Search results for ""Penguin Books""

One of the last surviving members of the futurist generation, Bruno Munari's Design as Art is an illustrated journey into the artistic possibilities of modern design translated by Patrick Creagh published as part of the 'Penguin on Design' series in Penguin Modern Classics.'The designer of today re-establishes the long-lost contact between art and the public, between living people and art as a living thing'Bruno Munari was among the most inspirational designers of all time, described by Picasso as 'the new Leonardo'. Munari insisted that design be beautiful, functional and accessible, and this enlightening and highly entertaining book sets out his ideas about visual, graphic and industrial design and the role it plays in the objects we use everyday. Lamps, road signs, typography, posters, children's books, advertising, cars and chairs - these are just some of the subjects to which he turns his illuminating gaze. How do we see the world around us? The Penguin on Design series includes the works of creative thinkers whose writings on art, design and the media have changed our vision forever.Bruno Munari (1907-1998), born in Milan, was the enfant terrible of Italian art and design for most of the twentieth century, contributing to many fields of both visual (paint, sculpture, film, industrial design, graphics) and non-visual arts (literature, poetry). He was twice awarded the Compasso d'Oro design prize for excellence in his field.If you enjoyed Design as Art, you might like John Berger's Ways of Seeing, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.'One of the most influential designers of the twentieth century ... Munari has encouraged people to go beyond formal conventions and stereotypes by showing them how to widen their perceptual awareness'International Herald Tribune

Read more less

Can nature make us happy? How can we know anything? What is justice? Why is there evil in the world? What is the source of truth? Is it possible for God not to exist? Can we really believe what we see? There are questions that have intrigued the world's great thinkers over the ages, which still touch a cord in all of us today. They are questions that can teach us about the way we live, work, relate to each other and see the world. Here, one of the world's greatest living philosophers, Leszek Kolakowski, explores the essence of these ideas, introducing figures from Socrates to Thomas Aquinas, Descartes to Nietzsche and concentrating on one single important philosophical question from each of them. Whether reflecting on good and evil, truth and beauty, faith and the soul, or free will and consciousness, Kolakowski shows that these timeless ideas remain at the very core of our existence.

Read more less

THE NAIL-BITING, PULSE-RACING THRILLER FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR, NICCI FRENCH'Extraordinary. It carried me with it on the breathless ride' 5***** Reader Review'Had me totally hooked and kept me guessing until the end' 5***** Reader Review'Gripping, entertaining . . . A real page-turner' 5***** Reader Review______ The clock is ticking - and the search hasn't even begun . . . Nina Landry has given up city life for the isolated community of Sandling Island. At night, the wind howls. Sometimes they are cut off by the incoming tide. But for Nina, it is home. It is safe.But when Nina's teenage daughter Charlie fails to return from a sleepover on the day they're due to go on holiday, the island becomes a different place altogether. A place of secrets and suspicions. Where no one - friends, neighbours, even the police - believes Nina's instinctive fear that her daughter is in terrible danger.Alone, she undergoes a frantic search for Charlie.And as day turns to night, she begins to doubt not only whether they'll leave the island for their holiday - but whether they will ever leave it again . . .______Praise for Nicci French:'Nicci French's sophisticated, compassionate and gripping crime novels stand head and shoulders above the competition' Sophie Hannah'French is undeniably at the top of British psychological suspense writing, expert in the unguessable twist, supremely skilled at ratcheting up the tension' Observer 'A nerve-jangling and addictive read' Daily Express'You live through every nail-biting minute' Guardian 'A brilliantly crafted crime series' Daily Mirror

Read more less

Moving between Spanish conquest abroad and the court of the astute Charles V, Hugh Thomas's The Golden Age: The Spanish Empire of Charles V is the second volume in a planned trilogy on the Spanish Empire. When the Spanish conquistadors arrived in South America in the sixteenth century, they swept across the continent in a blaze of imperial expansion and brutal savagery. Beginning with the return of the remnants of Magellan's circumnavigation in 1522 and ending with Charles's death in 1558, Hugh Thomas's masterful work brilliantly brings to life one of the most extraordinary periods of the Renaissance, revealing how the Spaniards were able to conquer Guatemala, Yucatan, Columbia, Venezuela, Peru and Chile; how the audacious conquistador Francisco de Orellana sailed down the Amazon, why Cabeza de Vaca walked from Florida to Mexico and what drove Hernando de Soto to pursue worldly riches in Florida, Mississippi and Georgia. While adventurers and explorers like Cortés and Pizarro build entire cities and amassed vast wealth from the treasures of the land, they also killed thousands, and left the indelible mark of Spain's language and religion for centuries to come. 'Thomas tells the story of missionary zeal and military plunder with a zest worthy of a swashbuckling historical novelist' The Times 'A riveting story of adventure and cruelty ... a considerable scholarly accomplishment' Ben Wilson, Daily Telegraph 'This monumental history is an extraordinary achievement ... A beguilingly-written account of a fascinating subject' Alexander Samson, The Times Higher Education Supplement Hugh Thomas is the author of, among other books, The Spanish Civil War (1962), which won the Somerset Maugham Award, Cuba: The Pursuit of Freedom (1971), An Unfinished History of the World (1979), and the first volume of his Spanish Empire trilogy, Rivers of Gold (2003).

Read more less

'A gem of a book ... Inspiring and timely. Everyone should read it' Independent'The Rule of Law' is a phrase much used but little examined. The idea of the rule of law as the foundation of modern states and civilisations has recently become even more talismanic than that of democracy, but what does it actually consist of? In this brilliant short book, Britain's former senior law lord, and one of the world's most acute legal minds, examines what the idea actually means. He makes clear that the rule of law is not an arid legal doctrine but is the foundation of a fair and just society, is a guarantee of responsible government, is an important contribution to economic growth and offers the best means yet devised for securing peace and co-operation. He briefly examines the historical origins of the rule, and then advances eight conditions which capture its essence as understood in western democracies today. He also discusses the strains imposed on the rule of law by the threat and experience of international terrorism. The book will be influential in many different fields and should become a key text for anyone interested in politics, society and the state of our world.

