An informal conceptual introduction to turbulence

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Alastair Pennycock

English and the Discourses of Colonialism opens with the British departure from Hong Kong marking the end of British colonialism. Yet Alastair Pennycook argues that this dramatic exit masks the crucial issue that the traces left by colonialism run deep.This challenging and provocative book looks particularly at English, English language teaching, and colonialism. It reveals how the practice of colonialism permeated the cultures and discourses of both the colonial and colonized nations, the effects of which are still evident today. Pennycook explores the extent to which English is, as commonly assumed, a language of neutrality and global communication, and to what extent it is, by contrast, a language laden with meanings and still weighed down with colonial discourses that have come to adhere to it.Travel writing, newspaper articles and popular books on English, are all referred to, as well as personal experiences and interviews with learners of English inIndia, Malaysia, China and Australia. Pennycook concludes by appealing to postcolonial writing, to create a politics of opposition and dislodge the discourses of colonialism from English.

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Alistair Moffat

"Historians have failed to show convincingly that King Arthur existed, for a good reason: they have been looking in the wrong place, in Wales or the West of England. The real Arthur, Alistair Moffat argues, was not a king but a cavalry general, a prince of a Welsh-speaking southern Scottish tribe known as the Votadini by the Romans and the Gododdin by themselves. In a brilliant campaign, fought mostly in Scotland, Arthur defeated the Picts to the north and the Angles to the south. He halted the tide of invasion for a generation and gave Celtic Britain a breathing space to regroup and for parts of it to survive." "Alistair Moffat's conclusions are based not only on archaeology and documents but also on an analysis of the ancient place-names of the rivers, hills and settlements of southern Scotland. The author's search leads him in the final chapters to Arthur's headquarters - his Camelot - now truly a lost city where not one stone remains standing upon another." "Despite Germanic, Norse and other invasions, Britain has remained in essence a Celtic country. Arthur and the Lost Kingdoms will restore what our Anglo-Saxon history has hidden from us, a lost sense of our Celtic selves."--BOOK JACKET.

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Sarah Guy, Cath Phillips

The essential guide to the world's most diverse and exciting restaurant scene. 1,045 of London's best restaurants, bars, gastropubs, brasseries and cafés. 135 red-starred restaurants -- our favorites, in all cuisines and price ranges. 122 green-starred venues -- the best cheap eats across all cuisines. 300 photos, giving you a taste of what to expect, from the dishes to the decor. 74 different cuisines from Afghan and Argentinian to Turkish and Vietnamese. 5,862 courses eaten, in the search for the greatest places to eat in every postcode.

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David Attenborough

"In 1954, David Attenborough, a young television presenter, was offered the opportunity of a lifetime--to travel the world finding rare and elusive animals for the London Zoo's collection, and to film the expedition for the BBC for a new show called Zoo Quest. This is the story of those voyages. Staying with local tribes while trekking in search of giant anteaters in Guyana, Komodo dragons in Indonesia, and armadillos in Paraguay, he and the rest of the team contended with cannibal fish, aggressive tree porcupines, and escape-artist wild pigs, as well as treacherous terrain and unpredictable weather, to record the incredible beauty and biodiversity of these regions. Written with his trademark wit and charm, Adventures of a Young Naturalist is not just the story of a remarkable adventure, but of the man who made us fall in love with the natural world and taught us the importance of protecting it--and who is still doing so today"--