Social Sciences
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The Art of Kiki’s Delivery Service (Studio Ghibli Library)
A 13-year old girl sets off on a journey to become a witch. In the process, she learns how to be a woman. Based on the movie of the same name, this prestige format, lavishly illustrated hard-bound book gives fans a rare glimpse into the creative process of Academy Award-winning director Hayo Miyazaki.Read more
£20.90£26.60 -
The Art of My Neighbor Totoro (Studio Ghibli Library)
Eleven-year-old Satsuki and her sassy little sister Mei are overjoyed about moving into a historic country house with their dad – but the girls don’t realise what a delightful adventure awaits them there. While exploring their sprawling home and the beautiful rural area that surrounds it, Satsuki & Mei meet Granny, a sweet old woman, and her timid grandson Kanta. They also experience first hand the magic of the Soot Sprites, mysterious creatures that live in the walls, and discover a huge camphor tree that just might be enchanted…Read more
£20.90£26.60 -
1000 Design Classics
The most innovative, iconic, and influential products ever designed – from 1663 to the present day
Originating from the highly acclaimed and groundbreaking three-volume Phaidon Design Classics, this new book presents 1,000 of the world’s greatest objects in one large-format volume – from everyday items by anonymous creators to lauded pieces by the likes of Charles and Ray Eames, Charlotte Perriand, Dieter Rams, Richard Sapper, Hans J. Wegner, and Florence Knoll.
Carefully revised to bring every detail up to date, and with the addition of 100 new items that highlight designers from a diverse variety of backgrounds (including a greater number of female designers) and products from the last 15 years, this collection of the world’s greatest product design is more comprehensive, compelling – and relevant – than ever before.
The book showcases celebrated names alongside the new stars of modern design, including Le Corbusier, Alvar and Aino Aalto, Isamu Noguchi, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Lani Adeoye, Faye Toogood, and Lindsey Adelman. Each entry is accompanied by beautiful imagery and a detailed description that offers a rich insight into the product, its history, and its maker, from the renowned Tulip Chair by Eero Saarinen to the much-loved Bird Zero e-scooter.
This handsome book is the perfect reference guide for design enthusiasts, industry professionals, and all those interested in the creative process.
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£49.30£66.501000 Design Classics
£49.30£66.50 -
Ruth Asawa Through Line
A groundbreaking examination of how the act of drawing was a vital component of Ruth Asawa’s multifaceted art“A revelatory exhibition. . . . [A] fine exhibition catalog.”―Nancy Princenthal, New York Times, “Critic’s Pick”
Ruth Asawa (1926–2013), widely known for her looped-wire sculptures, was an inveterate drawer. She filled sketchbook after sketchbook and even stated that drawing was central to her sculpture. This volume is the first to consider the significance of drawing in Asawa’s oeuvre throughout her career, featuring essays that examine the range of Asawa’s aesthetic maneuvers across materials and techniques; how Asawa’s drawing intertwined with the Bay Area arts community and her contributions to public education as a teacher and organizer; and the influence of Josef Albers’s pedagogy and Asawa’s lifelong adoption of his type of paper folding. Tracing Asawa’s artistic journey from her first formal art lessons in a Japanese American internment camp during World War II through her time at Black Mountain College and beyond, this comprehensive overview of the artist’s drawings includes reproductions of more than one hundred works―many of which have never been published―organized into eight thematic sections that cut through time, reflecting an art-making practice that was more circular or cyclical than linear.
Distributed for the Menil Collection and the Whitney Museum of American Art
Exhibition Schedule:
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
(September 16, 2023–January 15, 2024)
The Menil Collection, Houston
(March 22–July 21, 2024)Read more
£38.00Ruth Asawa Through Line
£38.00 -
The Decisive Network: Magnum Photos and the Postwar Image Market
Since its founding in 1947, the legendary Magnum Photos agency has been telling its own story about photographers who were witnesses to history and artists on the hunt for decisive moments. Based on unprecedented archival research, The Decisive Network unravels Magnum’s mythologies to offer a new history of what it meant to shoot, edit, and sell news images after World War II.
Nadya Bair shows that between the 1940s and 1960s, Magnum expanded the human-interest story to global dimensions while bringing the aesthetic of news pictures into new markets. Working with a vast range of editorial and corporate clients, Magnum made photojournalism integral to postwar visual culture. But its photographers could not have done this alone. By unpacking the collaborative nature of photojournalism, this book shows how picture editors, sales agents, spouses, and publishers helped Magnum photographers succeed in their assignments and achieve fame. Bair concludes in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when changing market conditions led Magnum to consolidate its brand. In that moment, Magnum’s photojournalists became artists and their assignments oeuvres. Bridging art history, media studies, cultural history, and the history of communication, The Decisive Network transforms our understanding of the photographic profession and the global circulation of images in the predigital world.Read more
£28.20 -
Ways of Seeing: John Berger (Penguin Modern Classics)
Based on the BBC television series, John Berger’s Ways of Seeing is a unique look at the way we view art, published as part of the Penguin on Design series in Penguin Modern Classics.
‘Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak.’
‘But there is also another sense in which seeing comes before words. It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world; we explain that world with words, but word can never undo the fact that we are surrounded by it. The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled.’
John Berger’s Ways of Seeing is one of the most stimulating and influential books on art in any language. First published in 1972, it was based on the BBC television series about which the Sunday Times critic commented: ‘This is an eye-opener in more ways than one: by concentrating on how we look at paintings . . . he will almost certainly change the way you look at pictures.’ By now he has.
John Berger (b. 1926) is an art critic, painter and novelist.born in Hackney, London.
