John Murray Publisher strana 16 z 22

For over thirty years, Old Second and Bao Mei have cobbled together a meagre existence in New York City's Chinatown. But unlike other couples, these two share an unusual past. In rural Fuzhou, before they emigrated, they frequented the Workers' Cinema, where gay men cruised for love. While classic war films played, Old Second and his fellow countrymen found intimacy in the privacy of the Workers' Cinema's screening rooms. Elsewhere, in the box office, Bao Mei sold tickets to closeted men - guarding their secrets and finding her own happiness with the projectionist. But when secrets are unveiled, they set in motion a series of haunting events that propel Old Second and Bao Mei towards an uncertain future in America. Spanning three timelines - contemporary New York, late '80s Chinatown, and post-socialist China - Cinema Love is a voice-driven, tender epic that bridges the interior landscapes of the disenfranchised with the physical, and sometimes foreign, spaces they inhabit.

A leading expert on longevity calls for a revolution in the way we think about health, ageing, and the future . . . The last century saw a revolution in life expectancy. Whether you are male or female, born in the global south or north, the chances are that you can expect to live much longer than previous generations. But instead of seeing this as a precious gift of extra life, we see it as a burden, with ageing populations dogged by infirmity, dependent on an ever-decreasing number of young people to support them. Andrew Scott argues it doesn't have to be like that. Our longer lives can be a source of hope and fulfilment if we seize the opportunity to pursue the evergreen agenda, one in which we pursue a sustainable lifestyle both for ourselves as individuals - investing in our finances, health, skills and relationships to support a longer life - and for the planet.

When Amitav Ghosh began the research for his monumental cycle of novels the Ibis Trilogy, he was startled to find how the lives of the 19th century sailors and soldiers he wrote of were dictated not only by the currents of the Indian Ocean, but also by the precious commodity carried in enormous quantities on those currents: opium. Most surprising at all, however, was the discovery that his own identity and family history was swept up in the story. Smoke and Ashes is at once a travelogue, memoir and a history, drawing on decades of archival research. In it, Ghosh traces the transformative effect the opium trade had on Britain, India, and China, as well as the world at large. The trade was engineered by the British Empire, which exported Indian opium to sell to China and redress their great trade imbalance, and its revenues were essential to the Empire's financial survival. Yet tracing the profits further, Ghosh finds opium at the origins of some of the world's biggest corporations, of America's most powerful families and prestigious institutions (from the Astors and Coolidges to the Ivy League), and of contemporary globalism itself. Moving deftly between horticultural histories, the mythologies of capitalism, and the social and cultural repercussions of colonialism, in Smoke and Ashes Amitav Ghosh reveals the role that one small plant had in making our world, now teetering on the edge of catastrophe.

We all want financial freedom. But we also know just how much pressure the subject of money exerts on us, and many of us feel our personal finances are out of control. But that's not surprising - after all, no-one ever explained how to manage money properly - or if they did, we didn't listen. If a head-in-the-sand approach to personal finance ever worked, it doesn't now. Not only do we openly worry about the state of our finances and the cost of living, we increasingly yearn for the kind of financial independence which will enable us to do our own thing and live life to the full. This paradox is right at the heart of everything we do, and a solution is needed. This book will teach you everything you should have learned about money at school - but didn't. It will stop you waking in the middle of the night to check you have enough money for your home, your childcare, your summer holiday or your secret masterplan. And the process of learning how to embrace, not hide, from your financial responsibilities will release you from layers of anxiety, shame and confusion. You will learn how to be rich forever - rich in time, rich in freedom, rich in opportunity. It will revolutionise the way you think and feel about money and free you to grow!

As well as her celebrated career as a novelist, Hilary Mantel long contributed to newspapers and journals, unspooling stories from her own life and illuminating the world as she found it. This strand of her writing was an integral part of how she thought of herself. 'Ink is a generative fluid,' she explains. 'If you don't mean your words to breed consequences, don't write at all.' A Memoir of My Former Self collects the finest of this writing over four decades. Mantel's subjects are wide-ranging. She discusses nationalism and her own sense of belonging; our dream life flopping into our conscious life; the mythic legacy of Princess Diana; the many themes that feed into her novels - revolutionary France, psychics, Tudor England - and other novelists, from Jane Austen to V. S. Naipaul. She writes about her father and the man who replaced him; she writes fiercely and heartbreakingly about the battles with her health she endured as a young woman, and the stifling years she found herself living in Saudi Arabia. Here, too, is a selection of her film reviews - from When Harry Met Sally to RoboCop - and, published for the first time, her stunning Reith Lectures, which explore the process of art bringing history and the dead back to life. From her unique childhood to her all-consuming fascination with Thomas Cromwell that grew into the Wolf Hall Trilogy, A Memoir of My Former Self reveals the shape of Hilary Mantel's life in her own dazzling words, 'messages from people I used to be.' Compelling, often very funny, always luminous, it is essential reading from one of our greatest writers.

