Random House Inc.

A devastating account of contemporary Russia by a great and brave writer. A Russian Diary is the book that Anna Politkovskaya had recently completed when she was murdered in a contract killing in Moscow. It covers the period from the Russian elections of December 2003 to the tragic aftermath of the Beslan school siege in late 2005. The book is an unflinching record of the plight of millions of Russians and a pitiless report on the cynicism and corruption of Vladimir Putin's presidency. She interviews people whose lives have been devastated by Putin's policies, including the mothers of children who died in the Beslan siege, those of Russian soldiers maimed in Chechnya then abandoned by the State, and of «disappeared» young men and women. Elsewhere she meets traumatized and dangerous veterans of the Chechen wars, and a notorious Chechen warlord in his fortified lair. Putin is re-elected as President in farcically undemocratic circumstances and yet Western leaders, reliant on Russia's oil and gas reserves, continue to pay him homage. Politkovskaya offers a chilling account of his dismantling of the democratic reforms made in the 1990s. She also criticizes the inability of liberals and democrats to provide a united, effective opposition and a population slow to protest against government legislative outrages. A Russian Diary is clear-sighted, passionate and marked with the humanity that made Anna Politkovskaya known to many as «Russia's lost moral conscience» and a heroine to readers throughout the world.

The streets of Philadelphia are blistering in the summer heat, the homicide rate is soaring and the nights belong to the mad. Detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano are prowling the streets with a growing sense of unease. Where next will evil rear its ugly head? When a series of seemingly unrelated crimes shatter the restless silence of the city, their worst fears are confirmed. A beautiful secretary is slashed to death in a grimy motel shower. A street hustler brutally murdered with a chainsaw. Piece by piece, a strange and sickening puzzle presents itself: someone is meticulously recreating Hollywood's most well-known and horrifying murder scenes, capturing them on film and inserting the clips into videos — for an unsuspecting public to find. While Kevin Byrne begins furtive investigations of his own, Jessica Balzano goes undercover to work the steaming back alleys of Philadelphia, entering a violent world of underground film, pornography and seedy nightclubs, hidden to all but the initiated. Discovering that none of The Actor's victims are as innocent as they appear to be, the two detectives arrive at a terrifying reality: They are not just chasing a homicide suspect. They are stalking evil itself...

Emotional Intelligence was an international phenomenon, appearing on the «New York Times» bestseller list for over a year and selling more than 5 million copies worldwide. Now, once again, Daniel Goleman has written a groundbreaking synthesis of the latest findings in biology and brain science, revealing that we are 'wired to connect' and the surprisingly deep impact of our relationships on every aspect our lives. Far more than we are consciously aware, our daily encounters with parents, spouses, bosses, and even strangers, shape our brains and affect cells throughout our bodies, down to the level of our genes — for good or ill. In «Social Intelligence», Daniel Goleman explores an emerging new science with startling implications for our interpersonal world. Its most fundamental discovery: we are designed for sociability, constantly engaged in a 'neural ballet' that connects us brain-to-brain with those around us. Goleman explains the surprising accuracy of first impressions, the basis of charisma and emotional power, the complexity of sexual attraction, and how we detect lies. He describes the 'dark side' of social intelligence, from narcissism to Machiavellianism and psychopathy. He also reveals our astonishing capacity for 'mindsight', as well as the tragedy of those, like autistic children, whose mindsight is impaired. In this book Daniel Goleman delivers his most heartening news with powerful conviction: we humans have a built-in bias toward empathy, cooperation and altruism — provided we develop the social intelligence to nurture these capacities in ourselves and others.

George Hall doesn’t understand the modern obsession with talking about everything. ‘The secret of contentment, George felt, lay in ignoring many things completely’. Some things in life, however, cannot be ignored. At fifty-seven, George is settling down to a comfortable retirement, building a shed in his garden, reading historical novels, listening to a bit of light jazz. Then Katie, his tempestuous daughter, announces that she is getting remarried, to Ray. Her family is not pleased – as her brother Jamie observes, Ray has ‘strangler’s hands’. Katie can’t decide if she loves Ray, or loves the wonderful way he has with her son Jacob, and her mother Jean is a bit put out by all the planning and arguing the wedding has occasioned, which get in the way of her quite fulfilling late-life affair with one of her husband’s former colleagues. And the tidy and pleasant life Jamie has created crumbles when he fails to invite his lover, Tony, to the dreaded nuptials. Unnoticed in the uproar, George discovers a sinister lesion on his hip, and quietly begins to lose his mind. The way these damaged people fall apart – and come together – as a family is the true subject of Mark Haddon’s disturbing yet very funny portrait of a dignified man trying to go insane politely.

