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[[Category:New Reviews|Reference]]
[[Category:Reference|*]]__NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1394159544|title=Recycling for Dummies|author=Phil Daoust Sarah Winkler|rating=5|genre=Lifestyle|summary=''Recycling one ton of plastic can save up to 16.3 barrels of oil.'' ''Recycling one ton of paper can save 17 trees from being cut down.'' If you send an apple core to landfill, it will take between 6 months and 2 years to decompose. A glass bottle will take up to 1 million years. As a just-post-WWII baby, I faced a dilemma: reducing, reusing and recycling is part of my DNA. NEVER throw away anything that might ''possibly'' come in handy now or in the future. NEVER buy anything if you can cobble together something that would serve the purpose. Almost everything can be used one more time and any purchase must pass the test of 'Is this absolutely essential?' On the other hand, I suspected I was guilty of wishcycling: assuming that something must be recyclable (editortoothpaste tubes - I'm looking at you)and dropping it in the kerbside bin. Yes, I could go searching on the internet - and get conflicting advice - but what I needed was a recycling bible.s}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1913750353|title=WriteBritannica's Word of the Day|author=Patrick Kelly, Renee Kelly and Sue Macy|rating=5|genre=Children's Non-Fiction|summary=''Britannica's Word of the Day'' has a sub-title: ''366 Elevating Utterances to Stretch Your Cranium and Tickle Your Humerus'' which probably tells you all that you need to know about this brilliant book. It starts on January 1st with ''Razzmatazz'', tells you how to pronounce it (''raz-muh-TAZ''), gives you a definition and then includes the word in a sentence so that you know how it should be used. You also get an engaging and frequently amusing illustration too. I don't think I've ever encountered a word which uses the letter Z four times before!}}{{Frontpage|isbn=suppl_stafl|title=Supply Chain 20/20: A Clear View on the Local Multiplier Effect for Book Lovers|author=Kim Staflund
|rating=4.5
|genre=Reference
|summary=The Guardian newspaper has for some years now been publishing articles So, you've finished writing your book and interviews on how you think the hard work is all done? You're convinced that all you need to write. Successful authors, agents do now is get it published and publishers have offered pearls of wisdom the money will start rolling in ? Wrong and wrong again. You presumably wrote the Guardian Masterclasses for genres as widebook because you wanted to -ranging as travel writing, picture books and screenplaysyou had a talent for delivering the written word. You knew your subject back to front. Now their wisdom and their insights you're going to have been collected together in this slim volume to get to grips with the book supply chain, which will intrigue both even parts of the readers publishing industry believe to be wrong but it's too difficult to change and no one wants to be the first to try. Then, when you ''finally'' have a copy of the writers among usbook in your hands, you're going to have to work out how to sell it - because it ''is'' going to be down to you.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>085265328X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Dr Keith SouterFrederic Gros|title=A Philosophy of Walking|rating=5|genre= Politics and Society|summary= I confess I picked this one up from the library in my pre-lockdown forage of random stuff. Now I have to go out an buy my own copy so that I can turn down the pages I have marked and return to its varying wisdom when I need to. Some books draw you in slowly. This one had me in the first two pages, wherein Gros explains why ''walking is not a sport''.|isbn=1781688370}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1788037812|title=The Fraternity of the Estranged: The Classic Fight for Homosexual Rights in England, 1891-1908|author=Brian Anderson|rating=5|genre=Biography|summary=Originally passed in 1885, the law that had made homosexual relations a crime remained in place for 82 years. But during this time, restrictions on same-sex relationships did not go unchallenged. Between 1891 and 1908, three books on the nature of homosexuality appeared. They were written by two homosexual men: Edward Carpenter and John Addington Symonds, as well as the heterosexual Havelock Ellis. Exploring the margins of society and studying homosexuality was common on the European Continent, but barely talked about in the UK, so the publications of these men were hugely significant – contributing to the scientific understanding of homosexuality, and beginning the struggle for recognition and equality, leading to the milestone legalisation of same-sex relationships in 1967.