His novel G. (1972) won both the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Booker Prize.If you enjoyed Ways of Seeing, you might like Susan Sontag’s On Photography, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.
‘Berger has the ability to cut right through the mystification of professional art critics … he is a liberator of images: and once we have allowed the paintings to work on us directly, we are in a much better position to make a meaningful evaluation’
Peter Fuller, Arts Review‘The influence of the series and the book … was enormous … It opened up for general attention areas of cultural study that are now commonplace’
Geoff Dyer in Ways of Telling‘One of the most influential intellectuals of our time’
ObserverRead more
£7.60£9.50 -
Mapping Media Ecology: Introduction to the Field (Understanding Media Ecology Book 4)
Until now, the academic foundations of media ecology have been passed down primarily in the form of edited volumes, often by students of Neil Postman, or are limited to a focus on Marshall McLuhan and/or Postman or some other individual important to the field. Those volumes are invaluable in pointing to key ideas in the field; they provide an important and informed account of the fundamentals of media ecology as set forth at the field’s inception. Yet there is more to the story.
Offering an accessible introduction, and written from the perspective of a «second generation» scholar, this single-authored work provides a unified, systematic framework for the study of media ecology. It identifies the key themes, processes, and figures in media ecology that have coalesced over the last few decades and presents an elegant schema with which to engage future exploration of the role of media in shaping culture and consciousness.
Dennis D. Cali offers a survey of a field as consequential as it is fascinating. Designed to be used primarily in media and communication courses, the book’s goal is to hone insight into the role of media in society and to extend the understanding of the themes, processes, and interactions of media ecology to an ever-broader intellectual community.
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£32.10 -
Daisy Haites: Book 2 (Original Cover Collection) (Magnolia Parks Universe)
All 20-year-old Daisy Haites has ever wanted is a normal life, but as the heiress to London’s most notorious criminal empire, it’s just not on the cards for her.
Raised by her older brother Julian since their parents were murdered, Daisy has never been able to escape the watchful gaze of her gang-lord brother. But Julian’s line of work means that Daisy’s life is… complicated.
And things don’t become any easier when she falls hard for the beautiful and emotionally unavailable Christian Hemmes, who also happens to be one of the few men in London who doesn’t answer to Julian.
Christian’s life is no walk in the park either, since he’s in love with his best friend’s girlfriend, Magnolia Parks.
He’s happy enough to use Daisy to throw off the scent of his true affections – until she starts to infiltrate those too.
As their romance blossoms into something neither were anticipating, Daisy, Christian, and Julian must come to terms with the fact that in this life everything comes at a price. As their relationships intersect and tangle, they all learn that sometimes life’s most worthwhile pursuits can only be paid in blood.
READER REVIEWS
‘I will never get over Daisy and Christian… I miss them so much already.’ (FIVE STARS)
‘I am obsessed. Totally consumed. This universe has me all sorts of messed up.’ (FIVE STARS)
‘Jessa Hastings has created a world of pure magic.’ (FIVE STARS)
‘You will fall in love with Daisy Haites a million times over and be desperate for more of her story when it ends.’ (FIVE STARS)Read more
£11.40£12.30 -
Dating For December: A steamy, fake-dating, single-dad romance with ALL the festive feels!
He’s an expert at break ups…but can he master a love that lasts?⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Lyndsey Gallagher is THE QUEEN page turners!”
Ava:
My perpetually single status hardly serves as a shining advertisement for HeartSync, the dating agency I own. Nor is it likely to convince my incredibly successful movie star brother, Nate, to invest in my business. Which is precisely why I agree to fake-date Cillian “can’t-crack-a-smile” Callaghan for the month of December.Sure, his role as a stoically single father and a notoriously grumpy divorce lawyer is far from ideal, but his silver eyes, sculptured shoulders and sharp tongue tick all the right boxes.
Even boxes that are supposed to remain, ahem, unticked…
One mistletoe kiss sparks a lust that could melt Lapland, and frosty fake dates blaze into something feverishly real…
Cillian:
I’m the country’s most successful divorce lawyer. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why I don’t date. Add in the fact that I’m a full-time single dad, even if I had the inclination, I don’t have the time. But when my cheating ex blows back into town, the only way I can convince her it’s over for good is by fake-dating someone else…Enter Ava Jackson, with her infectious laugh, long legs, and luscious lips.
Throughout December, her witty one-liners and effortless bond with my daughter thaw my every defense.
She’s everything I never knew I needed.
I’m an expert at breakups… but maybe it’s time to master a love that lasts…
**** SPECIAL PREORDER PRICE 99c/p – PRICE WILL INCREASE AFTER RELEASE DAY****
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ SARA MADDERSON- AUTHOR of A VERY LONDON CHRISTMAS
“Lyndsey Gallagher is THE QUEEN of s3xual-tension-filled page turners! I swear it. Her books get hotter and hotter.”⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ GOODREADS REVIEWER
“It’s official, Lyndsey Gallagher is my favourite author!”⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ GOODREADS REVIEWER
“God, Lyndsey Gallagher just gets better and better.”Read more
£0.90 -
Heartstopper 16-Month 2023-2024 Weekly/Monthly Planner Calendar with Bonus Stickers
Join Charlie, Nick, Elle, Tao, and their classmates from Truham and Higgs as they explore love, friendship, and life in the hit Netflix series Heartstopper. Included in this 16-month planner are colorful images and graphics from the show, along with bonus stickers.
Heartstopper is based on the New York Times LGBTQ+ bestselling graphic novel series by Alice Oseman.
