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Art & Culture

Culture and art is many things and at Tales you find a wide selection of art and culture books. If you enjoy a trip to the museum or an evening at the theatre this is the place for you. If you are more into architecture or a well written song, fear not you also find books about that. Lastly design and fashion is also part of our art and culture selection, so what are you waiting for? Set your inner creativity free and get inspired by some of the world’s best artists, musicians, designers or architects.
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  • Save 25%
    by Oppi Untracht
    £52.49

    Nearly ten years in preparation and production, Jewelry Concepts and Technology is the definitive guide and handbook for jewellery makers on all levels of ability. It is also a unique reference source for those not directly active in the field but who wish to gain an understanding of what lies behind the jewellery-making mystique.

  • Save 27%
    - Photographs by Gregory Crewdson
    by Rick Moody
    £25.49

    This volume chronicles Gregory Crewdson's Twilight series, elaborate tableaux that capture bizarre surrealities behind deceptively familiar suburban facades. The images are accompanied by an essay from Rick Moody, a novelist renowned for exposing the underbelly of small-town, middle-class America.

  • Save 29%
    by J. C. Cooper
    £28.49

    Explains the meanings associated with objects, plants, animals, myths, religious symbols, and images in art.

  • Save 27%
    by Mojang AB
    £25.49 - 170.49

  • Save 24%
     
    £37.99

    'Books have traced the lives of great designers before, but few serve to double as a visual history of British popular culture. What this book deftly demonstrates is that Smith has not just been going for 50 years, he's been interwoven with our national aesthetic for 50 years.' - Esquire A timely celebration of British design legend Sir Paul Smith and his one-of-a-kind creativity This innovative book captures the unique spirit of British fashion icon Sir Paul Smith through 50 objects chosen by Sir Paul himself for the inspiration they have provided him over the years - from a wax plate of spaghetti and a Dieter Rams radio to a Mario Bellini Cab chair and a bicycle seat. Each object has impacted his worldview, his creative process, and his adherence to a design approach that's always imbued with distinctly British wit and eccentricity. The book covers subjects as varied as breaking down the formality of wearing a suit, the importance of wit, and the benefits of remaining independent in an increasingly monopolized world, and includes personal contributions - handwritten notes, a sketch, or photograph - from such fashion and design heavyweights as Manolo Blahnik, Inès de la Fressange, Martin Parr, and John Pawson. Updated with a fresh new fabric cover featuring the brand's signature stripe and a brand-new preface written by Sir Paul especially for this edition, Paul Smith provides the ultimate insight into one of the fashion world's most-loved creators.

  • Save 23%
    by Florence Given
    £15.49

    Living Deliciously is the ritual of prioritising your joy and rest, choosing to notice the beauty of everyday existence, and taking the initiative to create small, considered moments for yourself. This book will help you cultivate a sense of agency in your everyday life through intentional actions so that you're able to enjoy your life moment to moment, instead of counting on the big, momentous life events. Too many of us have lost connection with ourselves and what makes us happy because our attention is drawn to external and material things that ultimately leave us feeling dissatisfied. Living a delicious life is an achievable and sustainable way of enabling our bliss and allowing time for what makes us feel good.It's time for us all to fall in love with ourselves and our own lives.PRAISE FOR WOMEN DON'T OWE YOU PRETTY by FLORENCE GIVEN 'An incredible mouthpiece for modern intersectional feminism.' - Glamour'A fearless book.' - Cosmopolitan'A hugely influential young woman.' - Woman's Hour'Rallying, radical and pitched perfectly for her generation.' - Evening Standard

  • Save 10%
    by Liz Tomforde
    £8.99

    Coming soon . . .The fourth book in the Windy City series - the TikTok sensation! Available to pre-order now.

  • Save 27%
    by Lucy Score
    £21.99

    Fall in love with this set of three unforgettable romantic comedies, set in the small town of Knockemout.*New York Times bestsellers**Sunday Times bestsellers**TikTok sensations*This collection includes all three of Lucy Score's bestselling Knockemout novels: Things We Never Got Over, Things We Hide From the Light and Things We Left Behind. Get ready to meet:Knox and Naomi.Nash and Lina.Lucian and Sloane.Lucy Score's international bestselling Knockemout trilogy has sold more than 2 million copies globally. Discover the love stories that everyone is talking about.

  • Save 23%
    by Carolyn McHugh
    £16.99

    Loreen released her debut album "Heal" in 2012. The album showcased her unique sound, characterized by a blend of pop, dance, and electronic elements, and received incredible reviews from critics. Loreen also won the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest held in Liverpool England with her song' Tattoo'.

