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The Unnatural Selection of Our Species
Torill Kornfeldt
In 2018, the first genetically modified children were born.
Now we have the tools to reshape the future of our species.
With a pair of genetic scissors known as CRISPR, we can select the traits of our children, avoid ageing, or cure disease. With that ability comes new risks, forcing us to face hard ethical questions.
Torill Kornfeldt has travelled the world to meet the people driving this research forward. She has visited fertility clinics in South Korea, oncologists in China who are experimenting on sick patients, and biohackers in the US who want to make the new technology available to everyone. In The Unnatural Selection of Our Species, she asks: How can we handle these new tools that could change our genetic material?
Running the Risk
David Burrett Reid
'Entertaining and illuminating, this is odds-on to recalibrate your reasoning about every threat and opportunity. The only risk would be not to read it' Quentin Cooper, science journalist and host of BBC Radio 4's Material World
'A must-read for anyone who wants to know about the risks we run in this highly complex world we're living in' Vincent Doumeizel, author of The Seaweed Revolution
'I have been studying risk for more than sixty years and have seen a lot of books on the subject... Running The Risk is one of the best' Professor Paul Slovic, founder and president of Decision Research
'A genuinely fabulous book... my bet is that this book will be talked about for years to come' Professor Richard Clegg, chairman of the Institute for the Public Understanding of Risk, National University of Singapore
Crossing the road, sitting next to someone on the subway who might have a virus, or going out at night alone, we are surrounded by hidden risks. Running The Risk delves into the fabric of our daily existence, posing crucial questions about the risks we face, what we need to know about them, and what we can do to engineer a safer, more resilient future.
From the roots of the concept of risk to new threats brought by climate change, each chapter unfolds a captivating narrative, weaving together major historical incidents and topical news events. Explore the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and how it transformed the way we prepare for disasters. Travel to Fukushima and witness the importance of listening to our ancestors. Uncover the way coastal communities are adapting to rising sea levels in Indonesia. Dive into the digital realm with the Cambridge Analytica scandal, revealing a new era of digital risk and anxiety.
Through riveting storytelling, Running the Risk invites readers to reflect on the risks we navigate in a rapidly changing world and understand the global implications of interconnected threats. This exploration of risk is not just an exposé: it's a guide to building resilience, making informed choices, and ultimately leading safer, healthier, happier lives.
'A well-rounded book that draws on history in a thought-provoking way' Claire Fox, Baroness Fox of Buckley, panellist on BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze and Director of the Academy of Ideas
The Eton Affair
William Coles
A bittersweet story of a life-changing love.
Seventeen-year-old schoolboy Kim is an idle drifter at one of Britain's most extraordinary institutions, Eton College - crammed with over a thousand boys and not a girl in sight. His head is full of the Falklands War and a possible army career, until the day he hears his new piano teacher, the beautiful but pained India, playing Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier. Kim's life is destined never to be the same again.
An intensely passionate affair develops and he wallows in the wild and unaccustomed thrill of first love. Twenty-five years on, Kim recalls that heady summer and how their fledgling relationship was so brutally snuffed out - finished off by his enemies, by the constraints of Eton, and by his own withering jealousy.
'Charming, moving, uplifting. Why can't all love stories be like this?' The Wall Street Journal
'This is a charming and uplifting book' Piers Morgan
'What a read! Every schoolboy’s dream comes true in this deftly-written treatment of illicit romance. A triumph' Alexander McCall Smith
When I Close My Eyes
Jemm Wayne
‘Gripping’ Independent
‘Chilling’ Daily Mail
‘I honestly didn’t see that ending coming’ Emma Curtis
‘Holds you tight and blows you away’ Rachael Blok
‘Richly layered’ Naomi Gryn
‘This book kept me up until 2am’ Louis de Bernières
‘I lost track of time’ Rena Olsen
‘Full of sensitively realised emotion’ Literary Review
For so many years it haunted. And in the end, all it took was a decision. One decision.
When an old friend reappears in her life, Hollywood screenwriter Lilith is forced to confront childhood demons that threaten to destroy the world she has created to keep herself – and others – safe.
Can she trust anyone?
Can she even trust herself?
The Pit
Peter Papathanasiou
"Outback noir has a new star" Mark Sanderson, The Times
With DS Manolis on leave in Greece, Senior Constable Sparrow receives a phone call from a man who wants to turn himself in.
