David Beckett

Imagine living in a box at the bottom of the sea for a month at a time. Locked away in a saturation chamber, plumbed to depths of more than 500 feet, this has been David Beckett's love, life and work for all his adult life. Destined to become a pig farmer in the late 1960s, a twist of fate saw David become an air diver, and within a short space of time he progressed to saturation diving. He would brush with death on more than one occasion - not least when helping to recover 47 bodies of the victims of the Sumburgh chinook disaster in Scotland's Shetland Islands - and when called in to assist with the deadliest peacetime shipwreck in Europe, as the MS Estonia sank in the Baltic Sea in 1994 and claimed 852 lives. Amongst the depths of despair, there are many lighter moments, including treasure hunting in the Philippines, almost clinching a contract to salvage the bursar's safe from the Titanic and surviving a 24-hour typhoon which brought 80-foot waves crashing down on his boat. The Loonliness of a Deep Sea Diver is gritty, sometimes comical and offers a unique glimpse into a life at sea, much of it at the bottom.

This book centres on a broadened view of complexity that will enrich engagement with complexity in the social sciences. The key idea is to employ complexity theory to develop a holistic account of practice, agency and expertise. In doing so, the book acknowledges and builds upon the relational character of reductive accounts. It draws upon recent theoretical work on complexity, emergence and relationality to develop a novel account of practice, agency and expertise in and for workplaces. Biological, psychological and social aspects of these are integrated. This novel account overcomes problems in current views of practice, agency and expertise, which suffer from reductive, or fragmented, analyses, based upon individuals, groups, or networks. In retrieving the experiential richness of human activity – often esteemed as the basis of generative and creative life – this book shows how complexity both emerges from, and is, a non-reductive feature of, human experience, especially in daily work.“…an ambitiously wide-ranging volume, questioning the key tenets of respected approaches ….. and offering ….. ‘novel accounts’, which draw on features of complexity thinking…. …But they go further than any of us in their argument that: ‘whatever reductive moves are made, they ‘flow’ from holistic accounts of relationality which have already affectively engaged the purposes of a co-present group.’ This is the intellectual contribution that is built consistently and persuasively across the chapters.” Professor Emerita Anne Edwards, Oxford University"Hager and Beckett have written a book that will challenge more commonly held notions of agency, practice, skills, and learning. Centering their argument on complexity theory or, as they prefer, complexity thinking, Hager and Beckett argue that it is through relations that we raise questions about, gather data from, and make working sense of the complexity that surrounds us. Groups then, particularly small groups, hold and implement agentive power. And what the authors call co-present groups—ones in which holistic relationality occurs socially, and affectively in distinctive places—“draw us closer to each other, and harness our normativity by enabling negotiability and reason-giving.” If your field of study involves anything remotely sociocultural in nature or if you are just interested in the complex ways we engage as humans with our worlds, you should find a place for this book in your library."Bob Fecho, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York NY, USA

This book is inspired by true events The occult. A secret organization with satanic motives to fulfill an unclear, secret and ancient prophecy. A holy relic dismissed by one test. Biblical truth's hidden in the secret libraries of the church. A terminally ill, scientific and once pious man; Carton Wolfe, who's faith in God was destroyed by that test in 1988. Up until that point he had tirelessly lobbied for the testing on the Shroud of Turin only to be proved wrong and was deemed a mad fool by his peers. What are the remnants of his soul? A soul of scientific hopelessness - without the divine salvation he'd longed for. Just a cynical acceptance of one's mortality. "The sheer existence of a three-dimensional image on the cloth and the data collected, proves the cornerstone of Christianity. The resurrection. If the church allows the carbon testing. I have no doubt it will prove me right. But why are the church barricading that test - it will provide the date of their lord's greatest moment. It will sharpen the hopes of all souls in the pursuit of salvation and hence, use the tools of the church's greatest adversary against them. Science." Far from New Mexico where Wolfe now resides as an old disgruntled atheist. Psychiatrist and New York businesswoman, Natalie Moore receives an unwelcome phone call in the early hours. Its Detective Green; homicide. Something horrendous has happened to her husband Sam; her peer, her business partner and highly successful Author. For years he has battled with psychological torment from his abusive childhood at the hands of the church. He was found on death's door by a mysterious and handsome priest, crucified upside down on a wooden wall in his local library - he was completing his overdue and highly anticipated second novel. Who committed this heinous crime? Who is this priest? What did Sam do to deserve this. How is this Carton Wolfe connected? These question's send her into a world we do not see, and unknown to Natalie, this unseen enemy wants something from her. Something only, she can provide and maybe this mysterious priest is the only one who can help her, and Sam survive.

