Category: News

Department of Education hails ‘honest and engaging’ approach to grammar, as bestselling book is introduced to curriculum.

After prolonged negotiations with ministers from DfE and head teachers across the country, Icon Books announce today that Simon Griffin’s Fucking Apostrophes is to be introduced as part of the school curriculum for Key Stage 1 and 2 pupils, commencing Autumn 2017.

The publisher will initially be producing a substantial print-run of the existing text for KS2 children in time for the new academic year, with plans for a milder, censored version being introduced in 2018 for KS1. Coverage will start at 74% of primary schools, hopefully rising to complete coverage by 2021.

The move comes after independent research revealed that fewer than 15% of the UK’s schoolchildren manage to use apostrophes correctly, with a shocking 27% still unable to differentiate between your and you’re by the age of 16.

Griffin’s book became a bestseller in late 2016, and was widely recognised by education figures and thought leaders as an influential work of significance and importance.


Junior Minister for the Department of Education Ian Mulholme expressed his approval: ‘We’re aware of the sensitive nature of the book, but we believe no other word truly captures the frustration felt over apostrophes better than the word “fucking”. We’d also like to reassure parents that no child under the age of seven will be exposed to the full, uncensored version of the book.’

Head teachers have also been quick to show their support. Adrienne Blackburn, Head of Irewood Primary School in Surrey, believes it’s a positive step: ‘Many of the pupils are already using this kind of language on an hourly basis, so it makes sense to talk to them on their level. If they’re going to be using such profanities, they might as well be used in a fucking productive manner.’

Griffin was inspired to write the book when his eight-year-old daughter said during her homework that ‘the fucking things are doing me head in’, he says. ‘Through social media and online forums our children’s use of profanities has improved massively over recent years, but their grasp of apostrophes has remained static. The book was simply my way of redressing that balance.’

In advance of the KS2 school edition the book is available in all good bookshops, priced £6.99.

Icon is shortlisted for IPG Independent Trade Publisher of the Year!

We are delighted to have been shortlisted for Independent Trade Publisher of the Year in the IPG’s Independent Publishing Awards 2017.

Coming at the start of our 25th anniversary year, and following a record 2016, the shortlisting is a proud moment for the company.

The IPG judges said of us:

‘Icon Books celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2017, following a best ever year in 2016. Its publishing was often proactive and imaginative, exemplified by a book on Leicester City’s Premier League triumph, and it was backed up by committed publicity work. “Icon has the gumption to publish into categories that are often dominated by bigger publishers, and many of its most successful books have come from its own initiative.”’

The awards are announced at the IPG annual conference on Thursday 9th February. Read more about the shortlists here – and wish us luck!

Jane Austen, The Secret Radical

Jane Austen, the Secret Radical jacket cover

AUTHOR HELENA KELLY SEARCHES FOR THE REAL JANE AUSTEN

‘However well you think you know the novels, you’ll be raring to read them again once you’ve read this.’
Caroline Sanderson, The Bookseller

Almost everything we know about Jane Austen is wrong. Her novels don’t confine themselves to grand houses and they were not written for readers’ enjoyment. She writes about serious subjects and her books are deeply subversive.

We just don’t read her properly – and we haven’t been reading her properly for 200 years. Jane Austen, The Secret Radical puts that right.

In her first, brilliantly original book, Austen expert Helena Kelly introduces the reader to a passionate woman living in an age of revolution; to a writer who used what was regarded as the lightest of literary genres, the novel, to grapple with the weightiest of subjects – feminism, slavery, abuse, the treatment of the poor, the power of the Church, even evolution – at a time, and in a place, when to write about such things directly was akin to treason.

Uncovering a radical, spirited and politically engaged woman, this book will encourage Austen fans to read her all over again.

The Book: Jane Austen, The Secret Radical by Helena Kelly is published on 3rd November (Hardback, £20)

Events: Helena Kelly will be discussing her book at the following venues:

 

5000-1: The Leicester City Story

The incredible as-it-happened story of Leicester City’s march to Premier League victory

5000-1: The Leicester City Story jacket coverWe are thrilled to be publishing 5000-1: The Leicester City Story on 26th May to mark an amazing moment in sporting history.

