The definitive translation by Dick Davis of the great national epic of Iran-now newly revised and expanded to be the most complete English-language editionA Penguin Classic Dick Davis-"our pre-eminent translator from the Persian" (The Washington Post)-has revised and expanded his acclaimed translation of Ferdowsi's masterpiece, adding more than 100 pages of newly translated text. Davis's elegant combination of prose and verse allows the poetry of the Shahnameh to sing its own tales directly, interspersed sparingly with clearly marked explanations to ease along modern readers. Originally composed for the Samanid princes of Khorasan in the tenth century, the Shahnameh is among the greatest works of world literature. This prodigious narrative tells the story of pre-Islamic Persia, from the mythical creation of the world and the dawn of Persian civilization through the seventh-century Arab conquest. The stories of the Shahnameh are deeply embedded in Persian culture and beyond, as attested by their appearance in such works as The Kite Runner and the love poems of Rumi and Hafez. For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Conjuring up a cascade of sexual encounters, this book evokes the essence of female sexuality in a world where only love has meaning.
A collection of short stories with such themes as dreams, labyrinths, mirrors, infinite libraries, the manipulations of chance, gaucho knife-fighters, transparent tigers and the elusive nature of identity itself.
Henry Kissinger analyses how six extraordinary leaders he has known have shaped their countries and the world'Leaders,' writes Henry Kissinger in this compelling book, 'think and act at the intersection of two axes: the first, between the past and the future; the second between the abiding values and aspirations of those they lead. They must balance what they know, which is necessarily drawn from the past, with what they intuit about the future, which is inherently conjectural and uncertain. It is this intuitive grasp of direction that enables leaders to set objectives and lay down a strategy.'In Leadership, Kissinger analyses the lives of six extraordinary leaders through the distinctive strategies of statecraft which he believes they embodied. After the Second World War, Konrad Adenauer brought defeated and morally bankrupt Germany back into the community of nations by what Kissinger calls 'the strategy of humility'. Charles de Gaulle set France beside the victorious Allies and renewed its historic grandeur by 'the strategy of will'. During the Cold War, Richard Nixon gave geostrategic advantage to the United States by 'the strategy of equilibrium'. After twenty-five years of conflict, Anwar Sadat brought a vision of peace to the Middle East by a 'strategy of transcendence'. Against the odds, Lee Kwan Yew created a powerhouse city-state, Singapore, by 'the strategy of excellence'. Although when she came to power Britain was known as 'the sick man of Europe', Margaret Thatcher renewed her country's morale and international position by 'the strategy of conviction'.To each of these studies, Kissinger brings historical perception, public experience and - because he knew each of their subjects, and participated in many of the events he describes - personal knowledge. The book is enriched by insights and judgements such as only he could make, and concludes with his reflections on world order and the indispensability of leadership today.
*A New Statesman and Daily Mail BOOK OF THE YEAR**Longlisted for the 2024 Women's Prize for Non-Fiction*'The best book I've ever read about motherhood' Jude Rogers, Observer'I kept scribbling in the margins: 'We need to know this stuff!'' Joanna Pocock, SpectatorA radical new examination of the transition into motherhood and how it affects the mind, brain and bodyDuring pregnancy, childbirth, and early motherhood, women undergo a far-reaching physiological, psychological and social metamorphosis. There is no other time in a human's life course that entails such dramatic change-other than adolescence. And yet this life-altering transition has been sorely neglected by science, medicine and philosophy. Its seismic effects go largely unrepresented across literature and the arts. Speaking about motherhood as anything other than a pastel-hued dream remains, for the most part, taboo. In this ground-breaking, deeply personal investigation, acclaimed journalist and author Lucy Jones brings to light the emerging concept of 'matrescence'. Drawing on new research across various fields - neuroscience and evolutionary biology; psychoanalysis and existential therapy; sociology, economics and ecology - Jones shows how the changes in the maternal mind, brain and body are far more profound, wild and enduring than we have been led to believe. She reveals the dangerous consequences of our neglect of the maternal experience and interrogates the patriarchal and capitalist systems that have created the untenable situation mothers face today. Here is an urgent examination of the modern institution of motherhood, which seeks to unshackle all parents from oppressive social norms. As it deepens our understanding of matrescence, it raises vital questions about motherhood and femininity; interdependence and individual identity; as well as about our relationships with each other and the living world.
