penguin essentials

JAMES BEARD AWARD WINNER The expanded wine guide from the creators of Wine Folly, packed with new information for devotees and newbies alike. Wine Folly became a sensation for its inventive, easy-to-digest approach to learning about wine. Now in a new, expanded hardcover edition, Wine Folly: Magnum Edition is the perfect guide for anyone looking to take his or her wine knowledge to the next level. Wine Folly: Magnum Edition includes: more than 100 grapes and wines color-coded by style so you can easily find new wines you'll love; a wine region explorer with detailed maps of the top wine regions, as well as up-and-coming areas such as Greece and Hungary; wine labeling and classification 101 for wine countries such as France, Italy, Spain, Germany, and Austria; an expanded food and wine pairing section; a primer on acidity and tannin--so you can taste wine like a pro; more essential tips to help you cut through the complexity of the wine world and become an expert.Wine Folly: Magnum Edition is the must-have book for the millions of fans of Wine Folly and for any budding oenophile who wants to boost his or her wine knowledge in a practical and fun way. It's the ultimate gift for any wine lover.

The New York Times bestselling novel about a young man practicing magic in the real world, now an original series on SYFY "The Magicians is to Harry Potter as a shot of Irish whiskey is to a glass of weak tea. . . . Hogwarts was never like this." -George R.R. Martin "Sad, hilarious, beautiful, and essential to anyone who cares about modern fantasy." -Joe Hill "A very knowing and wonderful take on the wizard school genre." -John Green "The Magicians may just be the most subversive, gripping and enchanting fantasy novel I've read this century." -Cory Doctorow "This gripping novel draws on the conventions of contemporary and classic fantasy novels in order to upend them . . . an unexpectedly moving coming-of-age story." -The New Yorker "The best urban fantasy in years." -A.V. Club Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. A high school math genius, he's secretly fascinated with a series of children's fantasy novels set in a magical land called Fillory, and real life is disappointing by comparison. When Quentin is unexpectedly admitted to an elite, secret college of magic, it looks like his wildest dreams have come true. But his newfound powers lead him down a rabbit hole of hedonism and disillusionment, and ultimately to the dark secret behind the story of Fillory. The land of his childhood fantasies turns out to be much darker and more dangerous than he ever could have imagined. . . . The prequel to the New York Times bestselling book The Magician King and the #1 bestseller The Magician's Land, The Magicians is one of the most daring and inventive works of literary fantasy in years. No one who has escaped into the worlds of Narnia and Harry Potter should miss this breathtaking return to the landscape of the imagination.

New York Times bestseller! From renowned mental health expert and speaker Dr. Gabor Maté, Scattered Minds explodes the myth of attention deficit disorder (ADD/ADHD) as genetically based—and offers real hope and advice for children and adults who live with the condition. In this breakthrough guide to understanding, treating, and healing Attention Deficit Disorder, Dr. Gabor Maté, bestselling author of The Myth of Normal, and himself diagnosed with ADD: Demonstrates that the condition is not a genetic “illness” but a response to environmental stress Explains that in ADD, circuits in the brain whose job is emotional self-regulation and attention control fail to develop in infancy – and why Shows how ‘distractibility’ is the psychological product of life experience Allows parents to understand what makes their ADD children tick, and adults with ADD to gain insights into their emotions and behaviors Expresses optimism about neurological development even in adulthood Presents a program of how to promote this development in both children and adults Whereas other books on the subject describe the condition as inherited, Dr. Maté believes that our social and emotional environments play a key role in both the cause of and cure for this condition. In Scattered Minds, he describes the painful realities of ADD and its effect on children as well as on career and social paths in adults. While acknowledging that genetics may indeed play a part in predisposing a person toward ADD, Dr. Maté moves beyond that to focus on the things we can control: changes in environment, family dynamics, and parenting choices. He draws heavily on his own experience with the disorder, as both an ADD sufferer and the parent of diagnosed children. Providing a thorough overview of ADD and its treatments, without blaming anyone, Scattered Minds is essential and life-changing reading for the millions of ADD sufferers in North America today.

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! Former U.S. Attorney and author of Attack from Within Barbara McQuade offers a piercing, urgent, and deeply informed exposé on the escalating threat of far-right politics to American democracy and national security—and a clear roadmap for how to stop it. In The Fix, Barbara McQuade draws on her decades of experience as a federal prosecutor to show us the detrimental effects of a government that uses corruption, cruelty, and chaos as tools of control. As a US Attorney, McQuade became all too familiar with corruption cases, prosecuting former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, the “underwear bomber” Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, and Volkswagen, among others. Here, she exposes how rampant corruption and cruelty are being weaponized to manipulate every facet of American life. Weaving together courtroom stories, lessons from history, and real-time legal analysis, McQuade shows how each corrupt offense, each act of cruelty, is a step toward total authoritarianism. Yet The Fix is not just a critique of power gone awry. McQuade offers clear strategies that ordinary Americans can utilize, from organizing teach-ins and protests to running for local office, to reclaim the rule of law and ensure that elected officials serve the public's interest, not their own. Eye-opening and grounded in the author's abiding faith in the US Constitution to help restore power to the people, The Fix is essential reading for anyone concerned about the future of America and ready to work together to take it back.