Features include:- 7″ x 9″ (14″ x 9″ open)
- Spiral bound
- Printed on FSC-certified paper with soy-based ink
- Spans September 2023–December 2024
- Generous grid space for notes, appointments, and reminders
- Monthly at-a-glance grids
- Extra pages at back for notes, goals, and more
- Official major world holidays and observances
- Moon phases, based on Universal Time
- Includes stickers
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£15.20 -
I Love Russia: Reporting from a Lost Country
‘Would you like to know where Putin comes from? What the Russians are like today? And why? Read this book’ SVETLANA ALEXIEVICH
‘Brilliant and immersive … reportage at its brave and luminous best’ OBSERVER
To be a journalist is to tell the truth. To be patriotic is to be critical, honest and fearless.
I Love Russia takes us to places that non-Russians have never seen and brings us voices we have never heard. It is Elena Kostyuchenko’s courageous attempt to document Russia as experienced by those whom it systematically and brutally erases: village girls recruited into sex work, queer people in the outer provinces, patients and doctors at a Ukrainian maternity ward, and reporters like herself.
At once uncompromising and deeply humane, it stitches reportage and personal essays into a kaleidoscopic, often other-worldly journey. Here is Russia as it is, not as we imagine it.
I Love Russia may be the last work from her homeland Kostyuchenko will publish for a long time – perhaps ever. She writes driven by the conviction that the greatest form of love and patriotism is criticism. And because the threat of Putin’s Russia extends beyond herself, beyond Crimea, and beyond Ukraine.
This is a singular portrait of a nation, and of a woman who refuses to be silenced.
‘Elena’s bravery and reportage are astonishing’ CHRISTINA LAMB
‘Kostyuchenko is an important guide to the twenty-first century’ TIMOTHY SNYDER
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£16.00£20.90I Love Russia: Reporting from a Lost Country
£16.00£20.90 -
Brian and Arthur’s Modern Family: Births, Marriages, Deaths and Eveything in Between
When Brian Dowling and Arthur Gourounlian announced they were expecting their first child, with Brian’s sister Aoife acting as their surrogate, it felt like their family dream was finally coming true. Their daughter, Blake, was born in September 2022, but their happily-ever-after has not been without its troubles.
Now Brian and Arthur detail their crazy journeys and the sliding-doors moments that brought them together to create a family of their own. Following Arthur’s journey to escape war-torn Armenia and Brian’s path to self-acceptance after being catapulted into the spotlight as a young gay man in the early noughties, and the sudden death of his mother, this is a story of the pain that life can sometimes bring, but ultimately it is a story about love in all its many magical forms.
From births to marriages to deaths, and everything in between, this heartfelt memoir brings Arthur and Brian’s positive and inspiring attitude to the page.Read more
£13.30 -
Madonna: A Rebel Life – THE ULTIMATE GIFT FOR MADONNA FANS
‘A whopping biography of the pop phenomenon and queen of reinvention. Life is a mystery – hers oughtn’t to be after reading this.’ THE TIMES, ‘ biggest books for autumn’
‘It’s a mark of Gabriel’s skill that she has managed to wrestle this complex, sprawling, eventful life into a book that rarely flags and conveys its subject’s wider significance without tipping into hagiography. We come to understand Madonna the person as well as Madonna the concept: a woman who, for a generation, embodied female artistic, sexual and financial liberation.’ GUARDIAN
‘A fascinating take on one of music’s greatest icons’ BELFAST TELEGRAPH
‘Madonna built the house in which nearly all female artists now live . . . A Rebel Life brings home not just her obvious willpower and strength, but her fearlessness and sheer intelligence’ DAILY TELEGRAPH
In this exceptional biography, Pulitzer Prize finalist Mary Gabriel chronicles the meteoric rise and enduring influence of the greatest female pop icon of the modern era: Madonna.
With her arrival on the music scene in the early 1980s, Madonna generated nothing short of an explosion – as great as that of Elvis or the Beatles – taking the nation by storm with her liberated politics and breathtaking talent.
But Madonna was more than just a pop star. Everywhere, fans gravitated to her as an emblem of a new age, one in which feminism could shed the buttoned-down demeanour of the 1970s and feel relevant to a new generation. Amid the scourge of AIDS, she brought queer identities into the mainstream, fiercely defending a person’s right to love whomever – and be whoever – they wanted. Despite fierce criticism, she never separated her music from her political activism. And as an artist, she never stopped experimenting. Madonna existed to push past boundaries by creating provocative, visionary music, videos, films and live performances that changed culture globally.
Deftly tracing Madonna’s story from her Michigan roots to her rise to super-stardom, master biographer Mary Gabriel captures the dramatic life and achievements of one of the greatest artists of our time.
‘Daring to write a biography of a woman with whom the entire world is on a first-name basis, Mary Gabriel has created (astonishingly) a book neither gossip-driven nor highly snarky… she reveals instead a Madonna both more true and more unbelievably believable; a rock-and-roll suffragette… Norman Mailer once said to Madonna, ‘I’ve come to the conclusion that you are a great artist.’ Exquisitely detailed in her storytelling, Gabriel is clearly in that camp, convincing us that we all still vogue in the House of Madonna.’
Brad Gooch, author of City PoetRead more
£28.30£33.30 -
The One Impossible Labyrinth: From the creator of No.1 Netflix thriller INTERCEPTOR (Jack West Series)
THE BRAND NEW JACK WEST THRILLER AND SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
‘Spectacular…Part-Jack Reacher, part-Indiana Jones’ SMHTHE END IS HERE
Jack West Jr has made it to the Supreme Labyrinth.
Now he faces one last race – against multiple rivals, against time, against the collapse of the universe itself – a headlong race that will end at a throne inside the fabled labyrinth.