"Hi, my name is David Beckett, I'm a pitch coach, and I'm here to ensure your ideas have a voice." The big pitch is coming up. You've got just a few minutes to convince that investor or your Board, that your idea is worth investing money, time and people in. What should you say? How should you say it? And how do you beat those nerves that are already building up inside? David Beckett has coached over 700 startups to raise over 170 million in investment. And he has trained thousands of professionals in innovation teams at companies like Google, Unilever, Booking.com and PwC. He is also a TEDx speech coach. In Pitch to Win, David provides practical tools to help you Script, Design and Deliver pitches that are short, professional and persuasive. His methods and practices have been tested with hundreds of pitchers and reviewed by numerous investors and members of the Board. The focus is on actionable tools and real-life examples. With step-by-step exercises that will guide you to your best pitch ever.

Across the verdant forests, lush fields, stormy seas, and riotous streets of 1800s America unfurls David Beckett's new adventure, a tale centered on the friendship linking young William Finnegan and wise Thomas Garrett. The author's commitment to biographical research and his gift for engaging dialogue breathe life into a plethora of real-world figures, true 19th Century villains and heroes. In these pages, furtive, anti-government conspirators, voodoo priestesses, dragoon soldiers, savvy politicians, bounty hunters, intrepid explorers, conniving lawyers, commercial tycoons, bold suffragettes, and clever smugglers vie for survival and supremacy, each battling to reshape our young republic. The Chords of Memory tackles complex, nuanced subjects with care and compassion. Ultimately, this rousing work of historical fiction spotlights what's best and bravest in our national character. -- U.N. Ambassador Sichan Siv

In both paid and unpaid work contexts adults learn powerfully from their experiences. In this book, the authors argue that this should be the basis for a new perception of what is truly educational in life. Drawing on the works of Aristotle, Wittgenstein and Russell, along with contemporary conceptual work, they use both philosophical argument and empirical example to establish their view. This work will be of essential interest to philosophers of education and educational theorists worldwide. It will also interest teachers, trainers, facilitators, and all those with an interest in adult and vocational education.

For many teachers and teacher education students, research is initially, a daunting prospect. Educational Research: Creative Thinking and Doing, Second Edition, is an accessible and engaging text which introduces students to the broad field of educational research and demonstrates how to use research when thinking about issues arising from educational and social policy, as well as schools and classrooms, within organizational and institutional contexts. Assuming no previous experience, the book covers the basic principles, reviewing imperatives and theoretical approaches, and explains how to tackle the necessary processes and procedures for conducting research and presenting the results. The new edition has been updated to highlight the contemporary focus on mixed methodology and collaborative research, and there is increased coverage of research in science and social science educational contexts to balance with its emphasis on helping arts and humanities teacher education students to use and to do research.

In both paid and unpaid work contexts adults learn powerfully from their experiences. In this book, the authors argue that this should be the basis for a new perception of what is truly educational in life. Drawing on the works of Aristotle, Wittgenstein and Russell, along with contemporary conceptual work, they use both philosophical argument and empirical example to establish their view. This work will be of essential interest to philosophers of education and educational theorists worldwide. It will also interest teachers, trainers, facilitators, and all those with an interest in adult and vocational education.