In August 2015 bookmakers William Hill priced Leicester at 5000-1 to win the Premier League – the same odds as Elvis being
found alive.

On 2 May 2016, the impossible happened – Leicester won, to ecstatic celebrations in the city and around the world.

Detailing the key matches and turning points, author Rob Tanner, Leicester Mercury’s chief football writer, tells the inside story of Leicester City’s heroic year of triumph – and the players who under Claudio Ranieri’s inspired leadership became the most unlikely champions in football history.

Includes a foreword from Sky Sports‘ Alan Smith

Read an extract

Buy a copy

 

New Books published in March!

We have four brand new books to share with you, all published this month.

First up, we’re thrilled to be publishing We Have A Deal by acclaimed negotiation expert Natalie Reynolds, who will teach you how to avoid common pitfalls, keep cool and in control, and achieve what you want, every time – whether you’re responsible for large deals at work or simply renegotiating your phone contract.

Then we have a stunning piece of nature writing in Adrift, an incredibly sensory journey, tracing Helen’s journey over the course of a year from deep winter to late autumn, from east to west, taking you on a tour of the people, politics, history and wildlife of London’s canals and rivers.

We’re also publishing The 50 Most Influential Britons of The Last 100 Years, a whistle-stop tour through recent British history, as well Positive Psychology: A toolkit for happiness, purpose and well-being. It is the perfect concise start to making your life better.

For more information about all future releases and competitions, make sure you sign up to our newsletter.

All books are available in all good bookshops and as an eBook. Head over to @iconbooks to see how you can win all of our new books this month!

Adrift

Adrift: A Secret Life of London’s Waterways

by Helen Babbs

Today is the publication day of Adrift: A Secret Life of London’s Waterways, a new book by London-based writer Helen Babbs.

Here at Icon Books, we’ve loved working on Adrift and with Helen Babbs, and we wanted to give you a flavour of what’s to come.

snoops

“It was a dark and stormy night.” It’s a well-known opening line and though now something of a cliché, it never ceases to draw me in. Who doesn’t love a stormy night? If, that is, you have the opportunity of curling up in a warm, dry spot with a good book.

With Adrift, Helen Babbs gives us both of these things: a dark and stormy opening scene, and a good book to get us through it. In her beautiful rhythmic style she draws us onto her boat, Pike, dashing all images of harlequin canal boats and bucolic waterway scenes:

 

It’s dark out. In here it’s warm and orange-lit, flickering. The smell is wet coal and woodsmoke. The sound, violent: high-pitched whistles and metallic cracks. The boat shifts and shudders, moans and rolls, more like a ship at sea than a broad barge on a narrow river. Dislocated branches suck across the Lea at speed, dragging their claws over the roof before rushing mad into the marshes. Suddenly there’s a smash and scraping overhead as the wind grabs hold of the chimney’s hat, rips it off and carries it, bouncing, away. The fire shudders in the stove, spits and starts, then settles again into its gentle, giving roar. Sometimes it’s possible to forget this is a home without bricks, that she floats free of foundations. Not tonight. Tonight she is a tin drum, beaten by a thousand furious drumsticks. Tonight she is the weather’s toy, to toss and whip at will.

adrift 

The rest of the book takes you on a journey that is just as sensory, tracing Helen’s journey over the course of a year from deep winter to late autumn, from east to west, taking you on a tour of the people, politics, history and wildlife of London’s canals and rivers.

We were delighted to bring May van Millingen to the project too, who brought to life some of the book’s waterways and stopping points in six illustrated maps, helping readers to navigate Helen’s journey and bringing to life the bats and herons, gas holders and cemeteries.

 

Adrift publishes in Hardback and E-book on 4 March 2016 and is available at all good bookstores.

ISBN: 9781848319202

Price: £16.99

See more at: http://www.iconbooks.com/blog/title/adrift

Announcing Queer

9781785780714 (1)IN LGBT HISTORY MONTH, ICON BOOKS ACQUIRE A GROUNDBREAKING NON-FICTION COMIC BOOK ON LGBTQ+ HISTORY.

