Neil MacGregor was Director of the National Gallery, London from 1987 to 2002 and of the British Museum from 2002 to 2015, and Chair of the Steering Committee of the Humboldt Forum in Berlin from 2015 to 2018. His previous books include A History of the World in 100 Objects, Shakespeare's Restless World and Germany: Memories of a Nation, all available in Penguin and now between them translated into more than a dozen languages. In 2010, he was made a member of the Order of Merit, the UK's highest civil honour. In 2015 he was awarded the Goethe Medal and the German National Prize. In 2018 the radio series Living with the Gods received the Sandford Saint Martin Award for Religious Broadcasting.

Neil MacGregor

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Emily Alison

Laurence Alison

'Laurence Alison is one of my academic heroes. He does what every writer longs to do. He makes the difficult clear - without losing his rigour.' Malcolm Gladwell 
 
'They are quietly revolutionising the study and practice of interrogation... Their findings are changing the way law enforcement and security agencies approach the delicate and vital task of gathering human intelligence.' Guardian 
 
 
Get what you want from even the most difficult characters 
 
All of us have to deal with difficult people. Whether we're asking our neighbour to move a fence or our boss for a pay rise, we can struggle to avoid arguments and get what we want. 
 
Laurence and Emily Alison are world leaders in forensic psychology, and they specialise in the most difficult interactions imaginable: criminal interrogations. They advise and train the police, security agencies, the FBI and the CIA on how to deal with extremely dangerous suspects when the stakes are high. 
 
After 30 years' work - and unprecedented access to 2,000 hours of terrorist interrogations - they have developed a ground-breaking model of interpersonal communication. This deceptively simple approach to handling any encounter works as well for teenagers as it does for terrorists. Now it's time to share it with the world. 
 
Rapport reveals that every interaction follows four styles: Control (the lion), Capitulate (the mouse), Confront (the Tyrannosaur) and Co-operate (the monkey). As soon as you understand these styles and your own goals you can shape any conversation at will. And you'll be closer to the real secret: how to create instant rapport.

Rapport

The Four Ways to Read People

Brian Mayne

An enchanting adventure tale which shows by analogy how positive thoughts can enrich and actively change all of our lives. The main character, a boy called Joseph, struggles with life and feelings of being unloved, when lo and behold Sam the magic genie appears to take him on a journey of his mind! Flying around Joseph's mind on a magic carpet, Sam teaches Joseph about positive thinking and how negative thoughts lead to negative consequences. Joseph learns how to achieve happiness and well being even in the face of fear and doubt. Sam the Magic Genie is clear and concise in its teachings and practical in application. It offers a brand new approach to positive thinking helping adults and children alike to create and steer change within their lives through the power of thought.'Think about what you want, not what you fear'

Sam The Magic Genie

Oliver James

Professor Robert Plomin, the world’s leading geneticist, said in 2014 of his search for genes that explain differences in our psychology: ‘I have been looking for these genes for fifteen years. I don’t have any’. 
 
Using a mixture of famous and ordinary people, Oliver James drills deep down into the childhood causes of our individuality, revealing why our upbringing, not our genes, plays such an important role in our wellbeing and success. The implications are huge: as adults we can change, we can clutch our fates from predetermined destiny, as parents we can radically alter the trajectory of our childrens’ lives, and as a society we could largely eradicate criminality and poverty. 
 
Not in Your Genes will not only change the way you think about yourself and the people around you, but give you the fuel to change your personality and your life for the better.

Not In Your Genes

The real reasons children are like their parents

Donna Ford

In this haunting and frank account, Donna Ford, bestselling author of The Step Child, returns to the horrific abuse she suffered at the hands of her stepmother. As a tiny girl of five, and for six long years, Donna was physically, mentally and sexually abused. She was starved, beaten and 'loaned out' to neighbours who raped and molested her ... and throughout her father stood by and did nothing. When her stepmother finally left the family home, Donna dreamed of a normal childhood in which she would be taken care of by the man who had, up until this point, failed her. But it was not to be. 
 
