Quercus Publishing strana 21 z 24

'Intricate and crisp, witty and solemn: a book with special and dangerous properties,' Hilary Mantel 'Baroque, Byzantine and beautiful - not to mention bold' M.R. Carey Rotherweird is twisted, arcane murder-mystery with shades of Deborah Harkness, Hope Mirrlees, Ben Aaronovitch, Mervyn Peake and Edward Gorey at their disturbing best. The town of Rotherweird stands alone - there are no guidebooks, despite the fascinating and diverse architectural styles cramming the narrow streets, the avant garde science and offbeat customs. Cast adrift from the rest of England by Elizabeth I, Rotherweird's independence is subject to one disturbing condition: nobody, but nobody, studies the town or its history. For beneath the enchanting surface lurks a secret so dark that it must never be rediscovered, still less reused. But secrets have a way of leaking out. Two inquisitive outsiders have arrived: Jonah Oblong, to teach modern history at Rotherweird School (nothing local and nothing before 1800), and the sinister billionaire Sir Veronal Slickstone, who has somehow got permission to renovate the town's long-derelict Manor House.Slickstone and Oblong, though driven by conflicting motives, both strive to connect past and present, until they and their allies are drawn into a race against time - and each other. The consequences will be lethal and apocalyptic. Welcome to Rotherweird!

A concise and illuminating tour of the human body - learn about how our bodies work and why they work the way they do, in minutes. From the basic unit of the cell, through the tissues and organs that make up the body's systems, to how these systems work together to form a complete human being, this book takes you on a journey through our anatomy and its intricate workings - and looks beyond to explore human evolution, inheritence and genetics, human behaviour, disease, death and medicine and how technology will transform the body of the future. With 200 cutting-edge anatomical images, cross-sections and close-ups that detail and explain the brain, eye, heart, skin, skeleton, lung, kidney, ear, blood, liver, stomach, muscles, veins, arteries, DNA, chromosomes and all of the key features of our bodies, this is the perfect, easy reference to the anatomy, physiology and science of the human body.

Learn about the religions of the world - in minutes. What are the differences between Sunni and Shi'a, Catholic and Protestant, Buddhism and Confucianism? Who were Moses, Jesus and Muhammad, and what did they really preach? Why are the concepts of karma, jihad and nirvana so important? And what do the religions of the world say about life, death and how we should act? Answering these and many other critical questions, this book explains the histories, key texts, prophets and essential teachings of the ancient and modern religions and their offshoots, including: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Greek, Roman and Norse mythologies, indigenous traditional religions, Zoroastrianism, Jainism, Daoism, Confucianism, Shinto, Catholicism, Protestantism, Anglicanism, Baptists, Methodists, Puritans, Mormons, Sufism, Hasidism, Scientology, Baha'I, New pagans and many more, as well as considering their common themes and the future of religion. Clear, concise and with 200 iconic images, Religion in Minutes is the fastest, fullest way to understand the beliefs that shape the world around us.

The fastest way to understanding quantum physics - learn about how our universe works, in minutes. Quantum physics is the most fundamental, but also the most bewildering, of sciences. Allowing for simultaneously dead-and-alive cats, teleportation, antimatter and parallel universes, it also underpins all digital technology and even life itself. But at last it's possible through this clear and compact book, illuminated with 200 simple diagrams for anyone to understand the strange and beautiful subatomic world, and hence the nature of reality itself. Contents include: inside the atom, the Higgs boson, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, Schrodinger's cat, relativity, dark energy and matter, black holes, God playing dice, the Theory of Everything, the birth and fate of the Universe, string theory, quantum computing, superconductivity, quantum biology and consciousness, and much more.

Desperate for the next Game of Thrones? Pick up Empress of the Fall for your full-on fix of epic fantasy. The Emperor is dead - long live the Empress! Emperor Constant is dead and his rivals are scrabbling for power - but any misstep could plunge the land, already devastated by the shocking outcome of the Third Crusade, into a calamitous civil war. The Imperial throne is not the only one in jeopardy. Two brothers, imprisoned veterans of the Crusades, finally return home to find their father's kingdom being plundered - but the price of regaining their birthright will have far-reaching implications for the entire empire. In the East, Sultan Salim, peacemaker and visionary ruler, faces his greatest challenge as his people demand an invasion of the West in retribution for the Rondian Crusades And lurking in the darkness, orchestrating both the power struggles and the inevitable conflicts, is a shadowy group threatening to destroy civilisation itself. Once more, Urte stands on the brink of cataclysm.