Kiera Jamison, commissioning editor at Icon Books, has acquired world rights in all languages to QUEER: A GRAPHIC HISTORY by activist-academic Meg-John Barker and illustrator Julia Scheele.

Queer: A Graphic History is a groundbreaking non-fiction comic book that tells the histories of queer thought and activism. At its heart are questions and ideas relevant to everybody, such as whether we have fixed identities, understanding gender as a performance, and challenging binaries such as gay/straight or nature/nurture.

Bringing together pop-culture, activism and academic theory, Queer: A Graphic History explores the various ways in which people have wrestled with issues of sexual identity and behaviour, from studies like Alfred Kinsey’s view of sexuality as a spectrum, to Johnson and Masters’ research into sexual response. It also explores queer moments or directions in everything from Sherlock Holmes to Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz.

queer umbrella 1

Barker says, ‘This book is about making queer theory and queer activism accessible to a wide audience. There are some hugely useful ideas in queer thought that rarely get out to the people who might benefit from them, because the language can be pretty dense or because people think it won’t be relevant unless they identify as queer. I’m also a huge comics fan, so the possibility of having my words illustrated by Julia was extremely exciting.’

‘Meg-John has written an introduction to queer theory and activism that breaks out of the topic’s usual academic confines and is clever and witty,’ says Jamison. ‘Together with Julia’s cool illustrations, it will raise a lot of smiles and, hopefully, change the way many people think about LGBTQ identity, culture and history. It’s safe to say this is the only book you’ll read this year that sees Lady Gaga facing off to Foucault, and Miley Cyrus’s wrecking ball tearing into gender constructs.’

queer umbrella 2

Queer: A Graphic History will appeal to anyone interested in LGBTQ issues and stories, fans of Orange is the New Black, The Danish Girl or Alison Bechdel’s comics, and anyone interested in queer, gender or critical theories, indeed anyone interested in seeing culture and society from a different perspective.

Icon will publish as an £11.99 paperback (254 x 177mm), and as an ebook, in September 2016.

Icon Books – Advent Calendar

Behind door #1, a copy of every book we’ve published in the last two months!

Win this stack of eight books on our Twitter page!

So Christmas is here. And what better way to celebrate than with a bookish advent calendar?

So every day we’ll be giving away a book or book-related gift. Behind every door is something different, so keep an eye out on our website and our Twitter for new and exciting prizes each day until Christmas.

Behind the first door, we’re giving away a copy of every book we’ve published in November and December this year. You have until midnight tonight to enter with the winner to be announced on Wednesday morning… where we’ll open another door and give away another wonderful prize.

If you’ve been barking up the wrong tree at dinner parties, you can let Hubert van den Bergh and Thomas W. Hodgkinson show you How to Sound Cultured (‘Damn, all my cheating secrets revealed. In book form’ Stephen Fry). For more dinner party ammo, there’s the ultimate science quiz book, How Many Moons Does the Earth Have? by Brian Clegg.

There’s a fantastic biography of a 19th-century Parisian courtesan who harbours an incredible secret in The Mistress of Paris by Catherine Hewitt and for the Gardens and Antiques lovers in your life, there’s Allum’s Antiques Almanac 2016 from BBC Antiques Roadshow specialist Marc Allum and The Sceptical Gardener from the Telegraph’s gardening expert Ken Thompson.

Brand new this month from sports writer Luca Caioli is the greatest rivalry in football’s history, Messi vs Ronaldo. Two of the world’s greatest ever players compared and contrasted in this wonderful new book. And finally, new in paperback we have a inspiring tale of survival during World War Two, Beyond the Call by Lee Trimble with Jeremy Dronfield and some mind-bending Oxford and Cambridge Questions in So, You Think You’re Clever? by John Farndon.

All books available in all good bookshops and as an eBook. Head over to @iconbooks to see how you can win our new titles!

How to Sound Cultured – Radio 4

Master the 250 names that intellectuals love to drop into conversation

How to Sound Cultured by Thomas W. Hodgkinson and Hubert van den Burgh is published today and we’re very excited.

Aside from the already receiving fantastic coverage, including this Sunday Times article Where are the British intellectuals?’ as well as this piece in the Sunday Herald, Thomas appeared on the Today show on Radio 4.

