Search results for ""profile books""
Profile Books Ltd The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together
LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD 'With intelligence and care (as well as with a trove of sometimes heartbreaking and sometimes heart-opening true stories) Heather McGhee shows us what racism has cost all of us' - Elizabeth Gilbert Picked for the Financial Times Summer Books by Gillian Tett What would make a society drain its public swimming baths and fill them with concrete rather than opening them to everyone? Economics researcher Heather McGhee sets out across America to learn why white voters so often act against their own interests. Why do they block changes that would help them, and even destroy their own advantages, whenever people of colour also stand to benefit? Their tragedy is that they believe they can't win unless somebody else loses. But this is a lie. McGhee marshals overwhelming economic evidence, and a profound well of empathy, to reveal the surprising truth: even racists lose out under white supremacy. And US racism is everybody's problem. As McGhee shows, it was bigoted lending policies that laid the ground for the 2008 financial crisis. There can be little prospect of tackling global climate change until America's zero-sum delusions are defeated. The Sum of Us offers a priceless insight into the workings of prejudice, and a timely invitation to solidarity among all humans, 'to piece together a new story of who we could be to one another'.
£9.99
Profile Books Ltd We Move: Winner of the 2023 Somerset Maugham Award
'A debut collection of such precocity and aplomb that it stands comparison to the likes of Junot Díaz and Bryan Washington' Observer 'Moving, truthful, straight from the heart' Neel Mukherjee 'These are excellent stories, told with skill and verve' Jon McGregor Here, beneath the planes circling Heathrow, various lives connect. Priti speaks English and her nani Punjabi. Without Priti's mum around they struggle to make a shared language. Not far away, Chetan and Aanshi's relationship shifts when a woman leaves her car in their drive but never returns to collect it. Gujan's baba steps out of his flat above the chicken shop for the first time in years to take his grandson on a bicycle tour of the old and changed neighbourhood. And returning home after dropping out of university, Lata grapples with a secret about her estranged family friend, now a chart-topping rapper in a crisis of confidence. Mapping an area of West London, these stories chart a wider narrative about the movement of multiple generations of immigrants. In acts of startling imagination, Gurnaik Johal's debut brings together the past and the present, the local and the global, to show the surprising ways we come together.
£8.99
Profile Books Ltd All of the Marvels: An Amazing Voyage into Marvel’s Universe and 27,000 Superhero Comics
WINNER OF THE 2022 EISNER AWARD FOR BEST COMICS-RELATED BOOK 'Magnificently marvellous' Junot Diaz 'An account of how a motley gang of accidental collaborators created a vernacular mythology out of the dodgiest of commercial occasions ... a revelation' Jonathan Lethem Every schoolchild recognises their protagonists: the Avengers, the X-Men, your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man. The superhero comics that Marvel has published since 1961 make up the biggest self-contained work of fiction ever created: over half a million pages and counting. Eighteen of the 100 highest-grossing movies of all time are based on it. And not even the people telling the story have read the whole thing. But Douglas Wolk did. In All Of The Marvels, a critic and superfan takes on the epic to end all epics. What he finds is a magic mirror of the past 60 years, from the atomic terrors of the Cold War to the political divides of our present. The result is an irresistible travel guide to the magic mountain at the heart of popular culture.
£9.99
Profile Books Ltd The Memory Monster
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WINGATE PRIZE 2022 A HISTORY TODAY BEST HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022 'A brilliant short novel that serves as a brave, sharp-toothed brief against letting the past devour the present' The New York Times 'Excels in its readiness to court controversy without surrendering nuance, and in place of moralising it offers questioning that's as necessary as it is unsettling.' Observer Written as a report to the chairman of Yad Vashem, Israel's memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, the unnamed narrator of The Memory Monster recounts his own undoing. Hired as a promising young historian, he soon becomes a leading expert on Nazi methods of extermination, guiding tours through the death camps. The job becomes a mission, and then a dangerous obsession. With great perspicuity and the bitterest black humour, The Memory Monster confronts difficult questions that are all too relevant to Israel and the world today: How do we process human brutality? What makes us choose sides in conflict? And how do we honour the suffering of our forebears without becoming consumed by it?
£12.99
Profile Books Ltd Spike: The Virus vs. The People - the Inside Story
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ROYAL SOCIETY SCIENCE PRIZE 2022 SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING 2022 THE TIMES SCIENCE BOOK OF THE YEAR A GUARDIAN BEST POLITICS BOOK OF THE YEAR A TOP 5 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER *Revised and updated edition with new chapter reflecting on the impact of Covid-19 two years on, and what come next* Did the UK government really 'follow the science' throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, as it claims? As head of the Wellcome Trust, Jeremy Farrar was one of the first people in the world to hear about a mysterious new disease in China - and to learn it could readily spread between people. A member of the SAGE emergency committee, Farrar was a key figure in both the UK and the World Health Organization at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic amid great uncertainty, fast-moving situations and missed opportunities. Spike is his widely acclaimed inside story. His account casts light on the UK government's claims to be 'following the science' and is informed not just by Farrar's views but by interviews with other top scientists and political figures.
£9.99
Profile Books Ltd QBQ!: The Question Behind the Question: Practicing Personal Accountability at Work and in Life
No one can successfully achieve goals and new objectives, provide outstanding service, engage in exceptional teamwork, make change in their community or lead other people without personal accountability. After decades of working with organisations and individuals, John G. Miller knows that the troubles that plague them cannot be solved by pointing fingers and blaming others. Rather, the real solutions are found when each of us recognizes the value of our own accountability. In this book, Miller explains how negative, ill-focused questions like "Who dropped the ball?" harm rather than help. Conversely, when we begin to ask better questions - QBQs, questions behind the questions - and to see power in ourselves, then our lives and organisations are transformed. Succinct, insightful and practical, this book provides the tools for putting personal accountability into daily action, with astonishing results.