DROPOUT. PACIFIST. PHYSICIST. CASANOVA. REFUGEE. REBEL. GENIUS. THINK YOU KNOW EINSTEIN? THINK AGAIN His face is instantly recognisable. His name is shorthand for genius. Today, he's a figurehead as much as a man, symbolic of things larger than himself: of scientific progress, of the human mind, even of the age. But who was Einstein really? The Nobel Prize-winning physicist who discovered relativity, black holes and E = mc2, dined with Charlie Chaplin in Hollywood and was the inspiration for (highly radioactive) element 99, Albert Einstein was also a high school dropout with an FBI file 1,400 pages long. In this book, Samuel Graydon brings history's most famous scientist back to life. From his lost daughter to escaping the Nazis, from his love letters to unlikely inventions, from telling jokes to cheer up his sad parrot Bibo to refusing the Presidency of Israel, through the discoveries and thought experiments that changed science, Einstein in Time and Space tells 99 unforgettable stories of the man who redefined how we view our universe and our place within it.

In 2017, Avi Loeb, Chair of Harvard's Astronomy Department, went public with a theory that shook the scientific community - our solar system has been visited by advanced alien technology. His provocative and persuasive argument (and internationally bestselling book Extraterrestrial) has opened thousands of minds to the existence of intelligent life beyond Earth. This book tackles the huge question of what happens next? Long the stuff of science-fiction, here at last is the science fact. From advances in deep space probes to ongoing searches for extraterrestrial technology in our night sky, through the latest heated debates over the existence of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, Interstellar offers a thrilling, front-row view of the technology and the ideas currently preparing us for contact with alien civilizations. Providing the first realistic and practical blueprint for how that might actually occur, Professor Loeb lays out the profound implications of our becoming - or not becoming - an interstellar species. In an urgent, eloquent appeal for more proactive engagement with the outer universe, he powerfully contends why we must seek out other life forms, and in the process, choose who and what we are within the universe. Combining cutting-edge science, physics, and philosophy, Loeb takes us on a mind-bending journey through the furthest reaches of science, space-time, and the human imagination. Interstellar is an eye-opening, necessary look at our future that proves, once again, that scientific curiosity offers the key to our survival.

For several decades Chinese ascendancy has been supported by an astonishingly broad and deep portfolio of soft power. The stories are their reach are breath-taking - Chinese-sponsored reporting in the Daily Telegraph; the gagging of NBA and Premier League sports brands; state-funded faculties across Western academia; Hollywood self-censorship for the Chinese market; and of course - Huawei. But these are just the most visible examples. With some dextrous manoeuvrings during the global pandemic, Chinese munificence and leadership towards other states has now positioned it to take its place as leader of the world. This is the culmination of a long campaign waged strategically by the Chinese Communist Party before our eyes. Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, an internationally recognized expert in the "China influence beat" and has been heading the investigation into the wielding of these covert investments for years. In Beijing Rules she goes further - not only outlining the many astonishing schemes in this bid for global dominance but showing us what their success tells us about ourselves. Their rise tells us how susceptible our own system of free market capitalism in a globalized economy is. Through the loopholes of big money in politics, corporate deregulation and the disenfranchisement of the worker - we have become vulnerable to the dispassionate forces of authoritarian capitalism. Our once key strength has become our weakness.

