Born and bred in the North East of England, David Moffatt had no intention of disturbing his deep roots in the banks of the Tyne until his University tutor asked him to go to Mato Grosso in Brazil. With a fraught love life, and his football team heading for relegation, suddenly a year in the jungle sounded like a good idea. His life is changed forever... Against a backdrop of growing up in postwar Tyneside, Without a Paddle describes David’s travels in a series of tales and delightful vignettes. Amusing, sometimes hilarious, occasionally sad, we meet his drunken bush guide that he has to disarm, his incompetent camp cook who nearly poisons his boss, an odd assortment of expeditionaries from the elderly entomologist that David has to save from the wasps to a sexchange capybara, and the young female zoologist who…well, it’s all in the book. With a major bid submission hours away, David gets locked stark naked in his bathroom in Cairo, exiting via the window to a busy street seems his only option. At the height of the ‘red terror’ in post-revolutionary Ethiopia, his room is searched while he sleeps – and was the hammering on his door in a seedy hotel in Ogaden the beginning of a kidnap? New Year’s Eve in Rio finds him in a club to which he doesn’t belong and discover what happens to the Gambian beauty queen in Banjul market. After growing up on Tyneside with a teddy bear that travelled to South Africa, playing and watching football and more football, singing with The Invaders and being suspended from school, none of this had equipped David with the paddle he needed to steer him through his travels. Without a Paddle is a light-hearted memoir that will appeal to those with an interest in foreign travel, or who simply enjoy a good laugh.
This book provides an accessible introduction to knot theory, focussing on Vassiliev invariants, quantum knot invariants constructed via representations of quantum groups, and how these two apparently distinct theories come together through the Kontsevich invariant. Consisting of four parts, the book opens with an introduction to the fundamentals of knot theory, and to knot invariants such as the Jones polynomial. The second part introduces quantum invariants of knots, working constructively from first principles towards the construction of Reshetikhin-Turaev invariants and a description of how these arise through Drinfeld and Jimbo's quantum groups. Its third part offers an introduction to Vassiliev invariants, providing a careful account of how chord diagrams and Jacobi diagrams arise in the theory, and the role that Lie algebras play. The final part of the book introduces the Konstevich invariant. This is a universal quantum invariant and a universal Vassiliev invariant, and brings together these two seemingly different families of knot invariants. The book provides a detailed account of the construction of the Jones polynomial via the quantum groups attached to sl(2), the Vassiliev weight system arising from sl(2), and how these invariants come together through the Kontsevich invariant.
Portraying the two critical moments in Oscar Wilde's late life -- when he decides to stay in England and face imprisonment and the night after his release, two years later -- David Hare's The Judas Kiss presents the consequences of taking an uncompromisingly moral position in a world defined by fear, expedience, and conformity.
Pirouette into the world of dance with the Central School of Ballet Want to learn ballet basics, from exercising at the barre to performing jumps, pirouettes or a perfect plié? Follow the experiences of real ballet students from their first dance class to the exciting end of year performance and find out what it takes to be a real ballerina. Discover the difference between a leotard and a tutu and between ballet slippers and pointe shoes and pick up tips on tying your shoe ribbons properly. Plus, step-by-step exercises will help you practise moves at home. Everything you need to know to become a real ballet dancer.
What does the word "Bible" mean? Who wrote the Bible? Has it changed over time? Why are there so many translations? A General Introduction to the Bible answers these questions and more. Without becoming too technical for the average layperson, David Ewert surveys the history, formation, transmission, and translation of the Christian Bible in an informative and captivating way. Topics include: Meaning of "Bible" and the naming of biblical books Transmission of sacred scriptures The thousand-year story of the English Bible Bible organization Development of biblical languages Canon of the testaments Extracanonical books Early versions of the Bible Choosing a translation Features include: Photographs of ancient texts, Bible pages, key individuals, and settings Maps and charts that show the development of languages, textual families, and the relationship of various translations and revisions Suggested readings and an extensive glossary and index From ancient tablets to modern translations—God's Word to humanity has been profoundly impacting the world for several millennia. And after learning about its fascinating history, your appreciation for the Bible will surely increase even more.
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