A New York Times Notable Book A shocking and assiduously reported biography of venture capitalist and entrepreneur Peter Thiel, the enigmatic, controversial, and hugely in uential power broker whose techno-authoritarian worldview is coming to dominate our collective reality Max Chafkin s The Contrarian is much more than a consistently shocking biography of Peter Thiel, the most important investor in tech and a key supporter of the Donald Trump presidency. It s also a disturbing history of Silicon Valley that will make you reconsider the ideological foundations of America s relentless engine of creative destruction. Brad Stone, author of The Everything Store and Amazon Unbound Since the days of the dot-com bubble in the late 1990s, no industry has made a greater impact on the world than Silicon Valley. And few individuals have done more to shape Silicon Valley than Peter Thiel. The billionaire venture capitalist and entrepreneur has been a behind-the-scenes operator influencing count-less aspects of contemporary life, from the technologies that mediate our daily existence to the rise of the far-right effort among some of the most powerful people in Silicon Valley and Washington to untether the U.S. government from the established constitutional order. But despite his being one of the most important forces behind the tectonic shifts in America s sociopolitical landscape, no public figure is quite so mysterious. In the first major biography of Thiel, Max Chafkin traces the trajectory of the innovator s singular life and philosophy, from his upbringing as the child of immigrant parents and years at Stanford as a burgeoning conservative thought leader to his founding of PayPal and Palantir, early investment in Facebook and SpaceX, and relationships with fellow tech titans Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Eric Schmidt. The Contrarian illuminates the extent to which Thiel has sought to export his values to the corridors of power beyond Silicon Valley, including stren-uously backing outsider political candidates, notably a young Senate hopeful named JD Vance and the longshot 2016 presidential contender Donald Trump. Essential reading for a post-2024 world, The Contrarian is a revelatory biography of a one-of-a-kind leader and a deeply insightful portrait of a tech industry whose explosive growth and power is both thrilling and fraught with peril.

CALDECOTT HONOR BOOK • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Adored by generations of readers, this gorgeously illustrated classic tells a tale of youth, curiosity, and delight as a little girl and her mother make unexpected friends while picking blueberries in the Maine countryside. One of The Atlantic’s 65 Essential Children’s Books “All the color and flavor of the sea and pine-covered Maine countryside.”—School Library Journal (starred review) Kuplink, kuplank, kuplunk! Sal and her mother are picking blueberries to can for the winter. But when Sal wanders to the other side of Blueberry Hill, she discovers a mama bear preparing for her own long winter. Meanwhile, Sal's mother is being followed by a small bear with a big appetite for berries! Will each mother go home with the right little one? With its expressive line drawings and gentle, humorous storytelling, Blueberries for Sal will have readers of all ages rooting for their adventurous protagonist to explore, reunite, and—of course—eat more blueberries!

'A woman of undeniable courage. She should be heard' New York Times From trailblazing political activist Angela Y. Davis, a major new collection of essays and interviews that argue for a radical rethinking of our prison systems An icon of revolutionary politics, Angela Y. Davis has been at the forefront of collective movements for prison abolition for over fifty years. Abolition: Politics, Practices, Promises, the first of two important new volumes, brings together an essential collection of Davis's essays, conversations, and interviews over the years, showing how her thinking has sharpened and evolved even as she has remained uncompromising in her commitment to collective liberation. Davis traces a genealogy of the penal system, from slavery to the prison industrial complex, offering a trenchant analysis of the relationship between the prison system and capitalism, both in the US and on a global scale. Combining decades of analytical brilliance and lessons from organising both inside and beyond prison walls, Davis addresses the history of abolitionist practice, details the unique contributions of women to abolitionist struggles, and offers the radical tools we need for revolutionary change. Powerful and rewarding, filled with insight and provocation, Abolition: Politics, Practices, Promises, is essential reading for anyone seeking to imagine a world without prisons. 'A brilliantly observant, profoundly knowledgeable, and unfailingly original text . . . A must-read essay collection for anyone invested in racial equity' Kirkus (starred review) 'She has eyes in the back of our head. With her we can survive and resist' John Berger

" How to Invent Everything is such a cool book. It's essential reading for anyone who needs to duplicate an industrial civilization quickly." --Randall Munroe, xkcd creator and New York Times -bestselling author of What If? The only book you need if you're going back in time What would you do if a time machine hurled you thousands of years into the past. . . and then broke? How would you survive? Could you improve on humanity's original timeline? And how hard would it be to domesticate a giant wombat? With this book as your guide, you'll survive--and thrive--in any period in Earth's history. Bestselling author and time-travel enthusiast Ryan North shows you how to invent all the modern conveniences we take for granted--from first principles. This illustrated manual contains all the science, engineering, art, philosophy, facts, and figures required for even the most clueless time traveler to build a civilization from the ground up. Deeply researched, irreverent, and significantly more fun than being eaten by a saber-toothed tiger, How to Invent Everything will make you smarter, more competent, and completely prepared to become the most important and influential person ever. You're about to make history. . . better.

