Other Non Fiction

Pub Date:04/08/2016 - Quirky and humorous, part poetry, part reflection, this is the story of the book told by none other than ...BOOK! (read more)

Pub Date:04/08/2016 - Quirky and humorous, part poetry, part reflection, this is the story of the book told by none other than ...BOOK! This extraordinary character begins by reminding us of his origins in oral story and clay tablets, then ponders on papyrus, parchment and paper, and on being a scroll who finally gets a spine. We see Book lovingly illuminated by monks in medieval monasteries, then witness the massive changes brought about by the invention of the printing press, and the coming of paperbacks and eBooks in the 20th century. But Book's not the straightforwardly chronological sort, and can't help musing - and those musings, whether they're on the evolution of the alphabet, libraries, book-burning or blurbs, are delightful and thought-provoking.

Sixteen years of reflection and observation have gone into this charming title. (hide)

The National Theatre Story is filled with artistic, financial and political battles, onstage triumphs - and the occasional disaster. (read more)

The National Theatre Story is filled with artistic, financial and political battles, onstage triumphs - and the occasional disaster. This definitive, authorized account takes readers from the National Theatre's 19th-century origins, through false dawns in the early 1900s and on to its hard-fought inauguration in 1963 at the Old Vic. There, Laurence Olivier was for ten years the inspirational leader of the NT Company, before it moved into its concrete, South Bank home, whose three theatres have since 1976 hosted more than 700 productions, premiering some of the 20th and 21st centuries' most popular and controversial plays, including Amadeus, The Romans in Britain, Closer, The History Boys and War Horse. (hide)

New Monologues for Women features forty monologues from plays published by Bloomsbury Methuen Drama recently. The monologues are (read more)

New Monologues for Women features forty monologues from plays published by Bloomsbury Methuen Drama recently. The monologues are selected by the editor, Geoffrey Colman, on account of their relevance to drama school students and recent graduates entering the profession. Each monologue is preceded by an introductory paragraph, written by the editor, outlining the setting, character type, and point in the plot.

Suggestions are offered for staging, character interpretation, points of significance in the text, and how to draw from decisions made in professional productions. This collection is the go-to resource for the auditioning actor with an insatiable appetite for new, original and excellent material. (hide)

This is Felicity Lawrence's Sunday Times bestseller Not on the Label, updated with extraordinary new material on the horsemeat scandal. (read more)

This is Felicity Lawrence's Sunday Times bestseller Not on the Label, updated with extraordinary new material on the horsemeat scandal. In 2004 Felicity Lawrence published her ground-breaking book, Not on the Label, where, in a series of undercover investigations she provided a shocking account of what really goes into the food we eat. She discovered why beef waste ends up in chicken, why a single lettuce might be sprayed six times with chemicals before it ends up in our salad, why bread is full of water.

And she showed how obesity, the appalling conditions of migrant workers, ravaged fields in Europe and the supermarket on our high street are all intimately connected. Her discoveries would change the way we thought about the UK food industry for ever. And, when the horsemeat scandal hit the headlines in 2013, her book seemed extraordinarily prescient once again.
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The extraordinary story of how a simple tale of love and revolution, the poor and the downtrodden - Victor Hugo's beloved classic (read more)

The extraordinary story of how a simple tale of love and revolution, the poor and the downtrodden - Victor Hugo's beloved classic Les Miserables - conquered the world. There has never been a book like it. It is the most widely read and frequently adapted story of all time, on stage and on film.

But why is Les Miserables the novel of the century? David Bellos's remarkable new book brings to life the extraordinary story of how Hugo managed to write his epic novel despite a revolution, a coup d'etat and political exile; how he pulled off the deal of the century to get it published, and set it on course to become the novel that epitomizes the grand sweep of history in the nineteenth century. Packed full of information about the background and design of Les Miserables, this biography of a masterpiece nonetheless insists that the moral and social message of Hugo's ever-popular novel is just as important for our century as it was for its own. The Novel of the Century is a book as rich, remarkable and long-lasting as the novel at its heart.