AN IMPOSSIBLE MAZE
But the road will be hard. For this is a maze like no other: a maze of mazes. Uncompromising and complex. Demanding and deadly.
A CATACLYSMIC CONCLUSION
It all comes down to this. It ends here – now – in the most lethal and dangerous place Jack has encountered in all of his many adventures. And in the face of this indescribable peril, with everything on the line, there is only one thing he can do.
Attempt the impossible.
* * * * *
PRAISE FOR THE JACK WEST THRILLERS
‘An action hero worthy of Lee Child’ Sydney Morning Herald
‘Thrilling, action-packed adventure from cover to cover’ Guardian
‘Nobody writes action like Matthew Reilly’ Vince Flynn
‘Get ready for a wild ride’ Daily Telegraph
‘Exciting and entertaining’ Chicago Sun-Times
* * * * *
READERS LOVE THE JACK WEST THRILLERS
‘Indiana Jones in a book . . . Immensely entertaining’
‘A super duper kick ass soldier’
‘A first class all-action historical thriller’
‘Heart-pounding stuff’
‘Enjoy the rollercoaster ride’
Read more
£2.80 -
Weird Walk: Wanderings and Wonderings through the British Ritual Year
The first book by iconic zine creators and cultural phenomenon Weird Walk. This is a superbly designed guide to Britain’s strange and ancient places, to standing stones and pagan rituals, and to the process of re-enchantment via weird walking.In this book is a radical idea. By walking the ancient landscape of Britain and following the wheel of the year, we can reconnect to our shared folklore, to the seasons and to nature. Let this hauntological gazetteer guide you through our enchanted places and strange seasonal rituals:
SPRING: Watch the equinox sunrise light up the floating capstone of Pentre Ifan and connect with the Cailleach at the shrine of Tigh nam Bodach in the remote Highlands
SUMMER: Feel the resonance of ancient raves and rituals in the stone circles of southwest England’s Stanton Drew, Avebury and the Hurlers
AUTUMN: Bring in the harvest with the old gods at Coldrum Long Barrow, and brave the ghosts on misty Blakeney Point
WINTER: Make merry at the Chepstow wassail, and listen out for the sunken church bells of the lost medieval city of DunwichRead more
£15.50£19.00 -
Short Stories in Italian for Beginners: Read for pleasure at your level, expand your vocabulary and learn Italian the fun way! (Foreign Language Graded Reader Series)
An unmissable collection of eight unconventional and captivating short stories for young and adult learners.
“I love Olly’s work – and you will too!” – Barbara Oakley, PhD, Author of New York Times bestseller A Mind for Numbers
Short Stories in Italian for Beginners has been written especially for students from beginner to intermediate level, designed to give a sense of achievement, and most importantly – enjoyment! Mapped to A2-B1 on the Common European Framework of Reference, these eight captivating stories will both entertain you, and give you a feeling of progress when reading.
What does this book give you?
· Eight stories in a variety of exciting genres, from science fiction and crime to history and thriller – making reading fun, while you learn a wide range of new vocabulary
· Controlled language at your level, including the 1000 most frequent words, to help you progress confidently
· Authentic spoken dialogues, to help you learn conversational expressions and improve your speaking ability
· Pleasure! It’s much easier to learn a new language when you’re having fun, and research shows that if you’re enjoying reading in a foreign language, you won’t experience the usual feelings of frustration – ‘It’s too hard!’ ‘I don’t understand!’
· Accessible grammar so you learn new structures naturally, in a stress-free wayCarefully curated to make learning a new language easy, these stories include key features that will support and consolidate your progress, including
· A glossary for bolded words in each text
· A bilingual word list
· Full plot summary
· Comprehension questions after each chapter.As a result, you will be able to focus on enjoying reading, delighting in your improved range of vocabulary and grasp of the language, without ever feeling overwhelmed or frustrated. From science fiction to fantasy, to crime and thrillers, Short Stories in Italian for Beginners will make learning Italian easy and enjoyable.
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£8.00£10.40 -
Short Stories in Spanish for Beginners: Read for pleasure at your level, expand your vocabulary and learn Spanish the fun way! (Foreign Language Graded Reader Series)
An unmissable collection of eight unconventional and captivating short stories for young and adult learners.
“I love Olly’s work – and you will too!” – Barbara Oakley, PhD, Author of New York Times bestseller A Mind for Numbers
Short Stories in Spanish for Beginners has been written especially for students from beginner to intermediate level, designed to give a sense of achievement, and most importantly – enjoyment! Mapped to A2-B1 on the Common European Framework of Reference, these eight captivating stories will both entertain you, and give you a feeling of progress when reading.
What does this book give you?
· Eight stories in a variety of exciting genres, from science fiction and crime to history and thriller – making reading fun, while you learn a wide range of new vocabulary
· Controlled language at your level, including the 1000 most frequent words, to help you progress confidently
· Authentic spoken dialogues, to help you learn conversational expressions and improve your speaking ability
· Pleasure! It’s much easier to learn a new language when you’re having fun, and research shows that if you’re enjoying reading in a foreign language, you won’t experience the usual feelings of frustration – ‘It’s too hard!’ ‘I don’t understand!’
· Accessible grammar so you learn new structures naturally, in a stress-free wayCarefully curated to make learning a new language easy, these stories include key features that will support and consolidate your progress, including
· A glossary for bolded words in each text
· A bilingual word list
· Full plot summary
· Comprehension questions after each chapter.As a result, you will be able to focus on enjoying reading, delighting in your improved range of vocabulary and grasp of the language, without ever feeling overwhelmed or frustrated. From science fiction to fantasy, to crime and thrillers, Short Stories in Spanish for Beginners will make learning Spanish easy and enjoyable.
