Other Non Fiction

Otters hold an almost unique place in the animal kingdom of the British Isles, being one of the very few creatures that give birth (read more)

Otters hold an almost unique place in the animal kingdom of the British Isles, being one of the very few creatures that give birth once every two years. They are the most secretive yet also the most popular mammals - they are found in every county but are so rarely seen that they have been raised to mythical status. When Simon Cooper bought an abandoned water mill that straddles a small chalkstream in southern England, little did he know that he would come to share the mill with a family of wild otters.

Yet move in they did, allowing him to begin to observe them, soon immersing himself in their daily routines and movements. He developed an extraordinary close relationship with the family, which in turn gave him a unique insight into the life of these fascinating creature.

Pub Date:23/03/2017 (hide)

Our Uninvited Guests perfectly captures the spirit of upheaval at the beginning of the Second World War when thousands of houses (read more)

Our Uninvited Guests perfectly captures the spirit of upheaval at the beginning of the Second World War when thousands of houses were requisitioned by the government to provide accommodation for the armed forces, secret services and government offices as well as vulnerable children, the sick and the elderly, all of whom needed to be housed safely beyond the reach of Hitler's Luftwaffe.

Julie Summers gives the reader a behind-the-scenes glimpse of life in some of Britain's greatest country houses that were occupied by people who would otherwise never have set foot in such opulent surroundings.Blenheim Palace was colonised by schoolboys who slept in the Long Library; Polish special agents trained in the grounds of Audley End House, learning to forge and lie their way into occupied Europe in the old nursery. (hide)

The owl has captivated the human imagination for millennia; as a predator, messenger, emblem of wisdom or portent of doom. Owl Sense (read more)

The owl has captivated the human imagination for millennia; as a predator, messenger, emblem of wisdom or portent of doom. Owl Sense tells a new story. On 'owl walks' with her teenage son, Benji, Miriam Darlington begins a quest to identify every European species of this elusive bird.

From Britain she travels to Spain, France, Serbia and Finland, and to the frosted borders of the Arctic. Along the way, however, Benji succumbs to a mysterious and disabling illness, and Miriam's endeavour soon becomes entangled with the search for his cure. Bringing the strangeness and magnificence of owls to life, Owl Sense is a book about wildness in nature but also in the unpredictable course of our human lives. (hide)

The Oxford Paperback Dictionary & Thesaurus is a great value-for-money product. It is the ultimate one-stop reference, containing (read more)

The Oxford Paperback Dictionary & Thesaurus is a great value-for-money product. It is the ultimate one-stop reference, containing both a dictionary and a thesaurus in one handy reference volume. The dictionary and thesaurus texts have an integrated design which has been tried and tested with users to speed up browsing and look-up.

The dictionary has excellent coverage of everyday English, containing over 90,000 words, phrases and definitions and incorporating the newest words and phrases from Oxford's language research programmes. The thesaurus provides over 100,000 synonyms and antonyms. This handy dictionary and thesaurus is ideal for anyone who needs an affordable and portable, all-in-one reference work. (hide)

Praise for the author's 2007 earlier edition: "In speed and presentation, one of North America's top talents is Patrick McMurray." (read more)

Praise for the author's 2007 earlier edition: "In speed and presentation, one of North America's top talents is Patrick McMurray." -The New York Times. Consider this: France's 3,400 oyster growers produce most of the world's oysters, about 130,000 tons annually, and the French consume about 50% of those oysters between Christmas Eve and New Year's Day alone. During that same week, however, Parisian hospitals receive about 2,000 oyster-shucking-related injuries! Perhaps it's time to let an expert show you how to open them safely.

In The Oyster Companion renowned expert Patrick McMurray takes readers down the path to oyster expertise and injury-free enjoyment. Patrick knows oysters. For him it was love at first taste as a sixteenyear-old busboy in Toronto and he's never looked back, going so far that he launched three restaurants where oysters take pride of place, and he holds two Guinness World Records for oyster shucking - 38 in a minute, and 8,800 in an hour in a team of 10.
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This book has Paper Panda's very distinctive stamp on it and begins with a design section which takes the reader through a personal (read more)

This book has Paper Panda's very distinctive stamp on it and begins with a design section which takes the reader through a personal account of what inspires her, how she works, and how Paper Panda came about. The techniques involved in papercutting are fairly simple and easy to explain, and this is covered through step-by-step demos illustrating various techniques such as infilling. There is a design section, taking readers through the design process itself and including numerous examples of Louise's papercut designs.

