Search results for ""Icon Books""

A LAUNCH TITLE FOR ICON BOOKS' BRAND-NEW SHORT CUTS SERIESWhat with accelerating particles and gravitational waves, dark matter and light speed, nanoscales and exoplanets, the landscape of today's science is an amazing place to explore. But how are you expected to navigate this rapidly spinning world?Short Cuts: Science provides the map you need to start exploring seriously big ideas. Fifty quickfire questions lead to 'short cut' answers written by experts in their field, with each one the setting-off point for clear directions to help you plot your route through an essential concept.With one-stop graphics presenting a memorable image for each idea, and route-map glossaries explaining key words and their connections, Short Cuts: Science will guide you through a world of intellectual wonders.

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This tech could change everything for women - here's how. From periods and childbirth to menopause, female pain has been normalized, as society shrugs and says 'welcome to being a woman' instead of coming up with better solutions. But it doesn't have to be this way. In The Vagina Business, award-winning journalist Marina Gerner takes an eye-opening look at the innovators challenging the status quo to deliver the healthcare solutions women need. With interviews from 100 entrepreneurs, researchers and investors across 15 countries, The Vagina Business explores the future of women's health, where female-focused companies are developing products to help women at every stage of life. From a life-saving bra to non-hormonal contraception and new takes on fertility and menopause, it shines a light on innovation that matters. Women should not be denied solutions to health issues just because people are embarrassed to talk about vaginas. We deserve much better.

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'Astonishing... In the American journalist Andrew Nagorski this tale has found its ideal narrator'SEBASTIAN FAULKS, Sunday Times'[A] thrilling book, as edge-of-your-seat gripping as any heist movie'Kathryn Hughes, Guardian Book of the Day'A gripping masterpiece'BRETT KAHR, Freud Museum LondonMarch 1938: German soldiers are massing on the Austrian border, on the cusp of fulfilling Hitler's dream of absorbing the country into the Third Reich. Many Jews make frantic plans to flee to safety. But one of the most famous men in the world, unable to contemplate leaving his beloved Vienna, is not among them. His name is Sigmund Freud.Saving Freud is the story of a great man's life, and of the extraordinary people who managed to prolong it, by convincing him to escape to London: the Welsh physician who brought psychoanalysis to Britain; Napoleon's great-grandniece; an American ambassador; Freud's devoted daughter, Anna; and the doctor who risked his own life by staying at Freud's side.In examining the histories of both Freud and his closest circle, Andrew Nagorski brilliantly evokes the story of Europe in the first half of the Twentieth Century. This is a tale of a great city, a collapsing empire, a rising terror -and of a man who would change the way we think.

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A stag leaps on an ancient brooch. A doe and a fawn step across a field at first light. A pair of antlers is silhouetted by the side of a busy road. From the earliest cave paintings to the present day, humans and deer have a long and complex history. Royal harts were the coveted quarry of European kings, while the first Americans relied on deer for everything from buckskins to arrow heads. Once hunted to the point of extinction in some parts of the world, deer numbers have exploded in recent years, causing tension between scientists and conservationists. And yet, this is our own story, as the fortune of deer is inextricably bound up with the actions that we humans take on the world around us. Weaving together history and reportage, in The Age of Deer Erika Howsare deftly explores the relationship between our two species in the line where wildness meets humankind. It is a reminder of the poetry and violence of the natural world, from an exciting new voice in nature writing. AUTHOR: Erika Howsare is a writer, journalist and teacher. Her essays, reviews and interviews have appeared in publications such as the Los Angeles Review of Books and The Rumpus, and she is the author of two collections of poetry, How is Travel a Folded Form? and FILL: A Collection (with Kate Schapira). She lives in the Blue Ridge in central Virginia.

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In Rome the echoes of the past resound clearly in its palaces and monuments, and in the remains of the ancient imperial city. But another presence has dominated Rome for 2,000 years -the pope, whose actions and influence echo down the ages. In this epic tale, historian Jessica Wärnberg tells, for the first time, the story of Rome through the lens of its popes, illuminating how these remarkable (and unremarkable) men have transformed lives and played a crucial role in deciding the fate of the city. Emerging as the anonymous leader of a marginal cult in the humblest quarters of the city, less than 300 years later the pope sat enthroned in a gilt basilica, endorsed by the emperor himself. Eventually, the Roman pontiff would supplant even the emperors, becoming the de facto ruler of Rome and pre-eminent leader of the Christian world. Shifting elegantly between the panoramic and the personal, the spiritual and the profane, this is a fresh and often surprising take on a city, a people an

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''Often poetic ... highly-researched and thought-provoking'' New Scientist''Gently and thoughtfully enquiring'' The SpectatorCan you remember the first time you encountered true darkness? The kind that remains as black and inky whether your eyes are open or closed? Where you can''t see your hand in front of your face?Jacqueline Yallop can. It was in an unfamiliar bedroom while holidaying in Yorkshire as a child, and ever since then she has been fascinated by the dark, by our efforts to capture or avoid it, by the meanings we give to it and the way our brains process it.Taking a journey into the dark secrets of place, body and mind, she documents a series of night-time walks, exploring both the physical realities of darkness and the psychological dark that helps shape our sense of self. Exploring our enduring love-hate relationship with states of darkness, she considers how we attempt to understand and contain the dark, and, as she comes to terms with her father''s deteriorating Alzheim

