Think!

In today’s always-on world, our senses are constantly bombarded with information, disinformation, and misinformation. The pressure to have an opinion on everything grows by the day, leaving many of us wondering how to make sense of it all in a meaningful and informed way. How can we cut through the noise of opinions, half-truths, and outright lies to gain a clearer understanding of what’s truly happening around us?While this task may seem daunting, help is within reach. The skills and techniques required to effectively interrogate the world around us have been practiced for millennia, and this book aims to guide you through the nuances of critical thinking and its practical applications.Through engaging examples and stories, the value of critical thinking will become evident, and the book will provide easy-to-remember reflection points to support your journey. Developing the skill of critical thinking is not an insurmountable challenge, but it does require practice to be of any real use.In today’s information-driven world, the ability to think critically is a vital skill for anyone who wants to be and remain properly informed. By honing this skill, you’ll be better equipped to navigate the complexities of our modern age and make well-informed decisions in both your personal and professional life.

Performance Calculation Methods for High Speed Sailing Craft

This book takes a fresh look at the fundamental physics of sailing, emphasising factors that are unique to high-speed boats, and building logically from the fluid force mechanisms through the hydro and aero components to the numerous boat configurations that now exist.Suitable performance calculations are clearly explained for all the dominant types: Windsurfers, kite surfers, kite foilers, trimaran catamaran, planing monohulls, moths, etc. along with fascinating observations and speculation of the potential for further increase in speed.In addition, the book includes exclusive calculations of the performance in waves for some popular boat types. A selection of the calculations can be downloaded with an access code that comes free with the book.This book should be on any technically minded sailing person’s book shelf!

Hunter’s Manual

Presenting an essential almanac for every hunter, this book invites you to share in the outdoor adventures of an Australian whose passion for hunting with his rifle has taken him far beyond his native shores.

Join him by the fireside as he imparts techniques and secrets that will enhance your own quests for trophy game. Experience the humour in his self-deprecating tales, highlighting the lighter side of this unique sport.

Most importantly, become captivated by the magnificent wildlife and the skills necessary to immortalize them both on film and as prized additions to your trophy room and freezer. This book is not just a guide; it’s an invitation to the heart of hunting and the celebration of the natural world.

Running, Hiding, and Hoping

This book offers an unprecedented comparative study of five landmark court cases on slavery, tried on both sides of the Atlantic and spanning nearly a century: Somerset, the Zong, the Amistad, the Creole, and Dred Scott.

Dr. Nicholls reviews these cases through an interdisciplinary lens, analysing their historical, socio-economic and political rami cations. He also raises the critical issue revolving around the volatile and often conflicting notions of freedom, property, property rights, the definition of ownership, as well as the basic human right and authority to assert these rights whether or not they are legally recognised.

Finally, this study explores how the application of positive law, explicitly and exclusively devoted to the social control of slaves was also contrary to the declared tenets of natural law and how this tension was largely ignored.

Banking Law and Financial Regulations

Evaluating the financial accounts of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Barclays, HSBC, and Standard Chartered Bank from 2004 – 2018 reveals a taste of the sweetness of success.  It also demonstrates what could go wrong in a mega bank, the crippling price of failure, and the long hard road to recovery.

This book is a historical account of the causes of instability in the banking sector in the past 40 years and an evaluation of the effectiveness or otherwise of a range of laws and regulatory measures adopted to remedy financial crises in the UK over the years.

In addition, the book provides a broad review of the evolutionary development of banking and financial laws starting with seminal case laws on the subject, the Banking Act 1979, the repealed Banking Act 1987, FSMA 2000, the Company Act 2006, the Banking Reform Act 2013, Basel Accords and sundry EU Directives.  

John, a Barrister at Law offered a robust blend of theoretical knowledge and twenty years of practical industry experience in a commercial bank to provide legal perspectives on supervisory models necessary for stability in the banking sector, while promoting justification for creating an enabling environment for wealth creation and economic growth.

The Methods and Methodology chapter would be an invaluable companion for postgraduate students and researchers.

The Plan

Abuse in every form… physical, psychological, sexual, emotional and even spiritual... descends upon her. A story of facing down demons, both inner and those that seek you out. They come under the cover of darkness. A battle bordering on unbelief… Can it be survived or do you succumb to the evil that continually surrounds you, that seeks to possess you..?

