Meditative reflections on the great spiritual seeker's deeply felt experience of the divine.

Henry David Thoreau's spiritual life is a riddle. Thoreau's passionate critique of formal religion is matched only by his rapturous descriptions of encounters with the divine in nature. He fled the church only to pursue a deeper communion with a presence he felt at the heart of the universe. He called this illimitable presence many names, but he often called it God.

In Thoreau's God, Richard Higgins invites seekers--religious or otherwise--to walk with the great Transcendentalist through a series of meditations on his spiritual life. Thoreau offers us no creed, but his writings encourage reflection on how to live, what to notice, and what to love. Though his quest was deeply personal, Thoreau devoted his life to communicating his experience of an infinite, wild, life-giving God. By recovering this vital thread in Thoreau's life and work, Thoreau's God opens the door to a new understanding of an original voice in American religion that speaks to spiritual seekers today.

Trees were central to Henry David Thoreau's creativity as a writer, his work as a naturalist, his thought, and his inner life. His portraits of them were so perfect, it was as if he could see the sap flowing beneath their bark. When Thoreau wrote that the poet loves the pine tree as his own shadow in the air, he was speaking about himself. In short, he spoke their language.

In this original book, Richard Higgins explores Thoreau's deep connections to trees: his keen perception of them, the joy they gave him, the poetry he saw in them, his philosophical view of them, and how they fed his soul. His lively essays show that trees were a thread connecting all parts of Thoreau's being--heart, mind, and spirit. Included are one hundred excerpts from Thoreau's writings about trees, paired with over sixty of the author's photographs. Thoreau's words are as vivid now as they were in 1890, when an English naturalist wrote that he was unusually able to to preserve the flashing forest colors in unfading light. Thoreau and the Language of Trees shows that Thoreau, with uncanny foresight, believed trees were essential to the preservation of the world.

Doctor Mouse is the local doctor in a seaside community. He is always available to attend to any medical issues that arise in a lively and varied mouse population.

The first in a series which will see Dr Mouse attending the local gentry, Lord and Lady Mouse for a medical emergency. With light hearted humour and interesting characters together with vivid pictoral depictions of the story, it relays an enjoyable children's tale with a good educational message. In future books doctor mouse will meet many more interesting characters whilst keeping the local mouse population healthy.

The messages that the books will deliver, will provide all young parents with valuable information on how to keep their children healthy and happy, alongside stories that will make them all smile.

Essential Sports Medicine is a brand new core text for medical and physiotherapy students and General Practitioners who want a comprehensive yet concise practical guide to the biomechanics and physiology of sporting injuries and treatment.

The book takes a multi-disciplinary approach and is organised into regional and sports-specific injuries. The book also covers the team physician's role, acute management, drugs in sport, and rehabilitation techniques. High quality functional anatomical diagrams and photographs are included as well as Key Points boxes to highlight diagnosis and rehabilitation protocol.

The content is completely up-to-date and is aimed at students and GPs interested in this increasingly important and popular subject, rather than specialists in the field. The contributing authors are recognised worldwide experts in their areas.

Essential Sports Medicine is ideal for medical students and physiotherapy students and General Practitioners undertaking further postgraduate training in this area.

Pre-Publication reviews

I believe there is a great need for a publication such as this, which will dedicate itself entirely to the still rather young and developing area of sports medicine...
--4th year medical student, Glasgow University

I like it a lot!... The inclusion of chapters on drugs, women, and children, etc. also widens the scope, adding to its appeal
--Final year medical student, Newcastle University

I am impressed by the aim and scope of the book. The area of education in sports medicine is one which is becoming increasingly important, but at present is poorly served in terms of reference materials
--Derbyshire GP who has just completed the Diploma in Sport and Exercise Medicine

With the fast pace of communications and change in today's global marketplace, investing in equities has become increasingly complex. Communicating a clear, concise, meaningful message to investors is critical. Dr. Higgins and his contributing authors provide a broad set of perspectives, lessons learned, and best practices in global investor relations. They examine the fundamentals of investor relations from a theoretical and practical perspective. They explore individual company strategies and challenges for investor relations in unique and meaningful situations--all from their own vantages and experiences at six topflight corporations with world-class investor relations organizations: AT&T, Schering-Plough, BASF, Reuters, Sony, and Toyota. Readers will get detailed pragmatic insights into the way IR is done in these important, highly visible corporations, plus the results of a unique five-year study of global strategy communications, complete with ideas and concepts they can use immediately in developing and influencing investor relations in their own organizations.

But Higgins' book is more than a collection of company studies. Impinging upon the strategic and financial communications of virtually every global corporation are institutional, market, and technological forces that are shaping the current practice of investor relations. The book examines these forces and their impact on strategic financial communications. It also explores the theoretical and empirical foundations underlying the practice of investor relations and presents a conceptual model--a strategic perspective--for viewing and analyzing best practices. In addition, the book presents the results of a recent survey of global investor relations practices in the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, and Japan, plus two new studies of the latest communication technologies in U.S. companies.

Higgins makes clear that corporate strategy, regardless of how elegantly conceived, how comprehensive its scope or how forward-looking its thrust, does not provide competitive advantage until it is communicated, understood, valued, and acted upon by a variety of key corporate stakeholders. His book is thus developed to advance the theory and practice of corporate strategy communications. With two chapters devoted to conceptual foundations and empirical research, plus five new case studies illustrating his points, Higgins's book not only builds on existing research in strategic planning and management and reputation management, but offers new research findings as well. Interdisciplinary, integrative, and international in scope, the book will be of special interest to corporate management, strategic planners, corporate communications and investor relations executives, and other professionals in the investment community, and to academics with similar research and teaching interests.

Higgins argues that companies that communicate effectively to key constituencies risk less by making their strategies known than by hiding them. Among the important payoffs Higgins identifies are an improved climate within the investment community; better relationships with suppliers, customers, and strategic partners; improved employee morale and motivation; and, in some cases, a boost to share price and the enhancement of shareholder value. He begins with an overall strategic framework, illustrating how effective corporate strategy communications can improve a firm's strategic credibility, then follows with case studies-unavailable until now-each written specifically for this book, and covering such situations as a merger, a failed takeover attempt, and a management campaign to elevate share price and shareholder value at a major chemical company. He ends with an examination of the international challenges and opportunities involved in cross-cultural strategy communications. The book also presents for the first time, the results of a major international study of corporate strategy communications. Included in this study were 1800 executives and analysts from the U.S., Europe, and Japan. The job of strategy communications is never done, concludes Higgins. Communications during bad times, as well as good, are critically important.