Search results for ""profile books ltd""

''Every detail is sharply placed ... a scorching sense of humor and a soft spot for humanity down here on Earth'' The New York Times''Fleishman Is In Trouble, but in space'' Bobby PalmerA NEW YORK TIMES READERS'' FAVOURITE OF 2023LONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZEKevin is a thirtysomething homebody, happily committed to his hydroponics-expert girlfriend, Amber, as they grow weed in their basement in Vancouver.Out of the blue, Amber announces that she has been selected for a reality show where she will compete for one of two seats on the first human-led mission to Mars. If selected, she must stay on Mars for good, because the technology to come home doesn''t exist yet. Is this a suicide mission or a bold new frontier? Girlfriend on Mars is the story of love unravelling in a world where truth is dictated by Facebook ads and ''reality TV'' is as scripted as any politician''s speech. With rapt viewers voting for Amber to stay on the show and crates of Mars-mission branded p

Read more less

'A must-read for any executive seeking a re-set in a fast-changing world.' Grant Duncan, Senior Client Partner, Korn Ferry Whether setting out on your career or already ensconced in the boardroom, you will not succeed on your own. You need others to choose to listen, buy into and come with you. Global leadership expert Larry Robertson highlights communication as the most critical yet least well practised aspect of leadership, using his 3 Qualities of True Leadership: Authenticity (AQ), Empathy (EQ) and Intent (IQ). WHY YOU? is packed with stories, examples and tools to help you lift your game holistically, both as a true leader and a better person. Drawing on his own extensive experience of coaching the world's leading executives, Larry offers advice into many of the challenges that current and potential leaders face: Negotiating the near impossible deal Taking organisations to the top Invigorating teams Managing tensions Winning over sceptical stakeholders Leveraging the value of diversity Building a meaningful career Pitching ideas successfully Creating a personal legacy

Read more less

'An anthem! A permission slip! Freedom to be us in full glory and messiness ... a fun and freeing read' Melissa Hemsley 'What a powerful, freeing, thought-provoking read this is. I let out a breath I hadn't even realised I was holding' Anna Mathur You do not have to be good. At some point, you'll have absorbed the message that being good is to be calm, efficient and tidy. Wise and well-meaning people offer to help you become worthy, to be positive and productive and to always say 'yes, I can!' But what if this is wrong? And what if some of the things we've been told are bad, are just as useful as the good? Blending science, expert interviews and practical advice, here is the flipside of everything we've been told we should be - and how the bad parts are really not so bad after all. You'll discover: - Why it's helpful to feel angry - How it's counterproductive to always be productive - How laziness can improve your relationships - Why your body is, and has always been, absolutely fine - How clutter inspires creativity and enhances your sense of place - Why mindlessness is good for your mental health Be Bad, Better is not an invitation to start misbehaving but it is about taking what you think are your worst bits and asking what they could do to serve you. Examining how society polices our behaviour and artificially constructs the good and bad, here is a thoughtful and eminently helpful guide to reassessing your ideas of success, embracing every part of yourself and being bad, better.

Read more less

'Beautifully written, full of wisdom and wonderful secondary characters. I loved it' Daily Mail 'A glowing, generous novel' Irish Times 'A warm, unsentimental and beautifully-observed book for our times' Lucy Caldwell, author of These Days Grace lives alone in Ballybrady, a little village on the sublimely beautiful east coast of Northern Ireland. She fills her days with swimming, fishing, quilting, and baiting the tourists who arrive from the city with more money than sense. She hasn't left the village since a traumatic stay in London as a young woman at the end of the 1980s. One of the tourists is Evan, taking an enforced holiday from his family and work in Belfast after breaking down after the death of his daughter in infancy. He has come to try to process his grief and make himself desirable again as a husband, a father and a business partner. But he hasn't been there a week until he gets trapped by lockdown. When Grace saves his life in a kayaking accident - if it was an accident - and Evan's troubled son arrives to stay, all three are drawn together in a way that forces a reckoning with their personal traumas and draws them back into society. This is a moving and funny debut novel set in a quirky coastal community you will be desperate to visit after reading. It will appeal to readers of Elizabeth Strout, Maggie O'Farrell and Alice Munro.

