Icon Jul-Dec 2022 Catalogue ()
Archives: Titles
Obsessive, Intrusive, Magical Thinking
Obsessive, Intrusive, Magical Thinking (eBook)
Marianne Eloise
'I FELT RECOGNISED ON EVERY PAGE, LEARNT SO MANY NEW THINGS, AND LAUGHED SO HARD I CHOKED ON MY WATER. READ THIS!!!' NAOISE DOLAN, AUTHOR OF EXCITING TIMES
'CANDID, WITTY … A BRAVE BOOK THAT PUTS VULNERABILITY FULLY ON SHOW' INDEPENDENT
Obsessive was, still is, my natural state, and I never wondered why. I didn't mind, didn't know that other people could feel at peace. I always felt like a raw nerve, but then, I thought that everyone did.
Writer and journalist Marianne Eloise was born obsessive. What that means changes day to day, depending on what her brain latches onto: fixations with certain topics, intrusive violent thoughts, looping phrases. Some obsessions have lasted a lifetime, while others will be intense but only last a week or two.
Obsessive, Intrusive, Magical Thinking is a culmination of a life spend obsessing, offering a glimpse into Marianne's brain, but also an insight into the lives of others like her. From death to Medusa, to Disneyland to fire, to LA to her dog, the essays explore the intersection of neurodivergence, fixation and disorder, telling the story of one life underpinned and ultimately made whole by obsession.
Marianne Eloise is a writer and journalist. She covers topics like TV, film, digital culture, neurodiversity, wellness and alternative music, for outlets including The Cut, the New York Times, Courier, Vulture, i-D, Guardian and more.
The mortifying ordeal of being known, minus the ordeal and sans mortification. I felt recognised on every page, learned so many new things, and laughed so hard I choked on my water. Read this!!!
In her candid, witty memoir, Marianne Eloise offers a powerful account of what it is like to feel trapped by mental health problems and obsessions … A brave book that puts vulnerability fully on show.
Incandescent […] Eloise's wit and grace cast her differences in a dazzling light […] the result is a rewarding navigation through the corridors of a relentlessly curious mind.
There are several shrewd observations made within this lucid and level-headed memoir. Amongst them is the way the matrix of obsession, compulsion and intrusion represents an exaggeration of conventional anxieties.
Did not disappoint […] a really good portrayal of neurodiversity in an entertaining and enjoyable way'
Lyrical, often funny, … the essays will leave readers feeling secondhand joy and maybe even encouragement to own their love for their own less-than-cool favorite things.
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The Betrayal
The Betrayal (eBook)
The True Story of My Brush with Death in the World of Narcos and Launderers
Robert Mazur
A thriller-like tale … [Mazur] is a good story-teller, with a flair for details that brings the criminal and their world to life.
A thriller-like tale … [Mazur] is a good story-teller, with a flair for details that brings the criminal and their world to life.
Bob Mazur delivers again with The Betrayal! As with its predecessor, The Infiltrator, Mazur artfully takes the reader through the harrowing account of life as an undercover cop embedded in the drug cartels. In my career I take on characters in life-or-death situations – but I just can't imagine how Mazur does it for real! Read it and find out. I highly recommend it.
The Betrayal details the malicious world of drugs, money laundering and the danger of being a DEA undercover agent infiltrating these organizations. A book you can't put down, nor will you.
The Betrayal is a page-turning thriller about a courageous agent's simultaneous journey through a deadly vise of internal corruption and the ruthless threat of cartel killers. This is the unfortunate reality of the underworld.
No one in law enforcement is more lethally vulnerable to the betrayal of those he/she depends on for support and protection then the deep cover agent; the operative who, unarmed, like a human bait, places himself into isolated situations where the only thing protecting him from an instant death is his acting ability… This book is a must read.
FATF was created to help governments follow the money and reduce the harm caused by drug traffickers and terrorists. Bob Mazur repeatedly put his life on the line to do just that. This isn't fiction. It's the real deal and scary as hell.
It is a cliché to say that such books have the pace and tension of a thriller – but in this case the cliché has force … Mazur shows extraordinary courage, and, along the way, reveals much about the labyrinthine world of high-stakes money-laundering.
The Betrayal is a page turner for sure and you won't want to put it down until it is finished … a "must read" for all.
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Game Theory
Game Theory (eBook)
Understanding the Mathematics of Life
Brian Clegg
Brian Clegg was always fascinated by Isaac Asimov's classic Foundation series of books, in which the future is predicted using sophisticated mathematical modelling of human psychology and behaviour.
Only much later did he realise that Asimov's 'psychohistory' had a real-world equivalent: game theory.
Originating in the study of probabilistic gambling games that depend on a random source – the throw of a dice or the toss of a coin – game theory soon came to be applied to human interactions: essentially, what was the best strategy to win, whatever you were doing? Its mathematical techniques have been applied, with varying degrees of wisdom, to fields such as economics, evolution, and questions such as how to win a nuclear war.
Clegg delves into game theory's colourful history and significant findings, and shows what we can all learn from this oft-misunderstood field of study.
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Xi
Xi (eBook)
A Study in Power
Kerry Brown
'Kerry Brown's Xi is the perfect primer for understanding Xi Jinping's status as China's greatest ruler since Mao and as this century's least assailable statesman' John Keay, author of China: A History
'A valuable primer for anyone looking to get up to speed on Xi Jinping's rise to global power' Jeff Wasserstrom, Guardian
'Offers a nuanced and thorough explanation of Xi's China and why the Communist Party, for all its flaws, has long life in it' Oliver Farry, Irish Times
Although Xi Jinping came to power a decade ago, he remains an enigmatic figure in the West. His priority has always been to keep Chinese society as stable as possible, steering a course through a period of astounding economic growth, while ensuring that nothing challenges the political status quo.
