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A new selection of foundational works from the influential philosopher who developed the theory of mimetic desire Why do humans have such a remarkable capacity for conflict? From ancient foundational myths to the modern era, the visionary thinker Rene Girard identified the constant, competing desires at the heart of our existence - desires that we copy from others, igniting a contagious violence. This remarkable and accessible new selection of Girard's work shows him as a writer for our times, as he ranges over human imitation and rivalry, herd behaviour, scapegoating and how our violent longings play out in stories, from Shakespeare to religion. Edited with an Introduction by Cynthia L. Haven

The dazzling essays of the beloved, subversive Chinese writer Wang Xiaobo, a continual bestseller in China, now in English for the first time Wang Xiaobo made his name as a novelist but his essays, too, have become ongoing bestsellers in China since their publication in the 1990s. Bringing together his thoughts on reading and talking and silence in the Cultural Revolution, about the irrepressible spirit of one beloved pig he met while an 'educated youth', and about being operated on via a textbook, these essays give a rare glimpse into a world rarely seen and discussed with such honesty. Written with a light touch and with a wry sense of humour, these are also the essays of a great literary talent, grappling with sociology, sexuality and feminism, with the cultural clash of living in the USA, and with Chinese sci-fi, the internet, and beloved European writers like Bertrand Russell and Italo Calvino. Electrifying, containing a razor-sharp wit and intellect, this collection reveals the voice of a generation to English-speaking readers for the very first time.

If you can change your mind you can do anything. Why do we refresh our wardrobes every year, renovate our kitchens every decade, but never update our beliefs and our views? Why do we laugh at people using computers that are ten years old, but yet still cling to opinions we formed ten years ago? There's a new skill for the modern world that matters more than raw intelligence - the ability to change your mind. To have the edge we all need to develop the flexibility to unlearn old beliefs and adapt when the evidence and the world changes before us. Told through fascinating stories, informed by cutting-edge research and illustratedwith amazing insights from Adam Grant's conversations with people such as Elon Musk, Hilary Clinton's campaign team, top CEOs and leading scientists, this is the ultimate guide to keeping your thinking fresh, learning when to question your ideas and update your own opinions, and how to inspire those around you to do the same.

Knowledge is power. Which is why the rich and powerful don't want you to have it. The Playbook is an exposé of the extraordinary lengths that corporations will go to in order to spread disinformation and deny the scientific facts - around climate change, public health risks and worker safety - when they don't suit their agenda. Written in the form of a corporate handbook for tobacco, oil and pharmaceutical company executives, it is a litany of obfuscation techniques, denial, delays and outright lies, including: how to recruit an academic 'expert' who is willing to compromise their integrity (or is just short of cash), how to massage the statistics, how to use legal and even physical intimidation against reporters and activists, and how, just as in a casino, to keep your customers comfortable, unquestioning, unthinking and playing along for as long as possible. Part satire, part social history, part guide to resistance, The Playbook is a charge sheet against the powerful. It shows us how, by understanding the methods and motives of disinformation campaigns, we may be able to outwit them.

The story of the Higgs boson - the so-called 'God particle' - and the man who thought of it In the summer of 1964, a reclusive young professor at the University of Edinburgh wrote two scientific papers which have come to change our understanding of the most fundamental building blocks of matter and the nature of the universe. Peter Higgs posited the existence an almost infinitely tiny particle - today known as the Higgs boson - which is the key to understanding why particles have mass, and but for which atoms and molecules could not exist. For nearly 50 years afterwards, some of the largest projects in experimental physics sought to demonstrate the physical existence of the boson which Higgs had proposed. Sensationally, confirmation came in July 2012 at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva. The following year Higgs was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. One of the least-known giants of science, he is the only person in history to have had a single particle named for them. This revelatory book is 'not so much a biography of the man but of the boson named after him'. It brilliantly traces the course of much of twentieth-century physics from the inception of quantum field theory to the completion of the 'standard model' of particles and forces, and the pivotal role of Higgs's idea in this evolution. It also investigates the contested history of Higgs's responsibility for the breakthrough when there were others close by, and explains why the boson is named for him alone. Competition between institutions and states, Close shows, then played as much of a role in creating Higgs's fame as his work itself. Drawing on conversations with Higgs over a decade (a figure generally as elusive as his particle) this is a superb study of a scientist and his era - and of how scientific knowledge advances.