Read more
£8.00£10.40 -
The Coming Wave: The instant Sunday Times bestseller from the ultimate AI insider
**A Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller, Sept 2023**
**SHORTLISTED FOR THE FT BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023**AI. SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY. QUANTUM COMPUTING. Everything is about to change. This is the only book you need to understand this new world.
From the ultimate AI insider, Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of DeepMind, part of Google.
‘Fascinating, well-written, and important’ Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens
‘Deeply rewarding and consistently astonishing’ Stephen Fry
‘An excellent guide for navigating unprecedented times’ Bill GatesSoon you will live surrounded by AIs. They will organise your life, operate your business, and run core government services. You will live in a world of DNA printers and quantum computers, engineered pathogens and autonomous weapons, robot assistants and abundant energy.
None of us are prepared.
As co-founder of the pioneering AI company DeepMind, part of Google, Mustafa Suleyman has been at the centre of this revolution. The coming decade, he argues, will be defined by this wave of powerful, fast-proliferating new technologies.
In The Coming Wave, Suleyman shows how these forces will create immense prosperity but also threaten the nation-state, the foundation of global order. As our fragile governments sleepwalk into disaster, we face an existential dilemma: unprecedented harms on one side and the threat of overbearing surveillance on the other.
Can we forge a narrow path between catastrophe and dystopia?
This ground-breaking book from the ultimate AI insider establishes ‘the containment problem’ – the task of maintaining control over powerful technologies – as the essential challenge of our age.
‘A stunning book by a man at the very centre of the AI revolution’ Rory Stewart
‘Essential reading’ Daniel KahnemanRead more
£14.30£23.80 -
Next Level Games Review 2024: A bumper, illustrated, and annual gaming guide packed with over 150 video games – plus a special eSports chapter – the perfect gift for for teens…
Take it to the next level! Bursting with the biggest games, latest trends, and hottest news, Next Level Games Review 2024 is the ultimate annual gaming guide.
Next Level Games Review is back! Packed full of the biggest games, latest trends, and hottest news, it’s the ultimate guide to gaming.
In this year’s Games Review, you’ll find the latest news in gaming. Explore the world of eSports, go behind the scenes with gaming experts, learn all about the next triple-As or indie hits, and discover mind-blowing stats and entertaining facts on over 150 games.
Be transported to legendary gaming locations with all your favourite characters. Swing through New York City with Spider-Man, uncover Wizarding World secrets in Hogwarts Legacy, join Link as he glides through Skyloft clouds, defend the Overworld from the piglins and explore Genshin Impact’s Teyvat in this game-changing guide!
150+ GAMES: Find out surprising stats and entertaining facts on over 150 games, including Mario, Overwatch, Forza, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Roblox, Pokémon, Sonic, Final Fantasy, Madden NFL, Diablo, Fortnite, and The Legend of Zelda.
PERFECT FOR NEW GAMERS: Packed with tips and tricks for new and young gamers, plus a special glossary section so you can learn the lingo.
ESPORTS CHAPTER: Catch up on all the news and read fascinating trivia on the top eSports games, including League of Legends, PUBG, Fortnite, Dota 2, Valorant, and Overwatch.
INSIDER INFO: Get the inside take from gaming experts and learn all about your favourite game studios, including SEGA, Capcom, Nintendo, EA Tiburon, Epic Insomniac Games, and Square Enix.
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£16.20£20.90 -
Pandora’s Box: The Greed, Lust, and Lies That Broke Television
From The Sopranos to streaming: the scandalous behind-the-screens story of the TV revolution by the author of the cult film classic Easy Riders, Raging Bulls.
The revolution has been televized. From The Sopranos to Stranger Things, the shows we watch – and the ways we watch them – have been transformed over the past fifty years. Out of the bland wasteland of ‘play-it-safe’ broadcasting came astonishing stories of sex, violence, and corruption shown first on cable, and then by way of streaming. Today, the power of viewers to select what they want and when they want it is greater than ever before. In short, we are living in a new golden age of television, but golden ages don’t last forever. Revolutions have a habit of eating their own, and the era of ‘peak TV’ may have an unhappy ending.
Pandora’s Box is a major new account of the small screen from cultural critic Peter Biskind. Through exclusive, candid and colourful interviews with writers, showrunners, directors and actors, Biskind brings us face to face with the people whose creations we encounter every day on our sofas, and reveals the dynamic interplay of art, commerce and technology. We follow executives down the corridors of power and see how their money and guile cultivate, then crush creativity; we witness the making – and unmaking – of TVs biggest hits. There has never been a more exciting time in entertainment history, and Peter Biskind, the ideal insider guide, captures it all.
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£19.00£23.80 -
Manmade Wonders of the World
Discover and explore the most incredible statues, monuments, temples, bridges, and ancient cities with this unparalleled survey of the most famous buildings and structures created by humans.
From Stonehenge to the Sagrada Familia, from the Great Wall of China to the Burj Khalifa, Manmade Wonders of the Worldplots a continent-by-continent journey around the world, exploring and charting the ingenuity and imagination used by different cultures to create iconic buildings. This truly global approach reveals how humans have tackled similar challenges – such as keeping the enemy out or venerating their gods – in vastly different parts of the world. As writer, historian, and broadcaster Dan Cruickshank writes in his foreword, “reading this book is like taking a journey through the world not only of the present but also of the past, because the roots of many wonders lie in antiquity.”
By combining breathtaking photography with 3D cutaway artworks, floorplans, and other illustrations, the hidden details and engineering innovations that make each building remarkable are revealed.