The Bugatti Type 57 Atlantic was called the most beautiful car of all time. Only four of them were ever built. A California museum paid $37 million for one; Ralph Lauren bought another; a third was smashed by a train at a level crossing. The fourth disappeared in France during World War 2. It was the car used by British racing ace, William Grover Williams, twice winner of the French and Monaco Grand Prix, who became an undercover agent in Occupied France. The latest adventure in the Bruno series of mystery novels starts from this true story. Two young men, both racing drivers with a passion for antique cars, compete to find new clues as to the car's hiding place in the Perigord region of France where Bruno is the local chief of police. When a local researcher turns up dead on Bruno's patch, and French intelligence starts investigating the use of classic car sales to launder money for funding Islamic terrorism, Bruno finds himself once more caught up in a case that reaches far beyond his small town and its people.With the bucolic charm and gourmet cooking that are the hallmarks of this series, Bruno's latest adventure finds him falling in love again as he races to find the murderer and to track down the fate of the most beautiful car ever made.

A memoir of brutality, heroism and personal discovery from Europe's dark heart, revealing one of the most extraordinary untold stories of the Second World WarIn the spring of 1945, at Rechnitz on the Austrian-Hungarian border, not far from the front lines of the advancing Red Army, Countess Margit Batthyany gave a party in her mansion. The war was almost over, and the German aristocrats and SS officers dancing and drinking knew it was lost. Late that night, they walked down to the village, where 180 enslaved Jewish labourers waited, made them strip naked, and shot them all, before returning to the bright lights of the party. It remained a secret for decades, until Sacha Batthyany, who remembered his great-aunt Margit only vaguely from his childhood as a stern, distant woman, began to ask questions about it.A Crime in the Family is Sacha Batthyany's memoir of confronting these questions, and of the answers he found. It is one of the last untold stories of Europe's nightmare century, spanning not just the massacre at Rechnitz, the inhumanity of Auschwitz, the chaos of wartime Budapest and the brutalities of Soviet occupation and Stalin's gulags, but also the silent crimes of complicity and cover-up, and the damaged generations they leave behind. Told partly through the surviving journals of others from the author's family and the vanished world of Rechnitz, A Crime in the Family is a moving and revelatory memoir in the vein of The Hare with the Amber Eyes and The House by the Lake. It uncovers barbarity and tragedy but also a measure of peace and reconciliation. Ultimately, Batthyany discovers that although his inheritance might be that of monsters, he does not bear it alone.

The Bugatti Type 57 Atlantic was called the most beautiful car of all time. Only four of them were ever built. A California museum paid $37 million for one; Ralph Lauren bought another; a third was smashed by a train at a level crossing. The fourth disappeared in France during World War 2. It was the car used by British racing ace, William Grover Williams, twice winner of the French and Monaco Grand Prix, who became an undercover agent in Occupied France. The latest adventure in the Bruno series of mystery novels starts from this true story. Two young men, both racing drivers with a passion for antique cars, compete to find new clues as to the car's hiding place in the Perigord region of France where Bruno is the local chief of police. When a local researcher turns up dead on Bruno's patch, and French intelligence starts investigating the use of classic car sales to launder money for funding Islamic terrorism, Bruno finds himself once more caught up in a case that reaches far beyond his small town and its people.With the bucolic charm and gourmet cooking that are the hallmarks of this series, Bruno's latest adventure finds him falling in love again as he races to find the murderer and to track down the fate of the most beautiful car ever made.

'Joyful, funny and vividly alive' Emily St John Mandel'The Lonely Hearts Hotel sucked me right in and only got better and better . . . I began underlining truths I had hungered for' Miranda July'Makes me think of comets and live wires . . . raises goosebumps' Helen Oyeyemi'A fairytale laced with gunpowder' Kelly Link The Lonely Hearts Hotel is a love story with a difference. Set throughout the roaring twenties, it is a wicked fairytale of circus tricks and child prodigies, radical chorus girls, drug-addicted musicians and brooding clowns, set in an underworld whose economy hinges on the price of a kiss. It is the tale of two dreamers, abandoned in an orphanage where they were fated to meet. Here, in the face of cold, hunger and unpredictable beatings, Rose and Pierrot create a world of their own, shielding the spark of their curiosity from those whose jealousy will eventually tear them apart. When they meet again, each will have changed, having struggled through the Depression, through what they have done to fill the absence of the other. But their childhood vision remains - a dream to storm the world, a spectacle, an extravaganza that will lift them out of the gutter and onto a glittering stage. Heather O'Neill's pyrotechnical imagination and language are like no other. In this she has crafted a dazzling circus of a novel that takes us from the underbellies of war-time Montreal and Prohibition New York, to a theatre of magic where anything is possible - where an orphan girl can rule the world, and a ruined innocence can be redeemed.

