QUICK DELIVERY
Swift dispatch
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
Brief Summary
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness takes us on an intimate journey of many years across the Indian subcontinent, from the cramped neighborhoods of Old Delhi and the roads of the new city, to the mountains and valleys of Kashmir and beyond, where war is peace and peace is war.
The engine of Roy's story is a hijra (India's third gender) named Anjum, and the story begins with her unrolling a threadbare Persian carpet in a city graveyard she calls home. Anjum's charisma draws a vibrant assemblage of outcasts to join her--other hijras, Kashmiri freedom fighters, activists, orphans, low-caste Hindus and Muslims, and a host of animals. Anjum's home is a place where the formerly unwanted embrace each other's true selves.
We encounter the odd, unforgettable Tilo and the men who loved her, including Musa, sweetheart and ex-sweetheart, lover and ex-lover. Their fates are as entwined as their arms used to be and always will be. We meet Tilo’s landlord, a former suitor, now an intelligence officer posted to Kabul, and then we meet the two Miss Jebeens. The first is a child born in Srinagar and buried in its overcrowded Martyrs’ Graveyard. The second is found at midnight, abandoned on a concrete sidewalk in the heart of New Delhi.
As this ravishing, deeply humane novel braids these lives together, it reinvents what a novel can do and can be. The Ministry of Utmost Happiness demonstrates on every page Arundhati Roy’s storytelling gifts.
"
ISBN:9780670089635
Author:Arundhati Roy
Seven Elements That Have Changed the ...
Overview
Seven Elements That Have Changed the World: Iron, Carbon, Gold, Silver, Uranium, Titanium, Silicon
Humans have put the Earth's resources to extraordinary use. Carbon provides us with heat, light and mobility at the flick of a switch. From silver came photography, the preservation of memories, and a task which for centuries was confined to painters, sketchers and our imaginations.
Silver in turn was eventually replaced by silicon, an element which enables us to communicate and transmit information across the globe in an instant. But our use of the Earth's resources is not always for the benefit of humankind. Our relationship with the elements is one of great ambivalence. Uranium produces both productive nuclear power and destructive atomic bombs; iron is the bloody weapon of war, but also the economic tool of peace; our desire for alluring gold is the foundation of global trade, but has also led to the death of millions.
This book vividly describes how seven key elements have shaped the world around us - for good and for bad. Seven Elements takes you on an adventure of human passion, ingenuity and discovery. This journey is far from over: we continue to find surprising new uses for these seven elements. Discover how titanium pervades modern consumer society; how natural gas is transforming the global energy sector; and how an innovative new form of carbon could be starting a technological revolution.
Seven Elements is a unique mix of science, history and politics, interwoven with the author's extensive personal and professional experience.
ISBN:9780297868057
Author:John Browne
The Artists Handbook
Overview
Fully restyled and revised for the twenty-first century artist. The Artist's Handbook is packed with information on the traditional art methods of drawing, painting, and printmaking together with significant modern art techniques such as digital photography, digital printing, and digital image manipulation.
Encompasses all the tools, materials and skills of the artist's craft. This is the definitive reference guide for amateurs and proficient, conventional and progressive artists alike.
"
ISBN:9780756657222
Author:Ray Smith
Great African Adventures
Overview
Africa may rate as uncharted territory to the majority of mainstream travelers, but an advance guard of intrepid adventurers has long been exploring this intriguing continent. If you have yet to experience the countless adventures brimming between Cape Town and Cairo, this D.I.Y. guide contains all the information you need to trip confidently onto the Mother Continent.
Tales of high adventure, in-your-face photography, destination overviews, maps and contact details make this the ultimate adventure primer to Africa. Join the author and a handful of respected contributors as they river-board the Nile, climb Mali's Hand of Fatima and run the 'Marathon des Sables' in Morocco, to name but a few of the adventures.
An edgy style, up-to-date content and award-winning photography make this a must-have book for everyone from armchair adventurers to card-carrying members of the outdoor tribe.
