Costin Wagner, and crime films such as Run Lola Run and The Lives of Others. Euro Noir also covers the best crime writing and filmmaking from Spain, Portugal, Greece, Holland and other European countries and celebrates the wide scope of European crime fiction, films and TV. A readable copy of the book which may include some defects such as highlighting and notes. Cover and pages may be creased and show discolouration.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. A fat guy with a deep voice who drank a lot of sherry? An unreliable film-maker who always went over time and over budget? One of the most innovative storytellers of the century? He was all of this and more. Welles shocked Broadway with his all-black voodoo version of Macbeth, challenged the US government with his production of The Cradle Will Rock, terrified America with his spoof radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds, and then at the tender age of 26, directed what many people consider the greatest American film ever made: Citizen Kane. What's in this Pocket Essential guide? As well as an introductory essay, each of Welles's films is individually reviewed and analysed, and there's a handy multimedia reference guide. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. The directors of the French New Wave were the original film geeks - a collection of celluloid-crazed cinephiles with a background in film criticism and a love for American auteurs. Having spent countless hours slumped in Parisian cinematheques, they armed themselves with handheld cameras, rejected conventions, and successfully moved movies out of the studios and on to the streets at the end of the 1950s. By the mid-1960s, the likes of Jean-Luc Godard, Francois Truffaut and Claude Chabrol had changed the rules of film-making forever, but the movement as such was over. During these key years, the New Wave directors employed experimental techniques to achieve a fresh and invigorating new style of cinema. Borrowing liberally from the varied traditions of film noir, musicals and science fiction, they released a string of innovative and influential pictures, including the classics Le Beau Serge, Jules et Jim and A Bout de Souffle. This Guide reviews and analyses all of the major films in the movement and offers profiles of its principal stars, such as Jean-Paul Belmondo, Anna Karina and Brigitte Bardot. There is also an introductory essay, Making Waves, which examines the social context of the movement in France as well as the directors' considerable influence on later generations of film-makers across the globe. A handy multi-media reference guide at the end of the book points the way towards further New Wave resources. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Do you think the X-Files is fiction? If so, you must be one of those deluded fools who think Elvis is dead, and believe that the US actually went to the moon, and don't know that the ruling elites did a deal with the extra-terrestrials after the Roswell crash in 1947. Boy, it really is getting strange out there. At one time, you could blame the world's troubles on the Masons or the Illuminati, or the Jews, or One Worlders, or the Great Communist Conspiracy. Now, in addition to the usual suspects, we also have the alien-US elite conspiracy, or the alien shape-shifting reptile conspiracy to worry about - and there are books to prove it as well! Conspiracy Theories? They are all in here - but not just lined up to be ridiculed and dismissed. OK, there is some of that, but the author also tries to sort out the handful of wheat from the choking clouds of intellectual chaff. For among the nonsensical Conspiracy Theory rubbish currently proliferating on the Internet, there are important nuggets of real research about real conspiracies waiting to be mined. This book has done the mining for you. Fully sourced and referenced, this is both a serious examination of Conspiracy Theories and the Conspiracy Theory phenomenon, and a guide to further explorations of the subject. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Nelson continues to fascinate academics as well as the general public. He is still considered one of Britain's greatest heroes and featured within the top ten of the BBC poll of such figures. But why does Nelson still remain such a prominent figure in the national imagination? With 2005 being the bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar, Victoria Carolan embarks on a timely reappraisal of Nelson, the myth and the man. Beginning with Nelson's early life and an analysis of the condition and practice of the Navy at the time of Nelson's entry into service, Carolan goes on to examine Nelson's naval battles before Trafalgar, particularly the pivotal Battle of the Nile in which the then Rear Admiral Horatio Nelson, with a fleet of fourteen ships, captured six and destroyed seven French vessels out of a total of seventeen and in the process achieved one of the most decisive victories in the age of sail and re-established British command of the Mediterranean. Devoting a full section to the Battle of Trafalgar, Carolan looks in detail at the build-up to the battle, the events and progress of the battle, at the Admirals of the French and Spanish navies and explains why the battle was so decisive in the Napoleonic Wars. She goes on to look at the immediate aftermath of Nelson's death and his state funeral and then to his legacy, the building of monuments (particularly Trafalagar Square and Nelson's Column), the development of the Nelson myth, his depiction in film, his value for propaganda purposes during the two world wars and the current state of scholarship on Nelson. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. A facsimile of the 1947 title republished on the 50th anniversary of World War II. It is a record of the tenacity and courage of the men and women of London Transport during the six years of World War II. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. A fat guy with a deep voice who drank a lot of sherry? An unreliable film-maker who always went over time and over budget? One of the most innovative storytellers of the century? He was all of this and more. Welles shocked Broadway with his all-black voodoo version of Macbeth, challenged the US government with his production of The Cradle Will Rock, terrified America with his spoof radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds, and then at the tender age of 26, directed what many people consider the greatest American film ever made: Citizen Kane. What's in this Pocket Essential guide? As well as an introductory essay, each of Welles's films is individually reviewed and analysed, and there's a handy multimedia reference guide. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Secret Societies in one form or another have existed throughout the history of human culture. But what is their appeal? What is it that makes so-called respectable people indulge in peculiar ceremonies, dressed in fanciful costumes uttering blood-curdling oaths of loyalty with the threat of death hanging over them should they reveal the inner workings of the cult? Are these organisations simply a way for like-minded followers to get together in a convivial atmosphere for purely social reasons or is there really a dark side to their activities. Are they really trying, as some have suggested, to control world affairs for their own nefarious ends? Are the secret societies' claims that they are in the possession of great knowledge or valuable secrets also true? Are they really trying to engineer history or keep hidden that which may bring about the fall of a religion or a country? In Secret Societies, Nick Harding describes some of the best known organisations along with some of their least known counterparts. He highlights the similarities that all these cults have - they all work to a similar pattern and that basic human psychology plays a far more important role in their continued existence and their enduring appeal than any hidden wisdom, knowledge or world-shattering secret. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Catharism was the most successful heresy of the Middle Ages. Flourishing principally in the Languedoc and Italy, the Cathars taught that the world is evil and must be transcended through a simple life of prayer, work, fasting and non-violence. They believed themselves to be the heirs of the true heritage of Christianity going back to apostolic times, and completely rejected the Catholic Church and all its trappings, regarding it as the Church of Satan; Cathar services and ceremonies, by contrast, were held in fields, barns and in people's homes. Finding support from the nobility in the fractious political situation in southern France, the Cathars also found widespread popularity among peasants and artisans. And again unlike the Church, the Cathars respected women, and women played a major role in the movement. Alarmed at the success of Catharism, the Church founded the Inquisition and launched the Albigensian Crusade to exterminate the heresy. While previous Crusades had been directed against Muslims in the Middle East, the Albigensian Crusade was the first Crusade to be directed against fellow Christians, and was also the first European genocide. With the fall of the Cathar fortress of Montsegur in 1244, Catharism was largely obliterated, although the faith survived into the early fourteenth century. Today, the mystique surrounding the Cathars is as strong as ever, and Sean Martin recounts their story and the myths associated with them in this lively and gripping book. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. From the author of Fermat's Last Theorem and Chance Nicolas Bourbaki, whose mathematical publications began to appear in the late 1930s was a direct product as well as a major force behind an important revolution that took place in the early decades of the twentieth century that completely changed Western culture. Pure mathematics, the area of Bourbaki's work, seems to be an abstract field of human study with no direct connection with the real world. In reality, however, it is closely linked with the general culture that surrounds it. Major developments in mathematics have often followed important trends in popular culture; developments in mathematics have acted as harbingers of change in the surrounding human culture. The seeds of change, the beginnings of the revolution that swept the Western world in the early decades of the twentieth century - both in mathematics and in other areas - were sown late in the previous century. This is the story both of Bourbaki and the world that created him in that time. It is the story of an elaborate intellectual joke - because Bourbaki, one of the foremost mathematicians of his day - never existed. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Barry Forshaw is acknowledged as a leading expert on crime fiction and film. Following his books on Nordic Noir, Brit Noir and Euro Noir he now tackles the largest and, some might argue, most impressive body of crime fiction from a single country, the United States, to produce the perfect reader's guide to modern American crime fiction. The word 'Noir' is used in its loosest sense: every major living American writer is considered (including the giants Harlan Coben, Patricia Cornwell, James Lee Burke, James Ellroy and Sara Paretsky, as well as non-crime writers such as Stephen King who stray into the genre), often through a concentration on one or two key books. Many exciting new talents are highlighted, and Barry Forshaw's knowledge of - and personal acquaintance with - many of the writers, grants valuable insight into this massively popular field. But the crime genre is as much about films and TV as it is about books, and American Noir is a celebration of the former as well as the latter. US television crime drama in particular is enjoying a golden age, and all of the important current series are covered here, as well as key contemporary films. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Good. The book has been read but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact and the cover is intact. Some minor wear to the spine.