A leading psychiatrist shows how the mysteries of the brain are illuminated at the extremes of human experience A twinge of sadness, a rush of love, a knot of loss, a whiff of regret. Memories have t
'A remarkable book: the dramatic story of a truly extraordinary man ... brilliant' Helen Castor, author of She-Wolves A major new biography of one of the most extraordinary of all rulers, and the fath
'A superb, unique, and unforgettable story of war and death, fear and cruelty, above all the horrors and allure of combat' Simon Sebag Montefiore'One of the most profound books I have ever read about
In the summer of 1914 most of Europe plunged into a war so catastrophic that it unhinged the continent's politics and beliefs in a way that took generations to recover from. The disaster terrified its
From the international bestselling authors of WillpowerWhy does a bad impression last longer than a good one? Why does losing money affect us more than gaining it? What makes phobias so hard to shake?
In this searing book, Priya Satia demonstrates, yet again, that she is one of our most brilliant and original historians' Sunil Amrith, author of Unruly WatersFor generations, the history of the Briti
The renowned historian of the Third Reich takes on the conspiracy theories surrounding Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, in a vital history book for the 'post-truth' ageThe idea that nothing happens by chan
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Prize and The Quest reveals how climate battles and energy revolutions are mapping our futureA new type of Cold War is emerging between China and the West. . T
An intimate portrait of Stephen Hawking -- the man, the friend, the physicistAn icon of the last fifty years, Stephen Hawking seems to encapsulate genius: not since Albert Einstein has a scientific fi
The 'Viking Age' is traditionally held to begin in June 793 when Scandinavian raiders attacked the monastery of Lindisfarne in Northumbria, and to end in September 1066, when King Harald Hardrada of N
'This is one of those rare books that have something really important to say. Anatol Lieven, one of the most original and independent-minded foreign policy thinkers, is telling his fellow realists tha
Is mathematics a discovery or an invention? Do numbers truly exist? What sort of reality do formulas describe?The complexity of mathematics - its abstract rules and obscure symbols - can seem very dis
'Astonishing, powerful, so important at this time' - Margaret Atwood (on Twitter)'Riveting . . . intricate and surprising' - The New York Times'Reading it will change you, perhaps forever' - San Franc
Asia's history has been shaped by its waters. In Unruly Waters, historian Sunil Amrith reimagines Asia's history through the stories of its rains, rivers, coasts, and seas--and of the weather-watchers
The sound of the choir of King's College, Cambridge - its voices perfectly blended, its emotions restrained, its impact sublime - has become famous all over the world, and for many, the distillation o
The dominant view in economics is that money and government should play only a minor role in economic life. Money, it is claimed, is nothing more than a medium of exchange; and economic outcomes are b
'A superb book' Financial Times, Books of the Year Adam Smith is now widely regarded as 'the father of modern economics' and the most influential economist who ever lived. But what he really thought,
A revelatory, behind-the-scenes account of Russian-American relations, from a former US ambassador and 'Obama's top White House advisor on Russia policy' (The New York Times) In 2008, when Michael McF
'It will change the way you remember the 20th century and read the news in the 21st' Steven Pinker 'A clarion call to preserve law and order across our planet' Philippe Sands 'A fascinating and import
Succeeding to the throne at the age of only nine months, Henry VI had a turbulent reign: he inherited a war with France and, in time, found himself at war with his own nobles. James Ross surveys this
Solidarity and prosperity fostered by economic integration: this principle has underpinned the European project from the start, and the establishment of a common currency was supposed to be its most a
Parsing the complicated flood of data on debt, trade and capital flows, this book explains exactly which numbers are most telling for a nation's fortunes, and when they signal a turn for the better or
Michael Barber shares the secrets of a successful government and provides suggestions for carrying out lasting improvements in public lifeBillions of citizens around the world are frustrated with thei
A lively and compelling account of how the crusades really worked, and a revolutionary attempt to rethink how we understand the Middle Ages The story of the wars and conquests initiated by the First C
Disasters are by their very nature hard to predict. Pandemics, like earthquakes, wildfires, financial crises and wars, are not normally distributed; there is no cycle of history to help us anticipate
One of our most scintillating public intellectuals explores the political paradoxes of the pandemic and helps us think our way through it'We are able to imagine anything because we are being besieged
The No.1 bestselling author of The Establishment returns with an urgent analysis of where the Left - and Britain - goes next We live in an age of upheaval. The global crisis of Covid-19 has laid bare
In this unflinching intervention, philosopher Kate Manne offers a radical new framework for understanding misogyny. Ranging widely across the culture, from the Kavanaugh hearings and "Cat Person" to H
The Haitian Revolution began in the French Caribbean colony of Saint-Domingue with a slave revolt in August 1791, and culminated a dozen years later in the proclamation of the world's first independen
'Endlessly fascinating and full of surprises. Easily one of my books of the year' BILL BRYSONThe myth-busting science behind our modern attitudes to exercise: what our bodies really need, why it matte
These are dangerous times for democracy. We live in an age of winners and losers, where the odds are stacked in favour of the already fortunate. Stalled social mobility and entrenched inequality give
An exhilarating account of how the co-evolution of psychology and culture shaped the Western mind. Perhaps you are WEIRD: raised in a society that is Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Demo
The 'conquistadors', the early explorers and settlers of Spanish America, have become the stuff of legends and nightmares. In their own time, they were glorified as heroic adventurers, spreading Chris
'Tell them. Tell them what is happening on the land. Someone has to tell them... When I was young there was cowslips and ragged robin everywhere, and butterflies on the thyme in the rocky crags on t
Medicine is one of the great fields of achievement of the Ancient Greeks. Hippocrates is celebrated worldwide as the father of medicine and the Hippocratic Oath is admired throughout the medical profe
Since prehistory, bunkers have been built as protection from cataclysmic social and environmental forces, and as places of power and transformation. Today, the bunker has become the extreme expression
Other species adapt to their environment; we create ours. Our remaking of the world has not only liberated much of the planet from plague and famine: it has reshaped the human phenotype - the interact
We think we know bullshit when we hear it, but do we? A spotter's guide to bullshit in the wild from two brilliantly contrarian scientistsThe world is awash in bullshit, and we're drowning in it. Poli
The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality. It is about power - which groups have it and which do not'Beyond race or class, our lives are defined by a powerful, unspoken system of divisi
