Skip to main content

Blog Archives

The Great Cave Rescue

Ebook: October 3, 2019
Paperback: October 3, 2019

The Great Cave Rescue

James Massola

Category: Memoir & Biography,

First came the awful news that 12 boys and their football coach were missing. Then came the flickering video of the boys found by a pair of British divers nine days later.

Monsoon rains had raised the water level in the cave system, and they were trapped in an air pocket, surrounded by rising muddy water, over two kilometres from the cave entrance. Expert British, Australian, American, Chinese, and other international divers joined the Thai Navy SEALs and hundreds of local volunteers to mount one of the most risky and complex rescue operations the world has ever seen.

South-east Asia correspondent James Massola recreates the drama, tension, and inspiration of the days in July 2018 when the eyes of the whole world were trained on a remote Thai mountain. Very little information about what happened inside the cave was released by the Thai authorities at the time, but through interviews Massola has managed to obtain extensive details of the nine long days the Wild Boars were on their own and during the rescue operation itself as well as background information about the boys and coach.

He writes about the pivotal role of the British Cave Rescue Council in leading the international effort, and determining the technical aspects of the rescue. He reveals how the Thai, British, US, Australian and other international divers worked together so smoothly, when even a minor miscommunication could have resulted in death or serious injury. And, most dramatically, he discloses the number of instances in which the rescue operation nearly went wrong.

Ingredients

Ebook: July 9, 2020
Paperback: July 23, 2020

Ingredients

George Zaidan

Category: Popular Science,

Cheese puffs. Coffee. Sunscreen. Vapes. Hand sanitiser. George Zaidan reveals the weird science behind everyday items that may or may not kill you, depending on whom you ask.

If you want easy answers, this book is not for you. But if you’re curious which health studies to trust, what dense scientific jargon really means, and how to make better choices when it comes to food and health – dive right in!

Zaidan makes chemistry more fun than potions class as he reveals exactly what science can (and can’t) tell us about the packaged ingredients we buy in the supermarket. He demystifies the ingredients of life and death – and explains how we know whether something is good or bad for you – in exquisite, hilarious detail at breakneck speed.

Reviews

  • 'If you crossed Bill Nye with Stephen Colbert, you'd get George Zaidan. Ingredients is a masterful piece of science writing' Daniel H. Pink, author of When and Drive

  • 'If you ever thought that chemistry might be really interesting (it is), but your eyes glazed over in high school chem class, this is the book for you. George Zaidan will keep you laughing out loud as he shares the wonders of our most useful, practical science, with brilliant analogies that even an 11-year old can understand' Daniel J. Levitin, author of Successful Aging and This is Your Brain on Music

  • 'I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that food is very important, and yet we are terrible at talking about it. Nutrition is a mess of marketing, classism, science, truth, guilt, confusion, and outright hucksterism. Ingredients lifts the film from our eyes with humour and reassurance' Hank Green, author of An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

  • 'At last, a book on nutrition that tries to make you understand how little we know instead of offering blanket prognostications. If instead of a simple solution, you want a guide to how to think about health, this is it' Zach and Kelly Weinersmith, New York Times bestselling authors of Soonish

  • 'If you are looking for a guide in understanding the everyday chemistry of our lives, you could not do better than George Zaidan. And his book, Ingredients, is everything that should lead you to expect: funny, edgy, fascinating, dismaying, reassuring, and overall, just incredibly smart' Deborah Blum, Pulitzer prize-winning author of The Poison Squad

  • 'By all means, pick up George Zaidan's high-octane Ingredients if you want to know more about Cheetos, sunscreen, butter substitutes, and other fascinating bits of everyday chemistry. But above all, you should buy Ingredients because it teaches you how to think better—like a smart, informed, and wickedly funny scientist' Sam Kean, author of The Disappearing Spoon and The Bastard Brigade

  • 'Omfg this book is FABULOUS! It's hilarious, insightful, sassy, and reassuring. A delightful roller-coaster of science communication' Kallie Moore, Co-host of PBS Eons

  • 'George Zaidan’s mix of razor-sharp wit and pin-point accuracy are rarer in science than a T-Rex performing nuclear fusion. Ingredients has the answers to age-old questions—how many Oreos is too many Oreos?—and many more you never thought to ask. Like an optometrist performing stand-up, Zaidan is eye-opening and hilarious' Daniel Stone, author of The Food Explorer

