Milan, 1497. The height of the Renaissance. And for Giacomo, servant of the famous painter Leonardo da Vinci, it's the most difficult time of all. His Master has been working on the "Last Supper," his greatest painting ever, for nearly two years. But has he finished it? He's barely started! The all-powerful Duke of Milan is demanding that it be completed by the time the Pope visits at Easter. And Giacomo knows that if Leonardo doesn't pick up his pace, the Duke may invite a young genius -- Michelangelo -- to finish the painting instead. Which means that Leonardo won't be paid, which means that Milan's shopkeepers (to whom he owes massive amounts) will take drastic measures against him.

It's all down to Giacomo, and whether he can come up with a brilliant solution. And if he does, will his Master go for it? After all, Leonardo still doesn't seem to trust him. He refuses to teach Giacomo how to paint; he won't help him find his parents; nor will he discuss the significance of the medallion, ring, and cross that Giacomo was carrying when Leonardo found him. But with the secret arrival of a powerful stranger, Giacomo is about to discover much more than the answers he has been looking for. And he will also receive an invitation to help arrange a meeting that could change his life. . . and the future course of history.

With more twists and turns than a spiral staircase, this thriller is as unique as its two heroes -- the most celebrated artist who ever lived, and a young man without a past, who will stop at nothing to find the truth about his life.

Britain's 2016 vote to leave the EU divided the nation, unleashing years of political turmoil. The result has been a sulphurous atmosphere in which many remain unreconciled to Brexit whilst, in a tragic irony, some of those most committed to it are angry and dissatisfied with what was delivered. In this clear-headed assessment, Chris Grey argues that this painful legacy was all but inevitable. Left undefined by the referendum, the actual meaning of Brexit emerged only gradually, through the confusing and often dramatic events that followed. This compelling book skilfully unpacks those events, explaining how and why the promise of Brexit dissolved, creating discontent on all sides.

Since the publication of the first edition of Guide to the Flowers of Western China in 2011, there have been great strides in knowledge of the flora of China through international collaboration. Many plants included in the first edition have been revisited in the wild, while areas hitherto inaccessible have opened up, if sometimes only temporarily. Great advances in systematic botany have occurred since the publication of the first edition, particularly with widespread availability of rapid DNA analysis. The result of this has been an influx of new photographs and data, and the need for a second edition of Guide to the Flowers of Western China.

Focal Digital Camera Guides: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi/450D Just bought a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi/450D and looking to combine practical know-how with inspiration? This one-stop, easy-to-read guide covers all the basic functions of the camera, and everything beyond. For the basics, turn to the quick start guide, which will get you up and running in five minutes. For an understanding of your camera's many controls and features, check out the section called "The Camera." If all you need is a quick explanation, you'll find it. If you're looking for the Whole Story, you'll find that, too. Settings that affect how your pictures look are accompanied by full-color examples that show you exactly what you can expect. This section also covers the camera's menus, playback features, memory, and power sources. The section called "Software" shows you how to get the most out of your camera's software. It covers tethered shooting, color management, RAW conversion, storing your images, managing your library, and backup strategies - to name just a few topics. Ultimately, this book's greatest strength isn't its focus on the camera or the software; it's the detailed, easy-to-follow instruction it offers on using your camera to take truly superior photographs. Sections devoted to lenses, subject matter, and light cover these variables in depth, always presenting the most effective techniques in the context of the strengths and limitations of the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi/450D. Written by a widely acclaimed photographer and photography teacher, Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi/450D shows you how to get the shots you can see in your head but have never been able to capture with a camera. * The quick start guide will have you taking great photos in five minutes. * In-depth coverage of every feature and control ensures that you have access to the tools you need for every shot. * Full-color examples demonstrate how different settings affect your photos. * Expert coverage of lenses, lighting, and subject matter gives you the practical knowledge you need to go after any shot. * Step-by-step instructions on photo editing and image management help you get the most out of your camera's software. * A detailed review of accessories for your camera explains which of these add-ons offer the most value for your needs. * Dozens of tips and tricks prepare you for every situation you're likely to encounter - in the field, at the studio, or at your next wedding or family reunion.

Just bought a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS/1000D and looking to combine practical know-how with inspiration? This one-stop, easy-to-read guide covers all the basic functions of the camera, and everything beyond. Inside, you'll find detailed explanations of every control and every feature, including full-color illustrations showing how changing each setting will affect your photos. But this book's greatest strength isn't its focus on the camera; it's the detailed, easy-to-follow instruction it offers on using your camera to take superior photographs. The lens, the subject matter, the light-all these variables are covered in depth, and always in the context of the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS/1000D. Written by a widely acclaimed photographer and teacher, Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS/1000D shows you how to get the shots you can see in your head but have never been able to capture with a camera. .Get up and running in five minutes with the quick start guide .Master your camera's many features and controls .Profit from dozens of tips and tricks .See first-hand how different settings affect your photos .Refine and manage your photos using the Canon software .Be inspired by hundreds of gorgeous, full color photographs, and learn how to get the same effects in your own shots

Want to offer your clients more to chose from? Here's how: award winning photographer, Christopher Grey, has developed techniques to enhance portrait photography, using the creative applications available in Photoshop. Photoshop Effects for Portrait Photographers contains detailed explanations of how to replicate many darkroom techniques with Photoshop (Dodging, Burning, Vignettes, etc.) as well as camera and earlier technology techniques (Short Focus, High Speed Film Grain, Hand Coloring, etc.). Grey has also developed almost two dozen ways to replicate traditional painterly and illustrative techniques such as Rough Charcoal Sketch, Wet Watercolor, Silkscreen, and Oil Chalk. Images available for downloading at http://www.ChristopherGrey.com/booksamples.