Read more less

Keith Lowe's Savage Continent is an awe-inspiring portrait of how Europe emerged from the ashes of WWII.The end of the Second World War saw a terrible explosion of violence across Europe. Prisoners murdered jailers. Soldiers visited atrocities on civilians. Resistance fighters killed and pilloried collaborators. Ethnic cleansing, civil war, rape and murder were rife in the days, months and years after hostilities ended. Exploring a Europe consumed by vengeance, Savage Continent is a shocking portrait of an until-now unacknowledged time of lawlessness and terror.Praise for Savage Continent:'Deeply harrowing, distinctly troubling. Moving, measured and provocative. A compelling and plausible picture of a continent physically and morally brutalized by slaughter' Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times'Excellent', Independent 'Unbearable but essential. A serious account of things we never knew and our fathers would rather forget. Lowe's transparent prose makes it difficult to look away from a whole catalogue of horrors...you won't sleep afterwards. Such good history it keeps all the questions boiling in your mind', ScotsmanKeith Lowe is widely recognized as an authority on the Second World War, and has often spoken on TV and radio, both in Britain and the United States. He is the author of the critically acclaimed Inferno: The Devastation of Hamburg, 1943 (Penguin). He lives in north London with his wife and two children.

Read more less

Cutting through the myths about the white market, Tome Feiling's The Candy Machine is the story of cocaine as it's never been told before.Gabrielle unwinds at weekends with a line of coke - and also works for a major police force. Juan Pablo is a drugs mule in Bogotá who gets his stash from a sweathouse. Belica started picking coca when she was eleven. Kurt Schmoke, former mayor of Baltimore, thinks legalization's the only way ... Cocaine is big business. Governments spend millions on an unwinnable war against it, yet it's now the drug of choice in the West. How did the cocaine economy get so huge? Who keeps it running behind the scenes? In The Candy Machine Tom Feiling travels the trade routes from Colombia via Miami, Kingston and Tijuana to London and New York. He meets Medellín hitmen, US kingpins, British crack users and Brazilian traffickers, and talks to the soldiers and narcotics officers who fight the gangs. 'An important study of the cultivation, usage and suppression of cocaine' Financial Times 'The Candy Machine is highly addictive' Metro 'It is hard to decide if Tom Feiling's future lies as a QC or the new Paul Theroux. A vivid, argumentative, arresting book' Sunday Telegraph 'I've read a few documentary accounts of the rise of cocaine, and this might be the best of them' Evening Standard Tom Feiling is an award-winning documentary film-maker. He spent a year living and working in Colombia before making Resistencia: Hip-Hop in Colombia, which won numerous awards at film festivals around the world, and was broadcast in four countries. In 2003 he became Campaigns Director for the TUC's Justice for Colombia campaign, which organizes for human rights in Colombia. His book Short Walks from Bogotá: Journeys in the new Colombia is published by Allen Lane.

Read more less

It was Thomas Jefferson who envisioned the United States as a great 'empire of liberty.' In the first new one-volume history in two decades, David Reynolds takes Jefferson's phrase as a key to the saga of America - helping unlock both its grandeur and its paradoxes. He examines how the anti-empire of 1776 became the greatest superpower the world has seen, how the country that offered liberty and opportunity on a scale unmatched in Europe nevertheless founded its prosperity on the labour of black slaves and the dispossession of the Native Americans. He explains how these tensions between empire and liberty have often been resolved by faith - both the evangelical Protestantism that has energized U.S. politics since the foundation of the nation and the larger faith in American righteousness that has impelled the country's expansion. Reynolds' account is driven by a compelling argument which illuminates our contemporary world.

Read more less

To reduce risk of pandemics for ourselves, our gaze needs to turn to the health of animals. Discover Jonathan Safran Foer's eye-opening and life-changing account of the meat we eat.'Should be compulsory reading. A genuine masterwork. Read this book. It will change you' Time OutEating Animals is the most original and urgent book on the subject of food written this century. It will change the way you think, and change the way you eat. For good.Whether you're flirting with veganuary, trying to cut back on animal consumption, or a lifelong meat-eater, you need to read this book.From the bestselling author of the essential book on animal agriculture and climate crisis: We are the Weather.'Shocking, incandescent, brilliant' The Times'Everyone who eats flesh should read this book' Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall'Universally compelling. Jonathan Safran Foer's book changed me' Natalie Portman'Gripping [and] original. A brilliant synthesis of argument, science and storytelling. One of the finest books ever written on the subject of eating animals' Times Literary Supplement'If you eat meat and fish, you should read this book. Even if you don't, you should. It might bring the beginning of a change of heart about all living things' Joanna Lumley

Read more less

Missing Out is a meditation on reality and opportunity by Adam Phillips, Britain's pre-eminent psychoanalyst.We all have two lives - the life we live and the life of our fantasies. But it is the life unlived - the person we have failed to be - that can trouble and even haunt us. In Missing Out acclaimed psychoanalyst Adam Phillips delves into the gap between who we are and who we are not, to discover whether not getting what we want may be the unlikely key to the fully lived life.With his trademark combination of open-minded enquiry and exhilarating argument, drawing primarily on the twin worlds of literature and psychoanalysis, Phillips will delight readers old and new in this much-anticipated book.

Read more less

In The Language of Things Deyan Sudjic, Director of the Design Museum, decodes the things around us: their hidden meanings, our relationship with them, how they shape our lives and why we desire them. Design is everywhere. It seduces, pleases and inspires us. It makes us part with our money. It defines who we think we are. An iPhone, an anglepoise lamp, a Picasso, a banknote, an Armani suit, a William Morris textile, a Lucky Strike packet, a spacecraft - every object tells a story. And understanding their stories offers us a whole new way of seeing the world. 'Articulate and wonderfully knowledgeable ... for anyone who takes an interest in the world around us' Time Out 'A nightmare vision of a world drowning in objects ... witty, well observed and wide-ranging' Guardian 'An elegant, witty and free-ranging survey, from Thomas Chippendale's ponderous 18th-century manor-house furnishings to Jonathan Ive's sprightly Macintosh iBooks' Daily Telegraph 'Lively ... engaging' Evening Standard 'Readable, sharp and worthwhile' Financial Times Director of the Design Museum, Deyan Sudjic was born in London of Yugoslav parents. He is a former architecture critic for the Observer, and a visiting professor at the Royal College of Art. Sudjic was Director of the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2002 and is author of The Edifice Complex, the much-praised 100-Miles City, the best-selling Architecture Pack, The Language of Things and monographs on John Pawson, Ron Arad and Richard Rogers.

