How does the thought of standing in front of a large group of people make you feel? Standing before them, preparing to give your speech, knowing that all eyes are on you, watching your every move? Are you nervous, or are you perhaps anxious - feeling like you can’t breathe?Of course, if you are nervous, it is going to make it harder to concentrate on your breathing—but even if you are not someone who’s prone to stage fight, you could still struggle with the pow...

A Physics Today Best Book of 2019Finalist for the Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize Sometimes explosive, often delicious, occasionally poisonous, and always fascinating: the New York Times bestselling author of Stuff Matters offers an "entertaining discussion of the various ways our lives are enriched by fluids” (The Wall Street Journal).We know that we need water to survive, and that, for some of us, a cup of coffee or a glass of wine can feel just as vit...

The Soviet Union was one of the most secretive states that ever existed. Defended by a complex apparatus of rules and checks administered by the secret police, the Soviet state had seemingly unprecedented capabilities based on its near monopoly of productive capital, monolithic authority, and secretive decision making. But behind the scenes, Soviet secrecy was double-edged: it raised transaction costs, incentivized indecision, compromised the effectiveness of government officials, eroded c...

Considered highly exotic tools as recently as the late 1990s, microarrays are now ubiquitous in biological research. Traditional statistical approaches to design and analysis were not developed to handle the high-dimensional, small sample problems posed by microarrays. In just a few short years the number of statistical papers providing approaches

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere.In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?The theme ...

Are you the kind of person who watches crime drama and real-life crime documentaries on television? Are you fascinated by the twists and turns of justice and the law? But how much do you really know about key issues in crime, crime control, policing and punishment in the UK?This exciting, dynamic and accessible book, written by leading experts, presents 50 key facts related to crime and criminal justice policy in Britain. Did you know that, contrary to public belief, in the UK a li...

Do you have this fear of speaking in public or even facing people in a social function?Do you feel that you have inherent flaws in your character that through all these years you struggle hard interacting with other people?Well, it might not be something in your character that is the issue here but your lack of social skill.This book gives a comprehensive guide on the following:Conversational skillsE...

When a small crew of scoundrels, would-be heroes, deviants, and ruffians discover a map that they believe will lead them to a fabled sword buried in the barrow of a long-dead wizard, they think they've struck it rich. But their hopes are dashed when the map turns out to be cursed and then is destroyed in a magical ritual. The loss of the map leaves them dreaming of what might have been, until they rediscover the map in a most unusual and unexpected place.Stjepan Black-Heart, suspec...

In the 200 years since Blake's death, the visionary artist, poet, and writer has become a household name, often beloved. Yet many struggle to comprehend his kaleidoscopic ideas; how they speak to human longings and the challenges of living in anxious times.Philosopher and psychotherapist Mark Vernon provides a fresh route into Blake, taking him at his word. Exploring this brilliant thinker's passionate writings, arresting artworks, and fascinating life, Vernon illuminates Blake's v...

‘I often ask myself what makes a story work,’ wrote the greatAmerican author, Flannery O’Connor. ‘I have decided that it isprobably some action, some gesture of a character... which isboth totally right and totally unexpected... one that is both incharacter and beyond character.’The five stories shortlisted for this year’s BBC NationalShort Story Award with Book Trust all feature peoplemaking just such gestures, acting in ways that reach be...

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere.In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?The theme ...

Using France as a case study, contributors from around the world explore the factors that create violent extremists, including criminogenic needs, violence-supportive cognition, religious beliefs, identity uncertainty or fusion, the quest for significance, and social and political influences. They present a multidisciplinary and evidenced-based analysis of how and why violent extremism has reappeared as a contemporary issue and provide theoretical and practical approaches to responding to ...