Al Murray is a Perrier Award-winning comic, TV personality and, as 'The Pub Landlord', the author of the bestselling The Pub Landlord's Book of British Common Sense and Think Yourself British. Most recently, he has taken on the leadership of the Free United Kingdom Party (FUKP).

Al Murray

Al Murray's alter ego, The Pub Landlord, is one of the most recognizable and successful comic creations of the past twenty years, and Murray, who has won numerous awards and accolades, continues to fill arenas and theatres around the world. 
 
He is also the author of many successful books including Watching War Films with My Dad and Command, a sharply entertaining analysis of the key allied military leaders in the Second World War. He is well known for co-hosting the hugely popular Second World War history podcast, We Have Ways of Making You Talk with fellow bestselling military author James Holland. 
 
Arnhem: Black Tuesday is his first history book about a single campaign.

Actor and director Al Pacino is a unique and enduring figure in the world of American stage and film. He grew up in New York City’s South Bronx, attended the School of Performing Art, and studied acting at the Herbert Berghof Studio with Charles Laughton and the Actors Studio with mentor Lee Strasberg. 
 
 
He has been nominated for the Academy Award nine times, for movies including The Godfather, Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico, The Godfather Part II, and The Irishman, and won the Oscar for Best Actor in 1992 for Scent of a Woman. He has been nominated for the Golden Globe Award nineteen times, and won four, and has been nominated for three Tonys and won two. 
 
 
Pacino has been awarded the Kennedy Center Honor, the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award, the National Merit of Arts from President Obama, and the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award for Lifetime Achievement in Motion Pictures.

Al Pacino

Al Pittampalli

Al Rodin is a writer and illustrator from London. He studied children's book illustration at Cambridge School of Art and received the 2019 Sebastian Walker Prize. Al enjoys working with a wide variety of materials including acrylic, watercolour and collage. His paintings have been exhibited in galleries around Europe and Asia, and he was selected for lllustrators' Exhibition at the Bologna Children's Book Fair in 2019. Little Echo is his first book.

Al Rodin

Al Smith

Alain Gheerbrant

Alain de Botton is the bestselling author of fifteen books, including The School of Life: An Emotional Education, How Proust Can Change Your Life, The Consolations of Philosophy, The Art of Travel and The Course of Love. He is the founder of The School of Life (theschooloflife.com).

Alain de Botton

Alaina Urquhart is the science-loving co-host of the chart-topping show Morbid: A True Crime Podcast. As an autopsy technician by trade, she offers a unique perspective from deep inside the morgue. Alaina hails from Boston, where she lives with her wonderful husband, John, their three amazing daughters, and a ghost Puggle named Bailey. She is about 75 percent coffee, and truly believes she and Agent Clarice Starling could be friends. 
 
Before writing her first psychological horror novel, she received degrees in criminal justice, psychology, and biology. When she isn't hosting Morbid, she hosts the Parcast original show Crime Countdown, and a horror movie podcast called Scream!. Her days are usually spent either recording or eviscerating. The way she sees it, when she hangs up her microphone for the day, it's time to let the dead speak.

Alaina Urquhart

Alaine Hood

Alan Alda

Alan Ayckbourn

Born in London in 1939, Alan Ayckbourn is one of  the world's most popular and prolific playwrights. He has written 74  full length plays and more than 20 other revues and plays for children.  He is also an acclaimed director. Alan Ayckbourn was awarded a CBE in  1987. Ten years later to the day, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II  'for services to the theatre.'

Alan Baker

Alan Barker

Alan Beattie

Alan Bennett is one of Britain's best-loved and most highly acclaimed writers. He has written widely for radio, television and theatre. His latest play, The History Boys, won several awards, including Evening Standard and Critics' Circle Awards for Best Play and the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play. It also won six Tony Awards, including Best Play, following an extremely successful transfer to Broadway. In 2006 Bennett was named Author of the Year at the British Book Awards for Untold Stories, his collection of memoirs and diaries.

Alan Bennett

Alan Bennett's television series Talking Heads has become a modern-day classic, as have many of his works for the stage, including Forty Years On, The Lady in the Van, The Madness of George III (together with the Oscar-nominated screenplay The Madness of King George) and an adaptation of The Wind in the Willows. The History Boys won the Evening Standard and Critics' Circle awards for Best Play, The Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play and the South Bank Award.