Read more less

In Pop Goes the Weasel, Albert Jack explores the strange and fascinating histories behind the nursery rhymes we thought we knew, showing that their real meanings are far from innocent.Who were Mary Quite Contrary and Georgie Porgie? How could Hey Diddle Diddle offer an essential astronomy lesson? And if Ring a Ring a Roses isn't about catching the plague, then what is it really about? This ingenious book delves into the hidden meanings of the nursery rhymes and songs we all know so well and discovers all kinds of strange tales ranging from Viking raids to firewalking and from political rebellion to slaves being smuggled to freedom.From the grim true story behind 'Oranges and Lemons' to the deadly secrets of Mary Quite Contrary's garden, and from how Lucy Locket lost more than her pocket to why Humpty Dumpty wasn't egg-shaped at all, Pop Goes the Weasel is a compendium of surprising stories you won't be able to resist passing on to everyone you know.'An irresistible treasure-trove' Daily Mirror'Most of us can still recite the words to nursery rhymes we learned as children, but how many know the real meanings behind our most familiar verses? Albert Jack reveals hidden histories of cannons, courtesans and vengeful queens' Guardian'The history behind nursery rhymes is not only highly specific but often splendidly grim' The Times Albert Jack has become something of a publishing phenomenon, clocking up hundreds of thousands of sales with his series of bestselling adventures tracing the fantastic stories behind everyday phrases (Red Herrings and White Elephants), the world's great mysteries (Loch Ness Monsters and Raining Frogs) and nursery rhymes (Pop Goes the Weasel).

Read more less

BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2017 in The Sunday Times, Spectator, Mail on Sunday, Observer and Financial Times'A landmark biography' The Times, Books of the Year'One of our generation's greatest biographers' London Review of Books'Witty, spirited, richly crowded with incident and character - a joy to read' ProspectFrom the author of the prize-winning Matisse The Master comes an essential biography of one of 20th century Britain's greatest literary mindsAnthony Powell: the literary genius who gave us A Dance to the Music of Time, an epic twelve spectacular volume cyle of novels about twentieth century British society. This comic masterpiece teems with idiosyncratic characters, capturing Britain through war and peace in all its eccentricity. And it was inspired by the author's own life immersed in rich social intrigue - debutante balls, penniless muses, publisher feuds, summers on the French Riviera, weekend parties at country houses, and friendships with everyone from Evelyn Waugh to Graham Greene to VS Naipaul...Hilary Spurling brings all this back to vivid life, investigating the friends, relations, lovers and acquaintances, fools and savants who surrounded Anthony Powell, and who he immortalised in his magnificent literary legacy. *Discover Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time series, available in paperback and e-book from Arrow.

Read more less

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERSHORTLISTED FOR THE SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZEThe original bestseller from the beloved author of UNDERLAND, LANDMARKS and THE LOST WORDS - Robert Macfarlane travels Britain's ancient paths and discovers the secrets of our beautiful, underappreciated landscape'The Old Ways confirms Macfarlane's reputation as one of the most eloquent and observant of contemporary writers about nature' Scotland on SundayFollowing the tracks, holloways, drove-roads and sea paths that form part of a vast ancient network of routes criss-crossing the British Isles and beyond, Robert Macfarlane discovers a lost world - a landscape of the feet and the mind, of pilgrimage and ritual, of stories and ghosts; above all of the places and journeys which inspire and inhabit our imaginations.'Sublime... It sets the imagination tingling, laying an irresistible trail for readers to follow' Sunday Times'Read this and it will be impossible to take an unremarkable walk again' Metro'He has a rare physical intelligence and affords total immersion in place, elements and the passage of time: wonderful' Antony Gormley

Read more less

A beautiful gift for the intrepid explorer in your life by one of the most acclaimed and beloved nature writers working today, the internationally bestselling, prize-winning author of Landmarks, The Lost Words and The Old WaysA SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERWINNER OF THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE 2019WINNER OF THE STANFORD DOLMAN TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2020'You'd be crazy not to read this book' The Sunday TimesA Guardian Best Book of the 21st CenturyIn Underland, Robert Macfarlane takes us on a journey into the worlds beneath our feet. From the ice-blue depths of Greenland's glaciers, to the underground networks by which trees communicate, from Bronze Age burial chambers to the rock art of remote Arctic sea-caves, this is a deep-time voyage into the planet's past and future. Global in its geography, gripping in its voice and haunting in its implications, Underland is a work of huge range and power, and a remarkable new chapter in Macfarlane's long-term exploration of landscape and the human heart.SHORTLISTED FOR THE RSL ONDAATJE PRIZE 2020 'Macfarlane has invented a new kind of book, really a new genre entirely' The Irish Times'He is the great nature writer, and nature poet, of this generation' Wall Street Journal 'Macfarlane has shown how utterly beautiful a brilliantly written travel book can still be' Observer on The Old Ways'Irradiated by a profound sense of wonder... Few books give such a sense of enchantment; it is a book to give to many, and to return to repeatedly' Independent on Landmarks'It sets the imagination tingling...like reading a prose Odyssey sprinkled with imagist poems' The Sunday Times on The Old Ways

Read more less

*WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION*'Deals intensely and critically with urgent questions facing a globalised world' The TimesThe way we think and live, who we vote for and who we fear, has become ever more dictated by our personal identity.In his ground-breaking book, Gary Younge argues that we have recoiled into refuges of race or class, religion or national identity to survive in a state seemingly indifferent to our lives. Ranging from his Stevenage childhood to present day America, from the borders of Europe to division in South Africa, Younge explores the issues that bind the powerful elite and the poor immigrant, the fundamentalist and the conservative. In this powerful dissection of modern society Gary Younge challenges us not to succumb to what divides us, but through solidarity to search for a common - and higher - ground.'With brilliant clarity, Gary Younge carefully guides us through a political minefield' Andrea Levy'An indispensable guide to 'identity' in politics, and a terrific read' Margaret Atwood'An absorbing and thoughtful discussion of identity' Financial Times

