New Releases by Ian Williams

Enough small talk. Let’s get right to it: Why can’t we talk to each other anymore? What makes good communication? And how do we restore the lost art of conversation? In contemporary society, much of our communication exists in a new dimension, the online space, and it’s changing how we regard each other and how we converse. In the digital realm, we can be anonymous, we can make false and hurtful comments yet evade consequences in a hurried scroll of clicks and swipes. But a good conversation takes time and patience, courage, even. We need to realize that one-half of our conversations is, in fact, listening. And aren''t the best conversationalists—like the best musicians—good listeners? With What I Mean to Say, award-winning novelist and poet Ian Williams seeks to ignite a conversation about conversation, to confront the deterioration of civic and civil discourse, and to reconsider the act of conversing as the sincere, open exchange of thoughts and feelings. Alternately serious and playful, Williams nimbly leaps between topics of discussion and, along the way, is discursive, digressive, and endlessly generous—like any great conversationalist.

This is the terrifying story of China''s vampire economy. State capitalism. Socialism with Chinese characteristics. A socialist market economy. There have been numerous descriptions of the Chinese economy. However, none seems to capture the predatory, at times surreal, nature of the economy of the world''s most populous nation – nor the often bruising and mind-bending experience of doing business with the Middle Kingdom. Rules and agreements mean little. Markets are distorted, statistics fabricated, foreign industrial secrets and technology systematically stolen. Companies and entrepreneurs, at home and abroad, are bullied – often with the collusion of the victims themselves. The Party is in every boardroom and lab, with businesses thriving or dying at its will. All this is part of realising President Xi Jinping''s ambition of China becoming the world''s pre-eminent economic, technological and military power.

Fast electric model power boats have long outclassed other boat types in terms of speed, and racing them is becoming an ever-more popular pastime. Success in this exciting hobby relies not just on the skill of the boat''s handler, but on the design and build of the boat as well. Illustrated with numerous photographs and diagrams showing technical details, this book looks at all aspects of building a model electric power boat, including How to choose a model and spot design flaws, especially in moulded hulls, and how to repair many of those faults, Brushed and brushless motors, and their speed controllers, drive systems and propellers, Guidance on rechargeable cells and the correct chargers, and safety tips for lithium polymer cells, Tips on construction and how to set up a boat for racing, Detailed instructions for building a wooden three-point outrigger hydroplane and Radio systems, wiring and connectors. While the emphasis of this book is on performance for competition use, beginners and recreational boaters are well catered for as many of the chapters start from first principles, rather than assuming a high level of initial competence. It covers all aspects of fast electric boating, from hull design right through to racing at world championships and setting speed records. Therefore, whether you are looking to compete or operate fast electric power boats as a hobby, it is a must-have addition to your library.

This CSIS report looks at Russia’s evolving missile campaign against Ukraine from the opening days of the invasion to present day, the sources of Russian underperformance, and the specific missile systems Russia has deployed.

As seen in The Times, Sunday Times, Spectator, and on Tonight with Andrew Marr (LBC) Join journalist Ian Williams as he examines China like never before. He begins with the extraordinary rise of the Chinese surveillance state, how information is controlled and how it affects the population, before moving his gaze outward to examine China''s aggressive foreign policy in relation to Taiwan and the wider world. Thought-provoking and alarming, these books are crucial to understanding China as a nation and global competitor. Ian Williams brings his years of expertise as a foreign correspondent to bear, having reported on China across the last 25 years, providing unmatched insight into a country that many do not fully understand. Titles included in this eBook bundle are: Every Breath You Take The Fire of the Dragon

Mental Health and the Christian takes a look at the brain, mind, and soul as interchangeable entities and the effects of external and internal stimuli on homeostatic functions. Human beings are consumers. We consume through three gates: eyes, ears, and mouth. How everything we ingest affects what genes are turned on and off in the mind and body is called epigenetics. Achieving homeostasis or balance is the ultimate goal. For Christians, the health, growth, and development of the spirit man calls for a healthy thought process together with a diet beneficial to achieving homeostasis in our lifestyle. This book attempts to broach the subject by removing some of the misconceptions about mental health as it pertains to the lifestyle of Christians, eliminating some of the taboos and erasing the shame. This is nothing more than a rudimentary tool to be used to open dialogue about how we as Christians perceive mental health, thereby equipping us to approach and understand ministering to those among us who may be suffering in secret. The aim is to bring them out of the shadows and into the light, delivering them.