By telling the whole story of her Edinburgh childhood, Donna tries to understand why the man who should have loved her the most - her own father - was the one who deceived her the most, by continuing to allow men to abuse her. Instead of finding a future of love and happiness, Donna was once again thrust into a living nightmare of 
exploitation and betrayal by those who should have wrapped her up in their love. 
 
While this is a true story of appalling child abuse, it is also a tale of how exhilaration, tenderness and self-development can flourish despite childhood horrors. We take a journey with Donna to discover the woman she has become: a devoted mother of three and a talented artist and writer.

What Daddy Did

The shocking true story of a little girl betrayed

Stephen W. Porges

Karen Onderko

Recalibrate your nervous system, calm anxiety and find safety through the transformative power of sound. 
 
Safe and Sound introduces the groundbreaking new tool The Safe and Sound Protocol, developed by Polyvagal pioneer Dr Stephen Porges. Designed to help you regulate your nervous system, Safe and Sound will explore the therapeutic power of listening to help you manage symptoms of anxiety, depression and trauma. 
 
Featuring stories from the therapy room and therapy-backed advice, you will discover how to use sound in all aspects of your life, from recognising how different music makes you feel to weaving sound into your healing journey. Uncovering the amazing hidden power of sound, this accessible and practical guidebook will equip you with the tools you need to lead a calmer, more resilient life.

Safe and Sound

A Polyvagal Approach to Reduce Anxiety and Find Calm

Glennon Doyle

Abby Wambach

Amanda Doyle

*THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER* 
 
The #1 SUNDAY TIMES bestselling authors and award-winning podcasters Glennon Doyle, Abby Wambach, and Amanda Doyle created We Can Do Hard Things the guidebook for being alive — to help fellow travelers find their way through life. 
 
When you travel through a new country, you need a guidebook. 
 
When you travel through love, heartbreak, joy, parenting, friendship, uncertainty, aging, grief, new beginnings – life – you need a guidebook, too. 
 
We Can Do Hard Things is the guidebook for being alive. 
 
Every day, Glennon Doyle spirals around the same questions: Why am I like this? How do I figure out what I want? How do I know what to do? Why can’t I be happy? Am I doing this right? 
 
The harder life gets, the less likely she is to remember the answers she’s spent her life learning. She wonders: I’m almost fifty years old. I’ve overcome a hell of a lot. Why do I wake up every day having forgotten everything I know? 
 
Glennon’s compasses are her sister, Amanda, and her wife, Abby. Recently, in the span of a single year, Glennon was diagnosed with anorexia, Amanda was diagnosed with breast cancer, and Abby’s beloved brother died. For the first time, they were all lost at the same time. So they turned toward the only thing that’s ever helped them find their way: deep, honest conversations with other brave, kind, wise people. 
 
They asked each other, their dearest friends, and 118 of the world’s most brilliant wayfinders: As you’ve traveled these roads —marriage, parenting, work, recovery, heartbreak, aging, new beginnings—have you collected any wisdom that might help us find our way? 
 
As Glennon, Abby, and Amanda wrote down every life-saving answer, they discovered two things:<ol><li>No matter what road we are walking down, someone else has traveled the same terrain.</li><li>The wisdom of our fellow travelers will light our way.</li></ol> 
They put all of that wisdom in one place: We Can Do Hard Things—a place to turn when you feel clueless and alone, when you need clarity in the chaos, or when you want wise company on the path of life. 
 
We are all life travelers. We don’t have to travel alone. We Can Do Hard Things is our guidebook. 
 
Featuring wisdom from: ALOK • Sara Bareilles • Dr. Yaba Blay • Kate Bowler • adrienne maree brown • Brandi Carlile • Brittney Cooper • Brittany Packnett Cunningham • Kaitlin Curtice • Megan Falley • Jane Fonda • Stephanie Foo • Ashley C. Ford • Ina Garten • Roxane Gay • Andrea Gibson • Elizabeth Gilbert • Dr. Orna Guralnik • Tricia Hersey • Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson • Luvvie Ajayi Jones • Dr. Becky Kennedy • Emily Nagoski • Esther Perel • Ai-Jen Poo • Cole Arthur Riley • Cheryl Strayed • Sonya Renee Taylor • Ocean Vuong • And many others

We Can Do Hard Things

Answers to Life's 20 Questions

Sue Elliott

Adoption is one of the great, untold stories of our recent past. It is a truly epic tale of loss, guilt, identity, family feuds, reunion and redemption. It is a subject, until very recently, surrounded by secrecy and taboos. 
 