Alan Bishop

ALAN BOOTH was born in London in 1946 and travelled to Japan in 1970 to study Noh theatre. He stayed, working as a writer and film critic, until his untimely death in 1993.

Alan Booth

Alan Brazil is a Scottish broadcasting legend and former football player, most notably for Ipswich Town, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United and internationally for Scotland. He played as a forward before being forced to retire due to a recurring back injury. 
 
After retirement, Alan moved into media presentation, initially on television, before a career in radio where for many years he has presented the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast show on TalkSPORT.

Alan Brazil

Alan Bullock

Alan Carr is one of Britain's most successful and treasured comedians. His unique humour and effortless stage presence have earned him a catalogue of awards including Best Chat Show host at the publicly voted for 2015 National Television Awards, winner of the 2013 BAFTA for Best Entertainment Performance and 2013 British Comedy Award for Best Comedy Entertainment Personality. In previous years he has garnered a clutch of awards, from the 2012 National Television Award for Best Talk Show and the 2012 Loaded LAFTA Award for Best Stand-up to the 2010 TV Choice Awards for Best Entertainment Show. There were also nominations for Best New British Comedy &amp; Best Comedy Entertainment Personality at the 2009 British Comedy Awards. 
 
The success of the first series of his own chat show, 'Alan Carr: Chatty Man', in the summer of 2009, led to Channel 4 commissioning 16 further series' as well as numerous Christmas Specials and New Year Specstaculars. In September 2013, the 100th episode aired with A-list guests Justin Timberlake and Rihanna. Guests from past series include: Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Cameron Diaz, Vin Diesel, Adele, Grace Jones, Naomi Campbell, Hugh Grant, Drew Barrymore, Robin Williams, David Walliams, Mariah Carey, Russell Brand, Samuel L Jackson, Miley Cyrus, Robbie Williams, Bette Midler, Sharon Osbourne, One Direction, Gok Wan and Miranda Hart. 
 
The DVD of Alan's 2007 debut stand-up show, 'Tooth Fairy Live' topped the HMV charts and was a Christmas 2007 top seller. 
 
His best-selling debut autobiography 'Look Who It Is' was published in September 2008 by HarperCollins. 
 
In 2011, Alan travelled the country with his second live tour. 'Spexy Beast Live' was a 33-date arena tour and culminated in the successful DVD of the same name. 
 
Throughout 2015, Alan hit the road once again and performed at over 150 sold-out theatre's across the UK and Ireland with his 'Yap, Yap, Yap!' live show. His third stand up DVD 'Alan Carr - Yap Yap Yap! Live' was released by Universal Pictures (UK) in November 2016. 
 
2016 has also seen Alan go global with international performances of his Yap Yap Yap! live show throughout Scandinavia, Montreal (at the prestigious Just For Laughs Comedy Festival) and can currently be seen on tour this summer in New Zealand and Australia this summer, with two shows at the iconic Sydney Opera House. 
 
Alan also hosts Channel 4's flagship fundraising show 'Stand Up To Cancer' which in 2014 went on to raise an amazing £14 million for Cancer Research. Alan returns once again to host 'Stand Up To Cancer' on Channel 4 this October. 
 
Alanatomy: The Inside Story is Alan's second memoir, and will be published by Penguin in October 2016.

Alan Carr

Alan Clark

Alan Clements

Alan Connor is the author of Two Girls, One on Each Knee: The Puzzling, Playful World of the Crossword ("witty, charming, encyclopaedic and highly readable" - Spectator) and The Joy of Quiz ("An absolute delight" - Mail on Sunday). He has made quizzes for various TV shows and newspapers and written comedy including BBC Film's The Rack Pack, A Young Doctor's Notebook (Jon Hamm and Daniel Radcliffe) and Have I Got News For You.

Alan Connor

Alan Connor has been the question editor for BBC2's Only Connect and Richard Osman's House of Games. He is the author of books for Pointless and The Traitors and is the puzzle consultant for the BBC1 drama Ludwig. He writes puzzles for various newspapers and has written for Charlie Brooker series and Have I Got News for You. His favourite quiz question is: What word was intentionally omitted from the screenplay of The Godfather?

