Tag Archives: MD

Perfect Books For The Christmas Season

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The Runaway , Hollie Overton

The Runaway By Hollie Overton 

You can tell the writer put her heart and soul into this book. It is an outstanding thriller. It leaves you holding your breathe until the very last page.

Available here.

An introduction to poetry

Poetry. A Very Short Introduction By Bernard O’Donoghue.

Perfect for writers and poetry fans. Entertaining and educational: it gives a perfect overview of poetry. Bernard O’Donoghue also ask what poetry is and what is is for. Riveting.

Available here.

Milli Hill Give Birth like a feminist

Give Birth Like a Feminist By Milli Hill.

This book is perfect for any expecting parent. It is even a good read for those who are not. Give Birth Like a Feminist is an important read from a pioneer in pregnancy and birth. Milli Hill founded The Positive Birth Movement and her work in the field has progressed women’s right by years. She also allowed me to publish one of her birth stories in my book, Women on Childbirth. She is the best kind of woman: a woman who support other women and fights for them too. A must buy.

Available here.

Andy Martin With Child

With Child By Andy Martin

Andy Martin spent a year with Lee Child. With Child is the diary of these adventures. I found this fascinating as a writer myself. Perfect for fans of Lee Child and Jack Reacher. A great book.

Available here.

Designer babies

Designing Babies By Robert L. Klitzman, MD.

This book is absolutely fascinating. In-depth research mixed with personal stories creates a perfect book on the subject of designing babies. Fertility, infertility, genetics…. This book covers the medical science of making babies. it does so with a human heart. What is right and what is wrong? Robert Klitzman is a brilliant and eloquent writer.

Available here.

The Children's forest

The Children’s Forest.

The Children’s Forest is the perfect book for children and parents. This book has a lot of fun activities to get your child in touch with nature. This book is a celebration of nature and, in my opinion, is essential for children to get them outdoors and learning more about nature. For ages 3-12, it has games, songs, recipes and animal, tree and plant lore. This excellent book offers hours of fun for children and parents.

Available here.

what snowflakes get right

What Snowflakes Get Right By Ulrich Baer.

This brilliant book is thought-provoking and brilliantly written. Snowflakes get a bad wrap but this in-depth and passionate analysis should be read by everyone. Great stuff.

Available here.

the writer's creative workbook

The Writer’s Creative Workbook By Joy Kenward. Illustrated By Ruth Allen. 

This is a brilliant book for the writer in your life. Even the most advanced writers will find this helps get things flowing again.

Available here.

One more lie Amy lloyd

One More Lie by Amy Lloyd. 

This is a stunning thriller. Full of suspense and atmosphere: you will not want to put it down. It also has a quote from Frost Magazine writer Annie Clarke who is a fan.

Available here.

Abbey Clancey I'll be home for Christmas

I’ll Be Home For Christmas By Abbey Clancy.

I do not know how she manages it: as well as being gorgeous, working as a model and TV Presenter and raising four children Abbey Clancy has written this amazing book. I loved it from the first page. The characters are so vivid and the story is a glam, glitzy read that entertains right to the end. I LOVE this book.

Available here.

a mrs miracle christmas debbie macomber

A Mrs Miracle Christmas By Debbie Macomber. 

This is the perfect Christmas book. It is a warm book that is a perfect example of romantic fiction. Perfect for an evening snuggling with some hot cocoa.

Available here.

rebel dogs heroic tales of trusty hounds

Rebel Dogs By Kimberlie Hamilton. 

This book is perfect for dog lovers. Fun and well-written, it makes you happy.

Available here.

Annie Clarke, heroes on the home front

Heroes On The Home Front By Annie Clarke. 

The second in the series by this stunning writer. Yes, she does write for Frost, but she is a master at her craft. her novels are researched within an inch of their lives and have real heart and soul. Just perfect.

Available here.

a quaint and curious volume

A Quaint and Curious Volume. Introduction By Sarah Perry.

An interesting and original volume. Perfect for fans of the gothic. You can read all the way through or dip in and out. A really great book.

Available here.

the oceans between us

The Oceans Between Us By Gill Thompson.

This is a truly beautiful story of triumph, loss and a mother’s love. It will touch your heart and soul. Wonderful.

Available here.

nightingale wedding bells

Nightingale Wedding Bells By Donna Douglas. 

The eleventh book in the series. Another heart-warming story that is perfect for Christmas.

Available here.

Simon's cat it's a dog's life

Simon’s Cat It’s a Dog’s Life By Simon Tofield. 

Hard to believe it is the 10th anniversary. The much-loved cat is back in this hilarious book. Love it.

Available here.

something to tell you David Edwards

Something To Tell You By David Edwards. 

This is a great, if terrifying, book. Perfect for fans of science-fiction, fantasy or thrillers. A perfect combination of fiction and out-there science. A clever book and a great read.

Available here.

raw spirit in search of the perfect dram

Raw Spirit By Iain Banks.