This is the heart-warming true story of a little girl's adoption in the 1950s and her search, nearly forty years later, for her birth mother. When mother and daughter meet, Sue thinks she has finally reached the end of her journey. Then Sue discovers she wasn't the only baby her mother gave away ... 
 
Weaved throughout is the vivid, emotional history of adoption in the UK. Drawing on a wide range of intimate personal experiences, it outlines the forces that shaped 20th century adoption practice, from baby-farming, the stigma of illegitimacy, incest and the bastardy laws, to children taken by force, the Magdalene laundries, mass emigration schemes without parental consent, to modern day adoption practices, buying babies from abroad, sperm donor fathers and tearful reunions on Trisha.

Love Child

Fiona Millar

'I took the plunge and went back to work full-time, leaving a baby at home ... that was the start of the 20-year experiment with every different type of working arrangement possible in my quest to try and do justice to my children, my education, my ambition.' 
 
Fiona Millar, journalist and education campaigner, knows first hand that being a working mother involves managing childcare, work, laundry and countless other tasks, while striving to find the perfect work-life balance for her family. And she is not alone. Over 70 per cent of mothers with school-age children are in some form of work. 
 
In The Secret World of the Working Mother, Fiona Millar draws on the experiences of women from all walks of life and circumstance, as well as her own, to examine the many challenges faced in the workplace and home. Sharply analytical, entertaining and informative, this is an in-depth look at how real women manage their chaotic lives - not how perfect women should.

The Secret World of the Working Mother

Sue Martin

Sue Martin was not three years old when she began life at her first children's home: a home that could at best be described as cold and regimented; at worst, torturous and terrifying. 
 
When her mother abandoned her to the protection of the home, Sue was soon to discover that behind the welcoming doors of this reputedly kind-hearted organisation lay a world steeped in lies, cover-ups, victimisation and abuse. At its heart was Boagey, whose perverse bullying was targeted at Sue. Her attacks quickly progressed from the gratuitous punishment of an innocent child to sordid gratification of her sexual whims. 
 
Sue's story is one of institutional abuse - of physical, mental and emotional torture of the most appalling kind - but it also a story full of joy, humour and many victories - small and large - against her abusers. 
 
Utterly compelling and shockingly revelatory, No Way Home will astound, move and inspire.

No Way Home

The terrifying story of life in a children's home and a little girl's struggle to survive

Jamie Raines

Hey, I'm Jamie, a 29-year-old trans guy from the UK. I've been transitioning for 12 years now after realising I was trans (by accident!) at sixteen years old. I knew I was a boy since the age of four, but realised whilst growing up that I was different. It was only in my teens that I found the words to express who I was and what I needed to do. Since then, I've been on testosterone for more than a decade - I know, I can't believe it either - I've also had top and bottom surgery and legally changed my sex, so I know a few things about the transitioning process and being trans! 
 
I want to welcome you to The T in LGBT where you can explore and learn about so many topics surrounding gender identity: realising you're trans, starting hormones, considering surgery, and everything in between. Whether you're questioning your own identity and are looking for advice on certain stages of transition, or whether you're wanting to learn about the trans experience to support someone or understand allyship, I hope this book can be your one-stop guide to everything trans related. 
 
And don't just take my word for it either - this book is packed full of advice, tips, and the personal stories of a range of trans voices, because no one journey is the same.

The T in LGBT

Everything you need to know about being trans

John Gray

Gray

John Gray has become a publishing phenomenon. His first book, MEN ARE FROM MARS, WOMEN ARE FROM VENUS is still a No 1 New York Times bestseller after 3 years, and is in the UK Top 100 too. He is renowned as THE international relationships guru. John Gray has brought a powerful message to millions of people across the world. He explains how better communication and the recognition of men and women's different emotional needs leads to greater intimacy. 
 