But with unrest stirring in Hong Kong, reports of human rights abuses taking place in the Xinjiang region and, devastatingly, the outbreak of a virus that would change the world, suddenly understanding Xi's China is more important than ever before.
In this short and timely book, academic and author Kerry Brown examines the complexities behind the man, explaining the impact that his rule is already having on the West. But who is Xi really, and what is his vision for China's future? And, crucially, what does that mean for the rest of the world?
Kerry Brown is a Professor of Chinese Studies and Director of the Lau China Institute at Kings College London. He is the author of over ten books on modern Chinese politics, history and language.
Kerry Brown's Xi is the perfect primer for understanding Xi Jinping's status as China's greatest ruler since Mao and as this century's least assailable statesman'
Brown's book provides a very readable account of Xi's childhood and rise through the ranks of the Communist party … an interesting story
A valuable primer for anyone looking to get up to speed on Xi Jinping's rise to global power
There are many books in English about Xi's China, but you'll struggle to find one on the man himself. This book by an academic who has worked and lived in China is a welcome contribution to filling that gap.
Highly readable and concise … A nuanced and thorough explanation of Xi's China and why the Communist Party, for all its flaws, has long life in it
A zesty, fast-paced, very 'human' read… What Brown does exceptionally well, though, is take the reader by the hand and lead them through the byzantine world of Chinese communist politics. He is Virgil to the reader's Dante ushering them through the underworld – through the inferno, the Divine Comedy, of totalitarianism… [a] forensic political account
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The Year of the Robin
The Year of the Robin (eBook)
Watching It All Go Wrong for Charlton Athletic and the World
Jen Offord
SHORTLISTED IN THE SUNDAY TIMES SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2023 FOR NEW FEMALE SPORTS WRITING
'Jen has captured the human (and humorous) side of following a football team. A compelling story hilariously told' Sara Pascoe
'From family to football, Jen Offord has captured something we can all relate to. Funny and heartbreaking in equal measure. A must read.' Cariad Lloyd
'Hilarious and moving in equal parts' Carrie Dunn
Jen Offord watches it all go wrong for Charlton Athletic and the world.
When her beloved Charlton Athletic clinched promotion to The Championship in May 2019, sportswriter Jen Offord splashed out on season tickets for herself and her sceptical brother Michael, setting out to chronicle the south-east London outfit's first season back in the second tier of English football.
But this season, more than any other before it, would be a game of two halves. A billionaire takeover backfired spectacularly; the team plummeted into the relegation zone just as Coronavirus swept in to suspend life as we know it.
The Year of The Robin is a love letter to the power of football even when there is no football to actually watch, filled with wild characters searching for redemption and wrestling over issues of money, racism and mental health. A funny, sharp and a thought-provoking exploration of the idea of family in unprecedented times and season from which the world may never fully recover.
Jen has captured the human (and humorous) side of following a football team. A compelling story hilariously told.
From family to football, Jen Offord has captured something we can all relate to. Funny and heartbreaking in equal measure. A must read.
Hilarious and moving in equal parts, Jen Offord's The Year of the Robin is an ideal read for anyone who's loved another person, or indeed a football team…and for anyone who's lived through a pandemic.
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Raising Raffi
Raising Raffi (eBook)
A Book about Fatherhood (For People Who Would Never Read Such a Book)
Keith Gessen
'Given the bedlam it describes, Raising Raffi is impressively clear-sighted, entertaining and analytical' – Financial Times
'A wise, mild and enviably lucid book about a chaotic scene' – Dwight Garner, New York Times
'Engaging, accessible, down to earth… There is much wry humour here' – James Cook, Times Literary Supplement
Keith Gessen had always assumed that he would have kids, but couldn't imagine what parenthood would be like, nor what kind of parent he would be. Then, one Tuesday night in early June, Raffi was born, a child as real and complex and demanding of his parents' energy as he was singularly magical.
Fatherhood is another country: a place where the old concerns are swept away, where the ordering of time is reconstituted, where days unfold according to a child's needs. Like all parents, Gessen wants to do what is best for his child. But he has no idea what that is.
Written over the first five years of Raffi's life, Raising Raffi examines the profound, overwhelming, often maddening experience of being a dad. How do you instil in your child a sense of his heritage without passing on that history's darker sides? Is parental anger normal, possibly useful, or is it inevitably destructive? And what do you do, in a pandemic, when the whole world seems to fall apart? By turns hilarious and poignant, Raising Raffi is a story of what it means to invent the world anew.