  • 'Everything in our lives is made of chemicals. But unfortunately very few of us are chemists. Ingredients is a road map for navigating the confusing polysyllabic world we find in product labels and in viral news stories. Zaidan’s blend of humor and science will not only make you a better-informed consumer of all things chemical. Ingredients will also make you appreciate the chemistry that makes our world possible' Joe Hanson, creator, writer and host of It's Okay to Be Smart

  • 'Through incredibly weird and wonderful analogies (and delightfully nerdy wit), George helps you understand how scientists work toward the truth. I wish he'd rewrite all of my high school science textbooks!' Emily Calandrelli, author of the Ada Lace Adventures

  • 'Ingredients is a friendly introduction to the chemistry behind our health, but it's also a compelling portrait of how science is conducted and knowledge is built. Turns out, Cheetos and the scientific method have something in common: there's a lot going on, and not everyone knows what. George does a masterful job of showing where chemistry can answer questions about our health and environment, and where it—as well science in general—is lead by politics, culture and even *gasp* opinion' Mike Rugnetta, host of Idea Channel

  • 'When I taught a writing intensive course for nutrition and food science seniors, the main objectives were how to read scientific papers critically and how to argue effectively in print. I thought several times while reading this book that, rather than using peer-reviewed papers, I wish I could have had this book for my students. Pick any argument George makes and tell me, with references, why you agree or disagree. They probably would have learned more that way and certainly would have enjoyed their reading more' David Klurfeld, former Professor and Chair of Nutrition and Food Science at Wayne State University

  • 'Ingredients has all the ingredients I’m looking for in a science book: it’s chock full of interesting information, it reveals the science behind an everyday subject—and it’s written in a breezy, easy-to-understand voice—and it’s funny! I can’t recommend it enough' Brian Malow, Science comedian

The Killing Gene

Ebook: June 27, 2019
Paperback: June 27, 2019

The Killing Gene

E.M. Davey

Category: Historical Fiction,

OUT OF AFRICA, INTO DARKNESS…

When an archaeologist goes missing in the Congo basin, Professor Randolph Harkness and young tearaway Ross McCartney go in search of her – only to stumble upon a conspiracy to conceal ancient horrors lost to the passage of time. Evading spies and trained killers, can they expose this cover-up? Or will they be buried with it?

An unputdownable thriller, The Killing Gene reveals the story of our species, the paradox of the modern mind and our innate predilection for murder…

Reviews

  • 'With all the twists of a double helix, The Killing Gene is as thought-provoking as it is action-packed. Davey’s writing is punchy, yet lyrical, delving deep into the distant past of humankind, questioning what makes Homo sapiens unique and what the future might hold for the one race on earth that has inherited The Killing Gene’ Matthew Harffy, author of The Bernicia Chronicles series

  • ‘Gripping, shocking and thought-provoking: a dispatch from the front line where ancient history meets modern nightmares.  E.M. Davey has been to some of the wildest places on Earth, and it shows.  This will keep its hooks in you long past the final page’ Tom Harper, author of The Lost Temple

  • ‘In an epic adventure stretching from the jungles of the Congo to the valleys of Tajikistan and beyond, The Killing Gene blends exceptional research and a keen observation of human nature to create a captivating and intelligent adventure novel. Featuring a tenacious hero who must unravel a menacing conspiracy if he is to reveal the truth to the world, this is another stunning thriller from E. M. Davey’ Rob Jones, author of the international bestselling Joe Hawke series

  • 'A thriller with a truly thought-provoking premise. A real page-turner' Rob Sinclair, author of the bestselling Enemy series

The Royal Art of Poison

Ebook: November 1, 2018
Hardback: November 1, 2018
Paperback: August 22, 2019

The Royal Art of Poison

Eleanor Herman

Category: History,

The story of poison is the story of power…

For centuries, royal families have feared the gut-roiling, vomit-inducing agony of a little something added to their food or wine by an enemy. To avoid poison, they depended on tasters, unicorn horns and antidotes tested on condemned prisoners. Servants licked the royal family’s spoons, tried on their underpants and tested their chamber pots.

Ironically, royals terrified of poison were unknowingly poisoning themselves daily with their cosmetics, medications and filthy living conditions. Women wore makeup made with lead. Men rubbed feces on their bald spots. Physicians prescribed mercury enemas, arsenic skin cream, drinks of lead filings and potions of human fat and skull, fresh from the executioner. Gazing at gorgeous portraits of centuries past, we don’t see what lies beneath the royal robes and the stench of unwashed bodies; the lice feasting on private parts; and worms nesting in the intestines.

