A Piece of the Action

What is it like to spend a lifetime doing research in a wide variety of fields in the physical sciences? Studying distant planets, binary stars, neutron stars, stellar mass black holes and active galaxies using optical and near-infrared ground-based telescopes. Designing and constructing equipment as a member of international teams studying the high-energy X-ray emissions from many of these objects. Flying these detectors on short duration sounding rocket flights, utilising huge balloons to carry experiments to high altitude, or installing them on long duration satellite missions. Being a scientist engaged in fieldwork studying the physical properties of the world’s oceans, or the sea ice and glaciers around the coastline of Antarctica. This lifetime involved living in the UK and Australia for many years, with a four-year interlude in the USA, as well as working in or visiting many other countries. How lucky can you get? This book describes numerous projects in an unusually diverse range of research areas – the fun and adventure of STEM activities – without getting into excessive technical or specialist detail.

The Wealthy Way

Embark on a transformative journey towards socio-economic wellness and financial freedom with The Wealthy Way. This unique process empowers individuals to develop knowledge, awareness, and an ideal personality while taking strategic actions to create a life of abundance, free from money worries.This book guides you in nourishing your mindset, revitalizing your life, and effectively managing your finances to kickstart strong wealth creation. It provides life-changing values for anyone determined to overcome money personality problems, escape poverty, and achieve true financial freedom.Through self-discovery, transformation, and knowledge development, you can change your current financial situation and prevent future pitfalls. The Wealthy Way introduces three essential holistic personalities: BE transformed, DO take action, and HAVE sustainable financial wellness. These personalities are vital for improving your mindset, belief system, and financial management skills, leading to financial sufficiency.

A Bipolar Life Well-Lived

It never dawned on me that I was getting ill, but what was happening to me was very real. Living in a world of make-believe, I was convinced my imaginary visions were genuine. I had delusions of grandeur, thinking I was all-powerful and the centre of everything. But I was not a monster; I was a lost soul. My story involves a struggle with mania and depression in the context of my life in England and France. How, despite my handicap, I held down a job abroad for 8 years and how, after 8 years of marriage to a Frenchman, I supported my daughter as a single parent. My memoir gives insight into living with mental illness. It is an autobiography concerned with memories of childhood, adolescence and adulthood.

The Fleet Air Arm

This book uncovers many hidden facts and untold stories of the Fleet Air Arm (FAA), shedding light on its remarkable history, much of which has not been widely published. It offers a concise yet vivid account of how the Royal Navy’s Air Service (RNAS) evolved over the years, shaped by over a century of political manoeuvring and its long-standing rivalry with the Royal Air Force. Even today, the FAA continues to operate in the shadow of the RAF, as seen in the ongoing developments surrounding the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers and the F-35B aircraft they now carry, frequent subjects in the media.Few know that the last serviceman to die in the Second World War was an FAA pilot, shot down over Japan at the very end of the Pacific conflict. While FAA victories such as Taranto and the Falklands are well known, it may surprise readers to learn that the FAA briefly flew Lancasters in 1946. And in the Gulf War, FAA Westland Lynx helicopters made history by virtually wiping out Iraq’s navy using Sea Skua missiles, the first time seaborne helicopters achieved such a feat.This book also features the most comprehensive post-1945 timeline of the FAA, a reflection of the decline of Britain’s maritime power over recent decades. Enriching the narrative are personal anecdotes from FAA personnel, highlighting their bravery, dedication, and sacrifice in the line of duty.

A Moment in Time: Childhood Memories

Melinda’s journey begins in the bustling streets of Bristol, where childhood memories of candy-filled visits to Sid’s shop and daring paper rounds paint a vivid picture of innocence and adventure. As she navigates the challenges of growing up in a tight-knit community, Melinda’s life is a testament to resilience and the enduring spirit of youth. Her story is a nostalgic exploration of simpler times, filled with the sweet taste of frozen Mars bars and the camaraderie of schoolyard friendships.

From the lively streets of Totterdown to the serene landscapes of South Wales, Melinda’s tale is one of love, loss, and the indomitable human spirit. She faces the trials of adulthood with the same determination that saw her through childhood adventures, finding strength in family, work, and the occasional act of kindness. A Moment in Time: Childhood Memories is a heartfelt memoir that captures the essence of a life lived fully, marked by the highs and lows that make us who we are. Join Melinda as she reflects on her past, embraces the present, and looks forward to the future with hope and grace.

Idea and Image

What does art tell us about man’s place in history?

In Thought and Image, award-winning author and philosopher Fredrik Lång takes the reader on a two-thousand-year journey spanning the worlds of art and philosophy, from ancient Greece into the modern day. Thought and Image explores the ways in which artistic expression is linked to the way of life and manner of thought of people throughout the centuries.

“Art, like knowledge, is an interpretation of a contemporary existence, executed in the concepts that thinking provides at the time. Every picture is worth a thousand words and every significant work of art contains a statement and is a confirmation of the general values of its time.”

Lång journeys slowly through the winding gallery of images and concepts that man has built up over the millennia, analysing the gaze of Giotto and the technical metaphors of Duchamp. The book ends with a challenging question: What is the significance of the insights gained for the understanding of our own time?

