Profile Books

The uncommon reader is none other that HM The Queen who drifts accidentally into reading when her corgis stray into a mobile library parked at Buckingham Palace.

Why does the West rule? Eminent Stanford polymath Ian Morris answers this provocative question, drawing uniquely on 15,000 years of history and archaeology, and the methods of social science. In the middle of the eighteenth century, British entrepren eurs unleashed the astounding energies of steam and coal and the world changed forever. Factories, railways and gunboats then propelled the West's rise to power, and computers and nuclear weapons in the twentieth century secured its global supremacy. Today, however, many worry that the emergence of China and India spell the end of the West as a superpower. How long will the power of the West last? And in order to find out we need to know: why has the West been so dominant for the past two hundre d years? With flair and authority, historian and achaeologist Ian Morris draws uniquely on 15,000 years of history to offer fresh insights on what the future will bring. Deeply researched and brilliantly argued, "Why The West Rules - For Now" is a gr ipping and truly original history of the world.

This title features unexpected tales from the master of short fiction. "The Shielding of Mrs Forbes". Graham Forbes is a disappointment to his mother, who thinks that if he must have a wife, he should have done better. Though her own husband isn't all that satisfactory either. Still, this is Alan Bennett, so what is happening in the bedroom (and in lots of other places too) is altogether more startling, perhaps shocking, and ultimately more true to people's predilections. "The Greening of Mrs Donaldson". Mrs. Donaldson is a conventional middle-class woman beached on the shores of widowhood after a marriage that had been much like many others: happy to begin with, then satisfactory and finally dull. But when she decides to take in two lodgers, her mundane life becomes much more stimulating...

Which sort of seducer could you be: Siren? Rake? Cold Coquette? Star? Comedian? Charismatic? or Saint? This book will show you which. Charm, persuasion, the ability to create illusions: these are some of the many dazzling gifts of the Seducer, the compelling figure who is able to manipulate, mislead and give pleasure all at once. When raised to the level of art, seduction, and indirect and subtle form of power, has toppled empires, won elections and enslaved great minds. In this beautiful, sensually designed book, Greene unearths the two sides of seduction: the characters and the process. Discover who you, or your pursuer, most resembles. Learn, too, the pitfalls of the anti-Seducer. In part II, immerse yourself in the twenty four manoeuvres and strategies of the seductive process, the ritual by which a seducer gains mastery over their target. Understand how to 'Choose the Right Victim', 'Appear to Be an Object of Desire' and 'Confuse Desire and Reality'. In addition, Greene provides instruction on how to identify victims by type. Each fascinating character and each cunning tactic demonstrates a fundamental truth about who we are, and the targets we've become - or hope to win over. "The Art of Seduction" is an indispensable primer on the essence of one of history's greatest weapons and the ultimate power trip.

At the heart of "Born to Run" lies a mysterious tribe of Mexican Indians, the Tarahumara, who live quietly in canyons and are reputed to be the best distance runners in the world; in 1993, one of them, aged 57, came first in a prestigious 100-mile race wearing a toga and sandals. A small group of the world's top ultra-runners (and the awe-inspiring author) make the treacherous journey into the canyons to try to learn the tribe's secrets and then take them on over a course 50 miles long. With incredible energy and smart observation, McDougall tells this story while asking what the secrets are to being an incredible runner. Travelling to labs at Harvard, Nike, and elsewhere, he comes across an incredible cast of characters, including the woman who recently broke the world record for 100 miles and for her encore ran a 2:50 marathon in a bikini, pausing to down a beer at the 20 mile mark.

The experts' guide to how to the organisational aspects of managing the people you are responsible for. Here are the checklists compiled by the CMI's experts on the aspects that are most crucial to the processes behind how you get the most from those you have to manage and work with, and how you deal with them when things go wrong. The checklists include: Planning the recruitment process, Managing staff turnover and retention, Managing part-time employees, Performance management, Using 360 degree feedback, Evaluating training and learning, Talent management, Training needs analysis, Succession planning, Devising a coaching programme, Understanding organisational culture, Employee engagement, Managing creativity, Implementing flexible working hours, Implementing a diversity management programme, Redundancy: managing the survivors, Enabling work-life balance It is all here, from the basics to the more nuanced and difficult to get right, and included among the essential checklists are profiles of leading management thinkers on key topics.