£8.99
Profile Books Ltd Free Lunch: Easily Digestible Economics - revised 2022 edition
'Free of jargon, obfuscation and interminable subordinate clauses, his prose is just the job' The Times A fully updated and revised edition of the classic guide. The economy has never been so relevant to so many people as it is now. 'There's no such thing as a free lunch' is the one phrase everyone has heard from economics. But why not? What does economics tell us about the price of lunch - and everything else? Set out like a good lunchtime conversation, Free Lunch will escort you through the mysteries of the economy. Your guides will be some of the greatest names in the field, including Smith, Marx and Keynes. This clever and witty introduction to economics is essential reading in these times of economic uncertainty, and far more satisfying than even the most gourmet banquet.
£10.99
Profile Books Ltd Sunken City
'A very powerful and moving book' Margaret Drabble 'What an extraordinary voice! I was captivated from the first page and I know Marta's unique voice will stay with me for a long time. Bravissima!' Tomasz Jedrowski, author of Swimming in the Dark Newly-bereaved, bookish and lonely in Turin, a young woman sets out to chronicle her father's secret lives - and her struggle to accept his loss. She is startled to discover that the gentle, mercurial doctor was sentenced to jail in 1986 for membership of an armed band. Her father, L.B., lived through the Years of Lead, a time of unrest when extreme factions of left and right took hostages, set bombs and murdered their countrymen. Unable to move on before she can understand her family's past, she goes in search of him - and ultimately of herself too - the only way she knows how, by reading everything she can ... Through her search for the truth, a very different picture starts to emerge.
£14.99
Profile Books Ltd The Uncommon Reader: Alan Bennett's classic story about the Queen
Alan Bennett's classic story about Queen Elizabeth II What would happen if the Queen became a reader of taste and discernment rather than of Dick Francis? The answer is a perfect story. The Uncommon Reader is none other than HM the Queen who drifts accidentally into reading when her corgis stray into a mobile library parked at Buckingham Palace. She reads widely (JR Ackerley, Jean Genet, Ivy Compton Burnett and the classics) and intelligently. Her reading naturally changes her world view and her relationship with people like the oleaginous prime minister and his repellent advisers. She comes to question the prescribed order of the world and loses patience with much that she has to do. In short, her reading is subversive. The consequence is, of course, surprising, mildly shocking and very funny.
£8.99
Profile Books Ltd Outsmart Your Brain: Why Learning is Hard and How You Can Make It Easy
***A WINNER OF THE 2023 OUTSTANDING WORKS OF LITERATURE (OWL) AWARDS*** In this revolutionary guide to learning, Professor Dan Willingham uses fascinating brain science to help you study more efficiently and effectively, shrug away exam stress and make learning a skill you can master and enjoy. Outsmart Your Brain offers specific strategies for reading, listening and taking tests, covering the practical aspects like optimum note taking, how to read difficult books and good exam technique, coupled with the psychological challenges of dealing with anxiety, fighting procrastination and developing good focus. Smart, enlightening and immensely practical, this is an ideal book for university students, as well as for older children and adult learners studying for the bar, medical exams or other professional qualifications. Also useful for teachers of all ages and stages, Outsmart Your Brain is a handbook for successful learning, teaching you how to battle your brain's own mechanisms to study more efficiently, vastly improve your grades and make learning a genuinely fun experience.
£16.99
Profile Books Ltd Jump Attack: The Formula for Explosive Athletic Performance and Training Like the Pros
THE ELITE TRAINER FEATURED IN MICHAEL JORDAN DOCUSERIES THE LAST DANCE A fitness bible for athletes around the world, this three-phase, twelve-week program has exercises and workouts as well as cutting-edge information on training, nutrition, longevity, injury prevention, and more. Tim Grover began training Michael Jordan in 1989, and since then hundreds of elite athletes have turned to Grover to become stronger, faster, and more powerful, both physically and mentally. From increasing Michael Jordan's vertical leap to keeping Kobe Bryant and countless other superstars in peak physical shape, Grover's methods have made the best even better, year after year. Devised for explosive performance in any sport, this challenging workout pushes athletes out of their comfort zones, and allows anyone to train like a professional. This is how my pros do it. If you want to become more explosive, stronger, and faster, if you want to jump higher and improve your overall athletic performance in any sport, this is exactly how we do it today: This program is the difference between jumping and taking flight.'
£10.99
Profile Books Ltd On The Roof
The reed goes on, the reed comes off. The reed rots and returns to the earth. The houses we work on outlast us. The thatch we use has never stood still.On The Roof is a thatcher''s tale - a journey of discovery, and a reflection on what it means for a person or a building to belong in a place. It tells Tom Allan''s story, leaving an office job in the city to find fulfilment among the Devon roofs, as well as the stories of six other people who share his trade. We meet the Hebridean son of a lobster fisherman who thatches with a dune-growing grass, a Syrian refugee who found peace among the seagrass roofs of a Danish island, and one of the first women to become master of Japan''s 5,000-year-old craft of thatching.Thatching is an ancient, living tradition. To be a thatcher is to belong to a craft almost endless in its reach - at once one of the oldest ways of giving shelter, a way of working close to the land, and a deep immersion in the rhythms of a place on the most local scale possible
£17.09
Profile Books Ltd Fear
''Extraordinary'' Ai Weiwei''Brilliant'' Simon SchamaFear has long been a driving force - perhaps the driving force - of world history: a coercive tool of power and a catalyst for radical change. Here, Robert Peckham traces its transformative role over a millennium, from fears of famine and war to anxieties over God, disease, technology and financial crises.In a landmark global history that ranges from the Black Death to the terror of the French Revolution, the AIDS pandemic to climate change, Peckham reveals how fear made us who we are, and how understanding it can equip us to face the future.