Which philosopher had the maddest hairstyle? Which novelist drank 50 cups of black coffee every day? What on earth did Simone de Beauvoir see in Jean-Paul Sartre?

How to Sound Cultured offers a wry and yet profoundly useful look inside the mirrored palaces of high culture. Covering such inscrutable characters as Heidegger, Montaigne, Kahlo and Lévi-Strauss (apparently not just a designer of jeans), inscrutable polymaths Thomas W. Hodgkinson and Hubert van den Bergh – the author of the acclaimed How to Sound Clever – have done the hard work of sorting the cultural wheat from the chaff.

Read this book and you’ll never again mistake Rimbaud for Rambo or Georg Lukacs for George Lucas, you’ll know precisely when to drop Foucault’s name into a conversation and how to pronounce ‘Borgesian’, and you’ll learn many more essential pointers for the intellectual life.

Zizek

How to Sound Cultured is available now as a £12.99 hardback, and as an ebook.

ICON BOOKS AQUIRES EXPERT GUIDE TO NEGOTIATING

Kiera Jamison, commissioning editor at Icon Books, has bought World rights in all languages to WE HAVE A DEAL: HOW TO NEGOTIATE WITH INTELLIGENCE, FLEXIBILITY AND POWER by negotiation expert Natalie Reynolds. Jamison bought the book directly from the author.

Natalie Reynolds specialises in negotiation, commercial dispute resolution and governance. She is the founder of negotiation consultancy advantageSPRING and counts the BBC, JP Morgan, DLA Piper and the European Investment Bank among her clients. She has advised the UN and provides pro-bono negotiation support to Human Rights Watch, the NSPCC and UN Women. She also runs a hugely popular gender workshop, ‘Is Negotiation a Man’s Game?’, and has published articles in the Guardian and the Huffington Post.

WE HAVE A DEAL argues that negotiation is the most important skill you can develop to get what you want in business and life. But we often struggle to do it effectively, or try to avoid it altogether. In this book Reynolds steers us through the steps of successful negotiations, from understanding underlying motivations, to avoiding pitfalls and stereotyping, to getting what you want, every time.

Kiera said: ‘Natalie is an inspiring and empowering speaker; I’m delighted that we can now capture her expertise and share it with readers. As the diverse audiences she speaks to and trains can attest, her approach has something for everyone: from a new-starter at work to a seasoned CEO. Icon Books is building a great base of motivational business authors, and we’re so lucky to have Natalie join us.’

Natalie said: ‘I’ve long admired Icon’s publishing, particularly their recent success with Graham Allcott’s How to Be a Productivity Ninja; so they were a natural choice for my first book. From Brexit to securing a pay rise, negotiation is in the headlines, and this is the right time for my book. I’m enjoying working with Kiera and the Icon team, planning an exciting international launch – it’s time for negotiation to take centre stage!’

Icon will publish as a £12.99 trade paperback, and as an ebook, in March 2016.

 

Man Up – a ground-breaking new book on masculinity from a 23-year old journalist

Jack Urwin – author of Man Up

Tom Webber, commissioning editor at Icon Books, has bought UK & Commonwealth rights from Juliet Pickering at Blake Friedmann to MAN UP: Surviving Modern Masculinity by Jack Urwin. Audible have bought unabridged audio rights from Juliet Pickering, to publish simultaneously in June 2016.

Urwin’s article in Vice last year – A Stiff Upper Lip is Killing British Men – went viral on publication and was praised by Irvine Welsh as ‘fabulous’, and by feminist journalist and author Laurie Penny as ‘the brilliant, personal, not-actually-sexist writing by millennials about masculinity and politics that the world has been waiting for’.

Man Up explores why masculinity – for all of its positive achievements – is currently in crisis, and what it means to be a man now. There’s no doubt about that crisis, either: suicide is currently the main cause of death among men between the ages of 18-49 in the UK, according to the Office for National Statistics.

As commentators like Matt Haig have repeatedly said, men are now facing up to the challenges that their gender presents, and as more books are published about women, by women, men are struggling to be part of a similar conversation about the future of their gender.

