48 Products

John Timpson charts the high street’s transformation from the small independent shops of the 1960s to today’s supermarkets, out-of-town malls and online stores, and concludes with a list of fifty inspirational entrepreneurs who have helped to shape today's retail market.

An outline of the major events of 1926–1930 – the return to the Gold Standard and the General Strike – introduces profiles of seven notable figures: Virginia Woolf, Radclyffe Hall, John Logie Baird, the car manufacturer William Morris, Ramsay MacDonald, Noël Coward and W Somerset Maugham.

Along with a sketch of the social and economic background and a timeline of events, this volume profiles the lives and achievements of Robert Baden-Powell, the fraudster Horatio Bottomley, Marie Stopes, David Lloyd George, Lord Reith and Bertrand Russell.

How did France’s youngest-ever president assemble the network, team and finances to sweep to electoral victory in just twelve months? Based on previously unpublished interviews with Emmanuel Macron’s friends, mentors, opponents, and key members of his team, this first-ever biography in English charts his meteoric rise. It outlines his political vision, examines his support-base, analyses his strengths and weaknesses, and asks what his presidency means for Britain and the EU.

Anomalies in the storylines of over 30 mainly 19th-century literary classics, including Vanity Fair, Wuthering Heights and The Pickwick Papers, are pulled apart and mostly resolved in this second collection of literary whodunnits.

Questions about Dracula’s blood temperature, risk-taking behaviour, sexuality, social status and wealth are among the many issues raised in this sharp-witted dissection of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula.

Napoleon Bonaparte was not the first exile to end his days on St Helena. In the 16th century, the Portuguese conquistador Fernão Lopes set out to invade India, only to defect to the Muslim side and fight his own countrymen. This compelling biography tells the long-forgotten story of how he was captured and tortured before jumping ship en route to his homeland to live as a hermit on the uninhabited island for 30 years.

This unconventional biography of Michael Faraday, among whose numerous inventions was the electric motor, explores episodes in his career, including his discovery of electromagnetic induction, in order to understand why he flourished in a complex and hierarchical Victorian scientific community.

John Henry assesses Francis Bacon’s ineluctable influence on the methodology, content and organization of science both in his own time and now, revealing how Bacon’s fascination with bureaucracy, magic and religion inspired his best-known works, including The New Organon.

Far from being the author of genteel domestic comedies, Jane Austen was a deeply political writer. Based on a chapter-by-chapter reading of the novels, this groundbreaking study reveals her fiercely critical engagement with the issues of money, class, the militia and the Enclosure Acts.

John Sutherland explores the hors texte, or life that goes on in the opaque world behind the characters and events in over 30 classic novels, including Bleak House, Middlemarch and Frankenstein.

During the late seventies a series of security breaches within the US Embassy in Moscow led not only to several CIA agents being expelled from Russia, but to the execution of their Russian-born ‘assets’. This story of how the embassy was compromised follows several CIA and National Security Agency officers in their investigations into innovative Soviet tradecraft, uncovering advanced surveillance technology, moles, ‘walk-ins’ and microwave attacks.

Tom Rodwell, Chairman of the Lord's Taverners, spent six years running charity cricket tours to help disadvantaged young people in some of the world's poorest districts. This book recounts his amusing adventures, from playing in cricket-mad cultures in Sri Lanka and Jamaica to unlikely locations such as Cuba and Israel.

Following the success of her ‘Vintage Years’ column in the Guardian, Walmsley-Johnson bases this humorous guide around her own roller-coaster life. She tackles topics such as shopping, sex and finances, describes the difficulties of finding work at the age of 45 and discusses how lack of opportunities and the media’s negative attitude can combine to make middle-aged women feel invisible.

England's 1966 hero finds room for some of his World Cup team mates in his pick of the world's best footballers of all time, giving personal insights into the abilities of great footballers he played with or against, including George Best and Jimmy Greaves, as well as his assessment of where world stars such as Messi, Cruyff, Zidane and Di Stefano rank alongside them.

Andrew Nahum considers the invention of the jet engine, from Frank Whittle’s first drawings of a gas turbine and his troubled attempts at jet manufacture during the war, through to the post-war development of the first commercial jet airliner, the de Havilland Comet. Nahum also re-examines Whittle’s relationship with government agencies: far from struggling against unsupportive officialdom, the charismatic inventor benefited from a creative collaboration with the state and British industry.

Pioneers including Planck, Rutherford and Feynman have explored the mysteries of the atom for over a century. What they found, and what this absorbing history of the atom demonstrates, is that many of its secrets still refuse to be unlocked.

