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Reference
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A parliament of owls
A Parliament of Owls is a highly entertaining journey through one of the most quirky features of the English Language: collective nouns. Discover the history behind these fascinating phrases, many of which we still use to this day.
£12.99
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The book lover's quiz book Book 2
Book lovers can answer questions by themselves or host a quiz among friends with twenty-four quizzes to keep you guessing with a variety of question styles including: 'Blankety Books', where you must fill in the missing word in each title; Anagrams to decipher; 'Two of a Kind', where you must identify a character and author who share the same initials; Guess the book with 'Say What You See' pictures and badly drawn covers; 'Book Bingo'. The quizzes are carefully weighted so avid bookworms will get a workout, while more casual readers can still have lots of fun having a go. All questions are designed to aid guessing, with multiple-choice answers and hints, and make the reader smile with amusing wrong answers, clever red herrings, little-known facts and footnotes.
£16.99
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RHS Puzzles & Brain Teasers for Gardeners
A follow-up to the highly successful RHS Gardener's Quiz & Puzzle Book (29,000 copies in print in the UK alone), this book is the perfect gift for gardeners of all stripes.
£16.99
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The book of phobias & manias
Do you recoil in arachnophobic horror at the sight of a spider - or twitch with nomophobia when you misplace your mobile phone? Do your book-buying habits verge on bibliomania? Perhaps you find yourself mired in indecision and uncertainty? (Would it be reassuring to give this a name: aboulomania?) Our phobias and manias are contradictory and multiple: deeply intimate, yet forged by the times we live in - the commonest form of anxiety disorder, but rarely given a formal diagnosis. Plunge into this rich, surprising and fascinating A-Z compendium to discover how our fixations have taken shape, from pre-history to the present day, as award-winning author Kate Summerscale deftly traces the threads between the past and present, the psychological and social, the personal and the political.
£10.99
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Puss in books
A charming collection of quotes about cats from our favourite authors, accompanied by artwork in the trademark style of Paul Magrs (author of The Panda, the Cat and the Dreadful Teddy).
£12.99
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Britannica's encyclopedia infographica
A groundbreaking new encyclopedia from Britannica, where the pictures do the talking!
£27.00
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Words from the heart
Whether it's the distress of a bad haircut (age-otori) or longing for the food someone else is eating (groaking), the pleasure found in other people's happiness (confelicity) or the shock of jumping into icy water (curglaff), there are real words to pinpoint exactly how you feel and Susie Dent, Queen of Countdown's Dictionary Corner and lexicographer extraordinaire, is going to help you find them. Here are 1001 terms everyone needs, whether it's the best kind of hug (cwtch), the relief found in swearing (lalochezia), or the ability to endure till the end (pertolance). It's time to rediscover the lost positives of language; find out how a stork gave us the word for the love between parent and child, and who the first maverick was.
£12.99
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Quartet
Ethel Smyth (b.1858): Famed for her operas, this trailblazing queer Victorian composer was a larger-than-life socialite, intrepid traveller and committed Suffragette. Rebecca Clarke (b.1886): This talented violist was one of the first women ever hired by a professional orchestra. Dorothy Howell (b.1898): A prodigy who shot to fame at the 1919 Proms. Doreen Carwithen (b.1922): One of Britain's first woman film composers who scored Elizabeth II's coronation film. In their time, these women were celebrities. They composed some of the century's most popular music and pioneered creative careers; but today, they are ghostly presences, surviving only as footnotes to male contemporaries like Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Britten - until now. Leah Broad's magnificent group biography resurrects these forgotten voices, recounting lives of rebellion, heartbreak and ambition, and celebrating their musical masterpieces.
£14.99
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London
A fascinating literary overview of London across the centuries, through the beautiful and varied writing it has inspired.
£9.99
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Words from hell
The English language is where words go to be tortured and mutilated into unrecognizable shadows of their former selves. It's where Latin, Greek, and Germanic roots are shredded apart and stitched unceremoniously back together with misunderstood snippets of languages snatched from the wreckage of conquest and colonialism. It wreaks merciless havoc upon grammar and spelling. It turns clinical terms into insults and children's tales into filthy euphemisms. With an emphasis on understanding where the foulest words in the English language came from - and the disgusting and hilarious histories behind them - this book demonstrates the true filth of our everyday words. But it is more than just a list of vulgar words and salacious slang. It's a thoughtful analysis of why we deem words as being inappropriate as well as revealing 'good words' that have surprisingly naughty origins.
£14.99
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Paris
A sparkling celebration of Paris by some of the greatest writers in the world from the 19th and 20th centuries.
