Emma Smith – författare

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of This Is Shakespeare, written and read by Emma Smith.A genius and prophet whose timeless works encapsulate the human condition like no others. A writer who surpassed his contemporaries in vision, originality and literary mastery. Who wrote like an angel, putting it all so much better than anyone else.Is this Shakespeare? Well, sort of.But it doesn''t really tell us the whole truth. So much of what we say about Shakespeare is either not true, or just not relevant, deflecting us from investigating the challenges of his inconsistencies and flaws. This electrifying new book thrives on revealing, not resolving, the ambiguities of Shakespeare''s plays and their changing topicality. It introduces an intellectually, theatrically and ethically exciting writer who engages with intersectionality as much as with Ovid, with economics as much as poetry: who writes in strikingly modern ways about individual agency, privacy, politics, celebrity and sex. It takes us into a world of politicking and copy-catting, as we watch him emulating the blockbusters of Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Kyd, the Spielberg and Tarantino of their day; flirting with and skirting round the cut-throat issues of succession politics, religious upheaval and technological change. The Shakespeare in this book poses awkward questions rather than offering bland answers, always implicating us in working out what it might mean.This is Shakespeare. And he needs your attention.

Brought to you by Penguin.''A fascinating journey into our relationship with the physical book...I lost count of the times I exclaimed with delight when I read a nugget of information I hadn''t encountered before'' Val McDermid, The TimesMost of what we say about books is really about the words inside them: the rosy nostalgic glow for childhood reading, the lifetime companionship of a much-loved novel. But books are things as well as words, objects in our lives as well as worlds in our heads. And just as we crack their spines, loosen their leaves and write in their margins, so they disrupt and disorder us in turn. All books are, as Stephen King put it, ''a uniquely portable magic''. Here, Emma Smith shows us why.Portable Magic unfurls an exciting and iconoclastic new story of the book in human hands, exploring when, why and how it acquired its particular hold over us. Gathering together a millennium''s worth of pivotal encounters with volumes big and small, Smith reveals that, as much as their contents, it is books'' physical form - their ''bookhood'' - that lends them their distinctive and sometimes dangerous magic. From the Diamond Sutra to Jilly Cooper''s Riders, to a book made of wrapped slices of cheese, this composite artisanal object has, for centuries, embodied and extended relationships between readers, nations, ideologies and cultures, in significant and unpredictable ways.Exploring the unexpected and unseen consequences of our love affair with books, Portable Magic hails the rise of the mass-market paperback, and dismantles the myth that print began with Gutenberg; it reveals how our reading habits have been shaped by American soldiers, and proposes new definitions of a ''classic''-and even of the book itself. Ultimately, it illuminates the ways in which our relationship with the written word is more reciprocal - and more turbulent - than we tend to imagine.© Emma Smith 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

Secondary data is a powerful tool for providing context to an otherwise small-scale study, as well as being an efficient way of bringing together a large amount of data, particularly where access to the field may be difficult.

This comprehensive guide introduces students to the use of secondary data in educational and social research, and provides a practical resource for researchers who are new to the field of secondary data analysis. The author encourages researchers to consider the potential for using secondary data both as their primary research method, but also as a useful strategy in mixed methods designs.

The first part of the book explores the role of secondary data analysis in contemporary social research. It considers the arguments for and against its use and addresses its particular benefits in mixed method research designs, especially those in the political arithmetic tradition.

The second part introduces worked examples which show the potential for using secondary sources to answer a varied range of research questions. It provides step-by-step guidance on how to manipulate and analyse secondary data. The inclusion of recent national and international datasets as exemplars allows students to place their research in a 'real life' context and to consider current and topical research issues.

This comprehensive guide introduces students to the use of secondary data in educational and social research, and provides a practical resource for researchers who are new to the field of secondary data analysis. The author encourages researchers to consider the potential for using secondary data both as their primary research method, but also as a useful strategy in mixed methods designs.

The first part of the book explores the role of secondary data analysis in contemporary social research. It considers the arguments for and against its use and addresses its particular benefits in mixed method research designs, especially those in the political arithmetic tradition.

The second part introduces worked examples which show the potential for using secondary sources to answer a varied range of research questions. It provides step-by-step guidance on how to manipulate and analyse secondary data. The inclusion of recent national and international datasets as exemplars allows students to place their research in a ''real life'' context and to consider current and topical research issues.

This Guide steers students through the critical writing on Shakespeare’s tragedies from the sixteenth century to the present day.