Little Brown

Are there tangible benefits in flossing? Is it wrong to fake orgasms? What does the perfect online dating ad look like? Should we bother doing the ironing? Is it really impossible to buy the perfect Christmas gift? (Other than this book, of course.) Economists might not be the first people you would think of to give you advice on such diverse areas as parenting, the intricacies of etiquette or the dark arts of seduction. But for years bestselling author Tim Harford has been doing just that: answering the most challenging questions in his brilliant column, where he uses the tools of economics to give practical advice about everyday dilemmas, conundrums and concerns. From family rows and the stock market to buying socks or speed dating, you'll find within these pages a witty - and of course rational - explanation for almost everything you ever wanted to know about life.

The Casual Vacancy is J. K. Rowling's first novel aimed at an adult readership. Her new novel wil be blackly comic, thought-provoking, and constantly surprising. "When Barry Fairbrother dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock. Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty facade is a town at war. Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils…Pagford is not what it first seems. And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?"

The Great LIFE Photographers is the most comprehensive anthology of LIFE photography ever published, featuring the best work of every staff photographer who worked for the famous magazine, and that of a handful of others who shot for LIFE. It was always the photographers who made LIFE great, and this is the most vivid and exciting portrait of those men and women that has ever been produced. The book offers more than 100 portfolios including those of Alfred Eisenstaedt, Margaret Bourke-White, Carl Mydans, Gordon Parks, W. Eugene Smith, Robert Capa, Ralph Morse, Nina Leen, Harry Benson, Philippe Halsman, and Joe McNally, whose work for LIFE in the aftermath of September 11 was in the finest tradition of the magazine. Each portfolio includes a short biography, offering an intimate look at the people behind the lens. Here are the defining moments of the 20th century, including MacArthur wading ashore by Mydans, Capa's D-Day landing at Omaha Beach and, of course, Eisenstaedt's sailor kissing the nurse. Here are the first pictures taken from inside the womb and the first taken from outer space. Here are powerful scenes from Tiananmen Square and from the American South during the Civil Rights movement. LIFE helped make icons of Sophia Loren and Marilyn Monroe, the Beatles and Michael Jackson, and those indelible photographs are here too. This attractive new paperback edition is an affordable way to own some of the most memorable photographs ever made, stunningly reproduced in black and white and full color.

Hotel LaChapelle takes the reader another step deeper the shocking world of David LaChapelle. Each full-color page is, metaphorically, a room in a crazy hotel. Hotel LaChapelle is full of neon, sex, and strange people -- and the result is a beachy postcard from that nuns-with-guns place in the sun that could only exist in the vision of David LaChapelle. Hotel LaChapelle will be luxuriously printed and handsomely, colorfully boxed. Boasting more than 158 full-color images, it is a passport to this groundbreaking photographer's unique imagination. His subjects include the hottest celebrities of today: Leonardo DiCaprio, Madonna, Tori Amos, Uma Thurman, Marilyn Manson, Daniel Day Lewis, Mike Myers, Pamela Anderson, and many others. Spectacular in style as in content, Hotel LaChapelle promises to be the wildest, freshest volume of photography of the next few years.

What if the world's worst serial killer...was your dad? Jasper (Jazz) Dent is a likable teenager. A charmer, one might say. But he's also the son of the world's most infamous serial killer and for Dear Old Dad, Take Your Son to Work Day was year-round. Jazz has witnessed crime scenes the way cops wish they could - from the criminal's point of view. And now bodies are piling up in Lobo's Nod. In an effort to clear his name, Jazz joins the police in a hunt for a new serial killer but Jazz has a secret--could he be more like his father than anyone knows?

After solving a deadly case in the small town of Lobo's Nod, seventeen-year-old Jazz, the son of history's most infamous serial murderer, travels to New York City to help the police track down the Hat-Dog Killer.

Alex and Conner Bailey have not been back to the magical Land of Stories since their adventures in The Wishing Spell ended. But one night, they learn the famed Enchantress has kidnapped their mother. Against the will of their grandmother (the one and only Fairy Godmother), the twins must find their own way into the Land of Stories to rescue their mother and save the fairy tale world from the greatest threat it's ever faced.

Kit doesn't know who his mother is. What he does know, however, is that his father, Guy, is dying of cancer. Feeling his death is imminent, Guy gathers around him his oldest friends - or at least the friends with the most to lose by his death. Paul - the rising star in the Labour party who dreads the day a tape they all made at university might come to light; Alison and Robbie, corporate bunnies whose relationship is daily more fractious; Pris and Haze, once an item, now estranged, and finally Hol - friend, mentor, former lover and the only one who seemed to care. But what will happen to Kit when Guy is gone? And why isn't Kit's mother in the picture? As the friends reunite for Guy's last days, old jealousies, affairs and lies come to light as Kit watches on.