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1912242052|title=O Joy for me!|author=Keir Davidson|rating=3|genre=Art|summary='' Oh Joy for me!'' gives Coleridge credit for being ''the first person to walk the mountains alone, not because he had to for work, as a miner, quarryman, shepherd or pack-horse driver, but because he wanted to for pleasure and adventure. His rapturous encounters with their natural beauty, and its literary consequences, changed our view of the world''.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1072549271|title=The Simple Act of Self-Publishing With Amazon: A Simple Step by Step Guide|author=Georgianne Landy-Kordis|rating=4.5|genre=Business and Finance|summary=I frequently meet authors who are struggling to be published by the traditional houses, but when I suggest self-publishing they explain that they don't have the big bucks required to go down that road with Author Solutions or Matador or their like. I then ask if they've considered Kindle and the answer is, inevitably, that they wouldn't know where to start. I can empathise with that. Despite having used a computer for about thirty years, running most of my life ''and'' a website online, I'm still nervous when it comes to starting something new. I like someone to hold my hand as I go through it for the first time. That was why I was very interested when ''The Simple Act of Self Publishing With Amazon'' came across my desk...}}{{Frontpage|isbn=Higashida_Fall|title=Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight: A Young Man's Voice From the Silence of Autism|author=Naoki Higashida and David Mitchell|rating=5|genre=Home and Family|summary=Naoki Higashida was only 13 years old when he wrote the international best-seller ''The Reason I Jump''. The book was popular because it gave a rare glimpse into the workings of the autistic mind, as told from the unique perspective of a teenager with non-verbal autism. Naoki communicates by using an alphabet grid, or by tracing letters on the palm of a transcriber. Despite this slow and laborious method of writing, he has published several books in his native Japan and manages to give public presentations to raise awareness of his condition. Fall Down 7 Times Get up 8 reintroduces us to Naoki as a young adult in his 20s and explains how his perspectives on life have changed since writing his first book.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=Jenkins_100|title=Britain's 100 Best Railway Stations|author=Simon Jenkins|rating=5|genre=Art|summary=In the mid-twentieth century, the railway was something which harked back to the Victorian age with trains being supplanted by cars and planes, but steam was being replaced by oil, even then and in the twenty-first-century oil is giving way to electricity. It's cleaner, more environmentally friendly and the stations which we'd all rushed through as quickly as possible, keen to escape their grime, were restored and became places to be admired, possibly even lingered in. Simon Jenkins has chosen his hundred best railway stations.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=Taylor_Owls|title=Owls: A Guide to King Arthur Every Species|author=Marianne Taylor|rating=5|genre=Animals and Wildlife|summary=I feel like I am being watched. A huge pair of piercing orange eyes are staring right at me, locking me into their gaze. In contrast with the hardness of the deep-amber eyes, soft grey feathers fan out into the surrounding area, intricate, detailed and beautiful. An enigma; harsh and gentle at the same time, the owl is beckoning the reader to turn the pages and take a closer look inside...}}{{Frontpage|isbn=JVDK_ELO|title=Electric Light Orchestra: Song by Song|author=John Van der Kiste|rating=4.5|genre=Entertainment|summary=My memories of pop music in the early sixties revolve around guitars and drums, sometimes the piano with only occasional excursions into strings and brass. Pop music rarely stands still and it wasn't long before the basic instruments were seen as constraints and The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys began to experiment, with other groups following where they led. Amongst these groups was The Move and their lead guitarist and songwriter, Roy Wood. Wood wanted to develop the group's sound by adding more instruments but was prevented from achieving what he wanted by cost limitations and because the rest of the group didn't really share his enthusiasm.