Fatal Attraction: Magnetic Mysteries of the Enlightenment

Science & Math

Fara, Patricia

History & Philosophy

Icon Books Ltd.

Things I Wish I'd Known: Women tell the truth about motherhood

Parenting & Relationships

Victoria Young

Family Relationships

Einstein's Masterwork: 1915 and the General Theory of Relativity

In 1915, Albert Einstein unveiled his masterwork – a theory, in his words, ‘of incomparable beauty’: the General Theory of Relativity. It is sometimes overshadowed – wrongly, argues John Gribbin – by his work of 1905, the Special Theory of Relativity and E = mc². Just over 100 years later, the first direct detection of gravitational radiation is seen as the ultimate proof of the General Theory’s accuracy. The General Theory describes the evolution of the Universe, black holes, the behaviour of orbiting neutron stars, and why clocks run slower on Earth than in space. It even suggests the possibility of time travel. In this ‘beautifully written and highly accessible account of the genesis of a great theory’ (Physics World), Gribbin vividly illustrates what an incomparable scientist Albert Einstein really was.

Biographies & Memoirs

Gribbin, John.

Professionals & Academics

The New Wild: Why Invasive Species Will Be Nature's Salvation

Veteran environmental journalist Fred Pearce used to think of invasive species as evil interlopers spoiling pristine ‘natural’ ecosystems. Most conservationists would agree. But what if traditional ecology is wrong, and true environmentalists should be applauding the invaders? In The New Wild, Pearce goes on a journey to rediscover what conservation should really be about. He explores ecosystems from Pacific islands to the Australian outback to the Thames estuary, digs into the questionable costs of invader species, and reveals the outdated intellectual sources of our ideas about the balance of nature. Keeping out alien species looks increasingly flawed. The new ecologists looking afresh at how species interact in the wild believe we should celebrate the dynamism of alien species and the novel ecosystems they create. In an era of climate change and widespread ecological damage, we must find ways to help nature regenerate. Embracing the ‘new wild’ is our best chance.

The New Wild: Why invasive species will be nature's salvation

Pearce, Fred

Biological Sciences

‘Stylish and wittily written … a brilliant read that should encourage us all to challenge the cult of youth, and learn to love ourselves a little more along the way.’ My Weekly  There’s nothing middle-of-the-road about middle age. From coping with bodies that are ‘heading south’ to rampant ageism in the workplace, this time in our lives, in the words of Bette Davis, ‘is no place for sissies’.   From family, finances and work to cosmetics, fashion and sex, 60-year-old Helen Walmsley-Johnson – the irrepressible voice behind the much-loved Guardian column ‘The Vintage Years’ – shows, with warmth and a wicked sense of humour, how we can reinvent middle age for the next generation of women.

The Invisible Woman: Taking on the Vintage Years

Politics & Social Sciences

Walmsley-Johnson, Helen

Social Sciences

Here She Comes Now: Women in Music Who Have Changed Our Lives

Arts & Photography

Music

Man Up: Surviving Modern Masculinity

Jack-Urwin

Restless Creatures: The Story of Life in Ten Movements

A billion-year history of movement, from bacteria to Olympic athletes. 'Packed with revelations, scholarly but clear, Restless Creatures carries you from the kinetics of the amoeba to that of the blue whale, from the swim-cycle of spermatozoa, to why skipping works best on the moon. A pop-science treat.' Gavin Francis, author of Adventures in Human Being Despite the overwhelming diversity of life on earth, one theme has dominated its evolution: the apparently simple act of moving from one place to another. Restless Creatures is the first book for a general audience telling the incredible story of locomotion in human and animal evolution. Evolutionary biologist Matt Wilkinson traces this 4-billion-year history, showing why our ancestors became two-legged, how movement explains why we have opposable thumbs and a backbone, how fish fins became limbs, how even trees are locomotion-obsessed, and how movement has shaped our minds as well as our bodies. He explains why there are no flying monkeys or biological wheels, how dinosaurs took to the air, how Mexican waves were the making of the animal kingdom, and why moving can make us feel good. Restless Creatures opens up an astonishing new perspective that little in evolution makes sense unless in the light of movement.

Matt Wilkinson

Jane Austen, the Secret Radical

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.

Helena Kelly

Vincigliata Castle, a menacing medieval fortress set in the beautiful Tuscan hills, has become a very special prisoner of war camp on Benito Mussolini’s personal order. Within are some of the most senior officers of the Allied army, guarded by almost two hundred Italian soldiers and a vicious fascist commando who answers directly to “Il Duce” Mussolini himself. Their unbelievable escape, told by Mark Felton in Castle of the Eagles, is a little-known marvel of World War II. By March 1943, the plan is ready: this extraordinary assemblage of middle-aged POWs has crafted civilian clothes, forged identity papers, gathered rations, and even constructed dummies to place in their beds, all in preparation for the moment they step into the tunnel they have been digging for six months. How they got to this point and what happens after is a story that reads like fiction, supported by an eccentric cast of characters, but is nonetheless true to its core.

Castle of the Eagles: Escape from Mussolini’s Colditz

History

Felton, Mark

Europe

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