Every four days there are a million more people on the planet. More people and fewer resources. In this timely work, Alan Weisman examines how we can shrink our collective human footprint so that we don't stomp any more species - including our own - out of existence. The answer: reducing gradually and non-violently the number of humans on the planet whose activities, industries and lifestyles are damaging the Earth. Defining an optimum human population for the Earth is an explosive concept. Weisman, one of the most brilliant environmental writers, will travel the globe, from the settlements of Israel and the plains of Mexico to the bustling streets of Pakistan and the teeming cities of the UK. In his search for answers, he will speak to religious leaders, demographers, ecologists, economists, engineers and agriculturalists in what promises to be an international classic.

Beautifully reproduced and cleanly presented, the four hundred images in this volume represent the finest work of a pre-eminent landscape photographer. The photographs are arranged chronologically into five major periods in order to convey Adams's maturation as an artist - from his first photographs in 1916 to his last great photograph in 1968. ANSEL ADAMS' 400 PHOTOGRAPHS is intended as a must-have gift and reference book for anyone who appreciates photography and the allure of the natural world. Few artists or photographers of any era can claim to have produced four hundred images of lasting beauty and significance. It is a testament to Ansel's vision and his prodigious output that a book of this scale can be justified, and it is a point of pride for Little, Brown to publish a comprehensive overview of the work of Ansel Adams in a single well-packaged volume.

It's the end of term and Sam and Arty are anxiously awaiting the final bell. They barely pay attention when the bumbling science teacher causes an explosion and accidentally covers one of the pupils with a strange goo. Sam and Arty are sure it won't be serious - stuff like this happens all the time at their school. But then zombies (and bits of zombies) start turning up, desperate to munch on braaaaaaaiiiins! With a bunch of useless adults quickly getting themselves infected instead of sorting the situation out, Sam, Arty and their fearless friend Emmie have to take charge. If they can't find a cure, they'll be zombie breakfast ...

Sam, Arty and Emmie have barely got over a recent zombie infestation when their sleepy little town finds itself the victim of an alien invasion! But the aliens are very small and kind of, well, cute looking - how dangerous can they be? SPOILER ALERT: they're VERY dangerous. And when they disintegrate the mayor with their ray guns it'll be up to Sam, Arty and Emmie to save the day. Again.

Billy grinned. "Oh, New York," he whispered. "We're gonna have so much fun." I Hunt Killers introduced the world to Jazz, the son of history's most infamous serial killer, Billy Dent. In an effort to prove murder didn't run in the family, Jazz teamed with the police in the small town of Lobo's Nod to solve a deadly case. And now, when a determined New York City detective comes knocking on Jazz's door asking for help, he can't say no. The Hat-Dog Killer has the Big Apple—and its police force—running scared. So Jazz and his girlfriend, Connie, hop on a plane to the big city and get swept up in a killer's murderous game. Both the stakes and the body count are higher in this suspenseful and unstoppable sequel from acclaimed author Barry Lyga.

The Icons came from the sky. They belong to an inhuman enemy. They ended our civilization, and they can kill us. Most of us. Dol, Ro, Tima, and Lucas are the four Icon Children, and the only humans immune to the Icon's power to stop a human heart. Now that Los Angeles has been saved, things are more complicated - and not just because Dol has to choose between Lucas and Ro, the two great loves of her life. Fleeing to a resistance outpost hidden beneath a mountain, Dol makes contact with a fifth Icon Child, if only through her visions. When Dol and the others escape to south Asia in search of this missing child, Dol's dreams, feelings and fears will meet in an epic showdown that will change more than just four lives -- and stop one heart forever. In the riveting sequel to Icons, filled with heart-pounding action and compelling romance, bestselling author Margaret Stohl explores what it means to be human and how our greatest weakness can be humanity's strongest chance at survival.

It was a beautiful day. It was a beautiful field. Except for the body. Jazz is the son of the world's most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, "Take Your Son to Work Day" was year-round. Jazz has witnessed crime scenes the way cops wish they could-from the criminal's point of view. Now, with bodies piling up in the sleepy town of Lobo's Nod, Jazz must work with the police to prove that murder doesn't run in the family.

Conner Bailey thinks his fairy-tale adventures are behind him - until he discovers a mysterious clue left by the famous Brothers Grimm. With help from his classmate Bree and the outlandish Mother Goose, Conner sets off on a mission across Europe to crack a two-hundred-year-old code. Meanwhile, Alex Bailey is training to become the next Fairy Godmother . . . but her attempts at granting wishes never go as planned. Will she ever be truly ready to lead the Fairy Council? When all signs point to disaster for the Land of Stories, Conner and Alex must join forces with their friends and enemies to save the day. But nothing can prepare them for the coming battle . . . or for the secret that will change the twins' lives forever. The third book in the bestselling Land of Stories series puts the twins to the test as they must bring two worlds together!