The experts' guide to how to manage and work with the people and teams you are responsible for. Here are the checklists compiled by the CMI's experts on the aspects that are most crucial to getting the most from those you have to manage and work with, on such topics as: Get the right people and get the people right, Team briefing, Effective verbal communication with groups, Facilitating, Developing trust, Empowerment, Successful delegation, Setting SMART objective, Motivating the demotivated, Managing the plateaued performer, Motivating staff in a time of change, Coaching for improved performance, Managing conflict, Managing the bully. It is all here, from the basics to the more nuanced and difficult to get right, and included among the essential checklists are profiles of leading management thinkers on key topics.

The experts' guide to how to manage the most important person you are responsible for: yourself. Here are the checklists compiled by the CMI's experts on the aspects that are most crucial to your personal performance as a manager, on such topics as Starting a new job, Fitting in and getting on, Handling workplace relationships, Developing your network, Making an impact, Succeeding as a new manager, Handling the politics, Testing for personal effectiveness, Personal development planning, Working out a career plan, Writing your CV, Managing your time effectively, Handling information - avoiding overload, Solving problems, Stress management: self first, Emotional intelligence, Marketing yourself, Managing (your relationship with) your boss, and Networking. It is all here, from the basics to the more nuanced and difficult to get right, and included among the essential checklists are profiles of leading management thinkers on key topics.

How is it that the most carefully-laid business strategies can go horribly wrong when put into practice? Robert Rowland Smith's answer, based on years of experience in high-level consultancy, is that 'reality eats strategy for breakfast': strategy, based on projections and assuming business is a rational pursuit, can't deal with the messy reality of life. More helpful are these practical questions that can help you plan what to do when your business comes into contact with reality. From learning the lessons of the past (rather than fixating on the future) to finding out what your business is really about, he explains the real-life factors that lead to success or failure. Including many new examples from the front line, from all around the world, The Reality Test will help you establish yourself as more effective and distinctive than your competitors, who follow the same rigid theoretical avenues. Whether you ask 'Are you making enough of your weaknesses?' or 'Are you 100% productive 100% of the time?', it's time to stop living in strategy La-La Land and face reality.

Ask around in business circles, and you'll get a thousand different answers. But now, internationally-renowned leadership expert Dr Peter Fuda has created a single, coherent roadmap for greatness: after more than a decade's research and practice, Fuda shares the seven common threads that have enabled hundreds of CEOs across the world to transform themselves into effective, inspiring leaders. Leadership Transformed uses seven easy-to-remember metaphors to distil Fuda's research into a pathway for real, lasting change. The Fire metaphor, for example, will help you shift from burning platforms (fear-driven leadership) to burning ambition (purpose-driven leadership), while the Snowball metaphor will teach you how to foster mutual accountability and create unstoppable momentum. Fuda has helped leaders on four continents achieve greatness. Previously available only to the select clients of his industry-leading consultancy, now Fuda's expert knowledge can help kick-start your own leadership transformation.

Whatever your job is, chances are you find it hard to switch off. Today, we work longer hours, at weekends, at home and on the move - while the office is only ever a click away via smartphones and the Internet. But as much as we assume that this is the price of success - it doesn't have to be this way. Martin Bjergegaard and Jordan Milne are here to show you how to build your business into something big, sustainable and widely recognized - and still lead a happy, whole and balanced life. In sixty-six short insights, they re­veal strategies and methods which will allow you to combine professional success with putting friends, family and happiness first. Their Efficiency Boosters will increase your effectiveness, while you'll learn all about how to avoid Time and Energy Wasters and build a New Mindset that gives you to optimism and enthusiasm needed to succeed. So wave goodbye to guiltily checking your emails on a date, or getting home when your children are already in bed - this is your route to winning on every level.

