The author of the international bestseller Shantaram takes us on a gripping personal journey of wonder and insight into science, belief, faith and devotion.

Drawing on sacred traditions, rigorous logic and the six-year instruction of his spiritual teacher, Roberts describes the step-by-step process he followed in search of spiritual connection - a process that anyone, of any belief or none, can benefit from in their own lives. This gripping personal account of the 'Leap Of Faith' is a compellingly fresh addition to such enduring, spiritually inspiring works as Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, The Road Less Travelled and The Celestine Prophecy.

As Roberts writes, 'The Spiritual Path is a book on spiritual matters that my younger self wanted desperately: one that offers more answers than questions, and helps to reset the spiritual compass.'

This book examines technological and social events during 2011 and 2012, a period that saw the rise of the hacktivist, the move to mobile platforms, and the ubiquity of social networks. It covers key technological issues such as hacking, cyber-crime, cyber-security and cyber-warfare, the internet, smart phones, electronic security, and information privacy. This book traces the rise into prominence of these issues while also exploring the resulting cultural reaction. The authors' analysis forms the basis of a discussion on future technological directions and their potential impact on society. The book includes forewords by Professor Margaret Gardner AO, Vice-Chancellor and President of RMIT University, and by Professor Robyn Owens, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University of Western Australia. Security and the Networked Society provides a reference for professionals and industry analysts studying digital technologies. Advanced-level students in computer science and electrical engineering will also find this book useful as a thought-provoking resource.

In 1978, gifted student and writer Greg Roberts turned to heroin when his marriage collapsed, feeding his addiction with a string of robberies. Caught and convicted, he was given a nineteen-year sentence. After two years, he escaped from a maximum- security prison, spending the next ten years on the run as Australia's most wanted man. Hiding in Bombay, he established a medical clinic for slum- dwellers, worked in the Bollywood film industry and served time in the notorious Arthur Road prison. He was recruited by one of the most charismatic branches of the Bombay mafia for whom he worked as a forger, counterfeiter, and smuggler, and fought alongside a unit of mujaheddin guerrilla fighters in Afghanistan. His debut novel, SHANTARAM, is based on this ten-year period of his life in Bombay. The result is an epic tale of slums and five-star hotels, romantic love and prison torture, mafia gang wars and Bollywood films. A gripping adventure story, SHANTARAM is also a superbly written meditation on good and evil and an authentic evocation of Bombay life.

The first glimpse of the sea on Marine Drive filled my heart, if not my head. I turned away from the red shadow. I stopped thinking of that pyramid of killers, and Sanjay's improvidence. I stopped thinking about my own part in the madness. And I rode, with my friends, into the end of everything. Shantaram introduced millions of readers to a cast of unforgettable characters through Lin, an Australian fugitive, working as a passport forger for a branch of the Bombay mafia. In The Mountain Shadow, the long-awaited sequel, Lin must find his way in a Bombay run by a different generation of mafia dons, playing by a different set of rules. It has been two years since the events in Shantaram, and since Lin lost two people he had come to love: his father figure, Khaderbhai, and his soul mate, Karla, married to a handsome Indian media tycoon. Lin returns from a smuggling trip to a city that seems to have changed too much, too soon. Many of his old friends are long gone, the new mafia leadership has become entangled in increasingly violent and dangerous intrigues, and a fabled holy man challenges everything that Lin thought he'd learned about love and life. But Lin can't leave the Island City: Karla, and a fatal promise, won't let him go.

This volume describes and illustrates the microscopic anatomy of the "aroids", the large, economically important plant family Araceae, and also the basal monocot family Acoraceae.

In the United States it is estimated that 3.2 million people are infected with the Hepatitis C virus, which is a contagious liver disease that can range in severity from a mild illness to a serious, lifelong condition. Infections worldwide are estimated at 150 to 200 million people, many of whom are not aware they are affected.