This book is an extract from an engineers private journal of his observations while living and working in Russia, before travelling to and working in the United States. It forms a comparison on the way of life in each country and system.

Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize 2023 As seen in The Times, Sunday Times, Spectator, and on Tonight with Andrew Marr (LBC) Under President Xi Jinping, China''s global ambitions have taken a dangerous new turn. Bullying and intimidation have replaced diplomacy, and trade, investment, even big-spending tourists and students have been weaponised. Beijing has strengthened its alliance with Vladimir Putin, supporting Russia''s aggression in Ukraine, and brooks no criticism of its own flagrant human rights violations against the Uyghur population in western China. Western leaders say they don''t want a cold war with China, but it''s a little too late for that. Beijing is already waging a more complex, broader and more dangerous cold war than the old one with the Soviet Union. And it is intensifying. This thought-provoking and alarming book examines this new cold war''s many fronts – from Taiwan and the South China Sea to the Indian frontier, the Arctic and cyberspace. In doing so it proclaims the clear and sobering message that we must open our eyes to the reality of China''s rise and its ruthless bid for global dominance.

U.S. air and missile defense efforts have long been characterized by a striking dichotomy. Defenses for the homeland have largely focused on long-range ballistic threats, while cruise missile defense and other air defense efforts have focused on regional and force protection applications to the exclusion of the homeland. This compartmentalization assumes that battles in one place will only consist of certain parts of the threat spectrum, and battles elsewhere will consist only of others. That lingering dichotomy creates a vulnerability that near-peer adversaries now seek to exploit. In a sense, the homeland-regional dichotomy ignores the fact that North America is a region, too. As with any other region, attacks on assets in North America could be designed to shape the political and military calculus of U.S. policymakers. This report explores the strategic significance of air and missile defense for the homeland, considers principles informing defense design, and develops and costs an architecture based on those principles.

A Boston Globe Best Book of 2021: “Lyrical, closely observed” essays on being Black in the US, Canada, and Trinidad, and how those experiences differed (Kirkus Reviews). Finalist for the 2021 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction With that one eloquent word, disorientation, Scotiabank Giller Award winner Ian Williams captures the impact of racial encounters on racialized people—the whiplash of race that occurs while minding one’s own business. Sometimes the consequences are only irritating, but sometimes they are deadly. Spurred by the police killings and street protests of 2020, Williams offers a perspective that is distinct from that of US writers addressing similar themes. Williams has lived in Trinidad (where he was never the only Black person in the room), in Canada (where he often was), and in the United States (where as a Black man from the Caribbean, he was a different kind of “only”). He brings these formative experiences fruitfully to bear on his theme in Disorientation. Inspired by the essays of James Baldwin, in which the personal becomes the gateway to larger ideas, Williams explores such matters as the unmistakable moment when a child realizes they are Black; the ten characteristics of institutional whiteness; how friendship forms a bulwark against being a target of racism; the meaning and uses of a Black person’s smile; and blame culture—or how do we make meaningful change when no one feels responsible for the systemic structures of the past. Disorientation is a book for all readers who believe that civil conversation on even the most charged subjects is possible. Employing his wit, his empathy for all, and his vast and astonishing gift for language, Ian Williams gives readers an open, candid, and personal perspective on an undeniably important subject. “Honest, vulnerable, courageous and funny.” —Lawrence Hill, author of The Book of Negroes

An image goes viral in China It threatens the ruling Communist Party... Internet rumours take on a life of their own and online revenge becomes a weapon of dissent in a city where truth and reality are as clear as the thick smog around them in this gripping cyber thriller. When a young blogger who lives his life behind a screen posts an image online, he has no idea of the impact it will have on the nation – or that his life will collide with a delusional British businessman trying to sell the crumbling China miracle, and an American diplomat tasked to chase cyber spies. When the image takes on a life of its own, it threatens them all – but most terrifyingly, the Communist Party. The power of online ridicule and rumour in a society where fake news clouds reality is revealed; the veil beneath which corrupt politicians struggle for power, spies stalk cyberspace, and a bubble economy is at bursting point. From Beijing’s smoggy streets to Shanghai’s historic Bund, from the casinos of Macau to the grim factories of southern China, this novel captures the madness, corruption and dangers of the People’s Republic and sheds light on the Westerners who have grown rich by looking the other way…