Inspired in part by his own father’s premature death when Jack was nine, and his subsequent struggles with depression in his teens and early twenties – to which his inability to communicate emotionally was a major contributing factor – Man Up expands on Urwin’s personal experiences, and delves further into the historical causes of toxic male behaviour in both biological and sociological contexts.

In the book, Jack traces crises of masculinity from our grandfathers’ inability to verbalise the horrors of war and the decline of the working class in the latter part of the 20th century, to the mob mentality displayed on the football terraces, and the disturbing rise of mental health problems among men today. He also looks at the wider impact wrought by reinforcement of such rigid definitions of masculinity, harming not only heterosexual men but also the women and LGBT people around them.

Smart, funny and friendly, Man Up is the start of an essential conversation for men, exploring why we have perpetuated various myths of masculinity – and how we can challenge it, and change it.

‘This won’t be the only voice discussing men and masculinity in 2016 – there seem to be few more contemporary topics – but Jack’s is definitely unique’’ Webber says. ‘His writing is extremely resonant and clear, and as well as coming from his own traumatic experiences as a child and teenager, it shows a wisdom that belies his age. We think he’s going to be a star and that this book will only be the beginning of his rise to fame’

Jack Urwin says ‘This is a book from the heart and I’m really looking forward to adding what I can to the debate about masculinity. Icon have a great reputation for books about big ideas, and having already seen how receptive Tom and his colleagues are, I’m more than confident they’ll be the perfect publisher.’

Icon will publish as a paperback and as an ebook on 2nd June 2016.

 

Love Among the Ruins

Love Among the Ruins – A memoir of life and love in Hamburg, 1945

We’re incredibly excited to announce the publication of Love Among the Ruins by Harry Leslie Smith, author of Harry’s Last Stand.

Harry Leslie Smith‘s Guardian articles have been shared almost a quarter of a million times on Facebook and have attracted huge comment and debate. His book Harry’s Last Stand attracted huge praise, with Annie Lennox saying that Harry ‘is absolutely one of my heroes. Everyone should read this and be humbled. Now the 92-year activist and author presents a unique memoir, announced on BookBrunch earlier today.

‘I say accept love as it comes and accept love as it goes because it is the only currency that never devalues us.’

At 22, the war is over for RAF serviceman Harry Leslie Smith – the now 92-year-old activist and author of the acclaimed Harry’s Last Stand – but the battle for love and hope rages on.

Stationed in occupied Hamburg, a city physically and emotionally ripped apart by Allied bombing, and determined to escape the grinding poverty of his Yorkshire youth, Harry unexpectedly finds a reason to stay: a young German woman by the name of Friede.

As their love develops, they must face both German suspicion and British disapproval of relations with ‘the enemy’.

Harry’s ardent, straight-from-the-heart memoir brings to life a city reduced to rubble, populated with refugees, black marketeers, corrupt businessmen and cynical soldiers. It’s a unique snapshot of a terrible period in Europe’s history, and a passionate love letter to a city, to a woman, and to life itself.

Love Among the Ruins will be published in August 2015 and will be available in paperback, as an ebook and as an audiobook.

New Books published in June!

We have three brand new books to share with you, all published this month.

June titles2First up, we’re thrilled to be publishing The Invisible Woman by Helen Walmsley-Johnson. From the irrepressible voice behind the much-loved Guardian column ‘The Vintage Years’ comes a clarion call for any woman who neither wants to be told constantly to look younger, nor is ready to join the ‘cardigan and slippers brigade’.

Then we have two new paperbacks. Up first is the thrilling And Some Fell on Stony Ground, a visceral and affecting fictionalised report of a bombing mission, from Leslie Mann, a former tailgunner shot down over Germany in the Second World War.

Also published in June, acclaimed popular science author Brian Clegg demonstrates how quantum physics underpins everyday life in The Quantum Age.

 

And finally, don’t forget to check out our brand new catalogue to see what else we’re publishing all the way to the end of the year!

For more information about all future releases and competitions, make sure you sign up to our newsletter.

All books are available in all good bookshops and as an eBook. Head over to @iconbooks to see how you can win all of our new books this month!

