oldcastle books ltd united kingdom harpenden herts (45 results)

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Who is Who? A Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey with two hearts and thirteen lives? A folk hero who entertained and enthralled us in the warm glow of our TV sets on dark winter evenings? A rebellious iconoclast who toppled corrupt dictatorships and freed the oppressed? Or a bumbling British eccentric who for 26 years fought rubber monsters in a cheap and cheerful BBC kids' show? Well, he's all of these things - and a whole lot more besides. The story of Doctor Who is the story of British television in the final third of this century. It is also the story of the hopes and fears of generations of children - and grown-ups too - from the counter-culture 60s to the shallow waters of the 90s. Along the way there are shock revelations, melodramatic cliff-hangers and liberal doses of humour (intentional or otherwise); but be warned - there is also heart-ache, disappointment and death. Every taste is catered for in the world of Doctor Who. As well as an introductory essay, each Doctor's era is put under the microscope with facts and informed opinion on all their stories. There's an in-depth reference section detailing further reading, fascinating and bizarre Doctor Who websites, and a short history of spin-off stories and merchandising. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. For millions of people saints provide comfort, hope and inspiration and act as intercessors to God. But whilst the earliest saints and martyrs served an essentially spiritual role within society their impact and influence can also be found today throughout the modern secular world. The term saint comes from the Latin word 'sanctus' meaning Holy. Many of the first saints were Christian martyrs who died for their faith. The original meaning of the accolade of martyr was 'witness'. The earliest recorded account of the veneration of a Christian martyr relates to St Polycarp who died for his faith in 156 AD. The surviving text recounts that his fellow Christians gathered his bones or 'relics' together and placed them at a site where they could be re-visited on the anniversary of his death. Initially, Christians prayed for their holy martyrs in memory of their sacrifices but over time began to regard them as intercessors between themselves and God. The sites of their burials became shrines for pilgrims to visit and their feast day's important events. However, it has been observed that many of the aspects of the cults of different saints can be found in pre-Christian traditions. In the ancient Greek world the concept of a patron or localised god or goddess was commonplace. For example the city of Athens was said to be under the protection of Athena whilst the matron goddess of Byzantium was Artemis. During the Middle Ages the veneration of saints reached an apogee reflected in the popularity of the Golden Legend a written account of the lives of the saints compiled by Jacobus de Voragine. But where in the past individuals had become saints through the popular acclamation of the local community during the middle ages the Holy See itself would take sole responsibility for according that status. Pope Innocent III is now viewed as having established the right of the papacy to canonise individuals. A study of the lives and values of those individuals who have been accorded the status of saints often reveals wildly differing world-views and philosophical outlooks on the part of those who revere them as such. In an unexpected and fascinating turn of events slaves in the new world combined elements of their own traditions and spiritual beliefs with the European veneration of saints to produce a unique religious hybrid known as Santeria, a form of Voodoo practised in Cuba. More recently dramatic world events have led to the creation of modern saints such as the Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War and the recognition of the martyrdom of the Romanov family by the Russian church. The stories of the lives of the saints and the different aspects of their cults underpin many of the fundamental concepts of the modern world. From the little known Christian figure that gave his name to St Valentine's Day to the mysterious St Nicholas or Santa Claus, saints continue to be invoked in the most commercial and arguably spiritually sterile of settings. Saints continue to serve as patrons of countries, professions, and occupations and provide help with medical, personal and spiritual problems. The differing roles of saints ranges from the surprising such as the archangel Gabriel being patron saint of broadcasters to the bizarre with St Quentin serving as the patron saint of Locksmiths. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Jersey fishing captain, Jean Cotterell is rescued by a French frigate - The Hortense - off the Grand Banks of Nova Scotia in May 1794. His fishing vessel has foundered and he is the sole survivor. The Hortense is part of Republican Admiral Jan Van Stabel's great fleet of over 100 ships bringing corn to France. Lord Howe's Channel Fleet is off Brest, hoping to intercept them. Life on The Hortense is like France under the Terror; chaotic, ungovernable, obsessed with savage, radical political theories. Separated from the French fleet in the Western Approaches she is intercepted by two British frigates and battle is joined. The Antigallican is the first in a series of novels set at the end of the 18th century at sea, in Britain, in the Channel Islands and in Revolutionary France. In Jean Cotterell we find a character that bears comparison with Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe, in a narrative that will delight fans of Patrick O'Brian. