Icon News & Events

The Science Magpie comes home to roost

Posted on 2012/09/12 in General, tagged as

Simon Flynn’s The Science Magpie, a brilliant miscellany of ‘fascinating facts, stories, poems, diagrams and jokes plucked from science and its history’ – a favourite of our autumn books around the Icon aviary – has arrived from the printer today, looking resplendent: It’s published on 4th October and whether you need to know the words to the Large Hadron Collider rap, or want to work out how to measure the speed of light in your kitchen, your l… Read more »

The perfect gift for friends and family with enquiring minds: Graphic Guide box sets!

Posted on 2012/09/12 in General, tagged as

Nine of Introducing’s most popular and enlightening Graphic Guides are now available in these rather attractive box sets! Know Thyself (Contains Psychology, Mind & Brain and Consciousness) Great Theories of Science (Contains Quantum Theory, Relativity and Chaos) Think For Yourself (Contains Philosophy, Logic and Ethics) Priced at £14.99 and available soon from all good bookshops, Introducing Graphic Guide box sets are the perfect gift for cer… Read more »

The Horologicon and Pandæmonium now on NetGalley!

Posted on 2012/09/11 in General, tagged as

If you are a book reviewer, journalist, librarian, bookseller or blogger you can request to view electronic galleys of two of Icon’s biggest autumn titles – The Horologicon and Pandæmonium! The Horologicon is the high anticipated companion to the Sunday Times number one bestseller The Etymologicon, published in November. Find out more here. Pandæmonium 1660-1886 is the classic work and inspiration behind Danny Boyle’s Olympic Opening Ceremony, an… Read more »

Add Marx, Jesus, The Freud Wars and Infinity to your Graphic Guide collection!

Posted on 2012/09/11 in General, tagged as

We’ve added four brand new books — available now — to the popular Graphic Guide series! You can now delve into the complicated lives of some of history’s most fascinating figures in Marx, Jesus and The Freud Wars, and discover an intriguing topic in Infinity. The Ancient Greeks were so horrified by the implications of an endless number that they drowned the man who gave away the secret. A German mathematician was driven mad by the repercussions o… Read more »

‘Fighting Fantasy gave a generation of readers a first taste of what games can bring to stories’

Posted on 2012/08/30 in General, tagged as

Blood of the Zombies, the latest book in the Fighting Fantasy series, has been out in the world for a few weeks now and we expect you’ve all been fiercely attempting to save the world from Gingrich Yurr’s evil plan. Meanwhile, Ian Livingstone has been talking about the anniversary of this legendary gamebook series, which is 30 this month. Head over to BBC News here where they go back to 1982 and look at how Fighting Fantasy helped pave the way fo… Read more »

‘Roberts excels in his treatment of the postwar period’

Posted on 2012/08/21 in General, tagged as

Stalin’s General: The Life of Georgy Zhukov, by Geoffrey Roberts, was fantastically received by BBC History Magazine, as shown in their glowing review below. ‘[Roberts] demonstrates a deep understanding of the Soviet system… Although this book will naturally attract readers interested in military history, it also provides broad insights into how individuals functioned and survived under Stalin and Khrushchev. It is a skillfully written account… Read more »

Copies of Icon’s most anticipated title EVER have arrived!

Posted on 2012/08/21 in General, tagged as

The Horologicon by Mark Forsyth, the witty companion to The Sunday Times Number One bestseller The Etymologicon, has arrived at Icon Books HQ, much to our delight! Discover more about this highly anticipated title, published November, from the author himself over at Inky Fool.

‘Stalin’s General takes its place among the last, but no less valuable, pieces in the jigsaw of World War Two historiography’

Posted on 2012/08/04 in General, tagged as

Drawing on rich new sources from the recently-opened Soviet archives, Stalin’s General is the first full-scale biography of a seminal 20th century figure – Georgy Zhukov, out now. Henry Coningsby, Waterstones praised the book for being ‘a shrewd, balanced account’ of Marshal Georgy Zhukov, one of military history’s legendary names. Henry goes on to say, ‘…it seems astonishing that there has been no full-length study of Zhukov until now. Geoffre… Read more »

Meet Ian Livingstone and buy a signed copy of Blood of the Zombies at Forbidden Planet tomorrow!

Posted on 2012/08/03 in General, tagged as

Ian Livingstone will be signing copies of the latest Fighting Fantasy book, Blood of the Zombies, this Saturday! Come and join Ian Livingstone and Wizard Books at the Forbidden Planet London Megastore on Saturday 4th August (tomorrow!) at 3pm. If you’re on Twitter, use the hashtag #bloodofthezombies tomorrow to let your fellow Fighting Fantasy fans know just how much fun you’re having (assuming you don’t get mauled by a Zombie on the way to the e… Read more »

Who’s a snollygoster? The words of politics: Mark Forsyth at TEDxHousesofParliament