Sit down and enjoy the charming, uplifting and inspiring story of Captain Tom this Christmas*** THE SUNDAY TIMES NO 1 BESTSELLER ***'A wonderful life story with lessons for us all . . . beautifully written' DAILY TELEGRAPH'Gloriously enthralling' DAILY MAILFrom his humble Yorkshire childhood, via the battlefields of Burma and the peaks of the Himalayas, to becoming the NHS and the nation's hero during Lockdown, this is a journey for all of us.__________ Who is Captain Sir Tom Moore? You've seen him on the television walking the length of his garden. A frail elderly man, doing his bit at a time of crisis. But he wasn't always like this.Where did he come from? Where was he made? From a childhood in the foothills of the Yorkshire Dales, Tom Moore grew up in a loving family, which wasn't without its share of tragedy. It was a time of plenty and of want. When the storm clouds of the Second World War threatened, he raised his hand and, like many of his generation, joined up to fight.His war would take him from a country he had never left to a place which would steal his heart, India, and the Far East, to which he would return many years later to view the sight he had missed first time around: the distant peak of Everest. Captain Tom's story is our story.It is the story of our past hundred years here in Britain.It's a time which has seen so much change, yet when so much has stayed the same: the national spirit, the can-do attitude, the belief in doing your best for others. In this rich, happy life packed with incident you will encounter time and again the curiosity, courage and generosity that saw Captain Tom look around him during our current crisis and decide that something had to be done . . .'Engaging . . . His upbeat nature shines through and reminds us how much worse this year would have been without him' Evening Standard'A wonderful read. Captain Tom is a beacon of light, and hope, and positivity' Piers Morgan, Life Stories, ITV'A great book' Good Morning Britain'A beautiful book. We have so much to learn from Captain Sir Tom' Chris Evans, Virgin Radio'Fascinating. It's the life story of an ordinary man who is extraordinary' Michael Ball, BBC Radio 2
RICHARD H. THALER: WINNER OF THE 2017 NOBEL PRIZE IN ECONOMICSShortlisted for the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year AwardECONOMIST, FINANCIAL TIMES and EVENING STANDARD books of the yearFrom the renowned and entertaining behavioural economist and co-author of the seminal work Nudge, Misbehaving is an irreverent and enlightening look into human foibles. Traditional economics assumes that rational forces shape everything. Behavioural economics knows better. Richard Thaler has spent his career studying the notion that humans are central to the economy - and that we're error-prone individuals, not Spock-like automatons. Now behavioural economics is hugely influential, changing the way we think not just about money, but about ourselves, our world and all kinds of everyday decisions.Whether buying an alarm clock, selling football tickets, or applying for a mortgage, we all succumb to biases and make decisions that deviate from the standards of rationality assumed by economists. In other words, we misbehave. Dismissed at first by economists as an amusing sideshow, the study of human miscalculations and their effects on markets now drives efforts to make better decisions in our lives, our businesses, and our governments.Coupling recent discoveries in human psychology with a practical understanding of incentives and market behaviour, Thaler enlightens readers about how to make smarter decisions in an increasingly mystifying world. He reveals how behavioural economic analysis opens up new ways to look at everything from household finance to assigning faculty offices in a new building, to TV quiz shows, sports transfer seasons, and businesses like Uber.When economics meets psychology, the implications for individuals, managers and policy makers are both profound and entertaining.
The Six Hats method is a devastatingly simple technique based on the brain's different modes of thinking. The intelligence, experience and information of everyone is harnessed to reach the right conclusions quickly. This title shows how meetings can be transformed to produce quick, decisive results every time.
An adventure that allows children to join in the search for the mischievous puppy by lifting the flaps on every page to see where Spot is hiding. It features simple text and colourful pictures that can engage a whole new generation of pre-readers as they lift the picture flaps in search of Spot.
The maths we learn in school can seem like an abstract set of rules, laid down by the ancients and not to be questioned. In fact, Jordan Ellenberg shows us, maths touches on everything we do, and a little mathematical knowledge reveals the hidden structures that lie beneath the world's messy and chaotic surface. In How Not to be Wrong, Ellenberg explores the mathematician's method of analyzing life, from the everyday to the cosmic, showing us which numbers to defend, which ones to ignore, and when to change the equation entirely. Along the way, he explains calculus in a single page, describes G del's theorem using only one-syllable words, and reveals how early you actually need to get to the airport.
In The Theoretical Minimum, world-class physicist Leonard Susskind provided a brilliant first course in classical mechanics, offering readers not an oversimplified introduction but the real thing - everything you need to start doing physics, and nothing more. Now he returns with the next challenge that every aspiring physics buff must tackle: quantum mechanics. Unlike classical mechanics, quantum mechanics is not intuitive - it concerns things so small they are beyond the range of human senses. To understand quantum physics, you need to learn a whole new way of thinking, but then, Susskind reveals, you will discover that it is even more fundamental than classical mechanics. Unlike most popular physics books - which give readers a taste of what physicists know but not what they actually do - Susskind and his co-author Art Friedman teach the maths and equations that are essential to any real understanding of quantum mechanics. Combining crystal-clear explanations, witty and helpful dialogues, and basic exercises, Quantum Mechanics is, to paraphrase Einstein, as simple as possible, but no simpler.