ISBN:9781770072794
Author:Jacques Marais
The Beginners Photography Guide
Overview
In contrast to the jargon-filled manuals that come with most digital cameras, The Beginner's Photography Guide presents step-by-step digital slr camera basics, while introducing and demonstrating a wide variety of techniques that will inspire the novice digital photographer.
Grouped together by themes — color, composition, natural light, framing, and more — each camera technique is broken down into an easy-to-follow step-by-step sequence, and features annotated photographs and suggestions on getting the best from digital slr cameras and taking eye-catching photos.
"
ISBN:9781409322795
Author:Chris Gatcum
Complete Digital Photography 7ED
Overview
Whether you're new to digital photography or a seasoned shooter, this latest edition of Ben Long's popular guide is your one-stop resource for advice and clear how-to information on every aspect of digital photography, from shooting to postproduction to printing.
COMPLETE DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY, SEVENTH EDITION starts with the basics; no prior knowledge of photography is needed. By the end of the book, you'll have a deep understanding of the art and technology of photography and be ready to tackle complex photographic challenges.
Among the many essential elements of digital photography covered are:
• Extensive details of the camera's controls.
• In-depth tutorials on the ins and outs of exposure.
• Detailed chapters on seeing, composition, and the "artistry" of photography.
• Full instruction in how to craft a post-production workflow that works for you.
• Tutorials on all the essentials of image editing, from raw processing to retouching.
• Full coverage of printing and output.
Photographer Ben Long brings his extensive experience to bear, helping you over conceptual hurdles and leading you to a clear understanding of how to take great photos. With this book in hand, you will master the equipment, the process, and the art of digital photography.
ISBN:9781285077260
Author:Long, Cengage Learning
Chicken Soup for the Soul Find Your H...
Overview
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Find Your Happiness: 101 Inspirational Stories about Finding Your Purpose, Passion, and Joy.
What makes you happy? Others share how they found their passion, purpose, and joy in life in these 101 personal and exciting stories that are sure to inspire and encourage listeners to find their own happiness.
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Find Your Happiness will encourage listeners to pursue their dreams, find their passion and seek joy in their life with its 101 personal and inspiring stories. This book continues Chicken Soup for the Soul’s focus on inspiration and hope, reminding us that we all can find our own happiness.
"
ISBN:9781935096771
Author:Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Amy Newmark,
The Greatest Miracle in the World
Dreaming Big
Overview
Dreaming big helps readers define their 'Life Dream' and experience an entirely new level of natural energy.
Co-authored by Bobb Biehl and Paul Swets, Dreaming Big describes a Life Dream as a crystal clear vision of the difference the reader wants to make in the future—a vision so compelling that it energizes for a lifetime.
Not everyone has a big dream. Many don't know how to clear away the fog and confusion in their lives. Some are afraid to dream for fear their dreams will not come true. Others become content with mediocrity. Consequently, their work suffers. They go about their responsibilities without vision, without enthusiasm and without an eagerness to solve problems, without hope.
Dreaming Big understands where readers are and helps them grow past the barriers that hold them back. It takes them on a 31 day personal growth journey. Each of the five weeks focuses on practical strategies that motivate positive change.
1. Discovering Your Dream
2. Refining your dream
3. Living Your Dream
4. Teaching your team to dream
5. Encouraging your team
Each chapter is interactive. Readers are encouraged to think deeply about their lives by answering profound questions and jotting down their thoughts. Heart Probes at the end of every chapter help the reader to look within, sort through any confusion and gain clarity. Instead of merely telling readers to dream big, it shows them how.
Biehl and Swets help the reader to excel, to live on the edge of their potential, to be the best person they can be. Helen Keller's quote summarizes the theme of Dreaming Big: "One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar."