New Books published in May!

We have a bundle of great books to share with you, all published this month!

First up, we’re thrilled to be publishing Einstein’s Masterwork. John Gribbin puts Einstein’s astonishing breakthrough in the context of his life and work, and makes it clear why his greatest year was indeed 1915. Later in the month, published on the 14th May, former England captain and Ashes winner David Gower takes a leap of faith and names his 50 Greatest Cricketers of All Time.

New in paperback is the thrilling Zero Night, the untold story of the Second World War’s most daring escape by Mark Felton.

We have two brand new 30-Second books: Evolution and Twentieth Century and don’t miss the re-issue of Introducing Jung: A Graphic Guide which landed this month!

And finally, you can check out our brand new catalogue to see what else we’re publishing all the way to the end of the year!

All books are available in all good bookshops and as an eBook. Head over to @iconbooks to see how you can win all of our new books this month!

New Books published in March!

 We have five more great reads to share with you, all published this month!

 

First up is Junk DNA, A Journey Through the Dark Matter of the Genome by Nessa Carey. From the author of the acclaimed The Epigenetics Revolution (‘A book that would have had Darwin swooning’ – Guardian) comes another thrilling exploration of the cutting edge of human science. Watch Nessa as she tells us why you need to get to grips with Junk DNA.

Study smarter. Focus better. Achieve more. How to be a Knowledge Ninja will show you how. With Graham Allcott, the author who told us all how to get our inbox down to zero in How to be a Productivity Ninja, you can master the ninja approach to studying.

In Girls Uninterrupted, Tanith Carey lays out the steps for building strong girls in a challenging world. Whether they are praised for being pretty rather than smart, or accused of being ‘bossy’ rather than leaders, teaching girls how to be comfortable with themselves has never been more challenging. Laid out in clear simple steps, Girls Uninterrupted shows the practical strategies you need to create a carefree childhood for your daughters and ultimately help build them into the healthy, resilient women they deserve to be.

Women tell the truth about motherhood in Things I Wish I’d Known. Edited by Victoria Young and featuring a stellar cast of contributions from Cathy Kelly, Adele Parks, Kathy Lette and many more, this is a reassuring, moving and often hilarious collection that will speak to mothers – and mothers-to-be – everywhere.

Also published this month is A King in Hiding. The story of how Fahim, a child refugee, became a world chess champion. This is a very modern fairyale, told through the clear eyes of a child, Fahim’s tale is not only a moving account of the grim realities that underlie a supposedly caring society, but also a heartwarming testimony to a father’s determination, the kindness of strangers, and one small boy’s courageous will to succeed.

All books are available in all good bookshops and as an eBook. Head over to @iconbooks to see how you can win all of our new books this month!

New Books published in February!

We have four more great reads to share with you, all published this month!

Feb books

First up is I, Superorganism, by Jon Turney.

Every human body carries a secret cargo: a huge population of micro-organisms that lives in your mouth and nose, on your skin, in your guts. This is the human microbiome and this is the focus of Jon Turney’s cutting-edge work, the first book-length account of a new, thrilling realm of human biology.

Learn about the true make-up of the machine you call a body, question the impact of human habits on the functioning of this ecosystem and see yourself in a new (microscopic) light with I, Superorganism.

Find out more and follow Jon on Twitter @jonWturney

 

In It’s Not About the Shark, David Niven explores the theory that having absolute confidence in finding a solution can actually hide answers. Learn how putting problems at the centre of our thoughts serves to shut down our creative abilities, deplete stamina and feed insecurities, and discover how to transform your daily life with a simple but rock-solid principle: If you start thinking about your problems, you’ll never make it to a solution. If you start thinking about a solution, you’ll never worry about your problems again.