Starting with the themes and subjects that inspire her, it explains how she creates finished artwork suitable for papercutting, followed by how to make the template itself, and how to use the papercut to make cards, framed pictures, and so on. The aim of this section will be not only to provide readers with an insight into Paper Panda's creative world, but also to inform and inspire people to design papercuts for themselves. There are 20 papercut projects in the book; five from Paper Panda herself and five each from three of Paper Panda's design colleagues (Sarah Trumbauer, Louise Dyer and Suzy Taylor - all accomplished papercutters with online presences).

Pub Date:
30/11/2016 (hide)

The definitive history of the world-renowned watchmakers, Patek Philippe. Founded in Geneva in 1839, and to this day a family-owned (read more)

The definitive history of the world-renowned watchmakers, Patek Philippe. Founded in Geneva in 1839, and to this day a family-owned company, Patek Philippe makes what are widely regarded as the world's finest mechanical watches. Among them, the most valuable watch ever made: the famous 1933 pocket watch known as the "Graves" supercomplication, which sold at auction in 2014 for US$23,934,00.

A cult among collectors, Patek Philippe and its timepieces have been treasured by kings and princes, rock stars, and sportsmen. Notable customers of the storied Swiss watchmaker include Queen Victoria, and her great-great-granddaughter HM Queen Elizabeth II. Drawing exclusively on interviews with the company's owners and with staff and watchmakers past and present, as well as on hitherto unseen documents from the company's archives, Patek Philippe: The Authorized Biography, celebrates the history of a unique company. (hide)

During a time when most wild animals are experiencing decline in the face of development and climate change, the intrepid mountain (read more)

During a time when most wild animals are experiencing decline in the face of development and climate change, the intrepid mountain lion -- also known as a puma, a cougar, and by many other names - has experienced reinvigoration as well as expansion of territory. What makes this cat, the fourth carnivore in the food chain -- just ahead of humans - so resilient and resourceful? And what can conservationists and wild life managers learn from them about the web of biodiversity that is in desperate need of protection? Their story is fascinating for the lessons it can afford the protection of all species in times of dire challenge and decline.
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Paul Martin, famous for his passion for beautiful furniture, has been the hugely successful TV presenter on BBC1's Flog It! for the (read more)

Paul Martin, famous for his passion for beautiful furniture, has been the hugely successful TV presenter on BBC1's Flog It! for the past fifteen years. In this book he reveals hitherto untold stories of fantastic artefact finds, and tells us about the key to success in trading antiques. As witty as ever, Paul takes on everything from pietra dura to Pop Art, from Britain to Australia, from trash to treasure.

My World of Antiques offers a unique insight into the history of antiques thanks to Paul's boundless knowledge of people and places, be it Queen Victoria's royal life at Osborne House or Dame Lucie Rie's ceramic works in a London pottery studio after the Second World War. With a keen eye for detail and the influences that shaped arts and crafts, Paul brings current studies of antique objects to life. He invites us to join him on a journey to exotic countries that bear the mark of colonial trade, discussing rare discoveries that now sell for breathtaking prices at UK auctions. (hide)

The Penguin Dictionary of Science covers all the important topics in this key subject area including chemistry, physics, molecular (read more)

The Penguin Dictionary of Science covers all the important topics in this key subject area including chemistry, physics, molecular biology, biochemistry, human anatomy, mathematics, astronomy and computing. Superbly comprehensive and accessible, this newly updated dictionary is the ideal reference tool for anyone who needs to understand scientific terms, whether student, researcher or enthusiastic layperson. It provides clear definitions of some 7,000 scientific terms.

It gives succinct explanations of fundamental terms (ammonia, base pairing, cell) and more specialist concepts (allosteric enzyme, Bravais lattice, close packing). It covers individual elements and chemical compounds in detail. It contains appendices ranging from lists of SI units and fundamental constants to the periodic table and an outline classification of living organisms.

It includes hundreds of illustrations and diagrams. (hide)