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Literature professor Simon John James and physicist Richard Bower were both involved in the curating the exhibition, Time Machines – the past, the future, and how stories take us there. Their conversations quickly revealed to them the many, wildly various, meanings of “time travel”. Here, they discuss how time travelling in literary and scientific terms might, one day, coincide.
July 4, 2017
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Despite the growing technological panic at the cusp of the twenty-first century, my parents only owned one CD player. It was too big to move from the sitting room, so the audiobook was bought for me as six cassette tapes to listen to in my bedroom. At nine years old, I had already amassed an impressive collection of audiobooks on cassette - I've always struggled to fall asleep and need to be tricked into unconsciousness by distraction from overthinking and worrying. I had Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr Fox and The Giraffe, The Pelly and Me memorised, and had been forced to give up my Thomas the Tank Engine cassette to my sister, who was, in fairness, deserving; she's younger than me and suffers from the same problem sleeping.
June 26, 2017
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It’s the final day of our book recommendations, and we’ve saved the best for last with six sensational stories to listen to! From crime to dystopian speculative fiction to humour, whatever you’re looking for, we’ve got an audiobook for you.
June 22, 2017
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There is a strange and troubled kind of intimacy between our own moment of climate change and 19th century Britain. It was there that a global, fossil fuel economy first took shape, through its coal-powered factories, railways, and steamships, which drove the emergence of modern consumer capitalism.
May 30, 2017
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May is Local and Community History Month - a great time to find out a little more about how your village, town or city grew up into what it is today. The more you dig, the more you'll find that people, events and buildings all have fascinating pasts.
May 8, 2017
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It's National Gardening Week and with the weather warming up it's the perfect time to celebrate the grassy, leafy, humble and much-loved garden. Whether you've got a balcony, an allotment, or acres of land, spending some time cultivating a few plants can be a brilliant pastime.
April 10, 2017
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Author David Almond has written over twenty books for children and young adults, with many receiving critical acclaim. He is perhaps best known for his 1998 novel Skelling, which has since been adapted into a play, an opera, and a film. His works are highly philosophical and thus appeal to children and adults alike.
January 3, 2017
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One hurdle that can be tricky for any writer to clear is identifying their target audience. Sometimes, figuring out exactly who’d like to read their book and the best way they can engage them is harder than it sounds. But imagine if you were writing for an audience who aren’t even born yet.
October 17, 2016
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The image above, drawn a year after the invention of the phonograph, envisioned a future of whole families sitting down around the player listening to its delights. The audiobook has come a long way since then, from only being able to store four minutes at a time on a cylinder, to a wealth of digital audiobook downloads at our fingertips.
May 17, 2016
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If the perk in the weather has given you some more get-up-and-go, we have the perfect way to use that energy and engage that curious mind! Whether you're looking for some entertainment or to puzzle out some politics, London is bursting with amazing book events this May.
May 10, 2016
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