In MARS AND VENUS IN LOVE, all those who embraced his ideas will see them in action in first-person stories told by people who, using his advice and counsel, have created fulfilling, healthy and loving relationships. After the incredible response to his work, Dr Gray thought the success of some couples might inspire others like them. Readers will find hope, encouragement and humour in this collection of experiences, which everyone who has ever had difficulty communicating with the opposite sex will find something to identify with.

Mars And Venus In Love

Inspiring and Heartfelt Stories of Relationships That Work

Raun K. Kaufman

If your child has been diagnosed with autism, this book is for you. 
 
When Raun Kaufman's parents were told that their son was autistic and would probably spend his life in an institution, they decided to look for their own solution. They joined Raun in his unique, isolated world and connected with him there. They then gradually lead Raun out of his disorder and his life changed dramatically. Raun now teaches his parents' Son-Rise method all over the world and has written this book to help families everywhere connect with their children and improve their lives. 
 
Autism Breakthrough explains autism and its associated behaviours from the child's viewpoint and shows parents how to apply the practical strategies of the Son-Rise programme. Wherever your child may be on the autistic spectrum, this book will provide hope, support and new ways to break free from autism.

Autism Breakthrough

The ground-breaking method that has helped families all over the world

Dr Russell Kennedy

'A must-read for anyone who suffers with chronic worry.' &ndash; Dr Nicole LePera 
 
'Dr Kennedy's message has the potential to transform the way we think about mental health and the role of the body in calming the mind.' &ndash; Dr Rangan Chatterjee 
 
After years of trying different therapies for his crippling anxiety without success, Dr Russell Kennedy had an epiphany: anxiety does not start in the brain. 
 
Anxiety starts in the body, where trauma is stored and physical and emotional perception begin. Alarm bells originating in the body are what trigger those anxious thoughts that we call anxiety, and Dr Kennedy realised that true healing starts only when we learn not to conflate the two. He understood that existing therapies focused only on the mind would never get to the root of the problem &ndash; at best, they could help manage symptoms, but they&rsquo;d never truly heal anxiety. 
 
Now fully revised and updated, with new material including the Anxiety Toolkit, The Anxiety Prescription blends Dr Kennedy's personal story with medical science, neuroscience and developmental psychology. When you learn how to sever the connection between the somatic alarm and the flood of anxious thoughts &ndash; you can begin to heal old trauma and gain back a sense of control. 
 
The Anxiety Prescription offers a toolkit of techniques for our thinking minds, and our feeling bodies &ndash; changing not just our mindset, but our 'body-set'. Unravelling the intricate relationship between anxiety, the body and the mind, this powerful book offers a profound path toward healing and growth.

The Anxiety Prescription

The revolutionary mind-body solution to healing your chronic anxiety

Richard Schwartz

'Internal Family Systems... is one of the cornerstones of effective and lasting trauma therapy.' Bessel van der Kolk, author of THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE 
 
'One of the most innovative, intuitive, comprehensive, and transformational therapies to have emerged in the present century.' Gabor Maté, author of THE MYTH OF NORMAL 
 
The breakthrough insight of the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model is that each of us is not a single personality. In fact, we carry in us a 'family' of distinct inner parts that hold our many hurts and inner conflicts – and that we can heal in order to live with more confidence, courage and connection. 
 
The Internal Family Systems Workbook will enhance both self-care and therapeutic application of IFS. Beginner-friendly and accessible, Dr Schwartz presents more than 50 practices, exercises and meditations to help understand the parts that make up your system, extend compassion and healing to each, and uncover your core Self that is the source of your deepest wisdom. You’ll find a variety of exercises to support your own learning style, as well as QR codes that point to guided audio practices to further bolster your journey. 
 
IFS has proven to be a revolutionary tool for stress, anxiety, depression, PTSD, trauma, burnout, addiction, disordered eating, relationships, and more. Here is your key to a powerful journey of self-discovery and healing at your own pace. As Dr Schwartz says, 'You and all your parts are welcome here.'