Read more less

Join the Larkins for another adventure in the much-loved series, inspiration for the new ITV drama starring Bradley Walsh'Christening? We never said nothing about no christening, Ma, did we?'And so with the appearance of a letter announcing the imminent arrival of Madame Dupont, Pop and Ma Larkin learn that little Oscar and Blenheim - Charley and Mariette's new boy - are to be christened.In fact, once Mr Candy - who will be officiating (much to raven-haired Primrose's delight) - learns that Pop and Ma have neglected the entire Larkin brood, the whole family seems set for a dunking!Pop, who needs no excuse to open a few bottles of Dragon's Blood and host the perfick party, rushes out and buys a fun fair to celebrate.But there are one or two gatecrashers even Pop hadn't counted on turning up . . .

Read more less

From the bestselling author of Everything Bad is Good For You, Steven Johnson's The Ghost Map vividly recreates Victorian London to show how huge populations live together, how cities can kill - and how they can save us. Steven Johnson is one of today's most exciting writers about popular culture, urban living and new technology. In The Ghost Map he tells the story of the terrifying cholera epidemic that engulfed London in 1854, and the two unlikely heroes - anesthetist Doctor John Snow and affable clergyman Reverend Henry Whitehead - who defeated the disease through a combination of local knowledge, scientific research and map-making. In telling their extraordinary story, Steven Johnson also explores a whole world of ideas and connections, from urban terror to microbes, ecosystems to the Great Stink, cultural phenomena to street life. 'A wonderful book' Mail on Sunday 'A thumping page-turner' Daily Telegraph 'Enthralling ... vivid and gripping' New Statesman 'Exhilarating' Spectator 'It is a rattling scientific mystery, but in the hands of Steven Johnson it becomes something much richer ... a vast, interconnected picture about urban and bacterial life ... it is difficult to do justice to the exuberance of Johnson's ideas' Scotland on Sunday Steven Johnson is the author of the acclaimed books Everything Bad is Good for You, Mind Wide Open, Where Good Ideas Come From, Emergence and Interface Culture. His writing appeared in the Guardian, the New Yorker, Nation and Harper's, as well as the op-ed pages of The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. He is a Distinguished Writer In Residence at NYU's School Of Journalism, and a Contributing Editor to Wired.

Read more less

Discover quick and tasty dishes in Nigel Slater's The 30-Minute Cook.Quick, delicious meals from across the world with ingredients available from your local supermarket - all prepared within thirty minutes: the perfect book for the busy cook.Praise for Nigel Slater's The 30 Minute Cook:'One of my very favourite cookery writers' Delia Smith'The whiff of kaffir lime leaves, cumin and ginger wafts from the pages ... I can think of no one more likely to coax timid cooks into a spirit of culinary adventure' Financial Times'An inspired worldwide collection of quick and accessible dishes' Evening StandardNigel Slater is the Observer's food writer, writing a month column for Observer Food Monthly. Real Fast Food was shortlisted for the Andre Simon Award while The 30-Minute Cook was nominated for both the Glenfiddich and Julia Child Awards. In 1995 he won the Glenfiddich Trophy and he has twice won the Cookery Writer of the Year Award as well as being named Media Personality of the Year in the 1996 Good Food Awards. His other bestselling books include Real Fast Puddings, Real Food, Appetite and The Kitchen Diaries.

Read more less

Take a trip to Larkin country in the much-loved series, inspiration for the ITV drama THE LARKINS starring Bradley Walsh'There!' Pop said. 'There's the house. There's Gore Court for you. What about that, eh? How's that strike you? Better than St Paul's, ain't it, better than St Paul's?'And so Pop Larkin - junk-dealer, family man and Dragon's Blood connoisseur - manages to sell the nearby crumbling, tumbling country home to city dwellers Mr and Mrs Jerebohm for a pretty bundle of notes. Now he can build his daughter Mariette the pool she's long been nagging him for.But the Larkin's new neighbours aren't quite so accepting of country ways - especially Pop's little eccentricities.In fact, it's not long before a wobbly boat, a misplaced pair of hands and Mrs Jerebohm's behind have Pop up before a magistrate . . .

Read more less

Got a sweet tooth but don't want to spend hours in the kitchen? Nigel Slater's collection of puddings can ALL be ready in less than half an hour. An inspiring collection of quick and delicious puddings made with simple and fresh ingredients from Nigel Slater, the master of the easily prepared dish. In four sections - Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring - he offers ideas for a wide range of mouth-watering and irresistible desserts all of which can be prepared in under half an hour.Praise for Nigel Slater's Real Fast Puddings:'Delectable ... Slater is an unashamed spoon-licker' Daily Telegraph'Nigel Slater's infectious enthusiasm is nicely countered by attention to modern practicalities ... corners are unashamedly cut, quality is never compromised' Evening Standard'I hardly ever cook puddings ... but I could be converted by Nigel Slater's unpretentious and appetizing Real Fast Puddings' Sunday Times'I love this man: his wit and greed make him irresistible' Nigella LawsonNigel Slater is the Observer's food writer, writing a month column for Observer Food Monthly. Real Fast Food was shortlisted for the Andre Simon Award while The 30-Minute Cook was nominated for both the Glenfiddich and Julia Child Awards. In 1995 he won the Glenfiddich Trophy and he has twice won the Cookery Writer of the Year Award as well as being named Media Personality of the Year in the 1996 Good Food Awards. His other bestselling books include Real Food, Appetite and The Kitchen Diaries.