A wise, mild and enviably lucid book about a chaotic scene… Gessen is a calm and observant writer – if he were a singer, he'd always come in a bit behind the beat – who raises, and struggles with, the right questions about himself and the world
Given the bedlam it describes, Raising Raffi is impressively clear-sighted, entertaining and analytical
A funny and disarmingly sweet book, Raising Raffi is written with the discipline of a committed reader who has found refuge in reading amidst the trials of parenthood, a global pandemic and the outbreak of war
Keith Gessen writes captivatingly about bringing up his son… engaging, accessible, down to earth… There is much wry humour here
A father's careful, piercing introspection, and a deep analysis of anger… Gessen writes about his temperamental, trying son with a depth that can only come from years of loving observation… Memoirs of fatherhood are rarely so honest or so blunt
I didn't know I was waiting for a book like this until I read it. Raising Raffi is original, funny, and full of heart
My brother wrote a book about my nephew, and this book made me laugh and tear up. It's a book about love: the love of a father for his child, of course, and also the love of an adult son for his parents (our parents), the love an emigre feels for the language (Russian) and culture (Soviet Jewish emigre) of his home. It's a book about the way love makes us feel powerless one minute and strong the next
Gessen offers both investigative probe and personal confession; he's both a critic and a dad… But it's one of the most honest accounts of the rage a parent can feel when personally victimized by their small children, even as they love those children with stupefying tenderness. I've never seen this reckoned with so candidly before
Raising Raffi is tender and generous
A raw, wry, introspective chronicle of the first five years of dad life… It raises profound questions about what it means to raise a boy when the old ways of being a man have been discredited and the new ones have yet to saturate. If you are a father, want to be a father, have a father, or are thinking of leaving the father of your children, then this book is for you
Parents who have doubted themselves and tried to untangle the mystery of young humans-in other words, all parents-will recognise themselves in this vulnerable and finely wrought memoir
Keith Gessen is one my favourite writers, and Raising Raffi brings to bear everything I love about him: his fierce intellect and fiercer compassion, his deep reflection and pitch-perfect humour. This fatherhood shit ain't easy, but Gessen might just help us make it through
I would read Keith Gessen writing about anything but having his curiosity trained on the thorny, existential subject of parenthood is pure heaven. I read this book about the neurosis (and the joy!) of the 21st-century parent in a fugue state, grateful to Gessen for his humour and insight
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Taking Stock
Taking Stock (eBook)
A Journey Among Cows
Roger Morgan-Grenville
'Funny, insightful and hugely informative … a charming book' DAILY MAIL
'Tremendous … We all need to take stock, and this is the ideal starting point. I learnt a lot from this book and laughed a lot too.' ROSAMUND YOUNG, author of The Secret Life of Cows
Since highland cattle ransacked his grandmother's vegetable patch when he was six, Roger Morgan-Grenville has been fascinated by cows.
So at the age of 61, with no farming experience, he signed on as a part- time labourer on a beef cattle farm to tell their side of the story. The result is this lyrical and evocative book.
For 10,000 years, cow and human lives have been intertwined. Cattle have existed alongside us, fed and shod us, quenched our thirst, and provided a thousand other tiny services, and yet most of us know little about them. We are also blissfully unaware of the de-natured lives we often ask them to lead.
Part history, part adventure and part unsentimental manifesto for how we should treat cows in the 21st century, Taking Stock asks us to think carefully about what we eat, and to let nature back into food production.
Funny, insightful and hugely informative … a charming book
Tremendous … We all need to take stock, and this is the ideal starting point. I learnt a lot from this book and laughed a lot too.
Stylishly locates the importance of the cow in absolutely everything from finance … to future food. [A] first-prize rosette for this paean to the wonderful cow, Man's other best friend.
A lyrical and evocative book
No cow could ever hope for a better appreciation of its truly unique worth.
An epic story told with warmth, wit and humanity. Will make us feel differently about these long-suffering animals.
While this book focuses on UK farming, there is plenty of information that can be appreciated regarding the cow, no matter where one is from.
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Corrections in Ink
Corrections in Ink (eBook)
Dispatches from an American Prison
Keri Blakinger
'A groundbreaking debut from an extraordinary writer … a testament to where a woman can go after rock-bottom'
PIPER KERMAN, New York Times bestselling author of ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK
Keri Blakinger's brave, brutal memoir, Corrections in Ink, is a riveting story about suffering, recovery and redemption'
DAVID SHEFF, NEW YORK TIMES
'A raw, fast-paced portrait of one woman's descent into a mental abyss'
Irish Independent
Keri Blakinger had always lived at full throttle. Whether flying through the air, chasing Olympic dreams on the ice rink; surviving on as few calories as she could; or balancing a heroin addiction with pursuing a degree at an Ivy League university. But on a cold December day, Keri is arrested with a Tupperware container full of heroin. Shortly afterwards, she is convicted and sent to prison.
Forced to confront her addiction, Keri finally manages to break free of it, and finds herself in a place unlike anything she has experienced before: a world built on senseless brutality, but whose inhabitants, her fellow inmates, will change her life forever.
Written in luminous prose, with searing honesty and flashes of dark humour, Corrections in Ink shines a light on a broken prison system, and the cruelty and kindness Blakinger experienced there. It is a radical call for justice, and a testament to the power of finding one's voice.
Keri Blakinger is a Texas-based journalist. She is a staff writer for the Marshall Project, and her work has appeared in VICE, the Washington Post Magazine, and on NBC News and the BBC. Corrections in Ink is her first book.