£12.99
Profile Books Ltd Cwen: 'A wild ride!' MARGARET ATWOOD
'Fantastic - a wonderful book' Lily Cole 'Magical, rich and magnificent' Maxine Peake 'A wild ride! She sees Graves' White Goddess and raises 50 with female magic and transformations' Margaret Atwood 'A rare book, bold and powerful' Xiaolu Guo 'Wild, original...a beautiful work' Neel Mukherjee SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION 2022 NOMINATED FOR THE OTHERWISE AWARD 2022 A storm, a disappearance, a band of women and a remote island where anything is possible. On an unnamed archipelago off the east coast of Britain, Eva Levi has made it her life's work to build a community truly run by women. Now she has disappeared, rumours spread that it will be destroyed. But Cwen will never let that happen. Cwen has been here longer than the civilisation she has returned to haunt. Her name has ancient roots, reaching down into the earth and halfway around the world. The islands she inhabits have always belonged to women. And she will do anything she can to protect them. This remarkable novel is a portrait of female power and female potential, both to shelter and to harm. It reaches into our mythical past and opens up space for us to dream of a radical future.
£8.99
Profile Books Ltd After the Storm: Postnatal Depression and the Utter Weirdness of New Motherhood
The raw, relatable call-to-arms memoir, breaking the silence on postnatal depression - from the bestselling author of Animals and Adults An Unmissable Memoir for Summer, Stylist A Hot Summer Book, Refinery29 'I am so grateful for this beautiful, honest book. It has helped me immeasurably' Pandora Sykes 'I loved it' Amy Liptrot Six months after the birth of her son, Emma Jane Unsworth finds herself in the eye of a storm. Nothing - from pregnancy to birth and beyond - has gone as she expected. She's swapped all night benders for grazed labia and Whac-a-Moling haemorrhoids. How did she end up here? In this brave, vital account of postnatal depression, Emma tells her story of despair and recovery. She tackles the biggest taboos around motherhood and mental health, from botched stitches and bleeding nipples to anger and shame. How does pregnancy adapt our brains? Is postnatal depression a natural reaction to the trauma of modern motherhood? And are people's attitudes finally changing? After the Storm is a celebration of survival, holding out a hand to women everywhere. 'Hilarious, heart-breaking and wise' Leah Hazard, midwife and author
£12.99
Profile Books Ltd A Dictionary of Omens and Superstitions: The Complete Guide to Signs of Good Fortune and Bad Luck
What does it mean if a cat sits and washes itself in your doorway? And why should women have their hair cut only when the moon is waxing? Belief in superstitions links us to a time when everyday events and objects had magical significance, and knowledge of these could change your fate. If you avoid anything with the number thirteen and cross the road to avoid walking under ladders, then you would be wise to learn about the many other signs that surround us. Whether you wish to increase your good fortune, ward off bad luck, or simply desire to know what today has in store, A Dictionary of Omens and Superstitions provides a complete guide to hundreds of portents, signs and customs from around the world, tracing the origins of our superstitions and explaining their rich symbolism.
£9.99
Profile Books Ltd After the Storm: Postnatal Depression and the Utter Weirdness of New Motherhood
The raw, relatable call-to-arms memoir, breaking the silence on postnatal depression - from the bestselling author of Animals and Adults 'I am so grateful for this beautiful, honest book. It has helped me immeasurably' Pandora Sykes 'I loved this book' Clover Stroud 'Totally relatable ... had me laughing and crying in equal measures' Christie Watson 'Dazzling' The i An Unmissable Memoir, Stylist A Hot Summer Book, Refinery29 Six months after the birth of her son, Emma Jane Unsworth finds herself in the eye of a storm. Nothing - from pregnancy to birth and beyond - has gone as she expected. A birth plan? It might as well have been a rough draft! Furious and exhausted, her life is the complete opposite of what it used to be. She's swapped all night benders for grazed labia and Whac-a-Moling haemorrhoids. How did she end up here? In this brave, vital account of postnatal depression, Emma tells her story of despair and recovery. She tackles the biggest taboos around motherhood and mental health, from botched stitches and bleeding nipples to anger and shame. How does pregnancy adapt our brains? Is postnatal depression a natural reaction to the trauma of modern motherhood? And are people's attitudes finally changing? After the Storm is a celebration of survival, holding out a hand to women everywhere. 'This book will make new mums feel accompanied, which is the most sacred thing' Jenn Ashworth 'Hilarious, heart-breaking and wise' Leah Hazard, midwife and author 'Truth and power and lots of LOLs too. I loved it' Amy Liptrot 'A brave and compelling part memoir, part manifesto' Marie Claire
£8.99
Profile Books Ltd Love and the Novel: Life After Reading
'It is a clever, well-written book, and I often found myself underlining whole paragraphs as I read. ... wonderfully insightful. ... I've never read accounts of any of these texts that manage to be at once so searching and so wondrously concise, and Lupton made me want to go back to them all' Rachel Cooke, Observer 'Incandescent' Lara Feigel, Guardian 'A subversive, brilliant and beautifully written book about love, play and power in fiction and in the well-read life' - Sarah Moss, author of Summerwater 'A delicious combination of critical thought and passionate personal experience.' - Tanya Shadrick, author of The Cure for Sleep Romantic love was born alongside the novel, and books have been shaping how we experience and think about our most intimate stories ever since. But what do novels give us when our own lives diverge from the usual narrative paths? Christina is a professor used to examining stories with a critical eye; until one day in middle age she finds herself falling in love and leaving her marriage for a romance with another woman. This involves a familiar enough tale, but when her new partner suffers a stroke, Tina begins to reflect on the sorts of love that novels rarely capture. A heady mix of memoir, criticism and storytelling that draws on novels ranging from Pride and Prejudice to Price of Salt, Anna Karenina to Conversations with Friends, to illuminate the ways love and novels work, and show how some types of love, which don't race to a narrative end-point, might be the most important of all.
