Author:Paul Osborne
The full, true story of the dog featured on the cover of Clare Balding's HEROIC ANIMALS
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The incredible true story of Sherlock, the brave dog with a nose for saving lives.
Firefighter Paul Osborne works with the Fire Investigation Dog unit, where he handles Sherlock - an excitable, bright-eyed cocker spaniel.
What makes Sherlock different? He's the most talented investigative dog the Fire Brigade has ever produced, capable of identifying extraordinarily subtle traces and scents even after thousand-degree blazes - even when he has to wear special protective boots due to the dangerous environments.
Today, Paul and Sherlock fearlessly plunge into the most dramatic fire scenes in London, helping to keep the capital safe around the clock. With remarkable insight into the life of London's most heroic working dog, this inspiring account of the London Fire Brigade's four-legged heroes will delight and amaze.
Foreword by Dany Cotton, Commissioner for The London Fire Brigade
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Winners of the Mirror and RSPCA Animal Hero Awards 2017
Written in collaboration with and with full support from the London Fire Brigade
Heartwarming
—— i paperHe is absolutely remarkable.
—— Philip Schofield, This MorningNot all heroes wear capes, some wear special boots and work for the simple reward of a tennis ball. Meet Sherlock... the crime-fighting fire investigation dog.
—— K9 MagazineA special talent
—— Jo Fidgen , BBC World ServiceExtraordinary
—— Jo Good , 'The Barking Hour, BBC Radio LondonProfoundly moving… delightful… extremely beautifully written.
—— Sara Maitland , TabletThe book has enjoyable, wonderfully evocative and deeply thoughtful contributions that should be widely read.
—— Rob Hume , BirdwatchThere is a great deal that is beautiful, and thought-provoking, in this collection
—— Erica Wagner , New Statesman[T]hese rich and varied essays bring together people from diverse backgrounds and geographies
—— PD Smith , GuardianAwdish describes her experiences powerfully... In Shock is a reminder that the sick are not subhuman, doctors are not superhuman, and that medicine needs to be human in order to truly heal.
—— Sarah Ditum , Mail on SundayIn Shock is a notable, ambitious and welcome contribution to an emerging dialogue concerning the quality and orientation of acute hospital care.
—— Paul D'Alton , Irish TimesAwdish's book is the one I wished we were given as assigned reading our first year of medical school, alongside our white coats and stethoscopes ... dramatic, engaging and instructive.
—— New York TimesHarrowing and enlightening... This is a story of darkness and light, horror and hope. It's not an easy read, but it is a fascinating one, and highly recommended.
—— The Sunday Business PostHad me hooked right from the start. Incredible story, and even more incredible story-telling... has had an unexpected impact on me and will change the way I practice medicine from here on.
—— Dr Ranj SinghA compassionate and critical look at medicine and illness from both a doctor’s and a patient’s perspective... Awdish has written a unique and insightful memoir.
—— Publishers WeeklyDevastatingly perceptive.
—— Herald ScotlandThis book contains some exquisite writing about nature, but it is always powerfully and insistently ground in “its cause” … A radical polemic in the tradition of Hazlitt and Cobbett
—— The WeekThis is a clarion call to the country’
—— iA new book by Mark Cocker is a major event and his latest is a work of sweeping ambition
—— UK Press SyndicationImportant… ambitious… [Cocker] is a superb writer
—— Michael McCarthy , Resurgence & EcologistA compelling history of nature conservation and why it matters, it is worth your time
—— Land & BusinessOur Place… is a work of serious and sustained advocacy – passionate and committed… elements are fused in the writing, along with many apparent digressions and asides, in a way that gives the book a richly textured feel… the argument advances on several fronts simultaneously and in more than one dimension, in a complex literary ecology matching his subject.
—— Jeremy Mynott , Times Literary SupplementMark Cocker… writes with superb understanding
—— Patrick Barkham , Guardian, **Books of the Year**A lyrical and intensely personal account… an excellent and important book… a wake-up call to us all.
—— Rebecca Armstrong , Birdwatch, **Birders' Choice Awards 2018, Book of the Year**Its breadth is startling... It changes the way you look at the world and few books tick that box.
—— Simon Mayo , Daily ExpressProbably the most ambitious history book of the year. Certainly the most thought-provoking
—— Dan Jones , Evening Standard - Books of the YearAs a writer, Harari is superbly clear. He’s also a formidable polymath and a wonderfully elegant thinker... He is a brilliant analyst with a storyteller’s gift
—— William Leith , Evening StandardI have just read Yuval Noah Harari's book Sapiens. It is brilliant. Most likely the best - and I have read very many - on the history of humankind. I have never read anything better
—— Henning MankellWe usually think that we are an outcome of our personal history, where we grew up, the way our parents educated us, etc. In Sapiens, Harari delves deep into our history as a species to help us understand who we are and what made us this way. An engrossing read.
