Paperback. Pub Date :2008-12-01 Pages: 304 Language: English Publisher: HarperCollins UK When Isobel and Alex came home from school to find their abusive father had brutally murdered their mother. their world was thrown into chaos Plunged into a care. system that neglected them. Isobel and Alex were expected to come to nothing. and had only each other to rely on.Isobel and Alexs mother used to do everything with them. A full-time teacher. she dedicated herself to her children. partly in order to give them every possible opportunity in life. and partly to keep them out of the way of their increasingly eccentric. erratic and unpleasant father.Their father. a violent and frightening man. spent most of his time locked in his bedroom. a room the rest of the family never ventured into. He became increasingly bitter and angry at the outside world in general. and at his wife and chi...

No One Listened: Two Children Caught in a Tragedy with No One Else to Trust Except for Each Other

Literature & Fiction

Kerr, Alex

Kerr, Isobel

Contemporary

Harper/Element

When Isobel and Alex came home from school to find their abusive father had brutally murdered their mother, their world was thrown into chaos. Plunged into a care system that neglected them, Isobel and Alex were expected to come to nothing, and had only each other to rely on.
Isobel and Alex’s mother used to do everything with them. A full-time teacher, she dedicated herself to her children, partly in order to give them every possible opportunity in life, and partly to keep them out of the way of their increasingly eccentric, erratic and unpleasant father.
Their father, a violent and frightening man, spent most of his time locked in his bedroom, a room the rest of the family never ventured into. He became increasingly bitter and angry at the outside world in general, and at his wife and children in particular. The local community feared his outbursts as much as Isobel and Alex did, but the neighbours saw far less of him as he became increasingly housebound. No one came to the Kerr’s house to visit.
When Isobel was 15 and Alex 13, they came home from school to find police everywhere. Their father had stabbed their mother between fifty and sixty times with a sharpened chisel. As far as anyone could tell the attack was unprovoked and of incredible savagery, but the children were given the minimum amount of information. No one wanted to upset them unnecessarily.
Their mother had been an only child and they had never been in contact with their father's family. There was no one else for them to turn to - except each other.
This is an inspiring story of a brother and sister who only had each other, and a powerful testament to what can be achieved through courage and love.

No One Listened: Two children. A horrific act of violence. No one to trust except each other.

HarperElement

The decades of Western adulation for the Japanese 'economic miracle' failed to notice a key point: that in the pursuit of this miracle the Japanese had turned their country into a degraded, concrete shambles - a wilderness of bad planning, corruption and crowding. Now that the miracle is at an end and Japan seems set to remain in the economic doldrums it must become apparent to everyone that one of the world's greatest cultures has ruined itself almost beyond repair. Alex Kerr's wonderful book conveys vividly and furiously both the dazzling nature of Japanese culture and how the bureaucrats of a country he loves have poisoned and ruined it.

Dogs and Demons: The Fall of Modern Japan

Reference

Penguin

Originally written in Japanese, this passionate, vividly personal book draws on the author's experiences in Japan over 30 years. Alex Kerr brings to life the ritualized world of Kabuki, retraces his initiation into Tokyo's boardrooms during the heady Bubble Years, and tells the story of the hidden valley that became his home. But the book is not just a love letter. Haunted throughout by nostalgia for the Japan of old, Kerr's book is part paean to that great country and culture, part epitaph in the face of contemporary Japan's environmental and cultural destruction.

Lost Japan: Last Glimpse of Beautiful Japan

History

Asia

The essential book for anyone visiting Bangkok - a wonderful mixture of history and culture - from the author of Lost Japan One of Asia's most extraordinary cities, Bangkok is also one of the most baffling. It is filled with remarkable people and glittering golden palaces and temples, but is also a maze of concrete and twisting overhead utility wires. Alex Kerr has spent over thirty years of his life living in Bangkok and is uniquely qualified to write about it. As with his bestselling books on Japan (Lost Japan and Another Kyoto), he revels in the secret, tucked-away corners, the great contemporary artists and the sheer wonder of so many aspects of Thai dance and design. While deploring the loss of much of old Bangkok, he is never merely nostalgic for a past but finds inspiration in Thailand's dynamic modern fusions. Another Bangkok will delight both those who think they know the city well and those visiting for the first time. Kerr is a uniquely wry and eloquent guide to everything from ceramics to puppetry, from flower patterns to old houses. &nbsp;