A spellbinding reimagining of the Arabian Nights and the fearless woman at the heart of it all: Shaherazade. Before she was the legendary Persian queen who spun a thousand tales, Shaherazade was a girl who saw something she shouldn't have. She told the king. She thought she was doing what was right. She couldn't have imagined what was to come. The Seljuk Empire is on fire and the king is on a rampage after learning of his wife's infidelity. Unsated by her execution, he has gone on to wed and behead a new wife night after night. Fear spreads through the city and Shaherazade must do something, anything, to halt the horror she has set in motion. When the king starts searching for his next bride, Shaherazade steps forward. As the sun sets on her wedding night, she begins to weave a tale that will go down in history. If you had to tell one story to save your life, what would it be?

Throughout history, technological change - whether in the form of agricultural improvements in the Middle Ages, the Industrial Revolution, or today's artificial intelligence - has been viewed as a main driver of prosperity, working in the public interest. The reality, though, is that technology is shaped by what powerful people want and believe, generating riches, social respect, cultural prominence, and further political voice for those already powerful. For most of the rest of us, there is the illusion of progress. Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson debunk modern techno-optimism through a dazzling, original account of how technological choices have changed the course of history. From vivid stories of how the economic surplus of the Middle Ages was appropriated by an ecclesiastical elite to build cathedrals while the peasants starved, to the making of vast fortunes from digital technologies today as millions are pushed towards poverty, we see how the path of technology is determined and who influences its trajectory. To achieve the true potential of innovation, we need to ensure technology is creating new jobs and opportunities rather than marginalizing most people, through automated work and political passivity. We need to use the tremendous digital advances of the last half century to create useful and empowering tools, rather than "so-so" technologies that replace workers but fail to improve productivity, seizing back control from a small elite of hubristic, messianic tech leaders pursuing their own interests. With their breakthrough economic theory and manifesto for building a better society, Acemoglu and Johnson provide the understanding and vision to reimagine and reshape the path of technology and create true shared prosperity.

Who are you? Why are you, you? What kind of person do you want to be?You Are A Global Citizen challenges us to take a deeper look at our role as global citizens, from the armchair traveller to the frequent flyer and everyone in between, providing a springboard for us to understand the world and other cultures by first understanding ourselves. This uniquely accessible guided journal ignites your inner curiosity and encourages self-discovery through thought-provoking questions about the cultures you have experienced - including your own - all while helping you become a more inquisitive, aware, observant, and engaged world citizen. Whether you've never left home, are studying at university, looking to live and move abroad, or simply eager to explore your own identity within a global society, You Are A Global Citizen will help you understand how the outside world impacts what's going on inside your mind, and vice versa.In three sections covering your origins, your internal environment and your external environment, with space for reflection at the beginning and end, Damon Dominique, pioneer of the modern day social media travel scene and star of countless popular You Tube travel vlogs and documentaries, shares his insights and stories from a decade of globetrotting, guiding you through questions such as, 'Would you be happy if you knew you had to live in your hometown for the rest of your life?', 'What culture or country do you remember romanticizing about as a kid?', and 'How do you feel about a global language?', with the ultimate goal of encouraging you to consider the fundamental questions about who you are, what culture is and what it means to live in a global society, beyond the borders of our minds and countries.

How do mathematical models shape our world - and how can we harness their power for good? Models are at the centre of everything we do. Whether we use them or are simply affected by them, they act as metaphors that help us better understand the increasingly complex problems facing us in the modern world. Without models, we couldn't begin to tackle three of the major challenges facing modern society: regulation of the economy, climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet in recent years, the validity of the models we use has been hotly debated and there has been renewed awareness of the disastrous consequences when the makers and interpreters of models get things wrong. Drawing on contemporary examples from finance, climate and health policy, Erica Thompson explores what models are, why we need them, how they work and what happens when they go wrong. This is not a book that argues we should do away with models, but rather, that we need to properly understand how they are constructed - and how some of the assumptions that underlie the models we use can have significant unintended consequences. Unexpectedly humorous, thought-provoking and passionate, this is essential reading for everyone.