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Biomedical research is changing the both the format and the functions of human beings. Very soon the human race will be faced with a choice: do we join in with the enhancement or not? Make Way for the Superhumans looks at how far this technology has come and what aims and ambitions it has.From robotic implants that restore sight to the blind, to performance enhancing drugs that build muscles, improve concentration, and maintain erections, bio-enhancement has already made massive advances. Humans have already developed the technology to transmit thoughts and actions brain-to-brain using only a computer interface.By the time our grandchildren are born, they will be presented with the option to significantly alter and redesign their bodies. Make Way for the Superhumans is the only book that poses the questions that need answering now: suggesting real, practical ways of dealing with this technology before it reaches a point where it can no longer be controlled.

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What makes philosophy on the continent of Europe so different and exciting? And why does it have such a reputation for being 'difficult'?Continental philosophy was initiated amid the revolutionary ferment of the 18th century, philosophers such as Kant and Hegel confronting the extremism of the time with theories that challenged the very formation of individual and social consciousness.Covering the great philosophers of the modern and postmodern eras - from Nietzsche, Heidegger, Derrida and Deleuze right to up Agamben and ?i?ek - and philosophical movements from German idealism to deconstruction and feminism - Christopher Kul-Want and Piero brilliantly elucidate some of the most thrilling and powerful ideas ever to have been discussed.

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'Part memoir, part hugely entertaining self-help manual for these tough times' Roger Alton, Daily Mail'A bona fide badass' The Sunday TimesFormer Secret Service Special Agent Evy Poumpouras shares the insights and skills from one of the oldest elite security forces in the world - to help you prepare for stressful situations, instantly read people, influence how you're perceived, and live a more fearless life.From gruelling training to clandestine interrogation rooms, to protecting the President of the United States of America, Evy shares rare behind-the-scenes glimpses while also exploring the psychology of human behaviour and the strategies used by the best negotiators. Evy demonstrates how we can learn from these experiences to heighten our own natural instincts to detect BS, develop grit and become the most resilient and powerful version of ourselves.Becoming Bulletproof is a timely guide to empowerment, mental strength, and overcoming fear and abuse - a guide to becoming bulletproof.

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Why is psychiatry such big business? Why are so many psychiatric drugs prescribed - 47 million antidepressant prescriptions in the UK alone last year - and why, without solid scientific justification, has the number of mental disorders risen from 106 in 1952 to 374 today?The everyday sufferings and setbacks of life are now 'medicalised' into illnesses that require treatment - usually with highly profitable drugs. Psychological therapist James Davies uses his insider knowledge to illustrate for a general readership how psychiatry has put riches and medical status above patients' well-being. The charge sheet is damning: negative drug trials routinely buried; antidepressants that work no better than placebos; research regularly manipulated to produce positive results; doctors, seduced by huge pharmaceutical rewards, creating more disorders and prescribing more pills; and ethical, scientific and treatment flaws unscrupulously concealed by mass-marketing.Cracked reveals for the first time the true human cost of an industry that, in the name of helping others, has actually been helping itself.

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A travelogue exploring the life and work of George Orwell through the places he lived, worked and wrote Following in the footsteps of his literary hero, researcher and historian Oliver Lewis set out to visit all the places to have inspired and been lived in by George Orwell. Over three years he travelled from Wigan to Catalonia, Paris to Motihari, Marrakesh to Eton, and in each location explored both how Orwell experienced the place, and how the place now remembers him as a literary icon. Beginning in Northern India, where Orwell was born in 1903, and ending in the Oxfordshire village of Sutton Courtenay, where he was laid to rest in 1950, The Orwell Tour offers an accessible and informative new biography of Orwell through the lens of place.

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Author Barry Stone has served his apprenticeship as a western movie geek and aficionado. The Magnificent Seven, The Wild Bunch, Red River - for 50 years the western has been the only genre in a life that 'just ain't big enough for two'. He has written on the history of cinema for the illustrated reference book Historica, is a regular attendee to western premieres for FOX Studios Australia, and was recently a guest of the Museum of Western Film History in Independence, California.Intrigued by the idea of frontier wilderness, of law and order vs lawlessness, and a firm belief that 'the better the bad guy, the better the film', he goes beyond the American south-west to pay homage to the Italian and even Australian western - and, after much deliberation, he ranks them in order.

