Thinking Better: The Art of the Shortcut

From one of America's iconic writers, a portrait of a marriage and a life – in good times and bad – that will speak to anyone who has ever loved a husband or wife or child. A stunning book of electric honesty and passion.Several days before Christmas 2003, John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion saw their only daughter, Quintana, fall ill. At first they thought it was flu, then pneumonia, then complete sceptic shock. She was put into an induced coma and placed on life support. Days later – the night before New Year’s Eve –the Dunnes were just sitting down to dinner after visiting the hospital when John suffered a massive and fatal coronary. In a second, this close, symbiotic partnership of 40 years was over. Four weeks later, their daughter pulled through. Two months after that, arriving at LA airport, she collapsed and underwent six hours of brain surgery at UCLA Medical Centre to relieve a massive hematoma.This powerful book is Didion’s ‘attempt to make sense of the weeks and then months that cut loose any fixed idea I ever had about death, about illness … about marriage and children and memory … about the shallowness of sanity, about life itself’. The result is an exploration of an intensely personal yet universal experience: a portrait of a marriage, and a life, in good times and bad.

Sunday Times #1 bestseller and long-awaited follow-up to the #1 bestselling Stop Talking, Start Doing You can think big or you can think small, it all starts in the mind. What have you got to lose? If you aim for the stars you might just get there. Sometimes it pays off to think BIG and Richard Newton is here to get us thinking on a bigger scale than we ever imagined. With the right thinking tools and the right approach you can release your inspiration and creativity, reset your ambition and direct your attention to the things that truly matter to you. And that can change your life. Short and punchy with quick tips and inspiring graphics, The Little Book of Thinking Big will have your imagination, creativity and determination firing on all cylinders. You'll come away with a set of BIG goals to fuel and drive your BIG life. Here’s where it starts. This is a reset button. Push it. Think bigger.

From Cameron Diaz, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Body Book, comes a fresh, personal, and authoritative examination of the art and science of growing older and a roadmap for abundant health and resilience as we age. When Cameron Diaz wrote The Body Book, she was on a mission to help educate young women about how their bodies function, empowering them to make better-informed choices about their health instead of heeding the advice of the latest headline or trend. So she interviewed doctors, scientists, nutritionists and a host of other experts, and then shared what she'd learned with young women everywhere in a comprehensive volume hailed as 'smart', 'brimming with science' and 'the real deal'. Once again Cameron Diaz is on a mission. But this time, she's starting a conversation with her peers on a topic that is virtually taboo in our society: the ageing female body. In The Longevity Book, she will share everything she's learned about the ageing process from top medical experts and researchers, as well as her own thoughts, opinions, and experiences on a topic that is as essential to our health as it is emotionally charged and culturally neglected. The Longevity Book will explore what history, biology, neuroscience and the women's health movement can teach us about maintaining optimal health as we transition from our thirties to midlife. From how growing older impacts various bodily systems to the biological differences in the way ageing effects men and women; the latest science on telomeres and slowing the rate of cognitive decline to how meditation heals us and why love, friendship and laughter matter for health. The Longevity Book will offer an all-encompassing, holistic look at how the female body ages – and what we can all do to age better. Cameron offers women a compassionate, informative and intimate tour through the next volume of life.

‘An insomniac’s dream buy!’ THE SUN‘If you lie awake wondering how to get a good night’s sleep, this could be the answer to all your problems.’ HAPPIFULThe secret to sleeping better at night for a happier, calmer, more successful day.We’re bombarded with confusing and contradictory advice about achieving a better night’s sleep. So, what’s the secret?The Art of Sleeping combines the latest scientific research, expert advice, and Rob’s own tricks and tips about dealing with insomnia to create a concise, practical, and engaging handbook on achieving better sleep.By exploring the three key pillars of sleep: behaviour, environment, and diet (BED), readers will find themselves equipped with techniques to aid sleep and relaxation, and to live a happier, calmer, and more successful life.

We live in an era of aesthetics. Art has become both pervasive and powerful – it is displayed not only in museums and galleries but also on the walls of corporations and it is increasingly fused with design. But what makes art so powerful, and in what does its power consist? 

According to a widespread view, the power of art – its beauty – lies in the eye of the beholder. What counts as art appears to be a function of individual acts of evaluation supported by powerful institutions. On this account, the power of art stems from a force that is not itself aesthetic, such as the art market and the financial power of speculators. Art expresses, in a disguised form, the power of something else – like money – that lies behind it. In one word, art has lost its autonomy. 

In this short book, Markus Gabriel rejects this view. He argues that art is essentially uncontrollable. It is in the nature of the work of art to be autonomous to such a degree that the art world will never manage to overpower it. Ever since the cave paintings of Lascaux, art has taken hold of the human mind and implemented itself in our very being. Thanks to the emergence of art we became human beings, that is, beings who lead their lives in light of an image of the human being and its position in the world and in relation to other species. Due to its structural, ontological power, art itself is and remains radically autonomous. Yet, this power is highly ambiguous, as we cannot control its unfolding. 

In this book, a leading proponent of New Realism applies this philosophical perspective to art to create a new aesthetic realism.