The powerful engines of the Italian and German teams dominated the early years of the Formula 1 World Championship before British challengers began to emerge in the 1960s and 1970s with innovative chassis designs and performance-enhancing aerodynamics. This highly illustrated volume charts the whole history of the championship from its pre-war precursors and daredevil early racers such as Fangio, Moss and Clark to the developments, teams and star drivers of the ultra-professional, high-tech modern sport.

‘Britain is in the grip of an alien invasion’ was how the national press responded to Japanese Knotweed, while some people eat it like spinach and researchers describe Knotweed hysteria as ‘absurd’. Here, the award-winning environmental journalist Fred Pearce offers compelling evidence to dispel exaggerated fears surrounding ‘footloose species’ of flora and fauna, explores the new scientific thinking about foreign versus native species, and considers how the aliens might be ‘exactly the shot in the arm that real nature needs’.

Recently uncovered ‘transitional’ fossils, analysed by the growing discipline of paleobiology, have inspired Brian Switek to reassess the simplistic notion of the ‘missing link’ which has confounded evolutionists since Darwin.

This entertaining book tells the double tale of Joseph Banks, who in the 18th century forged powerful links between science and the British state, and the father of taxonomy, Carl Linnaeus.

Patricia Fara follows the evangelists of the new science of electricity, including Benjamin Franklin and Luigi Galvani, and the ideas their demonstrations sparked in the popular culture of the 18th century.

Why do the creation stories in Genesis contradict each other? Did the Exodus really happen? In a discussion which ‘neither requires, nor rejects, belief’, Loveday brings a literary critic’s eye to the Biblical authors. Presenting insights from modern scholarship, he shows how to read their texts ‘with our brains in gear’, by viewing the Bible as a structure of the imagination rather than through modern concepts of ‘history’ and ‘truth’.

Only 2 per cent of our DNA contains the codes to produce proteins, so for many years scientists assumed that the rest of the genome was simply 'junk'. However, modern research is finally identifying the many vital functions performed by these 'dark' regions. In this book Carey introduces the most significant insights, with clear explanations for the general reader, and looks forward to the opportunities they provide for revolutionary developments in the treatment of a range of medical conditions.

Actress Charlotte Rampling’s early life included schooling and holidays in France and much time spent with her sister, Sarah, who committed suicide in 1967. The truth about the tragedy was initially kept from Charlotte and she then shared the secret with her father until her mother’s death. This short memoir is written in elegiac, fragmentary and sometimes poetic style and includes photographs from the family archive.

Virginia Woolf famously said that to write, a woman must have a room of her own. This book explores the rooms of writers of both genders over the past two centuries, and reflects on the way their surroundings may have influenced their work. The result is an entertaining and richly informative tour that ranges from Dr Johnson’s London house to the Brontë parsonage at Haworth; from Dorothy Parker’s room in New York’s Algonquin Hotel to Dostoevsky’s St Petersburg apartment.

In 1817, James Parkinson defined the disease that bears his name so precisely that it is still diagnosed today by recognizing the symptoms he identified. In this study, the story of Parkinson’s significant contributions to the Age of Enlightenment is told through his three passions – medicine, radical politics and fossils. The book restores a neglected pioneer to his rightful place in history and creates a vivid portrait of life as an ‘apothecary surgeon’ in Georgian London.

The 'Warburg Wire Job' was an audacious escape plan by 40 British, Australian, New Zealand and South African POWs from Oflag VI-B in Warburg, Germany. With the camp lights fused, the prisoners laid scaling ladders constructed from bed boards over the high perimeter fence and 28 made it across. Mark Felton's history tells the story of the planning and execution of the breakout and the stories of the escapees' attempts to evade recapture and return home.

The 'Warburg Wire Job' was an audacious escape plan by 40 British, Australian, New Zealand and South African POWs from Oflag VI-B in Warburg, Germany. With the camp lights fused, the prisoners laid scaling ladders constructed from bed boards over the high perimeter fence and 28 made it across. Mark Felton's history tells the story of the planning and execution of the breakout and the stories of the escapees' attempts to evade recapture and return home.

A teacher of child development and cognitive neuroscience, with a particular interest in dyslexia, Maryanne Wolf invites us to ponder what we do when we read. Beginning with the early history of writing systems and how human beings learned to read, she examines the 'natural history' of ever more sophisticated ways of reading that developed over time, and discusses the science of what happens when the brain cannot learn to read.