Read more less

Trees have played countless roles in human history - by turns hopeful symbols of freedom, pioneering space travellers, keepers of ancient history and accessories to murder. From art to politics, science to crime, these are the stories of the trees that have shaped life on Earth.Neurobiologist and philosopher Stefano Mancuso brings his signature charm and eye for unforgettable detail to tell eight stories of trees that have rooted themselves in human history - from the red spruces that were made into Stradivarius'' violins to the wooden ladder that solved ''The Crime of the Century''. Combining scientific vigour with his inimitable voice, Mancuso reveals the amazing ways that the world''s green-print has shaped the course of our lives, issuing a passionate rallying cry for greater care and attention towards the plants that have helped us survive and thrive.

Read more less

''Irresistible - a funny, sexy romp that''s also smart, even wise'' Kirkus starred review''Pure elegance, subtlety and wit. A triumph of a novel'' - Francesca Segal, author of Mother ShipIt is 1954, and prostitution is legal in the tropical haven that is Verona Island. Here, among gangsters and corrupt lawmen, Lila Gulliver runs a brothel that promises her exclusive clientele privacy and discretion. When nineteen-year-old Carità, beautiful and blind since birth, comes to her door seeking employment, Mrs Gulliver sees a business opportunity and takes a chance. Carità is mesmerising, sharp and a mystery to her employer, always holding herself at a distance.One night, the son of a wealthy judge patronises Mrs Gulliver''s establishment, immediately falling madly in love with Carità. This is Ian Drohan - young, idealistic and cushioned by wealth and family connections. Mrs Gulliver mistrusts him, and worries for Carità''s future. Carità, on the other hand, is fearless, headstrong and a forc

Read more less

''Cats love to play: here is THE book that shows you how to join in! And your cat will thank you for it'' John Bradshaw, Sunday Times bestselling author of In Defence of Dogs and Cat Sense''Trust me, Play with your Cat is an indispensable addition to any cat lover''s library!'' Jackson Galaxy, New York Times bestselling author and star of My Cat from HellWhat does a cat need besides food, a comfortable home and access to a good vet? PLAY!This practical guide from leading cat behaviour scientist Mikel Delgado explains how interactive play is at the centre of your cat''s overall health. Revealing how it mimics the hunting experience that shaped cats'' evolution, Play With Your Cat! includes:- Advice on selecting toys and setting up your home environment for the perfect play session - Guidance on specific play techniques to exercise your cat''s body and mind - Tips on engaging nonchalant, anxious and uninterested kitties - How to use play to address behavioural issues like aggression and

Read more less

'A superb debut novel... Anyone who enjoyed The White Lotus will love Thomas's scalpel-sharp skewering of the mores and idiocies of the idle rich' Observer' 'A classy thriller that will appeal to fans of Leila Slimani's Lullaby . . . A hot holiday read to brighten up the last few weeks of winter' Sunday Times Queen K is as compulsive as a Netflix binge, but it also asks timely questions about status and what constitutes a dignified life' Sheena Patel, Guardian 'Balzac in Balenciaga... Queen K lures you in with escapist, beach-read vibes, then bares its teeth with a devastating portrait of the emotional cost of greed' Times 'Patricia Highsmith-esque ... an untrustworthy narrator judging her employer's life of excess and desperate attempts to infiltrate a glittering world' Evening Standard, 'The Debuts You'll Love in 2023' 'A dark and brilliant read . . . our bet is that this is going to be on the small or big screen' Glamour On a balmy evening in late March, an oligarch's wife hosts a party on a superyacht moored in the Maldives. Tables cover the massive deck, adorned with orchids, champagne bottles, name cards of celebrities. Uniformed staff flank a red carpet on the landing dock. This is what Kata has wanted for a long time: acceptance into the glittering world of high society. But there are those who aim to come between Kata and her goal, and they are closer to home than she could have imagined. Witness to the corruption and violence underneath the shiny surfaces is Mel, a young English woman employed to tutor Kata's precocious daughter and navigate her through the class codes of English privilege. Now the closest Mel gets to such privilege is as hired help to the wealthy, and she is deeply resentful. Exquisitely written and deliciously unreliable, Queen K takes the reader to some of the most luxurious places in the world. But a dark refrain sounds from the very beginning of the story and grows towards its operatic finale: a novel about insatiable material desire can only ever be a tragedy. 'A world of butter-cream-beige luxury, brimming with toxicity and darkness, that pulls you in, and under' Calla Henkel, author of Other People's Clothes

