William Collins

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Behind the bitter rivalry between Apple and Google - and how an an epic battle is reshaping the way we think about technology. The deathmatch between Apple and Google is not just a story of corporate competition - it's a dramatic saga of a friendship gone sour, of trust and agreements betrayed, of visionaries Steve Jobs and his successor Tim Cook versus Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Eric Schmidt. This is a story of bickering, backstabbing, poaching and paranoia, of hardware versus software and patents versus products. After more than a decade of reporting on this rivalry, Fred Vogelstein has incredible access to the boardroom conversations, unofficial reactions, outbursts, personalities, deals, lawsuits and allegations that have shaped how we use these products.

The winner of the 2013 Longman-History Today Book Prize is the gripping and largely untold story of the role of the intelligence services in Britain's retreat from empire. Against the background of the Cold War, and the looming spectre of Soviet-sponsored subversion in Britain's dwindling colonial possessions, the imperial intelligence service MI5 played a crucial but top secret role in passing power to newly independent national states across the globe. Mining recently declassified intelligence records, Calder Walton reveals this 'missing link' in Britain's post-war history. He sheds new light on everything from violent counter-insurgencies fought by British forces in the jungles of Malaya and Kenya, to urban warfare campaigns conducted in Palestine and the Arabian Peninsula. Drawing on a wealth of previously classified documents, as well as hitherto overlooked personal papers, this is also the first book to draw on records from the Foreign Office's secret archive at Hanslope Park, which contains some of the darkest and most shameful secrets from the last days of Britain's empire. Packed with incidents straight out of a John le Carre novel, Empire of Secrets is an exhilarating read by an exciting new voice in intelligence history.

Who was the real Jane Austen? Overturning the traditional portrait of the author as conventional and genteel, bestseller Paula Byrne's landmark biography reveals the real woman behind the books. In this paperback of the landmark biography, bestselling biographer Paula Byrne uses objects that conjure up a key moment in Austen's life and work - a silhouette, a vellum notebook, a topaz cross, a writing box, a royalty cheque, a bathing machine, and many more - to unlock the biography of this most beloved author. The woman who emerges is far tougher, more socially and politically aware, and altogether more modern than the conventional picture of 'dear aunt Jane' allows. Byrne's lively book explores the many forces that shaped Austen's life, her long struggle to become a published author, and brings Miss Austen dazzlingly into the twenty-first century.

Work: love it or hate it, it's an all-consuming part of our society, it's changing fast, and the impact on our working lives will be extraordinary. We are now facing a revolution in the way we work. Low carbon economies, new technology and globalisation are fundamentally transforming much of what we take for granted. Middle managers are disappearing. The working week is collapsing. And now more than ever, our careers are governed by global forces. Why will things change so quickly? What will these changes look like? Who will benefit and who will suffer? How do we navigate our career through these times? In 'The Shift', Professor at London Business School Lynda Gratton takes a look ground-breaking look at the five forces that will fundamentally change the way we work in the next ten to fifteen years. Having collaborated with companies around the world for the past three years, she has drawn up a guidebook for the future of work, instructing you how to harness specialisation, connections, enthusiasm and make the three key shifts essential for survival.

What do we do when things go wrong? A quick fix can hide the problem rather than solve it. To make real progress we need to take time for the slow fix. Whether we find ourselves challenged at home or work, or by problems on a grander, even global scale, we let ourselves be seduced by the quick fix. Truth is, it doesn't work - quick fixes postpone lasting solutions or can turn something a bit wrong into something catastrophic. We need to learn to start fixing things properly, rather than settling for short-term solutions. 'The Slow Fix' offers real, life-changing solutions to tackling problems and extends the movement defined by Carl Honore in his global bestseller, 'In Praise of Slow', to offer a recipe for problem-solving that can be applied to every walk of life, from business and politics to relationships, education and health reform. This book will help you make sense of what is going wrong - and right - in the world, and gives inspiration, ideas and practical tools to help fix your own life and everything around you.

In this paperback of his acclaimed and wide-ranging study, David Scott challenges traditional assumptions about how Britain achieved her global might. Shortlisted for the Duke of Westminster Medal for Military Literature 2013 Navigating the 300 years between the Tudor accession and the loss of the American colonies Leviathan charts one of history's greatest transformations: the rise of Britain as the world's most formidable maritime power. From the chaos of the Wars of the Roses, Henry VIII's split with Rome and Oliver Cromwell's Parliamentary regime, David Scott's masterly narrative explodes traditional assumptions to present a much darker interpretation of this extraordinary story. Powered by a rapidly growing navy, a rapacious merchant marine, resilient politics, bigotry and religious fanaticism, warmongering and slavery, this candid book is required reading for all those wishing to understand how Britain achieved her global might.