Corrections in Ink is a ground-breaking debut from an extraordinary writera searing work of self-examination, an inquiry of power, and a funny, provocative, and inspiring personal story of addiction, prison, and investigative journalism… a testament to where a woman can go after rock-bottom, the power to transform oneself, and the imperative to discover and tell the truth
Keri Blakinger's brave, brutal memoir, Corrections in Ink, is a riveting story about suffering, recovery and redemption… I was tempted to close the book – it's hard to witness self-harm – but Blakinger is a gifted writer and she'd ensnared me. I needed to stay with her; I wanted her to be OK… [An] inspiring and relevant memoir
Blakinger has a gift for careful, intimate writing and for a self-revelation that perhaps equals her former penchant for destructiveness… This is a raw, fast-paced portrait of one woman's descent into a mental abyss, and her efforts to clamber out of it. It's more than a tale of recovery from addiction, but also offers up a damning picture of America's flawed and chaotic corrections system – and an impassioned argument against it
A gorgeously written, page-turning memoir about addiction, prison, and privilege
It's hard to think of a reporter more deeply devoted to exposing the brokenness of the American prison system than Keri Blakinger, who in Corrections in Ink turns her journalistic eye and narrative gift to her own story – a riveting journey through the depths of addiction and incarceration
'A resonant call for criminal justice reform rings out from investigative journalist Blakinger's extraordinary debut… Chronicling in unsparing prose the cruelties she suffered for nearly two years behind bars – where "you are nothing," and "torture" prevails over "treatment" – Blakinger depicts the slow stripping away of her humanity, but she also writes of learning "how to steal joy in a place built to prevent it."… absolutely sensational'
Transferring powerful internal dialogue onto the page, Blakinger offers vulnerable, honest recollections, and a story that won't be forgotten and could even inspire much-needed change
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Inside Qatar
Inside Qatar (eBook)
Hidden Stories from One of the Richest Nations on Earth
John McManus
'A wonderful and sometimes devastating book … sophisticated, nuanced, fair-minded and yet very hard hitting' SIMON KUPER, author of SOCCERNOMICS
'This will transport you to Qatar and teach you with humanity and empathy some of the dark truths about globalisation' BEN JUDAH, author of THIS IS LONDON
'John McManus is a remarkable, compelling writer' RORY STEWART, author of THE PLACES IN BETWEEN
'Wise, well informed, fair-minded and honest' PETER OBORNE, author of THE ASSAULT ON TRUTH
AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT OF LIFE IN ONE OF THE WORLD'S RICHEST NATIONS AHEAD OF THE FIFA 2022 WORLD CUP
Just 75 years ago, the Gulf nation of Qatar was a backwater, reliant on pearl diving. Today it is a gas-laden parvenu with seemingly limitless wealth and ambition. Skyscrapers, museums and futuristic football stadiums rise out of the desert and Ferraris race through the streets. But in the shadows, migrant workers toil in the heat for risible amounts.
Inside Qatar reveals how real people live in this surreal place, a land of both great opportunity and great iniquity. Ahead of Qatar's time in the limelight as host of the 2022 FIFA Men's World Cup, anthropologist John McManus lifts a lid on the hidden worlds of its gilded elite, its spin doctors and thrill seekers, its manual labourers and domestic workers.
The sum of their tales is not some exotic cabinet of curiosities. Instead, Inside Qatar opens a window onto the global problems – of unfettered capitalism, growing inequality and climate change – that concern us all.
This is a wonderful and sometimes devastating book. John McManus takes us through Qatar from top to bottom, treating everyone he meets with equal respect no matter where they stand on the country's ethnic hierarchy that he describes so well. The book is sophisticated, nuanced, fair-minded and yet very hard-hitting, and the writing is mercifully clear.
This will transport you to Qatar and teach you with humanity and empathy some of the dark truths about globalisation.
Insightful and empathetic, McManus's conversations with Qataris and expats shed deep insight into a land of extremes. Written on the eve of hosting the World Cup, Inside Qatar tells the story of the richest, hottest country in the world as it takes global centre stage. An outstanding book.
If you want to understand Qatar read this very readable book. It is wise, well informed, fair-minded and honest about what it is like to live in this tiny city state.
John McManus is a remarkable, compelling writer – wry, alert to incongruencies, an elegant prose stylist – with an anthropologist's concern for hidden structures, and a photographer's eye for detail.
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Hothouse Earth
Hothouse Earth (eBook)
An Inhabitant’s Guide
Bill McGuire
'It's a paradox but this was one of the most chilling books I've read this year. It's the definitive guide to where we're heading' ANTHONY HOROWITZ
'The Earth is already in a dangerous phase of heating. Many scientists admit privately to actually being "scared" by recent weather extremes. But the public doesn't like pessimism, so we environment journalists hint at future optimism. This book provides a more steely-eyed view on how we can cope with a hothouse world.' – ROGER HARRABIN, former BBC Environment Analyst
'This accessible and authoritative book is a must-read for anyone who still thinks it could be OK to carry on as we are for a little bit longer, or that climate chaos might not affect them or their kids too badly.' MIKE BERNERS-LEE is a professor at Lancaster University, founder of Small World Consultancy and author of There is No Planet B: A Handbook for the Make or Break Years
'If you read just one book about the menace of climate breakdown, make it this one.' – TIM RADFORD, Climate News Network
We inhabit a planet in peril. Our once temperate world is locked on course to become a hothouse entirely of our own making.
Hothouse Earth: An Inhabitant's Guide provides a post-COP26 perspective on the climate emergency, acknowledging that it is now practically impossible to keep this side of the 1.5°C dangerous climate change guardrail. The upshot is that we can no longer dodge the arrival of disastrous, all-pervasive, climate breakdown that will come as a hammer blow to global society and economy.
Bill McGuire, Professor of Geophysical and Climate Hazards, explains the science behind the climate crisis and for the first time presents a blunt but authentic picture of the sort of world our children will grow old in, and our grandchildren grow up in; a world that we catch only glimpses of in today's blistering heatwaves, calamitous wildfires and ruinous floods and droughts. Bleak though it is, the picture is one we must all face up to, if only to spur genuine action – even at this late stage – to stop a harrowing future becoming a truly cataclysmic one.
