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Around the World in 80 Games: A mathematician unlocks the secrets of the greatest games
'Brilliantly clear and captivating prose' Stephen Fry An award-winning mathematician explores the maths behind the games we love and why we love to play them. Where should you move first in Connect 4? What is the best property in Monopoly? And how can pi help you win rock paper scissors? Spanning millennia, oceans and continents, countries and cultures, Around the World in 80 Games gleefully explores how mathematics and games have always been deeply intertwined. Marcus du Sautoy investigates how games provided the first opportunities for deep mathematical insight into the world, how understanding maths can help us play games better, and how both maths and games are integral to human psychology and culture. For as long as there have been people, there have been games, and for nearly as long, we have been exploring and discovering mathematics. A grand adventure, Around the World in 80 Games teaches us not just how games are won, but how they, and the maths behind them, shape who we are.
Marcus Du Sautoy (Author), Mark Elstob (Narrator)
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A sweeping history of Athens, telling the three-thousand-year story of the birthplace of Western civilization. Even on the most smog-bound of days, the rocky outcrop on which the Acropolis stands is visible above the sprawling roofscape of the Greek capital. Athens presents one of the most recognizable and symbolically freighted panoramas of any of the world\'s cities: the pillars and pediments of the Parthenon - the temple dedicated to Athena, goddess of wisdom, that crowns the Acropolis - dominate a city whose name is synonymous for many with civilization itself. It is hard not to feel the hand of history in such a place. The birthplace of democracy, Western philosophy and theatre, Athens\' importance cannot be understated. Few cities have enjoyed a history so rich in artistic creativity and the making of ideas; or one so curiously patterned by alternating cycles of turbulence and quietness. From the legal reforms of the lawmaker Solon in the sixth century BCE to the travails of early twenty-first century Athens, as it struggles with the legacy of the economic crises of the 2000s, Clark brings the city\'s history to life, evoking its cultural richness and political resonance in this epic, kaleidoscopic history.
Bruce Clark (Author), Mark Elstob, TBD (Narrator)
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Bombshell: The Night Bobby Kennedy Killed Marilyn Monroe
‘Bobby called. He's coming to California. He wants to see me.' Drawing on secret police files, Marilyn Monroe's private diary and never before published first-hand testimony, this audiobook proves that Robert Kennedy was directly responsible for her death. It details the legendary star's tumultuous personal involvement with him and his brother, President John Kennedy, and how they sought to silence her. The new evidence and testimony is provided by Mike Rothmiller who, as a detective of the Organized Crime Intelligence Division of the LAPD, had direct personal access to hundreds of files on exactly what happened to Marilyn Monroe in 1962. With his training and investigator's knowledge, Rothmiller used that information to get to the heart of the matter, to the people who were there the night Marilyn died – two of whom played major roles in the cover-up – and the wider conspiracy to protect the Kennedys at all costs. “The claims are hard to believe... but the source is so solid and credible that you will find this amazing story hard to dismiss.” -DAILY MAIL
Douglas Thompson, Mike Rothmiller (Author), Mark Elstob (Narrator)
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Chums: How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK
A damning look at the university clique-turned-Commons majority that will blow the doors of Westminster wide open and change the way you look at our democracy forever. Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, David Cameron, George Osborne, Theresa May, Dominic Cummings, Jacob Rees-Mogg: Whitehall is swarming with old Oxonians. They debated each other in tutorials, ran against each other in student elections, and attended the same balls and black tie dinners. They aren't just colleagues - they are peers, rivals, friends. And, when they walked out of the world of student debates onto the national stage, they brought their university politics with them. Eleven of the fifteen postwar British prime ministers went to Oxford. In Chums, Simon Kuper traces how the rarefied and privileged atmosphere of this narrowest of talent pools - and the friendships and worldviews it created - shaped modern Britain. “'A searing onslaught on the smirking Oxford insinuation that politics is all just a game. It isn't. It matters” -MATTHEW PARRIS
Simon Kuper (Author), Mark Elstob (Narrator)
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Corrupt Bodies: Death and Dirty Dealing in a London Morgue
In 1985, Peter Everett landed the job as Superintendent of Southwark Mortuary. In just six years he'd gone from lowly assistant to running the UK's busiest murder morgue. He couldn't believe his luck. What he didn't know was that Southwark, operating in near-Victorian conditions, was a hotbed of corruption. Attendants stole from the dead, funeral homes paid bribes, and there was a lively trade in stolen body parts and recycled coffins. Set in the fascinating pre-DNA and psychological profiling years of 1985-87, this memoir tells a gripping and gruesome tale, with a unique insight into a world of death most of us don't ever see. Peter managed pathologists, oversaw post mortems and worked alongside Scotland Yard's Murder Squad - including on the case of the serial killer, the Stockwell Strangler. This is a thrilling tale of murder and corruption in the mid-1980s, told with insight and compassion.
