Telling Lies
Feb 25, 2010 Learning and Knowledge, Science and Technology, Self Help & Personal Training, Specialist Subjects
If, like me, you’re tired of hearing complete rubbish about how someone touching an ear, scratching their leg, making eye contact or not making eye contact are apparently sure-fire ways to tell that they are lying, this book will come as a welcome relief.
In Telling Lies, Paul Ekman discusses what possible indicators you can look out for to spot emotional states that can suggest lying, as well as explaining some of the different types of deception that we all practice, and why we do it. He also introduces the idea of microexpressions, those little tics that give away how we’re really feeling – if this sounds familiar to those of you who watch “Lie To Me,” that’s because Cal Lightman was pretty much based on Paul Ekman.
Amazon UK link – used only
Amazon.com link
Paul Ekman’s official site
Saucy Jack: The Elusive Ripper
Jan 18, 2010 History, Specialist Subjects, Uncategorized
No serial killer has left a legacy like that of Jack the Ripper. Conspiracy theories abound as to who carried out a series of murders in 1888 Whitechapel, but why? Brutal crimes abounded in East London, and society didn’t care deeply about the fate of working girls, who often met violent ends.
Saucy Jack examines how these specific murders became famous, what his tells us about 1888 attitudes and social life, and how one murderer became a horror movie archetype for centuries to come. It describes the victims and facts surrounding the attacks, as well as discussing the evolution of the Ripper archetype, its presence in the media, from early newspaper accounts to modern video games and rock music, takes a close look at the “ripperologists” who spend their spare time agonising over the case, and has a skeptical look at the various conspiracy theories floating around, and why they attract people.
The East End Chronicles – Ed Glinert
Jan 11, 2010 History, Specialist Subjects
This is a very entertaining account of the history of East End London, although it does get repetitive at times – the same information appears multiple times throughout the book under different headings. Jack the Ripper, of course, is discussed at some length, but the book also gives a good overview of East End London up until the present day, including immigration patterns, some local legends and various non-Ripper grisly tales. Some of it may need to be taken with a large pinch of salt, but if you want to know more about the area then it’s a good, if perhaps sensationalised, start.
Synopsis: The East End: Roman burial ground, medieval rubbish tip, Victorian hell hole, WW2 bombing target, 21st century gentrification template. Always a rum place, the industrial revolution replaced the rose bushes and hedgerows with metallic roads and iron railways, the mud banks gave way to deep-water docks and sweatshops. East End Chronicles will tell the story of this part of London that has always enthralled writers and readers through the bizarre, the unusual, the arcane and the mysterious. Chapters on the Silk Weavers of Spitalfields; Docks, Dockers and River Pirates; Murder and Mayhem on the Radcliffe Highway; Mystics and Myth-Makers; The Blitz and Bombs; The Jewish Ghetto and more reveal the underbelly of the history of the East End.
The Suspicions of Mr Whicher: or The Murder at Road Hill House
Dec 3, 2009 Biography, History, Specialist Subjects
I’m not really a fan of true crime. I’m never really attracted to apparently thrilling accounts of gruesome murders, and I don’t usually have a burning desire to know whodunnit – in fact, I often feel that true crime stories lack a certain sense of humanity. That being said, this book completely fascinated me and turned those expectations upside down. Kate Summerscale focusses on the rather nasty murder of a middle-class Victorian child, and in doing so, paints a very vivid picture of Victorian family life, the birth and development of the police force, and the life of a detective. Weaved into the story are tidbits about the origins of detective fiction and its terminology, the lifestyle of a nun, court proceedings and even a bit of photography. It’s very engaging, despite the gory murder at the centre of the book.
Win possibly the greatest Magic Book ever
Nov 20, 2009 Art, Image based, Special Offers, Specialist Subjects
TASCHEN are noted for their wonderful books crammed full of images and we own quite a few, however this release is really something special. Featuring more than 1,000 rarely seen vintage posters, photographs, handbills, and engravings as well as paintings by Hieronymus Bosch and Caravaggio among others, this 650-page volume traces the history of magic as a performing art from the 1400s to the 1950s.