—— Dan Ariely, New York Times Bestselling author of Predictably IrrationalEloquent and wonderfully funny
—— iThis is mega-history of the best sort: sweeping but not simplistic, contemporary but not gimmicky, provocative but not contrarian. Almost everyone will want to argue with one part of this book or another, but working out which part and why will do us all good.
—— Dr Steven GunnFor its sheer originality and intellectual stimulation, I was captivated by Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens
—— Matthew d’Ancona , Evening Standard - Books of the YearThat fellow connected an awful lot of dots in that work. I thought the book would be a dense read, a slog, with a struggle for my brain on every page. I had a highlighter ready to mark the more pavement-thick paragraphs I’d have to go back and re-ponder. Instead, I flew through it like it was a nonfiction The Thorn Birds. Does that mean I’m getting smarter?
—— Tom Hanks , New York TimesAmbitious and invigorating
—— Charlotte Heathcote , Sunday ExpressHarari’s book is important reading for serious-minded, self-reflective sapiens
—— Avi Tuschman , Washington Post SundayBrilliantly done and endlessly fascinating
—— Reader’s DigestVast and intricate... Engaging and informative
—— GuardianA thrilling account of humankind’s extraordinary history
—— Jersey Evening PostThe book is maddeningly opinionated and insanely ambitious. It is also compulsively readable and impossibly learned. It is one of the best accounts by a Homo sapiens of the unlikely story of our violent, accomplished species
—— Michael Gerson , Washington PostAn enthusiastic and confident narrative that is relentlessly interesting from the first word to the last
—— UK Press SyndicationThe most exciting book I’ve read this year
—— Rory MacLean , GeographicalOne of the most talked about non-fiction bestsellers of the year... Harari is one of the very few thinkers around who’s really looking at what’s happening now. Sapiens is his attempt to tell the story of the past to understand the present: the great technological advances that we are all living through now
—— ObserverEloquent and provocative
—— Mail on SundayA headclutchingly provocative account of our species from the Stone Age to the present... Stunningly ambitious and compellingly written. They call it macro-history. They’re right.
—— David Sexton , Evening StandardFascinating
—— Chris Skinner , Financial Services Club BlogUnforgettably vivid language. I urge everyone to read it
—— Matthew Smith , H EditionContains a remarkable piece of information on almost every page and reminds us that we should be grateful to be human.
—— Matt Haig , ObserverThought-provoking
—— Sunday TimesI would recommend Sapiens to anyone who’s interested in the history and future of our species.
—— Bill GatesRead with an open mind and you might look at life in a whole new way.
—— How it WorksA fantastic book about how homo sapiens came to conquer the world
—— Simon Mayo , Mail on SundayA dark and thrilling epic.
—— Rachel Hadas , Times Literary Supplement, Book of the YearI have continued to be driven bonkers by my current obsession: Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, an extraordinary tome that charts the plight of the planet’s most destructive species since the dawn of time: us. Every paragraph gives you pause for thought, as it catalogues how nuts human beings really are… It may be the best book I’ve ever read; it’s certainly fascinating.
—— Chris Evans , Mail on SundayThis doesn’t make you feel clever; it makes you feel included. It’s written so brilliantly… He’s written about the human family as a family.
—— Marcus Brigstocke , ShortlistIt's one of the best books I’ve read recently and gives an excellent overview of how our species has developed and helps us understand why and who we are today.
—— Lily Cole , Hello!A sweeping account of the history of our species, written in vivid prose.
—— Matthew Syed , The TimesIt rattles along, firing glitter-coated bullets of wisdom as it goes. If Carlsberg made professors, they’d have fashioned them thus. You’ll never have quite as much fun while learning so much.
—— Lynne Barrett-Lee , Western MailReading this wonderful book feels like looking at life down the bigger end of the telescope. Its scope – which incorporates the history of our species and the question of what the future may have in store – is so magisterial, one has an increasingly godlike feeling while reading it.
—— Gavin Turk , WeekAn absolute trove that everyone who wants to understand everything from human evolution to diet, religions and limited liability companies should read.
—— Sally Moussawi , PoolOpening up a controversial topic with spirit and thoroughness, Sapiens will challenge your preconceptions, provoke discussion and, most importantly, push you to think for yourself… Bold and provocative.
—— Women's RunningA brilliant, interdisciplinary account of the past and future of our species… Some of Harari’s most interesting points are the ways in which the fundamental, unchanging traits that make us human (emotions, desires) relate to the modern world. Essential reading for any liberal arts degree.
—— Francesca Carington , TatlerIn the unlikely event you haven’t already read it and…fancy learning some cool new stuff in a fun way, I wholeheartedly recommend it to you.
—— Jenny Colgan , SpectatorIt’s so intense that you have to read a bit then have a rest. It has brilliant passages, such as where he argues humans became enslaved by agriculture. Vivid and invigorating.
—— Bill Bailey , Daily ExpressEvery now and then a book comes along that tilts your perspective on the world. This internationally best-selling phenomenon is one of them.
—— Martin Chilton, Olivia Petter and Ceri Radford , Independent, *Books of the Decade*