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Mixing bold journalism with bolder allegories, Mr Szablowski teaches us with witty persistence that we must desire freedom rather than simply expect it Timothy Snyder, New York Times bestselling author of ON TYRANNY A devastatingly original look at the world's worst dictators, through the eyes of their personal chefs, by award-winning Polish author Witold Szablowski. What is it like to cook for the most dangerous men in the world? In this darkly funny and fascinating book, Witold Szablowski travels across four continents in search of the personal chefs of five dictators. From the savannahs of Kenya to the faded glamour of Havana, and the bombed-out streets of Baghdad, Szablowski finds the men and women who cooked fish soup for Saddam Hussein, roasted goat for Idi Amin and chopped papaya salad for Pol Pot. He reveals the strangeness of a job where a single culinary mistake could be fatal, but a well-seasoned dish could change your life. And in doing so, he lifts the veil on what life is like at the very heart of power.

Brian Clegg was always fascinated by Isaac Asimov's classic Foundation series of books, in which the future is predicted using sophisticated mathematical modelling of human psychology and behaviour. Only much later did he realise that Asimov's 'psychohistory' had a real-world equivalent: game theory. Originating in the study of probabilistic gambling games that depend on a random source - the throw of a dice or the toss of a coin - game theory soon came to be applied to human interactions: essentially, what was the best strategy to win, whatever you were doing? Its mathematical techniques have been applied, with varying degrees of wisdom, to fields such as economics, evolution, and questions such as how to win a nuclear war. Clegg delves into game theory's colourful history and significant findings, and shows what we can all learn from this oft-misunderstood field of study.

After over a decade of Bitcoin, which has now moved beyond lore and hype into an increasingly robust star in the firmament of global assets, a new and more important question has arisen. What happens beyond Bitcoin? The answer is decentralised finance - 'DeFi'. Tech and finance experts Steven Boykey Sidley and Simon Dingle argue that DeFi - which enables all manner of financial transactions to take place directly, person to person, without the involvement of financial institutions - will redesign the cogs and wheels in the engines of trust, and make the remarkable rise of Bitcoin look quaint by comparison. It will disrupt and displace fine and respectable companies, if not entire industries. Sidley and Dingle explain how DeFi works, introduce the organisations and individuals that comprise the new industry, and identify the likely winners and losers in the coming revolution.

A terrifying and timely look at the spread of far-right movements across the globe. Joe Mulhall knows what it's like to stare fascism in the face. For a decade, often undercover at significant personal risk, he has investigated hate groups. He infiltrated a US white supremacist militia, set up a fake Ku Klux Klan branch, has been on countless street marches with violent far-right groups across Europe, and got inside some of the most important 'alt-right' meetings ever held. Brazil, India and the US are still in thrall to authoritarian populism, and far-right views have become steadily normalised in mainstream politics. Mulhall's dramatic experiences on the front line of anti-fascist activism, coupled with his academic research, clearly explain the roots of both elected and non-elected far-right movements across the globe. Above all, he concludes, the far right should not be dehumanised - they are normal people, but with dangerous beliefs that can be defeated.

An accessible and hard-hitting look at the facts behind air pollution in everyday life. Take a deep breath. You'll do it 20,000 times a day. You assume all this air is clean; it's the very breath of life. But in Delhi, the toxic smog is as bad for you as smoking 50 cigarettes a day. Even a few days in Paris, London or Rome is equivalent to two or three cigarettes. Air pollution is implicated in six of the top ten causes of death worldwide, including lung cancer, heart disease, stroke, and dementia. Breathless gives us clear facts about air pollution in our everyday lives, showing how it affects our bodies, how much of it occurs in unexpected places (indoors, inside your car), and how you can minimise the risks. Rooted in the latest science, including real-time air-quality experiments in city streets and ordinary homes, it will allow you to make up your own mind about the risks and trade-offs of modern living - wherever in the world you are.

Developments in physics and physics-based engineering have led to some of the biggest transformations in the way we live out lives. Here, we journey back to ten separate days in history for a closer look at the breakthroughs that have shaped the modern world. From Isaac Newton's law of motion, to Michael Faraday's electrical field theory, as well as Maxwell's equations that make TV, radio and cellphones possible. Comprising perfectly pitched science writing enlivened with a wealth of fascinating biographical detail, this eye-opening book is a celebration of power of physicists to bring about far-reaching, life-transforming change.