£16.99
Profile Books Ltd How Words Get Good: The Story of Making a Book
'Any bibliophile will find many enjoyable nuggets in this compendium of book chat' Stephen Poole, Guardian 'An engaging little eye-opener about the publishing business, full of tasty nuggets about books, writers and their editors' Sunday Times 'Enjoyable ... engaging ... insightful' Independent Once upon a time, a writer had an idea. They wrote it down. But what happened next? Join Rebecca Lee, professional text-improver, as she embarks on a fascinating journey to find out how words get from an author's brain to finished, printed books. She'll reveal the dark arts of ghostwriters, explore the secret world of literary agents and uncover the hidden beauty of typesetting. Along the way, her quest will be punctuated by a litany of little-known (but often controversial) considerations that make a big impact: ellipses, indexes, hyphens, esoteric points of grammar and juicy post-publication corrections. After all, the best stories happen when it all goes wrong. From foot-and-note disease to the town of Index, Missouri - turn the page to discover how books get made and words get good.* * Or, at least, better
£10.99
Profile Books Ltd How Words Get Good: The Story of Making a Book
'A masterpiece' - Daily Mail 'A fascinating and funny look at what really goes into the making of a book' Sunday Times 'Inject this straight into my veins!' Lucy Mangan 'Engaging, informative, and fascinating!' David Bellos, author of Is That a Fish in Your Ear? Once upon a time, a writer had an idea. They wrote it down. But what happened next? Join Rebecca Lee, professional word-improver, as she embarks on the fascinating journey to find out how a book gets from author's brain to finished copy. She'll learn the dark arts of ghostwriters, uncover the hidden beauty of typesetting and find out which words end up in books (and why). And along the way, her quest will be punctuated by a litany of little-known considerations that make a big impact: ellipses, indexes, hyphens, esoteric grammar and juicy errata slips. Whoops. From foot-and-note disease to the town of Index, Missouri - turn the page to discover how books get made and words get good. Or, at least, better.
£14.99
Profile Books Ltd Murder in Midwinter: Ten Classic Crime Stories for Christmas
Midwinter. As snow falls softly outside and frost sparkles on tree branches, it's time to curl up before a roaring fire, wrap your hands around a steaming mug of mulled wine, and forget your worries for now. Everything is as it should be. Or is it? As the temperature drops outside, old grudges and new motives rise to the surface - and a murder's tracks can easily be covered by freshly fallen snow. From a poisoned box of glittering chocolates to an inexplicably invisible murder weapon, let ten of the greatest crime writers in history surprise and delight you with twists and turns as shocking as an icicle in the heart.
£9.32
Profile Books Ltd Lives of the Stoics: The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 'In story after page-turning story, Lives of the Stoics brings ancient philosophers to life.' - David Epstein, bestselling author of Range 'Wonderful' - Chris Bosh, two-time NBA Champion For millennia, Stoicism has been the ancient philosophy that attracts those who seek greatness, from athletes to politicians and everyone in between. And no wonder: its embrace of self-mastery, virtue and indifference to that which we cannot control has much to offer those grappling with today's chaotic world. But who were the Stoics? In this book, Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman offer a fresh approach to understanding Stoicism through the lives of the people who practiced it - from Cicero to Zeno, Cato to Seneca, Diogenes to Marcus Aurelius. Through short biographies of all the famous, and lesser-known, Stoics, this book will show what it means to live stoically, and reveal the lessons to be learned from their struggles and successes. The result is a treasure trove of insights for anyone in search of living a good life.
£10.99
Profile Books Ltd The Economist Guide To Change And Project Management: Getting it right and achieving lasting benefit
Change is a powerful force, but one that must be directed if it is to have a positive and calculated outcome. It can be shaped according to the needs of an organisation to grow or contract, respond to competition or threat, or simply to keep pace with the world around it. It is widely understood by leaders and managers that only effective project management has the potential to deliver the transformation they seek. However, many projects have failed to deliver the outcomes that their sponsors anticipated. Too many have produced apps, buildings, processes, products and services that remain on the shelf, unadopted, and a costly reminder that projects are vehicles that can just as easily deliver failure as success. The revised and expanded third edition of this much-admired guide explains the principles and techniques of change and project management. With its clear, structured approach it is an invaluable handbook for helping leaders and managers to be sufficiently informed, equipped and confident to use projects to deliver change, and to realise its benefits.