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Dr. Amir Aczel reveals the tools to control the effects of chance on your life Does the bus always seem to take longer than average to arrive? There's a mathematical reason for it. Have you invested in real estate, or bought stock in a nasdaq company? What type of return can you expect? How do political polls work, and what is a margin of error? What's the best way to bluff at poker, or count cards in blackjack? If you absolutely had to gamble, which strategy ensures the highest probability of success? Find out the answers to these and many more questions in Chance. perhaps the most important book you'll ever read. Let's say in your lifetime you could date a hundred people-how many should you go out with before settling down and marrying? In Chance, celebrated mathematician Amir D. Aczel turns his sights on probability theory-the branch of mathematics that measures the likelihood of a random event. He explains probability in clear, layperson's terms, and shows its practical applications. What is commonly called 'luck' has mathematical roots-and in Chance, you'll learn to increase your odds of success in everything from true love to the stock market. For thousands of years, the twin forces of chance and mischance have beguiled humanity like none other. Why does fortune smile on some people, and smirk on others? What is luck, and why does it so often visit the undeserving? How can we predict the random events happening around us-even better, how can we manipulate them? In this delightful and lucid voyage through the realm of the random, Dr. Aczel once again makes higher mathematics intelligible to us. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. In 1922 Howard Carter uncovered what is still regarded as the most spectacular archaeological discovery ever made. Tutankhamun's tomb had remained hidden in the Valley of the Kings for more than 3000 years and its discovery caused a media sensation, elevating the previously little-known Egyptian Pharaoh into the position of an international celebrity. The contents of the tomb were found almost entirely intact, including the Pharaoh's mummified body, still wearing its solid gold funeral mask. Tutankhamun lived in an era when the Egyptian Empire, centred on the royal city of Thebes, was at its pinnacle and when the wealth and power of its Pharaoh was at its greatest. This was also a period of enormous religious upheaval. Akenaten, the heretical Pharaoh and, more than likely, Tutanhkamun's father, had introduced a new religion, exclusively worshipping the sun god Aten. Under Tutanhkamun, the old religion, with its many gods and goddesses, was restored, putting an end to the heresy. In recent years research has shed new light on Tutankhamun's life and, in particular, on his death. A new exhibition, Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, has toured America and is coming to London in November 2007. Public interest in the boy king is as strong as ever and our knowledge of the sophisticated and complex society over which he reigned continues to grow. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Fair. Friedrich Nietzsche has been the unluckiest of philosophers. During his lifetime he was either ignored or misunderstood and he spent the last eleven years of his life in the dark prison of insanity. Since his death he has been accused of being a proto-Fascist and hailed by Hitler as his philosophical guru. What is the truth about Nietzsche and his ideas? In this Pocket Essential Travis Elborough guides the reader through the difficulties of Nietzsche's life, his friendship with Wagner, his years as an itinerant scholar up to the terrible moment in 1889 when the sight of a horse being flogged in the streets of Turin precipitated a full-scale mental collapse, and the twilight years of madness under the care of his sinister sister, Elizabeth. Each of Nietzsche's major works is summarised and the central concepts in his philosophy examined. Nietzsche's influence on 20th century thought is explored, as is the posthumous hijacking of his name by the Nazis. A readable copy of the book which may include some defects such as highlighting and notes. Cover and pages may be creased and show discolouration.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. 