To understand a people, acquaint yourself with their proverbs' runs an Arab adage, and here are the books that do just that. The popular Apricots Tomorrow, a selection of sayings from the Gulf region, is joined by sister titles The Son of a Duck is a Floater and Unload your own Donkey which draws on sayings from the Maghreb and Levant. Paralleling age-old Arabic sayings with English equivalents, the proverbs highlight the uncanny similarity of inherited wisdom in both East and West.

Apricots Tomorrow

Literature & Fiction

Primrose Arnander

Ashkhain Skipworth

History & Criticism

Medina Publishing

Here is the long-awaited work by Peter Upton, one of Britain’s leading equine painters and authors. This book on the profound influence of the Arabian horse on the native horses and ponies of Britain is certain to raise interest, if not eyebrows, among horse-lovers around the world.Upton’s unrivalled knowledge of and passion for the Arab horse are well known, and his paintings and books on the subject are in demand world-wide. In Out of the Desert, he focuses on the Arab’s influence on the light horse and pony breeds of Great Britain. The work is lavishly illustrated with Upton’s own paintings and sketches, as well as archive photographs and fine art by artists such as Stubbs, Munnings, Sorolla and the Pre-Raphaelites. Throughout the narrative Upton draws on a rich source of quotes from contemporary and historic writers.The Arab is recognised as the world’s oldest-known pure equine race, and in earlier centuries was eagerly sought after by the rich and powerful. This peerless breed had long been the first among horses, renowned for its strength, sagacity and speed. Due to the purity of its blood, the Arab displayed an unrivalled pre-potency, and its influence can be traced in breeds across the world – the Morgan horse, the Lipizzaner, the Percheron and many others. Upton’s conclusion that Britain’s native breeds have benefited from the benign influence of Arab blood may challenge the long-held views of some purists, but if you have a place in your heart for the horse or pony, you will undoubtedly want to find a place on your bookshelves for this superb book.

Out of the Desert: The Influence of the Arab Horse on the Light Horse and Native Pony Breeds of Britain

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Upton, Peter

Pets & Animal Care

The story of Sheikh Mohammed bin Ibrahim Alsubeaei is an inspiring one – a portrait of a man who, in turbulent times, overcame great hardship and adversity and achieved consummate success. Born in 1915 and fatherless from an early age, he began his working life as a labourer and a shopkeeper. Through hard work and strength of character, he rose to power and wealth, becoming an astute businessman respected by his peers for his honesty and integrity. He is also accomplished poet whose writings and insights are treasured. Notwithstanding his position and power, Sheikh Alsubeaei is a modest man of great dignity, compassion and benevolence; a man who walked with kings yet never lost the common touch. Mohammed Alsubeaei achieved success long before Saudi Arabia received the blessings of great wealth made possible by the discovery of oil. A fervent patriot, he played a crucial role in helping to shape the emerging Kingdom into the strong nation that it is today. The astonishing pace of change – social, political and economic – in Saudi Arabia during the 20th century forms a backdrop to the story of this extraordinary man. Illustrated throughout, the life and times of Mohammed Alsubaeai are told jointly by his daughter Huda and the Arabist and scholar the late Gene Heck, whose last work this is.

Mohammed Alsubeaei: A Journey Of Poverty And Wealth

Biographies & Memoirs

Alsubeaei, Huda

Heck, Gene

Professionals & Academics

Co-authored by HRH Princess Alia, the eldest daughter of the late King Hussein of Jordan, and the artist and author Peter Upton,ERoyal HeritageEtells the story of the Arab horse in Jordan, from the early days of the Bedouin tribes to the 21st century, a story closely associated with the Hashemite family of Jordan, direct descendants of the Prophet. The account also tells of the Arab Revolt of 1916, in which the Emirs Ali, Abdullah, Feisal and Zeid, withET E Lawrence, drove the Ottomans out of the region, and how some of the Hashemite mares became the foundation stock of the Royal Stud in Jordan.ERoyal HeritageEcovers many other adventures including the traumatic events which nearly led to the loss of the StudOs precious mares and describes how, despite these setbacks, the Royal Stud has flourished. In 1987 Princess Alia, Director of the Royal Stud, organised the first Arab horse show to be held in Arabia entitled OThe Arab Horse at Home.O It was an event which inspired other Arab countries to organise horse shows of their own. Princess Alia includes many fascinating personal reminiscences: about the horses she holds so dear, the people involved in the Stud through the years, the famous and infamous, family and friends, heads of state and handlers. The work is richly illustrated with paintings, drawings and rare photographs from old archives and private collections, as well as up-to-date portraits of the Stud and its horses. Peter Upton gives an in-depth account of the horses themselves; the breeding, lineage and preservation of the hugely important Jordanian bloodlines. A story of legend, romance and war,ERoyal HeritageEtells with passion for the first time the remarkable saga of the Arab horse in Jordan.

