[[Category:New Reviews|Reference]]
[[Category:Reference|*]] __NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Kjartan Poskitt1394159544|title=Everyday Maths Recycling for Grown-Ups: Getting to Grips with the BasicsDummies|author=Sarah Winkler
|rating=5
|genre=ReferenceLifestyle|summary=We all need maths - or so it says on the back of ''Everyday Maths for Grown UpsRecycling one ton of plastic can save up to 16.3 barrels of oil.'' and whilst you could ''existRecycling one ton of paper can save 17 trees from being cut down.'' without 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 basic knowledgedilemma: reducing, life reusing and recycling is going to be so much easier 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 check receipts, do cobble together something that would serve the purpose. Almost everything can be used one more time and any purchase must pass the calculations for that spot test of DIY or work out if 'Is this absolutely essential?' On the other hand, I suspected I was guilty of wishcycling: assuming that something must be recyclable (toothpaste tubes - I'bargain' m looking at you've been offered really is one) and dropping it in the kerbside bin. Kjartan Poskitt reckons that very few people are really confident with figuresYes, I could go searching on the internet - and get conflicting advice - but hopes that he can offer some helpwhat I needed was a recycling bible.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178243335X</amazonuk>s
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Michelle Finlay1913750353|title=Everyday English for Grown-Ups: Getting to Grips with the Basics|rating=4|genre=Reference|summary=It can seem a long time since we learned the nuts and bolts of the English language when we were at school. At the time the niceties of colons and intricacies of apostrophes weren't really that relevant to our lives and itBritannica's only when we miss out on a good job because our English isn't up to scratch or someone makes a scathing remark about our abuse Word of the language that we realise that we could do with an urgent and discreet brushup. Step forward ''Everyday English for Grown-ups'' - and it's aimed at native and non-native English speakers.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782433341</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewDay|author=June Andrews|title=Dementia: The One-Stop Guide: Practical advice for families, professionalsPatrick Kelly, Renee Kelly and people living with dementia and Alzheimer's DiseaseSue Macy
|rating=5
|genre=ReferenceChildren's Non-Fiction|summary=Worldwide there are probably as many as 44.4 million people who suffer from dementia and many times that number ''Britannica's Word of family, friends, carers and relatives who are affected by what is happening to the sufferer. ThereDay'' has a sub-title: 's no cure, but it's not terminal 366 Elevating Utterances to Stretch Your Cranium and the symptoms (memory loss would seem Tickle Your Humerus'' which probably tells you all that you need to be the most common, but in some cases there are hallucinations, sexual or verbal disinhibition, not being able to work things out, difficulty in learning something new, finding your way know aboutthis brilliant book. It starts on January 1st with ''Razzmatazz'', or coping with the normal symptoms of aging) affect everyone involved. If tells you talk how to people who are aging then pronounce it(''raz-muh-TAZ's not uncommon for them to say '), gives you a definition and then includes the word in a sentence so that they'd rather have cancer than dementia as you're unlikely to know how it should be used. You also get an endless burden on other peopleengaging and frequently amusing illustration too.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781251711</amazonuk> I don't think I've ever encountered a word which uses the letter Z four times before!
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Dee Blicksuppl_stafl|title=The Ultimate Guide to Writing and Marketing a Bestselling Supply Chain 20/20: A Clear View on the Local Multiplier Effect for Book - on a Shoestring BudgetLovers|author=Kim Staflund|rating=4.5
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|summary=ISo, you've always thought that [http://nanowrimo.org/ NANOWRIMO] finished writing your book and you think the hard work is a brilliant idea. The nights are longer, the weather uninspiring: what better time to get the first draft of your novel written with support from a lot of other people who are all trying to do the same thingdone? There is a downside for reviewers though: far too many people think that this is the end of their labours and the fledgling manuscript is uploaded onto Kindle and thereYou's disappointment when the book is either not well received or doesn't sell - or sometimes both. Knowing which book it is that you have in you is a great start - but after re convinced that you need a structured plan of action and sound advice as to what all you need to do to turn your work into a bestseller.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910125040</amazonuk>}}now is get it published and the money will start rolling in?