Alan Cowell

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David Gillespie

David Gillespie lost 40kg when he cut sugar from his diet. He did not have to count calories, measure ingredients or follow complex exercise plans. The approach was simple: eat what you like, when you like, but don't eat sugar. 
 
With this accessible diet plan, you will:	 
 
	- understand why sugar makes us fat and damages our health	 
	- break your addiction to sugar 
- interpret confusing food labels	 
- eliminate cravings 
 
With delicious recipes for sugar-free treats, the latest scientific research and easy-to-follow advice, this is the most sensible guide to losing weight and improving well-being you're ever likely to read.

The Sweet Poison Quit Plan

How to kick the sugar habit and lose weight fast

Alan Ryan

A magisterial, one-volume history of political thought from Herodotus to the present, Ancient Athens to modern democracy - from author and professor Alan Ryan 
 
This is a book about the answers that historians, philosophers, theologians, practising politicians and would-be revolutionaries have given to one question: how should human beings best govern themselves? 
 
Almost every modern government claims to be democratic; but is democracy really the best way of organising our political life? Can we manage our own affairs at all? Should we even try? In the west, do we actually live in democracies? In this extraordinary book Alan Ryan engages with the great thinkers of the past to show us how vividly their ideas speak to us in today's uncertain world. 
 
ALAN RYAN was born in London in 1940 and taught for many years at Oxford, where he was a Fellow of New College and Reader in Politics. He was Professor of Politics at Princeton from 1988 to 1996, when he returned to Oxford to become Warden of New College and Professor of Political Theory until his retirement in 2009. His previous books include The Philosophy of John Stuart Mill, Bertrand Russell: A Political Life and John Dewey and the High Tide of American Liberalism. He is a Fellow of the British Academy. 
 
Reviews of On Politics: 
 
'An engaging and smart survey of major political thinkers ... Through Ryan [they] speak directly to the present' Mark Mazower, Prospect 
 
'Ryan's book is a magnificent piece of work, clear (even when the ideas he's exploring are obscure) and engaging (even when the theory in the original is forbidding) ... anyone remotely interested in political theory will profit from reading or dipping into Ryan's On Politics, whether this is their first acquaintance with the canon of political theory or whether they have been "Hobbing and Locking" for decades ... It's a remarkable experience' Jeremy Waldron, New York Review of Books 
 
'Ambitiously and elegantly covers two and a half millennia of political thinking ... despite covering huge intellectual terrain, [On Politics] a delight both when it explores detail and also when it draws conclusions of a broader perspective' Justin Champion, BBC History Magazine 
 
'On Politics is crammed with smart observations and wise advice' John Keane, Financial Times 
 
'An impressive achievement' Economist

On Politics

Cullen Murphy

For centuries states have used their power to censor, watch, manipulate and punish. God's Jury argues that the Inquisition - the Catholic body that existed for over 700 years - is not a medieval oddity, but is intrinsically bound up with the creation of our modern world. 
 
From Vatican archives to Guantánamo and the Third Reich, Cullen Murphy shows how the Inquisition's techniques - record-keeping, bureaucracy and a terrifying sense of certainty - are now standard operating procedure, and that the battle between private conscience and outside forces is the central contest of the modern era.

God's Jury

The Inquisition and the Making of the Modern World

Samantha Logan

Intermittent fasting, also known as the 5:2 diet, has become incredibly popular in recent months. And with good reason - it works! By reducing your calorie intake for just 2 days a week, you will reset your metabolism and rev up your body's fat-burning ability to cause dramatic weight loss without deprivation. 
 
This book is the key to learning what to eat on these low-calorie fasting days. With delicious dishes like Cinnamon-Swirl Pancakes for breakfast, Fast-astic French Onion Soup for lunch and Slow-Cooking Provence Chicken for dinner, which are all easy to make and packed with flavour, you won't even realise you're dieting. 
 
There's even a special "dessert" section in the back that will give you low-calorie rewards to look forward to on non-fasting days.

The 5:2 Fast Diet Cookbook

Easy low-calorie & fat-burning recipes for fast days

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

'Really made me think about how I think' - Mohsin Hamid, author of Exit West 
 
Tough times don't last. Tough people do. 
 