Featuring the most visited monuments in the world – such as the Eiffel Tower, Taj Mahal, and Machu Picchu – as well as some hidden gems, Manmade Wonders of the World can help you to map out the trip of a lifetime or simply be enjoyed as a celebration of the world that humans have built over thousands of years.
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£23.80£28.50Manmade Wonders of the World
£23.80£28.50 -
Ruskin Park: Sylvia, Me and the BBC
‘Ruskin Park is so much more than a memoir. It is tribute to an individual woman and a whole generation and class.’ – Justin Webb, The Sunday Times
‘Ruskin Park is Rory Cellan-Jones’s touching tribute to both his parents, but particularly to the mother he came to know more fully from the letters she left behind’ – Daily Mail
‘A captivating family detective story and a poignant social history of Britain.’ – Observer
***
Can we ever really know the truth about our parents? From the popular journalist, podcaster and tweeter about his rescue dog #SophiefromRomania comes a moving memoir in search of the truth behind his isolated childhood and absent father.
Rory Cellan-Jones knew he was the child of a brief love affair between two unmarried BBC employees. But until his mother died and he found a previously unknown file labelled ‘For Rory’ he had no idea of their beginnings or ending, and why his peculiarly isolated childhood had so tested the bond between him and his mother. ‘For Rory,’ his mother had written on the file ‘in the hope that it will help him understand how it really was …’
This is a compelling account of what Rory uncovered in the papers, letters and diaries; a relationship between two colleagues (two romantics) and the restrictive forces of post-war respectability and prejudice that ended it. It is also an evocation of the progressive, centrifugal force at the centre of all their lives – the BBC itself.
Both tender and troubling, the drama moves from wartime radio broadcasts, to the glamour of 1950s television studios, to the golden era of BBC drama. His father may have directed The Forsyte Saga and Rory may have watched him from the corridors, but he would never actually meet him until much later in adulthood. Until then Rory’s life was bound to the one-bedroom flat he shared with his mother in Ruskin Park …
‘I loved this highly evocative, unpretentious memoir. It’s a small-scale BBC drama in itself.’ – The Times
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£15.69£18.99Ruskin Park: Sylvia, Me and the BBC
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You May Never See Us Again: The Barclay Dynasty: A Story of Survival, Secrecy and Succession
‘A tour de force’ – Guardian
‘Forensic … Strong on financial detail’ – Financial Times
The untold story of post-war Britain. Told through the lives of the two men who helped shape it: Sir David Barclay and Sir Frederick Barclay.
You May Never See Us Again is the only definitive story of David and Frederick Barclay – commonly known as the Barclay brothers. Born poor, these enigmatic twins built one of the biggest fortunes in Britain together from scratch and spent six decades at the epicentre of British business, media and politics. Their empire, said to be worth £7bn at its height, included Littlewoods, the Ritz Hotel, The Daily Telegraph and the channel island of Brecqhou. They were major advocates for Brexit and well-connected with influential politicians including Margaret Thatcher, Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage.
And yet despite their fortune and influence, their fiercely guarded desire for privacy has meant that their story remained largely unknown – until a very public family dispute pitched Barclay against Barclay in the High Court.
Journalist Jane Martinson unravels the fascinating story of these once inseparable billionaire brothers. Through their lives she offers compelling insights into post-war Britain, from the conditions that enabled their way of doing business to thrive through to the tightly enmeshed webs of influence between capitalism, politics and the media that shape Britain today.Read more
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Life in the United Kingdom: a guide for new residents
It contains all the official learning material for the test and is written in clear, simple language – making it easy to understand. It covers a range of topics you need to know to pass your test and apply for UK citizenship or permanent residency, including: the process of becoming a citizen or permanent resident; the values and principles of the UK; traditions and culture from around the UK; the events and people that have shaped the UK’s history; the government and the law; getting involved in your community. A glossary and index are included.Read more
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Little Guides to Style: A Historical Review of Four Fashion Icons: 17 (The Little Guides to Style: A Historical Review of Four Fashion Icons)
Containing the stories of four legendary fashion houses, this collectable box holds a beautiful set of covetable style guides.
Exploring four designers who exemplify elegance and high couture, these little books of fashion follow these brands from their creation, moving through their style evolutions, the key looks that define them and their impact on the fashion landscape today.
Discover the story behind the little black dress with the Little Book of Chanel, the tailoring behind Milan minimalism with Prada, the conception of the New Look with Dior and the genius behind androgynous maximalism with Gucci.
Featuring hundreds of exquisite images and text by best-selling authors, these definitive guides to luxury style are the perfect gift for any fashion lover.
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Everything is Everything: The Top 10 Bestseller
‘Infinitely more readable than the average journalism memoir, and decidedly more important.’ – Sathnam Sanghera, The Times
‘So engaging. You feel as if he is talking to you, sharing ideas and thoughts, as if you were a friend.’ – Yasmin Ahlibai-Brown
As a Bolton teenager with a paper round, Clive Myrie read all the newspapers he delivered from cover to cover and dreamed of becoming a journalist. In this deeply personal memoir, he tells how his family history has influenced his view of the world, introducing us to his Windrush generation parents, a great grandfather who helped build the Panama Canal, and a great uncle who fought in the First World War, later to become a prominent police detective in Jamaica.
He reflects on how being black has affected his perspective on issues he’s encountered in thirty years reporting some of the biggest stories of our time (most recently from Ukraine), showing us how those experiences gave him a better idea of what it means to be an outsider. He tells of his pride in his roots, but his determination not to be defined by his background in dealing with the challenges of race and class to succeed at the highest level.