Meet the chilli. It's a fiery little fruit. From humble origins in a tucked-away corner of Latin America, it has found its way into the food of more than half the world. Intrepid food writer Kay Plunkett-Hogge is on its trail, following the chilli from the Americas to Europe, and along the spice routes to the Middle East, India, China and beyond. With more than 120 delicious recipes from around the world, including Thai, Indian and Mexican favourites, plus tantalising desserts with a difference, Kay showcases the chilli's extraordinary versatility, celebrates its rich and nomadic history, and discovers the secrets of its success.

October 1918: the war on the Western Front is all but over. Desperate for one last chance of promotion, the ambitious Lieutenant Henri d'Aulnay Pradelle sends two scouts over the top, and secretly shoots them in the back to incite his men to heroic action once more. And so is set in motion a series of devastating events that will inextricably bind together the fates and fortunes of Pradelle and the two soldiers who witness his crime: Albert Maillard and Edouard Pericourt. Back in civilian life, Albert and Edouard struggle to adjust to a society whose reverence for its dead cannot quite match its resentment for those who survived. But the two soldiers conspire to enact an audacious form of revenge against the country that abandoned them to penury and despair, with a scheme to swindle the whole of France on an epic scale. Meanwhile, believing her brother killed in action, Edouard's sister Madeleine has married Pradelle, who is running a little scam of his own...

Like no other cycling book, from no other rider - Britain's Rio 2016 Olympic cycling star shares his unique take on the world of cycling Sit back or saddle up as double Olympic gold medallist and multiple world champion Geraint Thomas gives you a warts and all insight into the life of a pro cyclist. Along the way he reveals cycling's clandestine codes and secret stories, tales from the peloton, the key characters like Wiggins, Hoy and Cav, the pivotal races and essential etiquette. Geraint Thomas is treasured for treating his sport just as the rest of us see it: not a job but an escape and an adventure. He's been with Team Sky since its inception, and is one of our most successful and gifted track and road riders, but Geraint reminds us that getting on the bike still puts a smile on your face and fire in the legs like nothing else. Funny, informative, diverting and droll, this is a joyful celebration of the world of cycling.

By the bestselling author of Conversation and An Intimate History of Humanity A guide to new ambitions in work, relationships and learning Table of Contents: What is the great adventure of our time? What is a wasted life? How can people lose their illusions about themselves? What alternatives are there to being a rebel? What can the poor tell the rich? What could the rich tell the poor? How many ways of committing suicide are there? How can an unbeliever understand a believer? How can a religion change? How can prejudices be overcome? How else can one think about the future, apart from trying to predict it or worrying about it? Is ridicule the most effective form of non-violent protest? How does one acquire a sense of humour? What stops people feeling completely at home in their own country? How many nations can one love at the same time? Why do so many people feel unappreciated, unloved and only half alive? How else might women and men treat one another? What can replace the shortage of soul-mates? Is another kind of sexual revolution achievable? What can artists aim for beyond self-expression? What is more interesting than becoming a leader? What is the point of working so hard? Are there more amusing ways of earning a living? What else can one do in a hotel? What more can the young ask of their elders? Is remaining young at heart enough to avoid becoming old? What is worth knowing? What does it mean to be alive? Where can one find nourishment for the mind? Winner of the Salon London Transmission Prize

An icon of science, the Periodic Table defines the fundamental chemistry of everything in the universe. In this compact yet comprehensive guide, Dan Green outlines the history, development and workings of the table, shows how its design reflects and illuminates the organisation of all matter, and even explains what it has to tell us about the chemistry of distant stars and of our own bodies. Contents include an individual entry for every known element - detailing properties, uses and key data - and sections on the patterns and groups of the famous table, as well as explanations of basic chemistry concepts such as elements and compounds, atomic structure, chemical bonds, reactions and radioactivity, amongst many others.

In this hyper-compact, fully illustrated guide to architecture, Susie Hodge outlines the history and theory of architecture from the earliest structures to the cutting-edge concepts of the present day. Along the way she profiles 200 key buildings, historic styles, architectural movements and celebrated architects from all around the world. Contents include the Greek orders, Roman engineering, Gothic architecture, the Renaissance, the Baroque, Revivalism, Art Nouveau, Modernism and Postmodernism, Futurism and Dynamic architecture along with architects like Inigo Jones, Christopher Wren, Gaudi, Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier and Frank Gehry

enetics in Minutes is your compact and accessible guide to the central concepts of the science of genetics, revealing how our genes shape our bodies and our lives, and how in turn we are beginning to shape them. Covering the basics of DNA, inheritance and evolution in animals, plants and humans alike - from the origins and development of life to the Human Genome and designer babies - this is the fastest, fullest path to understanding genetics. Contents include Genes, DNA, Natural selection, Darwinism, Stem cell and gene therapies, Evo-devo, Epigenetics, Cloning, Genetic engineering and Artificial life, as well as biology basics such as the Processes of life, Cells, Sex, Classification and Ecology.