Icon News & Events
Education cuts: It’s snobs vs oiks in Oxfordshire
Posted on 2010/12/03 in General, tagged as
Shiv Malik, co-author of Jilted Generation: How Britain Has Bankrupted Its Youth, writes a guest blog for Patrick Butler at the Guardian on a school-student walkout in Oxford over education cuts. Read the full piece here and remember, you can read the whole of Jilted Generation for free on your mobile phone until the end of the year – just text JILTED to 60300.
‘An irresistible parable, both tragic and comic’
Posted on 2010/12/03 in General, tagged as
Fordlandia is one of Ferdinand Mount’s Books of the Year in the Times Literary Supplement. ‘Henry Ford’s vast project of building a city in the Amazonian jungle to provide his car factories with a reliable supply of rubber was greeted as a heroic civilizing mission when it started and damned as catastrophic Western hubris when it failed. The saga remains an irresistible parable, both tragic and comic. I cannot stop thinking of Ford’s homesick man… Read more »
‘”My effort is in the direction of simplicity,” declared Henry Ford in 1928 when he bought 5,000 square miles of Brazil to grow rubber for the tyres of his ubiquitous cars.’
Posted on 2010/12/03 in General, tagged as
The paperback of Greg Grandin’s Fordlandia is reviewed in the Independent today. Read the full piece here.
John Bryant on Aubrey’s Official Register of London Marathon Runners 2001-2011
Posted on 2010/12/02 in General, tagged as
John Bryant, a veteran of marathons throughout the world who has been involved in the London Marathon since its founding in 1981, talks about the Official Register of London Marathon Runners 2001-2010, published by our sister company Aubrey Books: The book lists everyone who has run the Marathon since 2001 and is a lavishly produced hardback – it’s the perfect Christmas present for anyone who has a London Marathon (or even more than one!) behind… Read more »
John Banville chooses Love, Sex, Death and Words as one of his Books of the Year
Posted on 2010/12/02 in General, tagged as
Writing in the Irish Times, novelist John Banville says: ‘Love, Sex, Death and Words– the title itself is irresistible – by John Sutherland and Stephen Fender (Icon Books), is an enjoyable and entirely arbitrary romp through a leap year of anecdotes, from January 1st and the vexed history of the copyright of Peter Pan to the December 31st publication of Richard Yates’s 1961 novel Revolutionary Road, with stops along the way to visit Nietzsche at… Read more »
Capitalism – the idea that makes the world go round?
Posted on 2010/11/30 in General, tagged as
John Farndon, in the second of his series of podcasts from his book The World’s Greatest Idea, explores Capitalism. It’s certainly a good idea for some people, but does that mean it’s good for humanity in general? Listen below and see whether you agree with what John has to say… The World’s Greatest Idea – John Farndon podcast 2 – Capitalism by Icon Books John Farndon’s World’s Greatest Idea podcasts can also be found here.
Jilted Generation authors interviewed on Oxford Student Radio
Posted on 2010/11/29 in General, tagged as
Ed Howker and Shiv Malik, authors of Jilted Generation, were interviewed last week on Oxide, the radio station for Oxford students. Listen to the whole thing here: Jilted Generation – Ed Howker and Shiv Malik interview by Icon Books
‘What would make you happier: a new baby or a lottery win? Don’t scoff. Scientists are using new ways to measure happiness, and you might be surprised by what they are finding.’
Posted on 2010/11/29 in General, tagged as
The Calgary Herald in Canada runs a feature on Nick Powdthavee’s The Happiness Equation, published earlier this year by Icon. ‘For instance, he found that, on average, children don’t make us happy or keep us happy, although they are associated with a brief spike in satisfaction for the first years after a baby is born. For the average person in the United Kingdom, the first year after having a child is the happiness equivalent of winning about 2,… Read more »
‘A superb and long overdue popular treatment of Medieval science, 5/5’
Posted on 2010/11/29 in General, tagged as
James Hannam’s God’s Philosophers is reviewed by, ahem, Conan the Cimmerian on his blog … and very well he thinks of the book, too. Read the full review here.
Cordelia Fine’s Delusions of Gender is picked as a ‘book of the year’ again – this time by Jeanette Winterson in the Guardian
Posted on 2010/11/27 in General, tagged as
The Guardian asks which books most excited its writers this year? For Jeanette Winterson one is ‘Cordelia Fine’s brilliant book Delusions of Gender’. You can read it all here.