From the bestselling author of Wonder comes White Bird: an unforgettable Second World War story about bravery, friendship and the power of kindness. Now a major film starring Ariella Glaser, Orlando Schwerdt, Bryce Gheisar, Helen Mirren and Gillian Anderson. Sara Blum lives an idyllic life.But her world comes crashing down when the Nazi occupation arrives in her small French town, separating her from her parents and forcing the young Jewish girl into hiding. Sara's classmate Julien and his family will risk everything to ensure her survival, and together, Sara and Julien manage to find beauty in a secret world of their creation. Originally published as a graphic novel, and featuring characters from the multi-million-copy-bestselling phenomenon Wonder, Sara and Julien's powerful, heartbreaking and timeless story is told here for the first time as a novel, and shows the power of kindness to change hearts, build bridges, and even save lives in the darkest of times.

Elegant, mature and richly atmospheric, a bittersweet love story glimpsed through the veil of memory Thora, August and Hugo come from different worlds. One is an art school dreamer, one a wealthy scion of the old-world elite, and one an ordinary boy from out of town. But over the course of two sky-blue summers in Stockholm, they are drawn together magnetically. Years later, Hugo is long estranged from Thora and August when their daughter knocks on his door. She has questions about her parents which she believes Hugo can answer - and the memories of those luminous days of youth come flooding back. Modern yet timeless, poignant and euphoric, The Trio is a novel about the path not taken, the people we might have become, and the relationships which shape and haunt us long after they come to a close.

They called for a break, and Gambon magicked up a cigarette from out of his beard. He and I were often to be found outside the stage that housed the Astronomy Tower, having 'a breath of fresh air' as we referred to it. There would be painters and plasterers and chippies and sparks, and among them all would be me and Dumbledore having a crafty cigarette. From Borrower to wizard, Tom Felton's childhood was anything but ordinary. His early rise to fame saw him catapulted into the limelight aged just twelve when he landed the iconic role of Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films. Speaking with candour and his own trademark humour, Tom shares his experience of growing up on screen and as part of the wizarding world for the very first time. He tells all about his big break, what filming was really like and the lasting friendships he made during ten years with the franchise, as well as the highs and lows of fame and the reality of navigating adult life after filming finished. Prepare to meet a real-life wizard.

THE SWOON-WORTHY FORCED PROXIMITY AND GRUMPY SUNSHINE ROMANCE - AND TIKTOK SENSATION! After Hallie lands in hot water with the tabloids again, her father issues an ultimatum: be cut off from the family fortune or agree to a live-in bodyguard. Not one to have the credit card cut up again, Hallie reluctantly agrees. Enter sexy, brooding Ransom Lockwood... He is cold and rude but after spending time with Hallie, something begins to light up inside him. Neither believe the other can change. But as they get to know each other it becomes clear that Hallie isn't the only one in need of protecting. And that romance can blossom in the most unlikely of places...

THE SIZZLING-HOT ENEMIES TO LOVERS ROMANCE AND TIKTOK SENSATION Francesca Rossi is the beautiful daughter to a powerful Chicago mafia family. Her life has always been comfortable and safe. Now, betrothed to her childhood friend Angelo Bandini, she expects her future to be the same. Ruthless and ambitious, Wolfe Keaton is the sworn enemy of the Rossi's and will stop at nothing to destroy their lives. Until Wolf sets his eyes on Francesca, and his life changes forever. His family allegiances are bound by blood. But can a newfound love overpower a decades-old hate?