**THE FIRST BIOGRAPHY OF DUTCH FORMULA ONE WUNDERKIND MAX VERSTAPPEN, NOW FULLY UPDATED TO COVER THE 2021 SEASON** Few drivers have ever shaken up Formula 1 in quite the same way as Max Verstappen. Already the youngest competitor in F1 history, having made his breakthrough in 2015 aged just 17, his debut race for Red Bull at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix saw him become the youngest driver ever to win a race, achieve a podium finish or even lead a lap. As the son of F1 legend Jos and elite-level kart driver Sophie Kumpen, Max was destined to be a racing driver. And since that headline-grabbing debut, he has continued to make an indelible impression on the sport, courting criticism and plaudits in equal measure. Sports journalist James Gray seeks to understand the outspoken nature and aggressive driving style that make Verstappen a must-watch before, during and after races, and why his Dutch fans, who turn up to cheer him on in their orange-clad droves, are quite so fanatical.

Mama, something went wrong in your tummy. And it made me come out as a boy instead of a girl. Marlo Mack gave birth to M, a beautiful baby boy. Or so she believed. At two years old, M started insisting on wearing only pink clothes. At three, M begged his mum to buy him pretty dresses, and to grow his hair long. Friends, family, experts and Marlo herself had been able to brush these behaviours aside as a young child's playful experimentation with gender, but when her son begs to be put back in her tummy because he came out wrong, she knows she must listen more closely. How to Be a Girl is a raw and unflinching memoir of a mother grappling with her child's transition from male to female. Always wanting to support M, Marlo - whose podcast of the same name has over 1.3 million downloads - finds her liberal values surprisingly challenged, and as she learns more about gender and its varied expressions, she questions what being a girl - or a boy, or something else entirely - really means.

'Highly persuasive ... a well-organised and solid dossier that alerts us to legalised chemical trickery.'Joanna Blythman, The Spectator 'A bombshell book' Daily Mail 'Eye-opening and important . . . a book full of righteous anger' Bee Wilson, from her Foreword Did you know that bacon, ham, hot dogs and salami are classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as 'category 1 carcinogens'? Would you eat them if you knew they caused bowel cancer? Following ten years of detailed investigation, documentary film-maker Guillaume Coudray presents a powerful examination of the use of nitro-additives in meat. As he reveals, most mass-produced processed meats, and now even many 'artisanal' products, contain chemicals that react with meat to form cancer-causing compounds. He tells the full story of how, since the 1970s, the meat-processing industry has denied the health risks because these additives make curing cheaper and quicker, extending shelf life and giving meat a pleasing pink colour. These additives are, in fact, unnecessary. Parma ham has not contained them for nearly 30 years - and indeed all traditional cured meats were once produced without nitrate and nitrite. Progressive producers are now increasingly following that example.? Who Poisoned Your Bacon? - featuring a foreword by acclaimed food writer Bee Wilson - is the authoritative, gripping and scandalous story of big business flying in the face of scientific health warnings. It allows you to evaluate the risks, and carries a message of hope that things can change.

'An absorbing, pacy read' New Statesman 'Well-researched and engaging' Financial Times 'Fact-packed but bouncy' The New York Times The untold history of women's exercise culture, from jogging and Jazzercise to Jane Fonda. Author of The Cut's viral article shared thousands of times unearthing the little-known origins of barre workouts, Danielle Friedman explores the history of women's exercise, and how physical strength has been converted into other forms of power. Only in the 60s, thanks to a few forward-thinking fitness pioneers, did women begin to move en masse. In doing so, they were pursuing not only physical strength, but personal autonomy. Exploring barre, jogging, aerobics, weight training and yoga, Danielle Friedman tells the story of how, with the rise of late-20th century feminism, women discovered the joy of physical competence - and how, going forward, we can work to transform fitness from a privilege into a right.

John Gribbin, author of Six Impossible Things, shortlisted for the Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize, presents a tour of seven fundamental scientific truths that underpin our very existence. These 'pillars of science' also defy common sense. For example, solid things are mostly empty space, so how do they hold together? There appears to be no special 'life force', so how do we distinguish living things from inanimate objects? And why does ice float on water, when most solids don't? You might think that question hardly needs asking, and yet if ice didn't float, life on Earth would never have happened. The answers to all of these questions were sensational in their day, and some still are. Throughout history, science has been able to think the unthinkable - and Gribbin brilliantly shows the surprising secrets on which our understanding of life is based.