One of the yearu0092s most exciting releases'' - The Herald China is building the worldu0092s first digital totalitarian state, a system of hitherto unimaginable social and political control. Internet freedom has been eliminated and ubiquitous surveillance cameras employ the latest facial recognition technology. Through flagrant cyber espionage, it has plundered Western technology on a massive scale, bullied Western tech companies and academics (though many have been willing accomplices) and intimidated critics worldwide. In doing so, it has become a model for aspiring dictators everywhere. Ian Williams examines the extraordinary rise of the Chinese surveillance state, showing how it has been driven by the enigmatic Xi Jinping, now effectively president for life, and how it impacts the daily lives of Chinese citizens, particularly dissidents and those from ethnic minorities. Supporting interviews and first-hand accounts from those whose lives have been turned upside down or worse highlight the chilling and ruthless efficiency with which the government can now act. The book also considers the wider implications for the rest of the world. How to deal with an increasingly strident, aggressive Beijing is one of the biggest challenges facing the West in what has become a technological Cold War.

From Ian Williams, author of Reproduction, winner of the Giller Prize and a June 2020 Indie Next Great Read Frustrated by how tough the issues of our time are to solve – racial inequality, our pernicious depression, the troubled relationships we have with other people – Ian Williams revisits the seemingly simple questions of grade school for inspiration: if Billy has five nickels and Jane has three dimes, how many Black men will be murdered by police? He finds no satisfaction, realizing that maybe there are no easy answers to ineffable questions. Williams uses his characteristic inventiveness to find not just new answers but new questions, reconsidering what poetry can be, using math and grammar lessons to shape poems that invite us to participate. Two long poems cut through the text like vibrating basenotes, curiosities circle endlessly, and microaggressions spin into lyric. And all done with a light touch and a joyful sense of humour.

This inaugural volume in the Graphic Medicine series establishes the principles of graphic medicine and begins to map the field. The volume combines scholarly essays by members of the editorial team with previously unpublished visual narratives by Ian Williams and MK Czerwiec, and it includes arresting visual work from a wide range of graphic medicine practitioners. The book’s first section, featuring essays by Scott Smith and Susan Squier, argues that as a new area of scholarship, research on graphic medicine has the potential to challenge the conventional boundaries of academic disciplines, raise questions about their foundations, and reinvigorate literary scholarship—and the notion of the literary text—for a broader audience. The second section, incorporating essays by Michael Green and Kimberly Myers, demonstrates that graphic medicine narratives can engage members of the health professions with literary and visual representations and symbolic practices that offer patients, family members, physicians, and other caregivers new ways to experience and work with the complex challenges of the medical experience. The final section, by Ian Williams and MK Czerwiec, focuses on the practice of creating graphic narratives, iconography, drawing as a social practice, and the nature of comics as visual rhetoric. A conclusion (in comics form) testifies to the diverse and growing graphic medicine community. Two valuable bibliographies guide readers to comics and scholarly works relevant to the field.

“With subtlety and wit, [a] prizewinning debut” novel set in 1970s Toronto “explores a liaison across race and class divisions in Canada” (The Guardian, UK). Felicia and Edgar come from different worlds. She’s a nineteen-year-old student and Caribbean immigrant while he is the impetuous heir to his German family’s fortune. When their ailing mothers are assigned the same Toronto hospital room, their chance encounter leads to an unlikely relationship full miscommunications, misunderstandings, and very surprising results. Years later, Felicia’s son Armistice—“Army” for short—is a teenager fixated on get-rich-quick schemes, each one more absurd than the next. The. Edgar finally re-enters Felicia’s life, at yet another inopportune moment, putting this “witty, playful and disarmingly offbeat” saga on the path to its heartfelt conclusion (The Toronto Star, CA). Winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize

Since the late-1940s, the United States has used forward-based forces to deter military aggression against its allies and interests. These forces complicate an adversary’s ability to achieve a quick, fait accompli win, raising the threshold for states to engage in conflict. However, the emergence of aerial hypersonic weapons—specifically, these systems’ combination of speed, maneuverability, and atmospheric flight—challenges traditional U.S. approaches to regional deterrence and stability. Conventional hypersonic strike weapons undermine deterrence by complicating early-warning and increasing the vulnerability of forward-based forces to surprise attack below the nuclear threshold. Nevertheless, history shows that adaptation to strategically disruptive technologies is possible. Just as the world mitigated the most destabilizing aspects of systems like the strategic bomber and the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the United States can blunt some of the risks posed by aerial hypersonic weapons. Some approaches include improving the ability to detect and track these weapons and improving active and passive defenses of forward-deployed forces. Popular media often vaunts aerial hypersonic weapons as unstoppable, but they do have weaknesses that a defender might exploit. Arms control may also be part of the solution. However, the United States will likely need to gain some advantage in offensive hypersonic weaponry to bring either Russia or China into negotiations.

A new and dangerous computer bug is sweeping the internet. But this bug is different. Smart, quick, sophisticated, and developed by elite hackers working for a cybercrime syndicate, it can break through an unknown flaw in the world''s most secure computer chips and cripple any system within seconds-the ultimate cyber weapon. Reluctant American cyber sleuth Chuck Drayton unwittingly finds himself caught in the deadly crossfire of an unfolding cyber war, with no idea what lies ahead. Chuck and his small team of investigators join a desperate race against the great cyber powers, and an unscrupulous tech entrepreneur, to stop the zero-day, before it''s too late.

The Lady Doctor is the follow-up companion graphic novel to Ian Williams''s critically acclaimed debut, The Bad Doctor (Myriad, 2014). Dr Lois Pritchard is a salaried partner at Llangandida Health Centre with Drs Iwan James (subject of The Bad Doctor) and Robert Smith. She also works two days a week in the local Genitourinary Medicine (GUM) clinic. She is 40, currently single, despite the attentions of her many admirers, and is, by her own admission, ''not very good with relationships''. When her estranged mother makes a dramatic appearance on the scene, demanding a liver transplant, Lois has to confront her loyalties and make some hard decisions. From the moment we see Dr Lois nipping out behind the surgery for a fag, we know we are in for a behind-the-scenes warts-and-all comedy drama. We meet a patient who regrets the Pinocchio face he had tattooed on his genitals; a man who resorts to desperate measures after being driven mad by his neighbours'' cats, and a prescription drug addict who plans to sue his previous doctors for failing to refuse him the drugs he demanded. Drugs – prescription, recreational, legal (coffee, alcohol, tobacco) – and behaviours and attitudes surrounding them – are a hot topic at Llangandida Health Centre. Hardening government attitudes towards drugs and addiction, and patients'' demands to benefit from the re emergence of psychedelic therapeutic research, don''t make a doctor''s life any easier, but Williams explores current medical issues and ethics with his trademark lightness of touch and wonderfully sly sense of humour, using his own experience as a practising GP to recreate the lives of both patients and health service practitioners.

Great Stories Written Badly by Ian Williams At times funny and poignant, this is an evocative exploration of how art connects us with the world and how it can help heal a fractured society.

This established textbook offers a one-stop, comprehensive coverage of air pollution, all in an easy-reading and accessible style. The fourth edition, broadly updated and developed throughout, includes a brand-new chapter providing a broader overview to the topic for general reading, and presents fresh materials on air pollution modelling, mitigation and control, tailored to the needs of both amateur and specialist users. Retaining a quantitative perspective, the covered topics include: gaseous and particulate air pollutants, measurement techniques, meteorology and modelling, area sources, mobile sources, indoor air, effects on plants, materials, humans and animals, impact on climate change and ozone profiles and air quality legislations. This edition also includes a final chapter covering a suite of sampling and laboratory practical experiments that can be used for either classroom teachings, or as part of research projects. As with previous editions, the book is aimed to serve as a useful reading resource for upper-level undergraduate and postgraduate courses specialising in air pollution, with dedicated case studies at the end of each chapter, as well as a list of revision questions provided at the end as a complementary section.

