Martin Booth

Traducción del inglés de Julieta Lionetti Nacido en el seno de una familia acomodada, los padres de Crowley eran miembros de la secta fanática La Hermandad de Plymouth, lo que le hizo padecer una dificil infancia y un inmenso rechazo por el cristianismo. En 1898, mientras estudiaba en Cambridge, decidio emprender su carrera como mago. Al igual que el poeta WB Yeats, ingreso en la Orden Hermetica del Amanecer Dorado y mas adelante se convirtio en lider de la Ordo Templi Orientis, que hoy en dia continua existiendo. Para Crowley, la magia se encontraba intimamente ligada a la voluntad humana y llego a creer que tanto el como sus discipulos podian ejercer control sobre casi cualquier cosa mediante el solo empleo de la voluntad. Sin embargo, lo que le convirtio en carne de cañon de los tabloides britanicos fue su utilizacion del sexo como fuerza creativa necesaria para realizar su trabajo, manteniendo relaciones sexuales con cientos de mujeres y hombres de todo el mundo. En esta biografia Martin Booth relata, sin emitir juicios de valor, los hechos reales de la vida del ocultista, poeta, novelista, bisexual y consumidor de estupefacientes, dejando que el lector decida por si mismo si se trataba de un charlatan degenerado o de un autentico mago.

The locals in the Italian village where he lives call him Signor Farfalla - Mr Butterfly. He is a discreet gentleman who spends his time studying rare butterflies. But Farfalla''s real profession is deadly. He considers himself an artisan, not for the butterflies he paints but for the guns he creates for assassins.

What's the hook? Powerful issues of conflict and adventure are especially compelling for boys. What are the themes? War, adventure and friendship. Teaching points? Gripping storyline and thrilling writing style provides many opportunities for shared and guided reading.

Delivery of this item will likely take 6 weeks. This is because it is not currently in stock and is an indent item with our supplier. Indent titles are not held in the Australian warehouse but brought by the Australian distributor via by surface freight to satisfy orders.

Sebastian, the alchemist's son, must face new evil. An old enemy, a magician whose power lies in stealing souls, has reappeared in a new and cunning disguise. He is using an ancient spell book to bring about a terror beyond imagining. Once again, Pip and Tim brave sorcery and danger to help Sebastian as he pursues his enemies through the centuries.

To some its antisocial anathema, to others it is a harmless way to relax, or provides relief from crippling pain. Some fear it is a dangerous drug that leads to reefer madness and addiction; to others still it is a legal anomaly and should be decriminalized. Whatever the viewpoint, and by whatever name it is known, cannabis - or marijuana, hashish, pot, dope, kif, weed, dagga, grass, ganja - incites debate at every level. In this definitive study, Martin Booth - author of the acclaimed OPIUM: A HISTORY - charts the history of cannabis from the Neolithic period to the present day. It is a fascinating, colourful tale of medical advance, religious enlightenment, political subterfuge and human rights; of law enforcement and customs officers, smugglers, street pushers, gang warfare, writers, artists, musicians, hippies and pot-heads.Booth chronicles the remarkable and often mystifying process through which cannabis, a relatively harmless substance, became outlawed throughout the Western world, and the devastating effect such legislation has had on the global economy. Above all, he demonstrates how the case for decriminalization remains one of the twenty-first centurys hottest topics.

The locals in the Italian village where he lives call him Signor Farfalla - Mr Butterfly. He is a discreet gentleman who spends his time studying rare butterflies. But Farfallas real profession is deadly. He considers himself an artisan, not for the butterflies he paints but for the guns he creates for assassins. Farfalla has resolved to make his next job his last. Then, perhaps, he can settle down comfortably in the Italian village he has grown to love and enjoy the remainder of his life without constantly looking over his shoulder. But a treacherous circle is closing in on him...

Evil has returned to Rawne Barton - this time in the form of a malevolent chemistry teacher, Yoland, whose aim is to gain power by stealing souls. Pip and Tim, newly started at secondary school, manage to get Sebastian, the alchemists son, into their class so that he can uncover Yolands evil plans. But Yoland has help - not only in the form of a stunted familiar who is also pretending to be a schoolboy, but from a mysterious supply teacher - who turns out to be Malodor, the evil alchemist from Doctor Illuminatus. A truly nail-biting climax takes place at a nuclear power station, where Yoland seeks to harness immense power to his ultimate spell.

Nicholas Highgate, separated from his parents during the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong, is smuggled to the mainland by his Chinese nurse and disguised as a Chinese boy. As he grows to manhood he witnesses the atrocities and deprivations of the Japanese occupation and is himself drawn into the Communist resistance activities. The book ends when the Japanese surrender and Nicholas is reunited with what remains of his family.

Martin Booth died in February 2004, shortly after finishing the book that would be his epitaph - this wonderfully remembered, beautifully told memoir of a childhood lived to the full in a far-flung outpost of the British Empire...An inquisitive seven-year-old, Martin Booth found himself with the whole of Hong Kong at his feet when his father was posted there in the early 1950s. Unrestricted by parental control and blessed with bright blond hair that signified good luck to the Chinese, he had free access to hidden corners of the colony normally closed to a Gweilo, a pale fellow like him. Befriending rickshaw coolies and local stallholders, he learnt Cantonese, sampled delicacies such as boiled water beetles and one-hundred-year-old eggs, and participated in colourful festivals. He even entered the forbidden Kowloon Walled City, wandered into the secret lair of the Triads and visited an opium den. Along the way he encountered a colourful array of people, from the plink plonk man with his dancing monkey to Nagasaki Jim, a drunken child molester, and the Queen of Kowloon, the crazed tramp who may have been a member of the Romanov family.Shadowed by the unhappiness of his warring parents, a broad-minded mother who, like her son, was keen to embrace all things Chinese, and a bigoted father who was enraged by his familys interest in going native, Martin Booths compelling memoir is a journey into Chinese culture and an extinct colonial way of life that glows with infectious curiosity and humour.