In The Black Swan, Taleb showed us that highly improbable and unpredictable events underlie almost everything about our world. Here Taleb stands uncer&shy;tainty on its head, making it desirable, even necessary. The antifragile is beyond the resilient or robust. The resil&shy;ient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better and better. 
 
Just as human bones get stronger when subjected to stress and tension, many things in life benefit from stress, disorder, volatility, and turmoil. What Taleb has identified and calls antifragile are things that not only gain from chaos but need it in order to survive and flourish. 
 
Antifragile is a blueprint for living in a Black Swan world. Erudite, witty, and iconoclastic, Taleb's message is revolutionary: the antifragile, and only the antifragile, will make it. 
 
'The hottest thinker in the world' Bryan Appleyard, Sunday Times

Antifragile

Things that Gain from Disorder

Jonathan Haidt

'A landmark contribution to humanity's understanding of itself' The New York Times 
 
Why can it sometimes feel as though half the population is living in a different moral universe? Why do ideas such as 'fairness' and 'freedom' mean such different things to different people? Why is it so hard to see things from another viewpoint? Why do we come to blows over politics and religion? 
 
Jonathan Haidt reveals that we often find it hard to get along because our minds are hardwired to be moralistic, judgemental and self-righteous. He explores how morality evolved to enable us to form communities, and how moral values are not just about justice and equality - for some people authority, sanctity or loyalty matter more. Morality binds and blinds, but, using his own research, Haidt proves it is possible to liberate ourselves from the disputes that divide good people.

The Righteous Mind

Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion

Michael J. Sandel

Should we financially reward children for good marks? Is it ethical to pay people to donate organs? What about hiring mercenaries to fight our wars, outsourcing inmates to for-profit prisons or selling citizenship? 
 
In recent decades, market values have impinged on almost every aspect of life - medicine, education, government, law, even family life. We have drifted from having a market economy to being a market society. In What Money Can't Buy Michael Sandel asks: Isn't there something wrong with a world in which everything is for sale? And how do we protect the things that really matter?

What Money Can't Buy

The Moral Limits of Markets

John Guy

This is the man, not the legend . . . 
 
Thomas Becket lived at the centre of medieval England. Son of a draper's merchant, he was befriended and favoured by Henry II and quickly ascended the rungs of power and privilege. He led 700 knights into battle, brokered peace between warring states and advised King and Pope. Yet he lost it all defying his closest friend and King, resulting in his own bloody murder and the birth of a legend. In John Guy's masterful account the life, death and times of Thomas Becket come splendidly alive.

Thomas Becket

Warrior, Priest, Rebel, Victim: A 900-Year-Old Story Retold

Geza Vermes

Geza Vermes, translator and editor of The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls and worldwide expert on the life and times of Jesus, tells the enthralling story of early Christianity and the origins of a religion. 
 
The creation of the Christian Church is one of the most important stories in the development of the world's history, yet one of the least understood. 
 
With a forensic, brilliant re-examination of all the key surviving texts of early Christianity, Geza Vermes illuminates the origins of a faith and traces the evolution of the figure of Jesus from the man he was - a prophet in the tradition of other Jewish holy men of the Old Testament - to what he came to represent: a mysterious, otherworldly being at the heart of the official state religion of the Roman Empire. Christian Beginnings pulls apart myths and misunderstandings to focus on the true figure of Jesus, and the birth of one of the world's major religions. 
 
Reviews: 
 
'A beautiful and magisterial book' Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, Guardian 
 
'An exciting and challenging port of call, sweeping aside much of the fuzzy thinking and special pleading that bedevils the study of sacred scripture ... courteously expressed and witty' Diarmaid MacCulloch, The Times 
 
'A challenging and engaging book that sets out to retrace the route by which a Jewish preacher in 1st-century Israel came to be declared as consubstantial and co-equal with the omnipotent, omniscient only God' Stuart Kelly, Scotsman 
 
'A major contribution to our understanding of the historical Jesus' Financial Times 
 
'A very accessible and entertaining read' Scotland on Sunday Books of the Year 
 
'A magnum opus of early Christian history and one of the year's most significant titles' Bookseller

Christian Beginnings

From Nazareth to Nicaea, AD 30-325

John Thavis

'A humane and realistic and (yes) humorous picture of a mortal institution. To an old Prot like me, it's a tour of alien terrain and a bridge to old and dear friends' Garrison Keillor 
 
For thirty years John Thavis worked for the Catholic News Service in Rome and reported on the inner workings of the Vatican. The Vatican Diaries is his insightful and often very funny account of exactly what goes on in this unique and secretive institution. It's a place where cardinals fight private wars, scandals are constantly threatening to undermine papal authority, and reverence for the past comes up painfully against the considerations of modern life. 
 