Moving, engaging, revealing, Everything is Everything is a story of love and hate – but also hope.
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£15.00£22.00Everything is Everything: The Top 10 Bestseller
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Normal Women: From the Number One Bestselling Author Comes 900 Years of Women Making History
A NEW STATESMEN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023
‘A lasting work of social history’ THE TIMES
‘A genuinely new history of our nation’ DAN JONES
‘This celebration of women is a triumph of popular history’ SPECTATOR
‘Philippa Gregory uses all her bestseller skills to weave a narrative with pace’ ANTONIA FRASER
FROM THE MULTI-MILLION BESTSELLING HISTORICAL NOVELIST COMES THE CULMINATION OF HER LIFE’S WORK
- Did you know that there are more penises than women in the Bayeux Tapestry?
- That the Peasant’s Revolt was started and propelled by women, protesting a tax on women?
- Or that celebrated naturalist Charles Darwin believed not just that women were naturally inferior to men but that they’d evolve to become ever more inferior?
These are just a few of the startling findings you will learn from reading Philippa Gregory’s Normal Women. In this ambitious and ground-breaking book, she tells the story of our nation over 900 years, but for the very first time women – some fifty per cent of the population – are no longer invisible in this history of England, but are at its beating heart.
Using research skills honed in her work as one of our foremost historical novelists, Gregory trawled through court records to find highway women, beggars and shepherdesses, through newspapers and diaries to find murderers and brides, housewives and pirates, female husbands and hermits. The ‘normal women’ you will meet in her pages went to war, ploughed the fields, campaigned, wrote, and loved. They rode in jousts, flew Spitfires, issued their own currency and built ships, corn mills and houses as part of their everyday lives They committed crimes, or treason, worshipped many gods, cooked and nursed, invented things and rioted. A lot. They built our society to be as diverse and varied as the women themselves. They are there in the archives – if you look – and they made our history.
‘You’ll lose count of the number of things you learn about women and their skewed place in history … the book reframes the past … an essential read’ INDEPENDENT, FIVE-STAR REVIEW
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Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
Originally published in 1985, Neil Postmans groundbreaking polemic about the corrosive effects of television on our politics and public discourse has been hailed as a twenty-first-century book published in the twentieth century. Now, with television joined by more sophisticated electronic mediafrom the Internet to cell phones to DVDsit has taken on even greater significance. Amusing Ourselves to Death is a prophetic look at what happens when politics, journalism, education, and even religion become subject to the demands of entertainment. It is also a blueprint for regaining controlof our media, so that they can serve our highest goals.Read more
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Abroad in Japan: The No. 1 Sunday Times Bestseller
THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER
‘Chris Broad explores Japan in all its quirky glory..Endlessly fascinating!’
Will Ferguson, author of Hokkaido Highway Blues‘Carves a unique path across Japan bringing him into contact with far too many cats, heartening renewal in Tohoku, and even pizza with Ken Watanabe.’
Iain Maloney, author of The Only Gaijin in the Village‘Fascinating, fact-packed and very funny..An excellent and enjoyable read for the Japan-curious. I loved it and learned a lot.’
Sam Baldwin, author of For Fukui’s Sake: Two years in rural JapanWhen Englishman Chris Broad landed in a rural village in northern Japan he wondered if he’d made a huge mistake. With no knowledge of the language and zero teaching experience, was he about to be the most quickly fired English teacher in Japan’s history?
Abroad in Japan charts a decade of living in a foreign land and the chaos and culture clash that came with it. Packed with hilarious and fascinating stories, this book seeks out to unravel one the world’s most complex cultures.
Spanning ten years and all forty-seven prefectures, Chris takes us from the lush rice fields of the countryside to the frenetic neon-lit streets of Tokyo. With blockbuster moments such as a terrifying North Korean missile incident, a mortifying experience at a love hotel and a week spent with Japan’s biggest movie star, Abroad in Japan is an extraordinary and informative journey through the Land of the Rising Sun.
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£10.11£10.99Abroad in Japan: The No. 1 Sunday Times Bestseller
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This is Europe: The Way We Live Now
‘Thrilling’ – The Financial Times
‘Vivid, urgent and unsettling’ – Tom Holland
_____What does it now mean to call yourself European? Who makes up this population of some 750 million, sprawled from Ireland to Ukraine, from Sweden to Turkey? Who has always called it home, and who has newly arrived from elsewhere? Who are the people who drive our long-distance lorries, steward our criss-crossing planes, lovingly craft our legacy wines, fish our depleted waters, and risk life itself in search of safety and a new start?
In a series of vivid, ambitious, darkly visceral but always empathetic portraits of other people’s lives, journalist Ben Judah invites us to meet them. Drawn from hours of painstaking interviews, these vital stories reveal a frenetic and vibrant continent which has been transformed by diversity, migration, the internet, climate change, Covid, war and the quest for freedom.
Laid dramatically bare, it may not always be a Europe we recognize – but this is Europe.
_____‘An astonishing achievement’ – Evening Standard
‘Brilliantly told . . . highly readable’ – The Times
‘Unflinching’ – The GuardianRead more
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Roskov, Book 24
Mystery & conspiracy, international, supernatural mystery fiction series, progressive, a young adult feel-good series, empire building.Ricky Roskov leaves school in England to start work in his uncle’s factory, to make enough money for college, a future in politics planned – unaware that he has been reincarnated, that he fought in the Crusades, and that an angel watches over him.
Modelling for the company brochure, he gets noticed, and he accidentally starts a very lucrative parallel career in modelling and acting, soon surrounded by beautiful models.