£16.99
Profile Books Ltd Black Drop: the Sunday Times Historical Fiction Book of the Month
* A TIMES HISTORICAL FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR * * SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE MONTH * * LONGLISTED FOR THE HWA DEBUT CROWN * 'One of the best debuts of the year' - THE TIMES 'As nimbly realised as by the genre's master, Andrew Taylor' - FINANCIAL TIMES 'Black Drop is a joy from start to finish' - ANDREW TAYLOR This is the confession of Laurence Jago. Clerk. Gentleman. Spy. July 1794, and London is filled with rumours of revolution. The war against the French is not going in Britain's favour, and negotiations with America are on a knife edge. Laurence Jago, Foreign Office clerk, is ever more reliant on opium - the Black Drop - to ease his nightmares. A highly sensitive letter, whose contents could lead to the destruction of the British Army, has been leaked to the press and Laurence is a suspect. Then he discovers the body of a fellow clerk - a supposed suicide - and it seems clear where the blame truly lies. But Laurence is certain both of his friend's innocence, and that he was murdered. But after years of hiding his own secrets from his powerful employers, can Laurence find the true culprit without ending up on the gallows himself? A thrilling historical mystery, perfect for readers of C.J. Sansom, Andrew Taylor, Antonia Hodgson and Laura Shepherd-Robinson. 'This opium-fuelled gem is a murderous romp' - JANICE HALLETT 'A thrilling slice of pitch-dark historical fiction' - EMMA STONEX 'A gripping, intricate story of Georgian high politics' - W.C. RYAN
£9.32
Profile Books Ltd Five Minds: A Financial Times Book of the Year
'Addictive' - THE TIMES 'Marvellously twisty, with the clockwork ingenuity of Agatha Christie' - FINANCIAL TIMES SHARING A BODY CAN BE MURDER Alex, Kate, Mike, Sierra and Ben have spent twenty-five years trapped together. And there's no escape. They share one body, part of humanity's answer to its dangerously spiralling population. After more than two decades of bickering and petty vendettas, the one thing they can agree on is that they need a better host, and so they travel to a Death Park where they can win enough to get them the upgrades that will make the next twenty-five years bearable. But things go very wrong when Kate accepts a dangerous offer, and one of them disappears. Someone is trying to kill off members of the commune. But why? Is one of them responsible? Or is an outsider playing a deadly game? It's hard enough to catch a murderer. It's almost impossible when you might be sharing a body with them... 'Gripping and intriguing on every level' - SARAH PEARSE, author of THE SANATORIUM 'A dazzling, thrilling rollercoaster ride' - ALEX PAVESI, author of EIGHT DETECTIVES
£8.99
Profile Books Ltd Gods of Management: The Four Cultures of Leadership
For over fifty years, Charles Handy has set the tone for leadership thinking. In this business classic, he lays out one of his most famous ideas: the four types of organisational culture, as exemplified by the Greek Gods. Culture is central to a company's efficiency and success, whether it is shaped by a Zeus-like central power or the task-oriented focus of Athena, by Apollo's hierarchical assignment of roles or the person-centred preference of Dionysus. Successful leaders know their own styles, and cultivate these qualities to create dynamic, productive teams that are top of their field.
£9.99
Profile Books Ltd Paris Match: Falling in (love) with the French
'Clear-eyed and charming ... John von Sothen offers a guide to French love, slang, food, conversation, schools and much more. Hilarious and thoroughly entertaining' - John Walsh, Mail on Sunday In Brooklyn, John von Sothen fell in love with Anaïs, a French waitress. And then, one night in Paris, on the Pont Neuf, she agreed to marry him ("Bah, we can always get divorced!"). A couple of decades in, the two have become quatre, living in their beloved 10th arondissement with teenage kids who chat to their African neighbours in fluent Parisian slang, and John has even become kind of French himself. Well, he likes to think he has. The family still see him as an American innocent abroad. Paris Match is one of those rare books that makes you laugh out loud, as von Sothen attempts to understand what makes the French tick. Why do they take such long holidays with friends who ration snacks and mock you for sleeping in; why do French men turn to him (an American!) for fashion tips; what really is the correct way to cut brie, and how do you tell if you're being invited to a super-exclusive secret society of intellectuals or a weird sex club? John von Sothen has found most of the answers and in this delightful, witty book shares his experience, insights and humour into the fine art of becoming everyday French.
£8.99
Profile Books Ltd The Appeal: The smash-hit bestseller
THE SUNDAY TIMES CRIME BOOK OF THE YEAR WINNER OF THE 2022 CWA JOHN CREASEY NEW BLOOD DAGGER ONE MURDER. FIFTEEN SUSPECTS. CAN YOU UNCOVER THE TRUTH? There is a mystery to solve in the sleepy town of Lower Lockwood. It starts with the arrival of two secretive newcomers, and ends with a tragic death. Roderick Tanner QC has assigned law students Charlotte and Femi to the case. Someone has already been sent to prison for murder, but he suspects that they are innocent. And that far darker secrets have yet to be revealed... Throughout the amateur dramatics society's disastrous staging of All My Sons and the shady charity appeal for a little girl's medical treatment, the murderer hid in plain sight. The evidence is all there, waiting to be found. But will Charlotte and Femi solve the case? Will you? 'Agatha Christie for the 21st century' THE TIMES 'Witty, clever and completely addictive' MAIL ON SUNDAY 'Gripping, ambitious and unusual' SOPHIE HANNAH
£9.99
Profile Books Ltd The Black Book: The Britons on the Nazi Hit List
'Oldfield's thoroughly researched and fascinating historical biography explores the lives of many of the 2,600 citizens who attracted Hitler's ire, ranging from high-profile entertainers and writers to those naturalised refugees who doggedly resisted the Nazis from afar' - Observer In 1939, the Gestapo created a list of names: the Britons whose removal would be the Nazis' priority in the event of a successful invasion. Who were they? What had they done to provoke Germany? For the first time, the historian Sybil Oldfield uncovers their stories and reveals why the Nazis feared their influence. Those on the hitlist - many of them naturalised refugees - were some of Britain's most gifted and humane inhabitants. They included writers, humanitarians, religious leaders, scientists, artists, and social reformers. By examining these targets of Nazi hatred, Oldfield not only sheds light on the Gestapo worldview but also movingly reveals a network of truly exemplary Britons: mavericks, moral visionaries and unsung heroes.