Bob is sixty-five years old, confined to a Perth nursing home. But thirty years ago, he killed a man in the remote northern Kimberley mining region. He offers to show Sparrow where the body is, but there's a catch: Sparrow must travel north with him under the guise of being his carer.
They are accompanied on the drive by another nursing home resident: Luke, thirty years old, paralysed in a motorbike accident. As they embark on their road trip through the guts of Western Australia, pursued by outback police and adrenaline-soaked miners, Sparrow begins to suspect that Bob's desire to head north may have sinister motivations. Is Luke being held against his will? And what lies in store for them when they reach their goal?
The Invisible
Peter Papathanasiou
"Outback noir has a new star" The Times
Burnt-out from policework, Detective Sergeant George Manolis flies from Australia to Greece for a holiday. Recently divorced and mourning the death of his father, who emigrated from the turbulent Prespes region which straddles the borders of Greece, Albania and North Macedonia, Manolis hopes to reconnect with his roots and heritage.
"A brilliant new name in Australian crime" Weekend Australian
On arrival, Manolis learns of the disappearance of an 'invisible' - a local man who lives without a scrap of paperwork. The police and some locals believe the man's disappearance was pre-planned, while others suspect foul play. Reluctantly, Manolis agrees to work undercover to find the invisible, and must navigate the complicated relationships of a tiny village where grudges run deep.
"Papathanasiou writes unsparingly, confidently, and compellingly" The Quietus
It soon becomes clear to Manolis that he may never locate a man who, for all intents and purposes, doesn't exist. And with the clock ticking, the ghosts of the past continue to haunt the events of today as Manolis's investigation leads him to uncover a dark and long-forgotten practice.
"Detective Sergeant George Manolis is a great new addition to the Australian crime scene" Emma Viskic, award-winning author of the Caleb Zelic crime series
Inside Parkhurst
David Berridge
THE FASCINATING SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER
Assaults. Riots. Cell fires. Medical emergencies. Understaffed wings. Suicides. Hooch. Weapons. It's all in a week's work at HMP Parkhurst.
After 28 years working as a prison officer, with 22 years at HMP Parkhurst, once one of Britain's most high security prisons, David Berridge has had to deal with it all: serial killers and gangsters, terrorists and sex offenders, psychopaths and addicts. I**nside Parkhurst is his raw, uncompromising look at what really goes on behind the massive walls and menacing gates.
Thrown in at the deep end, David quickly had to work out how to deal with the most cunning and volatile of prisoners, and learn how to avoid their many scams. He has been assaulted and abused; he has tackled cell fires and attempted suicides, riots and dirty protests; he has helped to foil escaped plans, talked inmates down from rooftop protests, witnessed prisoners setting fire to themselves, and prevented prisoners from attempting to murder other prisoners. And now he takes us inside this secret world for the first time.
With this searingly honest account he guides us around the wings, the segregation unit, the hospital and the exercise yard, and gives vivid portraits of the drug taking, the hooch making, the constant and irrepressible violence, and the extraordinary lengths our prison officers go to everyday. Divided into three parts - the first from David's early years on the wings, the second the middle of his career, and the third his disillusioned later years - David will take readers into the heart of life inside and shine a light on the escalating violence and the impact the government cuts are having on the wings.
Both horrifying and hilarious, David's diaries are guaranteed to shock and entertain in equal measure.
Questions for a Dead Man
Alex Gray
Your favourite Scottish detective returns in 2023 in an enthralling new mystery
'Immensely exciting and atmospheric' ALEXANDER MCCALL SMITH
'Move over Rebus' Daily Mail
'Exciting, pacy, authentic' ANGELA MARSONS
HOW DO YOU SOLVE A MURDER, WHEN ALL YOU HAVE ARE QUESTIONS?
___________
When a prominent MSP goes missing, DSI William Lorimer wastes no time in investigating. Robert Truesdale was fronting the controversial campaign to legalise drugs in Scotland, and his enemies were numerous. With every passing day, the chances of finding him alive grow slimmer.
Then the worst happens. A car bomb explodes in a nearby village, and the blackened body pulled from the wreckage appears to be Truesdale's. Yet there are details that don't add up and soon Lorimer is questioning whether the victim was all he claimed to be.
