111 Places in Edinburgh that you shouldn't miss

111 Places in Edinburgh that you shouldn't miss

Author: Gillian Tait

Publisher: Emons Verlag

Published: 2016-09-22

Total Pages: 357

ISBN-13: 3960411561

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The ultimate insider's guide to Edinburgh features interesting and unusual places not found in traditional travel guides. Edinburgh is rightly celebrated for its famous historical and cultural attractions. But for the discerning visitor it has much more to offer away from the well-worn tourist trail. This book takes you to hidden corners and secret sights in this city of contrasts, exploring fascinating locations unknown even to most residents, and revealing unexpected aspects of some familiar local landmarks. Marvel at a unique underground temple hewn out of the living rock; learn how a world-famous illusionist came to be buried here – with his dog; find out why the city council once commissioned an enormous electric blanket; look out for the ordinary Edinburgh post box with an explosive history. Discover the human stories behind a wide range of places, both exceptional and commonplace, bringing to life the greatly varied cityscape where people have been leaving their mark for at least 5,000 years. Entdecken Sie versteckte Orte und Geschichten abseits der bekannten Pfade, die den wahren Charakter Edinburghs enthüllen. Edinburgh ist berühmt für seine historischen und kulturellen Sehenswürdigkeiten. Aber es hat abseits der ausgetretenen Touristenpfade noch viel mehr zu bieten. Dieses Buch führt Sie zu versteckten und geheimen Plätzen in dieser Stadt der Gegensätze, es zeigt faszinierende Orte, die selbst den meisten Edinburghern unbekannt sind, und enthüllt unerwartete Aspekte bekannter Wahrzeichen. Bestaunen Sie einen einzigartigen unterirdischen Tempel, der aus einem Felsen gehauen wurde. Erfahren Sie, wie ein weltberühmter Zauberer hier gemeinsam mit seinem Hund beerdigt wurde. Finden Sie heraus, warum der Stadtrat einst eine riesige Heizdecke in Auftrag gegeben hat. Oder halten Sie Ausschau nach einem gewöhnlichen Edinburgher Briefkasten, hinter dem eine explosive Geschichte steckt.


Time Out Prague

Time Out Prague

Author:

Publisher: Time Out

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 9781904978138

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As the newest member of the EU, the Czech Republic formally sheds its East Bloc past - but that development only formalizes what's been a rollercoaster of change since the Velvet Revolution in 1989. Written and researched by Prague residents, the Time Out guide leads you to medieval Old Town's new design bars, to the crusty Zizkov district's classic pubs, to the romantic restaurants of Mala Strana and the hippest of clubs in the reclaimed industrial quarter of Holesovice. The poet president Vaclav Havel may have stepped down and returned to scribbling but the opening up of Bohemia is still gaining momentum every year. A mad community of expats call Prague home, having been attracted, like so many newly minted Bohemians down through the centuries, by the city's affordable lifestyle, gorgeously spooky architecture, and reputation for decadence. Meanwhile the Old European side of Mozart's adopted home beckons with improbably grandiose opera houses, Vienna-style coffee houses, and fairy-tale palaces that serve as gallery space - like as not, for the latest modern art experiments.


The Circle

The Circle

Author: Dave Eggers

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2013-10-08

Total Pages: 404

ISBN-13: 0385351402

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INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • A bestselling dystopian novel that tackles surveillance, privacy and the frightening intrusions of technology in our lives—a “compulsively readable parable for the 21st century” (Vanity Fair). When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world’s most powerful internet company, she feels she’s been given the opportunity of a lifetime. The Circle, run out of a sprawling California campus, links users’ personal emails, social media, banking, and purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency. As Mae tours the open-plan office spaces, the towering glass dining facilities, the cozy dorms for those who spend nights at work, she is thrilled with the company’s modernity and activity. There are parties that last through the night, there are famous musicians playing on the lawn, there are athletic activities and clubs and brunches, and even an aquarium of rare fish retrieved from the Marianas Trench by the CEO. Mae can’t believe her luck, her great fortune to work for the most influential company in the world—even as life beyond the campus grows distant, even as a strange encounter with a colleague leaves her shaken, even as her role at the Circle becomes increasingly public. What begins as the captivating story of one woman’s ambition and idealism soon becomes a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy, and the limits of human knowledge.