In 1934, Igor Stravinsky was fifty-two, a Russian expatriate living in Paris and already regarded by many as the most important composer of his generation. «Stravinsky: The Second Exile» follows Stravinsky through the remainder of his long life, which he would spend largely in the United States. These are the years during which he would compose such masterworks as «The Rake's Progress and Symphony in C», and achieve a new level of fame as a conductor and concert pianist in his own right. In this second and final volume of Stephen Walsh's acclaimed biography, the author traces and illuminates Stravinsky's increasingly complex and often agonised family life and his crucially important relationship with his associate Robert Craft. As a musicologist and critic, Walsh is able to speak with authority and wit not only about Stravinsky's life, but also about his work, expertly following the composer's musical journey from the neoclassicism of his late French and early American periods, through his early essays in serial technique, and on finally to the astonishing complexities of this protean genius's final works. Based on exhaustive research, Stephen Walsh uncovers new and controversial material, making this the second volume of the most definitive biography of the most significant and influential composer of the twentieth century.

Libby always thought her life was well-ordered, charmed even: three gorgeous daughters, a husband who adores her, friends to see her through thick and thin. But lately, with one daughter in a constant fit of teenage sulks, a ten-year-old questioning everything in the universe and beyond, and a husband who seems to see her mainly as the manager of school runs, ironed shirts and a well-stocked fridge, motherhood is showing some of its distinctly uglier sides. But Libby soldiers on, taking her youngest to an environmental group to find answers to all those pesky universe questions, navigating egg-shells to confront her oldest about that tell-tale silver-foil packet of 21 tiny pills and cramming in some time for rekindling the spark in her marriage after the eight o'clock news. Until one day, she's had enough. She used to have more to talk about than the PTA and the price of apples at the supermarket; she used to have something to drive her life, a purpose behind things. And she wants that back — or at least some of it. So when she meets Daniel, attractive, passionate and engagingly spontaneous, she knows the turning point has come. But as domestic disaster and emotional calamity descend on the Blake household, Libby soon realizes that it's not simply a matter of starting all over again...

Florence, 1291. In a disused church on the ouskirts of the city the disfigured corpse of a master mosaic artist sits at the foot of his latest — unfinished — creation. Young, ambitious Dante Alighieri, Prior of the City, is sent out to investigate. He quickly discovers not only that the church hides secrets of its own, but that the murdered man was connected to a shadowy organisation known as the Third Heaven, a disparate band of scholars and adventurers whose influence could undermine the city's government — in favour of the all-powerful Catholic church and its brutal emissaries. Seeking to uncover the truth in the mosaic that was too dangerous to be told, Dante is drawn into a power struggle that leads him back into the secrets and myths of an ancient imperial dynasty — and into peril as the charms of a mysterious smoky-eyed dancer begin to blind his reason...

The fifteenth edition of the «Time Out Film Guide» now weighs in with more than 16,700 reviews, all written by knowledgeable critics with a real love of film. Its unrivalled coverage of international cinema, Hollywood and Bollywood, blockbusters, forgotten marvels, silent films, documentaries and esoterica includes extensive cast and crew listings. Its reach now extends into home entertainment, with six pages of reviews of notable international DVD releases from the previous twelve months.

The sixteenth edition of the «Time Out Film Guide» now weighs in with more than 17,600 reviews, all reviewed over the last 39 years by highly regarded «Time Out» film critics. Its unrivaled coverage of international cinema, Hollywood mainstream and B-movie horrors, blockbusters, forgotten marvels, silent films, documentaries and esoterica includes extensive cast and crew listings. Its reach now extends into home entertainment, with the best DVD releases of 2006/2007 and, uniquely, stop-press coverage of the Cannes film festival. «The Time Out» website will announce a worldwide Public Poll to find the best film from the first ten years of cinema's second century (from 1996 to the present). The results will first be published, with much fanfare, in the 16th edition of the «Time Out Film Guide».

»Vintage Lust» is a limited edition gift pack which consists of beautifully designed separate volumes of «Tom Jones» by Henry Fielding and Martin Amis's critically acclaimed «The Rachel Papers». «Vintage Lust» is just one of ten «Vintage Classic Twins» to collect. Each twin consists of two books: a specially designed limited edition of one modern classic title and one established classic work. The books in each pair have been carefully selected to provide a thought-provoking combination. «Tom Jones»: One of the cleverest and funniest novels ever written, and is Henry Fielding's greatest achievement. «Tom Jones», born a foundling, grown into a gallant and irresistible hero, romps through the English countryside getting himself into all kinds of trouble through his good nature and eye for the ladies. Betrayed by jealous relatives, Tom is exiled from home and must undergo a variety of trials and adventures in his quest to be reunited with his one true love. «The Rachel Papers»: Charles Highway, a precociously intelligent and highly sexed teenager, is determined to sleep with an older woman before he turns twenty. Rachel fits the bill perfectly and Charles plans his seduction meticulously, sets the scene with infinite care — but it doesn't come off quite as Charles expects...