Combining sensational images with incisive text, Magic explores the evolution of the magician’s craft, from medieval street performers to the brilliant stage magicians who gave rise to cinematic special effects; from the 19th century’s Golden Age of Magic to groundbreaking daredevils like Houdini and the early 20th century’s vaudevillians.
This book is a stunning publication. I will admit, first thoughts were that was a specialist release, however attempting to put the book down is very hard. Well actually it is very easy, its weighty feel is something to behold at a good 10lbs. And yet I must have spent at least 30 minutes turning pages and reading snippets before I realised the time.
Further more we’re giving away a copy of this book and not just any copy. We have managed to secure copies signed by one of the great illusionists of all time, Derren Brown. He is not featured in this book, its time period only stretches from 1400-1950, but many who have influenced him are.
To win a fantastic copy just visit the TASCHEN site here and select the LEAF THROUGH option on the right. Leaf through the MAGIC book until you find a bottle of Ether. Tell us exactly where you found it, along with the reason why you’re into books or magic (your choice but must be in less than 100 words) and email us here.
The winner picked out of a hat will be announced on the 1 December via the blog.
MAGIC – Taschen, Win a copy signed by Derren Brown on Vimeo.
Exclusive – low price offer over at Amazon
The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution
Nov 14, 2009 Learning and Knowledge, Religion and Ethics, Skeptical books, Specialist Subjects
Dawkins has always had a voice in the media but more recently this has been amplified by his struggle against religious idealism. His recent documentaries also called in to question the pseudo-science and hocus-pocus involved in alternative therapy. But it’s easy to forget that Richard Dawkins is also one of the leading minds in evolutionary theory.
Many who fall in to the trap of talking about “Darwinism” as a sort of religious stand point will probably feel that “Dawkinism” is only around the corner. But the the clear and unquestionable evidence that piles up so incredible high in favour of evolutionary theory relates in no way to any religious debate. If you question evolution you may as well question Newtons laws of motion – you’re on rocky territory.
Darwin is arguably the greatest scientist of all time, in a 2005 BBC poll of scientists from around the world he came first by quite a stretch, he was also voted one of the top 5 greatest Britons. Charles Dickens lost his place on the £10 to the man and Richard Owen, the founder of the Natural History, lost pride of place in the great hall to a larger and considerably heavier statue of Darwin.
So it’s unusual to find that of all the scientists you would look to argue with the theories of this one. Even the Church of England finally admitted defeat, albeit over 120 years late officially stating that they we’re wrong to criticise his theories.
The Origin of the Species struggled throughout it’s multiple releases. Painstakingly researched at a time when sea travel was the norm, reworked 4 times and released in 1859, Darwin had no easy task. Initially he was worried about it’s release and after delays and initial worries it was finally put out without a huge fanfare. And yet despite this it has become a cornerstone of scientific understanding.
The Greatest Show on Earth is probably the only book that could ever accompany The Origin of the Species in equalled proportion. It’s fantastically well written and highly enjoyable. Simplifying such an enormous topic has I’m sure been incredibly hard, but Dawkin’s intellect and insight shines through, his writing style is upbeat and energetic but moves just at the right pace.
From it’s opening chapter about the “history deniers” to the final chapter based on The Origin of the Species itself. Every page offers insight, understanding and results in a truly simplified reworking of complex and challenging theories. And in doing so it in no way dilutes the message. It’s easy to forget that Dawkins the religious critic is also a brilliant and well spoken scientist. Consequently this is also one of the most powerful arguments against the Intelligent Design camp without falling in to the slippery slope argument by questioning the existence of supernatural beings.