Focal Digital Camera Guides: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi/450D Just bought a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi/450D and looking to combine practical know-how with inspiration? This one-stop, easy-to-read guide covers all the basic functions of the camera, and everything beyond.For the basics, turn to the quick start guide, which will get you up and running in five minutes.For an understanding of your camera's many controls and features, check out the section called "The Camera." If all you need is a quick explanation, you'll find it. If you're looking for the Whole Story, you'll find that, too. Settings that affect how your pictures look are accompanied by full-color examples that show you exactly what you can expect. This section also covers the camera's menus, playback features, memory, and power sources.The section called "Software" shows you how to get the most out of your camera's software. It covers tethered shooting, color management, RAW conversion, storing your images, managing your library, and backup strategies - to name just a few topics.Ultimately, this book's greatest strength isn't its focus on the camera or the software; it's the detailed, easy-to-follow instruction it offers on using your camera to take truly superior photographs. Sections devoted to lenses, subject matter, and light cover these variables in depth, always presenting the most effective techniques in the context of the strengths and limitations of the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi/450D. Written by a widely acclaimed photographer and photography teacher, Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi/450D shows you how to get the shots you can see in your head but have never been able to capture with a camera. The quick start guide will have you taking great photos in five minutes. In-depth

Critical Management Studies (CMS) is often dated from the publication of an edited volume bearing that name (Alvesson and Willmott, 1992). In the two decades that have followed, CMS has been remarkably successful in establishing itself not just as a 'term' but as a recognizable tradition or approach. The emerging status of CMS as an overall approach has been both encouraged and marked by a growing range of handbooks, readers and textbooks. Yet the literature is dominated by writings from the UK and Scandinavia in particular, and the tendency is to treat this literature as constituting CMS. However, the meaning, practice, constraints and context of CMS vary considerably between different countries, cultures and language communities. This volume surveys fourteen various countries and regions where CMS has acquired some following and seeks to explore the different ways in which CMS is understood and the different contexts within which it operates, as well as its possible future development.

Just bought a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS/1000D and looking to combine practical know-how with inspiration? This one-stop, easy-to-read guide covers all the basic functions of the camera, and everything beyond.
Inside, you'll find detailed explanations of every control and every feature, including full-color illustrations showing how changing each setting will affect your photos. But this book's greatest strength isn't its focus on the camera; it's the detailed, easy-to-follow instruction it offers on using your camera to take superior photographs. The lens, the subject matter, the light-all these variables are covered in depth, and always in the context of the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS/1000D.
Written by a widely acclaimed photographer and teacher, Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS/1000D shows you how to get the shots you can see in your head but have never been able to capture with a camera.
-Get up and running in five minutes with the quick start guide
-Master your camera's many features and controls
-Profit from dozens of tips and tricks
-See first-hand how different settings affect your photos
-Refine and manage your photos using the Canon software
-Be inspired by hundreds of gorgeous, full color photographs, and learn how to get the same effects in your own shots
*Reveals the creative potential of your camera with clear, practical guidance, great tips, and advice from an experienced photographer
*Highly visual approach with camera screenshots, highlighted tip boxes, and inspiring photos throughout
*Includes valuable advice on general digital photography techniques as well as camera-specific information

Want to offer your clients more to chose from? Here's how: award winning photographer, Christopher Grey, has developed techniques to enhance portrait photography, using the creative applications available in Photoshop. Photoshop Effects for Portrait Photographers contains detailed explanations of how to replicate many darkroom techniques with Photoshop (Dodging, Burning, Vignettes, etc.) as well as camera and earlier technology techniques (Short Focus, High Speed Film Grain, Hand Coloring, etc.). Grey has also developed almost two dozen ways to replicate traditional painterly and illustrative techniques such as Rough Charcoal Sketch, Wet Watercolor, Silkscreen, and Oil Chalk. Images available for downloading at http://www.ChristopherGrey.com/booksamples.

Secrecy is endemic within organizations, woven into the fabric of our lives at work. Yet, until now, we've had an all-too-limited understanding of this powerful organizational force. Secrecy is a part of work, and keeping secrets is a form of work. But also, secrecy creates a social order-a hidden architecture within our organizations. Drawing on previously overlooked texts, as well as well-known classics, Jana Costas and Christopher Grey identify three forms of secrecy: formal secrecy, as we see in the case of trade and state secrets based on law and regulation; informal secrecy based on networks and trust; and public or open secrecy, where what is known goes undiscussed. Animated with evocative examples from scholarship, current events, and works of fiction, this framework presents a bold reimagining of organizational life.

