Showing results by narrator "Tom Lawrence" in All Categories

We begin in the turbulent times of the medieval friar, William of Occam, who first articulated the principle that the best answer to any problem is the simplest. This theory, known as Occam's razor, cut through the thickets of medieval metaphysics to clear a path for modern science. We follow the razor in the hands of the giants of science, from Copernicus to Kepler, Galileo, Newton, Darwin, Einstein, Rubin and Higgs. Its success suggests that we live in the simplest possible habitable universe and supports the revolutionary theory that our cosmos has evolved.

It felt like any other evening before Karl and his daughter were ambushed by a figure in a blank mask. A knife is put to her throat and Karl is forced to make an impossible decision. Stay and die, or walk away and take this thug's word that they will both live. It's not long before more seemingly unconnected and innocent people across London are offered a deal in exchange for their life. More blood is spilled, more families shattered and more people are left to suffer with the consequences of their decisions.

When a high-rise development in South London catches fire mid-construction, a close-knit team of fire fighters tackle the blaze. The building should be empty, but they find a man, unconscious, next to several cases of money. The fire crew make a fateful decision: leave the man, take the money, quit the service and never speak of this again. But five years later one of them is set alight at his own wedding. Soon after, a second is found in the burnt-out remains of his Maserati. It appears that someone knows what they did. And there are still three firemen left to go....

Self-belief is vitally important, but when we are overconfident we miss important signals, misjudge situations and leave ourselves open to criticism from others. This profound book shows through simple practical advice and cutting edge research how to be confident without falling into the trap of arrogance. Often the only thing separating successful people from the crowd is the beliefs that they have running around inside their heads and their innate self-confidence.

Tetsuya Ishikawa's story reveals how a young Oxford graduate found himself in command of vast sums of other people's money. It also explalins how a novice to the mysteries of hedge funds and sub-prime mortgages fixed complex deals for billions of dollars in the exclusive bars, brothels, and trading floors of London, New York, Frankfurt and Tokyo - and reaped the benefits in a colossal annual bonus and an international luxury lifestyle.

With his supernatural ability to conjure spectacular illusions, Spook Williams knows he is destined for greatness. So when he's kidnapped by a celebrity magician claiming to be his real father, he can't help but be intrigued... Very soon, Spook is living the dream: bathing in a jacuzzi aboard a luxury yacht, rubbing shoulders with billionaires, and spending time with gorgeous magician's assistant, Kamilah.

Edited and with an introduction by philosopher Tom Whyman, this new abridged version The German Ideology sheds new light on one of the most difficult, disputed texts in Marx’s oeuvre. Written in 1846 and subsequently abandoned by Marx and Engels, only to be rescued in the 1930s by researchers in the USSR, The German Ideology is the high point of Marx’s philosophical thought: A brilliantly insightful, still thrillingly radical work of materialist philosophical therapy.

After accidentally summoning a demon while playing poker, the normally mild-mannered Chesney Anstruther refuses to sell his soul…which leads through various confusions to, well, Hell going on strike. Which means that nothing bad ever happens in the world – and that actually turns out to be a really bad thing. There’s only one thing for it. Satan offers Chesney the ultimate deal – sign the damned contract, and he can have his heart’s desire.

Luke spots Eve at his dad's funeral. She's hot - and she's the perfect distraction from his messed up family life. There's only one problem - she's got a boyfriend. Still, Luke's not going to give up that easily.

When renowned psychotherapist Malcolm Stern’s daughter, Melissa, committed suicide in 2014, he experienced most parents’ worst nightmare, and his grief made him challenge every aspect of his work and life. It thrust his growth and development forwards in ways he never thought possible, forcing him to confront his fears and work through his biggest blocks. The book, which includes many exercises, is the distillation of more than 30 years of experience in the therapy room and shows us that meaning can exist even in the worst tragedy.

At 11 years old, Morgan Sheppard solved the murder of his maths teacher when everyone else believed it to be a suicide. Twenty-five years later... Morgan Sheppard wakes up handcuffed to a bed in an unfamiliar hotel room, with five strangers waking up around him. In the bathroom - a corpse. One of the people in the room is the killer, and Sheppard has three hours to solve the murder. If he doesn't find the killer, they all die.

During the Ice Age, early humans saw themselves constantly reflected in these planes of ice - and became more reflective themselves, beginning to create works of art, innovate through technology and develop language. In A Cold Spell: A Human History of Ice, Max Leonard takes us from the beginning of our story to the modern day, tracing the ways ice has influenced our development, our economies, our social customs and our lives - and what it means for us that it is rapidly disappearing from our planet.

Every single one of us has an unlimited source of potential for personal growth - and the way to tap into this is not through following rigid advice or rules: it's by asking the right questions. In The 7 Questions, award-winning life coach Nick Hatter offers a toolkit that you can apply time and again for more clarity and continuous self-awareness whenever you feel you've lost direction in life.

It’s within the power of each and every school to unleash the best in teachers, day by day, month by month, year by year. This practical handbook takes the guesswork out of professional learning, showing school leaders how they can build a self-improving culture and remove barriers to learning. The authors set out their advice for how every school can bring in the best ideas from the whole system, and make sure that these have a lasting effect in the classroom.

Luke is in trouble. Skin and the gang have a job for him. They want him to break into Mrs Little's house and steal her jewellery box. They want him to prove that he's got what it takes - that he's part of the gang. But Luke finds more than just a jewellery box in the house. He finds something so unexpected it will change his life forever....

Here is a powerful, rich novel of love, loss, and healing from award-winning author Tim Bowler.

Like the flesh-and-blood humans whose uncensored emotions it represents, slang's obsessions are sex, the body and its functions, and intoxication: drink and drugs. Slang does not do kind. It's about hatreds - both intimate and national - about the insults that follow on, the sneers and the put-downs. Caring, sharing and compassion? Not at this address. There are over 10,000 terms focusing on sex, but love? Not one.

Another rapid-fire selection of short, stimulating and entertaining capsules of philosophy from the master of the genre. This time Baggini applies his philosophical scalpel to famous sayings, proverbs and pieces of homespun wisdom. Should you really do as the Romans do when in Rome and practice what you preach? Is the grass always in fact greener on the other side of the fence, and is there ever smoke without fire? Is beauty always in the eye of the beholder and is it actually better to be safe than sorry?

A vivid eulogy for London of the late 1970s and early '80s - the last years prior to the rise of the digital city. An elliptical, wildly atmospheric remembrance of the sites and soundtrack, at once aggressively modern and strangely elegiac, that accompanied the twilight of one era and the dawn of another.

Eddie, Adam, and David have the same gift. Separated by generations, they are linked by their ability to time travel. Using their dreams, they can appear like ghosts, wherever and whenever they want. The first is the genius who discovers dreamwalking. The second is a Haunter, a dreamterrorist, determined to change history for his own ends. The last is the novice dreamwalker who must battle to save his family, and himself, from oblivion.

When Nat Carver takes home a strange and smelly mutt, his life is changed forever. Woody is the last of his kind, a Wolven, thought only to exist in legend. Then Nat discovers Woody has escaped from a top-secret science project - and some very bad guys want him back....A fast, funny, howlingly hairy adventure featuring a very odd dog, from début author Di Toft.