Deighton, Len, Blitzkrieg: From the Rise of Hitler to the Fall of Dunkirk, William Collins 2014 'Blitzkrieg’ begins with a chilling portrait of Hitler’s rise to power in pre-war Germany, setting the stage for the outbreak of the Second World War and his conquests of Poland and Norway. This riveting history sets out clearly the tactical thinking behind Blitzkrieg and focuses an expert’s eye on the materiel – pre-eminently the Panzer tank – that made it possible. Concluding with a compelling account of the campaigns that drove the German armies through the Low Countries and into France, Deighton reveals the Führer’s ‘fatal flaw’, which made possible the evacuation of Allied forces from Dunkirk.' 
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Feynman, Richard P, and Robert B Leighton, Matthew Sands, The Feynman Lectures on Physics (volume 3) : Quantum Mechanics, Addison Wesley 1970 Foreword: 'This set of lectures tries to elucidate from the beginning those features of quantum mechanics which are the most basic and the most general. . . . In each instance the ideas are introduced together with a detailed discussion of some specific examples - to try to make the physical ideas as real as possible.' Matthew Sands 
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Funder, Anna, Stasiland: True Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall, Granta Books 2003 Editorial Review: Publishers Weekly "Its job was to know everything about everyone, using any means it chose. It knew who your visitors were, it knew whom you telephoned, and it knew if your wife slept around." This was the fearsome Stasi, the Ministry for State Security of the late and unlamented German Democratic Republic. Funder, an Australian writer, international lawyer and TV and radio producer, visiting Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall, finds herself captivated by stories of people who resisted the Stasi-moving stories that she collects in her first book, which was shortlisted for two literary awards in Australia. For instance, Miriam Weber, a slight woman with a "surprisingly big nicotine-stained voice," was placed in solitary confinement at the age of 16 for printing and distributing protest leaflets; she was caught again during a dramatic nighttime attempt to go over the Wall. Filtered through Funder's own keen perspective, these dramatic tales highlight the courage that ordinary people can display in torturous circumstances." Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. 
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Ledwidge, Frank, Losing Small Wars: British Military Failure in Iraq and Afghanistan, Yale University Press 2011 Amazon Product Description Partly on the strength of their apparent success in insurgencies such as Malaya and Northern Ireland, the British armed forces have long been perceived as world class, if not world beating. However, their recent performance in Iraq and Afghanistan is widely seen as—at best—disappointing; under British control Basra degenerated into a lawless city riven with internecine violence, while tactical mistakes and strategic incompetence in Helmand Province resulted in heavy civilian and military casualties and a climate of violence and insecurity. In both cases the British were eventually and humiliatingly bailed out by the US army. In this thoughtful and compellingly readable book, Frank Ledwidge examines the British involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, asking how and why it went so wrong. With the aid of copious research, interviews with senior officers, and his own personal experiences, he looks in detail at the failures of strategic thinking and culture that led to defeat in Britain's latest "small wars." This is an eye-opening analysis of the causes of military failure, and its enormous costs. About the Author Frank Ledwidge served in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Iraq as a military intelligence officer and in Afghanistan as a civilian justice advisor. He is currently a lecturer for Kings College, London, at the RAF College, Cranwell. 
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Lonergan, Bernard J F, Insight: A Study of Human Understanding (Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan : Volume 3), University of Toronto Press 1992 '. . . Bernard Lonergan's masterwork. Its aim is nothing less than insight into insight itself, an understanding of understanding' 
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Marr, David, and Marian Wilkinson, Dark Victory, Allen and Unwin 2005 Amazon editorial review: 'This updated edition of a stirring account of the Australian government's handling of the Children Overboard affair and the Pacific Solution is a remarkable piece of investigative journalism. New information about the ways the Howard government manipulated the situation for its own gain is included.' 
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Andrew Mack, The Human Security Report, Prof. Andrew Mack is director of the Human Security Center at the University of British Columbia in Canada, and former director of the Strategic Planning Unit in the Executive Office of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan from 1998 to 2001 'Improbable though it may seem, the UN is also a real success story. Over the past 15 years there has been real progress toward realizing the organization?s core mandate - spelled out in its 1945 charter - "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war." The just-released Human Security Report, an independent study funded by five governments and published by the Oxford University Press, draws on a wide range of little-publicized scholarly research, plus its own specially commissioned studies, to present a portrait of global security sharply at odds with conventional wisdom (see: www.humansecurityreport.info). The report reveals that after five decades of inexorable increase, the number of armed conflicts started to fall worldwide in the early 1990s. By 2003, there were 40 percent fewer conflicts than in 1992. The deadliest conflicts - those with 1,000 or more battle deaths - fell by 80 percent. Cases of mass slaughter of civilians also dropped by 80 percent, while core human rights abuses have declined in five out of six regions of the developing world since the mid-1990s.' back

Andrew P Street, I've spent the last five years writing about Australian politics. Send help., 'There’s an old saying about the writing mindset – attributed to everyone from Dorothy Parker to George RR Martin – which essentially runs: “Writing is intolerable, not writing is intolerable; the only acceptable state is having just written.” ' back

Bruce Bartlett, Even after Trump loses, the GOP is still toast, ' I now see that Trump’s candidacy has exacerbated the Republican Party’s weaknesses, alienating minorities, fracturing the base and stunting smart policy development. The party’s structural problems are so severe that reform is impossible. Even if Trump loses and the GOP races to forget him, the party is doomed. And very few of our leaders seem to care.' back

E J Dionne Jr, Trump Confirms Everyone's Fears, 'The most important moment of the evening was Trump’s refusal to say that if he lost, he would accept the outcome: “I will look at it at the time,” he said. “I will keep you in suspense.” Never has a candidate for president challenged the legitimacy of the entire electoral enterprise in which he was engaged. Clinton’s core claim is that Trump is a dangerous man who lacks respect for American institutions and American democracy. On this central issue, Trump chose to prove Clinton right.' back

Griff Witte, In Scotland, gusts of wind usher in a quiet energy revolution, ' EDINBURGH, Scotland — Even by the blustery standards of this notoriously squall-swept land, Aug. 7 was a particularly gusty day. . . . But amid the gale-force havoc, the day also brought a critical milestone in a quiet energy revolution: For the first time ever, the army of spinning white turbines that has sprouted across the lush countryside generated enough electricity to power all of Scotland.' back

Human embryogenesis - Wikipedia, Human embryogenesis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Human embryogenesis is the process of cell division and cellular differentiation of the embryo that occurs during the early stages of development. In biological terms, human development entails growth from a one celled zygote to an adult human being.' back

Ian Black, Libya bows to calls for investigation into Gaddafi death, 'NTC leader announces committee to look into circumstances of death and officials order halt to public viewing of corpse back

Reuters, Muammar Gaddafi dead, back

Richard Gott, Let's end the myths of Britain's imperial past, 'David Cameron would have us look back to the days of the British empire with pride. But there is little in the brutal oppression and naked greed with which it was built that deserves our respect' back

Timothy Egan, Burning Down the House, 'Here’s his lesson for young minds: If you’re rich and boorish enough, you can get away with anything. Get away with sexual assault. Get away with not paying taxes. Get away with never telling the truth. Get away with flirting with treason. Get away with stiffing people who work for you, while you take yours. Get away with mocking the disabled, veterans and families of war heroes.' back