Outrageous hilarious & profound' Simon Schama Financial Times The longer you stare at Beatty's pages the smarter you'll get' Guardian The most badass first 100 pages of an American novel I've read' New York Times A biting satire about a young man's isolated upbringing & the race trial that sends him to the Supreme Court The Sellout showcases a comic genius at the top of his game Born in Dickens on the southern outskirts of Los Angeles the narrator of The Sellout spent his childhood as the subject in his father's racially charged psychological studies He is told that his father's work will lead to a memoir that will solve their financial woes But when his father is killed in a drive-by shooting he discovers there never was a memoir All that's left is a bill for a drive-through funeral What's more Dickens has literally been wiped off the map to save California from further embarrassment Fuelled by despair the narrator sets out to right this wrong with the most outrageous action conceivable reinstating slavery & segregating the local high school which lands him in the Supreme Court In his trademark absurdist style which has the uncanny ability to make readers want to both laugh & cry The Sellout is an outrageous & outrageously entertaining indictment of our time ...

Shortlisted for the BAAL Book Prize 2017 Emoji have gone from being virtually unknown to being a central topic in internet communication What is behind the rise & rise of these winky faces clinking glasses & smiling poos? Given the sheer variety of verbal communication on the internet & English's still-controversial role as lingua mundi for the web these icons have emerged as a compensatory universal language The Semiotics of Emoji looks at what is officially the world's fastest-growing form of communication Emoji the colourful symbols & glyphs that represent everything from frowning disapproval to red-faced shame are fast becoming embedded into digital communication Controlled by a centralized body & regulated across the web emoji seems to be a language but is it? The rapid adoption of emoji in such a short span of time makes it a rich study in exploring the functions of language Professor Marcel Danesi an internationally-known expert in semiotics branding & communication answers the pertinent questions Are emoji making us dumber? Can they ultimately replace language? Will people grow up emoji literate as well as digitally native? Can there be such a thing as a Universal Visual Language? Read this book for the answers ...

The Senate of Canada is the upper house of its parliamentary system It is an appointed legislative chamber that has been frequently derided for its apparent lack of effective activity its failure to represent Canada's federal system & the perceived lack of accountability among its members Reform of the Senate persists as one of the most contentious issues in the country Typical reform proposals begin with the assumption that it must become an elected body that primarily represents Canada's provinces & can serve as an effective check on the federal government & the House of Commons This book challenges those assumptions through a thorough analysis that places the Senate within the context of other parliamentary upper houses It presents a hypothetical constitutional amendment & a proposal for non-constitutional reform that are based upon alternative models derived from that broader context The book ultimately recommends a Senate that remains unelected but with a more expansive appointment process that more appropriately reflects the optimal role of a parliamentary upper house as well as the diversity regional aspirations & political principles of Canadian democracy ...

A vodka-soaked tragicomedy of bribes backhanders & a certain ex-president of Russia going catastrophically awry Former Russian president Vladimir P is going senile marooned in a world of memories from his years in power To get him out of the way he has been exiled to his luxury dacha where he is served by a coterie of bickering house staff Only Sheremetev the guileless nurse charged with Vladimir's round-the-clock care is unaware that everyone else is busily using every means at their disposal to skim money from their employer's inexhaustible riches But when the nurse suddenly needs to find cash for a bribe or see his nephew rot in jail the dacha's chef lets him in on the secret world of 'commissions' going on all around him Yet surely Sheremetev wouldn't think to steal from his ailing patient? & surely in the upstanding modern Russia that Vladimir P created no one would actually let him ...

Do you call your partner darling because you forgot their real name years ago? Restore your brain to its tack-like sharpness with the exercises in this wickedly funny book If you refer to your dearest friend as ' Thingy' or have to keep changing your pet's name because you can never remember your online banking password you need The Senior Moments Activity Book! Packed with questions tests & exercises against which to pit your wits the book is divided into sections on a diverse range of subjects
- from maths to history science & nature to the arts food & drink to geography Furthermore each section is tailored to your specific capabilities whether you think you have more faculties than Harvard or think you might be losing your marbles or fear you're so far gone that your only future is likely to be an appearance on reality TV Embrace your senior self & have a good laugh on the way!
...

Sleep is something all new parents want both for themselves & their newborn babies Now with The Sensational Baby Sleep Plan baby care consultant Alison Scott-Wright takes the stress & tension out of those early weeks & offers the ultimate plan that will ensure your baby sleeps soundly during the day & for a full 12 hours during the night from around 8-10 weeks without the need for night feeds! The Sensational Baby Sleep Plan gives parents Realistic easy to follow advice & guidance Sensible feeding plans that can be tailored to suit the individual Simple explanations of how to interpret different cries Useful tips to to encourage belief & trust in their parental instincts Solutions to common issues & problems as well as in-depth explanations on how to cope with reflux & dietary related colic Happy babies that sleep through the night & have structured naps from around 2 months Packed with tips hints & reminders case studies at-a-glance charts & a daily journal to help you keep track of your baby's progress The Sensational Baby Sleep Plan is a step-by-step must-have manual for stress-free parenting ...

Now a major film starring Academy Award nominees Jim Broadbent (Iris) & Charlotte Rampling (45 Years) Winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 2011 Tony Webster & his clique first met Adrian Finn at school Sex-hungry & book-hungry they would navigate the girl-less sixth form together trading in affectations in-jokes rumour & wit Maybe Adrian was a little more serious than the others certainly more intelligent but they all swore to stay friends for life Now Tony is retired He's had a career & a single marriage a calm divorce He's certainly never tried to hurt anybody Memory though is imperfect It can always throw up surprises as a lawyer's letter is about to prove ...

Winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction Now a major film starring Jim Broadbent & Charlotte Rampling Tony Webster & his clique first met Adrian Finn at school Sex-hungry & book-hungry they would navigate the girl-less sixth form together trading in affectations in-jokes rumour & wit Maybe Adrian was a little more serious than the others certainly more intelligent but they all swore to stay friends for life Now Tony is retired He's had a career & a single marriage a calm divorce He's certainly never tried to hurt anybody Memory though is imperfect It can always throw up surprises as a lawyer's letter is about to prove 'A masterpiece' Daily Telegraph ' Mesmerising' Independent ' Wonderful' Irish Times ...

Steven Pinker the bestselling author of The Language Instinct deploys his gift for explaining big ideas in The Sense of Style
-
...

Step into the world of the senses Meet the four mechanoreceptors of touch examine our taste buds up close discover the link between smells & memories & learn how optical illusions trick the cells in our eyes into seeing things that aren't there In this humorous detailed yet still accessible book neuroscientist & illustrator Matteo Farinella takes the reader on a wild ride through key figures & fascinating facts about each of our five senses describing the most up to date research alongside illuminating drawings & diagrams that even the most scientifically un-savvy will enjoy! Matteo Farinella received a Ph D in neuroscience from University College London in 2013 Since then he has been combining his scientific expertise with a life-long passion for drawing He is the author of Neurocomic (Nobrow 2013) published with the support of the Wellcome Trust & he has collaborated with universities & educational institutions around the world to make science more fun & accessible ...