Kris Hollington, Peter Everett (Author), Mark Elstob (Narrator)
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Don't Let's Be Beastly to the Germans
The untold history of the British occupation of Germany, told through the eyes of the people who were there. Following the end of the Second World War, between 1945 and 1949, British forces occupied the northern part of what would become West Germany. Here, Daniel Cowling presents a political and military history of this occupation, but also explores the experiences of the thousands of British men and women who were tasked with building a democracy out of the ruins of Hitler's Germany. From reconstructing bridges and schools in the British Zone to tracking down fugitives, their job was to leave no stone unturned in the fight to eradicate Nazism. But this force of civilian and military occupiers soon became entangled in the murky underworld of post-war Europe - rife with black-marketeering, corruption, cover-ups, sex and scandal. In time, they would also find themselves at the frontline of the Cold War, as irreconcilable tensions divided Europe between East and West. Based on a battery of source materials that ranges from newspaper reports to feature films, from declassified Foreign Office documents to private diaries, personal letters and interviews with veterans, Don't Let's Be Beastly to the Germans offers telling insights into Britain's experience of the Second World War and the Cold War, and sheds revelatory light on the development of Britain's relationship with Europe since 1945.
Daniel Cowling (Author), Mark Elstob (Narrator)
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The sands of Egypt carry whispers of rebellion... The much-anticipated third novel in Jonathan Spencer's best-selling William John Hazzard series. Egypt, September 1798. After tragedy at the Battle of the Nile, Hazzard is possessed by a dark vengeance: with the marines of 9 Company and their Bedouin allies he scours the Nile Delta for his enemy, the French spy-catcher Citizen Derrien. However, among the sacred ibis and ever-shifting sands, Hazzard catches wind of something far more deadly: the stirrings of revolt in Cairo, the outbreak of plague, and the cold hand of Admiralty Intelligence. When riot explodes in the capital, Hazzard fears he is simply too late. Abandoned by the French Government, Napoleon and his army are now trapped in Egypt. When Bonaparte discovers that Al-Djezzar 'the Butcher' of Acre is gathering his forces to attack, he accepts the challenge. Riding with the Mamluk and the beautiful Shajar al-Durr, Hazzard engages French cavalry in the shadow of Ozymandias in ancient Thebes - and the Admiralty calls upon him once more as Napoleon launches his bloody crusade on Syria and the Holy Land to become the new Emperor in the East. From flaming battle at sea with the blockade fleet to massacre at the walls of Jaffa and Acre, this is Napoleon's desperate bid to seize the Orient - and the next explosive chapter of the French occupation of Egypt. Perfect for fans of Bernard Cornwell, Simon Scarrow and Seth Hunter. In the words of J.D. Davies this is the follow-up to a 'Hornblower meets Mission: Impossible' storyline. - Jonathan Spencer is from south-east London, the great-grandson of a clipper-ship captain who brought tea from China. He served in the Canadian army, studied ancient and modern history, and has lectured at universities and private associations on the subject of Napoleonic Egypt. He writes historical non-fiction under the name Jonathan Downs, his major work a revised account of the British acquisition of the Rosetta Stone, Discovery at Rosetta, (London 2008; Cairo 2020). He speaks several languages, has trained with the former Russian National fencing coach, and has lived and worked abroad all his life. He currently lives in the Western Cape in South Africa.
Jonathan Spencer (Author), Mark Elstob (Narrator)
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Failures of State: The Inside Story of Britain’s Battle with Coronavirus
*THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER* A GUARDIAN AND SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR ‘An astonishing book’ James O’Brien ‘A gripping, devastating read’ Sunday Times The inside story of the UK’s response to the pandemic from the Insight investigations unit at The Sunday Times Failures of State recounts the extraordinary political decisions taken at the heart of Boris Johnson’s government during the global pandemic. Fully updated and corroborated by hundreds of sources, this is the insider’s account of how the government sleepwalked into disaster and tried to cover up its role in the tragedy. Thrillingly told, it exposes one of the most scandalous failures of political leadership in British history. ‘A damning indictment’ Alan Johnson, Observer ‘A devastating piece of journalism’ Andrew Marr ‘This is a scandal’ Piers Morgan
George Arbuthnott, Jonathan Calvert (Author), Mark Elstob (Narrator)
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Fallen: George Mallory: The Man, The Myth and the 1924 Everest Tragedy
On June 4,1924 George Mallory donned an oxygen set and set off for the summit of Everest with his young partner Andrew Irvine. Next day they were glimpsed through clouds heading upwards, but after that they were never seen again. Whether they died on the way up or on the way down no one knows. In the years following his disappearance, Mallory was elevated into an all-British hero. Dubbed by his friends the 'Galahad' of Everest, he was lionised in the press as the greatest mountaineer of his generation who had died while taking on the ultimate challenge. Handsome, charismatic, daring, he was a skilled public speaker, an athletic and technically gifted climber, a committed Socialist and a supremely attractive figure to both men and women. His friends ranged from the gay artists and writers of the Bloomsbury group to the best mountaineers of his era. But that was only one side to him. Mallory was also a risk taker who according to his friend and biographer David Pye, could never get behind the wheel of a car without overtaking the vehicle in front, a climber who pushed himself and those around him to the limits, a chaotic technophobe who was forever losing equipment or mishandling it, the man who led his porters to their deaths in 1922 and his young partner to his uncertain end in 1924. So who was the real Mallory and what were the forces that made him and ultimately destroyed him? Why did the man who denounced oxygen sets as 'damnable heresy' in 1922 perish on an oxygen-powered summit attempt two years later? And above all, what made him go back to Everest for the third time?