£10.99
Profile Books Ltd This is Pleasure
'Gets deep under your skin ... Gaitskill is uniquely attuned to the moment.' Sunday Times 'Gaitskill achieves a superb feat. She distils the suffering, anger, reactivity, danger and social recalibration of the #MeToo movement into an extremely potent, intelligent and nuanced account.' Sarah Hall, Guardian 'I don't know why I behaved the way I did, and I kept doing it; he kept doing it. And though I might once have easily brushed it away, suddenly I could not. Nor could I confront him. The conversation moved too quickly.' This is Pleasure is an extraordinary work by one of the world's finest writers, and achieves more in 15,000 words than most full-length novels. Following the unravelling of the life of a male publisher undone by allegations of sexual impropriety and harassment, and the female friend who tries to understand, and explain, his actions, it looks unflinchingly at our present moment and rejects moral certainties to show us that there are many sides to every story. Mary Gaitskill has spent her whole career mining the complexity of human relationships on both an individual and societal scale with wisdom and grace. Here her insights are more piercing and timely than ever.
£7.54
Profile Books Ltd Power of Attorney: The One-Stop Guide: All you need to know: granting it, using it or relying on it
One of the most powerful ways we can care for our future is to create a Power of Attorney. This simple document allows an appointed person to make decisions for us in the case that we can no longer do so ourselves. But what does it mean to be someone's attorney? And how can it be set up? This book is designed to offer clear, practical advice for anyone making this decision, or needing to exercise their rights. Drawing on over two decades of professional and personal experience, Sandra McDonald explains everything that you need to know about Power of Attorney, including: - how to create the legal document - how to implement it - dealing with others and safeguarding The result is an invaluable resource for anyone who is, has or deals with a Power of Attorney.
£10.99
Profile Books Ltd Homage to Gaia: The Life of an Independent Scientist
With over fifty patents to his name and innumerable awards and accolades, James Lovelock was a distinguished and original thinker, widely recognized by the international scientific community. In this inspiring book, republished in the year of his 100th birthday, Lovelock tells his life story, from his first steps as a scientist to his work with organisations as diverse as NASA, Shell and the Marine Biological Association. Homage to Gaia describes the years of travel and work that led to his crucial scientific breakthroughs in environmental awareness, uncovering how CFCs impact on the ozone layer and creating the concept of Gaia, the theory that the Earth is a self-regulating system. Written in a sharp and energetic style, James Lovelock's book will entertain and inspire anyone interested in science or the creative spirit beyond his legacy.
£10.99
Profile Books Ltd The Resident
'a SERIOUSLY creepy thriller. I may never venture into the loft again' - MARK BILLINGHAM 'Disturbing, blackly funny and completely compulsive' - ALEX NORTH 'A brilliantly chilling story with tension on every page' - T.M. LOGAN ________________________________________ THERE'S A SERIAL KILLER ON THE RUN AND HE'S HIDING IN YOUR HOUSE Thomas Brogan is a serial killer. With a trail of bodies in his wake and the police hot on his heels, it seems like Thomas has nowhere left to hide. That is until he breaks into an abandoned house at the end of a terrace on a quiet street. And when he climbs up into the loft, he realises that he can drop down into all the other houses through the shared attic space. That's when the real fun begins. Because the one thing that Thomas enjoys even more than killing is playing games with his victims - the lonely old woman, the bickering couple, the tempting young newlyweds. And his new neighbours have more than enough dark secrets to make this game his best one yet... Do you fear The Resident? Soon you'll be dying to meet him. ________________________________________ 'Brilliant. So twisted, clever and funny. Highly recommended' - MARK EDWARDS 'Clever, addictive and brazenly terrifying. I slept with the lights on after reading this one' - CHRIS WHITAKER 'Dark and disturbing yet so absorbing. Jackson knows how to reel you in' - MEL SHERRATT 'A brilliantly creepy, edge-of-your-seat, tense thriller' - WILL CARVER 'Superb. Creepy, pacy, and oh so witty' - CAZ FREAR 'A chilling psycho thriller with a very novel twist' - PAUL FINCH 'Utterly compelling and impossible to put down. Incredible' - LUCA VESTE 'Twisted as hell. I loved it!' - MANDASUE HELLER
£8.99
Profile Books Ltd Guide Me Home
The final book in the award-winning Highway 59 series from the author of Bluebird, Bluebird and Heaven, My Home
£16.99
Profile Books Ltd Get Out of My Life: The bestselling guide to the twenty-first-century teenager
Teenagers are tough and anyone who has their own needs help. Witty, enjoyable and genuinely insightful, Get Out of My Life is now updated with how to deal with everything from social media to online threats and porn, as well as looking at all the difficult issues of bringing up teenagers, school, sex, drugs and more. But it's the title of the second chapter, 'What They Do and Why' that best captures the book's spirit and technique, explaining how to translate teenage behaviour into its true, often less complicated meaning. One key mistake, for instance, is getting in no-win conflicts instead of having the wisdom to shut up when shutting up would be the most effective, albeit least satisfying, thing to do. Another is taking offence when the teenager views you, the adult, as idiotic. And there's advice on what to do when this happens. The message is clear: parenting adolescents is inherently difficult. Don't judge yourself too harshly!
