Arts, Language & Literature
The Uses and Abuses of History
Margaret MacMillan
'MacMillan has written illuminatingly on topics as diverse as the 1919 Paris peace conference and Nixon in China. Perhaps more unusually she is a…
13 Things That Don't Make Sense
Michael Brooks
'Brooks is an exemplary science writer … This is the sort of science book one always hopes for. Learned, but easy to read. Packed with detail,…
The Gift of Dyslexia
Ronald D. Davis
A breakthrough book that gives dyslexics the key to literacy – for sufferers of dyslexia, and their parents, teachers and loved ones
Undoing Depression
Richard O'Connor
A holistic approach to treating depression that focusses on replacing negative patterns with more positive skills.
A View From The Foothills
Chris Mullin
'The most wickedly indiscreet and elegant political memoirs since Alan Clark' Mail on Sunday
Life Ascending
Nick Lane
WINNER OF THE 2010 ROYAL SOCIETY PRIZE FOR SCIENCE BOOKS'If Charles Darwin sprang from his grave, I would give him this fine book to bring him up…
It's a Don's Life
Mary Beard
Britain's best known classicist speaks her mind on the ancient, and modern, worlds. A wide-ranging selection from her 'best hit' blog.
Perfumes
Luca Turin
The must-have hardback has also been hailed as a masterpiece of criticism and invective. Over 400 new fragrances have been added to the original 1500…
Don't Sleep, There are Snakes
Daniel Everett
'An astonishing book: a work of exploration, into the most distant place and language, but also a revelation of the way language is shaped by tho…
Pompeii
Mary Beard
'Much of what you think you know about Pompeii may turn out, on reading this eye-opening book, to be wrong … Beard always wears her learning li…
Strangers in the House
Raja Shehadeh
An extraordinary and moving memoir by the award-winning author of Palestinian Walks – updated with a new foreword.
Vermeer's Hat
Timothy Brook
As a record-breaking, rapturously reviewed exhibition at the Rijksmuseum gathers together more paintings by Vermeer than have ever been shown in the s…
The Templars
Michael Haag
The definitive guide to Templars' history, legends and mysteries – and the belief that their hand can be seen in everything from the Cathar heres…
Stonehenge
Rosemary Hill
Stonehenge is the most famous prehistoric monument in Europe and is visited by hundreds of thousands of people every year. 'Impressively research…
Snoop
Sam Gosling
A fascinating book about what our everyday actions and possessions really say about us.
The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are
Alan Watts
The Book On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are explores an unrecognised but mighty taboo – our tacit conspiracy to ignore who, or what, we really a…
The Forbidden City
Geremie Barme
At the heart of Beijing lies the great walled compound of the Forbidden City, whose changing fortunes have run parallel with China's dramatic his…
Cleopatra
Joyce Tyldesley
The Romans regarded her as 'fatale monstrum', a tyrant to be crushed. Pascal said the shape of her nose changed the history of the world. Sh…
Violence
Slavoj Zizek
'The Elvis of cultural theory' confirms his status as the most exciting philosopher in recent history as he explores the nature of violence…
The (Mis)Behaviour of Markets
Benoit B. Mandelbrot
Benoit Mandelbrot, father of fractal geometry, revolutionised our understanding of the models of modern financial theory. This new edition includes ma…