'This book could be the smartest investment you ever make in furniture' Mansion Australia A new way of thinking about furniture, from the international bestselling author of The Interior Design Handbook Interior-design sensation Frida Ramstedt changed how we think about designing a harmonious home with her book The Interior Design Handbook. Now she brings that same authoritative and comprehensive focus to this complementary guide that's all about the most essential and functional items within your home. In The Furnishing Handbook, Ramstedt shares insights and advice on how to make sure the furniture you buy doesn't just look good but is also well-made, long-lasting and, most importantly, comfortable to use every day. Always attentive to the minute details of the form and function in living spaces, Ramstedt helps us look at furnishing with an expert eye, taking a holistic approach to arranging a home and thinking about the flow of a room as well as the relationships between pieces of furniture. Inspired by her rich Scandinavian furniture design heritage and filled with simple, elegant illustrations and insider tips, The Furnishing Handbook is an indispensable guide to finding the pieces that work best for your body and home, whether you're furnishing a new house or refreshing your current home.

THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER Reignite your career, get unstuck and find the time you didn't know you had Everyone knows that staying relevant and adaptable is essential to success in any role, but it can feel like we're too caught up in the day-to-day demands of working life to pursue opportunities to learn and grow. In Learn Like a Lobster, Sunday Times bestselling authors Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis show us why we all have more time than we think, and more power to make change. It's never too late to boost your confidence and revitalise your career. And a lobster will show you the way. Lobsters never stop growing - and neither should you Lobsters grow through hard moments - use your challenges to uncover new learning Lobsters fuel their own growth - don't wait to be taught, create your own opportunities to learn Whether you're someone who is ambitious to grow or you're not sure about where to start, Learn Like a Lobster offers energising practical tools and actions that you can start using right away, within the working week you already have. Crack open your shell, and find one that fits who you want to become.

“Masterful. The Anthropocene Reviewed is a beautiful, timely book about the human condition—and a timeless reminder to pay attention to your attention.” —Adam Grant, #1 bestselling author of Think Again and host of the podcast Re:Thinking The instant #1 bestseller from John Green, author of The Fault in Our Stars and Turtles All the Way Down, is now available in paperback with two brand-new essays! “Gloriously personal and life-affirming. The perfect book for right now.” —People “Essential to the human conversation.” —Library Journal, starred review The Anthropocene is the current geologic age, in which humans have profoundly reshaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays, bestselling author John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet on a five-star scale—from the QWERTY keyboard and sunsets to Canada geese and Penguins of Madagascar. Funny, complex, and rich with detail, the reviews chart the contradictions of contemporary humanity. John Green’s gift for storytelling shines throughout this masterful collection. The Anthropocene Reviewed is an open-hearted exploration of the paths we forge and an unironic celebration of falling in love with the world.

'The First World War from a refreshingly unfamiliar angle . . . masterly' Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times 'Compelling . . . The Eastern Front is essential reading' Margaret Macmillan, Financial Times 'A masterwork . . . This is the history of the Eastern Front I've waited all my life to read' Simon Sebag Montefiore The definitive history of the Eastern Front in the First World War, from the acclaimed military historian and author of Passchendaele and The Western Front *********** In the second volume of his landmark First World War trilogy, Professor Nick Lloyd tells the story for the first time of what Winston Churchill once called the 'unknown war': the vast conflict in Eastern Europe and the Balkans that brought about the collapse of three empires. Much has been written about the fighting in France and Belgium, yet the Eastern Front was no less bloody. Between 1914 and 1917, huge numbers of people - perhaps as many as 16 million soldiers and two million civilians - were killed, wounded or maimed in enormous battles that sometimes ranged across a front of 100 km in length. Through intimate eyewitness reports, diary entries and memoirs - many of which have never been translated into English before - Lloyd reconstructs the full story of a war that began in the Balkans as a local struggle between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, and which sucked in Russia, Germany and Italy, right through to the final collapse of the Habsburg Empire in 1918. The Eastern Front paints a vivid and authoritative picture of a conflict that shook the world, and that remains central to understanding the tragic, blood-soaked trajectory of the twentieth century, and the current war in Ukraine.

