In America, when people reach the legal drinking age, few have ever received any real education or preparation about how to do so safely. This is like handing a new driver the keys to the car along with their license-without any practice or permit. Safe Drinking Academy fills the information gap to give readers the facts about alcohol, ideally before they decide whether or not to drink.Despite a legal drinking age of 21, people between the ages of 12 and 20 are respons...

Ontology was once understood to be the philosophical inquiry into the structure of reality: the analysis and categorization of ‘what there is’. Recently, however, a field called ‘ontology’ has become part of the rapidly growing research industry in information technology. The two fields have more in common than just their name.Theory and Applications of Ontology is a two-volume anthology that aims to further an informed discussion about the relationship between ontology in...

The biggest regret of Michael Healy-Rae's life was a time he didn't talk when somebody needed him the most. After that, he vowed to never stop talking, listening and trying to really hear what people were saying.In his first book, which is neither political nor a memoir, Michael celebrates the power of talk to forge real human connections and sustain us. In a collection of true stories that are sometimes humorous, sometimes poignant and sometimes heartbreaking, he follows in the tradition ...

An early spring morning . . . a young man fi shing in arock-pool at the edge of the sea and exulting in his catch. . . a voice calling suddenly to him . . . the voice of a youngwoman who is slowly walking out from the waves . . .I beg you, let it free again.Th is is the setting for Th e Day of the Mermaid, a storyof the awakened love of that young man for the maidenwho appears before him, recounted when he is old andlooking back upon...

At fourteen the unworldly, idealistic Jack Easy leaves the luxury of his father's estate in England and sails into a world of action and adventure aboard the sloop of war HMS Harpy. At first Jack finds it hard to stomach the discipline of naval life and, with his mischievous sense of humor, is always getting himself into scrapes. But soon he is bravely taming a band of mutinous seamen, outwitting a wily and murderous Sicilian nobleman, and breathing the smell of gunpowder and raw ...

When a strange coded message arrives at 221B Baker Street, sent by a member of Professor Moriarty’s criminal organization, Sherlock Holmes soon deciphers it and finds a warning: someone is about to be murdered. A visit from a Scotland Yard inspector confirms that one John Douglas has been mysteriously killed in Sussex. Even Sherlock Holmes, well accustomed to the bizarre, finds the elements of this case unusual. John Douglas lived at Birlstone Manor House, built on the ruins of a castle su...

Berlin, early 1948. The city, still occupied by the four Allied powers, still largely in ruins, has become the cockpit of a new Cold War, and as spring unfolds its German inhabitants live in fear of the Soviets enforcing a Western withdrawal. Here, as elsewhere in Europe, the legacies of the War have become entangled in the new Soviet-American conflict, creating a world of bizarre and fleeting loyalties, a paradise for spies. John Russell works for both Stalin's NKVD and the newly created ...

In this book, Emrys Westacott examines why, for more than two millennia, so many philosophers and people with a reputation for wisdom have been advocating frugality and simple living as the key to the good life. He also looks at why most people have ignored them, but argues that, in a world facing environmental crisis, it may finally be time to listen to the advocates of a simpler way of life.The Wisdom of Frugality explores what simplicity means, why it's supposed to make...

A boy's body is found in a churchyard. His heart has been cut out . . .DI Sam Clayton has never dealt with such an extreme crime in the quiet Norfolk villages that are part of his patch. When a waitress, Emma Dawson, disappears, it looks like the police might have a serial killer on their hands. Emma seems to have been part of cultish group obsessed with contacting the dead via a medieval mystic. But a mysterious Frenchman and one of the local nature wardens are also suspects. The ...

Experts believe that Brazil, the world's fifth largest country and its seventh largest economy, will be one of the most important global powers by the year 2030. Yet far more attention has been paid to the other rising behemoths, Russia, India, and China. Often ignored and underappreciated, Brazil, according to renowned, award-winning journalist Michael Reid, has finally begun to live up to its potential but faces important challenges before it becomes a nation of substantial global signif...

A spate of murders, deranged scientists and heavily armed mercenaries—little wonder there's a state of panic at Scotland Yard.Chief Inspector Brian Hooley has a plan, and it won't make him popular. He wants to bring back autistic detective Jonathan Roper.Currently suspended on misconduct charges, his condition, coupled with a relentless work-ethic, makes Roper a unique investigator with observational skills that allow him to see what others miss. But he is ...

In 1846 a baby girl is born to a young Irish fisherman and his wife. It is the second year of the Great Hunger and the young couple choose to remain in Ireland, while family and friends are leaving. Their story takes place in the fishing village of Blackrock, Dundalk, but with the cities of Liverpool and Sunderland playing a critical part in their lives. Is their love for each other and their homeland enough to sustain them, or will they be forced to join the one and a half million who emi...