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=Hendrix_PBHell|title=Paperbacks from Hell: A History of Horror Fiction from the '70s and '80s|author=Grady Hendrix|rating=4.5|genre=Horror|summary=Demonic possession, murderous babies, man-eating moths… for these books, no plot was too ludicrous, no cover art too appalling, no evil too despicable. Now horror author Grady Hendrix risks his soul and his sanity (Classic Guidesnot to mention the reader's!)to relate the true, untold story of a fascinating and often forgotten era in publishing. Read the synapse-shattering story summaries!<br>See the horrific hand-painted cover imagery!<br>And learn the true-life tales of the writers, artists, and publishers who gleefully violated every literary law but one – never be boring.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=Browne_Many|title=The Many Faces of Coincidence|author=Laurence Browne|rating=3.5|genre=Popular Science|summary=Browne does not mislead with this choice of title; he does without a doubt explore the many faces of coincidence.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1903385679|title=The 100 Best Novels in Translation|author=Boyd Tonkin
|rating=3.5
|genre=Reference
|summary=This is Consider, if you will, translated fiction. Some say it's impossible – that if a book was so good in one tongue it could never survive being put into another. Samuel Beckett must have laboured over ever syllable and ''Breath'', but he could translate his own works, and other equally complex pieces can cross borders. It's a comprehensive guide to market that has actually doubled in sales volume between 2000 and 2016 (thanks, ''Millennium Trilogy''). Novels, in particular, in translation, are – as the Arthurian legendintroduction here so smartly puts it – ''a privileged means of passing border posts, a sort of universal passport issued by that Utopian state, with the first half taking readers through Republic of Letters''. We here at the tale from Merlin helping Uther Pendragon to sleep with Gorlois - thus giving birth to King Arthur - right up 'Bag regularly try and give equal credit to the deaths of all of the principal players translator, without whom we wouldn't be reading what we have in the storyour hands. The final section gives details But all that said, do we really need one of literary sources used for those list books about the legend, Arthurian poetry, folklore, subject? I got given a book the real people who may have inspired the legendother year detailing 1001 places to go to before I die, and depictions of King Arthur in popular cultureI might even then have missed out a zero. In between, thereIt would take as long as a fortnight's a fairly short but useful guide holiday to 'Whowade through, Whatand even though this is not as long as your typical Bolano housebrick, Where and When In Arthurit's Realm'not a short thing.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780950063</amazonuk>Should it take our time?
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=Fry_Mythos
|title=Mythos: A Retelling of the Myths of Ancient Greece
|author=Stephen Fry
|rating=5
|genre=Reference
|summary=The Greek Myths are, arguably, the greatest stories ever told. So old and influential they cast a shadow over western tales and traditions, yet remain relatable and readable millennia later. Here comedian, actor, television presenter, actor and author Stephen Fry brings his considerable talent to these special stories and recreates them with a wit, warmth and humanity that brings them into the modern age whilst still giving the honour and respect that such ancient and influential stories deserve.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=Mahnke_Lore
|title=The World of Lore, Volume 1: Monstrous Creatures
|author=Aaron Mahnke
|rating=4.5
|genre=Reference
|summary=Every country, every town, every village has a folktale – a story passed down through generations that often focuses on the dark and unexplained. No matter how the modern world moves on, there's a still a part of everyone that is vulnerable to a good tale. From ghosts to werewolves, by way of wendigos and elves, author Aaron Mahnke delivers the reader legends from all over the world, whilst examining how they've become part of our collective imaginations, still striking fear into the hearts of many of us today.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=Fowler_Forgotten
|title=The Book of Forgotten Authors
|author=Christopher Fowler
|rating=5
|genre=Reference
|summary=''Absence doesn't make the heart grow fonder''. It makes people think you're dead.