  • Save 15%
    by Camilla Falkenberg
    £10.99

    Having demystified financial jargon and outlined the key pillars of investing, Female Invest have laid down the foundations and educated us on how to become more financially savvy. Now it's time to put your money where your mouth is and set and achieve your own financial goals.If you are looking to save for a holiday, a first deposit, or simply want to invest in a better future for you and the planet, this financial planner contains the practical steps and interactive budgeting exercises you need to get excited about your financial future.With advice for changing your financial habits, guides for setting goals for saving, an sections of monthly and weekly planning and reviewing, this year-long planner is here to empower you to take back control of your money na drive on your own terms.Even if you only have a tiny savings fund to begin with, you too can live a rewarding and limitless life by investing in yourself.

  • Save 10%
    by Stephen King
    £8.99 - 18.99

  • Save 27%
    by Joel Beath
    £21.99

    Small footprint design that proves living better doesn¿t have to mean living larger. Following the success of their first book, the second volume of Never Too Small showcases 30 new and outstanding homes from around the world that explore small space living. Framed by five small-footprint design principles, the book features beautiful photography, detailed floor-plans and accessible architectural commentary on each of the 30 homes. Championing the work of award-winning architects and designers, Never Too Small offers an inspiring model for the future of housing¿one where sustainability and style, comfort and affordability can co-exist. Praise for Never Too Small: ¿Full of inspiration we can each apply to our own spaces, this is a book that offers hope and inspiration for a future of our cities and their citizens in which sustainability and style, comfort and affordability can co-exist. Never Too Small proves living better doesn¿t have to mean living larger.¿ - Uro Books ¿After years of recommending the YouTube channel to anyone who will listen, this book celebrates thoughtfully and ingeniously designed small urban spaces in all their variety.¿ - Kinokuniya Books ¿This has to have been my favourite book of 2022. Good design goes a long way, especially in a small space, and Creative Director Colin Chee has gone all-out in this book to share that message.¿- Chicane Magazine

  • Save 23%
    by Ellen Lupton
    £16.99

    "Revised and expanded third edition of the essential guide to how typefaces are constructed and how to use them"--

  • Save 27%
    by Jessica Gee
    £21.99

    "This indispensable guide reveals expert tips for traveling with kids"--]cProvided by publisher.

  • Save 14%
    by Kazu Kibuishi
    £9.49

  • Save 11%
    by Ann Liang
    £7.99

    "Utterly unique, thought-provoking, and wonderfully written... a thrilling ride that hooked me from start to finish." -Gloria Chao, author of American Panda and Rent a BoyfriendIn this genre-bending , speculative YA debut, a Chinese American girl monetizes her strange new invisibility powers by discovering and selling her wealthy classmates' most scandalous secrets. Alice Sun has always felt invisible at her elite Beijing international boarding school, where she's the only scholarship student among China's most rich and influential teens. But then she starts uncontrollably turning invisible-actually invisible. When her parents drop the news that they can no longer afford her tuition, even with the scholarship, Alice hatches a plan to monetize her strange new power-she'll discover the scandalous secrets her classmates want to know, for a price. But as the tasks escalate from petty scandals to actual crimes, Alice must decide if it's worth losing her conscience-or even her life.

  • by Sophie Lewis
    £9.49

    What if family were not the only place you might hope to feel safe, loved, cared for and accepted?

  • Save 23%
     
    £16.99

    Use this deluxe, faux-leather Lord of the Rings™–inspired journal to record the experiences of your next adventure or write your life’s story. This notebook is the perfect companion, no matter where your path takes you in Middle-earth™.184 RULED PAGES: Includes 184 pages of high-quality paper to give you plenty of space to record your notes and thoughts or to chart a course back to the Shire™. STAY-CLOSED ELASTIC BAND WITH CHARM: Keep your thoughts secure with the elastic band closure, accented with a metal and enamel Leaf of Lórien™ charm to inspire bravery and Elvish honor. HIGH QUALITY AND ETHICAL: The journal has a durable, vegan faux-leather cover featuring a golden design of the One Ring™’s inscription in the Dark Tongue of Mordor™. CONVENIENT SIZE: This 5.75 x 8.25-inch journal is a comfortable size to journal anywhere and easily fits in a bag or backpack to take with you on the road. PERFECT FOR STUDENTS AND ADULTS: Whether you are new to the world of Lord of the Rings™ or a seasoned fan, this hardcover journal is perfect for any admirer of the books or films. COMPLETE YOUR COLLECTION / COLLECT THEM ALL: Collect more great stationery products from Insights inspired by The Lord of the Rings™, including The Lord of the Rings: One Ring Traveler's Notebook Set, The Lord of the Rings: Stationery Set, and The Lord of the Rings: The One Ring Glass Candle. The Insights Lord of the Rings™ stationery line makes a thoughtful gift for any Middle-earth™ fan or budding, avid reader.