£10.99
Profile Books Ltd The Greywacke: How a Priest, a Soldier and a School Teacher Uncovered 300 Million Years of History
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ROYAL SOCIETY SCIENCE PRIZE 2022 'A joyful collision of science, history and nature writing' Helen Gordon, author of Notes from Deep Time Adam Sedgwick was a priest and scholar. Roderick Murchison was a retired soldier. Charles Lapworth was a schoolteacher. It was their personal and intellectual rivalry, pursued on treks through Wales, Scotland, Cornwall, Devon and parts of western Russia, that revealed the narrative structure of the Paleozoic Era, the 300-million-year period during which life on Earth became recognisably itself. Nick Davidson follows in their footsteps and draws on maps, diaries, letters, field notes and contemporary accounts to bring the ideas and characters alive. But this is more than a history of geology. As we travel through some of the most spectacular scenery in Britain, it's a celebration of the sheer visceral pleasure generations of geologists have found, and continue to find, in noticing the earth beneath our feet.
£10.99
Profile Books Ltd Dog Poems
Since prehistory, dogs have served as man's best friend, giving us loyalty, assistance and boundless inspiration. Dogs offer comfort and amusement to their owners; they provide solace when we're sad, entertaining antics when we're bored and affection every day. To poets in particular, these beloved creatures are the most bountiful muses, as they bark, yip, hunt, fetch, growl and slumber, reflecting back at us our most heartfelt tenderness and often rewarding us with unconditional love we scarcely deserve. Dog Poems offers a litter of verses in celebration of our most faithful companions by some of the greatest poets of all time.
£9.99
Profile Books Ltd The Good Drinker: How I Learned to Love Drinking Less
As heard on BBC Radio 4 'Likeable and highly readable ... comic and insightful' Observer 'An easy read mixture of wit and wisdom ... should be read by all who drink more than the limit' Prof David Nutt, author of Drink? The New Science of Alcohol and Your Health The popular broadcaster and columnist sets out to discover the unsung pleasures of drinking in moderation. The recommended alcohol limit is 14 units a week. Adrian Chiles used to put away almost 100. Ever since he was a teenager, drinking was his idea of a good time - and not just his, but seemingly the whole nation's. Still, it wasn't very good for him: the doctor made that clear. If you lined them up, Adrian must have knocked back three miles of drinks. How many of them had he genuinely wanted? A mile? There's an awful lot of advice out there on how to quit booze completely. If you just want to drink a bit less, the pickings are slim. Yet while the alcohol industry depends on a minority of problem drinkers, the majority really do enjoy in moderation. What's their secret? Join the inimitable Chiles as he sets out around Britain and plumbs his only slightly fuzzy memories of a lifetime in pubs in a quest to find the good drinker within.
£9.99
Profile Books Ltd Where Power Stops: The Making and Unmaking of Presidents and Prime Ministers
Lyndon Baines Johnson, Margaret Thatcher, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Barack Obama, Gordon Brown, Theresa May, and Donald Trump: each had different motivations, methods, and paths, but they all sought the highest office. And yet when they reached their goal, they often found that the power they had imagined was illusory. Their sweeping visions of reform faltered. They faced bureaucratic obstructions, but often the biggest obstruction was their own character. However, their personalities could help them as much as hurt them. Arguably the most successful of them, LBJ showed little indication that he supported what he is best known for - the Civil Rights Act - but his grit, resolve, and brute political skill saw him bend Congress to his will. David Runciman tackles the limitations of high office and how the personal histories of those who achieved the very pinnacles of power helped to define their successes and failures in office. These portraits show what characters are most effective in these offices. Could this be a blueprint for good and effective leadership in an age lacking good leaders?
£9.99
Profile Books Ltd The Disaster Tourist: Winner of the CWA Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger 2021
*** WINNER OF THE 2021 CWA CRIME IN TRANSLATION DAGGER *** **LONGLISTED FOR THE DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD 2022** *LONGLISTED FOR THE 2021 COMEDY WOMEN IN PRINT PRIZE* Yona has been stuck behind a desk for years working as a programming coordinator for Jungle, a travel company specialising in package holidays to destinations ravaged by disaster. When a senior colleague touches her inappropriately she tries to complain, and in an attempt to bury her allegations, the company make her an attractive proposition: a free ticket for one of their most sought-after trips, to the desert island of Mui. She accepts the offer and travels to the remote island, where the major attraction is a supposedly-dramatic sinkhole. When the customers who've paid a premium for the trip begin to get frustrated, Yona realises that the company has dangerous plans to fabricate an environmental catastrophe to make the trip more interesting, but when she tries to raise the alarm, she discovers she has put her own life in danger.
£9.99
Profile Books Ltd Hybrid Humans: Dispatches from the Frontiers of Man and Machine
*SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2022 BARBELLION PRIZE* *A BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week* As seen on Sky Arts Book Club with Elizabeth Day and Andi Oliver An eye-opening account of disability, identity, and how robotics and technology are changing what it means to be human - from the bestselling author of Anatomy of a Soldier Harry Parker's life changed overnight, when he lost his legs to an IED in Afghanistan. That took him into an often surprising landscape of a very human kind of hacking, and he wondered, are all humans becoming hybrids? Parker introduces us to the exhilarating breadth of human invention - and intervention. Grappling with his own new identity and disability, he discovers the latest robotics, tech and implants that might lead us to powerful, liberating possibilities for what a body can be. 'I loved Hybrid Humans. A way of looking at the future without nostalgia for the past' - Jeanette Winterson
£9.99
Profile Books Ltd The Story of the Brain in 10½ Cells
There are more than 100 billion brain cells in our heads, and every single one represents a fragment of thought and feeling. Each cell possesses a mysterious beauty, with branching, intricate patterns like shattered glass. Richard Wingate has been scrutinising them for decades, yet he is still gripped by the myriad of forms when he looks down the microscope. With absorbing lyricism and clarity, Wingate shows how each type of cell possesses its own personality and history, illustrating a milestone of scientific discovery and illuminating the stories of pioneering scientists like Santiago Ramon y Cajal and Francis Crick, and capturing their own fascinating shapes and patterns. Discover the ethereal world of the brain with this elegant little book - and find out how we all think and feel.