Perfect for fans of a wee dram. Banks explores the rich history of Scottish Whisky. It has a new introduction from Ian Rankin.

Available here.

Criss Cross by James Patterson

This top secret book arrived. What was it? Oh just the new Alex Cross book, Criss Cross By James Patterson. It is brilliant, of course. But then it always is. Out on the 14th November.

And now for some shameless self-promotion. I have books on acting, blogging, poetry, childbirth and wedding planning. They are all great for Christmas presents obviously. Nudge nudge, wink wink.

 

What books would you recommend?

Government youth work scheme failing 90% of jobless youth targeted

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The Government’s work programme is an “abject failure” according to property maintenance boss Will Davis, MD of Aspect.co.uk.

“The fact that 90% of 160,000 18 to 24 year olds it pledged to put back into work are still out of work is a real cause for concern”.

The Government’s work programme offers business a subsidy of £2,275 for taking on a young person who has been out of work for at least six months.

Mr. Davies who pioneered ‘Boot camps’ in Britain to enable unemployed London youth to vie for a job said “bureaucrats are not getting young people working”.

“Jobs are what we need, not more hand-outs to subsidise companies to hire people to do jobs that are not a real requirement”.

“People will find money to employ people in areas that are a real requirement”.

Figures show that it has only paid wage incentives for 4,690 young people from its start in June 2012 to the end of May 2013 – significantly behind the target of 160,000 over three years.

Shadow work and pensions secretary, Liam Byrne, said: “The Youth Contract has utterly failed to get our young people back to work. This flagship scheme is on course to miss its target by more than 92 per cent”.

Davies adds: “The government needs to get out of the business of providing business with bribes to create artificial jobs”.

Find haute couture from the finest French wardrobes

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UK SHOPPERS FLOCK TO vestiaire collective TO FIND haute couture from the finest French wardrobes

 

Vestiaire Collective, the pre-owned, luxury, fashion website today celebrates its first six months in the UK by announcing quadruple digit growth in UK members and record sales to UK consumers. The cult French fashion site has grown its base of users in the UK by 1200% since adding English and sterling to the site in March 2012. The site now boasts over 1.2million members and 12.2 million monthly visits globally.

 

The attraction of previously owned designer labels from the finest French wardrobes has attracted British label hunters who are now spending an average of £300 per shop as they rush to snap up the latest from French luxury brands.  Some of the treasures grabbed by UK shoppers in the past six months include a Yves Saint Laurent bag for £1,000, a Shamballa jewels item for £1500 and a men’s IWC watch for £1,100.

 

Across the channel, the fashionable French are clearing out the designer items at a rate of 25,000 items per month. In fact initial statistics for October reveal a 20% increase in items submitted for sale since the UK came online in March. It’s not only the fashionable woman on the street clearing her wardrobe, Vestiaire Collective is also home to French and British celebrities who are actively using the site to empty their wardrobes for the upcoming season.

 

Some of the French ‘bargains’ available today include a Valentino python and sable bag for £4876, about half the original price for the sought after bag. The sale list also includes more than 720 Isabelle Marant shoes, handbags, coats and dresses for up to 70% off. Unlike other pre—owned and vintage fashion sites, Vestiaire Collective checks every item for authenticity, so British shoppers know that what they are buying is absolutely genuine.

 

“We are seeing a wave of interest and excitement about the contents of French wardrobes from our British community,” says Vestiaire Collective’s UK MD Shannon Edwards. “On average British women are spending 30% more than their French counterparts and whilst we are shopping, the French are selling. We have seen more than 400 brands added to the site which are being snapped up here by women who are used to buying vintage and love that classic French style.”

 

Vestiaire Collective was founded by French internet entrepreneur, Sébastien Fabre who alongside five co-founders has developed the business by integrating a strong social community with ecommerce. The site gives consumers a platform to share, discuss and review fashion trends, labels, brands and items, yet closely monitors the buying and selling of goods to ensure that each piece is authentic, in excellent condition and is beautifully presented and delivered to the end consumer. The site manages all financial transactions to ensure that the seller has absolute peace of mind with items that often have a very high ticket value.

 

NASA's iPad App Beams Science Straight to Users

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Software and media specialists at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., today released a new iPad app — the NASA Visualization Explorer — that allows users to easily interact with extraordinary images, video, and information about NASA’s latest Earth science research.

Cutting-edge visualization has long been a staple of NASA Earth science and in particular the Scientific Visualization Studio (SVS) at Goddard Space Flight Center. The iPad presented NASA a new and easily accessible way to put stunning and beautiful Earth science visualizations directly in people’s hands.

The app’s science features will include high-resolution movies and stills and short written stories to put all the pieces in context. Most of the movies are simply real satellite data, visualized. Other features will include interviews with scientists or imagery from supercomputer modeling efforts. The app includes social networking interfaces, including links to Facebook and Twitter, for easy sharing of stories.

The application is free to the public and available from the App Store via iTunes.