The wild story of a college activist's high-stakes attempt to topple the North Korean regime and change the world. In the early 2000s, Adrian Hong was a soft-spoken Yale undergraduate looking for his place in the world. After reading a harrowing account of life inside North Korea, he realized he had found a cause so pressing that he was ready to devote his life to it. What began as a trip down the safe and well-worn path of organizing soon morphed into something more dangerous. Hong journeyed to China, outwitting Chinese security services as he helped ferry asylum-seeking North Korean escapees to safety. Meanwhile, Hong's secret organization, Cheollima Civil Defense (later renamed Free Joseon), began tracking the North Korean government's activities, and its volatile third-generation ruler, Kim Jong Un. Free Joseon targeted North Korean diplomats who might be persuaded to defect, while drawing up plans for a government-in-exile. After the shocking broad-daylight assassination in 2017 of Kim Jong Nam, the dictator's older brother, Hong, along with Marine veteran Christopher Ahn, helped ferry Nam's family to safety. Then Hong took the group a step further. He initiated a series of high-stakes direct actions, culminating in an armed raid at the North Korean embassy in Madrid-an act that would put Ahn behind bars and turn Hong into one of the world's most unlikely fugitives. In the tradition of Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild, The Rebel and the Kingdom is an exhilarating account of a man who turns his back on the status quo-to instead live boldly by his principles. Acclaimed journalist and bestselling author Bradley Hope-who broke numerous details of Hong's operations in The Wall Street Journal-now reveals the full contours of this remarkable story of idealism and insanity, hubris and heroism, all set within the secret battle for the future of the world's most mysterious and unsettling nation.

From the hematite used in cave paintings to the moldavite that became a TikTok sensation; from the stolen sandstone of Scone to the unexpected acoustics of Stonehenge; from crystal balls to compasses, rocks and minerals have always been central to our story. 3,000 years ago Babylonians constructed lapidaries - books that tried to pin down the magical secrets of rocks. In Lapidarium, renowned art critic Hettie Judah explores the unexpected stories behind sixty stones that have shaped and inspired human history, from Dorset fossil-hunters to Chinese philosophers, Catherine the Great to Michelangelo. Discover why alchemists sought cinnabar and sulphur. Unearth the mystery of the tuff statues of Rapa Nui, the lost amber room of Frederick of Prussia and the scandal of Flint Jack. Find out how a Greek monster created coral, moon rock explains the history of Earth's only satellite and obsidian inspired the world's favourite computer game. Stone by stone, story by fascinating story, Lapidarium builds into a dazzling, epoch-spanning adventure through human culture, and beyond.

The Mongols have long been viewed in the West as violent barbarians who plundered and wrecked the societies they invaded. But in fact the Mongol Empire was highly sophisticated, and through their conquests they built a new world order. Within the space of a single generation, they swept across the Middle East, tied Europe and Asia together through trade, and completely reshaped global geopolitics. The Mongol Storm tells the story of the Mongols and the empires they conquered. Drawing on years of deep archival research, historian Nicholas Morton traces the rise of the Mongols in the 13th century through their rapid invasions of eight different Middle Eastern societies. As Mongol armies advanced upon the Middle East, Morton shows, longstanding powers such as the Khwarazmian Empire, the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and the Abbasid Caliphate collapsed, while waves of refugees broke across borders and upset the region's delicate religious and social hierarchies. Amidst the chaos arose aggressive new empires including the Mamluks and the Ottomans, who would ultimately challenge the Mongol Empire's authority and dominate the Middle East for centuries. Even as the Mongols' power declined, the diplomatic and economic ties their conquests had established between once-disparate societies endured, and they left a much more connected Eurasia in their wake, permanently reconfiguring the balance of medieval world power. The Mongol Storm is an epic account of violent conflict unfolding against the vibrant backdrop of the Seljuk Turks' magnificent garden palaces, mighty Crusader fortresses, Egyptian pyramids, Damascus' sprawling markets, and the vast Mongol wagon cities. Vividly written and vast in scope, it completely revises our understanding of the Mongols and the world of the Middle Ages.

From one of the world's leading economists, a grand narrative of the century that made us richer than ever, yet left us unsatisfied. Before 1870, humanity lived in dire poverty, with a slow crawl of invention offset by a growing population. Then came a great shift: invention sprinted forward, doubling our technological capabilities each generation and utterly transforming the economy again and again. Our ancestors would have presumed we would use such powers to build utopia, but it was not so. When 1870-2010 ended, the world instead saw global warming, economic depression, uncertainty, inequality, and broad rejection of the status quo. Slouching Towards Utopia tells the sweeping story of how this unprecedented explosion?of material wealth?occurred,?how it transformed the globe, and?why?it?failed to deliver us to utopia.?Of remarkable breadth and ambition,?it?reveals how the last century was much less?a march of progress?than?a slouch?in the right direction.