He describes the politics surrounding the election of a new pope and the beatification of an old one, the angst of dealing with the international issue of sexual abuse, the intricacies of arranging a Papal visit to India, the conflicts involved in trying to build a car park over an ancient Roman burial site - and above all the unfathomable personality of the conservative Pope Benedict XVI, the first pope to resign for 600 years. At this extraordinary moment of crisis in the Church, Thavis's account of its inner workings is invaluable.

The Vatican Diaries

A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Power, Personalities and Politics at the Heart of the Catholic Church

Jacky Newcomb

Afterlife expert and bestselling author Jacky Newcomb knows that the spirit world is real. Thousands of people have experienced contact from the departed or seen the afterlife themselves. After collecting these experiences for 12 years, Jacky is here to answer key questions, like: 
 
 - What happens to the soul once the body dies? 
 - Do our experience on earth and our beliefs affect the next part of the journey? 
 - Did our loved ones make it safely to heaven? 
 - Can we communicate with the departed? 
 
 Heaven will bring peace, reassurance and hope to everyone who has ever wondered about life after death.

Heaven

All of us, whether religious, agnostic or atheist, are searching for meaning. And in this wise and life-affirming book, non-believer Alain de Botton suggests that religions, far from being nonsensical as atheists maintain, are instead full of good ideas on how to live. 
 
And that we should steal from them. 
 
Picking and choosing from the thousands of years of advice assembled by the world's great religions to get practical insights on art, community, love, friendship, work, life and death, Alain de Botton will show how each of us may find our place in the world.

Religion for Atheists

A non-believer's guide to the uses of religion

Richard Sennett

Living with people who differ - racially, ethnically, religiously or economically - is one of the most urgent challenges facing civil society today. Together argues that co-operation needs more than good will: it is a craft that requires skill. In modern society traditional bonds are waning, and we must develop new forms of secular, civic ritual that make us more skilful in living with others. From Medieval guilds to today's social networks, Richard Sennett's visionary book explores the nature of co-operation, why it has become weak and how it can be strengthened.

Together

The Rituals, Pleasures and Politics of Cooperation

Jesse J Prinz

We are constantly told that human traits - from aggression to gender differences - are 'hardwired'. In Beyond Human Nature Jesse J. Prinz reveals that it is the societies we live in, not our genes, that determine how we think and feel. From why mental illness differs so widely between cultures to how geography influences morals, from our sexual preferences to how we learn languages, he proves that the vast diversity of behaviour is not ingrained. 
 
This is a book about humanity's power to transcend nature; and one that, ultimately, celebrates our differences.

Beyond Human Nature

How Culture and Experience Shape Our Lives

Allen Carr

Lose weight without dieting, calorie-counting or using will-power. 
 
It's true! Allen Carr's eating plan allows you to enjoy eating, savour flavours and lose wight. You can:Eat your favourite foodsFollow your natural instinctsAvoid guilt and remorseEnjoy the flavours of fresh foodsDo away with digestive ailmentsLearn to re-educate your tastesLet your appetite be your guide 
 
Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking has helped millions of smokers to quit. Now he turns his logical, common-sense approach to food. There are no dos of dont's, only principles to follow that will lead to healthier eating, greater well-being and permanent weight loss.

Allen Carr's Easyweigh to Lose Weight

The revolutionary method to losing weight fast from international bestselling author of The Easy Way to Stop Smoking

Joe Cassidy

Though many of us suspect that there is more to our world than meets the eye, it takes someone special to connect with what lies beneath the surface. Leading diviner Joe Cassidy is such a man and he knows a side of life that is at once familiar, mysterious and powerful. 
 