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. The Knights Templar were the most powerful military religious order of the Middle Ages. Formed to protect pilgrims in the Holy Land, they participated in the Crusades and rapidly gained wealth, lands and influence and were answerable to none save the Pope himself. In addition to having a fearful military reputation, they were also Christendom's first bankers, and played a large part in inventing the modern banking system. They were also involved in developments in navigation, architecture, medicine, and engineering, amongst others. Seemingly untouchable for nearly two centuries, the Templars fell from grace spectacularly after the loss of the Holy Land. In 1307, all Templars in France were arrested on charges of heresy, homosexuality, denial of the cross and devil worship. The order was suppressed by the Pope in 1312, and Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master, was burnt at the stake as a heretic two years later. The myth of the Templars was born and in the ensuing centuries, they have occupied a unique position in European history. Orthodox historians see them as nothing more than soldier-monks whose arrogance was their ultimate undoing, while others see them as occultists of the first order, the founders of Freemasonry, possessors of the Holy Grail and the Turin Shroud. Sean Martin considers both the orthodox and conspiratorial version of events, and includes the latest revelations from the Vatican Secret Archives. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Throughout history, disease has plagued human civilisations, claiming more lives than natural disasters and warfare combined. In the fourteenth century, the Black Death was responsible for taking the lives of one third of Europe's population. In the modern day, physicians, scientists and historians continue to be challenged by new and resurgent diseases such as AIDS, malaria and Ebola, as they struggle to identify causes, antidotes and preventative measures to combat these epidemics. A Short History of Disease chronicles the historical and geographical evolution of infectious and non-infectious diseases, from their prehistoric origins to the present day. It offers a comprehensive, accessible guide to ailments and the medical methods used to combat them. Analysing case studies including the Black Death, Spanish Flu, cholera, leprosy, syphilis, cancer and Ebola, Sean Martin maps the development of our understanding of disease into a thorough and enlightening timeline. The book offers a fascinating insight into an important area of social history, providing an easy-to-read introduction to all you need to know about disease and the ongoing quest to protect human health. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Join the fastest growing minority there is and become an atheist. Fed up of religion telling you it has all the answers when it doesn't? Tired of hearing about divine mysteries when there aren't any? Irritated by the pious evangelistas telling you you're going to hell when you're obviously not? Exhausted by creationists.for simply being creationists? Want to know more about the so-called atheist conspiracy? Then this book is for you. For millennia priests and holy men have told countless conflicting tales about humanity's genesis and fate. Is it all nonsense? You bet it is. For round about the same amount of time they have also been saying that anyone devoid of faith is evil, immoral and responsible for all of society's ills. How wrong they are. This book contains all you need to know about what to pack for your journey on the enlightening road to atheism including a brief history of free thought - it goes back further than you think - all the way to an introductory who's who in purgatory for knowing there isn't a god. Learn that there are five types of atheism. Find out the difference between an atheist and an agnostic - a term invented by T.H.Huxley, famous for his defence of Darwin and how a deist differs from a theist. Discover the oxymoronic fact that Christians were originally called atheists. Read who Lucretius was and what his fellow materialists were about. And revel in the fact that atheists have nothing to defend but are happy that way. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. 1922 was a year of great turbulence and upheaval. Its events reverberated throughout the rest of the twentieth century and still affect us today, 100 years later. Empires fell. The Ottoman Empire collapsed after more than six centuries. The British Empire had reached its greatest extent but its heyday was over. The Irish Free State was declared and demands for independence in India grew. New nations and new politics came into existence. The Soviet Union was officially created and Mussolini's Italy became the first Fascist state. In the USA, Prohibition was at its height. The Hollywood film industry, although rocked by a series of scandals, continued to grow. A new mass medium - radio - was making its presence felt and, in Britain, the BBC was founded. In literature it was the year of peak modernism. Both T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land and James Joyce's Ulysses were first published in full. In society, already changed by the trauma of war and pandemic, the morals of the past seemed increasingly outmoded; new ways of behaving were making their appearance. The Roaring Twenties had begun to roar and the Jazz Age had arrived. In a sequence of vividly written sketches, Nick Rennison conjures up all the drama and diversity of an extraordinary year. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Now officially the most popular drama on television, Doctor Who has seen many ups and downs in its long and colourful history. From humble beginnings on 23 November 1963 to its cancellation in 1989 and eventual resurrection in 2005, the show has always been a quintessential element of British popular culture. The spine-chilling theme music, the multi-dimensional Tardis, the evil metallic Daleks and the ever-changing face of the Doctor himself have become trademarks of the programme's witty, eclectic house style. Over the years Doctor Who has embraced such diverse genres as science fiction, horror, westerns, history, romance, adventure and comedy - but has never strayed from its first and most important remit: telling damn good stories. Ten Doctors, a multitude of companions, and a veritable cornucopia of monsters and villains: Doctor Who has it all. 