Another Bangkok: Reflections on the City

Penguin Uk

Another Kyoto is a matchless guide to a great city, It is the fruit of Alex Kerr's half-century of living in Japan and of lore gleaned from people he's met along the way: artists, Zen monks and Shinto priests, Japanese literati, and expat personalities from days past, such as legendary art dealer David Kidd. Kerr turns what we thought we knew about Kyoto inside-out, revealing the inner ideas behind simple things like walls, floors, and sliding doors. After this book, one can never walk through a Zen gate in the same way again.

Another Kyoto

Travel

Sokol, Kathy Arlyn

Finding the Heart Sutra: Guided by a Magician, an Art Collector and Buddhist Sages from Tibet to Japan

An introduction to the essential Buddhist text from the author of Lost Japan\nForty years ago, after learning of the Heart Sutra in Japan, Alex Kerr set out on a quest to seek the wisdom that lies at the heart of this ancient Buddhist scripture. Guided by Zen abbots in Kyoto, Tibetan monks, a French writer, an American art collector, a magician, and the writings of Chinese scholars over the centuries, he came to see how this brief poem on emptiness is a storehouse of a universe of thought.\nTraveling from Japan, Korea, and China, to India, Mongolia, Tibet, and Vietnam, this intimate book weaves together memory, history, and calligraphy. Alex reveals us to the many ways the Heart Sutra continues to influence the culture of Japan - and the world - today.

Short Stories & Anthologies

Forty years ago, after learning of the Heart Sutra in Japan, Alex Kerr set out on a quest to seek the wisdom that lies at the heart of this ancient Buddhist scripture. Guided by Zen abbots in Kyoto, Tibetan monks, a French writer, an American art collector, a magician and the writings of Chinese scholars over the centuries, he came to see how this brief poem on emptiness is a storehouse of a universe of thought.Travelling from Japan, Korea, and China, to India, Mongolia, Tibet and Vietnam, this intimate book weaves together memory, history and calligraphy. Alex reveals us to the many ways the Heart Sutra continues to influence the culture of Japan - and the world - today.

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Gardening & Landscape Design

Allen Lane.

Dogs and Demons:Tales from the Dark Side of Japan

A surprising assessment of the failures and successes of modern Japan.
In Dogs and Demons, Alex Kerr chronicles the many facets of Japan's recent, and chronic, crises -- from the failure of its banks and pension funds to the decline of its once magnificent modern cinema. He is the first to give a full report on the nation's endangered environment -- its seashores lined with concrete, its roads leading to nowhere in the mountains -- as well as its "monument frenzy," the destruction of old cities such as Kyoto and construction of drab new ones, and the attendant collapse of its tourist industry. Kerr writes with humor and passion, for "passion," he says, "is part of the story. Millions of Japanese feel as heartbroken at what is going on as I do. My Japanese friends tell me, 'Please write this -- for us.'"

Dogs and Demons: Tales from the Dark Side of Japan

Business & Money

Economics

Hill and Wang

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Kerr, Alex. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Kerr, Alex

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Kerr, Alex. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

No One Listened: Two Children Caught in a Tragedy with No One Else to Trust Except for Each Other

No One Listened: Two children. A horrific act of violence. No one to trust except each other.

Dogs and Demons: The Fall of Modern Japan

Lost Japan: Last Glimpse of Beautiful Japan

Another Bangkok: Reflections on the City

Another Kyoto

Finding the Heart Sutra: Guided by a Magician, an Art Collector and Buddhist Sages from Tibet to Japan

Finding the Heart Sutra: Guided by a Magician, an Art Collector and Buddhist Sages from Tibet to Japan

Dogs and Demons:Tales from the Dark Side of Japan

Dogs and Demons: Tales from the Dark Side of Japan