'Let's F*cking Date is the confidence boost every woman needs on her nightstand.' Keltie Knight, New York Times bestselling author of Act Like a Lady FROM THE LEADING VOICE IN DATING COMES THE CONFIDENCE BLUEPRINT FOR WOMEN WHO WANT LOVE, HAVE STANDARDS AND REFUSE TO SETTLE. 'I'm running out of time.' 'He said he didn't want commitment and then got a girlfriend two months later.' 'Everyone I know is engaged and I can't get a second date.' If you've said any of these to your therapist, your group chat or yourself at 1am, this book is for you. Let's F*cking Date is the essential guide to dating with confidence, choosing better and actually enjoying the ride. With laugh-out-loud humour and hard-won wisdom, Serena Kerrigan gives you practical tools to change the way you date, from The List, which helps you separate your non-negotiables from your ego, to The 3P Theory, which categorises every date as Potential, Practice or Plot, and The F*ck No Funeral, a ritual for finally burying the situationship you should have ended three months ago. Whether you're single or looking for lasting love, it's time to stop dating from fear and start dating on your terms. You're already the prize. Now act like it.

ECONOMIST, SUNDAY TIMES, FINANCIAL TIMES AND GUARDIAN BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2017 'Comprehensive and compelling ... A nuanced, landmark study that has deservedly won plaudits from both Palestinian and Israeli historians' Justin Marozzi, The Times A century after Britain's Balfour Declaration promised a Jewish 'national home' in Palestine, veteran Guardian journalist Ian Black has produced a major new history of one of the most polarising conflicts of the modern age. Drawing on a wide range of sources - from declassified documents to oral testimonies and his own decades of reporting - Enemies and Neighbours brings much-needed perspective and balance to the long and unresolved struggle between Arabs and Jews in the Holy Land. Beginning in the final years of Ottoman ruleand the British Mandate period, when Zionist immigration transformed Palestine in the face of mounting Arab opposition, the book re-examines the origins of what was a doomed relationship from the start. It sheds fresh light on critical events such as the Arab rebellion of the 1930s; Israel's independence and the Palestinian catastrophe (Nakba in Arabic) of 1948; the watershed of the 1967 war; two Intifadas; the Oslo Accords and Israel's shift to the right. It traces how - after five decades of occupation, ever-expanding Jewish settlements and the construction of the West Bank 'separation wall' - hopes for a two-state solution have all but disappeared, and explores what the future might hold. Yet Black also goes beyond the most newsworthy events - wars, violence and peace initiatives - to capture thereality of everyday life on the ground in Jerusalem and Hebron, Tel Aviv,Ramallah, Haifa and Gaza, for both sides of an unequal struggle. Lucid, timelyand gripping, Enemies and Neighbours illuminates a bitter conflict that shows no sign of ending - which is why it is so essential that we understand it.

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER FROM THE AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR OF CHERNOBYL: HISTORY OF A TRAGEDY 'An indispensable guide to the tragic history of a great European nation' Sunday Telegraph 'This is present-minded history at its most urgent. Anyone wanting to understand why Russia and the West confront each other over the future of Ukraine will want to read Serhii Plokhy's reasoned, measured yet passionate account' Michael Ignatieff Located at the western edge of the Eurasian steppe, Ukraine has long been the meeting place of empires - Roman to Ottoman, Habsburg to Russian - and they all left their imprint on the landscape, the language and the people living within these shifting borders. In this authoritative book, Harvard Professor and acclaimed author of Chernobyl, Serhii Plokhy traces the history of Ukraine from the arrival of the Vikings in the tenth century to the current Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine and annexation of Crimea. Fascinating and multilayered, The Gates of Europe is the essential guide to understanding not just Ukraine's past but also its future.

The newly updated edition of David Wondrich s definitive guide to classic American cocktails. Cocktail writer and historian David Wondrich presents the colorful, little-known history of classic American drinks--and the ultimate mixologist's guide--in this engaging homage to Jerry Thomas, father of the American bar. Wondrich reveals never-before-published details and stories about this larger-than-life nineteenth-century figure, along with definitive recipes for more than 100 punches, cocktails, sours, fizzes, toddies, slings, and other essential drinks, along with detailed historical and mixological notes.   The first edition, published in 2007, won a James Beard Award. Now updated with newly discovered recipes and historical information, this new edition includes the origins of the first American drink, the Mint Julep (which Wondrich places before the American Revolution), and those of the Cocktail itself. It also provides more detail about 19th century spirits, many new and colorful anecdotes and details about Thomas's life, and a number of particularly notable, delicious, and influential cocktails not covered in the original edition, rounding out the picture of pre-Prohibition tippling. This colorful and good-humored volume is a must-read for anyone who appreciates the timeless appeal of a well-made drink-and the uniquely American history behind it.

