Michael Symmons Roberts’s fourth book of poetry, Corpus, was the winner of the 2004 Whitbread Poetry Award, and was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize, the Forward Prize, and the Griffin International Prize. His sixth collection, Drysalter, was the winner of both the Forward Prize and the Costa Poetry Prize in 2013. He collaborated with Paul Farley on Edgelands (Cape/Vintage) and will do so again in The Deaths of the Poets (Cape, 2017). He has also worked many times with the composer James MacMillan. He has published two novels, and is Professor of Poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Michael Symmons Roberts

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Len Howard

Enter the secret lives of Britain's ordinary garden birds and the brilliant, unconventional woman who opened her doors to them. 
 
In the late 1930s, Len Howard packed up her life in London, bought a plot of land in Sussex and built herself a little house there. This was to be Bird Cottage, a place where the doors of the house were open to the birds of the garden – great tits, blue tits, robins, blackbirds, willow warblers and many others. Len lived the rest of her life alongside her bird neighbours, with some sleeping in her bedroom and many flitting in and out all day long. 
 
This is the book she wrote about the birds – a study not just of their behaviour but their individual personalities. We learn about their intelligence, emotional lives, and characters, their capacity for play and humour, the range of their song, their likes and dislikes, and their bond with Len. 
 
Enchanting, life-enriching, revelatory and completely original, this is a gorgeous evocation of a life lived in intimate contact with nature and a book about birds unlike any other. 
 
‘A unique, engaging and elegant insight into the lives of our precious and magical songbirds’ Arthur Parkinson 
 
‘A quiet revelation of attentiveness and sympathy. It impressed and moved me very much’ Steven Lovatt, author of Birdsong in a Time of Silence

Birds as Individuals

Len Howard forged extraordinary relationships with the birds in her Sussex garden during the 1950s. This groundbreaking work in bird studies is also a captivating and immersive piece of nature writing. 
 
This bird biography tells the story of one exceptional Great Tit called Star. In opening her home to wild birds, Len Howard gained their trust and made astonishing discoveries about their capabilities. Star’s character and intelligence is revealed, and with patience, consistency and sensitivity Howard even succeeds in teaching Star to count using taps of her beak. 
 
Full of joy and wonder, as well as deep knowledge and fascinating detail, Living with Birds encompasses bird studies of all kinds including the fate of a lame fledgling, the bond between Great Tit parents and their babies and observations of migrant birds. It is also the story of how Howard succeeded in developing such an unusual relationship with the wild birds in her garden. 
 
'Howard seems to have stood on the brink of communication with a wild bird, something till now hardly conceivable...awe-inspiring' Observer

Living with Birds

Yuval Noah Harari

Yuval Noah Harari’s bestselling phenomenon now in a beautifully packaged new special edition. 
 
 Planet Earth is 4.5 billion years old. In just a fraction of that time, one species among countless others has conquered it. Us. We are the most advanced and most destructive animals ever to have lived. What makes us brilliant? What makes us deadly? What makes us Sapiens? 
 
 In this bold and provocative book, Yuval Noah Harari explores who we are, how we got here and where we’re going. Sapiens is a thrilling account of humankind’s extraordinary history – from the Stone Age to the Silicon Age – and our journey from insignificant apes to rulers of the world. 
 
 'Unbelievably good. Jaw dropping from the first word to the last' Chris Evans, BBC Radio 2 
 
PATTERNS OF LIFE: SPECIAL EDITIONS OF GROUNDBREAKING SCIENCE BOOKS

Sapiens

A Brief History of Humankind: (Patterns of Life)

Melanie Klein

A perfect introduction to Melanie Klein’s modern neuroscientific research. 
 
 Melanie Klein's writings, particularly on infant development and psychosis, have been crucial both to theoretical work and to clinical practice. Envy and Gratitude collects her writings from 1946 until her death in 1960, including two papers published posthumously. 
 
Klein's major paper, 'Notes on Some Schizoid Mechanisms', introduces the concept of the paranoid-schizoid position, in which the infant ego splits, projects and introjects its objects - most particularly the mother - during the first few months of life. Envy and Gratitude, her last major work, introduces her theory of primary envy.

Envy And Gratitude And Other Works 1946-1963

Charles Darwin

Discover this beautiful special edition of Charles Darwin’s groundbreaking theory on human evolution. 
 
 When the eminent naturalist Charles Darwin returned from South America on board the HMS Beagle in 1836, he brought with him the notes and evidence that would form the basis of a world-changing theory: the evolution of species by a process of natural selection. 
This theory, published as On the Origin of Species in 1859, is the basis of modern biology and the concept of biodiversity. Its publication sparked a fierce scientific, religious and philosophical debate, which continues to this day. 
 
PATTERNS OF LIFE: SPECIAL EDITIONS OF GROUNDBREAKING SCIENCE BOOKS

The Origin of Species

(Patterns of Life)

Discover Charles Darwin's most important ideas... 
 
 When the eminent naturalist Charles Darwin returned from South America on board the H.M.S Beagle in 1836, he brought notes and evidence that would form the basis of his landmark theory: that species evolve by a process of natural selection. 
 
 This theory, published as The Origin of Species in 1859, is the basis of modern biology and the concept of biodiversity. It also sparked a fierce scientific, religious and philosophical debate that still rages today. 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY DARWIN'S GREAT-GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTER, RUTH PADEL

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