Lessons of October

Politics & Social Sciences

Leon, Trotsky

Politics & Government

Union Books

When Donovan Hohn first heard the remarkable story of how 28,904 bath toys spilled into the Pacific en route to the US from China and have been washing up along beaches throughout the world ever since, he decided to find out more and assumed he would interview a few oceanographers, talk to some beachcombers and read up on Arctic science and geography. 'But questions can be like ocean currents: wade in too far, and they carry you away.' Setting out on a series of journeys to track the renegade rubber ducks, Moby-Duck is an adventure into the heart of the sea through science, myth, the global economy and some of the worst weather imaginable, and the riveting story of an accidental odyssey which pulled Hohn into the secretive world of shipping conglomerates, the daring terrain of Arctic researchers, the lunatic risks of maverick sailors, and the shadowy domain of Chinese toy factories. With each new discovery, Hohn learns of another loose thread, and with each successive chase he comes closer to understanding where his castaway quarry comes from (and where it is heading...). In the grand tradition of Tony Horwitz and David Quammen, Moby-Duck is a compulsively readable narrative of whimsy and curiosity for anyone who is interested in obsession, travel, plastic, and that great American novel, Moby-Dick.

Moby-duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea

Travel

Donovan Hohn

Travel Writing

Common as Air raises the question of how our shared store of art and knowledge might be made compatible with our desire to copyright everything.

Common as Air: Revolution, Art, and Ownership

Hyde, Lewis

Reference

Reading Like A Writer

Literature & Fiction

Francine Prose

History & Criticism

You Aren't What You Eat: Fed Up With Gastroculture

Steven-Poole

The Frozen Thames

Helen Humphreys

Short Stories & Anthologies

In 1999, Amit Chaudhuri moved back to Calcutta, the city in which he was born. It was a place he had loved in his youth and the place he had made his name writing about. But upon his return he discovered that the Calcutta of his imagination had receded and another had taken its place. Lyrical, observant and profound, Calcutta is a personal account of two years (2009 2011) spent in one of the least known yet greatest cities of our time by one of our leading novelists. Using the historic elections of 2011 as a fulcrum, Chaudhuri looks back to the nineteenth century, when the city burst with a new vitality, and towards the twenty-first, when utterly changed it seems to be on the verge of another turn. Along the way he evokes all that is most particular and extraordinary. From the homeless and the working class to the old, declining haute bourgeois; from the new malls and hotels to old houses being destroyed by developers; from politicians on their way out to the city s fitful attempts to embrace globalisation, Calcutta brings a multifarious universe to life.

Calcutta: Two Years in the City

AMIT CHAUDHURI

In 1999, Amit Chaudhuri moved back to Calcutta, the city in which he was born. It was a place he had loved in his youth and the place he had made his name writing about. But upon his return he discovered that the Calcutta of his imagination had receded and another had taken its place. Lyrical, observant and profound, Calcutta is a personal account of two years (2009-2011) spent in one of the least known - yet greatest - cities of our time by one of our leading novelists. Using the historic elections of 2011 as a fulcrum, Chaudhuri looks back to the nineteenth century, when the city burst with a new vitality, and towards the twenty-first, when - utterly changed - it seems to be on the verge of another turn. Along the way he evokes all that is most particular and extraordinary. From the homeless and the working class to the old, declining haute bourgeois; from the new malls and hotels to old houses being destroyed by developers; from politicians on their way out to the city's fitful attempts to embrace globalisation, Calcutta brings a multifarious universe to life.

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

The Scientists: A Family Romance

What do you do if you want to really understand a country, to understand its people and feel its heartbeat? You can follow the rest of the tourists, or you can take the advice of Watergate reporter Bob Woodward’s source, ‘Deep Throat’, and ‘follow the money.’ Starting out in Lebanon, Kansas – the geographical centre of America – journalist Steve Boggan did just that by setting free a ten-dollar-bill and accompanying it on an epic journey for thirty days and thirty nights through six states across 3,000 miles armed only with a sense of humor and a small, and increasingly grubby, set of clothes. As he cuts crops with farmers in Kansas, pursues a repo-woman from Colorado, gets wasted with a blues band in Arkansas and hangs out at a quarterback’s mansion in St Louis, Boggan enters the lives of ordinary people as they receive – and pass on – the bill. What emerges is a chaotic, affectionate and funny portrait of the real modern-day America.

Follow the Money: A Month in the Life of a Ten-Dollar Bill

Boggan, Steve

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