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Book of the Month

Visit the
Reading Room for selected articles on development and environmental issues.

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The Book Shop

The World Shop includes a book shop and resource centre, with over 9,000 titles available from our database, concentrating mainly on books with an internationalist focus and a wide range of teaching packs covering all areas of the curriculum for all ages.

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RISC: History - £5 from the RISC bookshop

As we were working on the restoration of nos. 35-39 London Street we came across many different discoveries that reminded us of the kind of life and work that had taken place in this building; and as we pulled down walls, and erected others, the structure, and particularly the discovery of old stones with ornate carvings, made us hungry to know about the past history of the place. We knew about William Penn having worshipped here: a local and international link. Gradually we found out about Lovejoy’s activities; and when the museum became interested in the stones, and the connection with Reading Abbey was made, we began to feel that the story must be told: not just the story of the buildings themselves, but how it was that a small educational charity with virtually no money or assets managed to buy them.
This is our attempt to tell you all this incredible story. We had an impossible dream, and after much struggle we found that many other people wanted us to succeed in creating a vibrant and live international centre, where different groups and people could mix and share concerns and interests. More than 300 people gave unselfishly of their time and expertise and became our new friends.

In 2005 we were awarded a Heritage Lottery Fund grant to renovate the historic facade of nos. 35-39, as well as research and publish this book.

We hope this book makes the links between the past and present. The building and the people who worked here have built into its fabric the very international links that RISC’s work is trying to make visible.

see an exhibition of the history of the RISC building