Royal Heritage: The Story of Jordan's Arab Horses

History

Al Hussein, HRH Princess Alia

UPTON, ROGER

Middle East

On 2 June 2006, a team of three gliders, one chase plane, support crew and all-terrain vehicles gathered at a fiercely hot and dusty airfield 50 kilometers outside Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia. The pilots, two Saudi Princes and the British ex-Special Forces officer who had trained them on the Stemme gliders to be flown, were about to make gliding history by flying in a great circular route round the western half of Saudi Arabia, over some of the harshest and most unforgiving desert terrain in the world. In Wings Over Arabia, Roger Harrison, writer, photographer and longtime resident of the Kingdom, chronicles this modern version of a 'royal progress' over the wild and desolate deserts, the Red Sea coast and the mountainous southwestern region of the Kingdom. The stunning photographs - many unique since the flight paths passed over areas never before or since open to non-military aircraft - are accompanied by entertaining text covering every step of this unique journey. Additional narrative and ground-level photos of the features below the gliders supplement many of the aerial sequences. This firsthand account of an historic and often dangerous exploit constitutes a unique document and is essential reading for everyone with a love of adventure or an eye for beauty. It will appeal to aviators, photographers, geographers, travelers and teachers - and all those who hold Saudi Arabia dear, be they nationals, visitors or 'old Saudi hands' who having lived and worked in the Kingdom reflect on their time spent the Islamic holy land with fondness.

Wings Over Arabia

Harrison, Roger

When Lyn White, an animal cruelty investigator, mooted the idea of an organisation to alleviate and prevent the appaling abuse of animals she was daily witness to, Princess Alia immediately embraced it and saw in it the opportunity to help humans in need as well as animals. Tireless in her charitable work and a woman of limitless compassion, Her Royal Highness nonetheless needed support to get the idea off the ground, and the obvious choice was Sherifa Sarra Ghazi, someone already committed to animal welfare and education, and highly organised and motivated besides. The Foundation is now well established. Although staffed entirely by volunteers and dependent on finance and support from kindly individuals and organisations within Jordan and around the world, its reputation and reach continue to grow. The New Hope Treatment Centre was launched in 2010 to provide medical care for animals, and Growing Together (Equine Therapy) initiated early in 2012 is already showing remarkable results with troubled and autistic children. The story of the Princess Alia Foundation, its triumphs and tragedies, hopes and dreams, and the small miracles that take place each day, is told here - at times harrowing and heart-breaking, at times joyful and uplifting. Above all, it is indisputable evidence of the humbling and transformative power of kindness. Written with passion and humour and gloriously illustrated, this book should be compulsory reading in every part of the world, to reawaken the seeds of compassion that live in all mankind but all too often lie dormant through ignorance or social conditioning, to remind us that we share this planet and our destiny with all living things, and to promote the balance, harmony and respect of all creation.

Small Miracles: The Story of the Princess Alia Foundation

Politics & Social Sciences

Ghazi, Sharifa Sarra

Social Sciences

The History of the British Riding Pony is the fruit of many years of dedicated research and writing by an acknowledged expert on the subject. Drawing on archive material, the book explains how bloodlines emerged over the years and how the types we now see in our show rings have been developed. It describes in detail how the expertise of a few influential breeders initially brought together the best bloodlines from the Thoroughbred, Arab and native pony breeds to create a modern equine which has no equal. In writing this definitive account, Tom Best has not only preserved for posterity the origins and history of this important breed, but provided a fascinating backdrop of more than a century of social history. Fully illustrated with historical and contemporary photographs, the book is essential reading for British Riding Pony aficionados. It will also interest Thoroughbred, Arab and native pony enthusiasts, keen to learn of the formative role their own breed has played in the development of another. The History of the British Riding Pony is a tour de force which provides a unique overview of the development of the breed from the late 19th century, when ponies were required for polo, to the present day when ponies are used extensively in the show ring for children to ride, and is worthy of a place on every equestrian bookshelf.

