Excellent . . . at once a vicious polemic, a helpful primer and a cringe-inducing account of one barrister’s travails’ – The Telegraph Earth is 4.5 billion years old. In just a fraction of that time, one species among countless others has conquered it: us. As well as a portrait of a telepathic marriage of true minds, and a snapshot of a fretful island, this is a soaring lament and a tub-thumping tirade – for all that is being lost, for all that may yet be saved’ TELEGRAPH

Fake Heroes: Ten False Icons and How they Altered the Course Fake Heroes: Ten False Icons and How they Altered the Course

Now I’m older and approaching my thirties (OK, my mid-forties, whatever) I’ve become more fascinated by what – or rather who – came before me. I want to keep the memory alive of those people who shaped me but are no longer here.’Whether it's virtuous leaders in just wars, martyrs sacrificing all for a cause, or innovators changing the world for the better, down the centuries supposedly great men and women have risen to become household names, saints and heroes. But just how deserving are they of their reputations?

Fake History: Ten Great Lies and How They Shaped the World Fake History: Ten Great Lies and How They Shaped the World

In a diary that takes us behind the scenes of their middling ambition, Nothing But The Truth charts an outsider’s progress down the winding path towards practising at the Bar. By way of the painfully archaic traditions of the Inns of Court, where every meal mandates a glass of port and a toast to the monarch, and the Hunger Games-style contest for pupillage – which most don’t survive – here is the brilliant reality of being a frustrated junior barrister. Otto’s writing style is accessible and as another reviewer has said, this and Fake History ought to be required reading in school. If, as another reviewer has said, there is a factual error then Otto would probably feel vindicated. He is all about asking everyone - including his own readers - to read critically. The perfect gift this Christmas! The bestselling heartwarming memoir from BBC’s LOVE IN THE COUNTRYSIDE’S matchmaker and Radio 2’s favourite DJAs presenter of Radio 4’s Today, the nation’s most popular news programme, John Humphrys was famed for his tough interviewing. He has been at the heart of journalism for decades. Now, he offers his life story from the poverty of his post-war childhood in Cardiff, leaving school at fifteen, to the summits of broadcasting. Along the way, he recalls the experiences that have marked him most: being the first reporter at the terrible disaster in Aberfan, reporting from South Africa in the dying days of apartheid, from Ireland during the Troubles, and from the White House on Richard Nixon’s historic resignation. As the middle of five kids growing up in dire poverty, the odds were low on Katriona O’Sullivan making anything of her life. When she became a mother at 15 and ended up homeless, what followed were five years of barely coping. In this bold and provocative audiobook, Yuval Noah Harari explores who we are, how we got here and where we’re going. This book is longer than Fake History, but it has to be. The attention to factual detail (apart from the re-printed paragraph ;-) it doesn’t warrant the loss of one star) is quite extraordinary for what cannot avoid being a fairly general overview of a number of historical figures.

Fake Heroes: Ten False Icons and How they [PDF] [EPUB] Fake Heroes: Ten False Icons and How they

By the lead commissioner of the UN investigation, an authoritative account of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination. Raynor knows that her husband Moth’s health is declining, getting worse by the day. She knows of only one cure: the healing power of walking.The farm is the place where my story began and now it’s part of my children’s story too…I want them to know that as well as head chef and bottle washer I’m another person – a farmer’s daughter, a former bullying victim, an ex-supermodel-come-barmaid.’ Some laws require prudence (“Law 1: Never Outshine the Master”), some stealth (“Law 3: Conceal Your Intentions”), and some the total absence of mercy (“Law 15: Crush Your Enemy Totally”), but like it or not, all have applications in real-life situations. For the most part it was an enjoyable sequel, but I was disappointed to find that the chapter on Captain Scott was based so heavily on Roland Huntford's 'Scott and Amundsen', a book that is known to be incredibly biased, and in the case of some assertions untrue or without evidence (polar exploration history is my main career focus so I do know a bit about this). As in the Huntford, Scott is presented as an overly emotional, sentimental mess who wishes to climb the career ladder purely for his own egotistical reasons, we are not told that he was the sole financial support to his mother and sisters after his father and brother died, so promotion was essential to stop the family becoming destitute.