Looe Island, off the Cornish coast, enchants all who visit, with its beauty and tranquillity. But the island's history is full of mystery and intrigue. In Island Life: A History of Looe Island, writer David Clensy reveals the island's many unknown secrets - from its early monastic inhabitants, to the sinister 18th century smugglers who used it as a place to land and stow their booty. Discover how the island witnessed the opening shots against the Spanish Armada, and was bombed during the Second World War. The author brings us up to date, with an affectionate portrait of the indomitable Atkins sisters, who lived on the island for more than 30 years, and explains how the island has been passed on to the care of the Cornwall Wildlife Trust. The book includes an in-depth interview with Babs Atkins, conducted just a few years before her death. David Clensy works as a newspaper feature writer. He fell in love with Looe Island as a boy, and has worked as a volunteer on the island for more than a decade.

Reel Life: 101 meticulously and cleverly presents more than 1,101 of the most culturally influential movie lines of our time, it is not a mere collection of familiar movie quotes from popular movies. In fact, you probably won't remember most of them. But, they remember you. Reel Life 101 is a fascinating first-ever compilation of those special lines and bits of dialogue that went, as if by some divine cinematic guidance, directly to your brain. There, it was compressed and stored in a unique one-of-a-kind "celebrity cell," ready to be re-act-ivated into the scenes of your own reel life dramas. Jon Anthony Dosa, the Emmy Award winning producer of A Day At The Movies, lovingly and meticulously presents more than 1,101 of these literary gems, these nuggets of "behavioral truths," in a meaningful, easy to read, and entertainingly clever way. Years in the making, and a true labor of love, Reel Life 101 is a must-have resource book for film buffs, sociologists, therapists, historians, writers, speakers, and anyone who wants to understand what life, death, love, marriage, anger, and humor are all about.

From tourist paradises to immigrant detention camps, from offshore finance centres to strategic military bases, islands offer distinct identities and spaces in an increasingly homogenous and placeless world. The study of islands is important, for its own sake and on its own terms. But so is the notion that the island is a laboratory, a place for developing and testing ideas, and from which lessons can be learned and applied elsewhere. The Routledge International Handbook of Island Studies is a global, research-based and pluri-disciplinary overview of the study of islands. Its chapters deal with the contribution of islands to literature, social science and natural science, as well as other applied areas of inquiry. The collated expertise of interdisciplinary and international scholars offers unique insights: individual chapters dwell on geomorphology, zoology and evolutionary biology; the history, sociology, economics and politics of island communities; tourism, wellbeing and migration; as well as island branding, resilience and ‘commoning’. The text also offers pioneering forays into the study of islands that are cities, along rivers or artificial constructions. This insightful Handbook will appeal to geographers, environmentalists, sociologists, political scientists and, one hopes, some of the 600 million or so people who live on islands or are interested in the rich dynamics of islands and island life.

Making the most of all your new military life has to offer can be difficult when you aren’t familiar with what life in the military really means. Military Life 101: Basic Training for New Military Families answers many of the questions that service members and their family may have about life in and around the armed forces. Janet I. Farley addresses what to expect from life on the home front in the military and how this career path not only affects the service members but their families. This useful, concise guide effectively introduces new service members and their families to the culturally relevant and need-to- know information required to survive and thrive in the ever-evolving military lifestyle.

From Charles Darwin’s enlightening voyage to the Galapagos Islands to moat-encased prisons incarcerating the world’s deadliest prisoners, islands have been sites of immense scientific, political, and creative importance. An inspiration for artists and writers, they can be lively centers of holiday revelry or remote, mysterious spots; places of escape or of exile and imprisonment. In this cultural and scientific history of these alluring, isolated territories, Stephen A. Royle describes the great variety of islands, their economies, and the animals, plants, and people who thrive on them. Royle shows that despite the view of some islands as earthly paradises, they are often beset by severe limitations in both resources and opportunities. Detailing the population loss many islands have faced in recent years, he considers how islanders have developed their homes into tourist destinations in order to combat economic instability. He also explores their exotic, otherworldly beauty and the ways they have provided both refuge and inspiration for artists, such as Paul Gauguin in Tahiti and George Orwell on the Scottish island of Jura. Filled with illustrations, Islands is a compelling and comprehensive survey of the geographical and cultural aspects of island life.