Read more less

A classic poem with a timeless message, presented in a small and beautiful gift book. Rose Milligan never intended to publicly share her poem 'Dust If You Must', but a series of events led her to publish it in The Lady magazine in 1998. Her charming message about what we value in life resonated with audiences, and it has since been read on BBC radio, posted on Instagram, printed on tea towels, read at funerals and put to music. Now appearing as a book for the first time, beautifully illustrated throughout by illustrator Hayley Wells, Dust If You Must is a timeless reminder to focus on the things we can enjoy in the world, rather than the things we think we need to do.

Read more less

Salomé was bullied for years and no one did a single thing to help her. One day she finally snapped. Now at just sixteen years old, she's being held in a secure unit for young offenders Salomé's counsellor, the man whose good opinion is key to her release, is best known for his racist gaffes on reality TV. Her father has recently been diagnosed with liver cancer and her elder sister Miriam's main preoccupation is to get out of their small, close-minded village as soon as possible. Both at home and in the unit, things are unbearably tense. Salomé finds it hard to keep her temper and harder still to think about the crime she is charged with committing. But as time passes, she finds new strength to delve into the reasons for her rage and arrive at her own understanding of punishment, penitence and the paradoxical demands made on her existence as a Black woman. Raw and unsentimental, Confrontations is a powerful depiction of racism and resilience from one of the Netherlands' most exciting new literary voices.

Read more less

'The Long Answer is a triumph of human portraiture, as subtle as it is seething' Sunday Times 'A startling meditation on grief and family and betrayal and the stories we tell about ourselves ... introspective, psychologically astute, and engaging' Kirkus starred review 'There were other women, how many other women, who had felt and wanted what I'd felt and wanted, and felt and wanted differently too. Anywhere I've been and will go next, there they will be.' Twelve weeks pregnant for the first time, Anna speaks to her sister on the other side of the country and learns she has just miscarried her second child. As this loss strains their bond, and complications with Anna's own pregnancy emerge, her tenuous steps towards motherhood are shadowed and illuminated by the women she meets along the way, whose stories of the babies they have had, or longed for, or lost, crowd in. The Long Answer is a stunning novel of secrets kept and secrets shared. Deeply empathetic and hugely absorbing, it unravels the intimate dynamics of female friendship, sisterhood, motherhood and grief, and the ways in which women are bound together and pulled apart by their shared and contrasting experiences of pregnancy, abortion, miscarriage and infertility.

Read more less

Anat Levit never considered herself a cat lover, but when her life was thrown into upheaval, she found herself adopting one cat at the suggestion of her daughters, and then six more in quick succession. She recounts how each cat came into her life, their distinct demeanours and curiosities, and their ability to live fully in each moment. Anat falls in love with the furry creatures, whose escapades and tribulations lead her into deep friendships, difficult decisions and unexpected insight into her relationships. The cats love her in the way she wishes she could love others: intensely yet independently, without renouncing their unique personalities. By caring for these cats, Anat comes to a deeper understanding of her connections with former lovers, her daughters and her own body. In Seven Cats I Have Loved, she delves into the feline mind with sensitivity, gentleness and compassion, while also revealing a moving human story.

