Which plants are carnivorous? What`s the smelliest plant in the world? & what is the most bizarre-looking flower on Earth? This eye-opening book explores the amazing diversity of the natural world, looking at how plants grow, reproduce, defend & feed themselves, & survive against the odds in some of the harshest climates on Earth. Packed with pop-ups, booklets & flaps, as well as Beverley Young`s charming, detailed artwork, this hands-on, fact-packed guide explains key curriculum knowledge in an accessible & fun way. Perfect for budding biologists. ...

` What a marvellous book this is.. .de Botton dissects what [ Proust] had to say about friendship, reading, looking carefully, paying attention taking your time, being alive & adds his own delicious commentary. The result is an intoxicating as it is wise, amusing as well as stimulating, & presented in so fresh a fashion as to be unique.. .I could not stop, & now much start all over again.` Brian Masters, Mail on Sunday ` De Botton not only has a complete understanding of Proust`s life.. .but what is particularly charming about this small, readable book is its tongue-in-cheek benignity, its lightly held erudition & its generous way of lending itself to what is not only the greatest book of the century but also the darkest & the most eccentric` Edmund White, Observer ` It contains more human interest & play of fancy than most fiction.. .de Botton, in emphasizing Proust`s healing, advisory aspects, does us the service of rereading him on our behalf, providing of that vast sacred lake a sweet & lucid distillation.` John Updike, New Yorker ` De Botton`s little book is so charming, amusing & sensible that it may even itself change your life.` Allan Massie, Daily Telegraph ` This engaging book is one of the most entertaining pieces of literary criticism I have read in a long while.` Sunday Telegraph `A very enjoyable book` Sebastian Faulks ...

Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2013. Reeling from a failed marriage, Sheila, a twentysomething playwright, finds herself unsure of how to live & create. When Margaux, a talented painter & free spirit, & Israel, a sexy & depraved artist, enter her life, Sheila hopes that through close--sometimes too close--observation of her new friend, her new lover, & herself, she might regain her footing in art & life. Using transcribed conversations, real emails, plus heavy doses of fiction, the brilliant & always innovative Sheila Heti crafts a work that is part literary novel, part self-help manual, & part bawdy confessional. It's a totally shameless & dynamic exploration into the way we live now, which breathes fresh wisdom into the eternal questions: What is the sincerest way to love? What kind of person should you be? ...

Why do most people know what an Ewok is, even if they haven`t seen Return of the Jedi? How have Star Wars action figures come to outnumber human beings? How did ` Jedi` become an officially recognised religion? When did the films` merchandising revenue manage to rival the GDP of a small country? Tracing the birth, death & rebirth of the epic universe built by George Lucas & hundreds of writers, artists, producers, & marketers, Chris Taylor jousts with modern-day Jedi, tinkers with droid builders, & gets inside Boba Fett`s helmet, all to find out how STAR WARS has attracted & inspired so many fans for so long. ` It`s impossible to imagine a Star Wars fan who wouldn`t love this book. There are plenty of books about Star Wars, but very few of them are essential reading. This one goes directly to the top of the pile` Booklist (starred review). ...

Why do most people know what an Ewok is, even if they haven`t seen Return of the Jedi? How have Star Wars action figures come to outnumber human beings? How did ` Jedi` become an officially recognised religion? When did the films` merchandising revenue manage to rival the GDP of a small country? Tracing the birth, death & rebirth of the epic universe built by George Lucas & hundreds of writers, artists, producers, & marketers, Chris Taylor jousts with modern-day Jedi, tinkers with droid builders, & gets inside Boba Fett`s helmet, all to find out how STAR WARS has attracted & inspired so many fans for so long. ` It`s impossible to imagine a Star Wars fan who wouldn`t love this book. There are plenty of books about Star Wars, but very few of them are essential reading. This one goes directly to the top of the pile` Booklist (starred review). ...

Borks live on a planet quite like our own Earth. They have shaggy yellow fur & long thin necks. But once they had short blue fur & almost no necks at all. How could this happen? Well, it didn`t come about all at once.. . Jonathan Emmett tells a delightful story in verse about the Borks & all the things that happened to make them gradually look quite different, while still remaining Borks. & by the end of the story, the reader will have a very good notion of how Evolution by natural selection works. ...

Cape Peninsula presented on a large poster with a basic geological map of the area, plus numerous smaller insets with maps, photographs & drawings illustrating various aspects of its developments, all accompanied by extensive text. The poster covers various aspects of the development of the Cape & covers subjects such as past sea levels, climate changes, landscape, recognition & dating of various layers of exposed rock, etc., & is aimed at anyone interested in these subjects rather than at the scientific community. Please note: this is a folded map & not a flat poster for hanging on a wall. ...

” How the Dead Live”
- Booker nominee Will Self`s hilarious novel about the afterlife. ” Scathingly entertaining”. (” The Times”).
...

WINNER OF THE GRAND PRIX DU LIVRE D`IDEES The French: serious & frivolous, charming & infuriating, rational & mystical, pessimistic, pleasure-loving
- & perhaps more than any other people, intellectual. This original & entertaining book shows exactly what makes the French so.. . French.
...

Published in the 200th Anniversary year of the Battle of Waterloo a witty look at how the French still think they won, by Stephen Clarke, author of 1000 Years of Annoying the French & A Year in the Merde. Two centuries after the Battle of Waterloo, the French are still in denial. If Napoleon lost on 18 June 1815 (and that`s a big `if`), then whoever rules the universe got it wrong. As soon as the cannons stopped firing, French historians began re-writing history. The Duke of Wellington was beaten, they say, & then the Prussians jumped into the boxing ring, breaking all the rules of battle. In essence, the French cannot bear the idea that Napoleon, their greatest-ever national hero, was in any way a loser. Especially not against the traditional enemy
- les Anglais. Stephen Clarke has studied the French version of Waterloo, as told by battle veterans, novelists, historians
- right up to today`s politicians, & he has uncovered a story of pain, patriotism & sheer perversion...

...