The instant New York Times bestseller 2025 James Beard Foundation Award Nominee Named a Best Cookbook of 2024 by NPR, VegNews, and The Portland Press Herald A groundbreaking and comprehensive vegan flavor bible with 150 must-make recipes from the wildly popular home cook and creator behind Rainbow Plant Life With more than two million devoted fans online, Nisha Vora has become the trusted source for exceptional vegan recipes for the home cook. That s because of her flavor first philosophy. It's an approach she s honed nearly a decade creating plant-based dishes that just plain taste amazing, labels aside. Now she s created an essential, comprehensive guide that codifies the principles of plant-based cooking for the first time, from how to coax the most out of your ingredients and how to understand  essential flavor pairings, to how to achieve impossible-to-resist, must-have-more textures and embrace the myriad ways vegetables can be enjoyed: roasted, caramelized, braised, pampered in bold marinades and umami-rich sauces, and so much more. As Nisha demonstrates in this groundbreaking book, the creative possibilities are endless thanks to the rich variety in the plant-based kingdom and the infinite and exciting ways there are to achieve big flavor. This book illuminates not only the how, but the why of these fundamental principles so that anyone can boost their confidence and reach their full, plant-savvy potential in the kitchen whether they like to rotate in a few veggie meals a week, or they are experienced home cooks looking for next-level, wow-worthy meals. With more than 150 globally-inspired recipes, easy flavor boosters that add depth or pop to all kinds of dishes, simple swaps for whatever you re craving or have on-hand, make ahead tips, and more, Big Vegan Flavor is packed with ideas and inspiration. Each recipe offers a quick tutorial: Dishes like Miso Butter-Seared King Oyster Scallops will teach you how to brine plants until perfectly tender. Chai-Spiced Custard Tart with Mango will open your eyes to the power of a good spice blend and a sweet-tangy, creamy-crunchy dessert. Or use Nisha s favorite protein, grains, and sauce recipes to create mix-and-match meals that always excite. A timely and visionary cookbook, Big Vegan Flavor is destined to become a classic.

** THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER ** A GUIDE TO USING THE SCIENCE OF THE BODY CLOCK TO CREATE THE OPTIMUM PERSONAL ROUTINE: SLEEP BETTER, WORK BETTER, FEEL BETTER. 'A superlative guide to some of the most intriguing questions of human existence' - Bill Bryson, author of The Body: A Guide for Occupants 'Who knew our body clocks determined so much of our health, happiness, and lifespan? I learned so much' - James Nestor, author of Breath In the twenty-first century, we increasingly push our daily routines into the night, carrying out work, exercise and our social lives long after dark. But we have forgotten that our bodies are governed by a 24-hour biological clock which guides us towards the best time to sleep, eat and think. In Life Time, Professor Russell Foster shares his life's work, taking us on a fascinating and surprising journey through the science of our body clocks. Using his own studies, as well as insights from an international community of sleep scientists and biologists studying circadian rhythms, he illustrates the surprising effects the time of day can have on our health, including: - how a walk outside at dawn can ensure a better night's sleep - how eating after sundown can affect our weight - the extraordinary effects the time we take our medication can have on our risk of life-threatening conditions, such as strokes In the modern world, we have neglected an essential part of our biology. But with knowledge of this astonishing science, we can get back into the rhythm, and live healthier, sharper lives. Sunday Times bestseller, January 2023

From the National Book Award-winning author of Stamped from the Beginning comes a bracingly original approach to understanding and uprooting racism and inequality in our society-and in ourselves. "The only way to undo racism is to consistently identify and describe it-and then dismantle it." Ibram X. Kendi's concept of antiracism reenergizes and reshapes the conversation about racial justice in America-but even more fundamentally, points us toward liberating new ways of thinking about ourselves and each other. In How to Be an Antiracist, Kendi asks us to think about what an antiracist society might look like, and how we can play an active role in building it. In this book, Kendi weaves an electrifying combination of ethics, history, law, and science, bringing it all together with an engaging personal narrative of his own awakening to antiracism. How to Be an Antiracist is an essential work for anyone who wants to go beyond an awareness of racism to the next step: contributing to the formation of a truly just and equitable society. Advance praise for How to Be an Antiracist "This latest from the National Book Award-winning author is no guidebook to getting woke. . . . Rather, it is a combination of memoir and extension of . . . Kendi's towering Stamped From the Beginning that leads readers through a taxonomy of racist thought to anti-racist action. . . . Never wavering . . . Kendi methodically examines racism through numerous lenses: power, biology, ethnicity, body, culture, and so forth. . . . If Kendi is justifiably hard on America, he's just as hard on himself. . . . This unsparing honesty helps readers, both white and people of color, navigate this difficult intellectual territory. Not an easy read but an essential one."-Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "Ibram Kendi is today's visionary in the enduring struggle for racial justice. In this personal and revelatory new work, he yet again holds up a transformative lens, challenging both mainstream and antiracist orthodoxy. He illuminates the foundations of racism in revolutionary new ways, and I am consistently challenged and inspired by his analysis. How to Be an Antiracist offers us a necessary and critical way forward."-Robin DiAngelo, New York Times bestselling author of White Fragility

