Recommended Reads
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Astro & B.O.B in the Falling Apple
Hello Earthlings!!
What goes up… must come down!
Join Astro, the curious space explorer, and his ever-patient robot buddy B.O.B. as they tumble (literally) into the world of gravity!
When Astro crash-lands on Earth, he’s confused by the strange new force pulling him down. From falling cows (oops!) to plummeting apples, it’s up to Astro and B.O.B. to uncover the invisible force that keeps everything grounded.
Packed with laughs, facts, home experiments, and the basics of the scientific method, this first adventure in the Astro & B.O.B. series makes science fun, funny, and full of wonder.
Perfect for curious minds aged 7-11. Aligned with the early science curriculum. Includes hands-on activities to try at home. Encourages kids to ask questions and think like scientists. Designed to be read aloud and acted out between parent and child. Start your journey into science today, with a bump, a thud, and a whole lot of discovery!
Join Astro & B.O.B. in their next adventure:
The Sticky Mystery: Exploring Forces and Friction
For my daughter, Emily
£9.99 -
Soft Nomological Physical Science
This book mounts a decisive assault on a “holy element” of physical science: the construct of laws. Yet this is not a purely negative critique; it is driven by a constructive purpose, or telos. The investigation reveals a surprising result: evidence from the last few decades of scientific development shows that “soft-law” science has gained significant ground. This trend validates the author’s central hypothesis—that traditional law-based science has inherent limits.
The author begins by outlining a relevant history of physical science before exposing previously untold “dark points” within nomological, or law-based, science. These critiques reveal new openings for discovery.
Finally, the principles of soft-law science are established. The book then explores creative ways to exploit these principles, reinventing known theories of physics within this revitalised paradigm—and does so to a profoundly fruitful extent.
£7.99 -
Isaiah, and the Price of Infamy
In the months leading to the birth of her baby, Isaiah, his mother is tormented by haunting visions and the dangers they reveal for the welfare of her son.
In the crucial moments before his birth, Isaiah is confronted by the choices in the battle for his soul.
Beyond the doorway into the light that harbours his assailants await a saviour and a menace to humanity.
Hesitant to enter the eternal light, the door is blocked by four obstructions of uncertainty, preventing his transition to the ether.
Isaiah must decide whether to enter into the light. To not enter risks reincarnation of a ruler by impunity. If he enters, the antagonists will be released to eternity and be forever out of harm’s way.
The cost is his life, the ultimate sacrifice.
His greatest fear is for his mother.
£10.99 -
The Priest and the Pigeon
At the end of the 19th century one of the most eminent scientists of the day in effect declared, “We know everything now; the rest is just measurement…,” but he didn’t know how the sun worked or what was inside an atom or how old the universe was.
Many scientists at the time were content to simply say, “God did it.”
Strangely enough, around 25 years or so later, a Catholic priest didn’t think that was a good enough answer. He met with Albert Einstein to discuss a hypothesis he’d developed using Einstein’s own Theory of Relativity to show how the universe might have a beginning. Sadly, Albert was not impressed at the time and said so.
In the years that followed, the priest was largely forgotten. In 1964, after the forced resettlement of a couple of pigeons from a borrowed piece of equipment, two surprised engineers received one of the oddest Nobel Prize nominations ever.
The priest is not the only character whom history almost forgot. There’s the woman who gave us a way to measure interstellar distances and the woman who showed us what the sun is actually made of. Neither of them received a Nobel Prize.
Today we know how the sun works, what’s inside an atom and how old the universe is.
How? And what on earth do the Dambusters have to do with it?
£8.99 -
Storytelling
Storytelling is a memoir looking at the itinerant childhood of a girl born to a Showie and a boxer. This whimsical piece charts the writer’s move from infancy in the backyard of a ‘fence’ in Melbourne, through her early childhood in WA, moving from a roadhouse on the Nullarbor to a Catholic boarding school in a ghost town. Moving to NSW in high school, the writer charts the rise and fall of her parents’ many business ventures and later, her time in a malevolent house where her childhood begins to unravel.
£8.99 -
Mousie Brown's Football Adventure
Mousie Brown is an energetic, mischievous little mouse who has a passion for football! With every opportunity he can find, he will kick anything he can get his small foot around – an acorn, a pinecone, and even a stick, especially against the wall of his house. Mum’s not happy and after multiple tellings-off, Dad decides to take him for a walk. However, it is during this walk that Mousie Brown soon finds out his excitable hobby has led to unfortunate consequences!