Lorimer calls on the assistance of his friend, PC Daniel Kohi, who has infiltrated a local gang as part of a police initiative to crack down on drug-related crime in Glasgow. As their investigation draws them into the dark heart of Glasgow's criminal underworld, Lorimer and Kohi discover that danger is everywhere and nobody is as they seem.
Echo of the Dead
Alex Gray
***THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING SERIES***
Whether you've read them all or whether you're discovering Alex Gray's bestselling series for the first time, ECHO OF THE DEAD will have you gripped until the final page.
'Echo of the Dead will keep you guessing LIN ANDERSON
'Echo of the Dead is Alex Gray at her finest DOULGAS SKELTON
'An exciting procedural'SUNDAY TIMES
'Effortlessly charming, wholly engaging and cleverly plotted'IRISH INDEPENDENT
'A consistent delight, wonderful' ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH
After a stressful winter, DSI William Lorimer is enjoying some time away from Glasgow. He and his new friend, Daniel Kohi, have retreated to the wilds of the Scottish Highlands to unwind. But what awaits them is far from a holiday.
Despite its troubled history, the mountain village of Glencoe is now a popular resort, famed for its close-knit community, its breath-taking scenery and the warm welcome it offers weary travellers. So it's particularly shocking when two bodies are discovered in quick succession on the nearby peaks . . .
With a potential serial killer on the loose, Lorimer's Major Incidents Team are drafted in from Glasgow. It's clear that a dark secret lurks beneath the wild beauty of this place. But will Lorimer manage to root it out before the killer strikes again?
A Dog Without Hope
Barby Keel
A tiny puppy, neglected and abused, and the foster carer determined to heal her.
When tiny puppy Princess is dumped at the doors of the Barby Keel Animal Sanctuary by her owners, the brown and white boxer is suffering from horrendous injuries resulting from a car accident. Having been operated on by an incompetent vet, her front leg has been amputated in a botched surgery, leaving her weak and barely able to stand.
With gentle love and care, Barby and her team at the Sanctuary work hard to give this brave little dog a second lease of life.
Playful and loving, despite her difficult start in life, Princess is desperate for a forever family to call her own. But Barby is heartbroken as she watches Princess get rejected over and over again by potential owners who are put off by her terrible injury.
Will Princess ever find someone to love her?
The Puppy No One Wanted
Barby Keel
Barby Keel is used to all manner of creatures arriving at the door of the Barby Keel Animal Sanctuary where she lives and works, deep within the Sussex countryside. Nothing can prepare her for the arrival of Teddy, however, a neglected, traumatised puppy who is dumped at the gates of the sanctuary in a filthy box, terrified and desperate for someone to love.
Despite his scruffy appearance, Barby can't help but feel a spark of affection for the overgrown puppy. But with Barby living in a caravan along with her four other dogs, she knows in her heart of hearts that Teddy deserves a more stable forever home.
Wiping away tears, she waves Teddy away to his new life with a young couple, knowing that she's done what's best for the animal. But barely a few days later, Teddy is returned to the sanctuary, his new family unable to cope with his boisterous behaviour and his ever-growing size. Barby tries desperately to re-home him, but Teddy is rejected over and over again by his new foster families. Anxious and terrified of being separated from her, Barby is now faced with the impossible task of working through the traumas of Teddy's past to help the young dog.
But when she receives the devastating news that her beloved younger brother has received a shocking diagnosis, Barby's life as she knows it is thrown into disarray.
Can the love of a gentle giant help Barby through the unimaginable? And will Barby's unwavering devotion set Teddy free from the suffering he has endured?
Death on the Aisle
Kate Johnson
First comes love, then comes murder...
Molly Higgins is getting married-but of course nothing is going to plan! Marrying a celebrity brings with it a huge number of headaches no matter how down to earth Conor is. The best way to have their cake and eat it too, is to take part in a celebrity wedding show: they'll pay for everything...even if the cost is Molly's sanity.
Everything seems to be looking up, until Molly meets their assigned wedding planner, Kiranda who is possibly the most annoying person on the planet. Throw in a surprise visit from Molly's wayward sister Tansy and suddenly the big day can't come soon enough. But when Kiranda turns up dead, Molly has to solve the murder of their wedding planner before their big day. But who among her guests, friends and family could be the killer?
And will the wedding go off without a hitch?