Top of the Amazon, Sunday Times and countless other best seller lists if you don’t own a copy of this I thoroughly recommend it. It’s available in several versions from hardcover to audio book and I’m sure it will be reprinted and redistributed for a long time to come. I have read most of Dawkins’ books, The selfish gene is probably his most ground breaking and The God Delusion his most famous release, but now I consider The Greatest Show on Earth to quite firmly replace both of those despite only being available for a few months.
Why Do We Talk
Nov 9, 2009 Learning and Knowledge, Specialist Subjects
Talking is something that is unique to humans, yet it still remains a mystery. Horizon meets the scientists beginning to unlock the secrets of speech – including a father who is filming every second of his son’s first three years in order to discover how we learn to talk, the autistic savant who can speak more than 20 languages, and the first scientist to identify a gene that makes speech possible.
Horizon also hears from the godfather of linguistics, Noam Chomsky, the first to suggest that our ability to talk is innate. A unique experiment shows how a new alien language can emerge in just one afternoon, in a bid to understand where language comes from and why it is the way it is.
Available for the next 14 days on iplayer
Chauvet Cave: The Discovery of the World’s Oldest Paintings
Nov 7, 2009 Art, History, Specialist Subjects
Early cave paintings are quite an astonishing sight. Our very earliest forms of writing stretch back to around 3000 years B.C, however cave paintings have predated this by more than 10,000 years. Other examples such as the Cave of Altamira (cue Steely Dan) found in Spain have dated back as far as 18,000 years BC and for a long time these were the only examples of the earliest forms of humans expressing themselves in such a way.
However the astonishing thing about the Chauvet cave is that the paintings, found by amateur explorers, were so astonishing in quality and detail they were at first thought to be a hoax. Further more the examples were revealed to be more than 32,000 years old, considerably earlier than anything else discovered.
Now that the cave is closed to the public, this book provides an opportunity to view the paintings at first hand, revealing the mastery of our Stone Age ancestors. The pictures are clear and crisp and mostly in colour.
The Art Of Deception
Nov 6, 2009 Biography, Science and Technology, Specialist Subjects
Kevin Mitnick was at one point the most wanted computer hacker in the world. This will come to no surprise to you when you hear how he started hacking bus passes at the age of 12. Later on he was to serve 5 years in prison for a string of offences and was only released in 2000. He was restricted from using any telecoms devices but later fought this in court and they eventually allowed him on to the internet.
Mitnick now runs Mitnick Security Consulting LLC, a computer security consultancy.
Hacking came to fame in a lot of 80’s movies like War Games and Terminator, however back then hacking systems with an RS232 port and an analogue telephone was a rare and infrequent occurrence.
Once basic security systems like password protection had been put in place hacking became something more of an art. Detailed technical knowledge of how to run scripts on servers and circumnavigate security became increasingly more difficult.
So what Mitnick realised was that by using social hacking methods he could achieve similar results with a little practice. That is the main content and storyline of this book, and it’s a very good one.
Released in 2003 it is a little out of date for those who are really up on this sort of subject. Most people with half a brain in their heads are aware of “phishing” and email scams. But there really is a lot of useful information and great stories about just how easy it is to make your way in to systems with information provided relatively easily.
This is not a hackers guide, it’s more of an instructional manual of how not to be scammed and the way companies fail to recognise the holes is security via less obvious methods like the information available to the office secretary or receptionist.
Anyone in to technology will love the Mitnick story and anyone who owns a business must add this to their reading list. There is a newer release from Mitnick but we’ve not got round to it yet. I’m sure if it’s as good as this release it will be on here.
Underground London
Nov 1, 2009 History, Specialist Subjects
I originally found this book after reading this book. There have been a few releases on the subject of what lies underneath one the the world’s greatest cities. Whilst Underground London was disappointing and felt a little off topic, Subterranean City is a vastly superior read with some fascinating stories. My only criticism is that it lacks a few maps and could have better diagrams but on the whole this is a minor issue.
Ideal for those who love London.
