Books by Simon Garfield

Maps have the most amazing stories. Suitable for mapophiles, this book offers narratives on everything from the challenge of mapping the oceans to spellbinding treasure maps to the naming of America, from Churchill's crucial war maps to the lay-out of a Monopoly board, from crime maps to music maps, from rare map dealers to cartographic frauds.

An assessment of a decade of AIDS in Britain, covering the disease's progress and people's reaction to it. The book draws on interviews with entertainment figures such as Ian McKellen and Stephen Fry, as well as social workers and government ministers.

A wise, witty, alternative history of humanity, DOG'S BEST FRIEND reflects on how our relationship with dogs has changed over the centuries, and explores the universal desire for non-human companionship

A delightful and illuminating exploration of the human instinct to make things small, from the bestselling author of Just My Type and On the Map

An entertaining and authoritative exploration of how and why time has come to rule our lives from the bestselling author of Just My Type

The paperback outing of this engaging and enlightening history of letter-writing and our relationship with the mail, from the bestselling author of Just My Type and On the Map

Describes how Helvetica and Comic Sans took over the world; why Barack Obama opted for Gotham, while Amy Winehouse found her soul in 30s Art Deco; the pivotal moment when fonts left the world of Letraset and were loaded onto computers; and more.

In 1959, the first Mini was produced on an assembly line at Cowley, near Oxford. Designed for austerity and efficiency, the car came to represent individuality and classlessness. Today, the car is still produced at Cowley - it is now owned by BMW and called the MINI.

This is a book about Kendo Nagasaki, Mick McManus, Les Kellett, Klondyke Kate and Dr Death - men and women who used to fight each other every night for pride and money.Margaret Thatcher once wrote adoringly to Big Daddy, and Frank Sinatra told Giant Haystacks that British wrestlers were the best entertainers in the world. The Duke of Edinburgh attended the live shows, expressing a preference for Johnny Kwango, who specialized in head-butts. Millions would watch this curious pursuit on television every Saturday afternoon. Many said it was a fake, yet many more didn't seem to mind.But then Big Daddy had a stroke, the commentator started making sexploitation films and a plumber from Wolverhampton made an unexpected housecall on Kendo Nagasaki. They took it off the television shortly after wrestlers started dying during the bouts. These days, those who are left like to talk.'Brilliant. Read The Wrestling. If you don't enjoy it I'll pull Giant Haystack's beard.' Independent'Masterful, funny . . . Packed with English eccentricity by the bucket-load, Garfield has fashioned a brilliant, barmy book from the most unpromising raw material.' FHM

In 1936 anthropologist Tom Harrison, poet and journalist Charles Madge and documentary filmmaker Humphrey Jennings set up the Mass Observation Project. The idea was simple: ordinary people would record, in diary form, the events of their everyday lives. An estimated one million pages eventually found their way to the archive - and it soon became clear this was more than anyone could digest. Today, the diaries are stored at the University of Sussex, where remarkably most remain unread. In Our Hidden Lives, Simon Garfield has skilfully woven a tapestry of diary entries in the rarely discussed but pivotal period of 1945 to 1948. The result is a moving, intriguing, funny, at times heartbreaking book -unashamedly populist in the spirit of Forgotten Voices or indeed Margaret Forster's Diary of an Ordinary Woman.'I love these diaries. They have the attraction of being stories, but REAL stories- Better than any novel.' Margaret Forster 'A lovely book. It will appeal to- anyone who appreciates the richness and diversity of human experience.' Tony Benn'Utterly engrossing, better than any kind of reality TV.' Gavin Esler'Funny, vivid, touching, angry, thoughtful - every page is a delight. This is definitely no. 1 on my present list to give to everyone in the coming year.' Jenny Uglow, author of The Lunar Men

Of all the accounts written about the Second World War, none are more compelling than the personal diaries of those who lived through it.