A holistic view of geospatial data and analysis across the risk management lifecycleGeospatial data and analytical tools are widely used for disaster management, insurance, humanitarian response, and defence—yet methodologies remain siloed. Geographic Perspectives on Disaster Risk Management, written by a team of experienced practitioners in catastrophe risk analytics and geospatial studies, connects these sectors by comparing approaches, identifying commo...

This book provides a broad introduction to the scientific and psychological study of music, exploring how music is processed by our brains, affects us emotionally, shapes our personal and cultural identities, and can be used in therapeutic and educational contexts.Why are some people unable to carry a tune while others are musical savants? What do our musical preferences say about our personality and the culture in which we were raised? Why do certain songs remind ...

I was born in Portlaw, County Waterford and came to West Yorkshire, England at the age of 4 years, where I have lived ever since. As I grew up, my mother used to tell me tales of Portlaw. Being a natural-born Irish person with a healthy imagination, she was also a natural-born storyteller. Consequently, I have no way of knowing how truthful the recall and re-telling these stories were and was pulled in opposing directions in how best to write them.I eventually decided to use the me...

I was born in Portlaw and when my time comes to lie at the other side of the green sod, it is my wish that half my ashes shall be placed upon my grandparents' grave, William and Mary Fanning, along with my uncles, Willie Fanning and Johnnie Fanning who are also buried there. The remaining half of my ashes will be placed at a spot on the Haworth Moor.Apart from writing two musical plays between 2005 and 2009, I'd stopped writing for a number of years. It was only after I had met my ...

I was born in Portlaw and when my time comes to lie at the other side of the green sod, it is my wish that half my ashes shall be placed upon my grandparents' grave, William and Mary Fanning, along with my uncles, Willie Fanning and Johnnie Fanning who are also buried there. The remaining half of my ashes will be placed at a spot on the Haworth Moor.Apart from writing two musical plays between 2005 and 2009, I'd stopped writing for a number of years. It was only after I had met my ...

In 'Four Crude Dudes and the Land of Hope', the story is set in the days of the Californian Gold Rush. It tells how the lives of five characters who are strangers, impact upon the lives of each other and how the thief, cheat, liar and bully get their comeuppance and how the honest and God-fearing farmer of selfless disposition is rewarded.The story is set against the backcloth of a mining town in California and it provides a good taste of what the prospectors of the time would have experie...

When good people fail to stand up for what they believe to be right, bad behaviour is provided with a golden opportunity to triumph! Into such environments, bullying is born and permitted to flourish.Maw is born exceptionally small and enters secondary school life to face the school bully. He confronts the bully and challenges him to a boxing match. On the very start of his fourteenth year of life, Maw makes a wish upon a shooting star and from that moment, his life changes. He awa...

King Lucre and Queen Avarice ruled the Kingdom of Cameo with hearts of stone. They were cruel, greedy and the most selfish of people. However much they had, they never seemed to have enough. The more they had, the more they wanted. Their appetites appeared insatiable. Upon their wedding day, the greedy King and Queen decided that they could never be truly happy until they had become the most powerful King and Queen the world had ever known and their Kingdom stretched beyond the border of a...

I was born in Portlaw, County Waterford and came to West Yorkshire, England at the age of 4 years, where I have lived ever since. As I grew up, my mother used to tell me tales of Portlaw. Being a natural-born Irish person with a healthy imagination, she was also a natural-born storyteller. Consequently, I have no way of knowing how truthful the recall and re-telling these stories were and was pulled in opposing directions in how best to write them.I eventually decided to use the me...

This is a love story is about a travelling Romany who visits the home of Lizzy Lanigan in Portlaw during the year of 1955. Lizzy is a newly-wed, who was married a mere three months earlier. The peg-selling gypsy persuades Lizzy to have her palm read for the cost of two shillings.The Romany fortune teller then informs Lizzy that she will give birth to a girl child within the year who will be named 'Mary'. Lizzy is informed that she will give birth to a total of seven children during...

I was born in Portlaw and when my time comes to lie at the other side of the green sod, it is my wish that half my ashes shall be placed upon my grandparents' grave, William and Mary Fanning, along with my uncles, Willie Fanning and Johnnie Fanning who are also buried there. The remaining half of my ashes will be placed at a spot on the Haworth Moor.Apart from writing two musical plays between 2005 and 2009, I'd stopped writing for a number of years. It was only after I had met my ...

The worlds of 12-year-old Axel Tyler and 73-year-old Brigadier Butterworth couldn't possibly be farther apart. While one is content to live life to the full in the fast track of 1990's Britain, the other yearns for the day when the country regains its senses and returns to those pre-war values that made Britain 'Great'.When events conspire to bring the 12-year-old rebel and the madcap Brigadier face-to-face, conflict becomes inevitable as the irreconcilable values and beliefs of two...