Humanism is a philosophy that emphasizes the value of human life in all its creative potential within a secular context. Humanism is skeptical of religious beliefs and relies on science as the basis for understanding the universe. Although humanism has become most fully developed in the West, its origins lie throughout the world, and this perspective is shared by people from many different cultural, ethnic and racial backgrounds.
In this succinct, informative, and enlightening introduction to humanism, Jim Herrick, a leading humanist advocate in Great Britain, provides a very readable...

A study of celebrity based on the seventy odd interviews featured in the Sky Arts television series, In Confidence. Informants include David Schwimmer, Stephen Fry, Harry Belafonte, Alan Ayckbourn, Kathie Burke, Michael Frayn, Christopher Hitchens, Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Sheila Hancock, Richard Dawkins, Miriam Margolys, Tracey Emin, and Nigel Kennedy. Here you will find everyone from politicians to artists, film-makers to novelists, talking frankly about fame and reputation.

On a remote Spanish island near the African coast, a young scientist, Epiphany Jerome, is looking for a rare beetle. Instead, she finds a body on an empty beach with a knife sticking out from its back. It's not just another tourist. It's the daughter of Epiphany's landlady and the single mother of an 11-year old girl devoted to Epiphany's small dog, Mostly. As a forensic entomologist trained in the language of insects, Epiphany can tell the police more about the baffling murder than, apparently, they care to know. Epiphany, a Mexican American married to an Italian, still struggles with her...