Showing results by narrator "Cameron Stewart" in All Categories

Fire is rarely out of the headlines, from large natural wildfires raging across the Australian or Californian countrysides to the burning of buildings such as the disasters of Grenfell tower and Notre Dame. Fire on these scales can represent a serious risk to human life and property. But the advent of fire made and controlled by humans also represented a crucial point in our evolution, allowing us to cook our food, forge our weapons, and warm our homes.

This book offers a fresh insight into the conquests of Alexander the Great by attempting to view the events of 336-323 BCE from the vantage point of the defeated.

This introduction to the years of the Napoleonic Wars (1793 to 1815) tells the story of one of the keys to that great conflict, the ship of the line - the deadly battleships that played such a vital role in the battles. The author describes the ships' construction and armaments, the daily life of the men who served, and the problems faced by commanders of the time in battles that include the Glorious First of June, the Battle of the Nile and Trafalgar.

Who’d break in and leave the house untouched? When Michael and Hilda return from holiday to find two police officers awaiting them, a chaotic series of events ensues. The police have had an anonymous tip-off about child pornography being stored on Michael‘s computer. It’s easy to prove his innocence, but who would do such a thing and why? At the same time it becomes clear that someone was living in the cottage while they were away, and may still be returning.

Sebastian von Eschburg, scion of a wealthy, self-destructive family, survived his disastrous childhood to become a celebrated if controversial artist. He casts a provocative shadow over the Berlin scene; his disturbing photographs and installations show that truth and reality are two distinct things. When Sebastian is accused of murdering a young woman and the police investigation takes a sinister turn, seasoned lawyer Konrad Biegler agrees to represent him - and hopes to help himself in the process.

Set in and around the fictional Scottish town of Levenford and village of Tannochbrae during the inter-war years, the stories found here are heartwarming, funny and touching, full of fascinating characters and unforgettable encounters. Made famous by the much-loved adaptations for radio and television, the classic tales of Dr Finlay, his senior colleague Dr Cameron and their unruffled housekeeper Janet, remain as fresh and entertaining now as they were upon first publication.

Escape from Earth is the untold story of the engineers, dreamers and rebels who started the American space programme. In particular, it is the story of Frank Malina, founder of what became Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the scientist who cracked the, as he called it, problem of escape from the Earth by rocket. It's a wild ride.

Nobody knew it at that moment, but only three things stood in the way of the complete destruction of the Earth: one elderly parrot; one eight-year-old spelling mistake; and an intrepid young schoolgirl-turned-reporter.... Greta Zargo needs a big scoop if she's going to win the Prilchard-Spritzer Medal, the quite famous award for great reporting. But big scoops are in short supply in the quiet town of Upper Lowerbridge. But then, with a whoosh of unknown energy, a mysterious silver robot descends from the sky....

Prague, 2015. Herbert Biely, aged hero of the Prague Spring, stands on the brink of an historic victory, poised to reunite the Czech and Slovak Republics 26 years after the Velvet Revolution. The imminent Czech elections are the final stage in realising his dream of reunification, but other parties have their own agendas and plans for the fate of the region. A shadowy collective, masked as the innocuous European Union Institute, will do anything to preserve the status quo.

To give and receive well may be the most human thing you can do-but it is also the closest you can come to divinity. So argues the great Roman Stoic thinker Seneca in his longest and most searching moral treatise, "On Benefits" (De Beneficiis). James Romm's splendid new translation of essential selections from this work conveys the heart of Seneca's argument that generosity and gratitude are among the most important of all virtues.

July 1805: Napoleon's army masses across the Channel - Britain is within hours of invasion and defeat. Only one thing stands in the way - an obscure government bureau of murky origins and shadowy purpose: The Comptrollerate General for Scrutiny and Survey. And, rescued from a shipwreck, his past erased, Tom Roscarrock is their newest agent.

It is for the entities known as Sleepwalkers to cross between dreams and hunt the nightmares that haunt sleeping minds. Theirs is a world of impossible vistas, where reason is banished and imagination holds sway: the connected worlds that all sleeping minds inhabit, and the doors that lead between. But tonight, one Sleepwalker has gone rogue. Abandoning her oath to protect the dreamscapes, she has devoted herself to another cause, threatening to unleash a nightmare older than man.

A new novel from this master story-teller - Luke Grant enjoys his comfortable life with his dog, his outdoor pursuits and his numerous female companions. But when the widowed wife of his grandson is badly injured in a hit-and-run accident, it is down to Luke (or G.G. great-granddad as hes known) to take on looking after his great-granddaughters and to try and find out who and why injured his granddaughter.

For many business professionals, the daily "to-do" list is hard enough to stay on top of, let alone coming up with the "big ideas" necessary to take their company—or a whole economy—to the next level. But if coming up with those ideas—or finding startups that do—is your job, then The Zero Transaction Cost Entrepreneur is an absolute must-listen for you. In this book Dermot Berkery shares the key ingredient successful businesses have in common: Smart transaction cost economics.

Since the death of their mother in a hit-and-run accident, Violet and Jane have been living with Luke Grant, their great-grandfather and his partner Helena. One evening Violets boyfriend goes missing and is finally found badly injured and unconscious. The police investigation follows the suspects to the island of Madeira and uncovers a bizarre and unscrupulous scam...

In the aftermath of the horrific trench warfare of the First World War, the poppy - sprouting across the killing fields of France and Belgium, then immortalized in John McCrae’s moving poem - became a worldwide icon. Yet the poppy has a longer history: as the telltale sign of human cultivation of the land, of the ravages of war, and of the desire to escape the earthly realm through Romantic opium dreams or the grim reality of morphine drips.

In the 1930s, composers and musicians began to flee Hitler's Germany to make new lives across the globe. The process of exile was complex: although some of their works were celebrated, these composers had lost their familiar cultures and were forced to navigate xenophobia as well as entirely different creative terrain. Others, far less fortunate, were in a kind of internal exile-composing under a ruthless dictatorship or in concentration camps and ghettos.

Human behavior is lopsided. When cradling a newborn child, most of us cradle the infant to the left. When posing for a portrait, we tend to put our left cheek forward. When kissing a lover, we tend to tilt our head to the right. Why is our behavior so lopsided and what does this teach us about our brains? How have humans always used this information to make our images more attractive and impactful? Can knowing how left-brain right-brain differences shape our opinions, tendencies, and attitudes help us make better choices in art, architecture, advertising, or even athletics?

Luke Russell discusses why some philosophers think that evil is a myth or a fantasy, while others think that evil is real. Along the way he asks whether evil is always horrific and incomprehensible or if it can be banal. Considering if there is a special psychological hallmark that sets the evildoers apart from the rest of us, Russell also engages with ongoing discussions over psychopathy and empathy, analyzing the psychology behind evildoing.

Often described as a French counterpart to Sherlock Holmes, Lupin is often a force for good while operating on the wrong side of the law.