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER &bull, This magisterial and acclaimed history offers the first fully documented portrait of the Gulag, from its origins in the Russian Revolution, through its expansion under Stalin, to its collapse in the era of glasnost. &ldquo,A tragic testimony to how evil ideologically inspired dictatorships can be.&rdquo, &ndash,The New York Times The Gulag&mdash,a vast array of Soviet concentration camps that held millions of political and criminal prisoners&mdash,was a system of repression and punishment that terrorized the entire society, embodying the worst tendencies of Soviet communism. ,Applebaum intimately re-creates what life was like in the camps and links them to the larger history of the Soviet Union. Immediately recognized as a landmark and long-overdue work of scholarship, Gulag is an essential book for anyone who wishes to understand the history of the twentieth century.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE INDIE BOOK AWARDS 2025 An English teacher's love letter to reading and the many ways literature can make us, and our lives, better. How can a Victorian poem help teenagers understand YouTube misogyny? Can Jane Eyre encourage us to speak out? What can Lady Macbeth teach us about empathy? Should our expectations for our future be any greater than Pip's? And why is it so important to make space for these conversations in the first place? In a career spanning almost three decades, English teacher Carol Atherton has taught generations of students texts that will be familiar to many of us from our own schooldays. But while the staples of exam syllabuses and reading lists remain largely unchanged, their significance - and their relevance - evolves with each class, as it encounters them for the first time. Each chapter of Reading Lessons invites us to take a fresh look at these novels, plays and poems, revealing how they have shaped our beliefs, our values, and how we interact as a society. As she recalls her own development as a teacher, Atherton emphasizes the vital, undervalued role a teacher plays, illustrates how essential reading is for developing our empathy and makes a passionate case for the enduring power of literature. 'Atherton must be an inspiring teacher if her marvellous book is anything to go by' The Independent 'Beautifully written, sensitive and full of warmth ... A vital point of reflection for anyone who has taught, or been taught, English literature' Jeffrey Boakye 'A love letter to literature itself ... At a time when English is under attack as an academic subject, Carol Atherton's powerful defence of it reminds us what we are in danger of losing' Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, author of The Turning Point

This essential Star Wars Legends novel is the first in a trilogy chronicling the rise of the fearsome Sith lord Darth Bane.   A solid space adventure [that] charts the evolution of an antihero almost as chilling as Darth Vader. Publishers Weekly On the run from vengeful Republic forces, Dessel, a cortosis miner, vanishes into the ranks of the Sith army and ships out to join the bloody war against the Republic and its Jedi champions. There Dessel s brutality, cunning, and exceptional command of the Force swiftly win him renown as a warrior. But in the eyes of his watchful masters, a far greater destiny awaits him. As an acolyte in the Sith academy, studying the secrets and skills of the dark side, Dessel embraces his new identity: Bane. But the true test is yet to come. In order to gain acceptance into the Brotherhood of Darkness, he must defy the most sacred traditions and reject all he has been taught. It is a trial by fire in which he must surrender fully to the dark side and forge from the ashes a new era of absolute power.

Depicts a tired penguin clutching a steaming coffee mug, with the bold text 'But First Coffee'. Captures the essential morning routine for caffeine lovers. Embrace the pre-caffeine struggle with this funny penguin graphic. Designed for coffee drinkers, early risers, and those who cherish their morning coffee. Dual-wall insulated stainless steel construction keeps beverages hot or cold, dishwasher safe and BPA free Leak-proof flip lid includes BPA free plastic drinking straw