{{newreview|author=Julia Cresswell (Editor)|title=Little Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins|rating=4|genre=Reference|summary=Derived from Wrong and wrong again. You presumably wrote the ''Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins'', book because you wanted to - and you had a talent for delivering the Little Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins tells the stories behind a thousand words, divided into a hundred themes from ''Adventure'' through written word. You knew your subject back to ''Writing'' by way of the rest of the alphabetfront. For each word within a theme weNow you're told in going to have to get to grips with the book supply chain, which language even parts of the publishing industry believe to be wrong but it originated 's too difficult to change and its original meaning - thus for ''Infant'' we find that it comes from no one wants to be the Latin first to try. Then, when you ''in'' meaning ''not'finally' and ''fari'' for ''speaking''. The two parts put together tell of someone who has not yet reached legal majority rather than have a child who has not yet learned the value copy of the word book in your hands, you'Why?re going to have to work out how to sell it - because it ' In Italian 'is'infante'' means ''youth'' as well as ''foot soldier''. From this came ''infanteria'', which English adopted as ''infantry'' in the sixteenth centurygoing to be down to you.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0199683638</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Elizabeth Knowles (Editor)Frederic Gros|title=Oxford Dictionary A Philosophy of QuotationsWalking
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|genre=ReferencePolitics and Society|summary=I have known people to be just a little snooty about the fact that confess I have had a copy of picked this one up from the current edition of the Oxford Dictionary library in my pre-lockdown forage of Quotations on my bookshelf for over forty years, suggesting that it was a book for people who hadn't read the original booksrandom stuff. Now I long ago accepted have to go out an buy my own copy so that I would never can turn down the pages I have the time marked and return to read all the books I (might) want - or feel its varying wisdom when I ought - need to read and I've found the dictionary an invaluable work of reference and source of inspiration for half a century. Where else would Some books draw you find over 20,000 quotations, covering centuries, every subject, with wit, wisdom and food for thought? in slowly. Yes - I know they're probably all there on This one had me in the internet - somewherefirst two pages, but Iwherein Gros explains why ''walking is not a sport''ve got them in one volume on the shelf in front of me.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0199668701</amazonuk>1781688370
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Patrick Scrivenor1788037812|title=I Used to Know ThatThe Fraternity of the Estranged: EnglishThe Fight for Homosexual Rights in England, 1891-1908|author=Brian Anderson
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|genre=ReferenceBiography|summary=I doubt Originally passed in 1885, the law that there can be anything more unnerving than reviewing had made homosexual relations a book written by someone who is an expert crime remained in written Englishplace for 82 years. I've even worried about that first sentenceBut during this time, restrictions on same-sex relationships did not go unchallenged. But at school I loved English Grammar Between 1891 and a good deal 1908, three books on the nature of it has stuckhomosexuality appeared. They were written by two homosexual men: Edward Carpenter and John Addington Symonds, as well as the heterosexual Havelock Ellis. I'm conscious Exploring the margins of being pedantic society and studying homosexuality was common on the European Continent, but barely talked about mistakes other people make - but increasingly aware that there are gaps in my own knowledge which should be plugged. This book seemed like the ideal opportunityUK, so the publications of these men were hugely significant – contributing to the scientific understanding of homosexuality, and beginning the struggle for recognition and equality, but I'll confess that leading to the subtitle milestone legalisation of same-sex relationships in 1967.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1912242052|title=O Joy for me!|author=Keir Davidson|rating=3|genre=Art|summary='Stuff You Forgot From School' made Oh Joy for me nervous I was going !'' gives Coleridge credit for being ''the first person to be back walk the mountains alone, not because he had to reading for work, as a school textbookminer, 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''.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782432566</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Chris Waring1072549271|title=I Used to Know ThatThe Simple Act of Self-Publishing With Amazon: MathsA Simple Step by Step Guide|author=Georgianne Landy-Kordis
