From a leading expert, a groundbreaking book on the science of play, and its essential role in fueling our happiness and intelligence throughout our lives

We've all seen the happiness on the face of a child while playing in the school yard. Or the blissful abandon of a golden retriever racing across a lawn. This is the joy of play. By definition, play is purposeless, all-consuming, and fun. But as Dr. Stuart Brown illustrates, play is anything but trivial. It is a biological drive as integral...

THE #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER and NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Winner of the Goodreads Choice Best Debut Novel Award

Hay Festival Book of the Year

A Book of the Year in: Guardian, Times, Sunday Times, Good Housekeeping, Woman and Home, Stylist, TLS, Oprah Daily, Newsweek, Mail on Sunday, New York Times Notable, and many others

'Sparky, rip-roaring, funny, with big-hearted fully formed, loveable characters' SUNDAY TIMES

'The most charming, life-enhancing novel I've read in ages. Strongly recomme...

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERAn awe-inspiring portrait of the mysterious world beneath the waves, and the men and women who seek to uncover its secrets.

'Masterful and mesmerizing . .

. an irresistible mix of splendid scholarship, heart-stopping adventure writing, and vivid, visceral prose.' Sy Montgomery, author of Soul of an Octopus 'Fantastical and forbidding' Washington Post 'A fascinating history' Time'Casey’s descriptions of the shimmeringly strange life teeming below the wav...

A FINANCIAL TIMES AND NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023‘Johnson’s stories bring … this history chillingly alive’ Christina Patterson, Sunday Times'An indelible feat of reporting and an urgent read ... It's a privilege to read books like these' Te-Ping Chen, author of Land of Big NumbersA documentary filmmaker who uncovered a Mao-era death camp; an independent journalist who gave voice to the millions who suffered through Covid; a magazine publisher who dodged the secret police: thes...

"A quintessential work of technological futurism." - James Surowiecki, strategy + business, "Best Business Books 2017 - Innovation"

From one of our leading technology thinkers and writers, a guide through the twelve technological imperatives that will shape the next thirty years and transform our lives

Much of what will happen in the next thirty years is inevitable, driven by technological trends that are already in motion. In this fascinating, provocative new book, Kevin Ke...

Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they go beyond the boundaries of normal morality their lives are changed profoundly and for ever.

The classic translation of the cornerstone work of western philosophy Plato's Republic is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential works in the history of philosophy. Presented in the form of a dialogue between Socrates and three different interlocutors, it is an inquiry into the notion of a perfect community and the ideal individual within it. During the conversation other questions are raised: what is goodness; what is reality; what is knowledge; what is the purpose of education? ...

In this nightmare vision of youth in revolt, fifteen-year-old Alex and his friends set out on a diabolical orgy of robbery, rape, torture and murder. Alex is jailed for his teenage delinquency and the State tries to reform him - but at what cost? Social prophecy? Black comedy? Study of freewill? A Clockwork Orange is all of these. It is also a dazzling experiment in language, as Burgess creates a new language - 'nadsat', the teenage slang of a not-too-distant future.

From the author of Wreck this Journal, Keri Smith's How to be an Explorer of the World is an invitation to rediscover the world around you. Artists and scientists analyze the world around them in surprisingly similar ways, by observing, collecting, documenting, analyzing, and comparing. In this captivating guided journal, readers are encouraged to explore their world as both artists and scientists.

The mission Smith proposes? "To document and observe the world around you. As if you've never s...