In The Diviner, Joe explains the ancient art he practices. He describes how he discovered his gift and why he resisted it for many years, suffering the consequences in stress and ill-health. Over a decade ago he realised he had to accept his destiny and despite having a young family, he began working as a diviner. Since then has worked on over five thousand cases. 
 
Joe does not advertise but somehow people find him. Everyone from housewives and lorry drivers, to lawyers and record company executives, turns up at his door. What they each sense is that Joe's timeless insights can help with a problem that appears insoluble. 
 
The Diviner is a story of listening, divining and healing that throws a light on a side of life that is both ancient and still very much part of modern life. And it is a fascinating and uplifting story of a life less ordinary.

The Diviner

The inspiring true story of a man with uncanny insight and the ability to heal

Robert Graves

Including many of the greatest stories ever told - the labours of Hercules, the voyage of the Argonauts, Theseus and the minotaur, Midas and his golden touch, the Trojan War and Odysseus's journey home - Robert Graves's superb and comprehensive retelling of the Greek myths for a modern audience has been regarded for over fifty years as the definitive version. 
 
With a novelist's skill and a poet's eye, Graves draws on the entire canon of ancient literature, bringing together all the elements of every myth into one epic and unforgettable story. Ideal for the first time reader, it can be read as a single, continuous narrative, while full commentaries, with cross-references, interpretations, variants and explanations, as well as a comprehensive index of names, make it equally valuable as a work of scholarly reference for anyone seeking an authoritative and detailed account of the gods, heroes and extraordinary events that provide the bedrock of Western literature. 
 
The result is a classic among classics, a treasure trove of extraordinary tales and a masterful work of literature in its own right.

The Greek Myths (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

Arundhati Roy

The Shape of the Beast is our world laid bare by a mind that has consistently and unhesitatingly engaged with its changing realities and often anticipated the way things have moved in the last decade. 
 
In the fourteen interviews collected here, conducted between January 2001 and March 2008, Arundhati Roy examines the nature of state and corporate power as it has emerged during this period, and the shape that resistance movements are taking. As she speaks about people displaced by dams and industry, the genocide in Gujurat, Maoist rebels, the war in Kashmir and the global War on Terror, she raises fundamental questions about democracy, justice and non-violent protest. 
 
Unabashedly political, this is also a deeply personal collection that talks about the necessity of taking a stand and about the dilemma of guarding the private space necessary for writing in a world that demands urgent, unequivocal intervention.

The Shape of the Beast

Steve Hagen

What is Buddhism? What are its true teachings? What can it bring to our lives? 
 
Here Steve Hagen, a Zen priest, cuts through the many misconceptions surrounding Buddhism, and shows us its true purpose. Drawing on down-to-earth examples from everyday life, this practical and straightforward guide penetrates the most essential and enduring questions at the heart of the Buddha's teachings: How can we see the world in each moment, rather than merely as what we think, hope, or fear it is? How can we base our actions on reality? How can we live lives that are wise, compassionate, open and honest? 
 
This book offers a profound and clear path to a life of joy and freedom.

Buddhism is Not What You Think

Finding Freedom Beyond Beliefs

In the modern world our lives are more frenetic than ever. We live with a burning sense that we have to get something done. But what do we really achieve? And why are we never satisfied? 
 
This book is an invitation to switch off, and to enjoy stillness - right now. Bestselling author and teacher Steve Hagen provides an accessible and thorough manual on meditation, for both newcomers and experienced practitioners. He offers simple practices that avoid needlessly complicating meditation; highlights where many of us get stuck in meditating - and how to get unstuck; and, above all, focuses on meditation not simply as a spiritual technique, but as a way of living.

Meditation Now or Never

Brian Christian

AI is on the brink of a new dawn. And so are we. . . 
 
Telling the difference between humans and computers used to be easy. But artificial intelligence is now so advanced that it is capable of behaving, and even thinking, in ways that have long been considered exclusive to humankind. The time has come to rethink what being human actually means... 
 
In The Most Human Human Brian Christian meets the world's leading artificial intelligences, finds out what they're capable of - and what makes us unique. The result is a funny, shocking, inspiring, deeply humane and intelligent book that reaches into every aspect of our lives.

