PROFILE BOOKS

(P/B) ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE
Alexis de Tocqueville, French aristocrat, liberal politician and writer of genius was the greatest of all modern political writers. His writings are ever more influential and hugely valuable for the study of French and American society during the Age of the Democratic Revolution As the son of a noble family which was nearly wiped out in the Revolution and as an ambitious politician during the July Monarchy and the Second Republic, Alexis de Tocqueville had a front seat at the revolutionary drama of his time. In 1831 Tocqueville made the fa...
Διαβάστε περισσότερα...

(P/B) SHALL THE RELIGIOUS INHERIT THE EARTH?
Dawkins and Hitchens have convinced many western intellectuals that secularism is the way forward. But most people don't read their books before deciding whether to be religious. Instead, they inherit their faith from their parents, who often innoculate them against the elegant arguments of secularists. And what no one has noticed is that far from declining, the religious are expanding their share of the population: in fact, the more religious people are, the more children they have. The cumulative effect of immigration from religious coun...
Διαβάστε περισσότερα...

(P/B) MATHEMATICS OF LIFE
A new partnership of biologists and mathematicians is picking apart the hidden complexity of animals and plants to throw fresh light on the behaviour of entire organisms, how they interact, and how changes in biological diversity affect the planet's ecological balance. Mathematics offers new and sometimes startling perspectives on evolution and how patterns of inheritance and population work out over time-scales ranging from millions to hundreds of years - as well as what's going on to change us right now.Ian Stewart, in characteristically...
Διαβάστε περισσότερα...

(P/B) MEMOIRS OF A DERVISH
For many children of the sixties a'journey to the East'was a necessary rite of passage. In an extraordinary memoir Robert Irwin contrasts the contexts of England - the new culture and the hippy trail - with those of Algeria - bombs and guns and mysticism. In the summer of 1964, while a military coup was taking place and tanks were rolling through the streets of Algiers, Robert Irwin set off for Algeria in search of Sufi enlightenment. There he entered a world of marvels and ecstasy, converted to Islam and received an initiation as afaqir. ...
Διαβάστε περισσότερα...

(H/B) INVISIBLE ROMANS
Robert Knapp brings invisible inhabitants of Rome and its vast empire to life. He seeks out the ordinary men, housewives, prostitutes, freedmen, slaves, soldiers, and gladiators, who formed the fabric of everyday life in the ancient Roman world, and the outlaws and pirates who lay beyond it. He finds their own words preserved in literature, letters, inscriptions and graffiti and their traces in the nooks and crannies of the histories, treatises, plays and poetry created by members of the elite. He tracks down and pieces together these and ...
Διαβάστε περισσότερα...

(P/B) FREE RADICALS
Scientists present themselves as cool, logical and level-headed, but the truth is they will do anything: take drugs, steal, lie and even cheat - in the pursuit of new discoveries. For more than a century, science has cultivated a sober public image for itself. But the truth is very different: many of our most successful scientists have more in common with libertines than librarians. This thrilling exploration of some of the greatest breakthroughs in science reveals the extreme lengths some scientists go to in order to make their theories p...
Διαβάστε περισσότερα...

(P/B) OBLIQUITY
An original, widely-applicable concept from one of the worlds foremost economists. Tim Harford says it is persuasive, rigorous, creative and wise. Brilliant. If you want to go in one direction, the best route may involve going in another. This is the concept of obliquity: paradoxical as it sounds, many goals are more likely to be achieved when pursued indirectly. Whether overcoming geographical obstacles, winning decisive battles or meeting sales targets, history shows that oblique approaches are the most successful, especially in difficu...
Διαβάστε περισσότερα...

(P/B) TACTICS
Professionals today, whether scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs or managers, need to maximise their effectiveness. Hard work and motivation are not enough. Strategic thinking is needed to be able to choose the right problem to solve, to solve it in a cost-effective way, to use resources efficiently and to be innovative and productive. The combination of skill, motivation and the strategic use of effort can lead to astonishing levels of productivity. Real-world problems are complex and must be tackled with adequate conceptual tools. These...
Διαβάστε περισσότερα...

THE ENIGMA OF CAPITAL

(P/B) MORAL RELATIVISM

(H/B) THE SECRET SYMBOL - THE ORIGINAL MASONIC DOCUMENTS

(P/B) TIME

(P/B) EARTH

(P/B) WATER

(P/B) FIRE

(P/B) AIR

(P/B) AUGUSTINE, SINNER AND SAINT

(P/B) GILGAMESH

(P/B) AN INSPECTOR CALLS
A witty approach to a serious subject. How to avoid getting into hot water with the inland revenue and what to do if you are already up to your neck in it. Important and helpful advice illustrated with 40-50 cartoons by Michael Heath. When does tax avoidance become tax evasion? What is the SCO and when does it act? What are its powers and what do you do if you find yourself the subject of an investigation? Problems resulting from tax blunders aren’t new and responsibility for detecting and preventing fraud now falls heavily on the accounti...
Διαβάστε περισσότερα...

(P/B) THE SPANISH INQUISITION