The Internal Family Systems Workbook

A Guide to Discover Your Self and Heal Your Parts

Richard K. Baer

In 1989 a woman named Karen showed up at author and psychiatrist Richard Baer's practice, terribly frightened and at breaking point. She explained that her husband beat her, her mother stole from her; she was in tremendous physical pain and wanted to die. Within a few sessions she also revealed that her father and grandfather had raped and tortured her repeatedly over the course of her childhood, frequently in the company of other neighbourhood men. She was now married with two children, but often could not account for stretches of minutes, hours, sometimes even days. 
 
As Karen's story unfolded over the following months, Baer realised that he was dealing with a severe case of Multiple Personality Disorder. Although it would take time and deep, hard-won trust before any of Karen's alternated personalities presented themselves in her psychiatrist's office, over the next five years Baer would encounter seventeen distinct personalities, all of whom had been living inside Karen since she was a young child, shielding her from an otherwise unbearable life. 
 
In the tradition of Oliver Saks and Irvin Yalom, Baer chronicles his nine years of work with Karen and all her distinct personalities, his often futile efforts to use the tools of his trade, and his patient's ultimate invention of her own cure. An unforgettable story of unimaginable suffering and ultimate recovery, A Life In Pieces: How One Woman's Personality was Shattered by Years of Abuse is the first account of life with Multiple Personality Disorder written by the treating psychiatrist.

A Life in Pieces

The harrowing story of a woman with 17 personalities

Linda Watson-Brown

The true story of Donna Ford, who between the ages of five and eleven was abused by her stepmother Helen. Labelled 'the bastard', the 'little witch' and 'the evil one'; beaten, isolated and afraid to even look at her own reflection, this beautiful little child was told she was lucky to be the victim of abuse - abuse which began as physical and mental, but progressed to the most appalling sexual attacks. 
 
Despite an horrendous early life, Donna is now a successful artist and mother of three with an enormous enthusiasm and an optimism which completely belies her experiences. 
 
In 2003, Donna watched as her stepmother was found guilty of 'procuring a minor' for sexual abuse and sentenced to two years in prison. 
 
Beautifully written and savagely honest, The Step Child is Donna's story. It is an inspiring tribute to the resilience of the human spirit.

The Step Child

A true story of a broken childhood

Brittany Piper

Whether you’re experiencing anxiety, depression, burnout, or the aftermath of trauma, this groundbreaking book will show you how to become your own best healer. 
 
Brittany spent most of her life sitting across from therapists recalling the painful stories of her trauma. But rehashing each event — being put into foster care as a baby, losing her brother in a car accident, enduring a brutal rape and a public trial, and more — made her even more stuck. At a crossroads, she took her recovery into her own hands. 
 
On this journey, Brittany discovered science that explains how and why trauma lives in our bodies, not in the story of what happened to us. Trauma overwhelms our nervous system, which operates through feelings, sensations, and emotions, not through words and thoughts. Now a Somatic practitioner herself, in Body-First Healing Brittany provides a roadmap to recovery, resilience, and nervous system regulation. With Brittany, you will learn how to: 
<ul><li>Name your core wounds, trauma responses, and stuck nervous system state</li><li>Create feelings of safety and regulation with anchoring resources like exploratory orienting, movement, self-contact, etc.</li><li>Fully experience an uncomfortable feeling with the Sensation, Image, Behaviour, Affect, Meaning framework</li><li>Engage somatic tools, like air screaming for anger or limb shaking for anxiety, that help express uncomfortable emotion</li></ul>

Body First Healing

Get Unstuck and Recover from Trauma with Somatic Healing

Gabor Maté

Daniel Maté

***THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER*** 
 
OVER ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD 
 
We tend to believe that normality equals health. Yet what is the norm in the Western world? 
 
Mental illness and chronic disease are on an unstoppable rise. How did we get here? 
And what lies ahead for us? 
 
'It all starts with waking up... to what our bodies are expressing and our minds are suppressing.' 
 
In this life-affirming book, Gabor Maté connects the dots between our personal suffering and the relentless pressures of modern life &ndash; showing that ill health is a natural reflection of our disconnection from our true selves. Drawing on four decades of clinical experience, and stories of people transforming their bodies and minds, Dr Maté offers a hopeful pathway to reconnection and healing.