There's truth in that statement, you know, but there's a conundrum when it's applied to authors. Shakespeare is dead: Dickens is dead, but we haven't buried what they've written: that lives on until... when? Is it until fashion decrees that they should be no more? Or is it, as in the case of some children's authors that they are on life support through licensing deals and astute marketing? Christopher Fowler has unearthed (exhumed?) ninety-nine authors who were once hugely popular, but whose works have disappeared, sometimes quite literally.}}{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=Angell_Triang|title=Tri-ang Collectables|author=Dave Angell|rating=3.5|genre=Reference|summary=A guide to the trains produced by the Tri-ang company from its inception until the company became Hornby. A very personal guide to the collecting of model trains.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=Chase_Orchids|title=The EconomistBook of Orchids: A life-size guide to six hundred species from around the world|titleauthor=Pocket World in Figures 2013Mark Chase, Maarten Christenhusz and Tom Mirenda|rating=45
|genre=Reference
|summary=Pocket World One in Figures 2013 seven flowering plants on earth is the twenty-second edition of the annual bestseller and once again it follows the tried and tested formatan orchid: there are 26,000 species in 749 genera. It opens with world rankings They flourish in remarkable habitats such as deserts and is straight into natural facts - the largest thisArctic circle, in fact, all areas but the longest that and the highest of the othermost inhospitable. The facts are largely incontrovertibleThere's a wide range of colours, mostly unsurprising shapes and scents: they're going dramatic, delicate and ingenious in the ways that they've developed not just to survive but to be the same year after yearthrive. Populations do change though Tom Mirenda describes them as do ''masters of manipulation'' and ''famous for lying and cheating their rate of growth. India looks set way to overtake China as the largest population by 2025 but even India doesntheir many evolutionary successes't have the fastest growing population - that's Niger, with an average annual growth yet his love of 3.52%. By contrast, Russia which currently has the ninth largest population, them is declining at 0.1% annually. If you're looking as obvious as his respect for the place with insight they give us into the densest population (as in people per square kilometre rather than in terms of intelligence!) then processes which shaped our world. He hopes that understanding how that's Macauhas come about will inspire us to conserve what we have.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846685990</amazonuk>
}}
 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=VariousEdwards_Story|title=Hello Kitty DictionaryThe Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books (British Library Crime Classics)|author=Martin Edwards
|rating=5
|genre=Children's Non-FictionReference|summary=The Hello Kitty Dictionary takes a concept that many young students might not find too interesting (meIt's easy to be confused by the various 'ages' of crime writing: if you have an interest in the genre you'll almost certainly have heard of the Golden Age of Crime, generally acknowledged as being the period between the first and second world wars. 'Classic Crime' on the other handextends the time frame at either end and covers books published in the first half of the twentieth century. Throughout my adult life, there's been just one genre of books which has fascinated me, and that's crime, so I love books full could hardly resist the chance of reading ''The Story of words) Classic Crime in 100 Books'' particularly as the author, Martin Edwards is an accomplished author within the crime genre and puts a colourful and fun spin an acknowledged expert on itthe subject.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=DK_Childrens|title=Children's Illustrated Thesaurus|author=DK|rating=4. Because if you’re having to look up 5|genre=Reference|summary=One of the most valuable literary skills which children can learn is how to spell use reference books. As a word, or what something means, it helps to have pages child every question which I began with lemon and violet and aquamarine borders, dotted ''how do you spell...?'' would be answered with presents and hearts and stars''EXACTLY as it says in the dictionary''. That’s This was fine, but the family's Collins Little Gem Dictionary didn't encourage exploration, not to say least because the dictionary isn’t clear font was small and easy difficult to read because . Fortunately, those times have now changed and reference book for children are now much more inviting. Not every book comes with a set of instructions but it certainly is: 's worth studying the decorations don’t extend into the centre of the pages''How to...'' section, and the entries themselves not least because similar systems are bold fuchsia followed by neat black explanations, all neatly formatted on crisp white pagesused in other reference books.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007457197</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview|author=Simon Heffer|title=Strictly English: The correct way to write ... and why it matters|rating=4|genre=Business and Finance|summary=As a child I was taught English grammar. I began by resenting it but gradually I appreciated the subtlety and nuances of expression that could be achieved by the correct use of language. I loved the fact that I could say something precisely and convey exactly what I meant in a few words. And then I was stunned to find that there was no longer the same emphasis Move on grammar in schools, that freedom of expression was encouraged without worrying about the form it took – and now I regularly encounter official letters, even books where the English language is subjected to grievous bodily harm. It isn't difficult to get right – it just requires a little knowledge, a logical mind and practice.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099537931</amazonuk>}}[[Newest Science Fiction Reviews]]

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