£14.99
Profile Books Ltd The Rule of Laws: A 4000-year Quest to Order the World
'A fascinating, comprehensive study that forces us to think again about what law is, and why it matters ... For those who want to understand why human society has emerged as it has, this is essential reading' Rana Mitter, author of China's Good War The laws now enforced throughout the world are almost all modelled on systems developed in Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. During two hundred years of colonial rule, Europeans exported their laws everywhere they could. But they weren't filling a void: in many places, they displaced traditions that were already ancient when Vasco Da Gama first arrived in India. Where, then, did it all begin? And what has law been and done over the course of human history? In The Rule of Laws, pioneering anthropologist Fernanda Pirie traces the development of the world's great legal systems - Chinese, Indian, Roman, and Islamic - and the innumerable smaller traditions they inspired.
£14.99
Profile Books Ltd This Life: Why Mortality Makes Us Free
If this life is all there is, what should we do with it? Join Swedish philosopher Martin Hägglund on an original inquiry into the deepest questions of existence, beginning with a radical declaration: 'What I do and what I love can matter to me only because I understand myself as mortal.' Through revelatory engagements with some of history's greatest philosophers, including Aristotle, St Augustine, Nietzsche, Hegel and Marx, Hägglund attacks our two great deceivers, religion and capitalism. Only by stripping away their subtle illusions can we discover the true value of our earthly freedom. Existence is revealed as a collective project: everything is at stake in what we do together, and no victory can survive us. 'The light of bliss - even when it floods your life - is always attended by the shadow of loss.' By illuminating this truth, This Life forges an existential philosophy fit for a darkening century.
£12.99
Profile Books Ltd The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness
'Nobody bewitched by these mysteries can afford to ignore the solution proposed by Mark Solms' - Oliver Burkeman, Guardian 'A remarkable book. It changes everything' - Brian Eno How does the mind connect to the body? Why does it feel like something to be us? For one of the boldest thinkers in neuroscience, solving this puzzle has been a lifetime's quest. Now at last, the man who discovered the brain mechanism for dreaming appears to have made a breakthrough. The very idea that a solution is at hand may seem outrageous. Isn't consciousness intangible, beyond the reach of science? Yet Mark Solms shows how misguided fears and suppositions have concealed its true nature. Stick to the medical facts, pay close attention to the eerie testimony of hundreds of neurosurgery patients, and a way past our obstacles reveals itself. Join Solms on a voyage into the extraordinary realms beyond. More than just a philosophical argument, The Hidden Spring will forever alter how you understand your own experience. There is a secret buried in the brain's ancient foundations: bring it into the light and we fathom all the depths of our being.
£12.99
Profile Books Ltd The Book of Phobias and Manias: A History of the World in 99 Obsessions
THE PERFECT GIFT FOR ALL BIBLIOMANES A BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE TIMES, FINANCIAL TIMES, SPECTATOR AND DAILY MAIL AS HEARD ON BBC RADIO 4 WOMAN'S HOUR AND START THE WEEK Plunge into this rich, surprising and stunningly designed A-Z compendium to discover how our fixations have taken shape, from the Middle Ages to the present day, as bestselling author Kate Summerscale deftly traces the threads between the past and present, the psychological and social, the personal and the political. 'Fascinating ... Phobias and manias create a magical space between us and the world' Malcolm Gaskill, author of the No. 1 bestseller The Ruin of All Witches 'Fascinating' Observer 'An endlessly intriguing book ... All the bibliomanes (book nutters) I know will love it' Daily Mail
£16.99
Profile Books Ltd Something Doesn’t Add Up: Surviving Statistics in a Number-Mad World
Some people fear and mistrust numbers. Others want to use them for everything. After a long career as a statistician, Paul Goodwin has learned the hard way that the ones who want to use them for everything are a very good reason for the rest of us to fear and mistrust them. Something Doesn't Add Up is a fieldguide to the numbers that rule our world, even though they don't make sense. Wry, witty and humane, Goodwin explains mathematical subtleties so painlessly that you hardly need to think about numbers at all. He demonstrates how statistics that are meant to make life simpler often make it simpler than it actually is, but also reveals some of the ways we really can use maths to make better decisions. Enter the world of fitness tracking, the history of IQ testing, China's social credit system, Effective Altruism, and learn how someone should have noticed that Harold Shipman was killing his patients years before they actually did. In the right hands, maths is a useful tool. It's just a pity there are so many of the wrong hands about.
£9.99
Profile Books Ltd Cows and Curates: The story of the land and livings of Christ Church, Oxford
When Christ Church was founded in 1546, Henry VIII made the college a generous grant of land and other property. This endowment was large enough to ensure the smooth running of the college and cathedral including maintaining its buildings, educating its students and paying its staff. From earliest days up to the present, the endowment and later gifts - in all parts of the country, from Montgomeryshire to Norfolk and Cornwall to Yorkshire - have been managed with varying success, sometimes expertly, at other times less so. The shelves of the college archives are full of maps and plans, account books, manorial records, deeds, photographs and detailed correspondence with tenants and vicars. Drawing on this rich material, Cows and Curates recounts the history of the management of farms, urban dwellings, commercial property and industrial estates against the backdrop of national social change, legislation, agricultural developments and depressions, wars and modernisation.
£31.50