ISBN:9781934068304
Author:Bobb Biehl and Paul Swets
Heart to Heart A Personal Testimony
Overview
Heart to Heart: A personal testimony of an African woman in marriage
What do we feel when we look at a great work of art/ What does a poet feel/ Heart to Heart offers an original way to approach poetry and art—with new works by distinguished American poets, specially commissioned for this book by editor Jan Greenberg.
Prompted by paintings, sculpture, prints, and photographs by American artists working in the 20th century, these poems lend a new meaning to "art appreciation” and make each page of Heart to Heart an exciting discovery.
In this candid, tell-it-all book, the author opens her heart and shares on some of the deepest and most intimate challenges that couples face in their marriage.
This book will show you how to navigate common marital minefields and keep your home warm and happy.
"
ISBN:9789966003003
Author:Grace Kimathi
Insurance Theory and Practice
Overview
This book provides a comprehensive overview of the theory, functioning, management and legal background of the insurance industry. Written in accessible, non-technical style, Insurance Theory and Practice begins with an examination of the insurance concept, its guiding principles and legal rules before moving on to an analysis of the market, its players and their roles and relationships.
The model is the UK insurance market which is globally recognized and forms the basis of the insurance system in a range of countries in the Middle East, Africa and the Caribbean as well as Australia and Canada. The book covers the underlying ideas behind insurance transactions, together with the legal and financial principles that permit these concepts to function in the real world.
Key issues considered include:
• the role of the constituent parts of the insurance market
• the operation of both life and general insurers with special reference to the operation of the Lloyd’s market
• the nature and function of reinsurers, brokers and loss adjusters
• the influence of government, both in terms of market regulation and consumer protection
• Alternatives to the established private sector insurers, such as government schemes, Islamic insurance and alternative risk financing.
ISBN:9780415559058
Author:Rob Thoyts
Comprehensive Swahili English Dictionary
Overview
Comprehensive Swahili-English Dictionary is the latest publication of its kind and offers the most current use of the language among Swahili speakers today.
The Dictionary has more than 60,000 entries and is both a cultural guide to Kiswahili, and a cultural conversation between two influential languages in this 21st century.
"
ISBN:9789966258120
Author: Mohamed .A. Mohamed
Tigers Voyage
Overview
With the head-to-head battle against the villainous Lokesh behind her, Kelsey confronts a new heartbreak: in the wake of his traumatic experience, her beloved Ren no longer remembers who she is.
As the trio continues their quest by challenging five cunning and duplicitous dragons, Ren and Kishan once more vie for her affections--leaving Kelsey more confused than ever.
"
ISBN:9781450595988
Author:Colleen Houck
Black Magic Sanction
Rachel Morgan has fought and hunted vampires, werewolves, banshees, demons, and other supernatural dangers as both witch and bounty hunter—and lived to tell the tale. But she's never faced off against her own kind . . . until now.
Denounced and shunned for dealing with demons and black magic, her best hope is life imprisonment—at worst, a forced lobotomy and genetic slavery. Only her enemies are strong enough to help her win her freedom, but trust comes hard when it hinges on the unscrupulous tycoon Trent Kalamack, the demon Algaliarept, and an ex-boyfriend turned thief.
It takes a witch to catch a witch, but survival bears a heavy price.
ISBN:9780061138034
Author:Kim Harrison
The Bourne Imperative
Overview
The man Jason Bourne fishes out of the freezing sea is near death, half-drowned and bleeding profusely from a gunshot wound. He awakens with no memory of who he is or why he was shot-and Bourne is eerily reminded of his own amnesia.
Then Bourne discovers that the Mossad agent named Rebeka is so determined to find this injured man that she has gone off the grid, cut her ties to her agency, and is now being stalked by Mossad's most feared killer. Do the answers to these mysteries lie back in southeast Lebanon, in a secret encampment to which Bourne and Rebeka escaped following a firefight weeks ago?
The complex trail links to the mission given to Treadstone directors Peter Marks and Soraya Moore: find the semi-mythic terrorist assassin known as Nicodemo.