A radical retelling of human history through collapse - from the dawn of our species to the urgent existential threats of the twentieth-first century and beyond - based on the latest research and a database of more than 440 societal lifespans over the last 5,000 years. 'Absolutely essential reading for understanding why past civilisations collapsed, and how to protect our own from the same fate' LEWIS DARTNELL 'A brilliant, utterly convincing account of the evolution of human society' HENRY MARSH For the first 200,000 years of human history, hunter-gathering Homo sapiens lived in fluid, egalitarian civilizations that thwarted any individual or group from ruling permanently. Then, around 12,000 years ago, that began to change. As we reluctantly congregated in the first farms and cities, people began to rely on novel lootable resources like grain and fish for their daily sustenance. And when more powerful weapons became available, small groups began to seize control of these valuable commodities. This inequality in resources soon tipped over into inequality in power, and we started to adopt more primal, hierarchical forms of organization. Power was concentrated in masters, kings, pharaohs and emperors (and ideologies were born to justify their rule). Goliath-like states and empires - with vast bureaucracies and militaries - carved up and dominated the globe. What brought them down? Whether in the early cities of Cahokia in North America or Tiwanaku in South America, or the sprawling empires of Egypt, Rome and China, it was increasing inequality and concentrations of power that hollowed these Goliaths out before an external shock brought them crashing down. These collapses were written up as apocalyptic, but in truth they were usually a blessing for most of the population. Now we live in a single global Goliath. Growth obsessed, extractive institutions like the fossil fuel industry, big tech and military-industrial complexes rule our world and produce new ways of annihilating our species, from climate change to nuclear war. Our systems are now so fast, complex and interconnected that a future collapse will likely be global, swift and irreversible. All of us now face a choice: we must learn to democratically control Goliath, or the next collapse may be our last. 'A comprehensive overview of societal collapse, based on the analysis of dozens of cases spanning thousands of years from the Paleolithic to today. Highly recommended' PETER TURCHIN 'A deeply sobering and strangely inspiring history of how societies collapse - and how we can still save ours. Read it now, or your descendants will find it in the ruins' JOHANN HARI

From the author of Masters and Commanders, Andrew Roberts' The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War has been hailed as the finest single-volume account of this epic conflict . The Second World War lasted for 2,174 days and claimed the lives of over 50 million people. Why did it take the course that it did? Why did the Axis lose? And could they, with a different strategy, have won? Ranging from the Western front to North Africa, from the Baltic to the Far East, he brings the story of the war - and those who fought it - into focus as never before. 'One of the greatest historians of our time ... His masterpiece' Oliver Marre, Observer 'An undoubted triumph. This, simply, is the best one-volume history of the Second World War currently available' Laurence Rees 'Magnificent ... Stylish penmanship, gritty research and lucid reasoning, coupled with poignant and haunting detours into private lives ruined and shortened' Economist 'Moving, thought-provoking, enlightening' Roger Moorhouse, Independent 'An exceptional accomplishment ... the definitive single-volume history of the war ... Essential' Peter Watts, Time Out 'In what might be his best book yet, Roberts gives us the war as seen from the other side of the hill - the German Reich' Nigel Jones, Sunday Telegraph Andrew Roberts's Masters and Commanders was one of the most acclaimed, bestselling history books of 2008. His previous books include Salisbury: Victorian Titan (1999), which won the Wolfson History Prize and the James Stern Silver Pen Award for Non-Fiction, Hitler and Churchill: Secrets of Leadership (2003), which coincided with four-part BBC2 history series.

Get more out of reading with this radical guide to shelf-improvement, which reveals your core preferences and helps you choose books based on why you read, not what you’ve read before. Includes the viral Read Your Color quiz taken by more than two million people! “A fun and insightful approach to cultivating both a habit of reading and a love of reading.”—Karen Swallow Prior, author of On Reading Well Read Your Color introduces a six-type system that identifies the essential desires you have as a reader and builds a personalized plan from there. Are you a Red reader who craves intensity and stakes? A Blue reader seeking emotional resonance and truth? A Green reader looking for clarity and real-world application? Whoever you are, this framework gives you a vocabulary for your reading impulses and a map for reading well. The book isn’t just a diagnostic manual; it’s a step-by-step guide to transformation designed to help you fall (or fall back) in love with books. Think of it as a personal trainer for your reading life. In Read Your Color, you'll learn how to break free from algorithmic and genre-based reading habits expand your literary range without losing your core preferences build a sustainable rhythm that makes reading feel less like a chore and more like a reward With honest cultural observations, tested psychological insights, and a practical 120-day plan, Read Your Color meets you where you are—scrolling; burned out, distracted—and shows you what’s possible on the other side of a truly meaningful reading life. Read Your Color doesn't ask you to try harder. It gives you the tools to fall in love with reading, and with who you become when you read the right way.

Depicts a tired penguin clutching a steaming coffee mug, with the bold text 'But First Coffee'. Captures the essential morning routine for caffeine lovers. Embrace the pre-caffeine struggle with this funny penguin graphic. Designed for coffee drinkers, early risers, and those who cherish their morning coffee. Dual-wall insulated stainless steel construction keeps beverages hot or cold, dishwasher safe and BPA free Leak-proof flip lid includes BPA free plastic drinking straw