The History of the British Riding Pony

Best, Tom

Kalila and Dimna or The Panchatantra (also known in Europe since 1483 as The Fables of Bidpai) is a multi-layered, inter-connected and variable arrangement of animal stories, with one story leading into another, sometimes three or four deep. These arrangements have contributed to world literature for over 2000 years, migrating across ancient cultures in a multitude of written and oral formats. All our beast fables from Aesop and the Buddhist Jataka Tales through La Fontaine to Uncle Remus owe this strange, shape-shifting 'book' a huge debt. In its original Arabic format, Kalila and Dimna (The Panchatantra being its Sanskrit precursor), ostensibly constitutes a handbook for rulers, a so-called 'Mirror for Princes' illustrating indirectly, through a cascade of teaching stories and verse, how to (and how not to!) run the kingdom of your life. In their slyly profound grasp of human nature at its best (and worst!) these animal fables, usually avoiding any moralistic human criticism, serve up digestible sage counsel for us all. Based on his collation of scholarly translations from key Sanskrit, Syriac, Arabic and Persian texts, as well as the 1570 English rendition by Sir Thomas North, this is the first uncompromisingly modern re-telling in either the East or West for over 400 years. In Ramsay Wood's version the profound meanings behind these ancient fables shine forth as he captures a great world classic, making it fresh, relevant, fascinating and hugely readable. His second volume of fables from Kalila and Dimna, picks up where the first, Fables of Friendship and Betrayal, left off - covering deceit, political skullduggery, murder, enemies, deadly monsters, kings, bees, princesses, monkeys, lions, crocodiles and how we all live and die together in peace or conflict. This is a book full of outrageously behaved animals and humans doing the most delightfully awful (yet sometimes gentle) things to each other. These are joyous, sad, amusing and sometimes brutal stories; their function being to educate both king and commoner alike in the ways of the world, the harsh realities that can often lurk beneath the surface of our cozy, everyday subjectivity.

KALILA AND DIMNA, Vol. 2: — Fables of Conflict and Intrigue from the Panchatantra, Jatakas, Bidpai, Kalila and Dimnah and Lights of Canopus

Ramsay Wood

World Literature

The Future of the Bank of England: A Silver Lining?

The first volume of The Bank of England Bedside Book (A Thread of Gold) was published in October 2008 by Stacey International. Well received by the banking and financial sectors as well as by the general public, the book aimed to encapsulate something of the history and spirit of the Bank of England to the present-day. Its conclusions pleaded for a

Business & Money

Tempest, Paul

Economics

The first volume of The Bank of England Bedside Book (A Thread of Gold) was published in October 2008 by Stacey International. Well received by the banking and financial sectors as well as by the general public, the book aimed to encapsulate something of the history and spirit of the Bank of England to the present-day. Its conclusions pleaded for a halt to the persistent paring down of the Bank staff and for a re-thinking of the regulatory hiving-off decisions of 1997. On both of these points, a corner has since been turned. The eagerly-awaited second volume The Future of the Bank of England - A Silver Lining? was published on 9 May 2011. This thought-provoking and highly readable new title draws conclusions from the tumultuous events and consequences of the 2007-09 global financial crisis. It has not been easy for the Bank of England, deprived since 1997 of full responsibility for the supervision of the UK banks. These powers will now be restored to the Bank in 2012. Yet such power could be a political and economic banana-skin. Indeed, can the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street survive another onslaught? There are many in Europe who would be quite happy to see Sterling and the Bank swallowed up by the Euro and the European Central Bank. Or might some of the lead banks abandon the UK for points East such as Shanghai, Hong Kong or Singapore? These uncertainties feed on each other. In such matters of confidence and trust, the authors argue, the battle-hardened Bank of England now has a major opportunity to help strengthen the global financial system. The Bank's immediate priorities are, firstly, to rebuild a warm, friendly face-to-face relationship with the rest of the UK financial sector, particularly with the lead banks. Secondly, it must develop a more robust mechanism for restraining inflation and to provide a sound basis for a sustained economic rebound. A longer-term objective is to remain a major player in the global restructuring of the financial markets. Already the Bank provides valuable training and technical consultation services for over 100 other central banks worldwide. THE FUTURE OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND - A SILVER LINING? is a timely and absorbing scrutiny of one of the UK's greatest institutions, its past, present and future. As well as contributions from many major figures from the world of banking, the book includes a section of historical satirical cartoons, a lighthearted look at the contributions to the Bank's in-house publication, The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street, and useful annexes on Bank personnel. Contributors to this THE FUTURE OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND - A SILVER LINING? include three former Chancellors of the Exchequer, the Official Historian of the Bank, the current Chairman of a major City bank, the CEO of the British Bankers Association and 16 former Directors and senior staff of the Bank of England.

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

Books by Medina Publishing

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

Apricots Tomorrow

Out of the Desert: The Influence of the Arab Horse on the Light Horse and Native Pony Breeds of Britain

Mohammed Alsubeaei: A Journey Of Poverty And Wealth

Royal Heritage: The Story of Jordan's Arab Horses

Wings Over Arabia

Small Miracles: The Story of the Princess Alia Foundation

The History of the British Riding Pony

KALILA AND DIMNA, Vol. 2: — Fables of Conflict and Intrigue from the Panchatantra, Jatakas, Bidpai, Kalila and Dimnah and Lights of Canopus

The Future of the Bank of England: A Silver Lining?

The Future of the Bank of England: A Silver Lining?