£10.99
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My family and other rock stars
Rockfield Studios is a place of legend, the recording location of some of the most famous rock albums of all time. With her mother installed as the resident Cordon Bleu chef, Tiffany Murray grew up around rock stars including Black Sabbath, Queen, Motorhead, Rush, David Bowie, and The Damned. 'My Family and Other Rock Stars' reveals how these music legends lived day-to-day: whether it was David Bowie refusing a salmon buffet, or Freddie Mercury's touching love for a Great Dane. For Tiffany, they were the background to a whirlwind childhood of freedom, adventure and continuous change. The one constant throughout is the extraordinary relationship between Tiffany and her mother, as they build an unconventional family around them in the most unlikely of locations.
£22.00
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The last action heroes
From the editor of Empire magazine, this is the behind-the-scenes story of the larger-than-life action stars who ruled 80s and 90s Hollywood, from Sly Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger to Jean-Claude Van Damme and Bruce Willis and the films that made them famous.
£11.99
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Too much too young
2 Tone was black and white: a multi-racial force of British and Caribbean island musicians singing about social issues, racism, class and gender struggles. The idea of 2 Tone was born in Coventry, masterminded by a middle-class art student raised in the church. Jerry Dammers had a vision of an English Motown. Borrowing 700, the label's first record featured 'Gangsters' by The Specials' backed by an instrumental track by the, as yet, unformed, Selecter. Within two months the single was at number six in the national charts. Dammers signed Madness, The Beat and The Bodysnatchers as a glut of successive hits propelled 2 Tone onto Top of the Pops and into the hearts and minds of a generation. Told in three parts, 'Too Much Too Young' is the definitive story of a label that for a brief, bright burning moment, shaped British culture.
£14.99
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How to solve it
An introduction to heuristics, the study of the methods and rules of discovery, invention and human problem-solving. First published in 1945, it provides a modern contribution to a subject that has had a considerable revival and is emphasized in GCSE mathematics and science.
£12.99
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Misc
Misc. is a compendium of delightfully random facts from the creators of Delayed Gratification magazine
£12.99
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A winter dictionary
A linguistic celebration of all aspects of the season, from wintry weather to Christmas celebrations.
£16.99
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Holding the note
The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and editor of The New Yorker writes on some of the essential musicians of our time.
£12.99
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Georgia Breeze: Bookshelves (Foiled Journal)
A beautiful, luxurious Flame Tree Notebook. Combining high-quality production with magnificent fine art, the crafted covers are printed on foil, embossed then foil stamped. And they're powerfully practical: a pocket at the back for receipts and scraps, two bookmark ribbons and a magnetic side flap. Art by illustrator and designer Georgia Breeze.
£10.99
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Berkmann's pop miscellany
Marcus Berkmann was for many years the pop critic of the Spectator, waiting like most freelances to get fired. He's also the author of the bestselling Berkmann's Cricket Miscellany, concentrating on the ridiculous true stories and the weird characters of that most eccentric of sports. Here he combines the two, in a wildly entertaining ride through the galloping absurdities of pop, from Elvis Presley's real hair colour, through Janet Jackson's more intimate piercings, to Courtney Love's hatred of cheese. Why does Bono always wear sunglasses? Did Ozzy Osbourne really urinate on the Alamo? What actually happened at Keith Moon's 21st birthday party at the Holiday Inn in Flint, Michigan? There's sex, there's drugs, there's violence, there's even a little rock 'n' roll from time to time.
£12.99
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Radicals, rebels and royals
"A fascinating trawl through history as filtered through the ultimate pub crawl." - CHOICE MAGAZINEA beautifully illustrated alternative history book, tracing the history of the British Isles through its landmark pubs with recreations of their pub signs in stunning colour.
£16.99
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The deorhord
Many of the animals we encounter in everyday life, from the creatures in our fields to those in our fantasies, have remained the same since medieval times - but the words we use, and the ways we describe them, have often changed beyond recognition. Old English was spoken over a thousand years ago, when every animal was a deor. In this glittering Old English bestiary we find deors big and small, the ordinary and the extraordinary, the good, the bad and the downright baffling. From walker-weavers (spiders) and grey-cloaked ones (eagles) to moon-heads and teeth-tyrants (historians still don't know!), we discover a world both familiar and strange: where ants could be monsters and panthers could be your friend, where dog-headed men were as real as elephants and where whales were as sneaky as wolves.
£10.99
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Interesting stories about curious words
Susie Dent, Britain's cleverest lexicographer, linguistic expert and much-loved national treasure, explores all the very best red herrings, cock and bull stories, white elephants and nine-day wonders in the English language. There are enough stories to furnish a hundred conversations in a wonderful collection for everyone who loves words.
£14.99
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Goth
This is an entertaining and engaging historical memoir of the genre of Goth music and culture, exploring creative giants like The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus, Joy Division and many more great bands that offered a place of refuge for the misfits of the 80s and ever since. Written by Lol Tolhurst, co-founder of The Cure, this book offers a fascinating deep dive into the movers and shakers of goth with stories and anecdotes from Tolhurst's personal memories as well as the musicians, magicians and artists who made it all happen - the people, places and events that made goth an inevitable and enduring movement.
£12.99
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