Not a fight, not an altercation, but a war to the death. There is no way to come out of this unscathed. The scars will be plentiful, but invisible. The fight has lasted decades, but these hellish forces did not count on her endurance. After what the darkness considered successful attacks, after knocking her down so many times, robbing her of every conceivable ounce of hope, snatching away her dignity, convincing her that her time had run out… they never saw it coming.

When you are drowning… you learn to walk on water…

The First 1,000 Days

This book traces the history of the child’s brain during the 270 days of pregnancy plus the first two years of life. Its author, the neurobiologist Yehezkel Ben-Ari, is one of the most renowned specialists in autism and childhood epilepsy. It gives us the keys to learning to detect disorders linked to brain development. Contrary to popular belief, many neurological and psychiatric illnesses occur before the age of two, particularly during pregnancy and birth! A decisive period to prepare for the health of the future child, provided you have the right information.

This great scientist also tells us the story of his life, which shaped his work as a researcher, guided by the sense of commitment and a non-conformist spirit essential to innovation in science.

The First 1,000 Days

This book traces the history of the child’s brain during the 270 days of pregnancy plus the first two years of life. Its author, the neurobiologist Yehezkel Ben-Ari, is one of the most renowned specialists in autism and childhood epilepsy. It gives us the keys to learning to detect disorders linked to brain development. Contrary to popular belief, many neurological and psychiatric illnesses occur before the age of two, particularly during pregnancy and birth! A decisive period to prepare for the health of the future child, provided you have the right information.

This great scientist also tells us the story of his life, which shaped his work as a researcher, guided by the sense of commitment and a non-conformist spirit essential to innovation in science.

Shattered

Shelter from the Storm

So many accounts of the years of the Chinese Cultural Revolution focus on its violence and suffering. In this unusual story, Aili describes a happy early childhood in a community whose way of life, with its beliefs and traditions, had been cultivated through centuries. With equal innocence she is able to carry the reader from the intimacy of bedtime to the spectacle of a public shaming, from the facts of foot binding to the mythology of fishermen. Naïve as she must have been, she has no real understanding of the first irruptions of Mao’s bleak communist philosophy into a stable community, and can only hint at the terror, with its re-education and punishments, which accompanied it.

Cuentos

Dilapidated buildings. Classic American cars. Rum and cigars. Fidel Castro and Che Guevara.

Aspects of Cuba, to be sure, but superficial ones at best. Beneath these clichés live the Cuban people, each with a fascinating story that reveals the challenges of surviving day to day in this country, how Cubans innovatively and creatively meet those challenges, and how they refuse to allow circumstances to colour their outlook on life.

Within this book are vignettes of some of these people, presented as word-picture diptychs, each photograph accompanied by a compelling story, each story with an illustrative photograph. The reader will discover that while some Cubans live in dirty, dark, tenement-like conditions, others find the resources to improve and maintain their homes, and that those with the means keeps houses as clean as any on the planet. The reader will also learn how Cuban mechanics adapt and improvise to keep those wonderful old cars running, despite the difficulties of obtaining repair parts, and about the uniquely Cuban construct of resolver through which they survive and even prosper.

But most importantly, it will be seen that Cubans have an indomitable spirit that allows them to remain happy and optimistic, despite the adversities of conquest and occupation, the interference of foreign governments, and the oppression of their own government for over five hundred years.

How to Lose Weight and Keep It Off

The book starts with a detailed description of the optimal way to lose weight and information on how to keep it off. However, you are strongly advised to read the subsequent chapters as referenced in Chapter 1. The author has noted that his patients find it both helpful and liberating to have an understanding of the regulation of body weight, of the causes of obesity, the health problems that obesity causes and the biological mechanisms that make it difficult to maintain weight loss.  

All of the information provided in this book is backed by published scientific evidence. References are provided at the end of the book that can be freely accessed through searchable medical databases such as PubMed or Google Scholar. For the lay reader, much of what is written in scientific articles may be overly technical, however many can be helped in the interpretation and meaning of the information by their family doctor who will play a key role in their weight loss journey.