Nigel Flaxton enjoyed a satisfying career in education covering the second half of the 20th century, This is an account of some of his experiences from old-fashioned monastic seclusion in training college just after the Second World War to three headships of new schools, the last being an upper school of over 900 students. Written with gentle humour, often at his own expense, he also comments on the very considerable changes in education in a broad sense during that period. He includes nea...

A professor and two students stumble across a highly unusual phenomenon. At first they attempt to keep it secret whilst investigating further, but leaks occur despite the intervention of MI5. The phenomenon involves a newly discovered element, synthesized by the professor and others together with a material deposited on earth by visitors from another planet who use the earth for observation. Their society is more advanced than that of earth, though they had no anticipation of the highly un...

From the Booker Prize winner and bestselling author of Atonement—”a sharply intelligent novel of ideas” (The New York Times) that asks whether a machine can understand the human heart, or whether we are the ones who lack understanding.Set in an uncanny alternative 1982 London—where Britain has lost the Falklands War, Margaret Thatcher battles Tony Benn for power, and Alan Turing achieves a breakthrough in artificial intelligence—Machines Like ...

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the Booker Prize winner and bestselling author of Atonement, this “totally gripping and entirely hilarious” novel (The Wall Street Journal) traces the arc of a Nobel Prize-winning physicist’s ambitions and self-deception.Dr. Michael Beard’s best work is behind him. Trading on his reputation, he speaks for enormous fees, lends his name to the letterheads of renowned scientific institutions, and halfheartedly heads a gover...

Money makes the world go round, but does it make us happy?Money is one of the most fraught subjects; it raises powerful emotions in all of us. Too much money often corrupts people - too little can make people feel desperate.Growing up in rural Queensland, journalist Rick Morton has known poverty from the inside. Now he isn't poor, but his spending habits and attitude to money are still informed by growing up without it. In On Money, Morton examines...

A comforting and philosophical guide for the restless insomniac.Not being able to sleep is deeply frightening. We panic about the demands of the next day; we panic that we are panicking; the possibility of sleep recedes ever further as the clock counts down to another exhausted, irritable dawn.This book is an elegant companion to console us through even the longest of sleepless nights. It provides an alternative to pills and medicine, instead offering tools...

**Wojciech Orlinski's story 'Stanlemian', translated from the Polish by Danusia Stok, short-listed for the 2012 Science Fiction and Fantasy Translation Awards.**Featuring:Stanislaw Lem, Brian Aldiss, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Annie Clarkson, Dr Sarah Davies, Jacek Dukaj, Prof Steve Furber, Trevor Hoyle, Prof Hod Lipson, Toby Litt, Antonia Lloyd-Jones, Adam Marek, Mike Nelson, Sean O'Brien, Wojciech Orlinski, Danusia Stok, Piotr Szulkin and Ian W...

"Speculation is compounded with suspense" in these thirteen short works of sci-fi from the Hugo Award–winning author of Stand on Zanzibar—"Genuine startlers" ( Kirkus Reviews, starred review).Collected when Brunner was at the peak of his writing form, this even dozen of his short stories, with a bonus poem thrown into the mix, offers provocative ideas and thrilling action mixed with conceptions of the inevitable future, the inventable future, the a...

The 21st Century has seen a rapid rise in the number of people travelling by air. What was once only affordable by the super-rich is now accessible by people of even quite limited means. We have seen the emergence of the budget, no frills airlines. It has never been so inexpensive to travel, and the trend is set to continue well into the foreseeable future.Applying mainly to people travelling Economy (or Coach) class, this eBook is a how to guide for people wanting to make the expe...

In this entertaining eBooklet, renowned deep thinkers Jimmy Russell and Jack Goldstein discuss the ten greatest inventions they believe humankind has ever seen, using their own unique perspectives on the world in which we live. The result is an entertaining read, and - being careful to distinguish between inventions and discoveries - many readers may be surprised at what appears on the list and what does not. Informative, fun and vaguely educational, this is a great title which will create...

Irongrove Lodge draws the broken and disillusioned, the merely curious, the poor and the wealthy alike. Steeped in a terrible and arcane history, it is a house like no other.And here is a man like no other; for a fee he can change his face. He can be you – providing an alibi, manipulating evidence. When he encounters Irongrove Lodge, it causes him not just to question his own identity, but the nature of reality itself...

"This is a psychological work written subconciously and spontaneously and without any preconceived plan.Although written in 2010, itis nonetheless a satirical reaction to late 20th century malaise. A very fragmented portrait of an author meditates at its centre. His central theme is freedom and escape.It is a ghost train of a journey and we are invited to take our seats for better or for worse."