Book Review: Black Tudors: The Untold Story - Miranda Kaufmann


A black trumpet player.

A black porter publicly whips a white Englishman in the hall of a Gloucestershire manor house. A Moroccan woman is baptised in a London church. Henry VIII dispatches a Mauritanian diver to salvage lost treasures from the Mary Rose. From long-forgotten records emerge the remarkable stories of Africans who lived free in Tudor England… They […]

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Book Review: Superior: The Return of Race Science - Angela Saini


Book cover.

For millennia, dominant societies have had the habit of believing their own people to be the best, deep down: the more powerful they become, the more power begins to be framed as natural, as well as cultural. When you see how power has shaped the idea of race, then you can start to understand its […]

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Book Review: "Philosophy of Race: An Introduction" - Naomi Zack


Book cover.

Philosophy of Race: An Introduction provides plainly written access to a new subfield that has been in the background of philosophy since Plato and Aristotle. Part I provides an overview of ideas of race and ethnicity in the philosophical canon, egalitarian traditions, race in biology, and race in American and Continental Philosophy. Part II addresses […]

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Book Review - Good Services


A neon pink book cover.

A practical book for practitioners and non-practitioners alike interested in better service delivery, this book is the definitive new guide to designing services that work for users. My former colleague Lou has written a marvellous book. It reminds me of the great “Simplicity” by Edward de Bono – it’s a series of short chapters, interspersed […]

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Review: The House of Shattered Wings - Aliette de Bodard


Massive angel wings made of stained glass.

My friend Owen recommended this book - and as it was only 99p, I thought I'd give it a go. It's a sprawling urban fantasy - with an unwieldy cast of characters. It is suffused with atmosphere, palace intrigue, and a strong sense of decay and decrepitude. I'm usually a sucker "history + magic" books […]

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Review: The House Without Windows - Barbara Newhall Follett


Leaves and butterflies.

Barbara Newhall Follett was just thirteen years old when she published The House Without Windows in 1927. The book went on to become a million-copy bestseller. Years later, as an adult herself, Barbara followed in the footsteps of her radical heroine - dissatisfied with the limitations of life as a respectable married woman, she walked out of her house one day and simply disappeared.

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Book Review - Teaching Medicine and Medical Ethics Using Popular Culture


Surgeons standing over a body.

This book demonstrates how popular culture can be successfully incorporated into medical and health science curriculums, capitalising on the opportunity fictional media presents to humanise case studies. Studies show that the vast majority of medical and nursing students watch popular medical television dramas and comedies such as Grey’s Anatomy, ER, House M.D. and Scrubs. This […]

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Book Review: Beyond the Labyrinth by Gillian Rubinstein


Book cover with tumbling dice.

Winner of the 1989 Children's Book of the Year Award for older readers.

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Review: This is Shakespeare by Emma Smith


William Shakespeare glaces at us from the cover of a book.

So much of what we say about Shakespeare is either not true, or just not relevant, deflecting us from investigating the challenges of his inconsistencies and flaws. This electrifying new book thrives on revealing, not resolving, the ambiguities of Shakespeare's plays and their changing topicality.

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Book Review - Touch by Claire North


A face in a shattered mirror.

Kepler is like you, but not like you. With a simple touch, Kepler can move into any body, live any life - for a moment, a day or for years. And your life could be next.

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