Read more less

From the author of Masters and Commanders, Andrew Roberts' The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War has been hailed as the finest single-volume account of this epic conflict. The Second World War lasted for 2,174 days and claimed the lives of over 50 million people. Why did it take the course that it did? Why did the Axis lose? And could they, with a different strategy, have won? Ranging from the Western front to North Africa, from the Baltic to the Far East, he brings the story of the war - and those who fought it - into focus as never before. 'One of the greatest historians of our time ... His masterpiece' Oliver Marre, Observer 'An undoubted triumph. This, simply, is the best one-volume history of the Second World War currently available' Laurence Rees 'Magnificent ... Stylish penmanship, gritty research and lucid reasoning, coupled with poignant and haunting detours into private lives ruined and shortened' Economist 'Moving, thought-provoking, enlightening' Roger Moorhouse, Independent 'An exceptional accomplishment ... the definitive single-volume history of the war ... Essential' Peter Watts, Time Out 'In what might be his best book yet, Roberts gives us the war as seen from the other side of the hill - the German Reich' Nigel Jones, Sunday Telegraph Andrew Roberts's Masters and Commanders was one of the most acclaimed, bestselling history books of 2008. His previous books include Salisbury: Victorian Titan (1999), which won the Wolfson History Prize and the James Stern Silver Pen Award for Non-Fiction, Hitler and Churchill: Secrets of Leadership (2003), which coincided with four-part BBC2 history series.

Read more less

The Second World War was turned on its head at the moment Admiral Kolhammer’s ultra-modern stealth warships were hurled back through time from 2021. But no one could have predicted just how much of a nightmare would ensue . . . Only months after the Transition, the great powers scramble to develop the weapons of tomorrow. The year 1942 is now a world of crude jet fighters, monstrous attack helicopters, and unholy dirty bombs — a mongrel technology, born decades prematurely. Then, in a radical rewriting of history, Japanese forces sweep into Australia, foreign agents begin a campaign of terror in the USA, and Germany prepares for an all-out attack on Britain. The twenty-first-century forces must resort to the most extreme measures yet and face a future rife with possibilities — all of them apocalyptic . . . Picking up from where he left off with Weapons of Choice, John Birmingham shocks and awes us with this gripping second instalment in the Axis of Time trilogy.

Read more less

In World War Two, 19 million people died in the conflicts across the globe. Yet in those same years, more than 20 million died from starvation and malnutrition. In The Taste of War Lizzie Collingham shows how food - and its lack - was central to the war's causes and continuation. She explores how starvation was often a deliberate governmental policy, and reveals how the necessity of feeding whole countries lead to Pearl Harbour, Germany's invasion of Russia, and the Holocaust itself.

Read more less

And the Land Lay Still is the sweeping Scottish epic by James RobertsonAnd the Land Lay Still is nothing less than the story of a nation. James Robertson's breathtaking novel is a portrait of modern Scotland as seen through the eyes of natives and immigrants, journalists and politicians, drop-outs and spooks, all trying to make their way through a country in the throes of great and rapid change. It is a moving, sweeping story of family, friendship, struggle and hope - epic in every sense.The winner of the Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year Award 2010, And the Land Lay Still is a masterful insight into Scotland's history in the twentieth century and a moving, beautifully written novel of intertwined stories.'Toweringly ambitious, virtually flawlessly realized, a masterpiece and, without a doubt, my book of the year' Daily Mail'A jam-packed, dizzying piece of fiction' Scotland on Sunday'Gripping, vivid, beautifully realized' The Times'Engrossing' Daily Telegraph'Powerful and moving. A brilliant and multifaceted saga of Scottish life in the second half of the twentieth century' Sunday Times'Brilliant and thoughtful. Eminently readable, subtle and profound' Independent on Sunday'Bold, discursive and deep, Robertson's sweeping history of life and politics in 20th-century Scotland should not be ignored' Ian Rankin, Observer Books of the YearJames Robertson is the author of three previous novels: The Fanatic, Joseph Knight and The Testament of Gideon Mack, which is available in Penguin. Joseph Knight was awarded the two major Scottish literary awards in 2003/4 - the Saltire Book of the Year and the Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year - and The Testament of Gideon Mack was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, picked by Richard and Judy's Book Club, and shortlisted for the Saltire Book of the Year award.

Read more less

'Could not be more enjoyable, engaging or moving' Observer"It's 1979, I'm three years old, and like all breakfast times during my youth it begins with Mum combing my hair, a ritual for which I have to sit down on the second-hand, floral-patterned settee, and lean forward, like I'm presenting myself for execution."For Sathnam Sanghera, growing up in Wolverhampton in the eighties was a confusing business. On the one hand, these were the heady days of George Michael mix-tapes, Dallas on TV and, if he was lucky, the occasional Bounty Bar. On the other, there was his wardrobe of tartan smocks, his 30p-an-hour job at the local sewing factory and the ongoing challenge of how to tie the perfect top-knot.And then there was his family, whose strange and often difficult behaviour he took for granted until, at the age of twenty-four, Sathnam made a discovery that changed everything he ever thought he knew about them. Equipped with breathtaking courage and a glorious sense of humour, he embarks on a journey into their extraordinary past - from his father's harsh life in rural Punjab to the steps of the Wolverhampton Tourist Office - trying to make sense of a life lived among secrets.'I absolutely loved it. Heartbreaking and wonderful. He writes beautifully' Maggie O'Farrell'Tragic, funny and disturbing. It will challenge you, and may even change you' Carole Angier, IndependentPublished in hardback as If You Don't Know Me by Now

Read more less

Book of Longing is Leonard Cohen's astonishing new collection of poems, the first since Book of Mercy was published nearly three decades ago.Leonard Cohen made his name as a poet before he came to worldwide attention as a singer and songwriter. Book of Longing, his new collection of poetry, was twenty years in the making and written in Montreal, Mumbai and during his retirement in Mt Baldy. Enhanced by Cohen's own playful and provocative illustrations, these poems show the full range of one of the most influential and enigmatic writers of his generation.'Awe-inspiring. . . Cohen emerges as the wry, sensual mystic his champions have always known he was' Sunday Telegraph'Exceptional. Clear yet steamy, cosmic yet private, both playful and profound. . . as soulful a credo as he has ever put on paper' New York Times'Playful, colourful, erotic. . . brilliant and sharp as flint' Big Issue'Dazzling' Sunday Herald'The best bring an ironic, world-weary sensibility to bear on themes of ageing, sex, sensuality and spirituality' Financial Times'A fine book of poems' Time Out'Cohen maps this wasteland of the heart with humour, and sometimes anger' IndependentCohen's career began in 1956 with the publication of Let Us Compare Mythologies, and he has since published nine books of poems, and has made numerous internationally successful recordings. In a career spanning fifty years, Leonard Cohen has become one of the western world's most popular and innovative creative artists.