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|genre=ReferenceBusiness and Finance|summary=Maths teacher Chris Waring starts this book with the basics and gradually works his (and our) way through I frequently meet authors who are struggling to about be published by the level of GCSE. It's only 192 pagestraditional houses, so you canbut when I suggest self-publishing they explain that they don't expect it have the big bucks required to be exhaustive but go down that road with Author Solutions or Matador or their like. I then ask if they've considered Kindle and the great thing answer is , inevitably, that it isnthey 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 ''exhaustingand''a website online, I'm still nervous when it comes to starting something new. Waring explains concepts clearly and with humour but most importantly he shows why the subject is important and how it can be applied I like someone to life, covering such subjects hold my hand as winning - or failing to win - I go through it for the lottery and the chances of being dealt a royal flush at pokerfirst time. ItThat was why I was very interested when 's not just the examples which are new - it's a major improvement on the The Simple Act of Self Publishing With Amazon'you will learn this because I'm telling you that you have to' approach which blighted the subject for so many of uscame across my desk...|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782432558</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Orin HargravesHigashida_Fall|title=ItFall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight: A Young Man's Been Said Before: A Guide to Voice From the Use Silence of Autism|author=Naoki Higashida and Abuse of ClichesDavid Mitchell|rating=45|genre=ReferenceHome and Family|summary=I donNaoki Higashida was only 13 years old when he wrote the international best-seller 't usually start a review by telling you what a book 'The Reason I Jump'isn't'', but in this case . The book was popular because it's important. This isn't gave a light-hearted look at rare glimpse into the workings of the subjectautistic mind, such as we found in [[Cliches: Avoid Them Like told from the Plague by Nigel Fountain]] and which - laughing and blushing in equal measure unique perspective of a teenager with non- we shelved under 'trivia'verbal autism. This book will be shelved under 'reference': it's Naoki communicates by using an alphabet grid, or by tracing letters on the palm of a rigorous look at the problem with the clichés divided not by subject mattertranscriber. Despite this slow and laborious method of writing, but grammatically he has published several books in his native Japan and with an introduction manages to give public presentations to each section which gives all the information you need raise awareness of his condition. Fall Down 7 Times Get up 8 reintroduces us to help Naoki as a young adult in making judgements about your own his 20s and explains how his perspectives on life have changed since writing. This isn't a his first book to ''amuse'' you, but to help you to improve your use of words.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0199315736</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=William PoundstoneJenkins_100|title=How to Predict the Unpredictable: The Art of Outsmarting Almost EveryoneBritain's 100 Best Railway Stations|author=Simon Jenkins|rating=45|genre=ReferenceArt|summary=William Poundstone believes that we are all in In the business of predictingmid-twentieth century, whether it be the railway was something as minor as playing rock, paper, scissors to pay a bar bill though which harked back to anticipating how the housing or stock markets are going to move. Now, I'm not particularly competitive - if whatever it is means ''that'' much to someone else then I'd rather let them have it - so this book didn't appeal to me on the basis of doing better than someone elseVictorian age with trains being supplanted by cars and planes, but I steam was interested in how it might be possible to predict what is going to happen. Sobeing replaced by oil, care to predict how it stacked up?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780744072</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=The Economist|title=Pocket World even then and in Figures 2015|rating=4.5|genre=Reference|summary=There are people who don't understand the joy of raw data: no accompanying analysis (or spin) twenty- just a collection of figures relevant first-century oil is giving way to a particular circumstanceelectricity. If youIt're one of those people then this book will mean little to yous cleaner, but if you want a pocket (wellmore environmentally friendly and the stations which we'd all rushed through as quickly as possible, certainly handbag or briefcase) work of reference then this book will be a treasure. I once gave a copy keen to a diplomat escape their grime, were restored and he kept his wife awake until the early hours as he came across another gem which she had became places to know without delaybe admired, possibly even lingered in. The 2015 edition is the twenty fourth in the series - and diplomatic (and similar) spouses everywhere should prepare themselves for the onslaughtSimon Jenkins has chosen his hundred best railway stations.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781252734</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=Taylor_Owls|title=The BeeOwls: A Natural History Guide to Every Species|author=Noah Wilson-RichMarianne Taylor
|rating=5
|genre=Animals and Wildlife