'The children's own programme which adults adore,' said Gerard Garrett in The Daily Sketch newspaper back in the early 1970s - and it's still the perfect summation of the programme's unique charm. This new, updated edition of the best-selling Pocket Essential guide puts all the first ten Doctors under the microscope with facts, figures and opinions on every Doctor Who story televised. There are sections on TV, radio, cinema, stage and internet spin-offs, novels and audio adventures, missing episodes, and an extensive website listing and bibliography. Doctor Who: The Episode Guide includes a foreword by Kim Newman, contributing editor to Sight & Sound and Empire magazines. His fiction includes the novels Anno Dracula and Life's Lottery and the novella Doctor Who: Time and Relative. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. 'Anyone interested in the challenges of housing policy will want to read this methodical analysis of what went well and what did not over much of the last century ' - LORD HESELTINE For nearly 150 years, living in a house in the country has been what many of us aspire to. This book explores how this idea was imported from the US by Ebenezer Howard, founder of the garden city movement, the impact it has had in the UK and why, on cost and environmental grounds, it 's time to move on from this approach. House in the Country examines the developments in urban planning and residential architecture from 1815 to the present day and considers the legacy of Howard's garden city movement in twenty-first century Britain. An accessible and informative introduction, House in the Country presents a richly detailed narrative containing much historical, social and cultural commentary as well as interviews with key figures in this field. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Psychogeography. Increasingly this term is used to illustrate a bewildering array of ideas from ley lines and the occult, to urban walking and political radicalism. But where does it come from and what exactly does it mean? Psychogeography is the point where psychology and geography meet in assessing the emotional and behavioural impact of urban space. The relationship between a city and its inhabitants is measured in two ways - firstly through an imaginative and literary response, secondly on foot through walking the city. PG creates a tradition of the writer as walker and has both a literary and a political component. This book examines the origins of Psychogeography in the Situationist Movement of the 1950s, exploring the theoretical background and its political applications as well as the work of early practitioners such as Guy Debord and Raoul Vaneigem. Elsewhere, psychogeographic ideas continue to find retrospective validation in much earlier traditions from the visionary writing of William Blake and Thomas De Quincey to the rise of the flineur on the streets of 19th century Paris and on through the avant-garde experimentation of the Surrealists. These precursors to Psychogeography are discussed here alongside their modern counterparts, for today these ideas hold greater currency than ever through the popularity of writers and filmmakers such as Iain Sinclair and Peter Ackroyd, Stewart Home and Patrick Keiller. From Urban Wandering to the Society of the Spectacle, from the Dirive to Ditournement, Psychogeography provides us with new ways of apprehending our surroundings, transforming the familiar streets of our everyday experience into something new and unexpected. This guide conducts the reader through this process, offering both an explanation and definition of the terms involved, an analysis of the key figures and their work as well as practical information on Psychogeographical groups and organisations. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. From popular fiction such as The Hobbit and Game of Thrones to the universality of the English language, the continuing influence of the Anglo-Saxons can be found throughout the world. But who were the Anglo-Saxons and where did they come from? A Short History of the Anglo-Saxons traces the fascinating 600 year history of the Anglo-Saxons, starting from the early European migrants in 410 A.D. and stretching through until the dramatic end at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. As well as their many victories, the Anglo-Saxons faced numerous attacks on the prosperity and the successes of its people, facing off challenges from the Danish and the Vikings, before meeting defeat at the hand of William the Conqueror. Remnants of these people can still be seen in modern day with hoards of Anglo-Saxon gold and silverwork being discovered throughout the country and popular fiction taking inspiration from this thrilling era. A Short History of the Anglo-Saxons provides an indispensable introduction to everything you need to know about the Anglo-Saxon period. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. According to Apsley Cherry-Garrard, one of the men who went to Antarctica with Captain Scott, 'Polar exploration is at once the cleanest and most isolated way of having a bad time that has ever been devised.' Despite this there has never been a shortage of volunteers willing to endure the bad times in pursuit of the glory that polar exploration sometimes brings. Nick Rennison's compelling book tells the memorable stories of people who have risked their lives by entering the white wastelands of the Arctic and the Antarctic, from the compelling tales of Scott, Shackleton and Amundsen, to those of lesser known explorers such as Elisha Kent Kane and Douglas Mawson. A Short History of Polar Exploration also looks briefly at the hold that the polar regions have often had on the imaginations of artists and writers in the last two hundred years examining the paintings, films and literature that they have inspired. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.