It's a paradox but this was one of the most chilling books I've read this year. It's the definitive guide to where we're heading …
The publication of Bill McGuire's latest book, Hothouse Earth, could not be more timely. Appearing in the shops this week, it will be perused by sweltering customers who have just endured record high temperatures across the UK and now face the prospect of weeks of drought to add to their discomfort.
[A] courageous antidote to [the] problems of climate science communication. Here is someone who is not afraid to tell it as it is. Hothouse Earth provides a no punches pulled exposition of what climate breakdown actually means … excellent.
Volcanologist McGuire zeroes in on 'the core issues at the heart of the climate emergency' in this urgent survey. … This blunt and sobering look at climate change packs a punch.
Ironically, it's never been harder telling the full truth about the climate emergency. That truth is so shocking. So painful. It invites rejection. But there can be no authentic hope for a better world without that truth being unflinchingly spelled out. Thanks then to Bill McGuire for doing exactly that in Hothouse Earth – and for still leaving us with plenty of reasons to be hopeful – just so long as we get our shit sorted without any further delay.
There's a climate emergency on and our leaders haven't understood just how serious it is. In this concise book, Professor Bill McGuire expertly lays out the scale of the threat in very clear terms - including how much damage we have already done. He points out just how little time we have left to stop the climate crisis engulfing human civilisation. Every decision maker in government, business and wider society should read this book – and then act as fast as possible to reduce carbon pollution to zero.
Hothouse Earth might accurately be described as a bit of a grim read, but there is no hyperbole here. Everything in Prof. McGuire's book is solidly based upon peer-reviewed research and current observations. McGuire wants us to face up to the factsonly if we get people to feel less shy and embarrassed about talking and hearing grim do we stand a chance … For, only if we are ready to be real about our predicament have we any hope of measuring up to it. If you are after light reading, or just want to put on a happy face, don't buy this book. Only those ready for a strict diet of truth should dare open it. Hothouse Earth is an easy to understand and authoritative reference source for all things climate science. It is a very, very, sobering read. If our so-called leaders were to read it, they would adapt. They would change (or else we must change them for others up to the job). Why not buy them a copy?
It is rare indeed, for a top scientist to spell out with blunt honesty the hell that we are heading into. Bill McGuire is one of the very few.
Professor Bill McGuire has a rare talent for presenting authoritative and complex information in writing that is both accessible and enjoyably fluid. His book is convincing and passionate – an invaluable guide for those who are relatively new to the issue of climate breakdown and a useful revisor for those of us who have been reading the science for many years.
Taut, calmly told and truly terrifying – and there's no arguing with the science. If you read just one book about the menace of climate breakdown, make it this one.
A compelling clarion call for a planet in peril. If the searing science of Hothouse Earth doesn't set alarm bells ringing, then it is difficult to see what else will.
A comprehensive tour of climate breakdown, the trouble we are heading for and the many forms it might take. This accessible and authoritative book is a must-read for anyone who still thinks it could be OK to carry on as we are for a little bit longer, or that climate chaos might not affect them or their kids too badly.
The Earth is already in a dangerous phase of heating. Many scientists admit privately to actually being "scared" by recent weather extremes. But the public doesn't like pessimism, so we environment journalists hint at future optimism. This book provides a more steely-eyed view on how we can cope with a hothouse world.
Full of lively everyday images to bring the science to life … stands out for its accessible style and for the attention that it pays to a less well-known problem: how climate change could trigger earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Saving Freud
Saving Freud (eBook)
A Life in Vienna and an Escape to Freedom in London
Andrew Nagorski
'Astonishing… In the American journalist Andrew Nagorski this tale has found its ideal narrator'
SEBASTIAN FAULKS, Sunday Times
'[A] thrilling book, as edge-of-your-seat gripping as any heist movie'
Kathryn Hughes, Guardian Book of the Day
'A gripping masterpiece'
BRETT KAHR, Freud Museum London
March 1938: German soldiers are massing on the Austrian border, on the cusp of fulfilling Hitler's dream of absorbing the country into the Third Reich. Many Jews make frantic plans to flee to safety. But one of the most famous men in the world, unable to contemplate leaving his beloved Vienna, is not among them. His name is Sigmund Freud.
Saving Freud is the story of a great man's life, and of the extraordinary people who managed to prolong it, by convincing him to escape to London: the Welsh physician who brought psychoanalysis to Britain; Napoleon's great-grandniece; an American ambassador; Freud's devoted daughter, Anna; and the doctor who risked his own life by staying at Freud's side.
In examining the histories of both Freud and his closest circle, Andrew Nagorski brilliantly evokes the story of Europe in the first half of the Twentieth Century. This is a tale of a great city, a collapsing empire, a rising terror -and of a man who would change the way we think.
The astonishing story of Sigmund Freud's last-minute escape from Vienna… In the American journalist Andrew Nagorski this tale has found its ideal narrator: clear, objective and keen to keep things moving.
Andrew Nagorski has written a gripping masterpiece about one of the greatest figures in history, whose insights about human beings as "savage beasts" could not be more timely
[A] thrilling book, as edge-of-your-seat gripping as any heist movie, tells the story of how a "rescue squad" was marshalled to get Freud out of danger before it was too late
Unabashedly gripping and enjoyable, taking on the characteristics of a thriller as it builds to its denouement… Nagorski vividly evokes the atmosphere of [Vienna] in the 1930s, and especially the sudden and violent transition, after decades of resentful tolerance towards its Jewish citizens, to a mood of genocidal hostility. He also offers a tightly controlled, tension-filled account of the inexorable fall of Austria into the abyss of Nazi control
Nagorski tells a riveting new story, one that shows just how narrow Freud's escape from the Nazi genocide was… The narrative pace and Nagorski's fluid writing give this book the character of an adventure story. It is an engrossing but sobering read that reminds us how many others without the resources of the Freud family had no similar options to make an exodus
Fascinating… As Nagorski illustrates with cultural insight and a careful pacing of events, his flight to safety in order to 'die in freedom' amounts to a tale of unlikely resistance at a time of appalling tragedy.