"The riveting investigative account of Nvidia, the tech company that has exploded in value for its artificial intelligence computing hardware, and Jensen Huang, Nvidia's charismatic, uncompromising CEO In June of 2024, spurred by the frenzy of investment following the launch of ChatGPT, and thirty-one years after its founding in a Denny's restaurant, Nvidia became the most-valuable corporation on Earth. In The Thinking Machine, acclaimed journalist Stephen Witt recounts the unlikely story of how a manufacturer of video game components shocked Silicon Valley by conquering the market for AI hardware, and in the process re-invented the computer. Essential to Nvidia's meteoric success is its visionary CEO Jensen Huang, who more than a decade ago, on the basis of a few promising scientific results, bet his entire company on AI. Through unprecedented access to Huang, his friends, his investors, and his employees, Witt documents for the first time the company's epic rise and its iconoclastic CEO, who emerges as a compelling, single-minded, and ferocious leader, and now one of Silicon Valley's most influential figures. The Thinking Machine is the story of how Nvidia evolved from providing components for circuit boards to supplying hundred-million dollar supercomputers. It is the story of a determined entrepreneur who defied Wall Street to push his radical vision for computing, in the process becoming one of the wealthiest men alive. It is the story of a revolution in computer architecture, and the small group of renegade engineers who made it happen. And it's the story of our awesome and terrifying AI future, which Huang has billed as the "next industrial revolution," as a new kind of microchip unlocks hyper-realistic avatars, autonomous robots, self-driving cars, and new movies, art, and books, generated on command"--

WINNER OF THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD 2021 WINNER OF DEBUT NOVEL OF THE YEAR AT THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS 2022 A No.1 BESTSELLER IN THE TIMES 'A tender and touching love story, beautifully told' Observer 'Hands-down the best debut I've read in years' The Times 'A beautiful and powerful novel about the true and sometimes painful depths of love' Candice Carty-Williams, bestselling author of QUEENIE 'An unforgettable debut... it's Sally Rooney meets Michaela Coel meets Teju Cole' New York Times 'A love song to Black art and thought' Yaa Gyasi, bestselling author of HOMEGOING and TRANSCENDENT KINGDOM Two young people meet at a pub in South East London. Both are Black British, both won scholarships to private schools where they struggled to belong, both are now artists - he a photographer, she a dancer - trying to make their mark in a city that by turns celebrates and rejects them. Tentatively, tenderly, they fall in love. But two people who seem destined to be together can still be torn apart by fear and violence. At once an achingly beautiful love story and a potent insight into race and masculinity, Open Water asks what it means to be a person in a world that sees you only as a Black body, to be vulnerable when you are only respected for strength, to find safety in love, only to lose it. With gorgeous, soulful intensity, Caleb Azumah Nelson has written the most essential British debut of recent years. 'An amazing debut novel. You should read this book. Let's hear it for Caleb Azumah Nelson, also known as the future' Benjamin Zephaniah 'A short, poetic and intellectual meditation on art and a relationship between a young couple' Bernardine Evaristo, author of GIRL, WOMAN, OTHER 'A very touching and heartfelt book' Diana Evans, award-winning author of ORDINARY PEOPLE 'A lyrical modern love story, brilliant on music and art, race and London life, I enjoyed it hugely' David Nicholls, author of ONE DAY and SWEET SORROW 'Caleb is a star in the making' Nikesh Shukla, editor of THE GOOD IMMIGRANT and BROWN BABY 'A stunning piece of art' Bolu Babalola, bestselling author of LOVE IN COLOUR 'For those that are missing the tentative depiction of love in Normal People, Caleb Azumah Nelson's Open Water is set to become one of 2021's unmissable books. Utterly transporting, it'll leave you weeping and in awe.' Stylist ' An exhilarating new voice in British fiction' Vogue ' A poetic novel about Black identity and first love in the capital from one of Britain's most exciting young voices ' Harper's Bazaar 'An intense, elegant debut' Guardian WINNER OF THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD WINNER OF DEBUT NOVEL OF THE YEAR AT THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS SHORTLISTED FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES YOUNG WRITER OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNER OF THE BAD FORM BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD SHORTLISTED FOR WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR LONGLISTED FOR THE DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE, THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE A

In this essential Star Wars Legends novel, Mace Windu must journey to his long-forgotten homeworld to confront a terrifying mystery with dire personal consequences. The jungle planet of Haruun Kal, homeworld of the legendary Jedi Master Mace Windu, has become a battleground in the increasing hostilities between the Republic and the renegade Separatist movement. The Jedi Council has sent Depa Billaba Mace s former Padawan and fellow Council member to Haruun Kal to train the local tribesmen as a guerrilla resistance force. But now the Separatists have pulled back, and Depa has not returned. The only clue to her disappearance is a cryptic recording left at the scene of a brutal massacre: a recording that hints of madness and murder, and the darkness in the jungle . . . a recording in Depa s own voice. Mace Windu trained Depa. Only he can find her. Only he can learn what has changed her. Only he can stop her. He will leave behind the Republic he serves, the civilization he believes in, everything but his passion for peace and his devotion to his former Padawan. And he will learn the terrible price that must be paid when keepers of the peace are forced to make war. . . .