The Myth of Normal

Illness, health & healing in a toxic culture

Trauma, Illness & Healing in a Toxic Culture

Nicola Gaskin

Nora Leinad

**Winner of Author of The Year at The Butterfly (Baby Loss) Awards** 
 
For all parents and family managing the emotional battlefield of baby loss. 
 
When my baby died my whole world changed forever. I was left full of love, yet deeply heartbroken and faced with the task of living without my most precious longed for treasure. Following a fraught journey of trying to conceive again, two subsequent miscarriages, and an anxiety fuelled pregnancy after loss, I was finally able to welcome my baby girl into the world. This is the book I wish I’d been given – it will help you to not only survive the loss of your baby but to celebrate the life they had, no matter how brief. This is my hard won gift to you. 
 
Losing a child is one of the most devastating events you can go through and yet, losing your baby – particularly before they are born – remains a taboo and often misunderstood topic. In this very gentle guide, Nicola Gaskin opens up the conversation around baby loss offering raw, honest and deeply empathetic support to all parents. 
 
From coping with the initial shock, finding ways to overcome jealousy and anger, surviving birthdays and Mother’s Day, through to living with everlasting grief and the fresh round of grief and anxiety that comes with parenting after loss, it will help you to navigate through a huge range of intense and complex emotions. 
 
Beautifully written and powerfully illustrated, this book will hold your hand through your darkest and lightest moments: read it to know you are not alone and that all your feelings are absolutely valid.

Life After Baby Loss

A Companion and Guide for Parents

Stephanie Merritt

'I was nearly twenty before I understood that there was a name for what sometimes happened to me. Later, I learned that it has gone by many names - the black dog, the bell jar, the noonday demon, darkness visible, malignant sadness - but in my teens I'd just assumed that my fierce highs and days of disproportionate, isolating despair were part of every teenager's repertoire - how else would Morrissey have sold so many records? These pitches in mood were something I didn't speak about to anyone, because I was afraid of two things - either that it was nothing serious, and I would be told to pull myself together, or that it was serious, and I would be told that, yes, I was a mental case.' 
 
Stephanie Merritt has a career as a novelist and journalist, a beautiful son and a supportive family. Why then did she want to kill herself at the age of 29? Why could no one, neither the system of GPs and health professionals, nor her closest family and friends help her? 
 
Reading like a hybrid of Elizabeth Wurtzel's Prozac Nation and Rachel Cusk's more sober A Life's Work, Stephanie's unflinchingly honest memoir explores areas of experience commonly associated with depression such as love, solitude and self-medication through the prism of her own experience. 
 
Beautifully written and intensely honest this is an extraordinarily moving, life-affirming book about a debilitating illness that affects one in six people in the UK alone.

The Devil Within

A Memoir of Depression

In the bestselling Affluenza, world-renowned psychologist Oliver James introduced us to a modern-day virus sweeping through the English-speaking world. He met those suffering from it and demonstrated how their obsessive, envious tendencies made them twice as prone to depression, anxiety and addictions than people in other developed nations. 
 
Now The Selfish Capitalist provides more detailed substantiation for the claims made in Affluenza. It looks deeper into the origins of the virus and outlines the political, economic and social climate in which it has grown. James points out that, since the seventies, the rich have got much, much richer, yet the average person's wage has not increased at all. 
 
A rallying cry to the Government to reduce our levels of distress by adopting a form of unselfish capitalism, this hard-hitting and thought-provoking work tells us why our personal well-being must take precedence over the wealth of a tiny minority if we are to cure ourselves of this disease.

The Selfish Capitalist

Origins of Affluenza

Mark Wolynn

'Groundbreaking' – Tara Brach, psychologist and bestselling author of Radical Acceptance 
 
The bestselling guide to transforming traumatic family legacies, from the acclaimed psychologist 
 
Depression. Anxiety. Chronic pain. Phobias. Obsessive thoughts. The evidence is compelling: the root of these difficulties may reside in the traumas of our parents, grandparents and even great-grandparents. The latest research affirms that traumatic experience is passed on to future generations and that this emotional inheritance, hidden in everything from our gene expression to everyday language, plays a greater role in our health than ever previously understood. 
 