Read more less

From one of our greatest voices in modern philosophy, author of The Course of Love, The Consolations of Philosophy, Religion for Atheists and The School of Life - a lucid exploration of the state in which most of us spend most of our lives'De Botton's wit and powers of ironic observation are on display throughout what is a stylish and original book. The workplace brings out the best in his writing' Sunday Times'Timely, wonderfully readable. De Botton has pretty much got to the bottom of the subject' Spectator'Terribly funny, touches us all' Daily Mail'Brilliant, enormously engaging' Guardian Why do so many of us love or hate our work? How has it come to dominate our lives? And what should we do about it?Work makes us. Without it we are at a loss; in work we hope to have a measure of control over our lives. Yet for many of us, work is a straitjacket from which we cannot free ourselves.Criss-crossing the world to visit workplaces and workers both ordinary and extraordinary, and drawing on the wit and wisdom of great artists, writers and thinkers, Alain de Botton here explores our love-hate relationship with our jobs. He poses and answers little and big questions: from what should I do with my life? to what will I have achieved when I retire?The Pleasure and Sorrows of Work explains why it is we do what we do all day, and applies sympathy, humour and insight to helping us make the most of it.

Read more less

Escape to the country with Gervase Phinn's heartwarming tales of life as a school inspector in Yorkshire'Gervase Phinn's memoirs have made him a hero in school staff-rooms' Daily TelegraphHis colourful cast of characters have become firm favourites: the mostly mad staff at County Hall, as well as the children themselves, who find ways of embarrassing the school inspectors with innocent ease.In The Heart of the Dales, we reconvene with Christine Bentley, head teacher of Winnery Nook School and now Gervase's wife and mother of their son, the well-named Mrs Savage and not forgetting the Queen of Clean - Connie.Gervase Phinn has an extraordinary talent to entertain, and the latest instalment to the Dale Series is heart-warming, wry and will make you laugh out loud.

Read more less

Need a rhyme but can't spare the time? Want to make your jingles tingle or crack the code to the ode? Penguin Pocket Rhyming Dictionary is an indispensable companion for anyone who writes verse. Clearly arranged and easy to use, it offers an astonishingly wide range of rhymes for words, from the common to the obscure.

Read more less

'An energetic, ambitious, provocative work by a young historian of notable gifts, which deserves a wide readership' Max Hastings, The Sunday Times'Bold and breathtaking... I have never read a more daringly panoramic survey of the period' Jonathan Wright, Herald ScotlandThe most terrible emergency in Britain's history, the Second World War required an unprecedented national effort. An exhausted country had to fight an unexpectedly long war and found itself much diminished amongst the victors. Yet the outcome of the war was nonetheless a triumph, not least for a political system that proved well adapted to the demands of a total conflict and for a population who had to make many sacrifices but who were spared most of the horrors experienced in the rest of Europe.Britain's War is a narrative of these epic events, an analysis of the myriad factors that shaped military success and failure, and an explanation of what the war tells us about the history of modern Britain. As compelling on the major military events as he is on the experience of ordinary people living through exceptional times, Todman suffuses his extraordinary book with a vivid sense of a struggle which left nobody unchanged - and explores why, despite terror, separation and deprivation, Britons were overwhelmingly willing to pay the price of victory.This volume begins with the coronation of George VI and ends with the disasters in the Far East in December 1941. A second volume will tell the story from 1942 to Indian independence in 1947.

Read more less

The Command of the Ocean describes with unprecedented authority and scholarship the rise of Britain to naval greatness, and the central place of the Navy and naval activity in the life of the nation and government. It describes not just battles, voyages and cruises but how the Navy was manned, how it was supplied with timber, hemp and iron, how its men (and sometimes women) were fed, and above all how it was financed and directed. It was during the century and a half covered by this book that the successful organizing of these last three - victualling, money and management - took the Navy to the heart of the British state. It is the great achievement of the book to show how completely integrated and mutually dependent Britain and the Navy then became.

Read more less

The acclaimed autobiography of Fidel Castro, one of the towering political figures of our age, who dominated both Cuba and the world stage for over half a century.Here Castro tells his story in full for the first time, speaking openly about everything from his parents and earliest influences to his imprisonment, guerrilla war and the Cuban revolution and on to the Bay of Pigs, the missile crisis and his relationship with Che Guevara. He also remembers the people he knew, from John F. Kennedy to Ernest Hemingway. Whatever your views on Castro are, this is an essential record of an incredible life - and even more extraordinary times.'Cubaphiles are all the richer for this book ... Castro's prodigious gifts are well displayed: his formidable erudition, steely discipline, epic curiosity and his astute grasp of history' Financial Times'Castro's life has been extraordinary and he can tell a good story' Evening Standard

Read more less

A dazzling, passionate polemic against anti-science movements of all kindsCover note: Each copy of the new edition of Unweaving the Rainbow features a unique wavelength pattern. No two covers are exactly alike.Keats accused Newton of destroying the poetry of the rainbow by explaining the origin of its colours. In this illuminating and provocative book, Richard Dawkins argues that Keats could not have been more mistaken, and shows how an understanding of science enhances our wonder of the world. He argues that mysteries do not lose their poetry because they are solved: the solution is often more beautiful than the puzzle, uncovering even deeper mysteries. Dawkins takes up the most important and compelling topics in modern science, from astronomy and genetics to language and virtual reality, combining them in a landmark statement on the human appetite for wonder.Cover note: Each copy of the new edition of Unweaving the Rainbow features a unique wavelength pattern. No two covers are exactly alike.

