Ken Smith

The threat of disaster has long been a fact of life for Atlantic Canadians, especially the countless numbers who earn their livelihoods on the unpredictable seas or in the volatile mines. And even with continuing improvements in technology, disasters can still strike at any time, as 1992's Westray mine explosion and 1998's Swissair crash have shown. A History of Disaster chronicles 43 of Atlantic Canada's most deadly disasters, many well-remembered and none ever forgotten. Included are not only the region's iconic disasters like the Halifax Explosion and the Springhill mine collapses, but also lesser-known events, such as the 1977 Saint John jail fire. Photos and illustrations of the aftermath, the rescue efforts, and in some cases, of the disaster itself, reveal the heartbreak and bravery that accompanied these life-altering catastrophes. Now in a new size.

Newcastle's Town Moor is a unique green space at the heart of a busy conurbation. Famously bigger than Hyde Park and Hampstead Heath, it has seen horse racing, political meetings, huge festivals, and still annually hosts one of the biggest travelling funfairs in Europe. The Town Moor is a remarkable and physical link with Newcastle's history.

It was the year that saw Rangers Football Club face administration, that saw Greece struggle with teetering debt, that saw Scots wrestle with the idea of a referendum on independence, and saw the Scottish football team once again watching an international competition from the outside. And what did most Scots do? Well, what they usually do - they laughed about it. Fortunately they then sent their musings to "The Herald" newspaper's "Diary" column where their views on world affairs, plus all the stories of all the daft and amusing things that happened in Scotland's pubs, trains, streets and homes were gathered, polished and printed. This is the compilation of the best of these stories. It is where the best of Scottish humour is gathered and kept so that the stories are not lost forever, and if you are a Scot anywhere in the world, you will recognise the humour in them. And even if you are not Scottish you should still be able to smile, even though you have to ask a Scot for the occasional piece of clarification.

AMENHOTEP IV, namesake and middle son of Egypt's beloved Pharaoh, is tormented by puzzling visions that come to him in the form of dreams each night and foretell of a future that he can't quite comprehend. It is a future that hints at greatness when the pantheon of Egyptian gods will bow down in reverence to this awkward, self-conscious young man. Reaching out to the priests of Amun, the wealthy and powerful priesthood that has grown fat at the right hand of more than one pharaoh, Amenhotep seeks interpretation for these visions. He is told that he must cease having the dreams or risk his soul being devoured and entrance into the eternal afterlife denied. Cease dreaming? Easier said than done. This is the story of the man who would come to be known as "Akhenaten", heretic pharaoh, husband of the beautiful Nefertiti, father of Tutankhamun. It is a story of frightening visions come true. It is a story of war and deceit. Ultimately, it is a tale of love lost...and death found.

In the early hours of March 5, 1865 Lucas Brooks and Danny Boyle broke into the home of President Abraham Lincoln. They were hoping to find a few semi-valuable objects left behind by the First Family. What they found was much more than they had hoped for; a mysterious iron box. All the boys had to do was break into it. Actually doing it proved to be difficult - and dangerous. In 2002, Springfield engineer Robert Voyles discovered a body on one of his projects; a startling and troublesome thing. But, a quick look revealed that the body was very old. However, as they poked around the mummified corpse, they made a more interesting discovery; the box. What was found inside quickly complicated Rob Voyles' life as well as the lives of everyone present that day.

The author of Mental Hygiene and Ken's Guide to the Bible traces the damage done to English by infomercials and advertising, revealing those "junk" words, phrases, and tendencies that have made the language euphemistic and vague. Original.

Ken Smith was a major voice in world poetry, his work and example inspiring a whole generation of younger British poets. He collected his poetry from four decades in two volumes, the second being Shed: Poems 1980-2001, published the year before his untimely death in 2003. You Again includes all his last poems as well as other uncollected work, along with tributes from other poets, photographs, a biographical portrait and interviews covering the whole range of his life and work. Ken Smith's poetry shifted territory with time, from rural Yorkshire, America and London to the war-ravaged Balkans and Eastern Europe (before and after Communism). His early books span a transition from a preoccupation with land and myth to his later engagement with urban Britain and the politics of radical disaffection.

The principal aim of this book is to introduce university level mathematics — both algebra and calculus. The text is suitable for first and second year students. It treats the material in depth, and thus can also be of interest to beginning graduate students.New concepts are motivated before being introduced through rigorous definitions. All theorems are proved and great care is taken over the logical structure of the material presented. To facilitate understanding, a large number of diagrams are included. Most of the material is presented in the traditional way, but an innovative approach is taken with emphasis on the use of Maple and in presenting a modern theory of integration. To help readers with their own use of this software, a list of Maple commands employed in the book is provided. The book advocates the use of computers in mathematics in general, and in pure mathematics in particular. It makes the point that results need not be correct just because they come from the computer. A careful and critical approach to using computer algebra systems persists throughout the text.

The principal aim of this book is to introduce university level mathematics — both algebra and calculus. The text is suitable for first and second year students. It treats the material in depth, and thus can also be of interest to beginning graduate students.New concepts are motivated before being introduced through rigorous definitions. All theorems are proved and great care is taken over the logical structure of the material presented. To facilitate understanding, a large number of diagrams are included. Most of the material is presented in the traditional way, but an innovative approach is taken with emphasis on the use of Maple and in presenting a modern theory of integration. To help readers with their own use of this software, a list of Maple commands employed in the book is provided. The book advocates the use of computers in mathematics in general, and in pure mathematics in particular. It makes the point that results need not be correct just because they come from the computer. A careful and critical approach to using computer algebra systems persists throughout the text.

Shed, as in the shed at the end of the garden where the ?rst scribblings that begat many of these poems took place, Shed as in the shedding of skins in these poems, the shedding of lives and identities, from the lost President Perdu and the night on the town enjoyed by Smith’s wandering landsman, Charlie Delta, and the seafarer, Abel Baker, to the restless other lives of Eddie in America and the marooned sailor in Medellin. Shed houses poems from all the poetry books by Ken Smith published by Bloodaxe in the last twenty years. It is a journal of two decades of journeys East and West, a deliberation between the longing for home and the longing to keep going through the babble of languages in a world that is all of it borderland and all of it dangerous. Along with The Poet Reclining: Selected Poems 1962-1980, it was superseded by Ken Smith's Collected Poems (2018).

In Junk English, Ken Smith takes on the misuse, abuse, and downright decay of the English language. His weapons? A sharp wit and an almost frightening grasp of the depths of the decline. Written so that the ordinary writer and speaker of English can readily see how the manipulation of words keeps the culture in a haze of misunderstandings and vagueness, Junk English covers the whole spectrum of the problem. In short sections such as “Butt-Covering,” “Feeble Beginnings,” “God Is on Our Team,” “Sports Talk,” and “Touchy-Feely Therapy Talk,” Smith shows how everyone from Madison Avenue to middle America has succumbed to euphemisms, mindless jargon, and weasel words. The book’s inclusion of basic advice on how to avoid lazy language shows there’s at least some hope for the future.