The Royal Art of Poison is a hugely entertaining work of popular history that traces the use of poison as a political – and cosmetic – tool in the royal courts of Western Europe from the Middle Ages to the Kremlin today.

Reviews

  • 'In her gruesome book… Herman explores assassinations and stories of poison… and questions if some stories of death by poison could be inaccurate… truly scary' Daily Mail, Book of the Week

  • 'The Royal Art of Poison by Eleanor Herman will, for once in your life, make you happy you are not a princess or a queen or someone who lives in a palace. The book is amazing and really makes me wonder how we've managed to survive. It will make you glad to be in your own home' Forbes 'Books to Travel With for the Holidays'

  • 'Reads like juicy historical gossip, looking at the ways royals throughout history have been poisoned — not only by others, but often, unwittingly, by themselves' BuzzFeed 'The Ultimate Book Gift Guide'

  • 'Agatha Christie's spirit must be loving this poisonous new historical entertainment' Spectator

  • 'This fantastic work combines morbid curiosity and royal gossip. In it, readers will not only find out about who could've poisoned whom, but also why and with what. Lovers of Tudor history, costume dramas, and high fantasy will rejoice' Washington Independent Review of Books, 50 Favourite Books of 2018

  • 'Herman has a delightful appreciation for all things beautiful and terrible. With her dishy signature style and a dazzling command of the facts, she brews up a heady mix of erudite history and delicious gossip' Aja Raden, New York Times bestselling author of Stoned

  • 'Whether deliberate, accidental or the result of an antidote, the gruesome outcome of ingestion of toxins is deftly described in The Royal Art of Poison. Add political intrigue, disgusting sanitation, ubiquitous filth, horrendous medical procedures, and every sort of vermin and you get a very different picture to what we romantically assume to be the 'good old days' Penny Le Couteur, author of Napoleon's Button

Empire of Guns

Ebook: November 3, 2018
Hardback: June 14, 2018
Paperback: November 14, 2019

Empire of Guns

Priya Satia

Category: History,

Winner of the Jerry Bentley Prize in World History (American Historical Association).

Award-winning historian Priya Satia presents a new history of the Industrial Revolution that positions war and the gun trade squarely at the heart of the rapid growth of technology and Britain’s imperial expansion. Satia’s thorough examination advances a radical new understanding of the historical roots of the violent partnership between the government, military and the economy. Sweeping in its scope and entirely original in its approach, Empire of Guns illuminates Britain’s emergence as a global superpower in a clear and novel light. 

Reviews

  • 'A fascinating study of the centrality of militarism in 18th-century British life, and how imperial expansion and arms went hand in hand... This book is a triumph' Guardian

  • 'A fascinating and important glimpse into how violence fueled the industrial revolution, Priya Satia's book stuns with deep scholarship and sparkling prose' Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies

  • 'Satia's detailed retelling of the Industrial Revolution and Britain's relentless empire expansion notably contradicts simple free market narratives... She argues convincingly that the expansion of the armaments industry and the government's role in it is inseparable from the rise of innumerable associated industries from finance to mining... Fascinating' New York Times

  • 'Satia marshals an overwhelming amount of evidence to show, comprehensively, that guns had a place at the center of every conventional tale historians have so far told about the origins of the modern, industrialized world... This book leaves us with the disquieting notion that guns - whether the slow and inaccurate weapons of the eighteenth century or today's models - do more than alternately cloak or explore human inclination towards violence. They also shape it' New Republic

  • 'A richly researched and probing historical narrative that challenges our understanding of the engines that drove Britain’s industrial revolution. With this book, Priya Satia... affirms her place as a deeply captivating and thought-provoking historian' Caroline Elkins, Pulitzer Prize winner for Imperial Reckoning

  • 'An important revisionist account of the industrial revolution... a revelatory book' Sven Beckert, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Empire of Cotton

Wilde’s Last Stand

Ebook: November 15, 2011
Paperback: May 27, 2011

Wilde’s Last Stand

Philip Hoare

‘A shocking tale of heroes and villains.’ Sir Ian McKellen

In 1918, the Imperialist newspaper made a startling claim. The German Secret Service had the names of 47,000 members of the British establishment who were sexual deviants and Britain was losing the war because Germany was blackmailing them. In the sensational libel trial that followed, the main target was Maud Allan, the Salome dancer with high society connections and a dark secret. Meanwhile, Oscar Wilde’s closest friends were drawn into the affair in a bitter battle for his reputation. It was the greatest scandal of the early twentieth century.