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'Incisive and provocative ... a sensitive and probing critique' The New York Times'Essential reading ... gripping, inspirational, beautifully written and highly thought-provoking' Dr Helen Gørrill, author of Women Can't PaintA bold reconsideration of women in art - from the 'Old Masters' to the posts of Instagram influencersA perfect pin-up, a damsel in distress, a saintly mother, a femme fatale ...Women's identity has long been stifled by a limited set of archetypes, found everywhere in pictures from art history's classics to advertising, while women artists have been overlooked and held back from shaping more empowering roles.In this impassioned book, art historian Catherine McCormack asks us to look again at what these images have told us to value, opening up our most loved images - from those of Titian and Botticelli to Picasso and the Pre-Raphaelites. She also shows us how women artists - from Berthe Morisot to Beyoncé, Judy Chicago to Kara Walker - have offered us new ways of thinking about women's identity, sexuality, race and power.Women in the Picture gives us new ways of seeing the art of the past and the familiar images of today so that we might free women from these restrictive roles and embrace the breadth of women's vision.'A call to arms in a world where the misogyny that taints much of the western art canon is still largely ignored' Financial Times'It felt like the scales were falling from my eyes as I read it.' The Herald

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'A kind of epic poem, one that moves in circular fashion from passionate denunciation to intense autobiographical reflection ... should be required reading for every MP, peer, councillor, civil servant and commentator. The fury and sense of powerlessness that so many people feel at government policy beam out of every page.' The Guardian'It is not enough to read Harry's record of the struggles and hopes of a generation - we have to re-assert his principles of common ownership and the welfare state. If Harry can do it, we should too!' Ken Loach, Director of I, Daniel Blake'As one of the last remaining survivors of the Great Depression and the Second World War, I will not go gently into that good night. I want to tell you what the world looks like through my eyes, so that you can help change it.' In November 2013, 91-year-old Yorkshireman, RAF veteran and ex-carpet salesman Harry Leslie Smith's Guardian article - 'This year, I will wear a poppy for the last time' - was shared over 80,000 times on Facebook and started a huge debate about the state of society.Now he brings his unique perspective to bear on NHS cutbacks, benefits policy, political corruption, food poverty, the cost of education - and much more. From the deprivation of 1930s Barnsley and the terror of war to the creation of our welfare state, Harry has experienced how a great civilisation can rise from the rubble. But at the end of his life, he fears how easily it is being eroded. Harry's Last Stand is a lyrical, searing modern invective that shows what the past can teach us, and how the future is ours for the taking.'Smith's unwavering will to turn things around makes for inspirational reading.' Big Issue North'[With] sheer emotional power ... Harry Leslie Smith reminds us what society without good public services actually looks and feels like.' New Statesman

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James Joyce is one of the most famous--and controversial--writers of the twentieth century. The myth of his difficulty has discouraged many readers from works such as "Ulysses," but David Norris explores his life and work in this engaging and intellectually rigorous introduction.

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Rupert Sheldrake's theory of morphic resonance challenges the fundamental assumptions of modern science. A world-famous biologist, Sheldrake proposes that all self-organizing systems, from crystals to human societies, inherit a collective memory that influences their form and behaviour. Rather than being ruled by fixed laws, nature is essentially habitual. All human beings draw upon a collective human memory, and in turn contribute to it. Even individual memory depends on morphic resonance rather than on physical memory traces stored within the brain. Morphic resonance works through morphic fields, which organize the bodies of plants and animals, coordinate the activities of brains, and underlie mental activity. Minds are extended beyond brains both in space and time. This fully-revised and updated edition of The Presence of the Past summarizes the evidence for Dr Sheldrake's controversial theory, reviews new research, and explores its implications for biology, chemistry, physics, psychology and sociology. In place of the mechanistic worldview that has dominated biology since the nineteenth century, this book offers a revolutionary alternative, and opens up a new understanding of life, minds and evolution.

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Modernism is usually thought of as a shock wave of innovations hitting art, architecture, music, cinema and literature - the work of Picasso, Joyce, Schoenberg, movements like Futurism and Dada, the architecture of Le Corbusier, T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland and the avant-garde theatre of Bertolt Brecht or Samuel Beckett. But what really defines modernism? Why did it begin and how long did it last? Is Modernism over now? Chris Rodriguez and Chris Garratt's brilliant graphic guide is a brilliant exploration of the last century's most thrilling artistic work - and what it's really all about.

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If a butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil, does it cause a tornado in Texas? Chaos theory attempts to answer such baffling questions. The discovery of randomness in apparently predictable physical systems has evolved into a science that declares the universe to be far more unpredictable than we have ever imagined. Introducing Chaos explains how chaos makes its presence felt in events from the fluctuation of animal populations to the ups and downs of the stock market. It also examines the roots of chaos in modern maths and physics, and explores the relationship between chaos and complexity, the unifying theory which suggests that all complex systems evolve from a few simple rules. This is an accessible introduction to an astonishing and controversial theory.

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Capitalism now dominates the globe, both in economics and ideology, shapes every aspect of our world and influences everything from laws, wars and government to interpersonal relationships. Introducing Capitalism tells the story of its remarkable and often ruthless rise, evolving through strife and struggle as much as innovation and enterprise. Dan Cryan and Sharron Shatil, with Piero's brilliant graphics, cover the major economic, social and political developments that shaped the world we live in, such as the rise of banking, the founding of America and the Opium Wars.The book explores the leading views for and against, including thinkers like Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Theodor Adorno and Milton Friedman, the connections between them and their historical context. Few ideas have had as much impact on our everyday lives as capitalism. Introducing Capitalism is the essential companion.