‘In this useful tome, Niven gives unusual, yet eminently practical, problem-solving advice . . . This fresh, enthusiastic approach to problem-solving will encourage readers to open themselves up to opportunity and make for a valuable addition to anyone’s self-help shelf.’ Publishers Weekly

‘David Niven will help you think more, panic less, dream bigger, and WIN.’ Bob Danzig, former CEO, Hearst Newspapers

Find out more… and follow David on Twitter @davidnivenphd

Also released this month is Beyond the Call, a cinematic, inspiring tale of the hitherto unknown hero, veteran 8th Air Force Bomber pilot Captain Robert Trimble. Written by the Captain’s own son with the help of British historian Jeremy Dronfield, this daring account tells of wit, courage and a determination to do good in the midst of a terrible war. Embark upon an undercover mission with Trimble as he faces up to a terrifying foe and fights to save hundreds of lives, whilst trying to find his way home to his wife and

‘Beyond the Call is the brilliantly told, fast-paced true story of a remarkable young man… Nerve-wracking, informative, yet profoundly moving, Beyond the Call is a truly inspiring book.’ Susan Ottaway, author of Sisters, Secrets, and Sacrifice

Find out more… and follow Lee and Jeremy on Twitter@BeyondCall

With expert advice, practical exercises and a real-world focus, Introducing Well-being will help you become more energised, optimise your mental and physical health and discover happiness and fulfilment Read more about the Introducing Practical Guide series and follow us on Twitter.

All books are available in all good bookshops and as an eBook. Head over to @iconbooks to see how you can win our new titles!

New Books published in January!

Happy 2015! We have our first five books of the year to share with you, all published this month!

Jan books

Denmark is officially the happiest nation on Earth, so when journalist Helen Russell finds herself spending a year in rural Jutland, she decides she’ll do all she can to uncover the secrets of the Danes’ happiness. But will the long, dark winters and pickled herring take their toll?

‘A lovely mix of English sensibility and Danish pragmatism. Helen seems to have understood more about the Danish character than I have! My only worry is that it will make everyone want to have a go and my holiday home area will get overcrowded.’ Sandi Toksvig

Find out more and follow Helen on Twitter @MsHelenRussell

detox

Discover the much-advertised antioxidants that aren’t good for you, the truth about fat and sugar, how likely it is that toast will fall butter side down, and why buses will actually come in threes. This is a reference tool for informed modern living that separates scientific truth from media myth

In Science for Life, Brian Clegg cuts through the vested interests and confusing contradictory statements that litter the media and the internet, to give a clear picture of what science is telling us right now about changing our lives for the better. ‘At last – the straight facts on everything – subject by subject – that affects our lives today, written in a clear and accessible style. Brilliant!’ Aggie MacKenzie, Presenter, Channel 4’s How Clean is Your House?

But that’s not all from Brian Clegg this month, we’ve also published a new edition of his best loved books – Light Years – the story of light and the people who were determined to unlock the secrets of one of the greatest puzzles of the Universe. ‘A fascinating book on a fascinating subject. It brings together all aspects of light in an unusual and compelling way.’ Sir Patrick Moore Find out more… and follow Brian on Twitter @BrianClegg

Rasmus Ankerson’s The Gold Mine Effect, now in paperback, shows us how to crack the secrets of high performance. We all want to discover our hidden talents and make an impact with them. But how? Rasmus Ankersen, an ex-footballer and performance specialist, quit his job and for six intense months lived with the world’s best athletes in an attempt to answer this question. ‘[A] great read and a fascinating insight into performance.’ Sir Clive Woodward

With expert advice, practical exercises and a real-world focus,Introducing Personal Finance will help you control your spending behaviour, simplify your spending behaviour and make your money work for you. Read more about the Introducing Practical Guide series and follow us on Twitter.

All books are available in all good bookshops and as an eBook. Head over to @iconbooks to see how you can win our new titles!

New Books published in November

Just look at all these books we published this month!

November wout boxsetsHow do you poison someone without the police finding out? Which way is the earth spinning? Instead of politicians, why don’t we let the managers of IKEA run the country? And most importantly, Do You STILL Think You’re Clever? From the ever-curious mind that brought you the bestselling Do You Think You’re Clever? comes a brand-new trip into the far reaches of the intellectual universe, courtesy of even more notoriously provocative Oxbridge interview questions.