Bring nuance, depth, and meaning to every conversation you have The Art of Communication is for anyone who senses that they could be communicating on a deeper level. Perhaps you are a confident communicator but suspect there may be more to the art of conversation that you have not yet been able to access. Or perhaps you feel that your conversations lack depth and meaning and that you’d like to enrich your relationships with others, if only you knew how. This book will address your concerns and show you how to engage wholeheartedly with others. There’s more to conversation than just clear, rational thinking. Left-brain rationality is important, of course, but neuroscience increasingly shows that the right-brain skills of creativity, intuition and spontaneity are essential in good communication. In this guide, you’ll discover ways of tapping into the full conversational potential that lies dormant within you, adding a level of nuance and watching the result as your relationships blossom. You may even find that untapped value in the form of new insights, ideas and creative thoughts, emerges from your daily conversations. Access the more nuanced arts of conversation to create strong connections and tangible results Build cross-disciplinary, cross-cultural connections to communicate effectively with people from different backgrounds Activate your whole mind – not just your intellect – to bring creativity and depth to communication Learn to be open-hearted, spontaneous, vulnerable, intuitive, and captivating in every conversation you hold From communication guru and bestselling author Judy Apps, The Art of Communication will show you how to breathe life into your relationships and produce powerful new thinking enabling you to transform the world you live in.

The Art of Dialogue The actor’s profession is, first and foremost, an open system of communication in an endless dialogue with his character, with his partner, with the director, with the spectators, with the playwright, with the role – but at the end of this list we should say – the actor also has an infi nite dialogue with himself. When the actor himself is open, then he knows how to open others, and then they open up to him. The opening of another system, and of another view, allows the actor to learn something new, to go beyond the boundaries of his familiar knowledge of the world and himself. In Theatre, dialogue is the art of creating with others. And for this, you need not only the talent of a Person but also the skills and mastership of an Artist. In this book, you will be introduced to my research about dialogue on stage, sketches of working methods and, of course, practical exercises. It’s important to me that you fi nd something useful here, something questionable and even something which you don’t need at all. I hope you will fall in love with dialogue on stage, and open up its artistic beauty for yourself.

*Now also published as The Villa on the Riviera*The French Riviera is the setting for this absorbing tale of family intrigue, scandal and romance, against the glamorous background of 1930s artists and aristocracy.Polly Smith is struggling to make a living as an artist when her friend and patron, Oliver, invites her to his father’s house in the south of France. Thrilled to escape cold, wet London, Polly asks for her birth certificate to obtain a passport – an act which unexpectedly turns her world upside down. For her mother is in fact her aunt; her father is unknown; even her name isn’t right.Fleeing to the Riviera, Polly finds that the serenity and sunshine brings her art to life as never before. But all is not well in the grand house. Oliver’s father was forced to leave England in a cloud of scandal and his past is about to catch up with him.But even as Polly finds herself immersed in a web of suspicion and deception, her own future begins to take on a new and fascinating shape…The perfect read for fans of The Villa and Summer’s Child, this is a beguiling and evocative tale that will transport you away to the Riviera itself.

An exceptionally mature and tautly written first novel reminiscent of Josephine Hart's Damage.Haunted by childhood loss, 23-year-old Louise takes on her late mother's name and sets out to find Nicholas, the man she has always held responsible for her death. Now a middle-aged lecturer, husband and father, Nicholas has nevertheless been unable to shake off the events of his past, when he and Louise’s mother, Lydia, had a clandestine, destructive and ultimately tragic affair. As Louise infiltrates his life and the lives of his family, she forms close and intimate relationships with both his son and his wife, but her true identity remains unknown to Nicholas himself. Tensions grow and outward appearances begin to crack, as Louise and Nicholas both discover painful truths about their own lives, each other, and the woman they both loved.Told alternately from the perspectives of Louise and Nicholas, and moving between the past and the present, The Art of Losing is a stunning debut novel that shows how love, desire and loss can send out more complicated echoes across our lives than we can ever imagine.

The Way of the Dog is a self-help classic. It tells the story of failed salesman, Derek Stubbins, who wanders into a brothers Grimm nightmare and gets turned into a dog. He has to learn the way of the dog to get by. He has to develop the simple, clear way of thinking that a sheepdog has for its task. In doing so, he finds that he can achieve any goal he desires. It is the perfect pathway to success. Why a dog? A dog has only two states of thought, which are happy, and waiting to be happy. When it has a task to do, it sees the beginning and the end. It doesn't become anxious or depressed at the size of the job, but just undertakes it and deals with obstacles as they come. It always succeeds. Geoff Burch taps into the core of great personal development writing in The Way of the Dog. He focuses on the two big questions – what do you want to do with your life and how do you do it? By following the way of the dog, each obstacle in your path is dealt with unfailingly, one at a time. And if you don't know where you're going or what you need to make you happy, the sheepdog will show you how to recognise a sheep and not to waste time with goats. The Way of the Dog offers timeless, accessible, fast-paced, funny and memorable advice. Inspiring lifestyle wisdom is brought out through simple storytelling. Plan your course through life and overcome every obstacle in your path by adopting The Way of the Dog's route map to success. Unlike the instructions in flat-pack furniture, anyone can understand it, it is easy to do, and the outcome will not be a surprise or a disappointment. The Way of the Dog contains the secrets of success.