|summary=Bees have been making a bit I feel like I am being watched. A huge pair of a media splash of latepiercing orange eyes are staring right at me, due to heightened concern about locking me into their declining numbers and general welfaregaze. Governments have been urged to do more to protect these important creatures, In contrast with a recent EU ban on neonicotinoid pesticides hailed as a 'victory for bees'. There is no doubt that these prolific pollinators are a vital part the hardness of our ecosystem, and the human fascination with bees goes back to our ancient history. But just why do we find these hardworking insects so fascinating?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782401075</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Alannah Moore|title=Create Your Own Online Store (using WordPress) in a Weekend|rating=4.5|genre=Business and Finance|summary=I've run a website for over eight years now but I've always shied away from any inclusion of edeep-commerce on amber eyes, soft grey feathers fan out into the site. It seemed like too large a subjectsurrounding area, intricate, too much complexity detailed and choice and the possibility of problems which could go disastrously wrongbeautiful. I first encountered Alannah Moore when I read [[The Creative Person's Website Builder by Alannah Moore|The Creative Person's Website Builder]] An enigma; harsh and was impressed by gentle at the way that she approached her subjectsame time, so when I had the opportunity owl is beckoning the reader to see how to create an online store in turn the pages and take a weekend, I jumped at the chancecloser look inside...|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781571430</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Dan WaddellJVDK_ELO|title=Who Do You Think You Are?Electric Light Orchestra: The Genealogy HandbookSong by Song|author=John Van der Kiste
|rating=4.5
|genre=ReferenceEntertainment|summary=The celebrity genealogy programme ''Who Do You Think You Are?'' celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. The makers, Wall to Wall MediaMy memories of pop music in the early sixties revolve around guitars and drums, were fortunate enough to ride sometimes the ripple of family tree fascination, helping to turn it piano with only occasional excursions into the hobbyist tidal wave that remains todaystrings and brass. For those not familiar with Pop music rarely stands still and it wasn't long before the formatbasic instruments were seen as constraints and The Beatles, each episode allows us The Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys began to accompany a household name as experiment, with other groups following where they discover secretsled. Amongst these groups was The Move and their lead guitarist and songwriter, scandals 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 surprises about an ancestor or two. Thus we arenbecause the rest of the group didn't only entertained; we're encouraged to delve into our own pasts, BBC TV publications acting as tutor and motivator via this handy little reference guidereally share his enthusiasm.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849908249</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Michael Fogden, Marianne Taylor and Sheri L WilliamsonHendrix_PBHell|title=HummingbirdsPaperbacks from Hell: A Life-Size Guide to Every SpeciesHistory of Horror Fiction from the '70s and '80s|author=Grady Hendrix
|rating=4.5
|genre=ReferenceHorror|summary=I've always been fascinated by hummingbirds Demonic possession, murderous babies, man- delicateeating moths… for these books, no plot was too ludicrous, colourfulno cover art too appalling, beautifully no evil too despicable. Now horror author Grady Hendrix risks his soul and brilliantly adapted his sanity (not to extract nectar from flowers. Perhaps most of all for me itmention the reader's their acrobatic flight - !) to relate the ability to hover true, untold story of a fascinating and manoeuvre which has me hooked: I could watch them for hours, amazed that birds whose weight can only meaningfully be given often forgotten era in ounces can do so muchpublishing. I was drawn to this book as soon as I saw it, for a number of reasons.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782400893</amazonuk>}}
{{newreviewRead the synapse-shattering story summaries!<br>|title=Top 10 of Everything 2015|author=Paul Terry|rating=4.5|genre=Children's NonSee the horrific hand-Fictionpainted cover imagery!<br>|summary=The Top 10 of Everything 2015 is, as And learn the title implies, a compilation of 'top ten' lists covering a wide variety of topics including the natural world, pop culture, sport and technology. The style true-life tales of the book will appeal to its target audience of pre-teens with its use of bright colours, vibrant imageswriters, fun factsartists, puzzles and quizzespublishers who gleefully violated every literary law but one – never be boring.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0600628868</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Stanley GibbonsBrowne_Many|title=Great Britain Concise Stamp Catalogue 2014The Many Faces of Coincidence|author=Laurence Browne|rating=3.5|genre=ReferencePopular Science|summary=When I began collecting GB stamps back in the early seventies ''Collect British Stamps'' was my bible and I eagerly awaited each new edition. After a while I came to realise that I needed a little more depth, but Browne does not to the level provided by the [[Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue 2013: Commonwealth and Empire Stamps 1840 - 1970 by Hugh Jefferies|Specialised Catalogue Series]] not least because I was still at the stage mislead with this choice of spending the money on stamps rather than books about them. There is something to fill the gap though and that's the Great Britain Concise catalogue. It's designed to meet title; he does without a doubt explore the needs many faces of the dedicated amateur rather than the specialist or the casual collector and treads a very fine line between providing too much detail and too little information with elegancecoincidence.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0852599145</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=John Sutherland1903385679|title=How to be Well Read: A guide to 500 great novels and a handful of literary curiositiesThe 100 Best Novels in Translation|author=Boyd Tonkin|rating=3.5