This is a story of judges and prejudice, of aesthetes and admirals, of MPs and dancing girls, of sex and conspiracy; ingredients for a modern tabloid, yet in a decade that still seems a Victorian legacy. Philip Hoare has produced a revolutionary new portrait of British society, as nineteenth century morality and Edwardian opulence met the modern age.

Wilde’s Last Stand tells of transvestites in the trenches, of drug clubs in London, and of the man who sought to be Britain’s first fascist leader. Both revealing and chilling, this is a vital story about the birth of a troubled century.

Philip Hoare is an acclaimed author whose works include biographies of Stephen Tennant and Noël Coward, Spike Island and England’s Lost Eden. His book, Leviathan: or, The Whale won the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-fiction.

‘Documented with dazzling brilliance.’ The Sunday Times

‘A valuable addition to the alternative history of our century.’ Peter Parker, Observer

‘A thrashing good read.’ Independent on Sunday

Reviews

  • 'Hoare has identified one of the key moments in the formation of the modern world, and he has documented it with dazzling brilliance' Simon Callow, The Sunday Times

  • 'A shocking tale of heroes and villains. Illuminating and upsetting in equal measure' Sir Ian McKellen

  • 'Hoare's lively book is a valuable addition to the alternative history of our century' Peter Parker, Observer

  • 'A thrashing good read' Independent on Sunday

The Importance of Living

Ebook: January 23, 2020
Paperback: January 23, 2020

The Importance of Living

Lin Yutang

Category: Psychology & Philosophy,

A tremendous bestseller when it was first published in 1937, The Importance of Living has been a classic for over sixty years. Intended as an antidote to the dizzying pace of the modern world, Lin Yutang’s prescription is the classic distillation of ancient Chinese wisdom: revere inaction as much as action, invoke humour to maintain a healthy attitude, and never forget that there will always be plenty of fools around who are willing – indeed eager – to be busy, to make themselves useful, and to exercise power while you bask in the simple joy of existence. 

Now, more than six decades later, with our lives accelerated to unbelievable levels, this wise and timeless book is more pertinent than ever before. In an era when we’re overwhelmed with wake-up calls, it’s an entertaining innovation to savour life’s beauty, its endless fascination and its slow, sure, simple pleasures. 

Reviews

  • 'A richly, enjoyably wise and suggestive book' New York Times

  • 'Dr Lin has performed the inestimable service of distilling the philosophy of generations of Chinese sages and presenting it against a modern background, which makes it easily readable and understandable' Saturday Review of Literature

Things We Didn’t Talk About When I Was a Girl

Ebook: October 3, 2019
Paperback: October 3, 2019

Things We Didn’t Talk About When I Was a Girl

Jeannie Vanasco

Category: Memoir & Biography,

Why would a good person commit a terrible act?

Fifteen years ago, Jeannie’s relationship with a close friend ended in rape. With the rise of the #MeToo movement, recurring nightmares of the event that plagued her as a girl have returned. To process her conflicted feelings of betrayal and take back control, she resolves to face her trauma head-on by interviewing her rapist.

Through their transcribed conversations and discussions with her closest friends, Jeannie’s compelling memoir explores how the incident impacted both of their lives, while examining the culture and language surrounding sexual assault and rape. Things We Didn’t Talk About When I Was a Girl is a necessary contribution to the wider conversation around sexual violence from a brave, new voice. 

Reviews

  • 'Cuts through the silence of deep betrayal, gives contour to the aching space between forgiveness and absolution, and offers a living testament to the endless wreckage of sexual assault’ Amy Jo Burns, author of Cinderland

  • 'Explodes rape culture at the level of language, shows us how we are trapped and how we might make ourselves free. This is a brilliant book, an astonishingly fierce inquiry into the places language won't go' Emily Geminder, author of Dead Girls

  •  'Vanasco has written exactly the book we need right now. I wish everyone would read it' Melissa Febos, author of Abandon Me

  • 'Brave and compelling... Vanasco muddles through the silt of her thoughts to create a language for something we don’t talk about' Paris Review, staff pick

  • 'Brave and urgent... a searching, brilliant book and Vanasco is a formidable talent. We are lucky to have her' Daniel Gumbiner, author of The Boatbuilder

  • 'Wickedly clever and powerful... a necessary book' Krystal A. Sital

The Secret Life of Bones

Ebook: August 8, 2019
Paperback: August 8, 2019

The Secret Life of Bones

Brian Switek

Category: Popular Science,

Bone is a marvel, an adaptable and resilient building material developed over 500 million years of evolutionary history. It has manifested itself in wings, sails, horns, armour, and an even greater array of appendages since the time of its origin. In dinosaur fossils, skeletons are biological time capsules that tell us of lives we’ll never see in the flesh. Inherited from a common fishy ancestor, it is the stuff that binds all of us vertebrates together into one great family. Swim, slither, stomp, fly, dig, run – all are expressions of what bones make possible. But that’s hardly all.

