In 1996 Trainspotting was the biggest thing in British culture. Brilliantly and aggressively marketed, it crossed into the mainstream despite being a black comedy set against the backdrop of heroin addiction in Edinburgh. Produced by Andrew Macdonald, scripted by John Hodge and directed by Danny Boyle, the team behind Shallow Grave (1994), Trainspotting was an adaptation of Irvine Welsh's barbed novel of the same title. The film is crucial for understanding Briti...

In the mid-1950s C.P. Snow began his campaign against the 'two cultures' - the debilitating divide, as he saw it, between traditional 'literary intellectual' culture, and the culture of the sciences, urging in its place a 'third culture' which would draw upon and integrate the resources of disciplines spanning the natural and social sciences, the arts and the humanities. Murray Smith argues that, with the ever-increasing influence of evolutionary theory and neuroscience, and the pervasive ...

Characters - those fictional agents populating the fictional worlds we spend so much time absorbed in - are ubiquitous in our lives. We track their fortunes, judge their actions, and respond to them with anger, amusement, and affection - indeed the whole palette of human emotions. Powerfully drawn characters transcend their stories, entering into our imaginations and deliberations about the actual world, acting as analogies and points of reference. And yet there has been remarkably little ...

Engaging 12-Week Study from Jesus' Speech on the Mount of Olives Offers Practical Teaching on Christian Living in Light of Jesus' ReturnThe Knowing the Bible series is a resource designed to help Bible readers better understand and apply God's Word. These 12-week studies lead participants through parts of the Bible and are made up of four basic components: (1) reflection questions help readers engage the text at a deeper level; (2) "Gospel Glimpses" highlight the g...

Westminster Abbey has held a hugely important role in Britain's History over the last 800 years. This fascinating book describes the inside of the Abbey, giving the reader an amazing insight into the architecture, history and feel of the building. Many full colour illustrations are included to give the reader a complete picture of this historic abbey where Kings and Queens are crowned. This version has been specially formatted for today's e-readers.

This book describes the basics of the Stirling engine, as well as some of the most promising alternative models, how to go about building them and how they can be used to generate power for home use. Home power generation is not new. You can buy home generator kits and solar panels by the ton. The main problem is they cost so much. The Stirling is astonishingly easy to make and can be built from scrap or commonly found components at a fraction of the cost of a home solar kit and yet produc...

Bioplastics is one of those areas that the home inventor has the advantage. The raw materials are cheap, readily available and easy to work with. There has been relatively little study done so far as the field is still quite new and there are a significant amount of discoveries to be made.What you have to realise here is that you are not attempting to synthesise polymers from monomers or synthesis new monomers. What you are trying to do is source and extract existing polymers from b...

This book is best used in conjunction with the youtube videos found at youtube.com/user/RobertMurraySmith where I will be happy to answer any questions you may have. The electrochemical supercapacitor is an emerging technology that promises to play an important role in meeting the demands of electronic devices and systems both now and in the future. This book traces the history of the development of the technology, and explores the principles and theory of operation as well as giving some ...

A deliciously wicked comedy that proves that the female of the species is not only deadlier, but funnier than the male. From the author of the West End-hit, Honour.Thirty years ago Margot Mason, pioneer of the 1970's Women's Liberation movement and fearless academic, wrote her groundbreaking work, The Cerebral Vagina. Numerous best-sellers and international adulation followed, but now she has writer's block.As she sits in her country house struggling with ...

Graphene is a two dimensional material consisting of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb or chicken wire structure. It is the thinnest material known to man and yet is also one of the strongest materials there is. It conducts electricity as well as copper and is better than all other materials as a conductor of heat. Graphene is almost completely transparent, yet so dense that even the smallest of atoms cannot pass through it.Being such a fascinating material lots...

Soap making is really easy and there are basically only two ingredients:LardLyeIf that seems a bit complicated there is an even easy method. One tremendous secret of soap making is that soap melts! This might not seem earth shattering. But, as it melts you can use simple cheap soaps as a base for your own creations.There are certain cautions that you do need to take, however, thousands of people around the world make homemade soap every day of the year safely an...

The original stage play, filmed as A Talent for Murder with Helen Mirren as Patricia Highsmith.1995, the Swiss Alps. Patricia Highsmith, the queen of the thriller, now ageing and ailing, hides away in her study, surrounded by her collection of books and antique weaponry, finding solace in her seclusion, her cats and her cigarettes.A polished young man turns up, sent by her New York publisher to persuade her to write one final instalment of her best-selling series f...