An awful lot has happened since that bright, fateful May morning in 1997 when New Labour swept to power. Things, we were told, Could Only Get Better. Instead, things took a turn for the worse...To console Tony Blair as he embarks on his long, grinning journey into oblivion, Craig Brown has packed a special time-capsule of Britain during the Tony Years: from Cool Britannia to ASBOs and from Posh and Becks to Charles and Camilla, the nation's funniest satirist makes sense — and nonsense — of it all.

Why is it that French women look just as glamorous in a T-shirt and pair of jeans as in a sleek designer dress? How do they look sexy, chic and timelessly elegant from eighteen to eighty? Pencil-thin, stylishly dressed and, always, impeccably groomed? In search of answers, travel and lifestyle journalist, Helena Frith Powell goes behind the scenes to investigate the famous French je ne sais quoi. Talking to fashion gurus, beauty experts and It Girls, professional seducers, lingerie designers and personal shoppers, she discovers a whole new world: indispensable wardrobe and beauty secrets; shopping done the right way and exercise routines promising lasting success; advice on sex toys, family life, relationships and clandestine affaires. French women, Helena realises, achieve maximum effect with the least amount of effort. And with the help of a few little secrets, you too can become impossibly French...

»Vintage Lies» is a limited edition gift pack which consists of beautifully designed separate volumes of «What Maisie Knew» by Henry James and Ian McEwan's million-copy selling bestseller «Atonement». «Vintage Lies» is just one of ten «Vintage Classic Twins» to collect. Each twin consists of two books: a specially designed limited edition of one modern classic title and one established classic work. The books in each pair have been carefully selected to provide a thought-provoking combination. «What Maisie Knew»: Caught in the crossfire of her parents' acrimonious divorce, witness to their battles, intrigues and affairs, neglected and exploited, Maisie is a child who knows too much about the world of adults. James' portrait of a little girl who maintains her goodness and dignity in the face of the bitterness and profligacy of her warring parents is inspiring. «Atonement»: On the hottest day of the summer of 1934, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis sees her sister Cecilia strip off her clothes and plunge into the fountain in the garden of their country house. Watching her is Robbie Turner, her childhood friend. By the end of that day, the lives of all three will have been changed for ever. Briony will have witnessed mysteries, and committed a crime for which she will spend the rest of her life trying to atone.

Deutschland heute: ein Netzwerk hochrangiger Politiker, führender Konzernchefs und toleranter Justizbehörden, die den Rechtsstaat aushöhlen, die Gemeinsinn durch Egoismus und Gesetze durch die Macht des Kapitals ersetzen. Wer wen erpresst, wer die Drahtzieher sind und warum die Justiz nicht ermittelt – dieses Buch enthüllt Gaunerkartelle, Korruptionsaffären und Verstrickungen von Ministern, Topmanagern und Staatsanwälten.

Es muss nicht immer Kaviar sein – für Russen schon gar nicht. Das wahre Symbol für Luxus und feine Lebensart ist in Russland die Ananas. Dieses Beispiel zeigt: Kulinarisch ist die ehemalige Sowjetunion hierzulande unbekanntes Terrain. Dank Wladimir Kaminer ist damit nun Schluss. Er führt durch Töpfe und Teller der alten Sowjetrepubliken, bringt dem Laien nebenbei Länder und Leute näher und natürlich die aufregendste Cuisine der Welt! Unterstützt wird er dabei von seiner Frau Olga, die besten Rezepte aus ihrer Sammlung beisteuert … Unvergessliche Begegnungen mit der sowjetischen Küche und ausgefallene Rezepte – ein Hochgenuss!

Philip Roth's twenty-seventh book takes its title from an anonymous fifteenth-century English allegorical play whose drama centres on the summoning of the living to death and whose hero, Everyman, is intended to be the personification of mankind. The fate of Roth's Everyman is traced from his first shocking confrontation with death on the idyllic beaches of his childhood summers and during his hospitalisation as a nine-year-old surgical patient through the crises of health that come close to killing him as a vigorous adult, and into his old age, when he is undone by the death and deterioration of his contemporaries and relentlessly stalked by his own menacing physical woes. A successful commercial advertising artist with a New York ad agency, he is the father of two sons who despise him and a daughter who adores him, the beloved brother of a good man whose physical well-being comes to arouse his bitter envy, and the lonely ex-husband of three very different women with whom he's made a mess of marriage. Everyman is a painful human story of the regret and loss and stoicism of a man who becomes what he does not want to be. The terrain of this savagely sad short novel is the human body, and its subject is the common experience that terrifies us all.

