'A lyrical, fascinating, important book. More than just a family story, it is an essay on belonging, denying, pretending, self-deception and, at least for the main characters, survival.' Literary Review'Simon May's remarkable How to Be a Refugee is a memoir of family secrets with a ruminative twist, one that's more interested in what we keep from ourselves than the ones we conceal from others.' Irish TimesThe most...

Do you repeatedly defer life to later, convinced there will come a time when you'll be better prepared to seize its opportunities?Do you spend your best hours on chores or trivia before allowing yourself to get to what most matters to you?The real mystery of procrastination is why we avoid goals to which we're passionately committed. It's understandable that we'd put off cleaning the fridge or completing our tax return; but why do we swerve...

What is love's real intent? Why can love be so ruthlessly selective? How is it related to sex, beauty, and goodness? And is the child now the supreme object of love? In addressing these questions, Simon May develops a radically new understanding of love as the emotion we feel towards whomever or whatever we experience as grounding our life--as offering us a possibility of home in a world that we supremely value. He sees love as motivated by a promise of "ontological rootedness," rather tha...

This audiobook narrated by acclaimed British actor Anthony Head explores cuteness and its immense hold on us, from emojis and fluffy puppies to its more uncanny, subversive expressionsCuteness has taken the planet by storm. Global sensations Hello Kitty and Pokémon, the works of artists Takashi Murakami and Jeff Koons, Heidi the cross-eyed opossum and E.T.—all reflect its gathering power. But what does "cute" mean, as a sensibility and style? Why is it so pervasive?...

As the first British Professor of Philosophy since 1882 to be invited to teach at the prestigious and enigmatic University of Tokyo - the Oxbridge of Japan - Simon May enjoyed a degree of access denied to other commentators. Each chapter of the book focuses on some everyday human matter, such as love, death, bureaucracy, hygiene, food, toilets, commuting, education, marriage and memory. Japanese attitudes to such issues are explored through a mixture of light-hearted anecdote and trenchant...

Businesses spend billions on innovation with very little to show for their investment or effort. This book challenges some of the ‘ingrained truths’ of innovation and suggests a different approach.Innovation is not the creation of a novel idea. It is the successful commercialisation of that novel idea. Rather than starting with a costly, time-consuming problem assessment that seeks to push potential solutions through an innovation funnel, an ‘impeller approach’ starts with possible...

The Bioarchaeology of Metabolic Bone Disease, Second Edition is a comprehensive source dedicated to better understanding this group of conditions that have significant consequences for health in both past and present communities on a global scale. This edition presents an updated introduction to the biology and metabolism of mineralised tissues that are fundamental to understanding the expression of the metabolic bone diseases in skeletal remains. The extensive advances in understanding of...

This book of phenomenal illustrations provides a wealth of visual information on the wide variety of landform processes over all latitudes, climates and geological time-scales. It invites you to observe the surface of planet Earth, to appreciate its astonishing beauty and to explore scientific explanations for the form of our landscapes.250 full-colour images from Google Earth enable all types of terrestrial environments and landforms to be appreciated at a glance. Images are expla...

This viking duo will give Horrid Henry a run for his money!What if your parents WANTED you to behave badly?Set in the snowy fjords of a Viking kingdom, the terrible twins, Hack and Whack, are proud to be the best worst vikings. Nothing stops the marauding pair as they steal boats, loot a birthday party, track a troll and sail off to raid Bad Island with their friends Twisty Pants and Dirty Ulf.Well, almost nothing . . .With ...

Three fantastic new stories!Hack and Whack babysit a toddler - Fire Hazard - and discover to their horror that they might not be the worst vikings in the village after all . . .Then they manage to secure an exciting invite to feast with the visiting king, but discover that it's three days of having to be on their best behaviour . . . Until the new teenaged king turns out to be a lout - food fights ensue, and he loves them.Unfortunately, that's when the sno...

High on a Czechoslovak hill, the Landauer House shines as a wonder of steel and glass. This radiant 1930s house, with its unique Glass Room, quickly tarnishes as the storm clouds of WW2 gather. The house passes from hand to hand, from Czech to Russian, and bears witness to both the best and the worst of the history of Eastern Europe.

In Brian May's Red Special you will discover everything about Brian May's unique, home-made guitar. Brian reveals all, from the guitar's origins to playing on the roof of Buckingham Palace, from Live Aid to the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics, from the set of Bohemian Rhapsody to opening the Academy Awards in 2019 where the film scooped four Oscars. All of this is accompanied by original diagrams, sketches and notes from the building of the guitar, as well as...