This book analyzes George Orwell’s politics and their reception across both sides of the Atlantic. It considers Orwell’s place in the politics of his native Britain and his reception in the USA, where he has had some of his most fervent emulators, exegetists, and detractors. Written by an ex “teenage Maoist” from Liverpool, UK, who now lives and writes in New York, the book points out how often the different strands of opinion derive from “ancestral” ideological struggles within the Communist/Trotskyist movement in the 30’s, and how these often overlook or indeed consciously ignore the indigenous British politics and sociology that did so much to influence Orwell’s political and literary development. It examines in the modern era what Orwell did in his–the seductions of simplistic and absolutist ideologies for some intellectuals, especially in their reactions to Orwell himself.

UNtold is a provocative, engaging exploration of the United Nations, including its history and how it functions. This is a warts and all look at a controversial institution that over 70 years has variously evoked respect, indifference, and outrage from the U.S. media. The author and illustrator bring their personal experience with the UN at all levels to the concise, informative text and whimsical cartoons, describing how the organization is supposed to work, how it actually behaves, and why there s a difference! UNtold reveals the quirks and mysteries of international diplomacy and global decision-making. Delightfully funny and irreverent, the message is that this vital body really represents We the peoples of the world. "

In policy pronouncements over the last two administrations, the protection of the American homeland was regularly identified as the first priority of U.S. missile defense efforts. Homeland missile defense today is provided by the Ground-based Midcourse Defense program and other elements of the larger Ballistic Missile Defense System. The limited defenses fielded today have advanced considerably since limited defensive operations began in late 2004, but nevertheless they remain too limited and too modest relative to emerging threats. The Missile Defense Agency’s path to improve the system may require additional effort to stay ahead of even limited missile threats. This report explains how the current system works, as well as current and potential plans to modernize the system, and the authors offer recommendations for future evolution of the system.

The Sentient Corruption: Book 3 of The Sentient Trilogy The end is here. The war has now arrived. The fight back must begin.The events in The Sentient Collector and The Sentient Mimic have placed many in a terrifying situation. With the enemy now in complete control of the city, the citizens of New Chelmsford are facing a desperate struggle. Survival is now a matter of how well those that are left alive can hide.But there is still hope in the war against Isaac and his growing force of mindless soldiers. An heroic mission has been put forward that aims to pave the way for one last battle. Will it succeed or will it place even more innocent people in danger?Follow familiar friends as they battle to overcome the worst of Isaac''s terrible plans. Who will survive? How many will die?”u003eThis is the exhilarating conclusion to The Sentient Trilogy

The German Spitz Mittel Training Book is a truly informative and unique training guide, full of reliable and tested information - written for the admirers of this wonderful breed. This is an easy-to-read, and in-depth text which you will thoroughly enjoy. It contains a wealth of interesting facts and reliable information, along with detailed advice for owners. Contributed to by a series of German Spitz Mittel dog trainers, this book is certainly a must have addition to your collection.

With its unique aroma and heady buzz—the perfect accompaniment to even the spiciest tacos—tequila has won its way into drinkers’ hearts worldwide. There are few places on earth besides Mexico that have the climate and terrain to evolve the agave plant that makes tequila—and there are even fewer people who have the patience to wait the seven years or more that it takes “the tree of marvels” to grow. In this book, Ian Williams presents a lively history of this potent and popular drink. Beginning with pulque, the drink fermented by the Mayans, Olmecs, and Aztecs and reserved for pregnant women and priests—and their sacrifices—he traces how the Mexicans distilled tequila and mezcal (mescal) and began its heady surge into global popularity. From twenty-year añejos to giggle-inducing margaritas to the bravado—and regret—of that round of shots, he offers a history as gripping as the drink itself. Williams visits countless tequila producers, distributors, and connoisseurs to tell the story of how tequila started in the agave lands of Mexico, became an icon of youthful inebriation, and developed, today, into a truly artisanal product drawing the most discerning drinkers. Peppered throughout are illustrations that capture tequila’s Mexican heritage and commercial image. Including recipes for tequila-based cocktails, as well as advice on the buying, storing, tasting, and serving of tequila, this history will delight any beverage aficionado or anyone interested in the history of Mexico and its culinary riches.