Read more less

Anat Levit never considered herself a cat lover, but when her life was thrown into upheaval, she found herself adopting one cat at the suggestion of her daughters, and then six more in quick succession. She recounts how each cat came into her life, their distinct demeanours and curiosities and their ability to live fully in each moment. Anat falls in love with the furry creatures, whose escapades and tribulations lead her into deep friendships, difficult decisions, and unexpected insight into her relationships. The cats love her in the way she wishes she could love others: intensely yet independently, without renouncing their unique personalities. By caring for these cats, Anat comes to a deeper understanding of her connections with former lovers, her daughters and her own body. In Seven Cats I Have Loved, she delves into the feline mind with sensitivity, gentleness, and compassion, while also revealing a moving human story. translated by Yardenne Greenspan

Read more less

'A legendary writer entirely on his own account' Observer 'Stunningly good' Guardian Gloria Goltz's intellectual ambitions are derailed when she meets Leonard at college. Self-taught, blue-collar, possessor of an aggressive intelligence, Leonard claims to hold the key to unlocking her potential. After making her pregnant, he disappears. Her son Corey grows up without a father, looking for a male role model ­- and restless, dreaming of a great adventure. Instead, when Corey is fifteen, Gloria is diagnosed with motor neuron disease, and his estranged father - this man of domineering charisma and dubious moral character - returns. Determined to be his mother's hero at any cost, Corey begins shouldering responsibility for her expensive medical care, pushing himself to his physical and emotional limits as her disease progresses. And as Leonard's influence over son and mother grows, Corey must dismantle the myth of his father's genius and confront the evil that lurks beneath it. Atticus Lish won a Pen/Faulkner award for his debut Preparation for the Next Life, a novel 'described as the finest and most unsentimental love story of the new decade' in The New York Times. His second novel confirms Lish as a beguiling storyteller and a prose stylist of extraordinary emotional reach and beauty.

Read more less

The 'Chalet des Anglais' on Mont Blanc, home to the longest-running university reading party, is a unique survivor from Victorian and Edwardian Oxford, established in 1891 and continuing today. The story of this remarkable institution has never previously been reported. Oxford University on Mont Blanc: The Life of the Chalet des Anglais records the life of the reading parties and of the notable personalities involved in them, including Harold Macmillan and Lord Hailsham. The writers Evelyn Waugh, Rupert Brooke and John Betjeman also feature in the history of the Chalet. The book explores the effects within the background of a collegiate university that this unique institution has had on the lives of those involved. The chalet is a unique lens through which to understand what is meant by a collegiate university and also to illustrate the implications of close student-tutor relationships over the last century.

Read more less

A dark and magnificently inventive upmarket thriller about the lengths a lone woman will go to protect her home, and the family history it hides within its walls.

Read more less

In Floor Sample, the author of the international bestseller The Artist's Way weaves an honest and moving portrayal of her life. From her early career as a writer for Rolling Stone magazine and her marriage to Martin Scorsese, to her tortured experiences with alcohol and Hollywood, Julia Cameron reflects in this engaging memoir on the experiences in her life that have fuelled her own art as well as her ability to help others realise their creative dreams. She also describes the fascinating circumstances that led her to emerge as a central figure in the creative recovery movement - a movement that she inaugurated and defined with the publication of her seminal work, The Artist's Way. Julia Cameron is a passionate and wry observer of the world and describes her life as a 'floor sample' for all she teaches in her brilliant books on creativity. Floor Sample is an absorbing literary memoir that will surprise, entertain, and inspire Julia's many fans and win her new admirers.