Feed

Feed

Author: M. T. Anderson

Publisher: Candlewick Press

Published: 2010-05-11

Total Pages: 311

ISBN-13: 0763651559

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Identity crises, consumerism, and star-crossed teenage love in a futuristic society where people connect to the Internet via feeds implanted in their brains. Winner of the LA Times Book Prize. For Titus and his friends, it started out like any ordinary trip to the moon - a chance to party during spring break and play around with some stupid low-grav at the Ricochet Lounge. But that was before the crazy hacker caused all their feeds to malfunction, sending them to the hospital to lie around with nothing inside their heads for days. And it was before Titus met Violet, a beautiful, brainy teenage girl who knows something about what it’s like to live without the feed-and about resisting its omnipresent ability to categorize human thoughts and desires. Following in the footsteps of George Orwell, Anthony Burgess, and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., M. T. Anderson has created a brave new world - and a hilarious new lingo - sure to appeal to anyone who appreciates smart satire, futuristic fiction laced with humor, or any story featuring skin lesions as a fashion statement.


The Skeleton Road

The Skeleton Road

Author: Val McDermid

Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

Published: 2014-12-02

Total Pages: 364

ISBN-13: 0802192149

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An Edinburgh detective encounters skeletal remains that may be connected to the brutal Balkan Wars of the 1990s in this “tightly paced mystery” (Los Angeles Times). In the center of historic Edinburgh, Scotland, builders are preparing to demolish a disused Victorian Gothic building. They are understandably surprised to find skeletal remains hidden in a high pinnacle that hasn’t been touched by maintenance for years. Who do the bones belong to, and how did they get there? Could the eccentric British pastime of free climbing the outside of buildings play a role? Enter cold case detective Karen Pirie, who gets to work trying to establish the corpse’s identity. And when it turns out the bones may be from as far away as former Yugoslavia, Karen will need to dig deeper than she ever imagined into the tragic history of the Balkans: to war crimes and their consequences, and ultimately to the notion of what justice is and who serves it. “McDermid melds the political thriller with the police procedural for an intense novel.”—Associated Press


The Night Circus

The Night Circus

Author: Erin Morgenstern

Publisher: Anchor

Published: 2011-09-13

Total Pages: 389

ISBN-13: 0385534647

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#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Two starcrossed magicians engage in a deadly game of cunning in the spellbinding novel that captured the world's imagination. • "Part love story, part fable ... defies both genres and expectations." —The Boston Globe The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night. But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway: a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them both, this is a game in which only one can be left standing. Despite the high stakes, Celia and Marco soon tumble headfirst into love, setting off a domino effect of dangerous consequences, and leaving the lives of everyone, from the performers to the patrons, hanging in the balance.


Tokyo Geek's Guide

Tokyo Geek's Guide

Author: Gianni Simone

Publisher: Tuttle Publishing

Published: 2017-07-11

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 1462919707

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Tokyo is ground zero for Japan's famous "geek" or otaku culture--a phenomenon that has now swept across the globe. This is the most comprehensive Japan travel guide ever produced which features Tokyo's geeky underworld. It provides a comprehensive run-down of each major Tokyo district where geeks congregate, shop, play and hang out--from hi-tech Akihabara and trendy Harajuku to newer and lesser-known haunts like chic Shimo-Kita and working-class Ikebukuro. Dozens of iconic shops, restaurants, cafes and clubs in each area are described in loving detail with precise directions to get to each location. Maps, URLs, opening hours and over 400 fascinating color photographs bring you around Tokyo on an unforgettable trip to the centers of Japanese manga, anime and geek culture. Interviews with local otaku experts and people on the street let you see the world from their perspective and provide insights into Tokyo and Japanese culture, which will only continue to spread around the globe. Japanese pop culture, in its myriad forms, is more widespread today than ever before--with J-Pop artists playing through speakers everywhere, Japanese manga filling every bookstore; anime cartoons on TV; and toys and video games, like Pokemon Go, played by tens of millions of people. Swarms of visitors come to Tokyo each year on a personal quest to soak in all the otaku-related sights and enjoy Japanese manga, anime, gaming and idol culture at its very source. This is the go-to resource for those planning a trip, or simply dreaming of visiting one day!


