Penguin Group

Wal-Mart is the biggest company on earth, ever. Around 7.2 billion people shop there in a year – more than one visit for every person on the planet. It’s expanding across the globe from Brazil to Eastern Europe. And it has the power to change our world … Charles Fishman takes us into the heart of the most successful superstore in history to show how the ‘Wal-Mart effect’ shapes lives everywhere, whether for overnight cleaners in America, bicycle-makers in China or salmon farmers in Chile. Now Wal-Mart’s influence is so great it can determine everything from the design of deodorant to the shape of a town, working practices to market forces themselves, Fishman asks: how did a shop manage to do all this? And what will the ultimate cost of low prices be?

A book about 'real witches' — the ones that absolutely loathe children and are always plotting to get rid of them. Great new Quentin Blake cover as well as a whole new exciting end section about Roald Dahl and his world.

When Susie's maiden aunt gives her a housekeeping journal, she expects Susie to use it for jotting down nutritious recipes and planning household budgets. But Susie has more important things on her mind... ... Like how to keep sane while trying to control a four-year-old diva who thinks she's Judy Garland, as well as a thrill-seeking toddler with a death wish. Not to mention managing a demanding husband who expects a home-cooked meal at least once a fortnight and inconsiderate parents who seem to think luxury spa breaks are more important than spending time with their grandchildren. On top of that, there's the small matter of the Lone Father at the children's play group who is clearly smitten and Susie's passing interest in Posh'n'Becks, Wayne'n'Colleen, Brad'n'Jen'n'Angelina ... Susie's journal chronicles a hectic year in the life of a stay at home mother, whose one ambition is to possess an outfit that is free of snot stains.

Are you a 'bobo' or a 'wombat'? Are you tempted by 'infobia' or to 'kick dead whales up the beach'? If your answer to any of these questions is 'What are you talking about?', then you definitely need a copy of Shoot the Puppy. Amusing, informative and newly updated for 2007, it guides the reader through the ever-growing heap of contemporary jargon from around the English-speaking world, showing where it comes from, what it means, and what it tells us about our contemporary world.

From the famous episodes of the whitewashed fence and the ordeal in the cave to the trial of Injun Joe, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is redolent of life in the Mississippi River towns in which Twain spent his own youth. A somber undercurrent flows through the high humor and unabashed nostalgia of the novel, however, for beneath the innocence of childhood lie the inequities of adult reality-base emotions and superstitions, murder and revenge, starvation and slavery.

The tales have their origins in the cultures of India, Persia and Arabia, and this edition, based on Richard F.Burton's unexpurgated translation, gives the reader all the sensuality and lushness of the original Arabic.

A dark and compelling study of a young intellectual tempted towards crime through severe penury. Raskolnikov, a former student who is morbidly self-obsessed, murders an old woman money-lender with a borrowed hatchet in a desperate attempt to free himself from poverty. From the opening pages Dostoyevsky attaches us unflinchingly to his intense and mysterious anti-hero, creating a web of intimacy and tension which is increasingly claustrophobic. Crime and guilt — its traumatic and inevitable successor — are the central themes running through the novel and the notions of 'justifiable' murder and worldly retribution are depicted with a deft and razor-sharp precision. Crime and Punishment both haunts and disturbs, yet, as the critic John Jones wrote, it is 'the most accessible and exciting novel in the world'.

Eugenia`s wit, guile and sophistication, and Felix`s debonair vivacity form an uneasy alliance with the Puritan morality and the frugal, domestic virtues of the Americans. A rich and delicately balanced comedy of manners, The Europeans weighs the values of the established order against those of New England society, but makes no simple judgements, only subtle contrasts and beautifully observed comparisons.

Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson had been sharpening their detective skills deducing the characteristics of the man whose walking stick is in their possession, when the owner arrives greatly in need of their help. Dr James Mortimer tells them that he has discovered the body of Sir Charles Baskerville in the grounds of his Devon home. Baskerville's face bore an expression of terror and his body showed signs of exhaustion, as if he had been fleeing something — or someone. Mortimer was aware of only one clue as to how Baskerville met his death: «the footprints of a gigantic hound». Dr Watson is dispatched by Holmes to the desolate moorland of Devon. He learns about the ancient myth of the Baskerville hound, and as he uncovers the malevolent fury that lay behind Baskerville's death, he comes perilously close to meeting his own... An intriguing case for Holmes and Watson, The Hound of the Baskervilles is also one of Conan Doyle's most gripping and disturbing novels.

It's a Roald Dahl extravaganza! Interesting diseases, the most heroic animals, beards, disguises, quizzes and pirates – yes, it's a second fun-filled collection of facts, activities and jokes to celebrate Roald Dahl Day! Dahlmanac 2 is jam-packed with treats — some disgusting, some delicious — stuff that EVERY Roald Dahl fan should know! With black and white illustrations by Quentin Blake and inspired by Roald Dahl's love of odd facts and curiosities, this is the perfect book to dip into for a quick chuckle – and it contains some long-forgotten writing from Roald Dahl!

A new edition of the well-loved story of Danny and his father who outwit their greedy, rich neighbour, Mr Victor Hazell. With a great new cover by Quentin Blake as well as a whole new exciting end section about Roald Dahl and his world.

A British Secret Service agent and his secretary have gone missing from their base in Kingston. M thinks this will be an easy case for 007, still recovering from his near fatal encounter with a Russian agent. Arriving in Jamaica to investigate, Bond learns that the reclusive Dr Julius No may be behind their disappearance. And when Bond and the exotic Honeychile Rider are caught trespassing on Dr No’s secluded island, they discover he has diabolical plans afoot that could threaten international security… In Dr No, Fleming created one of his greatest villains – a megalomaniac with a sadistic fascination with pain, against whom Bond must fight for his life in a murderous game of his adversary’s choosing.