Building on the work of leading experts in neuroscience and posttraumatic stress, Mark Wolynn has developed a pioneering approach to identifying and breaking these inherited family patterns. Having worked with individuals and groups on a therapeutic level for more than twenty years, It Didn't Start With You is his accessible, pragmatic and transformative guide to a method that has helped thousands of people reclaim their lives.

It Didn't Start With You

How inherited family trauma shapes who we are and how to end the cycle

Arthur C Brooks

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of From Strength to Strength, the definitive account of how the modern world makes meaning so hard to find—and a plan to discover your life’s deepest purpose. 
 
If you struggle to discern life’s meaning, you’re not alone. Millions today describe a growing sense of emptiness, a lack of purpose and significance. And there’s a reason: Rapid cultural, economic and technological changes have rewired our brains, reducing their ability to perceive depth and purpose. 
 
In The Meaning of Your Life, social scientist and happiness expert Arthur C. Brooks shows you how to push back against these changes and find the meaning you need to live a happy, fulfilling life. Relying on cutting-edge science, he offers practical, evidence-based strategies for breaking free of the powerful trends and personal habits that dull your focus on the why of your life. Drawing on the great philosophers and the world’s faith traditions, he shows how everyone can—and must—approach life’s most important and mysterious questions and provides a blueprint that will help even the most skeptical person find a life of spiritual transcendence, passionate love, and true calling. 
 
'What is the meaning of my life?' is not an unanswerable question, but rather the start of a pilgrimage into unexplored corners of your consciousness. The Meaning of Your Life is your handbook for this journey.

The Meaning of Your Life

Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness

Natalie Lee

Trauma, porn, masturbation, sexuality, sex after motherhood, sex when you feel sh*t about your body, sex after separation... these are all topics around which we skirt delicately, as if they're bombs which will explode if we prod them too curiously. In this way, sex is intimately connected with shame. Like most of us, shame has followed me around for most of my life. I felt shame for the colour of my skin, shame for being female, and shame for wanting more, but I also felt shame around the subject of masturbation. Even as an adult, I carried an intense feeling that masturbation was somehow dirty. I look back on this now and realise how warped our approach to sex is and how the shame that surrounds these conversations holds women back. 
 
 
In this honest and revealing memoir, Natalie Lee digs deep into her own relationship with sex to expose the shame that many of us feel. Taking us through her journey, from traumatic beginnings to marriage, motherhood and eventually experiencing sexual freedom after divorce in her thirties, Feeling Myself is a story of learning to be your true self in a society that doesn't prioritise your pleasure. It is a book for every woman to feel empowered by and to learn the tools to experience their own emancipation too.

Feeling Myself

How I shed my shame to find sexual freedom and you can too

Thomas Hübl

‘Trauma can cause our parts to take on burdens. Yet, when we bring the spiritual values of curiosity, gratitude, and kindness to these burdened parts, we discover incredible opportunities for healing and awakening’ 
 
A radical approach to collective healing, restoring wholeness and reclaiming your true self 
 
When we focus only on our own trauma, we cannot see how other types of trauma – ancestral, cultural, social, and spiritual – contribute to our present pain and suffering. But when we step back to consider how different parts of our identities are connected, we have a much more complete and coherent picture of our pain. And with awareness comes healing. 
 
In this powerful collaboration, Richard Schwartz – creator of Internal Family Systems – and fellow trauma expert Thomas Hübl expand the map of healing. Through practical exercises such as meditation and reflections, this book will help you release the beliefs and emotions that are burdening you. Using an integrative approach, the authors will not only help you understand the roots of your trauma, but offer you the practical tools to end the cycle of harm for good.

Releasing our Burdens

A Guide to Healing Individual, Ancestral and Collective Trauma

Susan Jeffers

Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway has sold a million copies round the world since 1987, and is still one of the top ten bestsellers in the category of personal development. In this book, Susan Jeffers takes the approach and practical strategies that made her first such a success and applies them to the subject that is closest to all our hearts: Love. The author explains that, although most people desire a wonderful relationship, too many of us don't really understand what love truly means. We say we love people in our lives yet, too often, we don't act very lovingly. Nor do we choose our partners wisely. This lack of understanding about love is reflected in the ever-increasing divorce rate and the huge number of people who ask with a deep yearning in their hearts: Why is love so hard? 
 
