Bøker av Michael Davies

Geneticists had dicovered that our DNA holds a visual and aural records of our lives and those of our direct ancestors. It becomes possible to look back through time. New historical facts are discovered, old one revised and the whole meaning of what it isd to be human starts to change. The biggest change occurs when it is found that the basis of the world's great religions is quite different from what been believed and everything must change, often with violent consequences. But as new discoveries are made about the ancient world, a new renaissance in the arts, science, medicine, justice and diplomacy arises and the world changes just as it had done before. But a critical question arises - why do we have this ability? Where does it come from?

Alex finds a beautiful recorder hidden in his house and when he plays it, a door to another world opens. He and his friend Kate travel in a strange world, meeting monsters and people who have been there for many years. Some of the adventures are sad, meeting a squad of Australian soldiers who have been for some years but they don't know who the enemy is or how they got there. Some are frightening and they also find there is a mystery about their own parents that they can now resolve.

Daniel (11) and his next door neighbours, Olive (11) and April (6) find a portal into another world in the forest. As they explore they encounter strange forces, some dangerous and hostile, some friendly. When they return, there are new revalations about their families and their origins. The three children must venture back through the portal to try and save the nation there from a wicked Empress and restore peace and safety.

When Gilbert discovers the amazing powers of his farts, he embarks on a series of adventures. he flies into orbit, saves a house from burglars, tries to help his footie team win a game, rescues a man trapped on the roof of a burning building, gets rid of a plague of rats at the market and saves the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race from being becalmed in zero winds.

The new kid's arrival at school causes a stir. Not only is he immaculately and stylishly dressed, but he arrives in a Humvee limousine with two armed guards who stay with him all day. Alice, C.J., Casey and Ben, a young American who is also a new arrival get to meet Yuri and they all become friends. But then Yuri and Casey are kidnapped from a party and the complexity of the situation increases dramatically. It turns out that Ben's parents are CIA agents and they are somehow connected with the case. And why are the Australian Federal Police involved? And just who is Yuri Kirilenko? All the friends display great courage and resourcefulness as they struggle to solve the mystery of Yuri Kirilenko and free him and Casey from the grip of a mysterious European group.

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics may have died decades ago but not all the roots are dead. When Dan Bailey, a successful English executive living in Chicago starts to have bizarre, frightening nightmares of a long-ago Russian childhood, he gradually discovers that he is one of those hidden roots, a "Manchurian Candidate" left behind many years ago as a weapon against the USA. His incredible psychological mind-conditioning back in a secret camp in Siberia has left him an unwilling slave of a one-time General in the KGB who is using him now as a weapon, not against the country but against his business rivals. Dan discovers that he has murdered enemies of the General and he is quite incapable of refusing the orders he is given and after he has killed, he forgets the event. But the conditioning is breaking down after all these years and Dan starts to remember his childhood, his mother, the training and the men he has killed on the orders of his controller. Desperate to break free of this slavery, Dan tries to enlist the help of those who were once his enemy, the US intelligence forces who had tried to create their own Manchurian Candidates in years gone by. But undergoing the appalling, near-fatal process of breaking the mental conditioning leaves Dan not knowing who is friend and who is enemy.

A series of serial killings begins in Sydney, spreads around Australia and then is found to be happening around the world. Detective Inspector David Hunter, leading the Homicide Squad goes under cover to investigate the killings and puts himself at great risk of his life as he finds out the appalling truth behind the murders.

Julie Malloy and her friends make a school visit to the museum. On leaving and reclaiming her bag from the checkout, she is given the wrong one. Nobody claims it and her own is still there. When they are able to open the bag, they find a map indicating something hidden. As they unravel the mystery, they find themselves in a dangerous situation with a gang of criminals who export Australian wildlife overseas. They must draw on all their courage and intelligence to solve the mystery and keep themselves safe.

When Geoff, Natasha, Emma and Adrian are "double-dared" to visit a spooky new store in town, they couldn't not take the challenge. And spooky it is, indeed! Inside, they find first editions of famous old books, newly-printed newspapers with headline stories of events that happened decades ago, a radio broadcasting news of cricket matches that were played sixty years ago and many other strange exhibits. But they also find something terrifying - an old painting in a large gold frame hangs on the wall and the picture is of - themselves! The picture starts to take hold of Geoff's mind and attaches itself to him. He wakes up the next morning after a series of nightmares, the picture is on his bedroom wall but with a different scene - Geoffrey on his own looking back at him. What is the dark secret of the picture and how will Geoff and his friends prevent it from taking hold of him and imprisoning him as it has with others in the past?

A little girl is kidnapped off a school bus, but almost immediately released. Then a second child is taken from the school and demands are issued for her locket. Australian Military Police are involved because the child is the daughter of the officer in charge of the case and there is a mystery that involves international crime. The locket is believed to hold the location of a cache of jewels once owned by the eldest daughter of the last Russian Czar and the criminals holding the hostage are a major European crime gang. An elaborate plot is devised to save the child and snare the criminals.

Mark and Anna meet the day before their thirteenth birthday when Mark moves to a new school. They discover more and more about each other and realise that they must be twins, adopted by different parents. But they also learn that they have unusual powers that show that they are not human. Eventually they learn of the two hundred year old war that has been fought on Earth by two groups from their home planet who were marooned on Earth by a space accident involving the ship that brought them. They learn that their natural parents have been kidnapped by a group that has gone rogue in its quest for wealth and that they are the only ones who can rescue them. Mark and Anna must draw on all their extraordinary powers and their courage to sort out this terrible mess.

Time travel is impossible, but a team of well-funded geneticists discovers that human DNA contains a full visual and aural record of every second of our lives and this can be retrieved and displayed. Then they discover that the DNA also holds a similar record of every one of our direct ancestors and this allows us to look back in time through the eyes of previous generations. Amazing discoveries are made, some old beliefs shattered, new historical truths discovered. Massive changes start to appear in what it means to be human and all of society will change irrevocably.

On retiring as a pilot from the Royal Air Force, Scott Mcintyre is invited to join a British group of agents known as the Mongoose Section. This group is tasked with protecting VIPs from international assassins and to hunt down these killers. One such killer, Mustapha al Yaffi had murdered Scott's parents and sister in a botched operation in Spain and Scott is eager to join Mongoose Section. But on hunting for al Yaffi all over the world. Scott finds that everything he learns about his target, his family and even himself is nothing that he could ever have expected.

Two soldiers returned from the wreckage of World War II and made themselves the richest men in America. They founded and have led a group of some of the most powerful men in the USA who plan a coup to take over the country and run it as a dictatorship for their own ends. A specialist group of highly secret and dedicated agents discovers the plot and starts trying to uncover the full scope of what is being planned and who is behind it all. But nobody, not the agents, nor even the members of the "New America Society" know the real details of the old men's plan and just how destructive it could be. As the day of the coup draws near, the members of "Task Force Five" must work frantically to prevent the catastrophe.

Individually and collectively, this title features essays that establish a new direction for scholarship that examines the crucial activities of reading and writing about literature and how they relate to 'authenticity'. It also includes a note on Professor Vincent Newey with a bibliography of his critical writings.

Gruffudd ap Llywelyn