In his fascinating new book Saving Freud, American author Andrew Nagorski pieces together the story of an eccentric bunch of friends and admirers of Freud
An insight-filled group portrait of the founder of psychoanalysis and his followers. It is also a psychobiographical thriller about the limits of genius
Nagorski mixes the pacing of a historical thriller (think Alan Furst, but nonfiction, and starring therapists instead of spies) with a meditation on the limits of insight and what it means to be attached to a specific place and to live in a given moment in time…The result is hard to put down, poignant, and distressingly timely
In a time in which the standing and integrity of psychoanalysis continues to be questioned, [Saving Freud] manages to show the extent to which people were entranced by Freud, how much this led some of them to love him, and how in doing so they revealed the deep ethical core of his person and his ideas
An intimate, touching portrait of a genius as an old man. Ill, myopic, in denial and terribly vulnerable, this Freud is more human than any I've encountered before. Andrew Nagorski has an artist's eye for revealing detail and a novelist's ability to bring to life a long lost world and its myriad denizens.
This non-fiction work crackles like a novel… Saving Freud seems to have been written for the silver screen, and one can only hope that someone like Steven Spielberg finds his way to this book
Fascinating, eminently readable… A fresh look at Freud… Freud was magnetic, mythic, and Nagorski's lively and suspenseful biographical history will, it is hoped, recreate interest in this unique figure
Nagorski tells this little-known story in comprehensive and compassionate fashion.
A richly contextual look at Freud's escape to London… Nagorski delivers a riveting page-turner… a fine biography
Sigmund Freud's vibrant life in Vienna and narrow escape from the Gestapo are recounted in this entertaining history… The result is an invigorating look at a lesser-known chapter of Freud's well-documented life.
As exciting and suspenseful as a spy novel, Andrew Nagorski's masterful narrative reveals how an eclectic group of Sigmund Freud's friends, ranging from an American ambassador to a French-born princess, came together to do the seemingly impossible: engineer his rescue from Nazi-controlled Austria as the Gestapo were closing in. Their successful efforts underscore how powerful love, loyalty, and friendship can be, even in the midst of overwhelming evil
A riveting analysis of exile, old-age and friendship, Nagorski uses his characteristic clarity to tell an untold story about a well-known man. Highly exciting and no less historically ambitious for it; John Le Carré meets Ian Kershaw
With his characteristic clarity and meticulous research, Nagorski has once again produced a masterful work. Saving Freud is a page-turner, mixing biography and escape narrative, with a powerful reminder that historians need to pay attention not just to words, but to relationships
Part engrossing biography of the father of psychoanalysis, part vivid group portrait of the circle of notables who rescued Sigmund Freud from the Nazis, Saving Freud … captures the power of self-delusion and denial among even the most brilliant minds
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Class
Class (eBook)
A Graphic Guide
Dr Laura Harvey Dr Sarah Leaney Danny Noble
What do we mean by social class in the 21st century?
University of Brighton sociologists Laura Harvey and Sarah Leaney and award-winning comics creator Danny Noble present an utterly unique, illustrated journey through the history, sociology and lived experience of class.
What can class tell us about gentrification, precarious work, the role of elites in society, or access to education? How have thinkers explored class in the past, and how does it affect us today? How does class inform activism and change?
Class: A Graphic Guide challenges simplistic and stigmatising ideas about working-class people, discusses colonialist roots of class systems, and looks at how class intersects with race, sexuality, gender, disability and age. From the publishers of the bestselling Queer: A Graphic History, this is a vibrant, enjoyable introduction for students, community workers, activists and anyone who wants to understand how class functions in their own lives.
Dr Laura Harvey and Dr Sarah Leaney are senior lecturers in sociology at the University of Brighton. Laura's work draws on sociology, gender studies, social psychology and cultural studies. Sarah's work explores the connection between class and housing, with a focus on social housing and stigma.
Danny Noble is an illustrator and writer. In 2020 she published Shame Pudding, a graphic memoir, and won a Comedy Women in Print Award for her comic 'Was It…Too Much For You?'. She has illustrated children's books by Adrian Edmondson.
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City in Europe
City in Europe (eBook)
From Allison to Guardiola: Manchester City’s quest for European glory
Simon Curtis Francis Lee
'A superb book and a must-read for any City fan.' – DANIEL TAYLOR, senior writer, The Athletic
'A thorough and delicious retelling of perhaps not the most successful of European journeys, but definitely the most interesting … Fantastic.' – DAVID MOONEY, BBC Radio 5 Live
'A book that brilliantly explodes the myth that City have no history or pedigree in Europe.' – SIMON MULLOCK, chief football writer, Sunday Mirror
THE ESSENTIAL NEW HISTORY OF MANCHESTER CITY'S EUROPEAN TRIUMPHS AND TRAGEDIES
FEATURING A FOREWORD BY CITY LEGEND FRANCIS LEE
As one of the first English sides to taste glory in Europe, lifting the Cup Winners' Cup in 1970, City looked set for life among the continent's elite. But as their domestic fortunes went from bad to worse to absolute calamity, the wilderness returned.