Gregory David finds out the hard way that he is one of the infected - through a letter, which reads, "We regret that at this time our company cannot offer you a life insurance policy. We based our decision on your recent alcohol use during the past six years, and the presence of the Hepatitis C virus."

At first, Gregory is in disbelief, and he insists on having his doctor perform an independent test. But when the results come back, he learns that his earlier years of occasional drug use and constant partying may have finally caught up with him.

The coming weeks and months pose huge obstacles as Gregory learns about the disease, breaks the news to family and friends, and struggles to cope with an infection he at first knows little about.

Join Gregory as he confronts the disease, and find inspiration in "Breaking Free from Hepatitis C."

The volumes published in the series Beitrage zur Altertumskunde comprise monographs, collective volumes, editions, translations and commentaries on various topics from the fields of Greek and Latin Philology, Ancient History, Archeology, Ancient Philosophy as well as Classical Reception Studies. The series thus offers indispensable research tools for a wide range of disciplines related to Ancient Studies.

This book examines technological and social events during 2011 and 2012, a period that saw the rise of the hacktivist, the move to mobile platforms, and the ubiquity of social networks. It covers key technological issues such as hacking, cyber-crime, cyber-security and cyber-warfare, the internet, smart phones, electronic security, and information privacy. This book traces the rise into prominence of these issues while also exploring the resulting cultural reaction. The authors’ analysis forms the basis of a discussion on future technological directions and their potential impact on society. The book includes forewords by Professor Margaret Gardner AO, Vice-Chancellor and President of RMIT University, and by Professor Robyn Owens, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University of Western Australia. Security and the Networked Society provides a reference for professionals and industry analysts studying digital technologies. Advanced-level students in computer science and electrical engineering will also find this book useful as a thought-provoking resource.

""It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured.""
So begins this epic, mesmerizing first novel set in the underworld of contemporary Bombay. "Shantaram" is narrated by Lin, an escaped convict with a false passport who flees maximum security prison in Australia for the teeming streets of a city where he can disappear.
Accompanied by his guide and faithful friend, Prabaker, the two enter Bombay's hidden society of beggars and gangsters, prostitutes and holy men, soldiers and actors, and Indians and exiles from other countries, who seek in this remarkable place what they cannot find elsewhere.
As a hunted man without a home, family, or identity, Lin searches for love and meaning while running a clinic in one of the city's poorest slums, and serving his apprenticeship in the dark arts of the Bombay mafia. The search leads him to war, prison torture, murder, and a series of enigmatic and bloody betrayals. The keys to unlock the mysteries and intrigues that bind Lin are held by two people. The first is Khader Khan: mafia godfather, criminal-philosopher-saint, and mentor to Lin in the underworld of the Golden City. The second is Karla: elusive, dangerous, and beautiful, whose passions are driven by secrets that torment her and yet give her a terrible power.
Burning slums and five-star hotels, romantic love and prison agonies, criminal wars and Bollywood films, spiritual gurus and mujaheddin guerrillas---this huge novel has the world of human experience in its reach, and a passionate love for India at its heart. Based on the life of the author, it is by any measure the debut of an extraordinary voice in literature.

Elizabeth Woodville, The White Queen(2009), Margaret Beaufort, The Red Queen(2010), and Jacquetta, Lady Rivers, The Lady of the Rivers (2011) are the subjects of the first three novels in Philippa Gregory's Cousins' War series, and of the three biographical essays in this book. Philippa Gregory and two historians, leading experts in their field who helped Philippa to research the novels, tell the extraordinary 'true' stories of the life of these women who until now have been largely forgotten by history, their background and times, highlighting questions which are raised in the fiction and illuminating the novels. With a foreword by Philippa Gregory - in which Philippa writes revealingly about the differences between history and fiction and examines the gaps in the historical record - and beautifully illustrated with rare portraits, The Women of the Cousins' Waris an exciting addition to the Philippa Gregory oeuvre.

