Profile Books

A biography of the impresario of the arts and creator of The Ballets Russes.

Argues that the physical violence we see is often generated by the systemic violence that sustains our political and economic systems. With the help of eminent philosophers and frequent references to popular culture, this title examines the causes of violent outbreaks like those seen in Israel and Palestine and in terrorist acts around the world.

Rodric Braithwaite's magnificent narrative of 1941 and the Battle of Moscow, and the Russian men and women who fought it, was one of the major history titles of 2006 in both universal acclaim and sales. Based on huge research and scores of interviews, this book offers an unforgettable and richly illustrated narrative of the military action that took place in Moscow during 1941; telling portraits of Stalin and his generals, some apparatchiks, some great commanders. It also traces the stories of individuals, soldiers, politicians and intellectuals, writers and artists and dancers, workers, schoolchildren and peasants.

Empress, empire-builder, intellectual, art-collector, and lover — this magnificent new biography does full justice to a truly remarkable ruler. When Catherine II died in St Petersburg in 1796, the world sensed the loss of the most celebrated monarch of Europe — something no one would have predicted at the birth 67 years before of an obscure German princess, Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst, later married off to the pathetic heir to the Russian throne. There were few greater transformations of fortunes in history. Sophie/Catherine had come to rule in her own right over the largest state in existence since the fall of the Roman Empire. She was branded both a usurper and an assassin when she seized power from her wretched husband in 1762. Yet she survived the initial succession crisis, and went on to occupy the Russian throne for 34 years. In the process, she turned her new empire from peripheral pariah to European great power.

In the summer of 2009, Alain de Botton will be invited by the owners of Heathrow airport to become their first ever Writer in Residence. He will be installed in the middle of Terminal 5 on a raised platform with a laptop connected to screens, enabling passengers to see what he is writing and to come and share their stories. He will meet travellers from around the world, and will be given unprecedented access to wander the airport and speak with everyone from window cleaners and baggage handlers to air traffic controllers and cabin crew. Working with the renowned documentary photographer Richard Baker, de Botton will produce an extraordinary meditation upon the nature of place, time, and our daily lives. He will explore the magical and the mundane, personal and collective experiences and the interactions of travellers and workers all over this familiar but mysterious site. Like all airports, Heathrow (the 15th century village of Heath Row lies beneath the short stay car park) is a 'non-place' that we by definition want to leave, but it also provides a window into many worlds — through the thousands of people it dispatches every day. A Week at the Airport is sure to delight de Botton's large following, and anyone interested in the stories behind the way we live.

The Uncommon Reader is none other than HM the Queen who drifts accidentally into reading when her corgis stray into a mobile library parked at Buckingham Palace. She reads widely (JR Ackerley, Jean Genet, Ivy Compton Burnett and the classics) and intelligently. Her reading naturally changes her world view and her relationship with people like the oleaginous prime minister and his repellent advisers. She comes to question the prescribed order of the world and loses patience with much that she has to do. In short, her reading is subversive. The consequence is, of course, surprising, mildly shocking and very funny.

In the summer of 2005, the magazine Business 2.0 published a cover story on a self-published management pamphlet by William Swanson, CEO of American aerospace contractor Raytheon. Lauded by chief executives including Jack Welch and Warren Buffett, it became a quiet phenomenon, and more than 300,000 people wrote in to the magazine to ask for a copy. But much of the pamphlet drew from a business book of 1944 – which Profile are now reissuing, revised and updated, as The Unwritten Laws of Business. Filled with sage advice and written in a clear, engaging style, it offers insights on working with others, reporting to a boss, running meetings, advancing your career, and much, much more: If you have no intention of using someone’s opinion, don’t ask for it; It’s natural enough to ‘look out for Number One’, but your associates won’t look out for you; If you take care of your present job well, the future will take care of itself. And more – all of which has also stood the test of time. Refreshingly free of the latest business jargon, The Unwritten Laws of Business is wise, ethical and insightful, capturing and distilling the timeless truths and principles that underlie management and business the world over.

The only thing most people know about Kazakhstan is that it is homeland to Borat – and he isn’t even real. Actually this vast place – the last unknown inhabited country in the world – is far more surprising and entertaining. For one thing, it is as varied as Europe, combining stupendous wealth, grinding poverty, exotic traditions and a mad dash for modernity. Crisscrossing a vanished land, Christopher Robbins finds Eminem by a shrinking Aral Sea, goes eagle-hunting, visits the scene of Dostoyevsky’s doomed first love, takes up residence beside one-time neighbour Leon Trotsky and visits some of the most beautiful, unspoilt places on earth.

This book offers the chilling tale of a painting so terrifying, its secrets will haunt those who see it. It is a ghost story by the author of The Woman in Black, to be read by the fire on a cold winter's night. A mysterious depiction of masked revellers at the Venice carnival hangs in the college rooms of Oliver's old professor in Cambridge. On this cold winter's night, its eerie secret is revealed by the ageing don. The dark art of the Venetian scene, instead of imitating life, has the power to entrap it. To stare into the painting is to play dangerously with the unseen demons it hides, and become the victim of its macabre beauty...