Read more less

'Haunting and atmospheric' - DAILY MAIL 'Tina Baker's best yet' - JANICE HALLETT 'Compelling and suspenseful' - LISA HALL Everyone brings their secrets to the island... On the beautiful and windswept island of Tresco, two worlds live side by side. The wealthy visitors come by helicopter to stay at their lavish time-share properties. The estate staff travel by boat, and work all hours to keep them happy, to keep the money flowing in. But while the blue skies and savage waves make the island seem a wild paradise, under the surface the inhabitants are concealing more than they dare reveal. The truths about their marriages, their love affairs, and what they do in the darkness while their neighbours are sleeping. As black clouds come rolling in and a storm hits the island, truths and rumours begin to tumble out, wreaking terrible damage. In the midst of the tempest, two women are attacked and one goes missing. The secrets of this fragile community can no longer be hidden if it hopes to survive. The islanders must finally reveal what they did in the storm, no matter the cost. From the #1 bestselling author of Call Me Mummy comes a dark and luscious thriller, perfect for readers of Harriet Tyce, Amanda Jennings and Louise Candlish. 'An irresistible read' - LESLEY KARA 'Clever and complex' - HELEN FIELDS

Read more less

'Moving, dramatic and darkly humorous' - DAILY MAIL 'Brings a whole new meaning to domestic noir' - THE TIMES 'Funny, grim and very touching' - HARRIET TYCE She will leave your surfaces sparkling. But she may well leave you dead... Maria is a good woman and a good cleaner. She cleans for Elsie, the funny old bird who's losing her marbles, with the terrible husband. She cleans for Brian, the sweet man with the terrible boss. She cleans for the mysterious Mr Balogan with the terrible neighbours. But if you're thinking of hiring her, you should probably know that Maria might have killed the terrible husband, the terrible boss and the terrible neighbours. She may also have murdered the man she loved. She didn't set out to kill anyone, of course, but her clients have hired her to clean up their lives, and she takes her job seriously - not to mention how much happier they all are now. The trouble is, murder can't be washed out. You can only sweep it under the carpet and pray no one looks too closely... Darkly funny and completely gripping from the first page to the last, Make Me Clean is one thriller you won't be able to scrub from your mind. Perfect for fans of Harriet Tyce, Fiona Cummins and My Sister the Serial Killer.

Read more less

'A wild, darkly comic nightmare set on the borderlines of creativity, imagination and madness.' Guardian 'Thompson's prose, contaminated by Bacon's unflinching view of the human animal, makes for vital, unsettling reading' - Will Maclean, author of The Apparition Phase In this shocking, and at times darkly comic, novel, a psychiatrist hired to write a short piece on Francis Bacon becomes obsessed with the artist, his life, and the characters who surrounded him. As he becomes consumed with the need to understand Bacon, and to create his own art, his grip on reality becomes increasingly tenuous, and he is haunted by disturbing figures. This short, bold piece of fiction, explores how the passion needed to create art can also destroy the artist.

Read more less

The new gripping and witty thriller from the author of You'd Look Better as a Ghost, winner of the Crime Fiction Lover Best Debut Novel 2023.

Read more less

* WINNER OF THE CRIME FICTION LOVER BEST DEBUT NOVEL AWARD *''A welcome addition to darkly humorous female serial killer novels'' - GUARDIAN''Utterly unique, an absolute rollercoaster of a read'' - DAILY MAIL''Splendidly funny and buoyant'' - DAILY EXPRESSI have a gift. I see people as ghosts before they die.Of course, it helps that I''m the one killing them.The night after her father''s funeral, Claire meets Lucas in a bar. Lucas doesn''t know it, but it''s not a chance meeting. One thoughtless mistyped email has put him in the crosshairs of an extremely put-out serial killer. But even before they make eye contact, before Claire lets him buy her a drink, before she takes him home and carves him up into little pieces, something about that night is very wrong. Because someone is watching Claire. Someone who is about to discover her murderous little hobby.The thing is, it''s not sensible to tangle with a part-time serial killer, even one who is distracted by attending a weekly bereavemen

Read more less

'Demystifies the Sikh way of living a good life in seven simple steps' Vogue India Think of any scene of disaster and you'll find Sikh volunteers rallying to the site to perform seva - pronounced 'say-va', meaning selfless service - feeding migrant workers, helping riot victims, and cleaning up after earthquakes and floods. Why has this 30 million strong community become the world's Good Samaritan? What is it about their values that makes so many of them do so much good? And how is it that they're also able to channel so much joy and laughter while serving others? Through science-based studies, interviews with Sikhs and a look at history and fables, Seva unlocks seven Sikh-inspired rules to help anyone become kinder, happier and lead a more meaningful life. A secular handbook for the modern world, Seva is a beautiful, inspiring and moving book that will change you from the inside out.