The shocking first-hand account of one man's remarkable fight for freedom; now an award-winning motion picture. 'Why had I not died in my young years - before God had given me children to love and live for? What unhappiness and suffering and sorrow it would have prevented. I sighed for liberty; but the bondsman's chain was round me, and could not be shaken off.' 1841: Solomon Northup is a successful violinist when he is kidnapped and sold into slavery. Taken from his family in New York State - with no hope of ever seeing them again - and forced to work on the cotton plantations in the Deep South, he spends the next twelve years in captivity until his eventual escape in 1853. First published in 1853, this extraordinary true story proved to be a powerful voice in the debate over slavery in the years leading up to the Civil War. It is a true-life testament of one man's courage and conviction in the face of unfathomable injustice and brutality: its influence on the course of American history cannot be overstated.

The inspiration behind the powerful new film starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Tom Wilkinson and Emily Watson, this is the story of Dido Belle, whose adoption by an aristocratic family challenged the conventions of 18th century England. In one of the most famous portraits in the world, a pretty girl walks through the grounds of Kenwood House, a vision of aristocratic refinement. But the eye is drawn to the beautiful woman on her right. Pointing at her own cheek, she playfully acknowledges her remarkable position in eighteenth-century society. For Dido Belle was the illegitimate, mixed-race daughter of a Royal Navy captain and a slave woman, adopted by the Earl of Mansfield. As Lord Chief Justice of England he would preside over the notorious Zong case - the drowning of 142 slaves by an unscrupulous shipping company. His ruling provided the legal underpinning to the abolition of slavery in Britain. From the privileged yet unequal lives of Dido and her cousin Elizabeth, to the horrific treatment of African slaves, Paula Byrne - the bestselling author of 'The Real Jane Austen' - vividly narrates the story of a family that defied convention, the legal trial that exposed the cruelties of slavery and the woman who challenged notions of race at the highest rank.

Refresh your life with a tiny little adventure that's close to home and easy on your pocket. Inspiration is abundant in this brilliant and beautifully-illustrated guide. What exactly is an adventure? Something that's new and exhilarating. Something that launches you from your comfort zone into a different place altogether. An adventure changes you and how you see the world. And all an adventurer really needs is bags of enthusiasm and boundless curiosity. Let Alastair Humphreys introduce you to the exciting world of microadventures - adventures that are close to home, cheap, simple, short, and yet very effective. A microadventure takes the spirit of a big adventure and squeezes it into a day or even a few hours. The point of microadventures is that you do not need lots of time and money to meet a new challenge. This practical guide is filled with ideas for microadventures and over 150 stunning photographs, plus tips and advice on safety and kit. Whether it is sleeping on a hilltop or going for a wild swim, cycling a lap of the Isle of Wight or walking home for Christmas, it's time you discovered something new about yourself and the world outside your window. Adventure is everywhere, every day, and it is up to us to find it.

A fly-on-the-wall account of the greatest drama in modern sporting history by the New York Times cycling correspondent. As Lance Armstrong's precipitous fall from grace continues, New York Times sports reporter Juliet Macur takes the reader behind the scenes to bring to life the astonishing twists and turns of the scandal that has rocked the world of cycling. With unprecedented access to the key players in the drama - from Armstrong's fellow cyclists and top cycling officials to doctors, trainers and wives - Cycle of Lies reveals how Armstrong built a fortress of people around him to protect his image and upend the lives of anybody who stood in his way. As America's fallen idol faces potential perjury charges, Cycle of Lies widens the focus to expose corruption at all levels of the sport in a thrilling, page-turning work of contemporary narrative history.