Involving himself in charity work and politics in his home town, a dying women sets him on the trail of uncovering corruption, conspiracy, rape and murder at the hands of the town’s elite.Contains: Mystery & conspiracy, international, supernatural, hidden treasure, strong sex, regular sex, paranormal, undercover investigations … a long progressive series.
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£2.50Roskov, Book 24
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The Plot: The Political Assassination of Boris Johnson
‘A riveting read that skips along at pace. Illuminating and concerning, it lifts the lid on the tawdry world of Westminster powerbroking’ Tim Shipman, The Times
The explosive behind-the-scenes account of the plot to bring down Boris Johnson
YOU THINK YOU LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE THE ELECTED ARE CHOSEN BY THE PEOPLE.
THINK AGAIN.
When Boris Johnson came to power in 2019, he did so with the largest Conservative majority since Margaret Thatcher. Rewriting the political map, he united a party and shattered Labour’s fabled red wall. And yet, just three years later, he was ousted by the same members who had once greeted his leadership so rapturously.
What had gone so wrong?
The Plot is the seismic, fly-on-the-wall account of how the saviour of the Conservative Party became a pariah. Told with unparalleled access, from multiple inside sources talking with astonishing candour, it reveals the shocking truth about powerful forces operating behind the scenes in the heart of Westminster and those who became the architects of a Prime Minister’s downfall.
This is the story of a damning trail of treachery and deceit fuelled by an obsessive pursuit of power, which threatens to topple the very fabric of our democracy.
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The Traitors: The Interactive Game Book
It’s time to start your adventure. Get them before they get you.
Put your sleuthing skills to the test in a world of deception, betrayal, and strategy. Placed in a castle in the Scottish Highlands, you must figure out if your fellow players are Faithful or a Traitor. Can you trust Jorge, the dentist with an encyclopaedic memory and tendency to smile at everyone? Or Nina, the retiree who acts like the group’s matriarch but has a knowing glint in her eyes..? Beware, for in this treacherous game, trust is a luxury you cannot afford.
In the official book of the BAFTA-winning phenomenon, The Traitors: The Interactive Game Book, the decisions you make will decide what happens next. Take this thrilling journey on your own or with others, pooling your wisdom to make the right choices. With over 20 standalone games to play as a pair or in a group – all with cunning Traitors twists – this is the perfect gift, guaranteed to unleash hours of mischief and fun.
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£10.00£20.00The Traitors: The Interactive Game Book
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Escape from Model Land: How Mathematical Models Can Lead Us Astray and What We Can Do About It
‘A brilliant account of how models are so often abused and of how they should be used’ John Kay
How do mathematical models shape our world – and how can we harness their power for good?
Models are at the centre of everything we do. Whether we use them or are simply affected by them, they act as metaphors that help us better understand the increasingly complex problems facing us in the modern world. Without models, we couldn’t begin to tackle three of the major challenges facing modern society: regulation of the economy, climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet in recent years, the validity of the models we use has been hotly debated and there has been renewed awareness of the disastrous consequences when the makers and interpreters of models get things wrong.
Drawing on contemporary examples from finance, climate and health policy, Erica Thompson explores what models are, why we need them, how they work and what happens when they go wrong. This is not a book that argues we should do away with models, but rather, that we need to properly understand how they are constructed – and how some of the assumptions that underlie the models we use can have significant unintended consequences. Unexpectedly humorous, thought-provoking and passionate, this is essential reading for everyone.
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Avoiding the News: Reluctant Audiences for Journalism (Reuters Institute Global Journalism Series)
A small but growing number of people in many countries consistently avoid the news. They feel they do not have time for it, believe it is not worth the effort, find it irrelevant or emotionally draining, or do not trust the media, among other reasons. Why and how do people circumvent news? Which groups are more and less reluctant to follow the news? In what ways is news avoidance a problem―for individuals, for the news industry, for society―and how can it be addressed?This groundbreaking book explains why and how so many people consume little or no news despite unprecedented abundance and ease of access. Drawing on interviews in Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States as well as extensive survey data, Avoiding the News examines how people who tune out traditional media get information and explores their “folk theories” about how news organizations work. The authors argue that news avoidance is about not only content but also identity, ideologies, and infrastructures: who people are, what they believe, and how news does or does not fit into their everyday lives. Because news avoidance is most common among disadvantaged groups, it threatens to exacerbate existing inequalities by tilting mainstream journalism even further toward privileged audiences. Ultimately, this book shows, persuading news-averse audiences of the value of journalism is not simply a matter of adjusting coverage but requires a deeper, more empathetic understanding of people’s relationships with news across social, political, and technological boundaries.
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How They Broke Britain
THE REVEALING, DEFINING ACCOUNT OF THE DARK NETWORK THAT BROKE OUR COUNTRY.
‘An exceptional broadcaster’ – Guardian | ‘Consistently, forensically, brilliant’ – Emily MaitlisSomething has gone really wrong in Britain.
Our economy has tanked, our freedoms are shrinking, and social divisions are growing. Our politicians seem most interested in their own careers, and much of the media only make things worse. We are living in a country almost unrecognisable from the one that existed a decade ago. But whose fault is it really? Who broke Britain and how did they do it?
Bold and incisive as ever, James O’Brien reveals the shady network of influence that has created a broken Britain of strikes, shortages and scandals. He maps the web connecting dark think tanks to Downing Street, the journalists involved in selling it to the public and the media bosses pushing their own agendas. Over ten chapters, each focusing on a particular person complicit in the downfall, James O’Brien reveals how a select few have conspired – sometimes by incompetence, sometimes by design – to bring Britain to its knees.
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£9.60£10.40How They Broke Britain
£9.60£10.40