The Most Human Human

What Artificial Intelligence Teaches Us About Being Alive

Anna Hunt

When celebrity journalist Anna Hunt takes a break from her glamorous, high-powered and fast-paced job to live in Peru for three months, none of her friends take her seriously. A burn-the-candle-at-both-ends 29-year-old with a love of stilettos, chocolate, fast cars and Sauvignon Blanc, she seems to have it all, including a wealthy boyfriend and a comfortable pad in Marylebone. How will she manage in a Third World country? 
 
Anna's quest takes her from the wilderness of the Amazon jungle where she drinks ayahuasca, one of the most mysterious and potent hallucinogens known to man, to a passionate affair with Maximo Morales, a disarmingly seductive and charismatic shaman who offers her the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become his apprentice. Anna embarks on what is to be an utterly exhilarating, life-changing journey of mysterious rituals and burning passion. Will she find the fulfilment and inner peace she craves? And how will she bridge her two worlds and bring the ancient healing arts home to 21st century London?

The Shaman in Stilettos

Gordon Grice

Consider, if you can, the case of Jacob Fowler, who heard what he thought was the sound of his own skull cracking between the jaws of a grizzly bear - only to discover that it was. 
 
Or the Arizonan jogger who ran a mile back to her car with a rabid fox clamped to her arm before driving to hospital for live-saving inoculations. Or the woman who was attacked by a hyena, dragged from her tent by her face and survived to tell of her ordeal. 
 
The dangers of the animal kingdom are the stuff of legend but the reality of man's vulnerability and of nature's savage power is far more various, improbable and chilling than even the most active imagination would fear. In this unique work of nature writing, you will encounter the most formidable predators on land and sea - as well as the most overlooked, bizarre and inventive hazards that mother nature has to offer. Meet the cougar that can leap 40 feet and clear 8-foot fences with a fully-grown deer in its jaws, the tapeworm that's been known to grow as long as 82 feet in the human gut and the elephant that single-handedly destroyed an oil tanker. 
 
Drawing on an enormous host of true encounters between man and beast, this is the world's most authoritative compendium of animal attacks on human beings. With mordant wit and expert timing, Gordon Grice provides a gripping journey to the dark side of the animal kingdom and a celebration of its humbling, savage glory. 
 
(Originally published in hardback as The Book of Deadly Animals.)

Deadly Animals

Savage Encounters Between Man and Beast

Tariq Ramadan

Tariq Ramadan is one of the most acclaimed figures in the analysis of Islam and its political dimensions today. In The Arab Awakening he explores the opportunities and challenges across North Africa and the Middle East, as they look to create new, more open societies. He asks: can Muslim countries bring together Islam, pluralism and democracy without betraying their identity? Will the Arab world be able to reclaim its memory to reinvent education, women's rights, social justice, economic growth and the fight against corruption? Can this emancipation be envisioned with Islam, experienced not as a straitjacket, but as an ethical and cultural wealth? 
 
Arguing that the debate cannot be reduced to a confrontation between two approaches - the modern and secular versus the traditional and Islamic - Ramadan demonstrates that not only are both of these routes in crisis, but that the Arab world has an historic opportunity: to stop blaming the West, to jettison its victim status and to create a truly new dynamic. Tariq Ramadan offers up a challenge to the Middle East: what enduring legacy will you produce, from the historic moment of the Arab Spring?

The Arab Awakening

Islam and the new Middle East

Lewis Richmond

'Everything is aging, all the time. We age from our first breath. The problem is not aging per se, but our view of it.' 
 
In Aging as a Spiritual Practice, Buddhist priest, Lewis Richmond, describes the four stages of aging, providing an uplifting look at life's enriching journey. Drawing on the teachings of Buddhism, he urges us to rejoice in getting older, not to fight it; to adapt to a different way of living rather than trying to chase a mythical elixir of youth in a quest to stay younger for longer. 
 
Whether you're 30, 60 or 100 there are life-enhancing lessons to learn and a wealth of opportunities in which to experience true joy. With traditional Zen exercises and anecdotes from people of all ages sharing their positive experiences, Lewis teaches us to embrace change and see aging as simply an opening up of new paths. He shows us how we often fail to appreciate the wisdom we develop as we go through life and teaches us that to truly develop contentment we must spend more time with our close ones and in looking inwards at ourselves.

