Showing results by narrator "Leighton Pugh" in All Categories

There are, in total, 31 Essays, 24 of which are presented here. The range of topics is very varied, opening with 'On Philosophy and Its Method' and including 'On Pantheism', 'On Ethics', 'On Jurisprudence', 'On Men of Learning', 'On Thinking for Oneself', 'On Religion' and 'The Vanity of Existence'.  Quite a few open windows on to the personality of Schopenhauer himself - for example, he praises dogs as companions, argues that animals should be chloroformed before slaughter: animal welfare was very much in his sights. 

John Flory is a white timber-merchant in 1920s Burma. Disillusioned by imperial life, Flory defies orthodoxy and befriends Indian Dr Veraswami. The doctor is being pursued by a corrupt magistrate, U Po Kyin, who is orchestrating his downfall. The only thing that can save his reputation is membership of the all-white Club, and Flory is in a position to help. Flory's life is also upended by the arrival of beautiful Parisian Elizabeth Lackersteen, who offers an escape from loneliness and the deceit of colonial life.

1939. As Europe teeters on the brink of war, Alfred Kendall is tasked with carrying out a minor mission for the British Intelligence Service. Travelling to Prague, he takes his troubled young son, Hugh, as cover.  When Hitler invades Czechoslovakia, Alfred is given an ultimatum by the Czech Resistance. They will arrange for him to return to England, but only if he leaves his son Hugh behind as collateral. Hugh is soon taken under the wing of a Nazi colonel - Helmuth Scholl. 

In this final part to Schopenhauer's momentous and hugely influential work, his original and wide-ranging observations are as lively as ever. Though cast as a 'pessimist' by history, he is anything but that to read - and listen to. Here are the last supplementary comments his original work (published 1818), the fruit of decades of further reflection.

Discover how Galileo worked out his scientific theories of motion and inertia, why Isaac Newton gets the credit for them, and what the discovery of DNA meant. All the big scientific ideas are brought to life with pithy quotes and step-by-step 'mind maps' - from evolution and continental drift to black holes and genetic engineering, showing how the ideas of famous scientists have affected our understanding of the world.

Since the discovery of DNA, scientists have believed that genes are fixed entities that cannot be changed by environment - we inherit them, pass them on to our children and take them with us when we die. Professor Tim Spector reveals how the latest genetic research and his own pioneering studies on epigenetics are rewriting everything we thought we knew about genes, identity and evolution. 

Parerga means 'supplementary to a main work', and Paralipomena suggests a further supplement, but these two books were anything but a casual addition to his major opus, The World as Will and Idea. For a start, it was the publication of Parerga and Paralipomena in 1851 which brought Schopenhauer to the attention of the general public, decades after The World as Will and Idea first appeared.  

Jarlath 'Jar' Costello's girlfriend, Rosa, committed suicide when they were both students at Cambridge. Jar is obsessed with the idea that Rosa is still alive and is tormented by disturbingly real sightings of her. When a startling discovery convinces him more than ever that these are not just hallucinations, Jar is thrust into the heart of a larger intrigue that may finally shed some light on Rosa's death.

In January 2015, Yanis Varoufakis, an economics professor teaching in Austin, Texas, was elected to the Greek parliament with more votes than any other member of parliament. He was appointed finance minister, and, in the whirlwind five months that followed, everything he had warned about was confirmed as the "troika" (the European Central Bank, International Monetary Fund, and European Commission) stonewalled his efforts to resolve Greece's economic crisis.

Éric Vuillard’s gripping novel The Order of the Day tells the story of the pivotal meetings which took between the European powers in the run up to World War Two. What emerges is a fascinating and incredibly moving account of failed diplomacy, broken relationships and the catastrophic momentum which led to conflict. 

Combining stories from ebook story collections Short Shockers One and Short Shockers Two, and with never-before-seen new material, this is a story collection you won't forget. From a woman intent on revenge, to a restaurant critic with a fear of the number thirteen, and from a story of ghostly terror to the first ever case of his best-loved Detective, Roy Grace, James exposes the Achilles heels of each of his characters, and makes us question how well we can trust ourselves, and each other.

The political upheaval of the mid-17th century has no parallel in English history. Other events have changed the occupancy and the powers of the throne, but the conflict of 1640-60 was more dramatic: the monarchy and the House of Lords were abolished, to be replaced by a republic and military rule. In this thoroughly enjoyable account, Blair Worden explores the events of this period and their origins.

Easter weekend is approaching, and snow is gently falling in Siglufjörður, the northernmost town in Iceland. Ari Thór Arason is now a police inspector, but he’s separated from his girlfriend, who lives in Sweden with their three-year-old son. A family reunion is planned for the holiday, but a violent blizzard is threatening and there is an unsettling chill in the air. Three days before Easter, a 19-year-old local girl falls to her death from the balcony of a house on the main street. A perplexing entry in her diary suggests that this may not be an accident. 

Though it first aroused anger and controversy rather than admiration and acceptance, A Theologico-Political Treatise was a landmark in the analysis of theology (with particular reference to the Bible and its Jewish and Christian interpretations) and its relationship to philosophy and politics. Spinoza’s scholarly analysis, based on careful study, demonstrated that the Bible was composed by many writers over the centuries - and that even the Pentateuch, the first five books, were not the work of Moses, as was generally assumed at the time.  

The Communist Manifesto was first published in London in 1848, by two young men in their late 20s. Its impact reverberated across the globe and throughout the next century, and it has come to be recognised as one of the most important political texts ever written. Maintaining that the history of all societies is a history of class struggle, the manifesto proclaims that communism is the only route to equality, and is a call to action aimed at the proletariat. It is an essential listen for anyone seeking to understand our modern political landscape.

In August 2015 bookmakers priced Leicester at 5000-1 to win the Premier League - the same odds as Elvis being found alive. On 2 May 2016, Leicester won, to ecstatic celebrations in the city and around the world. Leicester Mercury 's chief football writer, Rob Tanner, relives the great escape of 2015 to the curtain-closer at Stamford Bridge.

DI Steven Keogh spent over half of his 30-year police career as a Scotland Yard detective, helping to hunt down terrorists and some of the worst murderers in London. Step inside the mind of an investigator in a never-before-seen look into what it takes to catch killers and bring them to justice. In a journey from crime scene to trial, you will witness the emotional highs and lows of cracking real-life murder cases and discover why people kill, while debunking the myths that surround this detective work.

Johann Sebastian Bach today has a reputation as the Godfather of Western European music, as a fountainhead of classical music theory and the creator of some of the greatest works the world has ever produced. Better known as a keyboard virtuoso, Bach was not regarded as a genius in his day, so how did this headstrong and belligerent but ambitious young musician become so extremely productive? What were his influences? How did he end up in jail and what did he get up to in Café Zimmerman? 

Alongside Jack the Ripper there is another brutal serial killer roaming the streets of Victorian London.... Spring, 1890. The spectre of Jack the Ripper still haunts Inspector Walter Day; he alone is convinced that the Ripper remains at large. But now a new killer is terrorising the citizens of London. They call him the Harvest Man; he hides away in the attics of the unsuspecting, emerging at night to terrorise his victims.

Raskolnikov is a poor student living in St Petersburg. Desperate to escape his poverty, he kills two people and flees with a few watches and some jewelry. Although at first nobody suspects him, his own conscience plagues him, and it isn't long before an intelligent police detective by the name of Petrovich begins to have his doubts about Raskolnikov's innocence and is determined to make him confess.