SCIENCE SATURDAYS: MANCHESTER SCIENCE FESTIVAL

Join us for two days of free talks from leading science writers at Oxford University Press.

Throughout October 27 and November 3, our Science Saturdays should illuminate and amuse. It's all part of Manchester Science Festival, and it's going to be amazing.

Here's a poster which you can click on and copy if you want - along with our full schedule of events.

Waking the Giant
Sat 27 Oct 2012 11am - 12 noon
Bill McGuire argues that climate change is once more setting the scene for the giant to reawaken, and we can already see the signs... [more]

The Goldilocks Planet
Sat 27 Oct 2012 2pm
Two leading geologists give important insights into dramatic changes in Earth's distant past, and the delicate balance that ensures our planet is 'not too hot, not too cold', but 'just right' to sustain life... [more]

Why Millions Survive Cancer
Sat 27 Oct 2012 3.30pm
The enormous recent progress in fighting cancer, and the science behind it, is revealed fully for the first time Lauren Pecorino, who looks to the future in our battle with this disease... [more]

Run, Swim, Throw, Cheat
Sat 27 Oct 2012 5pm
Drugs in sport are big news and the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport is common. What are the limits of human performance? What stops us running faster, throwing longer, or jumping higher? Find out at this fascinating event... [more]

On Being
Sat 3 Nov 2012 11am
In this scientific 'credo', Peter Atkins considers the universal questions of origins, endings, birth, and death to which religions have claimed answers... [more]

Why Humans Like to Cry
Sat 3 Nov 2012 2pm
Why have we developed art forms - most powerfully, music - which move us to sadness and tears? [more]

Higgs: The invention and discovery of the 'God Particle'
Sat 3 Nov 2012 3.30pm
The hunt for the Higgs particle has involved the biggest, most expensive experiment ever. So what is this particle called the Higgs boson? [more]

There are loads of other venues hosting events too. See more on the Manchester Science Festival website.

NEW OPENING TIMES

We're now open loads. From this week, we'll open until 6.30pm. With our 8.30am opening plus Saturday *and* Sunday opening, that's 3,780 minutes of book-browsing time in just one week!

We have stacks of textbooks for your courses, and lots of them are cheaper than Am*z*n. Even if you're not sure of your reading list, come and speak to our subject experts: they have books coming out of their ears. Sometimes, literally.

Opening times (as of 24 September 2012):

Monday 8.30am - 6.30pm
Tuesday 8.30am - 6.30pm
Wednesday 8.30am - 6.30pm
Thursday 8.30am - 6.30pm
Friday 8.30am - 6.30pm
Saturday 9am - 5pm
Sunday 11am-4pm

FRESHERS: WIN A £250 BLACKWELL'S VOUCHER

50 Shades or Catch 22?

If you're starting at the University of Manchester this year, you could win £250 in a brand new competition that tests your literary likes.

All you need to do is take a photo of yourself with a book you love - or hate - and upload it to Twitter with the right hashtag.

Our booksellers will choose their favourite photos - and then one randomly-picked winner will get a £250 Blackwell's voucher.

The full details, including that special hashtag to open the doorway to oodles of cash, can be found on the University of Manchester's Welcome site. You'll find some top five bestsellers on there too.

Get snapping!

THIS IS A SHOE

This is a shoe.



It is a stiletto.

You can tell it is a stiletto because when it is placed on the floor, the tall heel lifts up at the back and holds the foot at an angle. That is how stilettos work.

Here is the cover of Fifty Shades Of Grey imitator Bared to You by Sylvia Day. This is also a shoe.



It is a stilAAARGHo.

You can tell it is a stilAAARGHo because when it is placed on the floor, the heel shoots up so high, unless its wearer is walking up stairs, she'd be pushing her face along the floor screaming "AAARGH".

Here is a detail on the back of the book.

Look at the underside. Unlike the front pics, the shoe now has a sole. Which suggests to us that the shoe on the front cover is a bottomless pit which, we suspect, leads to hell. Probably.

We're with Melville House: we prefer the American cover.

WANT TO WORK WITH US?

We're looking for temporary staff to work with our booksellers when the September student rush arrives.

If you like giving great service to customers and would work well as part of a very busy bookshop with lots going on (long queues, lots of questions, plenty of bookstalls) - and you're a fast learner - then we want to hear from you.

We tend to give preference to those that are not currently committed to university studies (we'll need you most when students are busiest!). Experience is nice, but we often find our best people from all walks of life.

Temp roles will last at least four weeks. Send your CV to us - details are on the Contact page.

PHILANTHROPY AND POLITICS: TONIGHT

Inderjeet Parmar (pictured) and Vanessa Pupavac will join us tonight for a discussion on the role of philanthropy and NGOs in politics.

The discussion, hosted by Manchester Salon, will look at how philanthropy has changed, from Rockefeller to Greenpeace - and how, as investigated in Inderjeet Parmar's Foundations of the American Century, it affects western influence in the world.

It starts at 6.30pm tonight at Blackwell's. Tickets can be bought via the Manchester Salon.

THE SHORTEST NIGHT: WED 20 JUNE

On the shortest night of the year, Blackwell's will play host to two compelling writers.

The Shortest Night is part of a series of events across the UK to celebrate International Short Story Day on 20 June 2012. The Manchester leg of the Day will take place in our bookshop and will feature Claire Massey and Anneliese Mackintosh reading their work and discussing their love of short fiction.,

Litfest's Claire Massey is co-editor of Paraxis and has been published in The Best British Short Stories 2011, Murmurations (pictured), Flax, and has released two chapbooks on the excellent Nightjar Press.

Anneliese Mackintosh writes literary fiction, comedy, stage plays and much more, and has appeared in the Edinburgh Review, Gutter, Outside of a Dog, and has been broadcast on Radio 4. She's just finished her first short story collection.

Claire and Anneliese will read from their work and discuss their love of the short story form. It starts at 7pm this Wednesday 20 June and is free to get in. The Shortest Night is brought to you in association with Manchester's Comma Press and Cargo Publishing in Glasgow .

You can find more information on the Comma Press website.