A cultural landmark and the most shocking novel in the English language, Naked Lunch is an exhilarating ride into the darkest recesses of the human psyche. An unnerving tale of an addict unmoored in New York, Tangier, and ultimately a nightmarish wasteland known as Interzone, Naked Lunch's formal innovation, formerly taboo subject matter, and tour de force execution has exerted its influence authors like Thomas Pynchon and J. G. Ballard; on the relationship of art and obscenity; and on the shape of music, film, and media in general.
This landmark book uncovers for the first time in detail one of the greatest horrors of the twentieth century: the vast system of Soviet camps that were responsible for the deaths of countless millions.Gulag is the only major history in any language to draw together the mass of memoirs and writings on the Soviet camps that have been published in Russia and the West. Using these, as well as her own original research in NKVD archives and interviews with survivors, Anne Applebaum has written a fully documented history of the camp system: from its origins under the tsars, to its colossal expansion under Stalin's reign of terror, its zenith in the late 1940s and eventual collapse in the era of glasnost. It is a gigantic feat of investigation, synthesis and moral reckoning.
A forbidden romance.A deadly plague.Earth's fate hinges on one girl . . .CINDER, a gifted mechanic in New Beijing, is also a cyborg. She's reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister's sudden illness. But when her life becomes entwined with the handsome Prince Kai's, she finds herself at the centre of a violent struggle between the desires of an evil queen - and a dangerous temptation. Cinder is caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal. Now she must uncover secrets about her mysterious past in order to protect Earth's future.This is not the fairytale you remember. But it's one you won't forget.
Cress is the third book in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, following Cinder and Scarlet. Incarcerated in a satellite, an expert hacker and out to save the world - Cress isn't your usual damsel in distress. CRESS grew-up as a prisoner. With only netscreens for company she's forced to do the bidding of the evil Queen Levana. Now that means tracking down Cinder and her handsome accomplice Emperor Kai. But little does Levana know that those she seeks, and the man she loves, are plotting her downfall . . .As paths cross and the price of freedom rises, happily ever after has never seemed further away for Cress, Scarlet and Cinder. This is not the fairy tale you remember. But it's one you won't forget. 'Fairy tales are becoming all the rage, with the TV shows Once Upon a Time and Grimm spinning them through a modern filter. . . Meyer's debut novel Cinder, though, combines a classic folk tale with hints of The Terminator and Star Wars' USAToday.com [praise for CINDER] About the author: Marissa Meyer's first two books in the Lunar Chronicles, Cinder and Scarlet, debuted on the New York Times bestseller list. Marissa lives in Tacoma, Washington, with her husband and their three cats. Visit her at www.marissameyer.com and facebook.com/lunarchroniclesAlso Available:CinderScarletCressAnd don't miss: Winter
An indispensable book for every wine lover, from some of the world's greatest experts.Where do wine grapes come from and how are they related to each other? What is the historical background of each grape variety? Where are they grown? What sort of wines do they make and, most importantly, what do they taste like? Using the most cutting-edge DNA analysis and detailing almost 1,400 distinct grape varieties, as well as myriad correct (and highlighting almost as many incorrect) synonyms, this particularly beautiful book includes revelatory grape family trees, and a rich variety of illustrations from Viala and Vermorel's seminal ampelography with century-old illustrations. Combining Jancis Robinson's world view, nose for good writing and good wines with Julia Harding's expertise and attention to detail plus Dr Vouillamoz's unique level of scholarship, Wine Grapes offers essential and original information in greater depth and breadth than has ever been available before. A book for wine students, wine experts and wine lovers everywhere.AWARDSBest Wine, Beer and Spirits Book and winner of the Jane Grigson award, IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals) Awards 2014A wine book of the year, 2013, The Times, LondonFaiveley International Wine Book of the Year 2013, Roederer AwardsBest Viticulture Book 2013, OIV AwardsBest Drink Book 2012, Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink AwardsBest Beverage Book 2012, James Beard AwardsBest Drink Book 2012, Andr Simon AwardsHall of Fame for Best Wine Book 2012, Gourmand World Cookbook AwardsBest Drinks Book 2012, Wine & Spirits magazineOne of the V&A's '100 books essential for preserving humanity'
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