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|summary=Being well read is rather like having good manners: Consider, if you will, translated fiction. Some say it's something impossible – that we all aspire to 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 therehe could translate his own works, and other equally complex pieces can cross borders. It's always a nagging doubt market that therehas actually doubled in sales volume between 2000 and 2016 (thanks, ''Millennium Trilogy's something lacking in what we've achieved). That isNovels, in particular, in translation, are – as the introduction here so smartly puts it – ''a privileged means of coursepassing border posts, why a book with sort of universal passport issued by that Utopian state, the title Republic of Letters''How . We here at the 'Bag regularly try and give equal credit to the translator, without whom we wouldn't be Well Read'' pulled me reading what we have in so successfully with its promise of being a guide to five hundred great novels and a handful of literary curiositiesour hands. Was I going to find But all that ultimate said, do we really need one of those list of books which about the subject? I would have got given a book the other year detailing 1001 places to read go to ensure that before I die, and I could think of myself might even then have missed out a zero. It would take as long as well read? No - I was going a fortnight's holiday to find something far more useful wade through, and interestingeven though this is not as long as your typical Bolano housebrick, it's not a short thing.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847946402</amazonuk>Should it take our time?
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{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=Fry_Mythos|title=Mythos: A Sting in Retelling of the TaleMyths of Ancient Greece|author=Dave GoulsonStephen Fry
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|summary=It seems that Dave GoulsonThe Greek Myths are, arguably, founder of the incredibly successful Bumblebee Conservation Trust, did not always have natural aptitude for helping wildlife if his early recollections are anything to go bygreatest stories ever told. Despite boundless enthusiasm So old and influential they cast a passion for the natural worldshadow over western tales and traditions, his childhood efforts to give nature a helping hand quite frequently ended in some sort of gory aftermathyet remain relatable and readable millennia later. For exampleHere comedian, there was the incident with the drowned bumblebeesactor, in which a young Goulson unwisely decided to dry the bedraggled victims out on the hotplate of the electric cooker. Then there was the time he accidentally dropped a live electrical heater into his aquariumtelevision presenter, frying the poor fish instantly. I could go on to mention the beheading of the footless quail, the snake wrapped in sticky tape actor and the countless taxidermy experiments, but alas, time does not permit. Suffice to say that despite this unpromising start in life, things did eventually improve...|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099575124</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|title=Colorstrology|author=Michele Bernhardt|rating=4|genre=Reference|summary=First impressions of this book left me slightly worried that I would have little Stephen Fry brings his considerable talent to go on to write any kind of helpful review; it was basically these special stories and recreates them with a little book of colour swatcheswit, resembling something of a home décor paint guide. Flicking through, I saw warmth and humanity that each page represented a day, allowing brings them into the modern age whilst still giving the reader to refer to their birthday to gain information relating to their character, rather like a horoscope. So all I had to go on was, effectively, a painting guide to star signs. With this is mind (honour and respect that such ancient and with fairly low expectations) I began reading from the beginning, refraining from jumping straight in to analyse my birthday characteristicsinfluential stories deserve.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1594746915</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=Mahnke_Lore|title=The Autistic Brain World of Lore, Volume 1: Monstrous Creatures|author=Temple Grandin and Richard PanekAaron Mahnke
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|summary=Temple Grandin is a lady of many labels: professor of animal scienceEvery country, bestselling authorevery town, consultant, activist, engineer, public speaker every village has a folktale – a story passed down through generations that often focuses on the dark and subject of an award-winning biopicunexplained. She also happens to be autisticNo matter how the modern world moves on, there's a label she earned at still a very early age back in the days before the majority part of people knew what autism waseveryone that is vulnerable to a good tale. She describes the timing From ghosts to werewolves, by way of her diagnosis as fortuitous; only a few years later wendigos and elves, author Aaron Mahnke delivers the accepted ‘treatment’ for autistic children was removal reader legends from their parents and life in an institutionall 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.