  • Save 14%
    by Bret Easton Ellis
    £9.49

  • Save 23%
    by Cassandra Clare
    £15.49

    Revisit the magic of the Mortal Instruments with this lavish new Collector's Edition of City of Ashes, which has new cover art, stunning endpapers and a letter from Cassie. A must-have gift for any Shadowhunter fan.Love and power are the deadliest temptations... Haunted by her past, Clary is dragged deeper into New York City's terrifying underworld of demons and Shadowhunters - but can she control her feelings for a boy who can never be hers?

  • Save 31%
    by Benjamin Graham
    £52.99

    The classic work from the "father of value investing"¿fully updated for today's generation of investorsFirst published in 1934, Security Analysis is one of the most influential financial books ever written. With more than million copies sold, it has provided generations of investors with the timeless value investing philosophy and techniques of the legendary Benjamin Graham and David L. Dodd.Security Analysis, Seventh Edition features the ideas and methods of today's masters of value investing, who discuss the influence of Graham and Dodd on today's markets and contextualize the philosophy that has influenced so many famous investors.The successful value investor must constantly be in the process of reinvention, of raising his or her game to navigate the terrain of new eras, novel securities, nascent businesses, emerging industries, shifting standards, and evolving market conditions. With the diverse perspectives of experienced contributors, this new edition of Security Analysis is a rich and varied tapestry of highly informed investment thinking that will be a worthy and long-lived successor to the preceding editions.

  • Save 21%
    by Martha Wells
    £14.99

    Everyone's favorite lethal SecUnit is back in the next installment in Martha Wells's New York Times bestselling Murderbot Diaries series.Am I making it worse? I think I'm making it worse.Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly-colonized planet in peril, as well as additional SecUnits. But if there's an ethical corporation out there, Murderbot has yet to find it, and if Barish-Estranza can't have the planet, they're sure as hell not leaving without something. If that something just happens to be an entire colony of humans, well, a free workforce is a decent runner-up prize.But there's something wrong with Murderbot; it isn't running within normal operational parameters. ART's crew and the humans from Preservation are doing everything they can to protect the colonists, but with Barish-Estranza's SecUnit-heavy persuasion teams, they're going to have to hope Murderbot figures out what's wrong with itself, and fast!Yeah, this plan is... not going to work.The Murderbot DiariesAll Systems RedArtificial ConditionRogue ProtocolExit StrategyNetwork EffectFugitive TelemetrySystem Collapse

  • Save 10%
    - A Commonplace Book
    by Thom Yorke & Stanley Donwood
    £8.99

    A celebration of the process and artwork created for the Radiohead albums Kid A and Amnesiac

  • Save 20%
    by Melissa Washburn
    £11.99

    Draw Like an Artist: 100 Flowers and Plants is a must-have visual reference for student artists, botanical illustrators, urban sketchers, and anyone seeking to improve their realistic drawing skills. This comprehensive book features 600-plus step-by-step sketches depicting a vast array of beautiful botanicals, florals, plant structures, and more. Each begins with simple shapes and lines and builds on those forms, adding details like flower centers, leaf veins, and petal shading, and ending with a finished drawing. Helpful drawing tips are also included. Designed as a contemporary guidebook for artists who want to draw botanical forms, Draw Like an Artist: 100 Flowers and Plants shows flower blossoms, leaves, and plants from a variety of perspectives. By following the guides, artists will become more skilled and confident in their ability to draw any flower or greenery. Among the botanicals featured are: Tropical florals such as plumeria, protea, and African violetHanging and vine blooms, including wisteria and morning gloryBirch, white oak, gingko, and maple leavesPlants with interesting shapes, such as cactus, zebra grass, and bamboo Author Melissa Washburn is a skilled illustrator whose clear and elegant drawing style will make this a go-to sourcebook for years to come. The books in the Draw Like an Artist series are richly visual references for learning how to draw classic subjects realistically through hundreds of step-by-step images created by expert artists and illustrators.

  • Save 26%
    by Cristina Cordova
    £21.49

    Explore the human form in depth, from concept sketches and armatures to detailed instructions for constructing legs, torso, arms, hands, and head from clay. In Mastering Sculpture: The Figure in Clay, renowned sculptor and instructorCristina Cordova teaches everything you need to know to replicate the full human figure using clay. Start by developing meaningful sketches and reference points.Then learn how to make and use an armature to create hollow forms that are safe to fire in a kiln.Using patterns and slabs, you can move on to develop a full human form, head to toe.Work along with the author to create a form about two-feet tall, or choose your own size: the patterns and instructions can work in a variety of scales.Photographic demonstrations and diagrams cover the construction and articulation of feet and legs, the hip area and upper torso, arms, hands, neck, and head. Cristina includes supplementary tips and insights throughout to support the sculpting process and enhance naturalism. You'll also find a brief section on general anatomical concepts and modeling strategies to facilitate accuracy and expression as all the components come together.Whether you are a clay artist with limited experience in figurative sculpture or a figurative sculptor outside the world of ceramics looking for a straightforward fabrication strategy to create permanent compositions from clay, Mastering Sculpture: The Figure in Clay will expertly guide your way.