Pub Date:26/01/2017 (hide)

While we joke that men are from Mars and women are from Venus, our gender differences can't compare to those of other animals. For (read more)

While we joke that men are from Mars and women are from Venus, our gender differences can't compare to those of other animals. For instance: the male garden spider spontaneously dies after mating with a female more than fifty times his size. Female cichlids must guard their eggs and larvae--even from the hungry appetites of their own partners.

And male blanket octopuses employ a copulatory arm longer than their own bodies to mate with females that outweigh them by four orders of magnitude. Why do these gender gulfs exist? Introducing readers to important discoveries in animal behavior and evolution, Odd Couples explores some of the most extraordinary sexual differences in the animal world. From the fields of Spain to the deep oceans, evolutionary biologist Daphne Fairbairn uncovers the unique and bizarre characteristics--in size, behavior, ecology, and life history--that exist in these remarkable species and the special strategies they use to maximize reproductive success. (hide)

What is it to be a stand-up comedian? To be funny, solo? You have no character-role, no double-act partner, and nowhere to look but (read more)

What is it to be a stand-up comedian? To be funny, solo? You have no character-role, no double-act partner, and nowhere to look but out into the darkness, with just a microphone, an audience and your imagination. This is a job without an annual appraisal; a job where you are publicly appraised every ten seconds. The results are harsh and obvious: if the audience isn't laughing, you 'died'; if they can't stop, you 'killed'.

Deborah Frances-White and Marsha Shandur unpack the inner-workings of the minds of comics, sharing their secrets, insecurities and successes; their betes noires and their biggest fears. Featuring interviews with a host of comedians including Eddie Izzard, Moshe Kasher, Sarah Millican, Jim Jeffries, Stewart Lee, Lewis Black, Jenny Eclair, Todd Barry, Richard Herring, Marc Maron, Stephen K Amos, Rich Hall, Zoe Lyons, Marcus Brigstocke, Phill Jupitus, Gary Delaney, Mark Watson, Greg Davies and many more, this excellent book lets you in to the hearts and minds of celebrated comedians, away from the stage and off the mic. (hide)

Here, for the first time, is a completely authoritative guide on how to look after your old house - whether it's a timber framed (read more)

Here, for the first time, is a completely authoritative guide on how to look after your old house - whether it's a timber framed medieval cottage, an eighteenth century urban terrace or an example of Victorian or Edwardian speculative development. Taking their lead from the conservation approach of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (who have approved and authorised this volume), the approach is one of respect, restraint and repair rather than 'restoration' which can so easily and permanently destroy the rich historical legacy of any old building. This book provides richly and deeply informed practical guidance, with sections including: * Breathability and Damp * Structural Movement * Roofs * Timber and Carpentry * Windows Doors and joinery.

It will be essential reading for anyone with an old house in need of any kind of repair or maintenance. 'For any of us working on or living in old buildings, this brilliant and properly illustrated volume is the manual we've been waiting for. Thank you SPAB.' Kevin McCloud, Presenter of Grand Designs, Channel 4
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The bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics takes us on an enchanting, consoling journey to discover the meaning of (read more)

The bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics takes us on an enchanting, consoling journey to discover the meaning of time. 'We are time. We are this space, this clearing opened by the traces of memory inside the connections between our neurons. We are memory.

We are nostalgia. We are longing for a future that will not come.'Time is a mystery that does not cease to puzzle us. Philosophers, artists and poets have long explored its meaning while scientists have found that its structure is different from the simple intuition we have of it. (hide)

Otters hold an almost unique place in the animal kingdom of the British Isles, being one of the very few creatures that give birth (read more)

Otters hold an almost unique place in the animal kingdom of the British Isles, being one of the very few creatures that give birth once every two years. They are the most secretive yet also the most popular mammals - they are found in every county but are so rarely seen that they have been raised to mythical status. When Simon Cooper bought an abandoned water mill that straddles a small chalkstream in southern England, little did he know that he would come to share the mill with a family of wild otters.

Yet move in they did, allowing him to begin to observe them, soon immersing himself in their daily routines and movements. He developed an extraordinary close relationship with the family, which in turn gave him a unique insight into the life of these fascinating creature.

Pub Date:23/03/2017 (hide)