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846044499</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Neil Davey|title=The Bluffer's Guide to Chocolate (Bluffer's Guides)|rating=4|genre=Cookery|summaryisbn=I've always been a little bit nervous about the ''Bluffer'' series, on the basis that I would be sure to come out with a clever-sounding phrase, only to be found out when someone asked the follow-up question. Better, I thought to stay silent and appear ignorant than to open my mouth and prove myself a fool. But then ''The Bluffer's Guide to Chocolate'' came my way and I couldn't resist - any more than I've ever been able to resist chocolate.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1909937045</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewFowler_Forgotten|title=The Fun Stuff and Other EssaysBook of Forgotten Authors|author=James WoodChristopher Fowler|rating=4.5
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|summary=The ''Fun Stuff and Other EssaysAbsence doesn't make the heart grow fonder'' provides, as the title suggests, a panoramic sampling of James Wood’s critical writing. A popular and oft-quoted writer, the essays collected here offer stimulating insights into Wood’s chosen subjectsIt makes people think you're dead.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224097113</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|title=Winter|author=Adam Gopnik|rating=4|genre=Reference|summary=In this collection of five essays, each one offering a unique and fascinating perspective on the season of winter, Adam Gopnik takes the reader on a captivating journey, exploring history, art and society, through ''Romantic Winter'There's truth in that statement, ''Radical Winter''you know, but there's a conundrum when it'Recuperative Winter''s applied to authors. Shakespeare is dead: Dickens is dead, but we haven't buried what they'Recreational Winter'' and ''Remembering Winter''ve written: that lives on until.. In each essay, Gopnik focuses on one or two central themes, whilst also touching on surrounding ideas. For examplewhen? Is it until fashion decrees that they should be no more? Or is it, as in Romantic Winter his central topics the case of some children's authors that they are art on life support through licensing deals and poetryastute marketing? Christopher Fowler has unearthed (exhumed?) ninety-nine authors who were once hugely popular, howeverbut whose works have disappeared, issues such as changing society, technology, sex and culture are also explored, in relation to these pivotal notions. He also includes two sections featuring collections of artwork to illustrate his viewpoints, which add a charming, individual touch to this booksometimes quite literally.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780874472</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Alannah MooreAngell_Triang|title=The Creative Person's Website BuilderTri-ang Collectables|author=Dave Angell|rating=43.5
|genre=Reference
|summary=Creating a website is not difficult. Although some technical knowledge is a help A guide to the trains produced by the Tri- as is familiarity with your computer - you would be surprised at the speed with which you can have your own website and ang company from its inception until the sense of achievement which this will give youcompany became Hornby. If you're running a big business then you might want to go to a web designer but it is possible to have a site for A very little in the way of expenditure. I know - we've done it and we've grown our little baby into a business. I was lucky personal guide to have the expertise of our first tech guy when we built Bookbag, but Alanah Moore has produced a book which could give you a reasonable start and a great deal collecting of inspirationmodel trains.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781571066</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=Chase_Orchids|title=Telling Lies for Fun and ProfitThe Book of Orchids: A Manual for Fiction Writerslife-size guide to six hundred species from around the world|author=Lawrence BlockMark Chase, Maarten Christenhusz and Tom Mirenda
|rating=5
|genre=Reference
|summary=If I was going to write a list of authors I admire - wellOne in seven flowering plants on earth is an orchid: there are 26, I wouldn't begin it now000 species in 749 genera. There are so many that I'd still be doing it at They flourish in remarkable habitats such as deserts and the end of November. But if I did take it upon myself to write a listArctic circle, in fact, Lawrence Block would probably be on top of itall areas but the most inhospitable. Hugely prolific and vastly varied when it comes to thrillers and crime stories, he There's someone who seems able to turn his hand to so many different types a wide range of novel or short story with excellent results every time. He's created my two favourite crime-solverscolours, alcoholic ex-cop Matt Scudder shapes and gentleman burglar Bernie Rhodenbarrscents: they're dramatic, delicate and ingenious in the contrast between the grittiness of the former series and the cosiness of the latter would place him high on my list of favourites even without his other workways that they've developed not just to survive but to thrive. Throw in the comic capers Tom Mirenda describes them as ''masters of Evan Tanner, whose sleep-centre was destroyed by shrapnel manipulation'' and now works ''famous for a mysterious department going across the world lying and stirring up trouble, and stamp-collecting assassin Keller, and youcheating their way to their many evolutionary successes've got four excellent series of novels. Then there's the short stories, which feature all yet his love of these characters and many others, often rivalling Roald Dahl them is as obvious as his respect for darkness and clever plot twiststhe insight they give us into the processes which shaped our world. He hopes that understanding how that has come about will inspire us to conserve what we have.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0688132286</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Stanley GibbonsEdwards_Story|title=Great Britain Concise Stamp Catalogue 2013The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books (British Library Crime Classics)|author=Martin Edwards