Read more less

Jeremy Clarkson puts the pedal to the floor in Don't Stop Me Now, a collection of his Sunday Times motoring journalism.There's more to life than cars. Jeremy Clarkson knows this. There is, after all, a whole world out there just waiting to be discovered. So, before he gets on to torque steer and active suspension, he takes time out to consider:* The madness of Galapagos tortoises* The similarities between Jeremy Paxman and AC/DC's bass guitarist* The problems and perils of being English* God's dumbest creationThen there are the cars: whether it's the poxiest little runabout or an exotic, firebreathing supercar, no one does cars like Clarkson. Unmoved by mechanics’ claims and unimpressed by press junkets, he approaches anything on four wheels without fear or favour. What emerges from the ashes is rarely pretty. But always very, very funny.Praise for Jeremy Clarkson'Brilliant . . . laugh-out-loud' Daily Telegraph'Outrageously funny . . . will have you in stitches' Time Out'Very funny . . . I cracked up laughing on the tube' Evening Standard

Read more less

From the author of The Power, winner of the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction 2017Ronit has left London and transformed her life. She has become a cigarette-smoking, wise-cracking, New York career woman, who is in love with a married man.But when Ronit's father dies she is called back into the very different world of her childhood, a world she thought she had left far behind. The orthodox Jewish suburb of Hendon, north London is outraged by Ronit and her provocative ways. But Ronit is shocked too by the confrontation with her past. And when she meets up with her childhood girlfriend Esti, she is forced to think again about what she has left behind.

Read more less

The bestselling author of It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be Paul Arden turns logic and common sense on its head in Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite and gives you the confidence to take bigger risks and enjoy your work more than you can imagine.Have you ever considered the extraordinary power of making bad decisions, being unreasonable, and taking dangerous, unadvisable risks?Has it ever occurred to you that nothing is more dangerous than playing it safe, or that the straight and narrow path may lead you right off a cliff?Paul Arden has become a global business guru on the strength of such radical insights. His first book, It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want to Be, became a word of mouth classic, selling more than half a million copies. Instead of the usual boring advice, he offered daring quips, aphorisms, and paradoxes - all seeking to revise what we habitually hold as our 'common sense'.Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite is an even more daring attack on the way we look at our work and our world. Whether you sell, manage, or buy, Arden will inspire you with his counterintuitive axioms, startling anecdotes, brilliant photographs, and offbeat quotations from artists, scientists, and philosophers.Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite will force you to rethink everything. And it will give you the confidence to take bigger risks and enjoy your work more than you can imagine.'Brilliant, bad, charming, irascible and totally off the wall, Paul Arden is an original with extraordinary drive and energy, blessed with a creative genius allied to a kind of common sense that just isn't, well, common' Roger Kennedy, Saatchi & Saatchi Paul Arden spent 14 years as the Executive Creative Director at Saatchi & Saatchi. He was responsible for some of the UK's most successful advertising campaigns - British Airways, Silk Cut, Anchor Butter, InterCity and Fuji. In 1993 he set up the film production company Arden Sutherland-Dodd. His first book sold over half a million copies. He has a weekly column in the Independent and recently opened a photographic gallery in his hometown, Petworth.

Read more less

A brilliantly arresting historical work, John Lewis Gaddis's The Cold War takes us as never before to the time when the world stood on the brink of destruction. In 1945 war came to an end. But a whole new terror was only just beginning... Here is the truth behind every spy thriller you've read: why America and the Soviet Union became locked in a deadly stalemate; how close we came to nuclear catastrophe; what was really going on in the minds of leaders from Stalin to Mao Zedong, Ronald Reagan to Mikhail Gorbachev, how secret agents plotted and East German holidaymakers helped the Berlin Wall fall. It is a story of crisis talks and subterfuge, tyrants and power struggles - and of ordinary people changing the course of history. 'Gripping' Len Deighton 'Superb ... brimful of racy incident' Independent on Sunday 'A lively and readable history' The Times 'Force 9 on the Richter scale' Spectator John Lewis Gaddis is the Robert A. Lovett Professor of History at Yale University, and 'the dean of cold war historians' (The New York Times). He is the author of numerous books, including Security and the American Experience, the book recently pressed on his cabinet and senior security staff by President Bush.

Read more less

Breaking up is hard to do. Especially when he's left his wife for you . . .What to do if Matthew, your secret lover of the past four years, finally decides to leave his wife Sophie and their two daughters and move into your flat, just when you're thinking that you might not want him anymore . . .PLAN A: Stop shaving your armpits. And your bikini line. Tell him you have a moustache that you wax every six weeks. Stop having sex with him. Pick holes in the way he dresses. Don't brush your teeth. Or your hair. Or pluck out the stray hag-whisker that grows out of your chin. Buy incontinence pads and leave them lying around.PLAN B: Accidentally on purpose bump into his wife Sophie. Give yourself a fake name and identity. Befriend Sophie. Actually begin to really like Sophie. Snog Matthew's son (who's the same age as you by the way. You're not a paedophile). Buy a cat and give it a fake name and identity. Befriend Matthew's children. Unsuccessfully. Watch your whole plan go absolutely horribly wrong.Getting Rid of Matthew is the sharp and hilariously funny novel from bestselling author Jane Fallon. It was also a Richard and Judy pick. Praise for Jane Fallon:'Intelligent, edgy and witty' Glamour'A brilliant and original tale' Sun'Chick lit with an edge' Guardian

Read more less

Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.Inspired by the myth of a man condemned to ceaselessly push a rock up a mountain and watch it roll back to the valley below, The Myth of Sisyphus transformed twentieth-century philosophy with its impassioned argument for the value of life in a world without religious meaning.

Read more less

Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.The Father of Existentialism, Kierkegaard transformed philosophy with his conviction that we must all create our own nature; in this great work of religious anxiety, he argues that a true understanding of God can only be attained by making a personal 'leap of faith'.

Read more less

Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.Perhaps the most widely read thinker of all time, Confucius transformed Chinese philosophy with his belief that the greatest goal in life was pursuit of 'The Way': a search for virtue not as a means to rewards in this world or the next, but as the pinnacle of human existence.