Mick Conefrey (Author), Mark Elstob (Narrator)
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GDP: The World's Most Powerful Formula and Why it Must Now Change
Gross Domestic Product is failing. For decades it has rewarded environmental destruction and obscured inequality. Its formula can be?and has been?gamed to the detriment of developing countries. In this powerfully argued book, now updated with a new chapter, science writer Ehsan Masood shows how GDP fell from the path envisaged by its architects, and how its long-term misapplication has kept large parts of the world in poverty, while helping accelerate global warming and biodiversity loss. As the world rebuilds after the coronavirus pandemic and the accompanying global recession, our need for a more sustainable and inclusive measure of economic growth has never been greater. Change must come if we are to break the cycle. With clarity and passion, Masood shows how we can update GDP for a better future. [previously published as The Great Invention in North America] 'Masood contends that GDP is a bill of goods the developed world foisted on emerging nations. It is flawed, he argues, because the monetary value of all goods and services produced in a country makes no reference to social well-being or inequality. Masood is also troubled by GDP's failure to consider the environmental damage that is, at times, a byproduct of growth. Many of Masood's criticisms have merit. He presents some interesting alternatives. He favors revolutionary change.' -- Roger Lowenstein, Wall Street Journal, USA "If you ever thought that economic policy could never make for gripping drama, try reading this book." -- Khurram Husain, Dawn "Ehsan Masood unveils the genesis of GDP and how it shaped the modern economic paradigm. It comes at a time when a growing number of people are questioning this flawed metric." -- Down to Earth "Fascinating. Whether happiness should be embedded into decisions on the economy is an important one, and whether GDP should be abandoned in favor of something better is too. Masood's book helps raise those questions and others in a thought provoking manner. That's much needed in every endeavor these days, and needed in few places more than in the economics profession." -- Simon Constable, Forbes, USA "An interesting book. Masood doesn't merely criticize the overreliance on GDP: he also explores ongoing efforts to develop a satisfactory substitute or supplement that would yield a more accurate picture of economic activity and its effects." -- Foreign Affairs, USA "In lively prose, Masood argues that GDP is flawed because it ignores volunteering, housework, environmental degradation, job satisfaction, and income inequality." -- Kirkus Reviews "Masood covers decades of challenges to GDP conventions that make for a fascinating institutional and human story." -- Diane Coyle, Nature "In lively prose, Masood argues that GDP is flawed because it ignores volunteering, housework, environmental degradation, job satisfaction, and income inequality." -- Publishers Weekly "Masood's highly readable book is a useful reminder of what GDP is and what it isn't." -- N. Gregory Mankiw, Science
Ehsan Masood (Author), Mark Elstob (Narrator)
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Generations: Does When You're Born Shape Who You Are?
Are millennials entitled and lazy? Are baby boomers the most sexually liberal generation? Was generation X the last group to show loyalty to political parties? In this original and deeply researched book, polling expert and professor of public policy Bobby Duffy explores how when we're born determines our attitudes to money, sex, religion, politics and much else. Informed by exclusive studies from IPSOS, as well as his own research, Duffy reveals that many of our preconceptions are just that: tired stereotypes. Revealing and informative, Generations provides a new framework for understanding the most divisive issues raging today: from gun control to climate change and Brexit to the surveillance state. Including data from over 40 countries and interviews across generational divides, this big thinking book will transform how you view the world. "Simply indispensable. Marrying fascinating data with superb analysis, this is a unique book." MATTHEW D'ANCONA on The Perils of Perception
Bobby Duffy (Author), Mark Elstob (Narrator)
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