  • Save 25%
    by Lindsay Oesterritter
    £19.49

    Learn the key techniques, tips, and tricks for pit, barrel, raku, and wood firing. Fall in love with flames, wood, and the effect that unique firing methods have on pottery. Move beyond the electric kiln and explore the dramatic surfaces of raku, the flashes of salt firing, and the rustic look of ash rivulets. In this book, Lindsay Oesterritter provides a crash course in the most accessible methods of alternative firing.Raku firing requires minimal equipment and can easily be fueled with a standard propane tank. Likewise, pit and barrel firing do not require much in the way of initial investment. Yet all these techniques provide an immediate glimpse into the magic of firing. Bright reds and blues, dramatic black and white crackle, even metallic luster are instantly possible. For more experienced potters and studios looking to offer more, Oesterritter also explores wood-fired kilns. Drawing on years of experience and extensive interviews with fellow wood-fire potters, there is no comparable resource on the market.Features on top potters working today get to the heart of specialty techniques and asides show firing variations and traditional kilns in different cultures around the world. A gallery of showstopping work from a diverse group of artists round out the package and inspire you to get started. The Mastering Ceramics series is for artists who never stop learning. With compelling projects, expert insight, step-by-step photos, and galleries of work from today's top artists, these books are the perfect studio companions. Also available from the series: Mastering Hand Building and Mastering the Potters Wheel.

  • Save 24%
    - for Mixed-Media and Textile Artists
    by Shelley Rhodes
    £18.99

    A beautifully illustrated exploration of the concepts of fragmentation and repair in mixed-media and textile art from a leading artist.

  • Save 28%
    by Tom Waltz & Kevin Eastman
    £25.99 - 38.49

  • Save 14%
    by Adrian Besley
    £9.49

Culture
What defines culture you might ask? The answer is culture is what defines you. It is what makes us humans human and differentiate us from all other species on the planet. Art and culture is what we share with others, whether it is so called high culture or pop culture. High culture is typically associated with the ‘finer’, classical art forms such as opera, classical music, visual art, ballet and plays. Works that often have a certain age and artistic acknowledgement begin it, but fine culture is also sometimes seen as “high-brow” and not something everyone can understand and that’s sad, because culture and cultural books are for everyone no matter the kind. On the other end of the spectrum we have pop culture that typically is associated with more modern, popular and mainstream forms of culture. It can be pop music, cartoons or big blockbuster movies. We have cultural books from each side of the spectrum, but the best thing is that a change between the two concepts is coming and people are more open about mixing high culture and pop culture, because they are not that different at all. The most important thing about culture is that it connects us and is part of who we are. It can create communities and friendships, but also let us reflect upon ourselves. You can get wiser on that topic in some of our selection’s culture books. 

Art
In our selection you find some of the finest art books featuring some of the greatest artists in history and now. Art is a very important part of our culture. In art you have the possibility of getting engrossed in a wonderful painting, a provocative sculpture, a brilliant play or a beautiful ballet. 
In art you can get lost in the most wonderful stories and themes and identify yourself with someone who doesn’t necessarily look and act like you. By experiencing that you improve your ability of empathy. At the same time you can learn about yourself through art and art books especially when it comes to feelings that can be difficult to describe. In art the themes and problematics are universal and that’s why we feel recognized when experiencing a play, listening to a symphony, studying a great painting or reading a good art book. The art books are best enjoyed in a relaxed setting giving the art room to speak. 
Another beautiful thing about art is that it needs interpretation. When a person meets a well painted painting, a classical sculpture, or a provocative installation it makes us reflect about what it means, and what the art will tell us about society, life or yourself. Everyone can get something different out of a good artwork, because it speaks directly to you and functions as a dialog, where you will have to finish the sentence with your interpretation taking our own life and experiences into the artwork.
We also have a lot of artist books. One of the most talented and popular artists right now are the world famous Dane Vilhelm Hammershøi. Hammershøi has a very significant way of painting giving voice to the melankolic side of the world and of us humans. The painter is famous for his artworks of especially white doors in his apartment in Copenhagen. In the paintings Hammershøi plays with light and shadow in a brilliant way giving room to both sides, which also could be seen as a reflection of life that contains both. The motive also makes the art watcher wonder what is on the other side of the doors or corridors making them compose a continuation of the painting. You can read about Hammershøi in an European context in the artist book Hammershoi and Europe

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