Nearing half a century since the last Apollo mission, mankind has yet to return to the Moon, but that is about to change. With NASA's Artemis program scheduled for this decade, astronomer David Whitehouse takes a timely look at what the next 50 years of space exploration have in store. The thirteenth man and the first woman to walk on the Moon will be the first to explore the lunar south pole - the prime site for a future Moon base thanks to its near-perpetual sunlight and the presence of nearby ice. The first crewed mission to Mars will briefly orbit the red planet in 2039, preparing the way for a future landing mission. Surviving the round trip will be the greatest challenge any astronaut has yet faced. In the 2050s, a lander will descend to the frozen surface of Jupiter's moon Europa and attempt to drill down to its subsurface ocean in search of life. Based on real-world information, up-to-date scientific findings and a healthy dose of realism, Space 2069 is a mind-expanding tour of humanity's future in space over the next 50 years.

A powerful reflection on life in isolation, in pursuit of the dream of Mars. In 2013 Kate Greene moved to Mars. On NASA's first HI-SEAS simulated Mars mission in Hawaii, she lived for four months in an isolated geodesic dome with her crewmates, gaining incredible insight into human behaviour in tight quarters, as well as the nature of boredom, dreams and isolation that arise amidst the promise of scientific progress and glory. Greene draws on her experience to contemplate what makes an astronaut, the challenges of freeze-dried eggs and time-lagged correspondence, the cost of shooting for a Planet B. The result is a story of space and life, of the slippage between dreams and reality, of bodies in space, and of humanity's incredible impulse to explore. From trying out life on Mars, Greene examines what it is to live on Earth. 'In her thoughtful, well-written account of the mission, Greene reflects on what this and other space missions can teach us about ourselves and life on Earth.' Physics Today

In 2018 the world woke up to gene editing with a storm of controversy over twin girls born in China with genetic changes deliberately introduced by scientists - changes they will pass on to their own offspring. Genetic modification (GM) has been with us for 45 years now, but the new system known as CRISPR or gene editing can manipulate the genes of almost any organism with a degree of precision, ease and speed that we could only dream of ten years ago. But is it ethical to change the genetic material of organisms in a way that might be passed on to future generations? If a person is suffering from a lethal genetic disease, is it unethical to deny them this option? Who controls the application of this technology, when it makes 'biohacking' - perhaps of one's own genome - a real possibility? Nessa Carey's book is a thrilling and timely snapshot of a cutting-edge technology that will radically alter our futures and the way we prevent disease.

When Pete Etchells was 14, his father died from motor neurone disease. In order to cope, he immersed himself in a virtual world - first as an escape, but later to try to understand what had happened. Etchells is now a researcher into the psychological effects of video games, and was co-author on a recent paper explaining why WHO plans to classify 'game addiction' as a danger to public health are based on bad science and (he thinks) are a bad idea. In this, his first book, he journeys through the history and development of video games - from Turing's chess machine to mass multiplayer online games like World of Warcraft- via scientific study, to investigate the highs and lows of playing and get to the bottom of our relationship with games - why we do it, and what they really mean to us. At the same time, Lost in a Good Game is a very unusual memoir of a writer coming to terms with his grief via virtual worlds, as he tries to work out what area of popular culture we should classify games (a relatively new technology) under.

Join the creators of Queer: A Graphic History ('Could totally change the way you think about sex and gender' VICE) on an illustrated journey of gender exploration. Is masculinity 'toxic'? Why are public toilets such a political issue? How has feminism changed the available gender roles - and for whom? Why might we all benefit from challenging binary thinking about sex/gender? In this unique illustrated guide, Meg-John Barker and Jules Scheele travel through our shifting understandings of gender across time and space - from ideas about masculinity and femininity, to non-binary and trans genders, to intersecting experiences of gender, race, sexuality, class, disability and more. Tackling current debates and tensions, which can divide communities and even cost lives, Barker and Scheele look to the past and the future to explore how we might all approach gender in more caring and celebratory ways.