In Geoff Hurst’s 50 Greatest Footballers, we have the perfect stocking filler. Sir Geoff Hurst, from his vantage point as a true national hero and international football ambassador – and still the only man ever to score a hat-trick in a World Cup Final – risks controversy as he narrows down football’s finest to a select 50 in this brilliant new book

Allum’s Antiques Almanac 2015 is the first annual compendium of stories and facts from the world of art and antiques, by BBC Antiques Roadshow regular Marc Allum. Find out, amongst other things, what Lee Harvey Oswald’s wedding ring sold for – and what he paid for it, why someone was prepared to pay over £3 million for the miniature effigy of a dashing bodyguard. But that’s not all from Marc Allum this month: The Antiques Magpie, a compendium of absorbing history, stories and facts from the world of antiques, is now in paperback!

Ask John is no-nonsense business advice from John Timpson, Chairman of the eponymous high street chain, from his much-admired Daily Telegraph column. From why low cost will never be a real substitute for proper customer service to the etiquette of employing interns, John’s honest, common-sense business advice should be required reading for anyone running a business – whatever the size. Ask John is available in paperback for the special price of £9.99 from The Daily Telegraph.

Sciku: The Wonder of Science – in Haiku! Written by Students of the Camden School for Girls. Sciku brings together more than 400 revealing, poignant, witty haiku on scientific subjects. These poems show that science may have given us the atom bomb, the laptop and the artificial heart but that it remains elegiac, enigmatic and often mind-bogglingly beautiful. Find them on Twitter @Scikugirls.

November just boxsetsA Burglar Caught by A Skeleton by Jeremy Clay is new in paperback. HOLIDAYMAKER FIGHTS OFF AFRICAN LION IN WELSH HOTEL ROOM and other extraordinary, bizarre and often morbidly funny stories from the depths of the Victorian press. This is the perfect stocking filler for the morbidly inclined.

And don’t forget the two boxsets: Mark Forsyth’s Ternion Set, a beautiful box set containing The Etymologicon, The Horologicon and The Elements of Eloquence in hardback. Finally, there’s A Charm of Magpies, give the gift of the Magpie with this beautiful collection of three fascinating miscellanies. Containing, The Science Magpie, The Nature Magpie and The Antiques Magpie.

All books available in all good bookshops and as an eBook. Head over to @iconbooks to see how you can win our new titles!

The Invisible Woman

The Invisible Woman – How to Navigate the Vintage Years

We’re incredibly excited to announce the publication of The Invisible Woman – How to Navigate the Vintage Years by Helen Walmsley Johnson.

From the author of the Guardian’s popular ‘The Vintage Years’ column comes a rallying call to sanity for those women who refuse to become part of the ‘slippers and cardigans brigade’ – but also resent the expectation to cling desperately to their youth and insist on being ‘young at heart’.

Sixty is the new forty, we’re constantly told. Or is it that seventy is the new fifty?

Covering topics from family, finances and work to cosmetics, fashion and sex, The Invisible Woman – which is also Helen’s Guardian column nom de plume – is a new sort of book about ageing; one that teaches us not how to avoid it, but how to enjoy it, grow with it and thrive.

Commissioning Editor Kate Hewson says: ‘​​The Invisible Woman is a vital, timely book about how to navigate that stage of life when women – no longer blushing brides or mothers of children – seem to somehow disappear from public life. With this book Helen takes what she has done so well as a Guardian columnist and expands it to an even wider audience – her unique skill is that she writes in a way that appeals not just to women her age, but to their partners, daughters, sons and everyone in between.​’​

The Invisible Woman will be published in June 2015 and will be available in hardback and as an ebook

Keep Your Mitts Off My NHS!

Harry Leslie Smith became even more of a star this week after his barnstorming speech in defence of the National Heath Service at the Labour Party Conference.

‘I am not a politician, a member of the elite or a financial guru, but my life is your history, and we should keep it that way. So say it loud and say it clear, in this hall and across this country: Mr. Cameron, keep your mitts off my NHS!’

Harry received two standing ovations and was the toast of the media following the 8-minute address in Manchester. Harry was on the cover of the Independent the following day, interviewed on Sky and BBC TV news, and the various videos of his speech – which is below too – have been shared widely.

We have brought forward the publication of the paperback edition of Harry’s book, Harry’s Last Stand, which will now be published on 2nd October.