Avid City fan and respected journalist Simon Curtis dusts off the details of some truly intoxicating away days. Filled with tales of the club's travelling support and the evocative accounts of the journalists who saw the team of the Seventies, Curtis tells the story of a club steeped in history, defiantly refusing to bow to pomp and ceremony as it goes about lifting the ultimate prize.
After a spectacular rebuild and having achieved all there is to achieve on the domestic stage, including a record-breaking 100-point season in 2017-18, City's deep-pocketed owners have their sights firmly set on European glory once more. Yet for all their recent success at home, they are anything but welcome guests at Europe's top table.
A book that brilliantly explodes the myth that City have no history or pedigree in Europe. Curtis doesn't just detail the club's adventures on the continent from the late 1960s, he also captures their essence with accounts from fans who were there.
Simon Curtis is a fine journalist with an extensive knowledge of the club – he is also a seasoned veteran of many European away trips. This book is essential reading for all City fans.
If you think that not winning the Champions League means there's no story to tell then think again. This book provides the story of every City game in Europe – a record that stretches back 54 years. Read the twists and turns of City's fortunes written in an engaging style with quotes from fans, players and broadcasters who were there.
From Down the Kippax Steps to the latest rapture at the Etihad, Simon's gift for articulating how it's felt to support this undeniably unconventional football club has been unmatched. In times of comedy, tragedy, feast or famine, his writing has defined what it's meant to be City like no other.
"Next stop Mars," said Malcolm Allison. Not quite … but it's been a hell of a ride. A superb book and a must-read for any City fan.
A thorough and delicious retelling of perhaps not the most successful of European journeys, but definitely the most interesting, liberally sprinkled with the sort of humour that only a City fan could write. Fantastic.
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Icon Jan-Jun 2023 Catalogue
Icon Jan-Jun 2023 Catalogue ()
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Give Me Liberty
Give Me Liberty (eBook)
Oswaldo Payá and the Struggle to Free Cuba
David E. Hoffman
'A penetrating account of Cuban history … [an] extraordinary book'
MADELEINE K. ALBRIGHT, US Secretary of State, 1997-2001
'This is a splendid book, which narrates the tragedy of a Cuban, Oswaldo Payá, who dared to oppose Fidel Castro in communist Cuba, and paid dearly for it. David E. Hoffman's research is magnificent and his biography reads like a great novel' MARIO VARGAS LLOSA
The riveting biography of a dissident who defied Castro's dictatorship, and paid with his life.
Oswaldo Payá was seven years old when Fidel Castro seized power, promising to create a 'free, democratic, and just Cuba'. But Castro instead created an authoritarian regime and crushed all dissent.
The dream of democracy became Payá's life work. Sent to Castro's forced labour camps, he could not stay silent, and formed a pro-democracy movement. After receiving multiple death threats, Payá was killed in a suspicious car accident in 2012.
Democracy is in retreat all over the world. Oswaldo Payá showed how to fight for it. His battle was waged from the streets of Havana but carried universal truths.Pulitzer Prize-winner David E. Hoffman, author of the acclaimed The Billion Dollar Spy, tells the compelling story of a courageous dissident in action.
This is a splendid book, which narrates the tragedy of a Cuban, Oswaldo Payá, who dared to oppose Fidel Castro in communist Cuba, and paid dearly for it. David E. Hoffman's research is magnificent and his biography reads like a great novel.
David Hoffman has written a penetrating account of Cuban history, highlighting the true nature of the Castro regime and the courage of one man who became a threat to it. Through this extraordinary book, the world can now learn the story of Oswaldo Payá and understand why my friend Vaclav Havel nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize.
With his signature flair for joining white-knuckle narrative to meticulous journalism, Hoffman brings us a ground-breaking biography. Hoffman's portrait of Oswaldo Payá offers a sweeping panorama of Castro's Cuba, from its glimmers of promise to its devastating plunge into authoritarianism.
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Nuclear Fusion
Nuclear Fusion (eBook)
The Race to Build a Mini-Sun on Earth
Sharon Ann Holgate
'Holgate guides us expertly and with a deft touch along the journey towards the holy grail of unlimited energy for all.' – JIM AL-KHALILI
'What is nuclear fusion? In clear and accessible language, this book explains the basics and the hope for the future. A valuable addition to the Hot Science series.' – JOHN GRIBBIN
Could the Sun hold the key to a future of clean energy?
Since the 1950s, scientists have attempted to harness nuclear fusion – the process that creates the Sun's energy – to generate near-limitless amounts of electricity.
But the fact that we still have no fusion power plants is testament to the complexities of the challenge. Now, the deepening climate crisis means that researchers around the world are in a race to create a mini-Sun here on Earth. The glittering prize is an energy source that emits no greenhouse gases and could solve energy equity and supply issues at a stroke.
Sharon Ann Holgate, a former Young Professional Physicist of the Year, tells the compelling story of the ongoing scientific quest for a revolutionary new era of green energy production.
If we are to prevent a climate catastrophe and provide a "civilised" standard of living for the population of our planet, renewable energy will not be sufficient to replace fossil fuels. The contribution of clean, safe nuclear fusion power is essential. But what is nuclear fusion? In clear and accessible language, this book explains the basics and the hope for the future. A valuable addition to the Hot Science series.
Creating a miniature star here on earth must surely rank as the greatest challenge yet for humanity. A working fusion reactor may still be a couple of decades away, but the journey to get us this far is a fascinating one. Holgate guides us expertly and with a deft touch along the journey towards the holy grail of unlimited energy for all. If you enjoy geeking out on giant machines that can heat a gas up to five times the temperature of the Sun's core or 200 lasers so large they have to be housed in a ten-storey building and yet still be focussed onto a something the size of a peppercorn, then you'll love this book.