#1 "New York Times" bestselling author Philippa Gregory joins two eminent historians to explore the extraordinary true stories of three women largely forgotten by history: Jacquetta, Duchess of Bedford; Elizabeth Woodville, queen of England; and Margaret Beaufort, the founder of the Tudor dynasty.
In her essay on Jacquetta, Philippa Gregory uses original documents, archaeology, and histories of myth and witchcraft to create the first-ever biography of the young duchess who survived two reigns and two wars to become the first lady at two rival courts. David Baldwin, established authority on the Wars of the Roses, tells the story of Elizabeth Woodville, the first commoner to marry a king of England for love. And Michael Jones, fellow of the Royal Historical Society, writes of Margaret Beaufort, the almost-unknown matriarch of the House of Tudor.
Beautifully illustrated throughout with rare portraits and source materials, "The Women of the Cousins' War" offers fascinating insights into the inspirations behind Philippa Gregory's fiction and will appeal to all with an interest in this epic period.

""It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured.""
So begins this epic, mesmerizing first novel set in the underworld of contemporary Bombay. "Shantaram" is narrated by Lin, an escaped convict with a false passport who flees maximum security prison in Australia for the teeming streets of a city where he can disappear.
Accompanied by his guide and faithful friend, Prabaker, the two enter Bombay's hidden society of beggars and gangsters, prostitutes and holy men, soldiers and actors, and Indians and exiles from other countries, who seek in this remarkable place what they cannot find elsewhere.
As a hunted man without a home, family, or identity, Lin searches for love and meaning while running a clinic in one of the city's poorest slums, and serving his apprenticeship in the dark arts of the Bombay mafia. The search leads him to war, prison torture, murder, and a series of enigmatic and bloody betrayals. The keys to unlock the mysteries and intrigues that bind Lin are held by two people. The first is Khader Khan: mafia godfather, criminal-philosopher-saint, and mentor to Lin in the underworld of the Golden City. The second is Karla: elusive, dangerous, and beautiful, whose passions are driven by secrets that torment her and yet give her a terrible power.
Burning slums and five-star hotels, romantic love and prison agonies, criminal wars and Bollywood films, spiritual gurus and mujaheddin guerrillas---this huge novel has the world of human experience in its reach, and a passionate love for India at its heart. Based on the life of the author, it is by any measure the debut of an extraordinary voice in literature.

Translation from French of an essay on the nature and character of human laughter Until its translation, Treatise on Laughter remained accessible solely to readers of French for nearly four centuries. Joubert's treatise offers a curious and stimulating experience: the sensation of moving through another epistemology. His theory was composed during a period of great turmoil in the history of France when the human race was becoming much more aware of the organic structure of man and nature. He begins with the immediately observable phenomena before penetrating into the more hidden aspects of one of the most admirable of human acts, amirables accions de l'homme, laughter. Joubert is keenly aware of the difficulty of his subject matter. Rather than discouraging him, however, this becomes an incentive, making the study of such a formidable mystery more enticing. His ideas can appear quaint, and many of his beliefs can make us smile. Yet our smile may well disappear when we wonder which of today's accepted ideas might seem laughable half a millennium hence.

Told in rhyme, this is a new version of an old favourite, where Jill takes on the evil giant to save her family. Throughout the story she meets characters from various nursery rhymes such as the Crooked Man and Little Bo Peep.

For many years orchids have been among the most popular of ornamental plants, with thousands of species and hybrids cultivated worldwide for the diversity, beauty, and intricacy of their flowers. This book is the eagerly-awaited result of over 30 years of research into orchid anatomy by one of the world's leading authorities and is the first comprehensive publication on orchid anatomy since 1930. It describes the structure and relationships among the cells and tissues of leaves, stems, and roots, and is organized systematically in line with the taxonomy expressed in the OUP Genera Orchidacearum Series. The book is fully illustrated with over 100 photomicrographs and numerous original line drawings. This latest addition to the Anatomy of the Monocotyledons Series is an essential reference text for orchid scientists and research students and will also be of interest and use to a broader audience of orchid enthusiasts.