Human life is a staggeringly strange thing. On the surface of a ball of rock falling around a nuclear fireball in the blackness of a vacuum the laws of nature conspired to create a naked ape that can look up at the stars and wonder where it came from. What is a human being? Objectively, nothing of consequence. Particles of dust in an infinite arena, present for an instant in eternity. Clumps of atoms in a universe with more galaxies than people. And yet a human being is necessary for the question itself to exist, and the presence of a question in the universe - any question - is the most wonderful thing. Questions require minds, and minds bring meaning. What is meaning? I don't know, except that the universe and every pointless speck inside it means something to me. I am astonished by the existence of a single atom, and find my civilisation to be an outrageous imprint on reality. I don't understand it. Nobody does, but it makes me smile. This book asks questions about our origins, our destiny, and our place in the universe. We have no right to expect answers; we have no right to even ask. But ask and wonder we do. Human Universe is first and foremost a love letter to humanity; a celebration of our outrageous fortune in existing at all. I have chosen to write my letter in the language of science, because there is no better demonstration of our magnificent ascent from dust to paragon of animals than the exponentiation of knowledge generated by science. Two million years ago we were apemen. Now we are spacemen. That has happened, as far as we know, nowhere else. That is worth celebrating.

HarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics. 'I pay very little regard...to what any young person says on the subject of marriage. If they profess a disinclination for it, I only set it down that they have not yet seen the right person.' Humble and lowly, a young Fanny Price goes to live with her wealthy Aunt and Uncle at their grand house, Mansfield Park. Growing up with her privileged and spoilt cousins, the Bertrams, she lives in the shadows of their glamorous lives, but manages to find an ally in her cousin, Edmund. When Henry and Mary Crawford come to visit, the house is thrown into disarray as romance flourishes between the young people, leading Fanny to finally confront the extent of her true feelings for Edmund.

Find here the ingredients, cooks, techniques and tools that have shaped our love of food in this lavishly illustrated book. The history of food and cooking is the history of civilisation. In today's world we can get food from just about anywhere, at any time of day, but how many of us know exactly where our much-loved recipes come from, who invented them, and how they were originally prepared? In this richly entertaining book, food writer William Sitwell explores the fascinating history of cuisine from the first cookbook to the first cupcake, from the invention of the sandwich to the rise of food television. His engaging and witty narrative uncovers the earliest recipes tucked within Egyptian tomb walls and medieval manuscripts and shines a light on the many trends and technological innovations that have shaped the way we eat over hundreds of years.

An insightful, behind-the-scences portrait of the technology giant Apple. Former Wall Street Journal technology reporter Yukari Iwatani Kane delves deep inside Apple in the two years since Steve Jobs's death, revealing the tensions and challenges CEO Tim Cook and his team face as they try to sustain Jobs's vision and keep the company moving forward. Steve Jobs's death raised one of the most pressing questions in the tech and business worlds: Could Apple stay great without its iconic leader? Many inside the company were eager to prove that Apple could be just as innovative as it had been under Jobs. Others were painfully aware of the immense challenge ahead. As its business has become more complex and global, Apple has come under intense scrutiny, much of it critical. Maintaining market leadership has become crucial as it tries to conquer new frontiers and satisfy the public's insatiable appetite for 'insanely great' products. Based on over two hundred interviews with current and former executives, business partners, Apple watchers and others, Haunted Empire is an illuminating portrait of Apple today that offers clues to its future. With nuanced insights and colourful details that only a seasoned journalist could glean, Kane goes beyond the myths and headlines. She explores Tim Cook's leadership and its impact on Jobs's loyal lieutenants, new product development, and Apple's relationships with Wall Street, the government, tech rivals, suppliers, the media, and consumers. Hard-hitting yet fair, Haunted Empire reveals the perils and opportunities an iconic company faces when it loses its visionary leader.

How could a relatively simple chemical code give rise to the complexity of a human being? How could our human genome have evolved? And how does it actually work? Over the past 50 years we have deciphered the inner workings of the human genome. From the basic structure of DNA through to the complete sequence of the code, what first appeared to be simple is actually a complex and beautiful three-dimensional world that makes each of us who we are. In The Mysterious World of the Human Genome acclaimed science writer Frank Ryan leads us through the most exciting scientific discoveries of the last 50 years, revealing how this science has unlocked the cure of some genetic diseases, developed the use of DNA in forensic science and paternity testing, helped us trace our ancestors and provided a definitive map for the movement of humans out of Africa. This scientific journey has had a profound impact on our understanding of the evolution of life itself, through the role of the most ancient of organisms in our basic biology all the way to the revelation that our most recent ancestor, Homo neanderthalensis, lives on in many of us. In the ever more complicated world of the human genome, this is the first book to explain how the human genome actually works as a whole and how that knowledge will have a profound effect on our understanding of where we have come from and where we are likely to be going in the future.