|rating=5
|genre=Reference
|summary=When I began collecting GB stamps It's easy to be confused by the various 'Collect British Stampsages'of crime writing: if you have an interest in the genre you' was my bible ll almost certainly have heard of the Golden Age of Crime, generally acknowledged as being the period between the first and I eagerly awaited each new editionsecond world wars. After a while I came to realise that I needed a little more depth, but not to 'Classic Crime' on the level provided by other hand extends the [[Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue 2013: Commonwealth time frame at either end and Empire Stamps 1840 - 1970 by Hugh Jefferies|Specialised Catalogue Series]] not least because I was still at covers books published in the stage first half of spending the money on stamps rather than twentieth century. Throughout my adult life, there's been just one genre of books about them. There is something to fill the gap though which has fascinated me, and that's crime, so I could hardly resist the Great Britain Concise catalogue. Itchance of reading ''s designed to meet the needs The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books'' particularly as the dedicated amateur rather than author, Martin Edwards is an accomplished author within the specialist or crime genre and an acknowledged expert on the casual collectorsubject.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0852598998</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=DK_Childrens|title=Sea Monsters: The Lore and Legacy of Olaus MagnusChildren's Marine MapIllustrated Thesaurus|author=Joseph NiggDK
|rating=4.5
|genre=Popular ScienceReference|summary=A confession. When reading hardbacks I take One of the paper cover, if there most valuable literary skills which children can learn is one, off, how to keep it pristineuse reference books. Sometimes there's As a second benefit, child every question which I began with [[Longbourn by Jo Baker]] as an example of having an embossed illustration underneath, or suchlike''how do you spell... But ?'' would be answered with this book I won't be alone, for the cover folds out into an amazing artwork, such 'EXACTLY as has only two extant original copies. It's a coloured replica of a large map of the northern seas and Scandinavia, dating from 1539, and is it says in a category of three major artful scientific papers from where the whole dictionary'here be dragons' cliché about maps comes from. Its creatorThis was fine, Olaus Magnusbut the family's Collins Little Gem Dictionary didn't encourage exploration, followed it up years later with a commentary of all not least because the sea creatures he drew on it, but Magnus has waited centuries for this delicious volume to commentate on both together, in such a lovely fashion.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782400435</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Peter Roberts font was small and Shelley Evans|title=The Book of Fungi: A Life-Size Guide difficult to Six Hundred Species From Around The World|rating=4|genre=Popular Science|summary=Fungi are the fifth order of the natural kingdom and it’s estimated that there are approximately one and a half million species, found throughout the worldread. ‘’The Book of Fungi’’ looks at six hundred of the known fungi and each is pictured at its actual size in full colour and there’s a scientific explanation of its distributionFortunately, habitat, form, spore colour those times have now changed and edibilityreference book for children are now much more inviting. The tone Not every book comes with a set of the book is academic instructions but don’t let this put you off - before I began reading my knowledge was broadly restricted to knowing that it was better 's worth studying the ''How to discover fungus growing outside your house than attached to the structure inside - and I found it interesting...'' section, entertaining (which I didn’t expect) and accessiblenot least because similar systems are used in other reference books.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908005858</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Naoki Higashida and David Mitchell
|title=The Reason I Jump: One Boy's Voice from the Silence of Autism
|rating=5
|genre=Reference
|summary=Imagine if you will, a world where the normal laws of physics have been slightly changed. You swirl around almost weightlessly, with no control over your limbs. Sounds seem either deafeningly loud or hopelessly muffled. Sensory input floods your system, overwhelming you with bright colours, patterns and odours that attack you from every side, without warning. Communication is almost impossible. You open your mouth and the wrong words come out. People talk down to you as if you were a child.
Welcome Move on to Naoki’s world.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444776754</amazonuk>}}[[Newest Science Fiction Reviews]]