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India Uniform Nine
India Uniform Nine (eBook)
Secrets From Inside a Covert Customs Unit
Mark Perlstrom
An eye-opening account from inside an ultra-secret Customs unit
Mark Perlstrom is no stranger to money laundering, drug smuggling and crooked firms.
In the late 1980s he started working for HM Customs and was quickly thrown in the deep end, joining Operation C-Chase, an undercover investigation that penetrated Pablo Escobar's mighty Medellin cartel, brought down the corrupt BCCI bank and stopped London's gangs from moving their ill-gotten gains around the capital.
As part of the Uniforms – the new, secret, anti-money-laundering squad – high-speed car chases, bugging homes and spying on targets was day-to-day business.
Told by a true insider and revealing never-before-told-secrets of the industry, India Uniform Nine lays bare the intense rivalry between crime-fighting organisations and how that leads to corruption, chaos and some scarcely believable antics in the covert world. And how Mark's own operation was nearly scuppered by a US Customs bungle.
An excellent read. The author has been there and got the t-shirt, so it's completely authentic in feel and style. He was instrumental in the success of the case and was at significant personal risk during the operation and, more importantly, still lives with that risk.
From the very start of India Uniform Nine, Mark Perlstrom takes us on a fascinating journey inside the world of Customs investigations. From drug trafficking, money laundering and VAT fraud to the internal politics of working with the police, security services and corrupt colleagues along the way. An eye-opening and entertaining read throughout.
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Impossible, Possible, and Improbable
Impossible, Possible, and Improbable (eBook)
Science Stranger Than Fiction
John Gribbin
Gribbin has inspired generations with his popular science writing
Gribbin has inspired generations with his popular science writing
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The Newlyweds
The Newlyweds (eBook)
Young People Fighting for Love in the New India
Mansi Choksi
'Staggeringly good… Much like Lisa Taddeo's Three Women, it reads more like a novel than a piece of non-fiction… it does what all great writing should – it puts us into the world of someone else, so completely that days later I find myself missing the couples and wondering how their stories end' Marianne Power, The Times
'A profound book on the politics of love, of couples who brave everything and everyone to be together. Told with warmth, truth and humanity, Mansi Choksi's The Newlyweds is an extraordinary look at what it takes to be together in modern India' Nikesh Shukla
'Essential reading for anyone seeking to understand youth in India today – or for anyone who believes in the galactic powers of love to change history, personal and political' Suketu Mehta
What would you risk for love?
Twenty-first century India is a culture on fast forward, a society which is changing at breakneck speed, where two out of every three people are under the age of thirty-five. These young men and women grew up with the internet, smartphones and social media. But when it comes to love, the weight of thousands of years of tradition cannot so easily be set aside.
An extraordinary work of reportage, The Newlyweds is a portrait of modern India told through the stories of three young couples, who defy their families to pursue love. The lesbian couple forced to flee for a chance at a life together. The Hindu woman and Muslim man who must escape under the cover of night after being harassed by a violent mob. And the couple from different castes who know the terrible risk they run by marrying.
Writing with great insight and humanity, Mansi Choksi examines the true cost of modern love in an ancient culture. It is a book that will change the way readers think about love, freedom and hope.
Mansi Choksi is a writer based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and Mumbai, India. The Newlyweds is her first book.
A staggeringly good work of literary journalism… Much like Lisa Taddeo's Three Women, it reads more like a novel than a piece of non-fiction… It does what all great writing should – it puts us into the world of someone else, so completely that days later I find myself missing the couples and wondering how their stories end
Compelling, and sometimes heartbreaking
A work of non-fiction, but written with such literary flair that you wonder whether the photos of the protagonists are a double bluff and it really is a novel after all…
If you believe in great love stories, read Mansi Choksi's The Newlyweds. In this exemplary work of narrative non-fiction, Choksi follows three Indian couples for six years to bring us the most nuanced, lyrical, and moving book about love and marriage in modern India yet written. Essential reading for anyone seeking to understand youth in India today – or for anyone who believes in the galactic powers of love to change history, personal and political
This is a startlingly good book. The meticulously reported stories of three couples – and the social forces that stand in their way – are intimate, revelatory and as gripping as a novel. I couldn't put it down
Mansi Choksi's rigorously reported, beautifully written debut signals the arrival of a major new voice in non-fiction
A profound book on the politics of love, of couples who brave everything and everyone to be together. Told with warmth, truth and humanity, Mansi Choksi's The Newlyweds is an extraordinary look at what it takes to be together in modern India
Choksi's narrative structure braids the three couple strands cleverly so that, as the stakes keep rising, the tension escalates through cinematic jumps and cuts. Her scenes are alive with singular details, vivid language and crisp dialogue. The net effect is that we become so vested in the lives of these six people – and the collateral damage they leave in their wake – that they linger with us long after reading
A rare insight into modern love in India … astonishing and unforgettable … a vibrant observer whose ability lies in capturing the subtleties of life in a way that's nuanced and purposeful
This is a heart-wrenching and inspiring portrait of love under pressure
Truly lyrical… [A] well-reported account of love in modern India
Love is transformative, even when it fails. That is one of the lessons of The Newlyweds. And just as it is with love, I felt most alive when reading this book
Stunning… Mansi Choksi looks at love in modern India with the appealing perspective of both a knowing insider, and a curious, wary outsider. The result is an intimate story of India, and of the perils and pleasures of love, like no other
Brave and insightful
