Résultats lu par "Nicholas Bell" dans Toutes les catégories

For anyone who ever wondered what Marcel Proust had in mind when he wrote the one-and-a-quarter-million words of In Search of Lost Time (while bedridden no less), Alain de Botton has the answer. For, in this stylish, erudite and frequently hilarious book, de Botton dips deeply into Proust’s life and work - his fiction, letter, and conversations – and distils from them that rare self-help manual: one that is actually helpful.

Aside from love, few actvities seem to promise us as much happiness as going traveling: taking off for somewhere else, somewhere far from home, a place with more interesting weather, customs, and landscapes. But although we are inundated with advice on where to travel, few people seem to talk about why we should go and how we can become more fulfilled by doing so.

It's a day like any other for security chief Tracy Waterhouse, until she makes a purchase she hadn't bargained for. One moment of madness is all it takes for Tracy's humdrum world to be turned upside down, the tedium of everyday life replaced by fear and danger at every turn.

Devised by Dr Pierre Dukan, a French medical doctor who has spent his career helping people to lose weight permanently, The Dukan Diet is the culmination of 35 years clinical experience. Without any of the usual marketing hype, The Dukan Diet swept across France, championed by the people who had successfully lost weight following the diet. It is now estimated that the Dukan community numbers over 5 million people in France.

Sometimes work can be murder. Detective Sergeant Kiara Lui has just broken up a loud brawl between two blokes in front of the Warrigal Public Library. But just as she's about to leave the scene, a man plummets from the sky and slams into the bike rack right in front of her, dead. Head of Library Services, Neville Adams, was hated by staff, borrowers, and in fact anybody who had ever met him. What might have tipped that hatred into outright murder? The building is quickly sealed, trapping all the suspects inside.

As the Purple Lotus begins to disrupt fairy and elf magic everywhere, the Bureau lose control of their magic, all except Kyra who is unaffected. Apinya pleads with Kyra to stop the Lotus by reclaiming her Orb Magic. When she refuses, Apinya plays her last card and reveals the truth about the disappearance of Kyra’s birth father.

With Apinya’s true identity exposed, Maxwell and the two Keys are captured and taken to the Bangkok warehouse, where Kyra finally locates the Third Key using her Orb Magic. While the Bureau attempt to rescue Maxwell, Kyra, Imogen and Tayla retrieve the Third Key which magically transports Kyra to the Temple of the Purple Lotus where her Orb magic is drained and the Purple Lotus comes to life.

Despite the Bureau’s protests, Maxwell takes responsibility for the damage to the Library and is suspended from teaching. His replacement is Doctor Apinya, a distinguished magical archaeologist, who takes a keen interest in Kyra. To resurrect Ladder, Lily, Ruksy and Peter venture into the fairy tale book to secure enchanted wood and fall foul of the Witch of Crow Crag.

The Bureau has to overcome some tricky magical graffiti while Imogen is worried because Darra has gone missing. At a sleepover at Lily’s, Kyra has a vision of Darra in trouble, then is magically snatched to a warehouse where she saves Darra from attack by a mysterious Cobra statue. With no idea what is happening, Kyra is chased by a fairy and an elf, and is shocked to find she is in Bangkok.

When Imogen begins to suspect that Apinya is not who she claims to be, she and Lily set out to prove it and discover Apinya has a connection to the Bangkok warehouse where Darra and Kyra found the First Key. Kyra invites Darra to lunch so he can get to know her stepfather, and while looking at some old family photos, Kyra makes an astonishing discovery about her Triling heritage.

The Bureau attempts to capture a bug whose bite causes the victim to tell the truth, but the bug bites Lily who is on her first date with Ben. Peter and Ruksy must pretend they are back together in order to prevent Lily from revealing that she is a fairy. Kyra is refused permission to testify at Maxwell’s hearing before the DMI. Maxwell is removed from teaching and Apinya is made permanent.

This Christmas, Ann goes back home to Arlington, Texas, while juggling a big work pitch coming up next month, but an old fling may have a proposal of his own for her.

When there is a violent murder at a historic Home Counties golf club, Superintendent John Lambert himself discovers the crime. For the first time in a long career, he finds himself conducting a murder inquiry among people he knows well. The victim is the chairman of the golf club and a prominent local businessman, and it is soon clear that the members of the Club Committee are the chief suspects. They are all prominent members of the local community, and Lambert is saddled with a Chief Constable who is uncomfortably aware of the fact.

Many people spend hours every day commuting to and from work. This time can be spent reading, listening to music, people-watching or it can just be a moment to relax and not worry about driving. But it's also the perfect opportunity to meditate, and reset yourself in preparation for what awaits at the end of the journey. In Cool, Calm and Commuted, the bestselling author of Buddhism for Busy People offers a series of meditative exercises to transform your commuting experience.

We are never really taught how to make sense of the torrent of news we face every day, writes Alain de Botton (author of the best-selling The Architecture of Happiness), but this has a huge impact on our sense of what matters and of how we should lead our lives. In his dazzling new book, de Botton takes twenty-five archetypal news stories - including an airplane crash, a murder, a celebrity interview and a political scandal - and submits them to unusually intense analysis with a view to helping us navigate our news-soaked age.

Stress is a constant presence in our everyday lives - more than ever before, we're working harder, juggling more responsibilies and taking less time for ourselves. David Michie, the bestselling author of Buddhism for Busy People, offers a series of meditations designed to take those moments in life that seem unbearably stressful, and gives you the calmness and peace of mind to take control of the situation, and of yourself.

Do you hate flying? Does the very idea of being on a plane stress you out? Fear of flying may be an everyday phobia, but that doesn't mean that you have to live with it. From the best-selling author of Meditations for Manic Motorists and Buddhism for Busy People, the exercises included in Meditations for Frequent Flyers will improve your physical and mental well-being while in the passenger seat.

Alexandra has returned to the world after her captivity and is left with a heady mix of emotions. Strangely empowered, her feelings of pleasure and exhilaration are tinged with fear, but now she must reconcile the decisions of her past and how they may determine her future. Alexandra knows it is she alone who holds the key to the answers so desperately sought by both her lover, Jeremy Quinn, and her captors.

Life was going well for psychologist Alexandra Blake. Her career has taken off and she has been exploring her darkest sexual fantasies with her lover Jeremy Quinn. But her bliss is rudely interrupted when she is abducted in London, caught up in a dangerous struggle between unscrupulous corporations. Her captors want her to help them with their sexual experiments – pushing the boundaries of convention in the search for a drug to stimulate the female libido. But at what cost? How far will Alexandra be willing to go to satisfy her curiosity, both professional and personal?

In Enlightenment to Go, David Michie provides a lively and accessible guide to ‘the best of’ Shantideva. Sharing his enthusiasm for Shantideva’s radical insights, life-changing psychological tools and transcendent wisdom, he draws on a wide variety of scientific sources – from mindfulness training to cognitive behaviour therapy, from neuropsychology to quantum physics – to show how Shantideva’s Guide is as relevant as ever.