The Feel The Fear Guide To... Lasting Love shows what real love actually looks like, how to learn the essentials for finding it - and how to make it last a lifetime. It also lays out solutions to common problems and explains the destructive power of fear. Full of Jeffers' own experiences, humour and down-to-earth techniques, as well as the wisdom of others, this book will show us all how to enjoy the delight, satisfaction, peace and caring that true love can bring us.

The Feel The Fear Guide To... Lasting Love

How to create a superb relationship for life

Pamela Stephenson-Connolly

When did your sexual experiences start? Are you having more virtual sex than real sex? Can you have too much or not enough sex? What exactly is 'normal'? 
 
Bestselling author and leading sex therapist, Pamela Stephenson-Connolly takes us on an eye-opening journey to explode the myths and answer the embarrassing questions we've always wanted to ask about sex and our insatiable appetite for it. 
 
Drawing on hundreds of intimate interviews with ordinary people of all ages, appetites and backgrounds, Stephenson-Connolly reveals how the ever-present sexual force in each of us evolves throughout our lives, from our first months in the womb up right until our nineties and beyond. She also shows that there is no such thing as 'normal' and that anything goes when it comes to sex as long as it is safe, sane and consensual. The result is an intimate portrait of our sexual selves that dispels the myths, guilt and mystery surrounding sex and our sexual urges. 
 
Hugely informative, always entertaining and at times shocking, this is arguably one of the most enlightening books on sex ever published.

Sex Life

How Our Sexual Encounters and Experiences Define Who We Are

Dr Tian Dayton

Growing up with a parent’s addiction leaves ripple effects that can be felt well into adulthood. The trauma of familial dysfunction can weave into the fabric of your life, affecting relationships, parenting and work, and even leading to you questioning your own worth, mistrusting intimacy and feeling disconnected from yourself. 
 
But it doesn’t have to stay this way. In this nurturing book, clinical psychologist Dr Tian Dayton draws on expertise from decades working with adult children of alcoholics, as well as her own personal experience, to empower you to embrace recovery and break the chain of intergenerational dysfunction. She will guide you as you examine how addiction shaped your family, understand the imprint it left on your childhood and discover tools to heal and thrive. You will learn to process attachment wounds, reconnect with your body, regulate emotions and move towards post-traumatic growth. 
 
Grounded in research, enriched by client narratives and filled with practical exercises based on Dr Dayton's own Relational Trauma Repair (RTR) model, this book will allow you to recover from buried hurt and give your inner child a voice, illuminating the path towards a better future for yourself and your loved ones.

Growing Up with Addiction

How Adult Children of Addicts Can Heal Family Trauma, C-PTSD and Codependency

'A must read' - Esther Perel 
'My relationship bible' - Gabby Bernstein 
'Releases our capacity to be fully alive in relationships' - Bessel van der Kolk 
 
Most loving relationships fail, not because of communication or empathy breakdown, but because we unknowingly burden our partner with the task of caring for disowned and unloved parts of ourselves, our 'internal family'. 
 
Building on the revolutionary Internal Family Systems model of therapy, Dr Richard Schwartz reveals how to reconnect and foster a healthy dialogue with your wise and compassionate 'Self' and your partner. You Are the One You've Been Waiting For will equip you with the essential tools needed to build trust and connection with the one you love.

You Are the One You’ve Been Waiting For

A New Approach to Intimate Relationships with the Internal Family Systems Model

Nathan Peterson

OCD is one of the most common and debilitating mental disorders and left unchecked, this disease wreaks havoc on lives. But there is an effective treatment. Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) involves exposure to OCD triggers in a safe environment for increasingly long durations. And no one knows ERP better than Nathan Peterson. 
 
 The internet’s #1 OCD guide, Nathan has already helped hundreds of thousands of followers regain control over their lives. In this book, he guides readers through effective treatment, then gives them a framework to maintain and build upon the gains they have made. 
 
 Suitable for use both as a companion text that accompanies work with a therapist, or as a stand-in for readers who need inspiration and support, Your OCD Will Hate This Book will be an essential resource for those in their OCD journey.

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