How was Bletchley Park made as an organization? How was signals intelligence constructed as a field? What was Bletchley Park's culture and how was its work co-ordinated? Bletchley Park was not just the home of geniuses such as Alan Turing, it was also the workplace of thousands of other people, mostly women, and their organization was a key component in the cracking of Enigma. Challenging many popular perceptions, this book examines the hitherto unexamined complexities of how 10,000 people were brought together in complete secrecy during World War II to work on ciphers. Unlike most organizational studies, this book decodes, rather than encodes, the processes of organization and examines the structures, cultures and the work itself of Bletchley Park using archive and oral history sources. Organization theorists, intelligence historians and general readers alike will find in this book a challenge to their preconceptions of both Bletchley Park and organizational analysis.

Secrecy is endemic within organizations, woven into the fabric of our lives at work. Yet, until now, we've had an all-too-limited understanding of this powerful organizational force. Secrecy is a part of work, and keeping secrets is a form of work. But also, secrecy creates a social order-a hidden architecture within our organizations. Drawing on previously overlooked texts, as well as well-known classics, Jana Costas and Christopher Grey identify three forms of secrecy: formal secrecy, as we see in the case of trade and state secrets based on law and regulation; informal secrecy based on networks and trust; and public or open secrecy, where what is known goes undiscussed. Animated with evocative examples from scholarship, current events, and works of fiction, this framework presents a bold reimagining of organizational life.

Critical Management Studies (CMS) is often dated from the publication of an edited volume bearing that name (Alvesson and Willmott, 1992). In the two decades that have followed, CMS has been remarkably successful in establishing itself not just as a 'term' but as a recognizable tradition or approach. The emerging status of CMS as an overall approach has been both encouraged and marked by a growing range of handbooks, readers and textbooks. Yet the literature is dominated by writings from the UK and Scandinavia in particular, and the tendency is to treat this literature as constituting CMS. However, the meaning, practice, constraints and context of CMS vary considerably between different countries, cultures and language communities. This volume surveys fourteen various countries and regions where CMS has acquired some following and seeks to explore the different ways in which CMS is understood and the different contexts within which it operates, as well as its possible future development.

How was Bletchley Park made as an organization? How was signals intelligence constructed as a field? What was Bletchley Park's culture and how was its work co-ordinated? Bletchley Park was not just the home of geniuses such as Alan Turing, it was also the workplace of thousands of other people, mostly women, and their organization was a key component in the cracking of Enigma. Challenging many popular perceptions, this book examines the hitherto unexamined complexities of how 10,000 people were brought together in complete secrecy during World War II to work on ciphers. Unlike most organizational studies, this book decodes, rather than encodes, the processes of organization and examines the structures, cultures and the work itself of Bletchley Park using archive and oral history sources. Organization theorists, intelligence historians and general readers alike will find in this book a challenge to their preconceptions of both Bletchley Park and organizational analysis.

Andrew is a lonely orphan who discovers that his destiny is more wonderful and frightening than he could have ever dreamed. He firsts suspects this when he is suddenly and mysteriously adopted and receives a parcel and a letter that tell him that he has, in fact, a family; and warns him "...of danger that threatens you...".He is then abruptly kidnapped and launched into an adventure in which nothing is familiar, and nothing makes sense. That is until he meets up with his rescuer, Kereth, who at last tells him: "You are not in England, you are nowhere in the world you have come from. You were kidnapped by the Sorcerers and brought here; this is your true country."And so Andrew must face the challenge of seeking the Runes of Arkhan, and restoring, in himself, an heir to the throne of Taren.

An exploration of the personal and spiritual truths revealed through LSD
- Reveals that LSD visions weave an ongoing story from trip to trip
- Shows that trips progress through three stages: personal issues and pre-birth consciousness, ego-loss, and on to the sacred
- Explores psychedelic use throughout history, including the mass hallucinations common in the Middle Ages and the early therapeutic use of LSD
Toward the end of his fifties, Christopher Gray took, for the first time in years, a 100-microgram acid trip. So extraordinary, and to his surprise so enjoyable, were the effects that he began to take the same dose in the same way--quietly and on his own--once every two to three weeks.
In "The Acid Diaries," Gray details his experimentation with LSD over a period of three years and shares the startling realization that his visions were weaving an ongoing story from trip to trip, revealing an underlying reality of personal and spiritual truths. Following the theories of Stanislav Grof and offering quotes from others' experiences that parallel his own--including those of Aldous Huxley, Albert Hofmann, and Gordon Wasson--he shows that trips progress through three stages: the first dealing with personal issues and pre-birth consciousness; the second with ego-loss, often with supernatural overtones; and the third with sacred, spiritual, and even apocalyptic themes. Pairing his experiences with an exploration of psychedelic use throughout history, including the ergot-spawned mass hallucinations that were common through the Middle Ages and the early use of LSD for therapeutic purposes, Gray offers readers a greater understanding and appreciation for the potential value of LSD not merely for transpersonal growth but also for spiritual development.