Freya is an ordinary girl living in modern Britain, but with a twist: people still worship the Viking gods. One evening, stuck with her dad on his night shift at the British Museum, she is drawn to the Lewis Chessmen and Heimdall's Horn. Unable to resist, she blows the horn, waking three chess pieces from their enchantment; the slaves Roskva and Alfi, and Snot the Berserk. They are all summoned to Asgard, land of the Viking gods, and told they must go on a perilous journey to restore the gods to youth. If Freya refuses she will be turned into an ivory chess piece but, if she accepts her destiny and fails, the same terrible fate awaits her.

Maps fascinate us. They chart our understanding of the world and they log our progress, but above all they tell our stories. From the early sketches of philosophers and explorers through to Google Maps and beyond, Simon Garfield examines how maps both relate and realign our history. With a historical sweep ranging from Ptolemy to Twitter, Garfield explores the legendary, impassable (and non-existent) mountains of Kong, the role of cartography in combatting cholera, the 17th-century Dutch craze for Atlases, the Norse discovery of America, how a Venetian monk mapped the world from his cell and the Muppets' knack of instant map-travel. Along the way are pocket maps of dragons, Mars, murders and more, with plenty of illustrations and prints to signpost the route. From the bestselling and widely-adored author of Just My Type, On The Map is a witty and irrepressible examination of where we've been, how we got there and where we're going.

The world of Mood Indigo is a stained-glass cartoon kind of a place, where the piano dispenses cocktails, the kitchen mice dance to the sound of sunbeams, and the air is three parts jazz. Colin is a wealthy young aristocrat, a slim, innocent creature who loves easily. The instant he sees Chloe, bass drums thump inside his shirt, and soon the two are married. Typically generous, Colin gives a quarter of his fortune to his best friend Chick so he can marry Chloe's friend Alyssum. But a lily grows in Chloe's lung, and Colin must spend his remaining fortune on the only available treatment: surrounding her daily with fresh flowers. Chick squanders his share of Colin's money on rare editions of Jean Pulse Heartre, and Alyssum decides her only recourse is to murder the philosopher whose books are ruining her husband. Chick and Colin's money woes force them to sacrifice their carefree lives to soul-crushing work, and even the suicidal mice wear themselves out trying to restore the lustre to the kitchen tiles.

The 2014 edition of this perennial favourite has been completely updated, revised and expanded with many new features. Full of facts and figures about the world today - on subjects as diverse as geography, population and demographics, business, finance and the economy, transport, tourism and the environment, society, culture and crime - it is a mine of fascinating data that will both inform and entertain. Where else would you discover that: - The G7 economies account for nearly 50% of the world's GDP but only 11% of its population - National income per head in Luxembourg is over $105,000; in Somalia it is $110 - Four of the world's five most livable cities are in Australa; three of the top ten are in Canada - Between them overseas Indians and Chinese send close to $110 billion home a year - More than 48% of American women are obese - Honduras and El Salvador have the highest mortality rates - America is the biggest arms exporter, India the biggest arms importer - Switzerland and Latvia come highest in the Environmental Performance Index - Estonians buy more alcoholic drinks than anyone else With rankings on more than 200 topics, data on more than 190 countries, detailed profiles of more than 65 of the world's major economies and special profiles on the Euro zone and the world. The Pocket World in Figures is always eagerly awaited by its many thousands of fans. No-one who wants to be well-informed can afford to be without this new edition.

In The Sleeping Army, Freya went to Hel and back. She fought dragons, fled fire and outwitted giants - all to restore eternal youth to the Norse Gods. But now they're back, does anyone care? Up in Asgard, it doesn't really feel like it. The Gods' popularity on earth is waning, and without regular worship, their powers are fading fast. Meanwhile, their ancient enemies, the Frost Giants, are stirring. So the Gods hatch a plan - they'll come back down to earth, and they'll pursue a very different kind of popularity. They're going to become celebrities. A rollicking, thrilling and hilarious ride, The Lost Gods takes up where the Sleeping Army left off and takes us back to Simon's brilliantly-imagined modern Norse England.