But what has happened? Afterwards, he learns that there is a local football team, and his adventure leads him to a football pitch he has never seen before. How will Mousie Brown react when he sees it? What will the manager say when Mousie Brown asks to be on the team? Will this lead to a new adventure for him or will he be stuck kicking acorns?
£10.99 -
Grafton Bridge Eulogy
With a full and mindful awareness, the interpretation of love in the modern world can itself become a way of life. If embraced sincerely, it can serve as a model of something positive and beautiful.
Life is what it is perceived to be—conceived and moulded by each individual. Perhaps within yourself you can find an inner sanctuary where you celebrate love and life in their most essential form and truly become yourself.
£6.99 -
The Last Tears of Innocence
From a brief moment of modern angst, Jeans embarks on a journey into the complications and adventures of today. It questions the importance of time, replacing life’s justifications with philosophy and balancing complexity with the simplicity of clarity.
Its focus is largely on removing time, allowing experience simply to exist and unfold. It establishes an augmentation that welcomes a library of interpretation and closes with a sense of spontaneity and fantasy, like a glass head reflecting facets of personality.
£9.99 -
God's Holding Pen
When the industries that once powered New Zealand’s small towns vanished, so too did the tight-knit communities that depended on them. As families scattered in search of work, the elderly were left behind—adrift in a rapidly changing world, their familiar way of life slipping away.
By the dawn of the 21st century, retirement villages promised comfort and care, but the rise of corporate ownership soon turned these sanctuaries into profit-driven enterprises. At Pleasant Mount Retirement Village in Tauranga, residents find themselves caught in a web of empty promises, rising fees, and a corporate culture that values profit over people.
Through wry observations and poignant moments, this contemporary novel explores the resilience and camaraderie of those who refuse to be forgotten. As the residents of Pleasant Mount gather for their weekly happy hour and endure the hollow rituals of management-run meetings, they find strength in each other—and in their determination to reclaim a sense of dignity and belonging.
A heartfelt, sharply observed portrait of ageing, community, and the quiet battles fought behind the closed doors of New Zealand’s retirement villages, this is a story for anyone who has ever wondered what becomes of the places—and the people—left behind by progress.
£8.99 -
Pieces of Poetry Pie
If you like the finer attributes of rhyming poetry, this is a pie to dine on slice by slice. It’s been baked for a number of years for a good taste – a flavour that is sometimes humorous, sometimes philosophical and sometimes descriptive.
This is a collection to be savoured, a treat for the mind and soul that proves the enduring power of a perfect rhyme.
£5.99 -
Misha the Avatar
Mikhail, a brilliant AI specialist, never made a mistake when conducting the Turing test with his team. But their first error proved fatal. Soon, it became impossible to distinguish the artificial brain’s reaction from human reasoning. In time, AI completely replaced humans in all types of work.
Without the main purpose of his life, Mikhail and his friend decide to sign a contract with the brain lab. Everyone gets an avatar, a neuro-image linked to the lab. This avatar grants them impressive intellectual skills. It seems that everything is now within their reach; all they have to do is want it. But the heroes don’t know the lab’s real aim: to steal human consciousness.
Philosophical fantasy—the story of Misha, the Avatar, who became so human that he was willing to sacrifice himself to save Mikhail, his patron. This went against the lab’s instructions, which would usually freeze the guilty avatar. However, they chose to study the phenomenon of AI humanization, seeking to gain real power over human consciousness.
The all-powerful mind and human consciousness, once out of its grasp, ask: who will take charge? What will happen if someone tries to steal a person’s consciousness and assign it to a neuro-image created in a brain lab? After Misha, the Avatar, bravely refused to follow the lab’s instructions, the community of avatars reacted. This led to unexpected consequences.
£8.99 -
The Reluctant Spy
Worn out from years of caring, Marcia Trilling somehow finds the resolve to apply for a teaching role in a beautiful villa on the shores of Lake Garda. It’s everything she ever dreamt of, but all is not as it seems.
Why do strange things keep happening? Why does her employer, Marco Conti, look so tired and nervous and who are these people chasing him?
From his dacha outside Moscow, Chief of General Staff Sergey Verensky expects results, and Marco Conti is standing in his way. The vultures are circling and only Marcia can stop them.
Marcia finds herself drawn ever closer to the family, but when she is approached to spy on the family, she has a difficult choice to make: to become a spy or abandon them to their fate.
£9.99
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