Geekspeak: Why Life + Mathematics = Happiness
The quirky offspring of ‘QI’ and ‘Freakonomics’, ‘Geekspeak’ melds ingenious statistical analysis with edifying trivia to explain away some curious facts of life.
Society & culture: general
The Buried Soul: How Humans Invented Death
From the author of ‘The Prehistory of Sex’ – a coruscating, insightful history of the human soul.
Isaac’s Storm: The Drowning of Galveston, 8 September 1900
Galveston, Texas, 8 September 1900. It’s another fine day in the Gulf according to Isaac Cline, chief observer of the new US Weather Bureau, but one day later, 6-10,000 people were dead, wiped out by the biggest storm the coast of America had ever witnessed.
Dear London: Notes from the Big City
A wonderfully original, warm and witty account of London over the past 3 decades that simultaneously charts the author’s rise from incidental tourist to internationally renowned agony aunt.
The Proving Ground: The Inside Story of the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Boat Race
The story of the 1998 Sydney to Hobart boat race – the most dramatic in yacht racing history
The Healing Land: A Kalahari Journey
A brilliantly written exploration – part travel writing, part personal quest – of Africa’s oldest and most famous population
The Goalkeeper’s History of Britain
The beguiling story of one boy’s dream to play in goal, that most British of positions, culminating in the moment when he faces the mighty Zico …
Bring Home the Revolution: The Case for a British Republic
On a switchback ride through the USA, riding pillion with America’s founding fathers, Jonathan Freedland searches out the qualities that made America the land at the end of his childhood rainbow, the place his grandfather and he conspired to run off to because of its open promise and unbounded potential.
Only in America
Matt Frei, the BBC’s Washington correspondent, goes under the skin of the nation’s capital to discover the paradox of the world’s last remaining superpower.
The Age of the Warrior: Selected Writings
A selection of Robert Fisk’s finest ‘Comment’ pieces from the Saturday ‘Independent’.
Eating for England: The Delights and Eccentricities of the British at Table
Written in a style similar to that of Nigel Slater’s multi-award-winning food memoir ‘Toast’, this is a celebration of the glory, humour, eccentricities and embarrassments that are The British at Table.
Eating for England: The Delights and Eccentricities of the British at Table: Unabridged edition
Written in a style similar to that of Nigel Slater’s multi-award-winning food memoir ‘Toast’, this is a celebration of the glory, humour, eccentricities and embarrassments that are The British at Table.
Pleasure: An Almanac for the Heart
An intimate celebration of women and friendship from international bestselling author Nikki Gemmell.
Corgi and Bess: More Wit and Wisdom from the House of Windsor
Following the success of ‘You Look Awfully Like the Queen’, this is a second anthology of hilarious and touching royal anecdotes, collected by Thomas Blaikie.
No Place Like Home
A celebration of home cooking by the chef at one of London’s top British restaurants.
The Shark God: Encounters with Myth and Magic in the South Pacific
A daring journey to confront legend and sorcery in a forgotten corner of the South Pacific.