Ever felt the urge to throw your bags into the car, crank up the stereo and hit the open road in search of an epic adventure? This book showcases the ultimate in road trips on every continent, from the Amalfi Coast to the Silk Road, and from the Alaska Highway to the legendary Route 66.

Brian Clegg uses the workings of the human body as a tool to explore the science of the universe, starting with the simple experiment of looking at your reflection in a mirror. He goes on to discuss the structure of hair and skin, the functions of blood, vision, the 'inner chemistry' of the digestive system, the senses, sexual attraction, and the workings of the brain.

The 'Warburg Wire Job' was an audacious escape plan by 40 British, Australian, New Zealand and South African POWs from Oflag VI-B in Warburg, Germany. With the camp lights fused, the prisoners laid scaling ladders constructed from bed boards over the high perimeter fence and 28 made it across. Mark Felton's history tells the story of the planning and execution of the breakout and the stories of the escapees' attempts to evade recapture and return home.

The two great theories of modern physics – the general theory of relativity and quantum theory – were developed independently, yet they agree precisely. But how might these theories of the very large and very small be unified in a 'Theory of Everything'? John Gribbin describes the quest for the Holy Grail of physics, from the 'prehistory' of cosmology and astrophysics in the 19th century to the latest estimate of the age of the universe (13.8 billion years), released in 2015.

Nicholas Whittaker's much-loved classic recollects the long, sunny days of his childhood when, notepad in hand, jam sandwiches in duffel bag, he happily spent his time jotting down train numbers during the Indian summer of steam and the heyday of diesel. In this updated edition, Whittaker casts a sceptical eye over recent developments and considers the toll that half a century of ridicule and a couple of decades of privatization have wrought upon his beloved pastime.

It is arguable that Georgy Zhukov was the greatest of the Allied generals of the Second World War, surpassing Eisenhower, Montgomery or Patton in military effectiveness. Unlike his rival Red Army generals he was prepared to stand up to Stalin when necessary and although charming in his private life, was a brutal and decisive commander. This is the first major biography of the Soviet hero, drawing on newly available sources in the Russian archives and previously unpublished excerpts from Zhukov's own memoirs. Slightly off-mint.

The midget submarines that were famously used to attack the battleship Tirpitz in 1943 were developed further and the improved 'XE-class' craft were used in a daring attack on Singapore harbour in 1945. This history recounts how 18 British, Australian and New Zealand submariners, two of whom were awarded the Victoria Cross and several others decorated, piloted two XE craft through the Japanese defences to successfully incapacitate the heavy cruiser Takao.

This guide to 25 of the world's finest operas spans 200 years, from Handel's Giulio Cesare to Britten's Peter Grimes, providing act-by-act plot summaries, musical description, historical and cultural information and composer biographies.

How would you reduce crime through architecture? Why is there salt in the sea? Is feminism dead? Probably the stuff of nightmare if you are an Oxbridge candidate, but compulsive reading when your career doesn't depend on coming up with an answer, these are the questions asked at interviews for Oxford and Cambridge colleges. Ranging across disciplines from literature to physics, Farndon discusses 60 conundrums designed to separate the merely bright from the truly clever.

Written by a former officer, this searching examination of the experience of men at war draws on hundreds of narrative accounts written by soldiers themselves to produce a combatant's-eye view of battle from Sebastopol to Stalingrad, from Vietnam to Fallujah. It asks what it means to confront the reality of killing or being killed, investigates the complex relationship between love, sex and war, and reveals the 'trial by media' faced by the soldiers of today. Off-mint.

Despite the islands of rubbish collecting in the River Lea as it flows through Walthamstow and Leyton Marshes, there is still abundant wildlife to observe in the wetland environment. This diary blends nature writing, social observation and memoir as the author makes her way through the waterways of London and out into the western suburbs over the course of a year, periodically settling for a few weeks to explore the locality.

In a concise reinterpretation of one of history's most argued-over battles, the eminent military historian Jeremy Black uses Waterloo and its aftermath to discuss the changing nature of warfare, the rise and fall of Napoleon's empire, and the effects of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars on Europe and on Britain's role in the world during the 19th century.

Where does human brilliance come from? Are some of us blessed with certain genetic 'gifts'? Science journalist David Shenk argues that intelligence and talent are not predetermined to the extent that is often claimed, and that we should be aware of how to influence interactions between our genes and our environment. The book's first part sets out this thesis, while the second part provides full details of the evidence used.