Read more less

'Devil-may-care daring and biting humour . . . Think Rachel Cusk's autofiction on skunk and OxyContin and you're in the right ballpark' The Times 'In a literary culture swamped by clenched, worthy fiction and the writer as activist, her satirist's misanthropy and taste for provocation are a tonic' Observer 'Enjoyably mischievous and daring' Financial Times 'Ruthless, very funny' New York Times 'A wicked satire of the literary elite and an exploration of art and violence' New Yorker Mona is a Peruvian writer based on a Californian campus, open-eyed and sardonic, a connoisseur of marijuana and prescription pills. In the humanities she has discovered she is something of an anthropological curiosity - a female writer of colour treasured for the flourish of rarefied diversity that reflects so well upon her department. When she is nominated for 'the most important literary award in Europe', Mona sees a chance to escape her sunlit substance abuse and erotic distraction, and leaves for a small village in Sweden. Now she is stuck in the company of her competitors, who arrive from Japan, France, Armenia, Iran and Colombia. The writers do what writers do: exchange flattery, nurse envy and private resentments, stab rivals in the back and go to bed together. But all the while, Mona keeps stumbling across traces of violence on her body, the origins of which she can't - or won't - remember.

Read more less

One of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, the Swiss multinational Novartis traces its history and that of its predecessor companies back to the first dye factories in Basel in the early 19th century. This second edition of the company's history covers early exports and expansion abroad, the unparalleled upsurge of the chemical industry in Basel during the First World War and then the emergence of pharmaceuticals in the interwar years. The enormous challenges of the Second World War were followed by an economic boom in the 1950s and 60s, the merger of CIBA and Geigy, the numerous diversifications in the 1970s and 80s, the merger of Ciba and Sandoz to found Novartis, and finally the first 25 years of Novartis. Those 25 years have included innovations in pharmaceuticals and medicine, and game-changing technologies such as the modification of T-cells. In addition to the running text, fifteen thematic articles outline the company's widely different innovations: from CIBA's early hormone preparations to the outstanding graphic design of Geigy Design, from revolutionary drugs like Sandimmune or Gleevec right through to the Novartis Campus project.

Read more less

'A rollicking cultural adventure... fascinating and true' Grayson Perry This funny and personal memoir is the account of an audacious attempt by James Birch, a young British curator, to mount the ground-breaking retrospective of Francis Bacon's work at the newly refurbished Central House of Artists, Moscow in 1988. Side-lined by the British establishment, Birch found himself at the heart of a honey-trap and the focus for a picaresque cast of Soviet officials, attachés and politicians under the forbidding eye of the KGB as he attempted to bring an unseen western cultural icon to Russia during the time of 'Glasnost', just before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Bacon in Moscow is the story of the evolution of an exhibition that was at the artistic and political heart of a sea of change that culminated with the fall of the USSR. 'A rollicking cultural adventure before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the meteoric rise of contemporary art in the nineties' Grayson Perry

Read more less

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'.

Read more less

'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.

Read more less

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.

Read more less

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?

Read more less

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.

Read more less

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.

Read more less

'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.

Read more less

'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.

Read more less

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.

Read more less

***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.

Read more less

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.'

Read more less

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

Read more less

''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.

Read more less

'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.

Read more less

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

Read more less

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.

Read more less

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

Read more less

'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.

Read more less

'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

Read more less

'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.

Read more less

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.

Read more less

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.

Read more less