In 1819 the Hungarian linguist Alexander Csoma de Koros set off for Turkestan, in search of the origins of the Magyar people. He was continuously thwarted in his quest - a misunderstood innocent who became unwittingly entangled in the games of imperial intrigue and espionage that were rife in Central Asia at the time.Today, as Edward Fox deftly illustrates, we have Csoms de Koros to thank for much of what we know about Tibetan culture. Fate eventually brought him to the Himalayas, where, in the freezing cells of Buddhist monasteries, he uncovered a vast ancient civilisation hitherto unknown to the West. His was a sublimely strange life, a heroic example of scholarly masochism.

The Hungarian Who Walked to Heaven-Alexander Csoma De Koros-1784-1842

History

Fox, Edward

Asia

Short Books

King Camp Gillette’s disposable safety razor revolutionized a time-consuming chore and made its creator a very rich man. In this incisive biography, Tim Dowling examines the contradictions at the heart of the razor king, a socialist utopian who fulminated against the evils of capitalism in his radical tracts, while at the same time zealously embracing his role as the father of the disposable economy.

Inventor of the Disposable Culture: King Camp Gillette 1855-1932 (Short Lives)

Biographies & Memoirs

Dowling, Tim

Professionals & Academics

Arthur Hugh Clough is the great undiscovered genius of Victorian literature. The golden hope of his generation at Rugby and Oxford, he battled against the orthodoxies of his time to produce some of the 19th century’s most witty and original verse. Sexually and morally tortured, he died at a tragically early age, his health destroyed by his devotion to the cause of Florence Nightingale. In this study, Rupert Christiansen draws on newly discovered documents to present a dramatic portrait of a maverick figure, whose radical ideas about politics, religion, and women will make him vividly sympathetic to modern readers.

The Voice of Victorian Sex: Arthur H. Clough 1819-1861 (Short Lives)

CHRISTIANSEN, Rupert

Arts & Literature

Carrie Kipling was one of the most despised women of her generation. Henry James called her that hard, capable little person.” Rudyard Kipling’s parents saw her as no more than an American on the make. And yet, suspicious and vituperative as she was, Carrie was in many ways misunderstood. It was she who provided the backbone that her husband often preached but privately lacked. Drawing on a vast archive of diaries and letters, Adam Nicolson exposes the malignancy and detachment at the heart of the Kipling marriage. For the first time, Carrie is seen for the woman she wasnot as a bully intent on controlling her genius husband, but as a lonely survivor in the face of serial family tragedy.

The Hated Wife: Carrie Kipling 1862-1939 (Short Lives)

Nicolson, Adam

Community & Culture

Nurse Wolf is Manhattan's Queen of Pain - she gives pleasure by inflicting it, gains pleasure from causing it. The neurologist Dr Oliver Sacks is her opposite, a defuser of pain, a comforter. And yet the dominatrix and the doctor operate in similar territory: both are involved in the ritual and theatrical aspects of sexuality. In Nurse Wolf and Dr Sacks, Paul Theroux hears two remarkable confessions. His book offers an extraordinary insight into the 'other' side of New York.

Nurse Wolf and Dr. Sacks

Politics & Social Sciences

Paul, Theroux

Social Sciences

Thomas Harris is the great melodramatist of our time, author of the definitive thrillers of the last 20 years. The Silence of the Lambs alone has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide. And yet Harris's phenomenal success has been achieved without any personal publicity whatsoever. He has never given an interview. In this gripping - and sometimes chilling - profile, David Sexton exploits every possible source to get to the bottom of Harris's monstrous genius: who really is the man behind Hannibal Lecter?

The Strange World of Thomas Harris

Literature & Fiction

Sexton, David

History & Criticism

As a child, William Leith was educated in old buildings, and dragged around ruins for a 'treat'. Later, he began to question the British love of everything decrepit. Was it a sign of a nation growing old gracefully, or of something altogether more ominous? Then something happened. A tooth, which had been throbbing for a while, snapped. At the same time, his 'period' home began to crack. During the course of his dental treatment, and the underpinning of his house, Leith cast his mind back over his personal history - his education, his diet and particularly his dentistry - and thought about what it was to be British...

British Teeth: An Excruciating Journey from the Dentist's Chair to the Rotten Heart of a Nation

Leith, William

The hottest new trend in snacks is POPCORN! It's healthy, fun and easy to make at home - In fact, its popalicious! -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  - Let Peter Popples  -  a young scientist who is just mad about all things popcorn  -  be your guide as he takes you and your children through thirty fun, delicious and easy recipes to create at home together.  There's popcorn for picnics in the park, popcorn for party snacks, popcorn for movie nights at home and even popcorn that's perfect for the lunch box  -  plus fun facts to keep your kids entertained.  Peter Popple's Popcorn Cookbook is an easy-to-use must for every family.

Peter Popple's Popcorn Cookbook.

Cookbooks, Food & Wine

Peter Popple,Peter Popples

Main Courses & Side Dishes

This is a book for anyone who has ever thought "What if?" A true story about a woman who dared to follow her dreams...Jessica Fox was living in Hollywood, an ambitious 26-year-old filmmaker with a high-stress job at NASA. Working late one night, craving another life, she was seized by a moment of inspiration and tapped "second hand bookshop Scotland" into Google. She clicked on the first link she saw. A month later, she arrived 2,000 miles across the Atlantic in Wigtown, on the west coast of Scotland, and knocked on the door of the bookshop she would be living in for the next month...The rollercoaster journey that ensued - taking in Scottish Hanukkah, yoga on Galloway's West Coast, and a waxing that she will never forget - would both break and mend her heart. It would also teach her that sometimes we must have the courage to travel the path less taken. Only then can we truly become the writers of our own stories.

Three Things You Need to Know About Rockets

Jessica A. Fox

Arguing that public policy failures result from a simplistic model of human behaviour, Brooks explains what brain research has revealed about the influence of the unconscious mind on our actions. He illustrates these ideas through a fictional story of two ordinary people who led lives fulfilled, not by intelligence, wealth or prestige but through the character and street smarts developed in the unconscious realm of emotions, intuitions and social norms.

Social Animal: A Story of How Success Happens

david-brooks

Business & Money

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