Ellie has a boyfriend! Interested in her — not in her best friends, Magda and Nadine! She and Russell are made for each other — drawn together by their shared enjoyment of art. If only Dad thought Russell was perfect too... And as Ellie runs into trouble with a parent who thinks his daughter is too young for after-dark trysts in the park with oh-so-gorgeous Russell, Magda has a crush on a teacher — and Nadine’s falling for slimy Liam again. What they need is a girls’ night out — Girls Out Late!

Magda is tall and glamorous, Nadine is willowy and ‘gothic’ and Ellie, well, Ellie is just plain normal. The three girls have been best friends ‘forever’ but now Ellie is convinced she’s fat; Nadine wants to be a model; and Magda worries that her appearance is giving guys the wrong idea… They all long to change their looks and they’re all under pressure!

REASONS TO READ MY BOOK, NUMBERS 1 TO 9 1. It’s about three girls in Year Nine 2. You can learn all sorts of secrets about me (I’m Ellie) 3. Ditto my best friend Nadine 4. Ditto my equally best friend Magda 5. You can see if your nine all-time heros/heroines match up with mine 6. You can squirm at my most embarrassing moments 7. You can have lots of laughs (mostly at me!) 8. You might even cry a bit, too 9. PLUS, you get to find out a lot more about BOYS!

Ellie, Magda and Nadine are back — but they're not very happy! Ellie's glorious romance with Russell is teetering on the rocks. Magda's lost her pet and is desperately upset (though the others didn't even know she still had a hamster!). And Nadine is fed up with the other two lecturing her about the dangers of meeting someone on the Internet. She thinks her e-mail boyfriend sounds wonderful! Buckets of tears are wept and hundreds of tissues sniffled into. Can the girls' friendship survive these testing times? A superb fourth instalment in the «Girls» series, following «Girls In Love», «Girls Under Pressure» and «Girls Out Late». This book is a perfect read for older fans from the best-selling author, Jacqueline Wilson.

Economics is changing radically. This paradigm shift, the biggest in the field for over a century, will have profound implications for business, government and society for decades to come. In this groundbreaking book, economic thinker and writer Eric Beinhocker surveys the cutting-edge ideas of the leading economists, physicists, biologists and cognitive scientists who are fundamentally reshaping economics, and brings their work alive for a broad audience. These researchers argue that the economy is a ‘complex adaptive system’, more akin to the brain, the internet or an ecosystem than to the static picture of economic systems portrayed by traditional theory. They claim it is the evolutionary process of differentiation, selection and amplification, acting on designs for technologies, social institutions and businesses that drives growth in the economy over time. If Adam Smith provided the inspiration for economics in the twentieth century, it is Charles Darwin who is providing it in the twenty-first. If we can understand how evolution creates wealth, then we can better answer the question ‘How can we create more wealth for the benefit of individuals, businesses and society?’ Beinhocker shows how 'Complexity Economics' turns conventional wisdom on its head in areas such as business strategy, the design of organisations, the workings of stock markets and public policy. As sweeping in scope as its title, «The Origin of Wealth» is a landmark book that shatters orthodox economic theory, and will rewire our thinking about how we came to be here – and where we are going.

Winston Churchill 'mobilized the English language and sent it into battle'. President John F. Kennedy conferring Honorary US Citizenship, April 1963 Winston Churchill was the most eloquent and expressive statesman of his age. When Britain stood alone and all but defenceless, with his resolute and pugnacious tone and puckish sense of humour he inspired his fellow-countrymen to resist, to fight and to conquer. While the definitive collection of Churchill's speeches fills eight volumes, here, his grandson, Winston S. Churchill, has put together a personal selection of his favourite speeches in a single volume. He has chosen from his grandfather's entire output covering the whole of Churchill's life, from his maiden speech to his last days. It includes Churchill's best-known speeches as well as some that have never been published in popular form.

There is currently an epidemic of 'affluenza' throughout the world — an obsessive, envious, keeping-up-with-the-Joneses — that has resulted in huge increases in depression and anxiety among millions. Over a nine-month period, bestselling author Oliver James travelled around the world to try and find out why. He discovered how, despite very different cultures and levels of wealth, affluenza is spreading. Cities he visited include Sydney, Singapore, Moscow, Copenhagen, New York and Shanghai, and in each place he interviewed several groups of people in the hope of finding out not only why this is happening, but also how one can increase the strength of one's emotional immune system. He asks: why do so many more people want what they haven't got and want to be someone they're not, despite being richer and freer from traditional restraints? And, in so doing, uncovers the answer to how to reconnect with what really matters and learn to value what you've already got. In other words, how to be successful and stay sane.

You go into a bookshop and buy If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino. You like it. But alas there is a printer’s error in your copy. You take it back to the shop and get a replacement. But the replacement seems to be a totally different story. You try to track down the original book you were reading but end up with a different narrative again. This remarkable novel leads you through many different books including a detective adventure, a romance, a satire, an erotic story, a diary and a quest. But the real hero is you, the reader.