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In Rome the echoes of the past resound clearly in its palaces and monuments, and in the remains of the ancient imperial city. But another presence has dominated Rome for 2,000 years -the pope, whose actions and influence echo down the ages. In this epic tale, historian Jessica Wärnberg tells, for the first time, the story of Rome through the lens of its popes, illuminating how these remarkable (and unremarkable) men have transformed lives and played a crucial role in deciding the fate of the city. Emerging as the anonymous leader of a marginal cult in the humblest quarters of the city, less than 300 years later the pope sat enthroned in a gilt basilica, endorsed by the emperor himself. Eventually, the Roman pontiff would supplant even the emperors, becoming the de facto ruler of Rome and pre-eminent leader of the Christian world. Shifting elegantly between the panoramic and the personal, the spiritual and the profane, this is a fresh and often surprising take on a city, a people and an institution that is at once familiar and elusive.

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In The One, particle physicist Heinrich Päs presents a bold idea: fundamentally, everything in the universe is an aspect of one unified whole.This idea, called monism, has a rich 3,000-year history: Plato believed that 'all is one', but monism was later rejected as irrational and suppressed as a heresy by the medieval Church. Nevertheless, monism persisted, inspiring Enlightenment science and Romantic poetry. Päs shows how monism could inspire physics today, how it could slice through the intellectual stagnation that has bogged down progress in modern physics and help science achieve the 'grand theory of everything' that it has been chasing for decades. Blending physics, philosophy, and the history of ideas, The One is an epic, mind-expanding journey through millennia of human thought and into the nature of reality itself.

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In The One, particle physicist Heinrich Päs presents a bold idea: fundamentally, everything in the universe is an aspect of one unified whole.This idea, called monism, has a rich 3,000-year history: Plato believed that 'all is one', but monism was later rejected as irrational and suppressed as a heresy by the medieval Church. Nevertheless, monism persisted, inspiring Enlightenment science and Romantic poetry. Päs shows how monism could inspire physics today, how it could slice through the intellectual stagnation that has bogged down progress in modern physics and help science achieve the 'grand theory of everything' that it has been chasing for decades. Blending physics, philosophy, and the history of ideas, The One is an epic, mind-expanding journey through millennia of human thought and into the nature of reality itself.

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** Includes foreword from Susie Green, CEO of charity Mermaids ** Mama, something went wrong in your tummy. And it made me come out as a boy instead of a girl. When Marlo Mack's three year old says these words, she's not surprised - but she's completely unprepared. Marlo gave birth to a beautiful baby boy - M - and brushed his pleas for pink clothes and dresses aside as a young child's playful experimentation with gender. But when her son begs to be put back in her tummy because he came out wrong, she knows she must listen more closely.How to Be a Girl is a raw and unflinching memoir of a mother grappling with her child's transition. Always wanting to support M, Marlo - whose podcast of the same name has over 1.3 million downloads - finds her liberal values surprisingly challenged, and as she learns more about gender and its varied expressions, she questions what being a girl - or a boy, or something else entirely - really means.

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Do you ever wish you could find more time to write? Do you ever feel frustrated that other things get in the way? Perhaps you're stuck at the start, mired in the middle or just can't get back into the writing groove? Writing is important to many of us - for our careers, studies, businesses or creative fulfilment - but sitting down and doing it can feel impossible. We often struggle to give it the attention it deserves. We can't find time. Our focus is torn. Distractions are everywhere. Our inner critic keeps telling us we're no good. But what if you could find a highly effective writing habit that was perfect for you? Bec Evans and Chris Smith have helped thousands of people stop procrastinating, overcome their blocks and reach their writing goals. Now, they've turned their successful approach into this life-changing book that anyone can use to write more productively and with less stress. Packed full of tried and tested advice, stories you can relate to and the latest research from psychology and neuroscience, Written gives you the tools you need to start writing, keep going - and finish. AUTHORS: Bec Evans and Chris Smith are the co-founders of Prolifiko, a coaching business that helps people build productive writing habits. They met while working together in a bookshop more than 20 years ago and have spent a lifetime writing and working with other writers. Prior to Prolifiko, Bec worked in publishing, led teams of writers and managed a writing centre for Arvon. She's also the award-winning author of How to Have a Happy Hustle. Chris has a background as a ghostwriter and content consultant to global business brands, charities and the public sector. He worked as an agency director before setting up his own communications consultancy and has written for national newspapers and magazines. He is also an award-winning comedy scriptwriter. The authors live in Yorkshire with their dog, Peggy.

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'Astonishing... In the American journalist Andrew Nagorski this tale has found its ideal narrator'SEBASTIAN FAULKS, Sunday Times'[A] thrilling book, as edge-of-your-seat gripping as any heist movie'Kathryn Hughes, Guardian Book of the Day'A gripping masterpiece'BRETT KAHR, Freud Museum LondonMarch 1938: German soldiers are massing on the Austrian border, on the cusp of fulfilling Hitler's dream of absorbing the country into the Third Reich. Many Jews make frantic plans to flee to safety. But one of the most famous men in the world, unable to contemplate leaving his beloved Vienna, is not among them. His name is Sigmund Freud.Saving Freud is the story of a great man's life, and of the extraordinary people who managed to prolong it, by convincing him to escape to London: the Welsh physician who brought psychoanalysis to Britain; Napoleon's great-grandniece; an American ambassador; Freud's devoted daughter, Anna; and the doctor who risked his own life by staying at Freud's side.In examining the histories of both Freud and his closest circle, Andrew Nagorski brilliantly evokes the story of Europe in the first half of the Twentieth Century. This is a tale of a great city, a collapsing empire, a rising terror -and of a man who would change the way we think.