In The Secret Life of Bones, Brian Switek frames the history of our species through the importance of bone from instruments and jewellery, to objects of worship and conquest from the origins of religion through the genesis of science and up through this very day. While bone itself can reveal our individual stories, the truth very much depends on who’s telling it. Our skeletons are as embedded in our culture as they are in our bodies. Switek, an enthusiastic osteological raconteur, cuts through biology, history, and culture to understand the meaning of what’s inside us and what our bones tell us about who we are, where we came from and the legacies we leave behind.

Reviews

  • 'Smart, lively, and hugely informative... the ideal guide to the bones around us and in us' Elizabeth Kolbert, author of The Sixth Extinction

  • ‘A witty, conversational romp through the world of bones, by one of our finest natural history writers. Dinosaurs, saber-toothed tigers, human origins, and culture are all woven together into a breezy, beautifully told story that will make you appreciate the wonder of the skeleton hidden inside of us all’ Steve Brusatte, University of Edinburgh palaeontologist and Sunday Times-bestselling author of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs

  • ‘A thoughtful, engaging meditation on the origins of the human skeleton, how it functions (or malfunctions) and how we come to terms with our essential but unsettling osseous framework’ Nature

  • ‘Compellingly evokes the sheer wonder and complexity of the supporting framework inside you - and the murky human responses it arouses’ Science

  • ‘I sit here now crossing my extraordinary kneecaps... I can see them better thanks to Switek’ Rose George, New York Times Book Review

  • 'A lyrical love letter to the 206 or so bones in the human skeleton and thecolourful figures who have studied them over the centuries’ Jennifer Ouellette, author of The Calculus Diaries

  • 'Switek writes with remarkable grace about the natural world… Every chapterhas some surprise, told in elegant tales, that you will repeat to your friends' Carl Zimmer, author of She Has Her Mother's Laugh

My Father’s Glass Eye

Ebook: September 19, 2019
Paperback: September 19, 2019

My Father’s Glass Eye

Jeannie Vanasco

Category: Memoir & Biography,

My Father’s Glass Eye is Jeannie’s struggle to honour her father, her larger-than-life hero, but also the man who named her after his daughter from a previous marriage, a daughter who died. After his funeral, Jeannie spends the next decade in escalating mania, in and out of hospitals – increasingly obsessed with the other Jeanne.

Obsession turns to investigation as she plumbs her childhood awareness of her dead half-sibling and hunts for clues into the mysterious circumstances of her death. It becomes a puzzle she she must solve to better understand herself and her father.

Jeannie pulls us into her unravelling with such intimacy that her insanity becomes palpable, even logical. A brilliant exploration of the human psyche, My Father’s Glass Eye deepens our definitions of love, sanity, grief, and recovery.

Reviews

  • 'Hypnotic... a haunting exploration of perception, memory, and the complexities of grief. Vanasco brings to life the father she loved with an almost frightening force' New York Times Book Review

  • 'Brilliant... as the pages fly by, we’re right by Vanasco, breathlessly experiencing her grief, mania, revelations, and - ultimately - her relief' Entertainment Weekly

  • 'Wildly innovative' New York Magazine

  • 'Vanasco explores the intricacies of the human psyche with stunning poignancy' Newsweek

  • 'A powerful, haunting memoir... a journey that takes Vanasco into the dark depths of her family history, as well as her own psyche, and it shows in an incredibly intimate way the methods we use to cope with loss, disappointment, and grief, and how we can try and make our way out of the darkness and into a place of recovery' NYLON

  • 'Vanasco's candor, curiosity, and commitment to human understanding are not to be missed' Booklist, starred review

  • 'A deceptively spare life story that sneaks up and surprises you with its sudden fecundity and power' Kirkus Reviews

Sign up to hear more

Sign up to get the latest news and events from Duckworth.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyReturn
    Continue Shopping