Matthew Kneale's «English Passengers» tells the story of an 1857 expedition to Tasmania, in search of the Garden of Eden, whose members — including a vicar and a sinister racial theorist — don't realise they are actually aboard a manx smuggling ship. Told by a score of different characters and packed with drama, comedy and punch, «English Passengers» is a major work of the imagination.

As the opening page of Madonna's latest book states, if you haven't heard of the English Roses by now, then you must have been living on the moon! So, let's fill you in. The English Roses are five girls named Nicole, Amy, Charlotte, Grace and Binah. They are best friends and do everything together – from dancing and homework, to skating, picnics and sleepover parties. That is, they were best friends until handsome, charming Dominic arrived in class. Now friendship counts for nothing as the girls desperately fight for his attention. Luckily, a quirky teacher, Miss Fluffernutter, and a pumpernickel-loving Fairy Godmother step in to save the day and the English Roses' friendship.

Boggis, Bunce and Bean are the meanest three farmers you could meet. They are determined to get Mr Fox — but he has other plans! This edition has a great new Quentin Blake cover and new author biography.

Everyone wants to succeed in life. But what causes some of us to be more successful than others? Is it really down to skill and strategy – or something altogether more unpredictable? This book is the word-of-mouth sensation that will change the way you think about business and the world. It is all about luck: more precisely, how we perceive luck in our personal and professional experiences. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the markets – we hear an entrepreneur has ‘vision’ or a trader is ‘talented’, but all too often their performance is down to chance rather than skill. It is only because we fail to understand probability that we continue to believe events are non-random, finding reasons where none exist. This irreverent bestseller has shattered the illusions of people around the world by teaching them how to recognize randomness. Now it can do the same for you.

At his club that day, Fogg bet half his fortune that he could travel the world in an easterly direction in eighty days; so he and Passepartout begin their voyage. But Detective Fix of Scotland Yard finds it coincidental that Fogg should want to escape England in such a hurry while there is a robber on the loose. Convinced they are one and the same person he joins them on the first leg of their epic travels.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein blends Gothic horror and romance in a story that is both world-famous and increasingly relevant. Frankenstein is a young, idealistic student of natural philosophy who, finding the secret of giving life to matter creates a living being. The monstrous creation, though tender-hearted and gentle in nature, inspires fear in those who meet him and must hide away from society. Increasingly lonely and isolated, the monster becomes embittered and cruel, taking a hideous revenge on his creator. In a dramatic denouement in which Frankenstein pursues his creation to the Arctic in order to destroy him, Mary Shelley reveals the terrifying consequences of playing God.

Издание полностью на английском языке. Полный, неадаптированный текст произведения. The parties at Gatsby's Long Island mansion were legendarily glamorous affairs. Yet amid the throng of guests, starlets and champagne waiters, their host would appear oddly aloof. For there was only one person Jay Gatsby sought to impress. She was Daisy Buchanan: married, elegant, seducing men with a silken charisma and `a voice... full of money`. As Gatsby pursues shady deals and his doomed obsession with Daisy, F.Scott Fitzgerald distills the essence of the Jazz Age, and probes to the empty heart of the American Dream.

At the age of ten, shy, vulnerable Fanny Price leaves behind her impoverished family in Portsmouth to go and live with her rich relatives at Mansfield Park. Growing up with her cousins Tom, Edmund, Maria and Julia, she is aware that she is different from them and that her place in society cannot be taken for granted, although she is not treated unkindly. A dashing couple from London, Mary Crawford and her brother Henry, enter this stable, rural world. They succeed in dazzling everyone at Mansfield Park, except for Fanny, who sees through their shallow veneer. Throughout the dramatic events that follow it is she who is able to bring back some stability to the ruptured lives of those around her. One of the great novels of the nineteenth century, Mansfield Park echoes Jane Austen's fears and awareness of the dawn of a modern age, which was to bring about a complete break from the old country traditions and way of life.

J.M. Barrie's immortal story of Peter Pan, the boy who will never grow up. From the moment when Peter Pan and his irritable fairy friend Tinker Bell fly in through the nursery window, the story casts a magic spell. The Darling children are carried away to the Neverland where they meet the Lost Boys, watch shy mermaids playing in the blue lagoon and encounter Captain Hook and his wicked pirate band... Peter Pan is one of the most popular of all children's classics. It blends autobiography, fancy, Oedipal myth and fantasy so satisfyingly that, like Alice in Wonderland, its child's world appeals and intrigues on many levels.

A haunting tale of suspense and intrigue set in nineteenth-century Paris. As Monsieurs Richard and Moncharmin prepare to take over as acting managers of the Opera House, they discover their predecessors have bequeathed them the 'Opera Ghost'. A separate memorandum-book has been set aside for his various whims, including extravagant financial needs. Heedless of the numerous warnings to comply with these strange demands the managers shrug it all off as a practical joke taken too far. Then a sequence of eerie coincidences and tragic events follow, culminating in the sudden disappearance of the beautiful prima donna Christine Daae in mid-performance. Tortured by the pangs of unrequited love, the mysterious figure living beneath the Opera House has been awaiting his chance to strike — and once he does, he is deadly...

Издание полностью на английском языке. Полный, неадаптированный текст произведения.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. The opening of Jane Austen's ever-popular novel sets the tone of her sparkling comedy of manners and morals. There are five daughters in the Bennet family and marriage is the only career open to them. There is naturally much excitement when two young men of good fortune move into the district. But before there can be a happy ending, the hero must conquer his overwhelming pride and Elizabeth, the spirited heroine, her prejudices against him. Only by taking the route to self-knowledge can they reach a mature understanding of each other and find lasting contentment.