Since early 2020, Dolly Alderton has been sharing her wisdom, warmth and wit with the countless people who have written in to her Dear Dolly agony aunt column in The Sunday Times Style. Their questions range from the painfully - and sometimes hilariously - relatable to the occasionally bizarre. They include breakups and body issues, families, friendships, dating, divorce, the pleasures and pitfalls of social media, sex, loneliness, longing, love and everything in between. Without judgement, and with deep empathy informed by her own, much-chronicled adventures in love, friendship and dating, Dolly leads us by the hand through the various labyrinths of life, proving that a problem shared is truly a problem halved.

Will you brave The Retreat? The new bestselling thriller from the author of The Sanatorium. They couldn't wait to stay here. An idyllic wellness retreat has opened on an island off the coast of Devon, promising rest and relaxation - but the island itself, known locally as Reaper's Rock, has a dark past. Once the playground of a serial killer, it's rumored to be cursed. But now they can't leave. A woman is found dead below the yoga pavilion in what seems to be a tragic fall. But DS Elin Warner soon learns that the victim wasn't a guest - she wasn't meant to be on the island at all. And they would do anything to escape... The longer Elin stays, the more secrets she uncovers. And when someone else drowns in a diving incident, Elin begins to suspect that the old stories about the island are true. Because history seems to be repeating itself - and the guests might not make it home alive.

Whether you long for the partner who broke up with you, or the one you dream of meeting; whether you hunger for the happy childhood you'll never have, or for the divine; whether you yearn for a lost person, an unborn child, the fountain of youth, or unconditional love: These are all manifestations of the same great ache... In this inspiring and genre-bending work, Susan Cain - author of the international bestseller Quiet - shows us the power of a "bittersweet" outlook: the overlooked tendency to states of longing and poignancy, and a piercing joy at the beauty of the world. Embracing the bittersweet means understanding that light and dark, birth and death - bitter and sweet - are forever paired, and that by recognising this we can find the true path to creativity and connection. Bringing to light the ideas of artists, writers and thinkers from all over the world, and her own quest for answers over the course of a lifetime, Susan Cain fundamentally shifts our understanding of life by teaching us how to turn sorrow into an enriching superpower.

A user's guide to the future: from the algorithms in DNA to why time is like a cocktail glass, interstellar migrations, transhumanism, the fate of the galaxy, and the last black hole... Every second of our lives - whether we're looking both ways before crossing the street, celebrating the birth of a baby, or moving to a new city - we must cope with an unknowable future by telling stories about what will happen next. Where is the future, the place where we set those stories? Can we trust our future stories? And what sort of futures do they show us? David Christian, historian and bestselling author of Origin Story, is renowned for pioneering the emerging discipline of Big History, which surveys the whole of the past. But with Future Stories, he casts his sharp analytical eye forward, offering an introduction to the strange world of the future, and a guide to what we think we know about it at all scales, from the predictive mechanisms of single-celled organisms and tomato plants to the merging of colossal galaxies billions of years from now. Drawing together science, history and philosophy from a huge range of places and times, Christian explores how we prepare for uncertain futures, including the future of human evolution, artificial intelligence, interstellar travel, and more. By linking the study of the past much more closely to the study of the future, we can begin to imagine what the world will look like in the next hundred years and consider solutions to the biggest challenges facing us all.

Gods have fallen. A queen is rising. And the world will never be the same. The throne of the Kethran Empire lies empty, its ruler now a god bringing darkness and chaos to the world. The line between the divine and mortal realms is blurring. The battlefield is set and a final, devastating war is on the horizon. Casia Greythorne is ready to take her place on the throne, to unite the empire and stand against the gods themselves. But to claim her crown - to save her world and the people she loves - she must confront her past and finally discover the answers hidden within it. Even though it may destroy her hope of a future.

The compelling new novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Love, Iris and The Family Holiday Sometimes friendship crosses a line... A group of close friends, their bonds forged at the nursery gates two decades ago, have celebrated, commiserated and grown together: they thought they all knew each other so well. Until the affair. Now a crack appears in everything. Could one betrayal really destroy it all? Other People's Husbands is a story of friendship and love, crossing boundaries and breaking vows, of trying to fix what you believed could never be broken.