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Strength, speed and dedication: Cristiano Ronaldo is known throughout the world as a colossus of the modern game.But did you know that he underwent laser heart surgery aged just fifteen to enable him to continue playing the game he loved?Or that Nacional, his first professional club, donated twenty balls and two sets of kits to his youth team in order to sign him?Or how he came to be known as abelhinha -'little bee'- a name he would later pass on to his Yorkshire Terrier?Find out all this and more in Luca Caioli's biography of the global superstar, featuring exclusive insights from those who know him best and even the man himself.

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** Chosen by Oprah Daily as one of the Best Books to Pick Up in May 2021 **'Fast-paced but nuanced ... impeccably researched ... a much-needed book' The Guardian''[S]o dystopian and apocalyptic that you can hardly believe what you are reading. ... But the story [it] tells is an essential one, with just a glimmer of hope in it. Because of the work of Ellsworth and many others, America is finally staring this appalling chapter of its history in the face. It's not a pretty sight.' Sunday TimesA gripping exploration of the worst single incident of racial violence in American history, timed to coincide with its 100th anniversary.On 31 May 1921, in the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, a mob of white men and women reduced a prosperous African American community, known as Black Wall Street, to rubble, leaving countless dead and unaccounted for, and thousands of homes and businesses destroyed.But along with the bodies, they buried the secrets of the crime. Scott Ellsworth, a native of Tulsa, became determined to unearth the secrets of his home town. Now, nearly 40 years after his first major historical account of the massacre, Ellsworth returns to the city in search of answers. Along with a prominent African American forensic archaeologist whose family survived the riots, Ellsworth has been tasked with locating and exhuming the mass graves and identifying the victims for the first time. But the investigation is not simply to find graves or bodies - it is a reckoning with one of the darkest chapters of American history.'[A] riveting, painful-to-read account of a mass crime that, to our everlasting shame ... has avoided justice. Ellsworth's book presents us with a clear history of the Tulsa massacre and with that rendering, a chance for atonement ... Readers of this book will fervently hope we take that opportunity.' Washington Post

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'A masterful, must-read contribution to conversations on power, justice, healing, and devotion from a singular voice I now trust with my whole heart'GLENNON DOYLE, author of Untamed**Roxane Gay's Book Club March 2023 Pick**When Lamya is fourteen, she decides to disappear. It seems easier to ease herself out of sight than to grapple with the difficulty of taking shape in a world that doesn't fit. She is a queer teenager growing up in a Muslim household, a South Asian in a Middle Eastern country. But during her Quran class, she reads a passage about Maryam, and suddenly everything shifts: if Maryam was never touched by any man, could Maryam be... like Lamya?Written with deep intelligence and a fierce humour, Hijab Butch Blues follows Lamya as she travels to the United States, as she comes out, and as she navigates the complexities of the immigration system - and the queer dating scene. At each step, she turns to her faith to make sense of her life, weaving stories from the Quran together with her own experiences: Musa leading his people to freedom; Allah, who is neither male nor female; and Nuh, who built an ark, just as Lamya is finally able to become the architect of her own story.Raw and unflinching, Hijab Butch Blues heralds the arrival of a truly original voice, asking powerful questions about gender and sexuality, relationships, identity and faith, and what it means to build a life of one's own.

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'A moving and absorbing account' Adam Buxton'Scorching ... a brave book' Helen Brown, Telegraph'A wise and vivid memoir of a disintegrating marriage and a study of the role of the spouse in the life of a literary giant' Fiona Sturges, i Paper18TH JANUARY 1990Paul left today at 8am.We had been married just over 22 years. The previous evening we had gone out to eat at a local restaurant, where we drank champagne and reminisced. In a short story which he wrote about that final evening of a marriage, the central characters talk wittily and poignantly about the explorer Sir Richard Burton and the sad, misunderstood wife who burnt his books.The reality was different.'This memoir is based on the diary I kept during 1990, the year that my first marriage came to an end.' After 22 years, spent across four continents, with two children - Louis and Marcel - in 1990 Anne and Paul Theroux decided to separate. For that year, Anne - later a professional relationship therapist herself - kept a diary, noting not only her day-to-day experiences as a busy freelance journalist and broadcaster, but the contrasts in her feelings between despairing grief and hope for a new future.With reflections on truth and fiction, literature and art, and the nature of marriage, alongside commentary on notable political and cultural events, and interviews with prominent writers of the time, including Kingsley Amis and Barbara Cartland, The Year of the End offers a unique insight into the unravelling of a relationship and the attempt to rebuild a life.