How can you measure the speed of light with chocolate and a microwave? Why do yo-yos yo-yo? Why does urine smell so peculiar after eating asparagus (includes helpful recipe)? How long does it take to digest different types of food? What is going on when you drop mentos in to cola? 100 wonderful, intriguing and entertaining scientific experiments which show scientific principles first hand – this is science at its most popular.

This book is based upon 50 interviews with men and women – eg Chris Bonington, Mark McCormack, Terence Conran and Malcolm Forbes – who have been outstandingly successful in a variety of fields. With his usual perceptiveness, Edward de Bono analyses their different paths to success, revealing that underneath their different styles and their greatly different personal qualities are a few characteristics which are common to all successful people. De Bono provides the lessons for anyone seeking success in their lives.

Francis Fukuyama used to regard himself as a ‘neocon’. But, attacking the right-wing policymakers he had previously worked with, he argues here that the Bush administration, in the war in Iraq, has wrongly applied the principles of neoconservatism – a philosophy that is vital to the arguments about Iraq, but rarely explored, and whose history he carefully untangles. He explains why the US did not realize how much foreign hostility there would be towards the war, or how difficult reconstruction would be. Showing that there is no established tradition in international relations theory that can help guide American foreign policy today, he then outlines a new approach, in his usual clear and penetrating style.

For decades Marks & Spencer was the most successful retailer in the world. Its clothes were a byword for affordable quality and its food halls pioneered ready-prepared meals. Then suddenly they were dowdy, the staff deserted in droves and the shares plummeted – but the annual results in April 2006 show that the company is on the mend. What went wrong and how have things improved? In new chapters covering the Philip Green bid and the Stuart Rose recovery plan, and covering the Christmas 2006 trading figures, Judi Bevan reveals all.

Most of us are only too aware that, whatever roles we have in today’s fast-moving world, much of our success lies in getting others to say ‘Yes’ to our requests. What many people might not be aware of, though, is the vast amount of research that has been conducted on the influence process. What factors cause one person to say ‘Yes’ to the request of another? Yes! is full of practical tips based on recent academic research that shows how the psychology of persuasion can provide valuable insights for anyone interested in improving their ability to persuade others – whether in the workplace, at home or even on the internet. It combines the counter-intuition of Freakonomics with the popularising of Does Anything Eats Wasps? For each mini-chapter contains a mystery which is solved in a way that provides food for thought for anyone looking to be more persuasive, and for anyone interested in how the world works.

This wonderfully inventive collection of stories presents the writing of Russian absurdist Daniil Kharms at its vibrant, perplexing best. The book is composed of short miniatures: strange, funny, dream-like fragments — many of which the author called 'incidents' — that tend to feature accidents, falling, chance violence and sudden death. An outlaw classic banned by Soviet censors until the 1980s, «Incidences» vividly conveys the precarious nature of life in Stalin's Russia. Writing in the 1920s as one of a group called the Society for Real Art, Kharms was first arrested in 1931, and told that he could only publish writing for children. Irrepressible, he was sent to the gulag in 1941 and died of starvation in a prison hospital a year later. With this new edition of «Incidences», we can rediscover a Russian writer whose bold writing and tragic death are an urgent reminder of the deranged spirit of his times.

A truly amazing 18th century life restored to history – Tsar’s godson and nobleman, Russian Bluebeard, engineer of genius – who began life in an African village. When Major-General Gannibal died in 1781 in his eighties, he could look back on a long and successful life. He was the godson of Peter the Great, the Empress Elizabeth had given him nobility, thousands of acres, villages of serfs. His French education and a natural gift for mathematics had led him to fame as a fireworks expert and the architect of a string of fortifications from the Arctic Circle to China. As a husband he was a provincial Bluebeard, but his descendants would include the great poet Pushkin and a bevy of British aristocrats. Yet Abram Petrovich Gannibal had been born in very different circumstances. He was a black African, perhaps from Ethiopia, perhaps from modern Chad, sold as a child into slavery. In a brilliant biography Hugh Barnes who has tracked Gannibal’s footsteps across three continents restores an extraordinary life to history.

Very substantially revised edition of previously successful title that, with typical Economist style and clarity, provides expert analysis of different aspects of the modern economy. Aimed at those in business and professions and with a special paperback edition aimed at students, it includes sections on: 1 — Globalisation – how and why it has gathered pace, and how its critics’ views are understandable but often misguided 2 — The phoney recovery and America’s imbalances – why the US’s quick recovery from recession is mere respite, not escape, and how the country’s appetite for debt is dangerous. 3 — China’s rise — and what it presages for the world economy. 4 — Underachievers – analysis of the problems that previous economic giants such as Japan and Germany have run into trouble. 5 — The arteries of capitalism – the financial markets, central banks and global capital 6 — Economic facts and fallacies, which spells out basic economic truths and exposes some economic canards.