Stones on the Camino; or, What It Was Like

Lilly, a senior lady, would never have dreamt of doing the Camino de Santiago. Yet, one day, she just took off and started this arduous pilgrimage, walking 800 km all alone through the north of Spain. Lilly’s handicaps, as a result of previous brain surgery, made traveling on her own sometimes hazardous.

On these pages, she draws the reader into the beautiful, peaceful, and happy pilgrim world, relating some of the incredible stories she heard. She listens to Stuart when he talks about the agonizing search for his younger brother at Ground Zero, and to Alexander from Peru, who had twenty siblings, all by the same mother. We hear about the lady who was struggling to get away from an abusive, narcissistic partner.

At an almost hidden level, this story lifts a few veils off Lilly’s own marriage. We also get to know David, who saved Lilly’s life during a night of thunderstorms, which was, by the way, not the first time her life was in danger. David returns in quite an unexpected manner in the last few pages of these Camino tales, adding more magic to an exceptional journey.

Bride with Pride

Sometimes in life, the unexpected happens. A twist of fate can change everything, even who you fall in love with. When a man searching for the man of his dreams unexpectedly finds that a woman fits the bill, it’s a surprising revelation. It’s a story of opposites attracting, of love transcending gender, and embracing the beautiful diversity of human relationships.

In a world where cruelty and prejudice can prevail, the love between two people, regardless of their gender or orientation, adds spice to life. This is a call to go for it and be happy, to take a leap of faith and embrace pride. Despite the hurdles and obstacles, the journey of love is worth it. As the wedding vow says: ‘Let no man put asunder.’

Reading Elgar’s The Music Makers

Elgar’s The Music Makers, for contralto solo, choir and large orchestra, has experienced a chequered reputation since its 1912 premiere at the Birmingham Festival. The work faced significant adverse criticism which re-emerged over time. Criticism targeted the poem Elgar chose for his setting – Arthur O’Shaughnessy’s ode, whose reputation was later tarnished by T.S. Eliot’s infamous critique ‘What is Minor Poetry?’. Misunderstanding of Elgar’s innovatory compositional procedure was another main reason behind the negative responses. Elgar integrated the poetic language with musical self-borrowings, transforming the words and offering perceptive listeners enhanced emotion at the highest artistic level. All aspects of Elgar’s musical language combine to produce one of his greatest, yet least understood, masterworks.

Reading Elgar’s The Music Makers brings to the fore a prime example of how first musical performances can be misunderstood and reception can shift over time. The work remains as relevant today as ever. The book’s multi-faceted approach will be invaluable not only for conductors, singers and music students, but for concert goers and music lovers generally.

Are There Any Moral Truths?

We live in crisis-ridden times. Civilization is repeatedly ravaged by diseases, recessions, wars, and international terror, while global climate change and the existence of nuclear weapons could soon put an end to humanity. What are we to do? Serious problems like these raise many moral questions, but people often disagree, sometimes vehemently, about the answers.

Moral disagreements pose a fundamental question: Could some moral opinions be better than others? Are there any moral truths at all, or is right and wrong merely a matter of perspective, depending on the eye of the beholder? Perhaps moral beliefs are nothing but a kind of superstition, like beliefs about vampires or Greek gods and goddesses?

In this refreshingly unorthodox introduction, Danish philosopher Thomas Østergaard deals with these questions in a novel way. Written as a philosophical dialogue, the book makes the various positions come alive through four people’s interchange of ideas and arguments, continuously interspersed with everyday examples as well as intriguing thought experiments. As a witness to this debate, the reader is invited to ponder the nature of morality, the possibility of resolving our moral differences, and the puzzling and provocative question: Why should I care about morality?

The Kingdom Is Yours

‘I’ve still got the diaries somewhere, scruffy from stuffing them in my handbag and covered with something just short of scribble. Five or six diaries. What was happening was earth-changing. I felt compelled to record it as faithfully as I could…’

Linda Appleby

During the 1990s, Linda Appleby, a brilliant university academic, kept a journal that combined a sharp sense of what was happening in – and in some ways, to – the world with an unintentional timeline of her own mental breakdown, which culminated in a stay at Cambridge’s Fulbourn Hospital in the early 2000s. Current events from the period – the long war in the former Yugoslavia, the hostages in Lebanon, the Good Friday Agreement, the rise of Tony Blair – are intertwined with Linda’s professional, domestic and romantic concerns. The result is an honest and unapologetic record of a keen mind gradually broken by a combination of external and internal pressures.

Through it all, Linda’s care for her children, her strong religious faith – which, though Christian, extends to a more than passing interest in both Muslim and Hindu beliefs – and academic grounding in philosophy somehow saved her from total disaster, and the book ends with a few entries in the mid-2000s, when Linda, having left Fulbourn, had been able to make a new life for herself in Cambridge. A few of the poems she was writing at the time are included in the book.

The Importance of Rest

At just 21 years old, Natalie was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome/M.E., a debilitating health condition. In her quest for recovery, Natalie embarked on a long and challenging journey, learning that hope is never lost. This true story chronicles her path, highlighting how she leaned on her strong Christian faith to find resilience. Natalie’s journey aims to inspire others who are also struggling with chronic illness and mental health challenges. Through her experiences, she offers a message of hope and strength to those facing similar battles.