The Unbearable Lightness of Being

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Author: Milan Kundera

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2023-03-28

Total Pages: 311

ISBN-13: 0063290642

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“Far more than a conventional novel. It is a meditation on life, on the erotic, on the nature of men and women and love . . . full of telling details, truths large and small, to which just about every reader will respond.” — People In The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera tells the story of two couples, a young woman in love with a man torn between his love for her and his incorrigible womanizing, and one of his mistresses and her humbly faithful lover. In a world in which lives are shaped by irrevocable choices and by fortuitous events, a world in which everything occurs but once, existence seems to lose its substance, its weight. Hence, we feel "the unbearable lightness of being" not only as the consequence of our pristine actions but also in the public sphere, and the two inevitably intertwine. This magnificent novel is a story of passion and politics, infidelity and ideas, and encompasses the extremes of comedy and tragedy, illuminating all aspects of human existence.


Brand New Justice

Brand New Justice

Author: Simon Anholt

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2006-08-11

Total Pages: 185

ISBN-13: 1136426078

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Recently vilified as the prime dynamic driving home the breach between poor and rich nations, here the branding process is rehabilitated as a potential saviour of the economically underprivileged. Brand New Justice, now in a revised paperback edition, systematically analyses the success stories of the Top Thirteen nations, demonstrating that their wealth is based on the 'last mile' of the commercial process: buying raw materials and manufacturing cheaply in third world countries, these countries realise their lucrative profits by adding value through finishing, packaging and marketing and then selling the branded product on to the end-user at a hugely inflated price. The use of sophisticated global media techniques alongside a range of creative marketing activities are the lynchpins of this process. Applying his observations on economic history and the development and impact of global marketing, Anholt presents a cogent plan for developing nations to benefit from globalization. So long the helpless victim of capitalist trading systems, he shows that they can cross the divide and graduate from supplier nation to producer nation. Branding native produce on a global scale, making a commercial virtue out of perceived authenticity and otherness and fully capitalising on the 'last mile' benefits are key to this graduation and fundamental to forging a new global economic balance. Anholt argues with a forceful logic, but also backs his hypothesis with enticing glimpses of this process actually beginning to take place. Examining activities in India, Thailand, Russia and Africa among others, he shows the risks, challenges and pressures inherent in 'turning the tide', but above all he demonstrates the very real possibility of enlightened capitalism working as a force for good in global terms.


Which Country Has the World's Best Health Care?

Which Country Has the World's Best Health Care?

Author: Ezekiel J. Emanuel

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Published: 2020-06-16

Total Pages: 464

ISBN-13: 1541797728

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The preeminent doctor and bioethicist Ezekiel Emanuel is repeatedly asked one question: Which country has the best healthcare? He set off to find an answer. The US spends more than any other nation, nearly $4 trillion, on healthcare. Yet, for all that expense, the US is not ranked #1 -- not even close. In Which Country Has the World's Best Healthcare? Ezekiel Emanuel profiles eleven of the world's healthcare systems in pursuit of the best or at least where excellence can be found. Using a unique comparative structure, the book allows healthcare professionals, patients, and policymakers alike to know which systems perform well, and why, and which face endemic problems. From Taiwan to Germany, Australia to Switzerland, the most inventive healthcare providers tackle a global set of challenges -- in pursuit of the best healthcare in the world.