In the course of Bourne's desperate, deadly search for a secret that will alter the future of the entire world, he will experience both triumph and loss, and his life will never be the same.
Now everything turns on the amnesiac. Bourne must learn his identity and purpose before both he and Rebeka are killed. From Stockholm to Washington, D.C., from Mexico City to Beijing, the web of lies and betrayals extends into a worldwide conspiracy of monumental proportions.
ISBN:9780446564472
Author:Robert Ludlum and Eric Van Lustbader
Scorpia Rising
Overview
Scorpia has dogged Alex Rider for most of his life. They killed his parents, they did their best to con Alex into turning traitor, and they just keep coming back with more power. Now the world's most dangerous terrorist organization is playing with fire in the world's most combustible land: the Middle East. No one knows Scorpia like Alex. And no one knows how best to get to Alex like Scorpia. Until now.
The chases have never been more intense, the fights more treacherous, or the risks so perilous to mankind. And this time, Alex won't get away.
ISBN:9780399250576
Author:Anthony Horowitz
Dark Places
Overview
Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in "The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.” She survived—and famously testified that her fifteen-year-old brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, the Kill Club—a secret society obsessed with notorious crimes—locates Libby and pumps her for details. They hope to discover proof that may free Ben.
Libby hopes to turn a profit off her tragic history: She’ll reconnect with the players from that night and report her findings to the club—for a fee. As Libby’s search takes her from shabby Missouri strip clubs to abandoned Oklahoma tourist towns, the unimaginable truth emerges, and Libby finds herself right back where she started—on the run from a killer.
ISBN:9780307341570
Author:Gillian Flynn
Girl Online On Tour
Overview
The sequel to the number-one bestseller Girl Online. Penny joins her rock-star boyfriend, Noah, on his European music tour.
Penny's bags are packed.
When Noah invites Penny on his European music tour, she can't wait to spend time with her rock-god-tastic boyfriend.
But, between Noah's jam-packed schedule, less-than-welcoming bandmates and threatening messages from jealous fans, Penny wonders whether she's really cut out for life on tour. She can't help but miss her family, her best friend Elliot . . . and her blog, Girl Online.
Can Penny learn to balance life and love on the road, or will she lose everything in pursuit of the perfect summer?
ISBN:9780141359953
Author:Zoe Sugg
The Last King of Scotland
Overview
Shortly after his arrival in Uganda, Scottish doctor Nicholas Garrigan is called to the scene of a bizarre accident: Idi Amin, careening down a dirt road in his red Maserati, has run over a cow. When Garrigan tends to Amin, the dictator, in his obsession for all things Scottish, appoints him as his personal physician. And so begins a fateful dalliance with the central African leader whose Emperor Jones-style autocracy would transform into a reign of terror.
In The Last King of Scotland Foden's Amin is as ridiculous as he is abhorrent: a grown man who must be burped like an infant, a self-proclaimed cannibalistic who, at the end of his 8 years in power, would be responsible for 300,000 deaths.
And as Garrigan awakens to his patient's baroque barbarism--and his own complicity in it--we enter a venturesome meditation on conscience, charisma, and the slow corruption of the human heart. Brilliantly written, comic and profound, The Last King of Scotland announces a major new talent.
ISBN:9780375703317
Author:Giles Foden
Usborne Treasury of Animal Stories (S...
Overview
A beautifully illustrated treasury of nineteen tales of animals taken from folktales from around the world. Includes traditional folktales such as How the Rhinoceros got his Skin, The Lion and the Mouse and Why Dogs and Cats are Enemies.
This is a wonderful collection of nineteen animal folktales. Containing stories from well-known authors such as Rudyard Kipling and Aesop as well as traditional tales from around the world including fighting crabs, gigantic frogs and a polar bear's search for home, all kinds of children are sure to find a story that they will enjoy. It is beautifully illustrated by Rocio Martinez.
ISBN:9780746090015
Author:Susanna Davidson and Rocio Martinez