Read more less

One of the BBC's '100 Novels That Shaped Our World'A worldwide bestseller and the first part of Achebe's African Trilogy, Things Fall Apart is the compelling story of one man's battle to protect his community against the forces of changeOkonkwo is the greatest wrestler and warrior alive, and his fame spreads throughout West Africa like a bush-fire in the harmattan. But when he accidentally kills a clansman, things begin to fall apart. Then Okonkwo returns from exile to find missionaries and colonial governors have arrived in the village. With his world thrown radically off-balance he can only hurtle towards tragedy. First published in 1958, Chinua Achebe's stark, coolly ironic novel reshaped both African and world literature, and has sold over ten million copies in forty-five languages. This arresting parable of a proud but powerless man witnessing the ruin of his people begins Achebe's landmark trilogy of works chronicling the fate of one African community, continued in Arrow of God and No Longer at Ease.'His courage and generosity are made manifest in the work' Toni Morrison'The writer in whose company the prison walls fell down' Nelson Mandela'A great book, that bespeaks a great, brave, kind, human spirit' John UpdikeWith an Introduction by Biyi Bandele

Read more less

An updated selection of Roger McGough's finest, best-loved verse. The complete span of McGough's writing, from the 1960s to the new millennium, is represented. 'McGough's trademarks: the craft worn as lightly as the crown, the jokes that are something more, the underlying heartache, the acute sense of the way time slips away' Ian McMillan, Poetry Review 'McGough has done for poetry what champagne does for weddings' Time Out

Read more less

In I Know You Got Soul, Jeremy Clarkson writes about the machines that he believes have 'soul'. It will come as no surprise to anyone that Jeremy Clarkson loves machines. But it's not just any old bucket of blots, cogs and bearings that rings his bell. In fact, he's scoured the length and breadth of the land, plunged into the oceans and taken to the skies in search of machines with that elusive certain something.And along the way he's discovered:* The safest place to be in the event of nuclear war* Who would win if Superman, James Bond and The Terminator had a fight* The stupidest person he's ever met* What an old Cornish institution called Arthur has to do with 0898chat lines* And how Jean Claude Van Damme might get eaten by a lion . . .In I Know You Got Soul, Jeremy Clarkson tells stories of the geniuses, innovators and crackpots who put the ghost in the machine. From Brunel's SS Great Britain to the awesome Blackbird spy-plane and from the woeful - but inspiring - Graf Zeppelin to Han Solo's Millennium Falcon, they can't help but love them in return.Praise for Jeremy Clarkson:'Brilliant . . . laugh-out-loud' Daily Telegraph'Outrageously funny . . . will have you in stitches' Time Out'Very funny . . . I cracked up laughing on the tube' Evening Standard

Read more less

The joyously funny, heartwarming and uplifting novel of two women swapping their lives for a month, from No. 1 bestseller Jane Green 'Compelling, funny, like sitting down with a good friend who is telling you a story' 5***** Reader Review 'One of the best books I have read' 5***** Reader Review 'A fantastic novel! I couldn't help but devour every page' 5***** Reader Review ______ Vicky Townsley, a magazine Features Director, lives in London alone, single, and seriously successful. But she'd give it all up in a heartbeat for marriage, children, and a house in the country. Amber Winslow has exactly what Vicky wants; a huge stone mansion in Highfield Connecticut, children, and a busy charitable commitment for the local Women's League. But Amber isn't happy either.So when she spots a double page spread in Poise! magazine asking married readers to life swap with a glamorous, single journalist in London, she sits down and writes a letter. But she never expected to be picked . . . Life Swap is the story of the grass not being as green as you might think, and of discovering that happiness is not always where you expect it to be. ______ Praise for Jane Green: 'Jane Green writes with such honesty and zing' Sophie Kinsella 'Green is women's fiction royalty' Glamour 'I'm in AWE of Jane Green' Marian Keyes

Read more less

This is the extraordinary story of Siegmund Warburg: the refugee from Nazi Germany who restored the Blitz-shattered City of London as the world's preeminent international financial centre. In recounting how this brilliant, scholarly man brought wit, passion and, above all, high ethical standards to the world of finance, Niall Ferguson shows how his meticulous methods were the antithesis of the debt-fuelled, speculative banking of our times. 'A fascinating portrait ... Beautifully paced, dramatically subtle and psychologically shrewd ... Warburg is an emblem of money as it ought to be, and now isn't' Bryan Appleyard, New Statesman'Extensively researched and beautifully written' Peter Stormonth Darling, Spectator'Ferguson's account of Warburg's life not only reveals a prophet of European unification and, later, globalization, but a banker from a more responsible (and civilised) era' Peter Mandelson, Daily Telegraph, Books of the Year'A timely, original and engaging biography' Sathnam Sanghera, The Times 'Financially literate, extremely thorough, deploying dazzling breadth of cultural reference ... Ferguson has produced a fine historical biography. He has also reminded us, regrettably, that Warburg has no peer in the financial world today' Simon Shaw, Mail on Sunday

Read more less

Don't You Have Time to Think? collects the witty, eccentric and moving letters letters of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard P. Feynman. Richard Feynman was no ordinary genius. Brilliant, free-spirited and irreverent, he upset those in authority, gave captivating lectures, wrote equations on napkins in strip joints and touched countless lives everywhere. He also wrote hundreds of letters to friends, family, critics, colleagues and devoted fans around the world. Now these letters have been brought together for the first time. From down-to-earth advice to eager students to discussions of time travel and the atom bomb, and from blunt rebuttals to journalists to poignant exchanges with his first wife as she lay dying, they will introduce you to a unique person whose wisdom and lust for life inspired all those who came into his orbit. 'Nobel-winning physicist, expert bongo-player, safe-cracker and all-round genius, Feynman was, as this wonderful and inspiring collection records, also a champion letter-writer ... Witty, deadpan, warm ... some are unbearably poignant' Guardian 'Plain-speaking ... touching' Daily Telegraph 'He sparked excitement not just about science but also about the power of creativity, passion, curiosity' The New York Times Richard P. Feynman (1918-1988) was one of this century's most brilliant theoretical physicists and original thinkers. Feynman's other books, also available in Penguin, include QED, Six Easy Pieces, Six Not-so-Easy Pieces, Don't You Have Time to Think, The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, What Do You Care What Other People Think? and The Meaning of it All.

Read more less