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'Kerry Brown's Xi is the perfect primer for understanding Xi Jinping's status as China's greatest ruler since Mao and as this century's least assailable statesman' John Keay, author of China: A History'A valuable primer for anyone looking to get up to speed on Xi Jinping's rise to global power' Jeff Wasserstrom, Guardian'Offers a nuanced and thorough explanation of Xi's China and why the Communist Party, for all its flaws, has long life in it' Oliver Farry, Irish TimesAlthough Xi Jinping came to power a decade ago, he remains an enigmatic figure in the West. His priority has always been to keep Chinese society as stable as possible, steering a course through a period of astounding economic growth, while ensuring that nothing challenges the political status quo.But with unrest stirring in Hong Kong, reports of human rights abuses taking place in the Xinjiang region and, devastatingly, the outbreak of a virus that would change the world, suddenly understanding Xi's China is more important than ever before.In this short and timely book, academic and author Kerry Brown examines the complexities behind the man, explaining the impact that his rule is already having on the West. But who is Xi really, and what is his vision for China's future? And, crucially, what does that mean for the rest of the world?

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'A gripping read for anyone who cares about what we're doing to the planet and how we can change it' DAVID SHUKMAN, FORMER BBC NEWS SCIENCE EDITOR'Searing observations focused on our need to protect biodiversity - A tour de force' SIR TIM SMIT OBE, CO-FOUNDER OF THE EDEN PROJECT'An informative, uplifting and truly important book' JONATHON PORRITT, AUTHOR AND CAMPAIGNEROne woman's journey through South America - and the devastating story of our planet's disappearing biodiversityPedalling hard for thirteen months, eco adventurer Kate Rawles cycled the length of the Andes on an eccentric bicycle she built herself. The Life Cycle charts her mission to find out why biodiversity is so important, what's happening to it, and what can be done to protect it.From the Pacific Ocean to rainforests and salt flats, Kate learns that armadillos can cross rivers by holding their breath, that Colombia has more species of birds than North America and Europe combined, and that in threatening species and ecosystems, we're tearing down our own life support system. En route, she witnesses the devastation of goldmining and oil drilling but finds hope in the incredible people working to regenerate habitats and communities. As she reaches the 'end of the world', she realises that to tackle biodiversity loss we all have a role to play.

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FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF RONALDO AND NEYMAR.Prolific, cool-headed and unerringly consistent, Lionel Messi is one of the most revered footballers in history. But did you know that his transfer to Barcelona was first agreed on a paper napkin?Or that an x-ray of his hand was to thank for identifying his growth hormone deficiency? And do you know why he refused to collect his first ever Champions League winner's medal?Find out all this and more in Luca Caioli's classic portrait of a footballing icon, featuring exclusive interviews with those who know him best and even Messi himself.

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'A dazzling illustrated edition of a 'hugely useful and fascinating resumé of rewilding' Isabella Tree, author of Wilding'Compelling ... succinct and objective' Financial TimesRewilding reveals the ways in which ecologists are restoring the lost interactions between animals, plants, and natural disturbances that are the essence of thriving ecosystems. It looks into a past in which industrialization and globalization have downgraded our grasslands; at present projects restoring plants and animals to their natural, untamed state; and into the future, with ten predictions for a rewilded planet.This illustrated edition combines beautiful natural history images with infographic flow-charts depicting the 'trophic cascades' of biodiverse ecosystems, to explore a brave new world repopulated with wild horses and cattle, beavers, rhinos, and wolves.'A masterly job, explaining the science behind rewilding in an accessible, honest and compelling way. It deserves to be widely read and become a book of great influence.' Isabella Tree, author of Wilding.

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'It is rare to read something that so closely mixes science fiction with reality, but Space 2069 does just that ... [It's] an intelligent portrait of where we may be in the next half-century. - BBC Sky at NightNearing half a century since the last Apollo mission, mankind has yet to return to the Moon, but that is about to change. With NASA's Artemis program scheduled for this decade, astronomer David Whitehouse takes a timely look at what the next 50 years of space exploration have in store.The thirteenth man and the first woman to walk on the Moon will be the first to explore the lunar south pole - the prime site for a future Moon base thanks to its near-perpetual sunlight and the presence of nearby ice.The first crewed mission to Mars will briefly orbit the red planet in 2039, preparing the way for a future landing mission. Surviving the round trip will be the greatest challenge any astronaut has yet faced.In the 2050s, a lander will descend to the frozen surface of Jupiter's moon Europa and attempt to drill down to its subsurface ocean in search of life.Based on real-world information, up-to-date scientific findings and a healthy dose of realism, Space 2069 is a mind-expanding tour of humanity's future in space over the next 50 years.