Aging as a Spiritual Practice

Jim Al-Khalili

For over 700 years the international language of science was Arabic. In Pathfinders, Jim al-Khalili celebrates the forgotten, inspiring pioneers who helped shape our understanding of the world during the golden age of Arabic science, including Iraqi physicist Ibn al-Haytham, who practised the modern scientific method over half a century before Bacon; al-Khwarizmi, the greatest mathematician of the medieval world; and Abu Rayhan al-Biruni, a Persian polymath to rival Leonardo da Vinci.

Pathfinders

The Golden Age of Arabic Science

John Gray

SUNDAY TIMES, NEW STATESMAN and TLS BOOKS OF THE YEAR 
 
At the heart of all human experience lies our obsession with death. For many years we turned to religion for answers, but with the twentieth century came ideas from evolution and politics to suggest that our lives - and afterlives - were in our own hands. Such ideas went on to have both trivial and terrible effects: from a sweeping craze of séances to the mass-murders of the Stalinist terror. 
 
Gray raises vital questions about the 'truths' science can offer, the technology we are still exploiting for immortality - and exactly what it means to be human.

The Immortalization Commission

The Strange Quest to Cheat Death

'This book is a journey, and an initiation.' 
 
In a world so full of different beliefs and viewpoints, how can we find peace in our shared humanity? 
 
The Quest for Meaning will take you on a journey to discover the profound truths that bind us all together. 
 
Acclaimed thinker and philosopher Tariq Ramadan explores universal ideas such as love, respect, truth and tolerance, and examines questions such as how can men and women relate to each other? What is the true nature of equality? What does 'civilization' really mean? In doing so, he opens our minds to a new view of humanity.

The Quest for Meaning

Developing a Philosophy of Pluralism

Scott Atran

Scott Atran has spent years talking to terrorists - from Gaza and Afghanistan, to Indonesia and Europe. Here he argues persuasively that to understand religious violence we need to consider terrorists' close relationships, with family and friends, as much as the causes they espouse. He delivers a fascinating journey into the mindsets of radicalised people in the twenty-first century, and deep insights into the history of all religions.

Talking to the Enemy

Violent Extremism, Sacred Values, and What it Means to Be Human

Patricia Buckley

Patricia Buckley is a down-to-earth mystic - gentle, funny and practical. In the last decade, through her joyous embrace of the angels in her life, she has been able to give hope to countless wounded souls who have come to her seeking guidance. 
 
From as early as she can remember, Patricia took for granted that she could speak to angels and dead people. And though her childhood was blighted by poverty, neglect and abuse, the spirit world made her feel secure and cherished. However, after many tough years - during which she was committed to a mental ward, was nearly killed by an abusive boyfriend and eventually became homeless - she gave up on that part of her life. 
 
Patricia found love in a good marriage and joy in the birth of her children. And yet for twenty years she remained fragile and dependent on tranquillisers. That was until a chance encounter woke up her hidden spiritual energies and revived her passion for living. The time had come to share her gifts with the world. 
 
Now, Patricia shares her story in My Journey with the Angels - a heart-breaking memoir of a Dublin childhood, a moving account of how she came to accept her extraordinary gifts, and an inspirational guide - full of examples from her life and work - to the wisdom of the angels.

My Journey with the Angels

Don’t Disturb the…

Dr Bloom

Dragon Frontier

Dragonborn

Dragoneye

Dragonlance Destinies

Dread Pirate Fleur

Dream Master

Drenai Novels

DropZone

Duggee's Little Library

Dungeon Crawler Carl Series

Duty Calls

A gripping three-part series based on real historical events. Three Roman legions massacred. Three Imperial Eagles lost. One man vies for revenge.

Eagles of Rome

For thirty years, the O’Donnels have ruled the East End, but there’s a price to pay for this power, and it’s usually in blood.

Eastend Trilogy

Easterleigh Hall

Eat Around Italy

Eat Around Spain

Eat Right For Blood Type

Ebb and Flo

Ed Reardon's Week

Elemental Emergence

Elfies Spellbook

Eliot Biographies

Emma Trilogy

Emma and James

Empire of Salt

In the Swedish town of Engelsfors, a mysterious forcedraws seven teenagers together. They are the Chosen Ones, and they have been chosen to drive back the demons that threaten to overwhelm the world

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