1922 was a year of great turbulence and upheaval. Its events reverberated throughout the rest of the twentieth century and still affect us today, 100 years later. Empires fell. The Ottoman Empire collapsed after more than six centuries. The British Empire had reached its greatest extent but its heyday was over. The Irish Free State was declared and demands for independence in India grew. New nations and new politics came into existence. The Soviet Union was officially created and Mussolini's Italy became the first Fascist state. In the USA, Prohibition was at its height. The Hollywood film industry, although rocked by a series of scandals, continued to grow. A new mass medium - radio - was making its presence felt and, in Britain, the BBC was founded. In literature it was the year of peak modernism. Both T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land and James Joyce's Ulysses were first published in full. In society, already changed by the trauma of war and pandemic, the morals of the past seemed increasingly outmoded; new ways of behaving were making their appearance. The Roaring Twenties had begun to roar and the Jazz Age had arrived. In a sequence of vividly written sketches, Nick Rennison conjures up all the drama and diversity of an extraordinary year. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Dedicated to any woman who's ever been a few pounds overweight Sad, lonely Sharon Plunkett is size eighteen. She's tried every fad, every diet and every cream, but like stains of grease on a pure silk blouse, her rolls of fat refuse to budge. The man of her dreams isn't interested, and her skinny friend Debbee only uses her to look good. But all that changes when Sharon magically finds herself in a fantastic, reversed world - where it's suddenly 'in' to be fat, and 'out' to be slim! Feted and adored for her curvaceous body and stunning looks, she goes from supermodel to Hollywood icon in a matter of months. Until. it all starts to go very wrong. A deliciously wicked satire, Fat Chance bites back at the 'skinny insanity' currently gripping the western world - Size Zero, celebrity weight-obsessed magazines, the fashion and advertising industries, high society and Hollywood. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Good. This is what Iain Fletcher's one year as a 'pro' on the betting exchanges had come down to - 80 minutes on a mid table Rugby League game. The author of the acclaimed On Tilt, was subbed GBP5000 by leading matched betting company, Betfair and given 12 months to turn a profit and learn the intricacies of the new online betting phenomenon. Game, Set & Matched is the fascinating diary of his efforts to master Matched Betting. Along the way he details how to bet successfully on the exchanges on all types of sports from horse racing to soccer and rugby to golf. As importantly he highlights the financial and psychological disciplines required to come out ahead. The book has been read but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact and the cover is intact. Some minor wear to the spine.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Artists and writers from the colder climes of northern Europe have long felt the lure of the South of the continent. Goethe was revitalised by his encounters with Mediterranean culture on his journey to Italy. Nietzsche took flight southwards to begin his life anew, while DH Lawrence sought the health-giving southern sun in Sicily and Sardinia. But across the centuries, other outposts of the South have provoked a similar obsession. The South Seas cast a spell over figures such as Herman Melville, Robert Louis Stevenson and Paul Gauguin. The American Deep South and the southermost reaches of Latin America have been celebrated in the works of writers as diverse as John Muir, Jack Kerouac and Jorge Luis Borges. While the Great White South of the Antarctic has provided the backdrop to the darkest imaginings of Coleridge, Poe and Lovecraft. Even London, south of the river, is a place where novelists compete today to stake out a literary territory of their own. Moving between geography and mythology, literature and history, South is the first book to look at all things Southern in one volume. It examines the idea of the South as a symbol of freedom and escape, as well as the depository for many of our deepest unconscious fears and desires. It also charts the history of the South as the chosen location for the utopian visions of the North. From the beaches of Tahiti to the streets of Buenos Aires, from Naples to New Orleans, Merlin Coverley's brilliant and wide-ranging study throws light on the ways in which the idea of the South, in all its forms, has come to exert such a powerful hold on our collective imaginations. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Dr Burton P. Fabricand, physicist and financier is the author of Horse Sense and Beating The Street. In these books he introduced the highly successful methods of investment in the Stock Market and Pari-Mutuel markets that are still widely used today. This updated and revised edition of the Science Of Winning combines the best elements of the above books. It employs chaos theory, efficient market hypothesis and the symmetry of free markets to help investors at both codes improve their investment performance. The implications of these current research efforts are far-reaching, and extend to the social sciences, economics, government, and our standard of living. Has 3 major sections: The Random Walk In Science and Society, Winning In The Pari-Muteul Market, and Winning in the Stock Market. Updated in 1995. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. At the beginning of the 1840s the proud tribes of the North American Indians looked across the plains at the seemingly unstoppable expansion of the white man's West. During the decades of conflict that followed, as the new world pushed onward, the Indians saw their way of life disappear before their eyes. Over the next 40 years they clung to a dream of freedom and a continuation of their traditions, a dream that was repeatedly shattered by the whites. This Pocket Essential Guide charts the savage series of battles, treacheries, massacres and ambushes that shaped those turbulent years. It recounts all the key engagements, from the Minnesota Massacre to the Battle of Wounded Knee, often using eyewitness reports of the time. It also offers an in-depth analysis of the Battle of the Little Big Horn, and attempts to separate the tall tales from the truth. This essential guide provides notes on the historical context, the reasons behind the bloodshed and the tragic consequences for the Indians. In addition there are biographies of the key figures from both sides, including General's Crook and Custer, and their Indian adversaries Sitting Bull, Geronimo and Crazy Horse. Also included are a chronology of events, a map and a resources section making this a valuable introduction for students of the period. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. So you want to make a film? It's the only way to get into the film industry. No one's going to let you play with the kind of money it takes to make a feature film until you've already proven yourself by making a great short film. You can do that at film school - if you can afford to go to film school. If you can't, then you're going to have to make your films without money. You're going to have to film on a microbudget - like Shane Meadows, who made Where's The Money, Ronnie? before TwentyFourSeven, and Guy Ritchie, who made The Hard Case before Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels. With the technology available today, it's easier than ever to make a short film without the benefits of funding, but digital cameras and editing systems are only part of the story. The most important thing is you, the film-maker. This Pocket Essential gives you all the information you need to put together a short film production - from first idea to script to planning to casting to locations to shooting to editing to distribution. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Fair. What is Creative Writing? It is an academic subject, a popular pastime, a road to self-revelation and the start of a potentially lucrative career. The path chosen and the progress made is the result of choices made by the writer. The potential for Creative Writing to increase and enhance the lives of its practitioners has been proven repeatedly. Creative Writing includes prose and poetry. It covers great and complex works and tiny, focused fragments. It takes in aspects of creative thinking and commercial wisdom. Above all, Creative Writing is time for yourself and the freedom to explore and achieve. Creative Writing is a subject best practised in an environment offering both encouragement and practical instruction. An environment where every piece of work can be reviewed and reflected upon. This Pocket Essential can help you find this place. What's in it? An introductory essay defining Creative Writing. A consideration of the major areas and approaches. Chapters on: getting started; developing technique, plotting and themes; making meaning and making money. A range of work is reviewed and analysed. There is a consistent emphasis on empowering the reader to focus on his/her own ambitions and create work to achieve targets. A readable copy of the book which may include some defects such as highlighting and notes. Cover and pages may be creased and show discolouration.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Don't panic! The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy is a unique phenomenon which started life as a radio series in 1978 and was subsequently adapted into five best-selling novels, remade as a BAFTA-winning TV series, re-recorded as a chart LP, reinvented as a computer game, dramatised for the West End stage and translated into more than 30 languages. For the first time, the full story behind the Hitch-Hiker's Guide is told in all its bizarre detail: the Finnish radio series, the German one-man stage show, the modern jazz suite, the two-headed teddy bears. Every variant of the story, every spin-off and cash-in, is documented in context, including the feature film, which has been stuck in development hell for more than 20 years.Based on 20 years of research and extensive interviews with the cast and crew of Hitchhiker's Guide, including Douglas Adams, this book also includes details of Douglas Adams' other projects (Dirk Gently, The Meaning Of Liff and Starship Titanic) plus his early work on series such as Doctor Who and Monty Python's Flying Circus. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Conflict. Scorsese examines what men do when they are in conflict with themselves. Taxi Driver Travis Bickle is disgusted by the mean streets and wants to wash them clean. After all, what was the point of him going to Vietnam if it wasn't to make things better? Self-destructive Jake La Motta unleashes the Raging Bull within him both inside and outside the boxing ring. Wiseguy Henry Hill thinks that he can be one of the GoodFellas, but he eventually realises that there is nothing good or wise about a life of organised crime. Spirit. There is more to Scorsese's work than crime and violence. His characters are trying to attain some kind of spiritual peace with society, their family and themselves. In the end they try to make a decision they can live with. In Kundun, the Dalai Lama leaves Tibet. In The Last Temptation Of Christ, Jesus forgoes a normal family life to fulfil his destiny. In The Age Of Innocence, Newland Archer decides to be a hypocrite within society rather than truthful outside of it. In Mean Streets, Charlie must choose whether to keep his volatile friend Johnny Boy and his epileptic lover, or to propel himself up the ladder of success. Hailed as America's greatest living film director, Martin Scorsese is an innovative storyteller at the height of his intellectual and emotional powers. This Pocket Essential examines his life and work. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. 'This debt was not contracted as the price of bread or wine or arms. It was the price of liberty' - Alexander Hamilton Kiah Harmon, a young Virginia lawyer, is just emerging from the most traumatic time of her life when actress Sam van Eyck walks into her office, unannounced, with the case of a lifetime. She asks Kiah to recover a 200-year-old debt from the US Government - a debt that goes right back to the time of Alexander Hamilton. The selfless generosity of Sam's ancestor, Jacob van Eyck, in making a massive loan of gold and supplies at Valley Forge, during the freezing winter of 1777-1778, may well have saved George Washington's army, and the War of Independence, from disaster. But it reduced Jacob to ruin. Despite the government's promises, the debt was never repaid, and this hero of the American Revolution died in poverty, unknown and unrecognised. Two hundred years later, Sam and Kiah embark on a quest to change that. But first, they will have to find the evidence, and overcome a stubborn Government determined to frustrate their every move. Will Sam and Kiah succeed in finally getting Jacob the statue he deserves? The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. 'Europe was created by history.' Margaret Thatcher What is Europe? Firstly, of course, it is a continent made up of countless disparate peoples, races and nations, and governed by different ideas, philosophies, religions and attitudes. Nonetheless, it has a common thread of history running through it; welded together by the continent's great institutions, such as the Church of Rome, the Holy Roman Empire, the European Union. Europe, however, is also an idea. From almost the beginning of time, people have harboured aspirations to make this vast territory one. The Romans came close and a few centuries later, the foundations for a great European state were laid with the creation of the Holy Roman Empire. Napoleon overreached himself in attempting to create a European-wide Empire - as did Adolf Hitler. The European Union is a club of which everyone in Europe wants to be a member; although, as the rejection of the European Constitution by the French and the Dutch, and the British situation demonstrates, we Europeans still cling to our national independence. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Vampire movies are almost as old as film itself. Constantly remade and reinvented for each new generation, the films, like the vampires themselves, adopt many shapes - from the faithful adaptation of Francis Coppola's Dracula (1992) to the art movie approach of Werner Herzog's Nosferatu remake (1979] via the high-school horror of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992). This handy book traces the vampire film from its beginnings to the present day, acknowledging on its way all the classics of vampire cinema from the original Nosferatu (1921) right up to 30 Days of Night (2007) and beyond. From saucy French vampires to hopping Chinese ones, from Hammer horrors to Hollywood blockbusters, whatever your favourite bloodsucker you'll find it here. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Every day thousands of people worldwide consult Roget's Thesaurus. How many stop to consider why that endlessly useful reference book is so called? Of those who know that it owes its name to the man who first devised it, how many know anything more about him? Yet Peter Mark Roget was one of the most remarkable men of the nineteenth century and he achieved much in his long life. He did not even begin the great work of classification which bears his name until he was 70. Before that, the polymathic Roget had already made his own contributions to knowledge in a dozen different fields from optics and anatomy to mathematics and education. He would probably have been surprised that his posthumous reputation rests on his thesaurus. No doubt he would have expected that it would be his involvement in the foundation of the University of London that would be his lasting legacy. Or his books on magnetism, galvanism and physiology. Or his scientific papers on persistence of vision, with their later impact on the development of motion pictures. Or his association with major thinkers such as the computer pioneer Charles Babbage and the philosopher Jeremy Bentham. The range of his interests was astonishing and, for sixty years, he was at the centre of the intellectual revolution of his times. Nick Rennison's biography reveals the full story of Roget's involvement with the great issues and the great personalities of the nineteenth century and recounts the forgotten life behind one of the most famous of all reference books. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. To many, Urban Legends are nothing more than harmless tales told round a camp fire, in a dormitory or round a table in a pub with the express aim of provoking a frisson of fear in the listener through the use of some horrific shock element in a familiar location and to an unlucky protagonist who is known to a friend of a friend of a friend. But is there something working at a deeper level? We have all heard stories of the Deep Fried Rat, the Ghostly Hitchhiker, the Hook Handed Killer or the Poodle in the Microwave but should we take them at face value or greet them with scorn and derision? Did the events in these tales ever really happen or are they the product of over active imaginations fearful of the outside world? In this book Nick Harding sets out to describe a host of Urban Legends suggesting that we should not dismiss them purely as nonsense nor accept them as gospel truth but by striving to understand their underlying meanings we begin to see their true worth as folklore for the modern world. To understand folklore and therefore the realm of the Urban Legend is to understand the psyche of a nation. By understanding Urban Legends we can gain an insight into our own fears and those of our fellow human beings. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Witchcraft has recently been undergoing a huge popular revival, but does modern pagan witchcraft really bear any resemblance to its historical antecedents? The witch in history was a very different creature from her modern counterpart, and this book sets out to explore the historical background to the European witchcraft phenomenon. It examines in detail the growth of the ideological, cultural and legal concepts that eventually led to the carnage of the Witch Craze in the 16th and 17th centuries, which, it is estimated, may have claimed the lives of around 40,000 people. For both Medieval and Reformation scholars alike the Devil and all his works were a very real threat. Their conviction that witches were the servants of Satan led to the formation of perhaps one of the greatest conspiracy theories of all time: a belief that witches were working in league with the Devil in a diabolical plot against all Christendom. Witches were transformed from poor deluded old women who rode out at night with the pagan goddess Diana into devil-worshipping heretics who became the focus of a centuries-long, Europe-wide campaign determined to seek out and destroy this evil wherever it was to be found, regardless of whether any of its victims were actually guilty or not. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Situated at the crossroads of three continents, the Middle East has confounded the ambition of conquerors and peacemakers alike. Christianity, Judaism and Islam all had their genesis in the region but with them came not just civilisation and religion but also some of the great struggles of history. A Short History of the Middle East makes sense of the shifting sands of Middle Eastern History, beginning with the early cultures of the area and moving on to the Roman and Persian Empires; the growth of Christianity; the rise of Islam; the invasions from the east; Genghis Khan's Mongol hordes; the Ottoman Turks and the rise of radicalism in the modern world symbolised by Islamic State. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Now officially the most popular drama on television, Doctor Who has seen many ups and downs in its long and colourful history. From humble beginnings on 23 November 1963 to its cancellation in 1989 and eventual resurrection in 2005, the show has always been a quintessential element of British popular culture. The spine-chilling theme music, the multi-dimensional Tardis, the evil metallic Daleks and the ever-changing face of the Doctor himself have become trademarks of the programme's witty, eclectic house style. Over the years Doctor Who has embraced such diverse genres as science fiction, horror, westerns, history, romance, adventure and comedy - but has never strayed from its first and most important remit: telling damn good stories. Ten Doctors, a multitude of companions, and a veritable cornucopia of monsters and villains: Doctor Who has it all. 'The children's own programme which adults adore,' said Gerard Garrett in The Daily Sketch newspaper back in the early 1970s - and it's still the perfect summation of the programme's unique charm. This new, updated edition of the best-selling Pocket Essential guide puts all the first ten Doctors under the microscope with facts, figures and opinions on every Doctor Who story televised. There are sections on TV, radio, cinema, stage and internet spin-offs, novels and audio adventures, missing episodes, and an extensive website listing and bibliography. Doctor Who: The Episode Guide includes a foreword by Kim Newman, contributing editor to Sight & Sound and Empire magazines. His fiction includes the novels Anno Dracula and Life's Lottery and the novella Doctor Who: Time and Relative. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Published to coincide with the 124th anniversary of F. Scott Fitzgerald's birth Enigmatic, intriguing and fabulously wealthy, Jay Gatsby throws lavish parties at his West Egg mansion to impress Daisy Buchanan, the object of his obsession, now married to bullish Tom Buchanan. Over a Long Island summer, his neighbour Nick Carraway, a writer and a cousin to Daisy, looks on as Gatsby and Daisy's affair deepens. Tragedy looms in F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece, frequently named among the best novels of the twentieth century. This new edition includes a foreword by critically acclaimed novelist Michael Farris Smith, as well as an exclusive extract of his forthcoming novel, NICK, which imagines narrator Nick Carraway's life before The Great Gatsby. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Today it is known as Istanbul, the modern city which stands at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. For centuries past, it was Constantinople. But before that, it was Byzantium, and it gave its name to an ancient empire. Ancient Greeks, led by a man named Byzas, founded the city in the seventh century BC. A millennium later, it was revitalised by the Roman emperor Constantine the Great, who played a crucial role in making Christianity the official religion of the Empire. When the Roman Empire in the West collapsed, it was Byzantium that kept the imperial idea alive. For centuries, surrounded by hostile neighbours, Byzantium remained a Christian city at the heart of a Christian empire. As the new religion of Islam expanded, it was Byzantium and the Byzantine Empire that stood on the frontline of the confrontation between two faiths. When, in 1453, the city fell to the Turks and its last emperor died, the world was changed forever. The Byzantine Empire created remarkable art and architecture and a lasting cultural and religious legacy. Giles Morgan provides a concise history of a city which gave its name to an extraordinary civilisation. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Designed to be a complete historical, social, architectural and religious guide to the churches of Hertfordshire. With a foreword by the Bishop of St Albans, this illustrated work contains a gazetteer of all the religious establishments of the county. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Euro Noir by Britain's leading crime fiction expert Barry Forshaw (author of Nordic Noir) examines the astonishing success of European fiction and drama. This is often edgier, grittier and more compelling than some of its British or American equivalents, and the book provides a highly readable guide for those wanting to look further than the obvious choices. The sheer volume of new European writers and films is daunting but Euro Noir provides a roadmap to the territory and is also a perfect travel guide to the genre. Barry Forshaw covers influential Italian authors, such as Andrea Camilleri and Leonardo Sciascia and Mafia crime dramas Romanzo Criminale and Gomorrah, along with the gruesome Gialli crime films. He also considers important French and Belgian writers such as Maigret's creator Georges Simenon to today's Fred Vargas, cult television programmes Braquo and Spiral, and films, from the classic heist movie Rififi to modern successes such as Hidden, Mesrine and Tell No One. German and Austrian greats are covered including Jakob Arjouni and Jan Costin Wagner, and crime films such as Run Lola Run and The Lives of Others. Euro Noir also covers the best crime writing and filmmaking from Spain, Portugal, Greece, Holland and other European countries and celebrates the wide scope of European crime fiction, films and TV. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Barry Forshaw is acknowledged as a leading expert on crime fiction and film. Following his books on Nordic Noir, Brit Noir and Euro Noir he now tackles the largest and, some might argue, most impressive body of crime fiction from a single country, the United States, to produce the perfect reader's guide to modern American crime fiction. The word 'Noir' is used in its loosest sense: every major living American writer is considered (including the giants Harlan Coben, Patricia Cornwell, James Lee Burke, James Ellroy and Sara Paretsky, as well as non-crime writers such as Stephen King who stray into the genre), often through a concentration on one or two key books. Many exciting new talents are highlighted, and Barry Forshaw's knowledge of - and personal acquaintance with - many of the writers, grants valuable insight into this massively popular field. But the crime genre is as much about films and TV as it is about books, and American Noir is a celebration of the former as well as the latter. US television crime drama in particular is enjoying a golden age, and all of the important current series are covered here, as well as key contemporary films. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.