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'Kate Winkler Dawson is an unbelievable crime historian and such a talented storyteller.' Karen Kilgariff, cohost of the My Favorite Murder podcast'Heinrich changed criminal investigations forever, and anyone fascinated by the myriad detective series and TV shows about forensics will want to read [this].' The Washington Post'An entertaining, absorbing combination of biography and true crime.' Kirkus'Kate Winkler Dawson has researched both her subject and his cases so meticulously that her reconstructions and descriptions made me feel part of the action rather than just a reader and bystander. She has brought to life Edward Oscar Heinrich's character, determination, and skill so vividly that one is left bemused that this man is so little known to most of us.' Patricia Wiltshire, author of Traces and The Nature of Life and DeathBerkeley, California, 1933. In a lab filled with curiosities - beakers, microscopes, Bunsen burners and hundreds of books - sat an investigator who would go on to crack at least 2,000 cases in his 40-year career.Known as the 'American Sherlock Holmes', Edward Oscar Heinrich was one of the greatest - and first - forensic scientists, with an uncanny knack for finding clues, establishing evidence and deducing answers with a skill that seemed almost supernatural.Based on years of research and thousands of never-before-published primary source materials, American Sherlock is a true-crime account capturing the life of the man who spearheaded the invention of a myriad of new forensic tools, including blood-spatter analysis, ballistics, lie-detector tests and the use of fingerprints as courtroom evidence.

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Some people have something to say in any conversation and can spot the hidden angles of completely unrelated problems; but how do they do it? So many books, apps, courses, and schools compete for our attention that the problem isn't a lack of opportunity to sharpen our minds, it's having to choose between so many options. And yet, more than two thousand years ago, the greatest thinker of Ancient Greece, Aristotle, had already discovered the blueprint of the human mind.Despite the fact that the latest cognitive science shows his blueprint to be exactly what sharpens our reasoning, subtlety of thought, and ability to think in different ways and for ourselves, we have meanwhile replaced it with a simplistic and seductive view of intelligence, education and the mind. Condensing that blueprint to six 'secrets', Craig Adams uncovers the underlying patterns of every discussion and debate we've ever had, and shows us how to be both harder to manipulate and more skilful in any conversation or debate - no matter the topic.

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What is the best way to kill weeds in paving? How scared should we really be of Japanese knotweed? And what is a weed anyway?Biologist Ken Thompson set out to write a different kind of gardening column, one that tackles what he calls 'the grit in the gardening oyster'. In this new collection he takes a look at some of the questions faced by gardeners everywhere in a bid to sort the truth from the wishful thinking.Why are the beaks of British great tits getting longer? Which common garden insect owns a set of metal-tipped running spikes? Why might growing orange petunias land you in hot water? Are foxes getting bigger? How do you stop the needles falling off your Christmas tree?This expert's miscellany of (mostly) scientifically-tested garden lore will make you look at your garden through fresh eyes.

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A TIMES BESTSELLER'One of the funniest books of the year' - Paul Ross, talkRADIOWARNING: CONTAINS AN UNLIKELY IMMIGRANT, AN UNSUNG COUNTRY, A BUMPY ROMANCE, SEVERAL SHATTERED PRECONCEPTIONS, TRACES OF INSIGHT, A DOZEN NUNS AND A REFERENDUM.Not many Brits move to Poland to work in a fish and chip shop.Fewer still come back wanting to be a Member of the European Parliament.In 2016 Ben Aitken moved to Poland while he still could. It wasn't love that took him but curiosity: he wanted to know what the Poles in the UK had left behind. He flew to a place he'd never heard of and then accepted a job in a chip shop on the minimum wage.When he wasn't peeling potatoes he was on the road scratching the country's surface: he milked cows with a Eurosceptic farmer; missed the bus to Auschwitz; spent Christmas with complete strangers and went to Gdansk to learn how communism got the chop. By the year's end he had a better sense of what the Poles had turned their backs on - southern mountains, northern beaches, dumplings! - and an uncanny ability to bone cod.This is a candid, funny and offbeat tale of a year as an unlikely immigrant.

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Shortlisted for the 2020 Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards (ESTWA's) Travel Food & Drink Book of the Year. 'This smorgasbord of a tale will have travellers tasting every meal with renewed appreciation.' - National GeographicFeeling stuck in his life, New York Times food writer Jeff Gordinier met René Redzepi, the Danish chef whose restaurant, Noma, has been repeatedly voted the best in the world. A restless perfectionist, Redzepi was at the top of his game but looking to shutter his restaurant and set out for new places, flavours and recipes.This is the story of their four-year culinary adventure. In the Yucatán jungle, Redzepi and Gordinier seek the perfect taco and the secrets of molé. On idyllic Sydney beaches, they forage for sea rocket and wild celery. On a boat in the Arctic Circle, a lone fisherman guides them to - perhaps - the world's finest sea urchins. Back in Copenhagen, Redzepi plans the resurrection of his restaurant on the unlikely site of a garbage-filled empty lot. Hungry is a memoir, a travelogue, a portrait of a chef, and a chronicle of the moment when daredevil cooking became the most exciting and groundbreaking form of artistry.

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In August 1939, curators at the Louvre nestled the world's most famous painting into a special red velvet-lined case and spirited her away to the Loire Valley as part of the biggest museum evacuation in history. As the Germans neared Paris in 1940, the French raced to move the masterpieces still further south, then again and again during the war, crisscrossing the southwest of France. Throughout the German occupation, the museum staff fought to keep the priceless treasures out of the hands of Hitler and his henchmen, often risking their lives to protect the country's artistic heritage. Saving Mona Lisa is the sweeping, suspenseful narrative of their struggle.

