Other Non Fiction

The world's most entertaining and useless self-help guide, from the brilliant mind behind the wildly popular webcomic xkcd and the (read more)

The world's most entertaining and useless self-help guide, from the brilliant mind behind the wildly popular webcomic xkcd and the million-selling What If? and Thing Explainer

For any task you might want to do, there's a right way, a wrong way, and a way so monumentally bad that no one would ever try it.

How To is a guide to the third kind of approach. It's full of highly impractical advice for everything from landing a plane to digging a hole. Bestselling author and cartoonist Randall Munroe explains how to predict the weather by analyzing the pixels of your Facebook photos. (hide)

Forget agreeing to disagree - it's time to learn How To Be Right. Every day, James O'Brien listens to people blaming benefits scroungers, (read more)

Forget agreeing to disagree - it's time to learn How To Be Right. Every day, James O'Brien listens to people blaming benefits scroungers, the EU, Muslims, feminists and immigrants. But what makes James's daily LBC show such essential listening - and has made James a standout social media star - is the careful way he punctures their assumptions and dismantles their arguments live on air, every single morning. (hide)

Whatever their skill level, artists will love the easy approach to flower and tree drawing in this extremely good value book. It (read more)

Whatever their skill level, artists will love the easy approach to flower and tree drawing in this extremely good value book. It contains a wonderful selection of flowers and trees and each drawing begins with amazingly simple shapes that can then be built up to create beautiful finished pictures. Helpful two colour instruction guarantees good results and the simplicity of the teaching method makes the learning process fun and effective.

Observation is an important part of the drawing process, and this book is a wonderful resource for anyone wanting to understand the structure of flowers and trees, and all those who are keen to develop their confidence and techniques. Artists will discover much to excite and inspire them with this inspirational guide. (hide)

Inspired by her hugely popular podcast, How To Fail is Elizabeth Day's brilliantly funny, painfully honest and insightful celebration (read more)

Inspired by her hugely popular podcast, How To Fail is Elizabeth Day's brilliantly funny, painfully honest and insightful celebration of things going wrong. This is a book for anyone who has ever failed. Which means it's a book for everyone.

If I have learned one thing from this shockingly beautiful venture called life, it is this: failure has taught me lessons I would never otherwise have understood. I have evolved more as a result of things going wrong than when everything seemed to be going right. Out of crisis has come clarity, and sometimes even catharsis. (hide)

'John is a hero to many private investors in the UK. By tucking money away year after year, and choosing his investments wisely, (read more)

'John is a hero to many private investors in the UK. By tucking money away year after year, and choosing his investments wisely, he has accumulated a portfolio worth more than GBP1 million.' The Motley Fool 'I'm a big fan of the writings of John Lee. John Lee moves the market.' Monevator 'Lord (John) Lee of Trafford was one of the first UK investors to build an ISA portfolio worth more than GBP1 million, reaching that landmark in 2003.' Daily Telegraph, March 2012 John Lee is one of the UK's most successful private investors.

Beginning with an investment pot of GBP125,000 in the early 1980s, by 2003 he had turned this into a thriving portfolio of over GBP1 million, and it has significantly increased in value since then. Using efficient investment methods, as well as pursuing a winning 'buy and hold' strategy, he was the UK's first ISA millionaire. In How to Make a Million - Slowly, John Lee offers invaluable lessons that will help you make the right decisions about your investments. (hide)

How to Read Ethnography is an essential guide to approaching anthropological texts. It helps students to cultivate the skills they (read more)

How to Read Ethnography is an essential guide to approaching anthropological texts. It helps students to cultivate the skills they need to critically examine and understand how ethnographies are built up, as well as to think anthropologically and develop an anthropological imagination of their own. The authors reveal how ethnographically-informed anthropology plays a distinctive and valuable role in comprehending the complexity of the world we live in.

Published:29 Apr 2019 (hide)

Vocals tell the story that make the all-important connection between singer and listener, but recording a vocal isn't as simple as (read more)

Vocals tell the story that make the all-important connection between singer and listener, but recording a vocal isn't as simple as just putting a mic in front of someone and hoping for the best. This book written in a clear, practical, non-intimidating style covers all aspects of creating great vocals including: * How to choose the right mic * Mic placement * Microphone accessories like cables and pop filters * Mic preamps * How to take maximum advantage of composite recording * Editing vocals digitally to prepare them for the best possible mix * Using processors (such as equalization, dynamics, and time-based effects) during mixdown to enhance vocal quality * Automation * Techniques for layered vocals, and more However, what makes this book truly special is that it goes beyond technology to include valuable tips and techniques on how to obtain the best vocal performances. Topics include how to connect with listeners, ways to convey a singer's personality, emotional dynamic range, and how to know when a take is the right take.

Published:24 Jul 2018 (hide)

Would you be bewildered if someone described you as radgy? Do you know how to recognise a tittamatorter? And would you understand (read more)

Would you be bewildered if someone described you as radgy? Do you know how to recognise a tittamatorter? And would you understand if someone called you a culchie? "How to Talk Like a Local" gathers together hundreds of words from all over the country and digs down to uncover their origins. From dardledumdue, which means daydreamer in East Anglia, through forkin robbins, the Yorkshire term for earwigs, to clemt, a Lancashire word that means hungry, it investigates an astonishingly rich variety of regional expressions, and provides a fascinating insight into the history of the English language. If you're intrigued by colourful words and phrases, if you're interested in how English is really spoken, or if you simply want to find out a bit more about the development of our language, "How to Talk Like a Local" is irresistible - and enlightening - reading. (hide)

What makes a bridge wobble when it's not meant to? Billions of dollars mysteriously vanish into thin air? A building rock when its (read more)

What makes a bridge wobble when it's not meant to? Billions of dollars mysteriously vanish into thin air? A building rock when its resonant frequency matches a gym class leaping to Snap's 1990 hit I've Got The Power? The answer is maths. Or, to be precise, what happens when maths goes wrong in the real world.

As Matt Parker shows us, our modern lives are built on maths: computer programmes, finance, engineering. And most of the time this maths works quietly behind the scenes, until ... it doesn't. (hide)

This popular guide clarifies the requirements for inspection and testing, explaining in clear language those parts of the IET Wiring (read more)

This popular guide clarifies the requirements for inspection and testing, explaining in clear language those parts of the IET Wiring Regulations that most need simplifying. In addition to the descriptive and diagrammatic test methods that are required, explanations of the theory and reasoning behind test procedures are given, together with useful tables for the comparison of test results. The book also provides essential information on the completion of electrical installation certificates, with a step-by-step guide on the entries that need to be made and where to source data.
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