The app editorial team plans to develop two new science features per week. After publishing an initial batch of six features with the launch, new features will publish to the app on Tuesdays and Thursdays. In the future the app could include occasional stories about the Sun, the other planets in our Solar System, and exotic objects far out in the cosmos.

The Goddard team designed the application essentially as a mobile multimedia magazine. “Its one-of-a-kind content is geared to the general public, students, educators — “anyone interested in the natural world,” said Michael Starobin, a senior producer at Goddard Space Flight Center who spearheaded the app’s editorial direction. “The app will explore stories of climate change, Earth’s dynamic systems, plant life on land and in the oceans — all of the small and large stories captured in data by NASA satellites and then visualized.”

“Science should be accessible to everyone, and visualization reveals the meaning and value of the often intangible, but essential, data delivered by NASA’s research efforts,” Starobin said. “Data visualization makes information immediately visual and understandable when it otherwise might go unnoticed, and the app makes it easy to explore in an engaging, easy-to-consume, thoroughly modern style.”

“The NASA visualization app is the latest step in a rich tradition of content production and application development,” added Project Manager Helen-Nicole Kostis. “With its release, I’m inviting everyone on a journey of scientific knowledge and visual wonder.”

Work began on the NASA Visualization Explorer shortly after Apple released its electronic tablet in April 2010. “We just knew immediately that the iPad provided the perfect platform to showcase NASA science,” said Christopher Smith, the principal designer of the application’s user interface.

Administrators of Goddard’s Inclusive Innovation Program agreed. The pilot program, which Goddard management rolled out last year to support ideas that would advance non-science and non-engineering functions and services, awarded seed funding to the team to develop the concept. “Our evaluation process was rigorous,” said Goddard Chief Technologist Peter Hughes, who administered the program for the center. “This proposal stood out for its immediate utility and potential impact.”

With the one-year funding in hand, the three principal creators assembled a multidisciplinary team of experts from the center’s SVS, one of the nation’s premiere data visualization labs, and the center’s Television and Multimedia Department, which has earned a reputation as one of the federal government’s best media-production departments. “Through our team’s unique talents, I believe we’ve created an application that is worthy of the NASA badge,” Starobin said.

“The heart of NASA data visualization beats at SVS,” Kostis added. “This is where science, data, and storytelling come together.”

To download the app, go to:

http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/nasaviz/index.html

HIGH-FLYING FEMALES SHOULD NOT FEEL “GUILT” RETURNING TO WORK AFTER HAVING A BABY

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Successful women in business should not feel any guilt returning to work after having children.

They will have made the decision to return to work because it is in the best interests of their families and themselves.

Niamh O’Keeffe, MD of First100, a global company which aims to help senior women executives return to their roles after maternity leave.

Leadership performance acceleration company First100, which has offices in London, New York and Dublin, works with senior executives to put in place plans for their first 100 days in either a new role or the same role after returning from having a child.

First100 has issued a series of tips for maternity returners, including:

· Let go of the previous role as full-time mother
· Return to the work environment as a confident woman and leader
· Find the right balance between the roles of mother and senior business executive.
· Everything will have changed so prepare well in advance.

Niamh O’Keeffe said: “Once a woman has made the decision to return to work, they need to let go of their role as full-time mother and carry no guilt. Guilt is something brought on by the individual and no one else.

“The woman will have made this decision in the best interests of her and her family and they need to be pragmatic in making it work.

“Living in the moment is critical. When the woman is at home, they need to be fully at home and not juggling their laptop and BlackBerry while making the tea or reading a bedtime story. Equally, when they are at work, it is vital they are not constantly calling home to make sure everything is okay.”

Niamh added that finding the “right balance” was crucial in order to make a true success of combining being a successful woman in business with being a mother.

“The working mum needs to take time out regularly to check they have the balance right. Sometimes one area of your life can get very busy which makes it easy to lose focus in another part of your life. Taking time out to refuel and refocus is very important.

“It is also critical to set realistic expectations at work and at home as there are only so many hours in the day.”

The majority of First100’s clients are male, but the company is finding an increasing number of senior women executives asking it to help them navigate their vital first 100 days in a role or when returning from maternity leave.

First 100 days plans are becoming increasingly common-place within global organisations such as Vodafone, Accenture, Telefonica 02, BP, BT and Merck.

Niamh said: “From my own personal experience and the feedback I receive from our consultants working with clients in the UK, Ireland and United States, female business leaders often make far more willing clients.

“Women are often easier to coach than their male counterparts and more willing to listen and take on board new skills to help them succeed in challenging roles. Sometimes senior male executives are instinctively more defensive and cynical and need a little longer to be persuaded as to the merits of the coaching.

“Undoubtedly, one of the principal reasons why women are generally quicker to understand the benefits of working with companies such as First100 is that they face the added pressures of competing in a still male-dominated business world, many with the challenge of juggling huge responsibilities both at work and at home.

“Putting in place a sound strategic plan for your first 100 days whether you are taking on a new role or returning from having a baby can make all the difference between success and failure.”