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'All the power and intrigue of a cinematic thriller ... immersive, dramatic, and historically edifying' KirkusMoscow in the late 1970s: one by one, CIA assets are disappearing. The perils of American arrogance, mixed with bureaucratic infighting, had left the country unspeakably vulnerable to ultra-sophisticated Russian electronic surveillance.. The Spy in Moscow Station tells of a time when-much like today-Russian spycraft was proving itself far ahead of the best technology the U.S. had to offer.This is the true story of unorthodox, underdog intelligence officers who fought an uphill battle against their government to prove that the KGB had pulled off the most devastating and breathtakingly thorough penetration of U.S. national security in history.Incorporating declassified internal CIA memos and diplomatic cables, this suspenseful narrative reads like a thriller-but real lives were at stake, and every twist is true as the US and USSR attempt to wrongfoot each other in eavesdropping technology and tradecraft. The book also carries a chilling warning for the present: like the State and CIA officers who were certain their "sweeps" could detect any threat in Moscow, we don't know what we don't know.

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A decade after the financial crisis, there is a growing consensus that economics has failed and needs to go back to the drawing board. David Orrell argues that it has been trying to solve the wrong problem all along.Economics sees itself as the science of scarcity. Instead, it should be the science of money (which plays a surprisingly small role in mainstream theory). And money is a substance that turns out to have a quantum nature of its own.Just as physicists learn about matter by studying the exchange of particles at the subatomic level, so economics should begin by analysing the nature of money-based transactions. Quantum Economics therefore starts with the meaning of the phrase 'how much' - or, to use the Latin word, quantum. From quantum physics to the dualistic properties of money, via the emerging areas of quantum finance and quantum cognition, this profoundly important book reveals that quantum economics is to neoclassical economics what quantum physics is to classical physics - a genuine turning point in our understanding.

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From comfort eating and skipping meals to anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, disordered eating comes in many forms. With expert advice from an experienced psychologist, this book will help you get back on track and get the help you need. Break bad habits and replace them with better ones; understand your issues so that you can move forward; and learn to overcome your fears, love your body and discover how to enjoy food again.

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Achieve your careergoals.A Practical Guide toGetting the Job You Want supports you through all the stages of finding your perfect job -from organisation and preparation to the different ways to implement a jobsearch campaign. In a challenging job market you need to create a resumé thatwill sell you, and to be well prepared for interview. Both new graduatesand those returning to the job search will learn simple yet effectivetechniques from award-winning career psychologist, Denise Taylor.

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'This is mental illness. It is unexpected strength and unusual luck and an uninterrupted string of steps. Then the next wave comes. And while you wipe grit from your eyes and swipe blood from your knees, the smiling faces in the distance call out: Why do you keep falling over?! Just stand up!'Conversations about mental health are increasing, but we still seldom hear what it's really like to suffer from mental illness.Enter Nancy Tucker, author of the acclaimed eating disorder memoir, The Time In Between. Based on her interviews with young women aged 16-25, That Was When People Started to Worry weaves together experiences of mental illness into moving narratives, humorous anecdotes, and guidance as to how we can all be more empathetic towards those who suffer. Tucker offers an authentic impression of seven common mental illnesses: depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, self-harm, disordered eating, PTSD and borderline personality disorder. Giving a voice to those who often find it hard to speak themselves, Tucker presents a unique window into the day-to-day trials of living with an unwell mind. She pushes readers to reflect on how we think, talk about and treat mental illness in young women.

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You probably know, or think you know, quite a bit about what happened in the 20th century - chances are, if you're reading this, you lived through at least some of it - and you may have referenced the Cuban Missile Crisis, the double helix, or the Wall Street Crash in conversation. But even for people who were there, it was the fastest-moving hundred years in history, so refresh your memory with these pacey profiles on everything from Sputnik to Stonewall.30-Second Twentieth Century presents a unique approach to modern history, condensing 100 years of innovation and art, politics and conflict, triumph and disaster, into 50 graphic snapshots that offer an instant appreciation of the way the world revolves and evolves. Consider which events define a period of history and why. From the Red Army to Black Monday, from Woodstock to the World Wide Web, this is the fastest way to travel in time.

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When the forces that give our planet life exceed our ability towithstand them, they become disasters. Together they have shaped ourcities and architecture, elevated leaders and toppled governments, influencedthe way we think, feel, fight, unite and pray. The history of naturaldisasters is a history of ourselves. The Big Ones investigates some of the most impactful naturaldisasters, and how their reverberations are still felt today. From a volcaniceruption in Pompeii challenging and reinforcing prevailing views of religion,through the California floods of 1862 and the limitations of memory, to whatHurricane Katrina and the 2004 tsunami can tell us about governance andglobalisation. With temperatures rising around the world, naturaldisasters are striking with ever greater frequency. More than just history or science, The Big Ones is acall to action. Natural hazards are inevitable; human catastrophes arenot. With this energising and richly-researched book, Jones offers a lookat our past, readying us to face down the Big Ones in our future.

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