The story of how Tesco came from brash beginnings to challenge and finally overtake the patrician Sainsbury as the market leader in 1995 stunned the retailing world, and raised the curtain on the dramatic rise of supermarket chains in the second half of the 20th century. Behind the bare statistics of roller coaster profits and changing market shares lies a deeper tale of social change, increasing power and clashes with Government and pressure groups. The huge buying power of the supermarket chains, and the growth of edge of town shopping with vast car parking, has destroyed many small high streets along with traditional butchers, fishmongers and greengrocers. Yet their growth has been fuelled by the increase in the numbers of working women who no longer have the time or inclination to shop by foot at small outlets. The result is a love/hate relationship with their customers. The fever of competition engendered by the heads of these companies cannot be underestimated. This book goes behind the checkout till and into the boardroom to discover the true story and show what will happen next.

Why on earth would anyone give up a life on the open road for the regimen of a vast Japanese conglomerate? And is it really so different in Japan from everywhere else? Niall Murtagh spent years as a world traveller — hitchhiking to Istanbul, bussing to Kathmandu and crossing the Atlantic in a home-built yacht. In 1986 he closed the door on his adventurous life and settled down in Japan, eventually joining Mitsubishi as a Salaryman – a man in a shiny suit with a shiny attaché case in a conglomerate with 100,000 employees. And what happens when you give up the Salaryman life? The book follows life after the corporation, giving fresh perspectives on the nature of Japanese business culture and the problems faced by outsiders in Japan.

What time is it at the North Pole? Should you pickle your conkers? Why does my aubergine look like Elvis? Plus 111 other questions answered. «Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze?» is the latest compilation of readers' answers to the questions in the «Last Word» column of «New Scientist», the world's best-selling science weekly. Following the phenomenal success of «Does Anything Eat Wasps?» — the Christmas 2005 surprise bestseller — this new collection includes recent answers never before published in book form, and also old favourites from the column's early days. Yet again, many seemingly simple questions turn out to have complex answers. And some that seem difficult have a very simple explanation. «New Scientist»'s «Last Word» is regularly voted the magazine's most popular section as it celebrates all questions — the trivial, idiosyncratic, baffling and strange. This new selection of the best is popular science at its most entertaining and enlightening.

The Da Vinci Code asserts that the Holy Grail is a two-thousand-year-old secret – that Mary Magdalene was married to Jesus and had his child, whose descendants live in France. There have been countless references to their union and these have been explored endlessly by modern historians. Yet it is not mentioned in the Bible. Much of Jesus’s biography was written out of the New Testament by the Church. In the years after his death numerous accounts of his life and teachings circulated amongst his followers. Over time, many of these texts were deemed heretical, and banished. Some were destroyed or lost; others hidden away for centuries. Thus the Bible only represents a tiny proportion of what was written about Jesus in the early years of the church. Some of these gospels survive and are among the earliest Christian records. Here is Jesus’s life story, as told through these gospels and other early Christian writings. It uncovers the truth about Mary Magdalene and goes to the very heart of Christian beliefs, challenging assumptions underlying western civilisation.

How long can I live on beer alone? Why do people have eyebrows? Has nature invented any wheels? Plus 99 other questions answered. Every year, readers send in thousands of questions to New Scientist, the world’s best-selling science weekly, in the hope that the answers to them will be given in the ‘Last Word’ column – regularly voted the most popular section of the magazine. Does Anything Eat Wasps? is a collection of the best that have appeared, including: Why can’t we eat green potatoes? Why do airliners suddenly plummet? Does a compass work in space? Why do all the local dogs howl at emergency sirens? How can a tree grow out of a chimney stack? Why do bruises go through a range of colours? Why is the sea blue inside caves? Many seemingly simple questions are actually very complex to answer. And some that seem difficult have a very simple explanation. New Scientist’s ‘Last Word’ celebrates all questions – the trivial, the idiosyncratic, the baffling and the strange. This selection of the best is popular science at its most entertaining and enlightening.

A dazzling array of invention, insight and observation from perhaps the greatest genius of Western civilisation. Towering across time as the painter of the Mona Lisa, forever famous as a sculptor and an inventor, Leonardo da Vinci was one of the greatest minds of both the Italian Renaissance and Western civilisation. His celebrated notebooks display the astonishing range of his genius. Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code and recent in-depth biographies have stimulated renewed interest in Leonardo and his complex and enquiring intelligence. This brand-new selection of sketches, diagrams and writings from the notebooks is a beautiful and varied record of Leonardo’s theories and observations, embracing not only art but also architecture, town planning, engineering, naval warfare, music, medicine, mathematics, science and philosophy. Complete with a short biographical essay describing Leonardo’s life and achievements, this is the perfect introduction to a mysterious and endlessly fascinating genius.

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.