Books published by Guardian Faber Publishing

. Everything is at stake in this compendium of more than 150 ingenious puzzles, selected to reveal the wonderful diversity of brainteasers that have confounded and intrigued solvers for the last thousand years.

Almost all of us want to make a difference. So we volunteer, donate to charity, recycle or try to cut down our carbon emissions. But rarely do we know how much of a difference we're really making.In a remarkable re-examination of the evidence, Doing Good Better reveals why buying sweatshop-produced goods benefits the poor; why cosmetic surgeons can do more good than charity workers; and why giving to a relief fund is generally not the best way to help after a natural disaster. By examining the charities you give to, the volunteering you do, the goods you buy and the career you pursue, this fascinating and often surprising guide shows how through simple actions you can improve thousands of lives - including your own.

Why do you lose arguments with people who know MUCH LESS than you? Why can you recognise that woman, from that thing... but can't remember her name?And why, after your last break-up, did you find yourself in the foetal position on the sofa for days, moving only to wipe the snot and tears haphazardly from your face?Here's why: the idiot brain. For something supposedly so brilliant and evolutionarily advanced, the human brain is pretty messy, fallible and disorganised. For example, did you know that your memory is egotistical? That conspiracy theories and superstitions are the inevitable effects of a healthy brain? Or that alcohol can actually improve your memory?** In The Idiot Brain, neuroscientist Dean Burnett tours our mysterious and mischievous grey (and white) matter. Along the way he explains the human brain's imperfections in all their glory and how these influence everything we say, do and experience. Expertly researched and entertainingly written, this book is for anyone who has wondered why their brain appears to be sabotaging their life, and what on earth it is really up to.**Editor's note: please read the book before testing this conclusion.

A Woman's Game explores the history of women's football from the Victorian era to the present day.

** THE NEW BOOK FROM THE AWARD-WINNING COMEDIAN AND WRITER ** 'A quintessentially British, well-bred master of wry .

Why are gravy stains on your shirt at the dinner table to be admired? Does bacon improve everything? And is gin really the devil's work? In this rollicking collection of his hilarious columns, the award-winning writer and Observer restaurant critic Jay Rayner answers these vital questions and many, many more. They are glorious dispatches, seasoned in equal measure with both enthusiasm and bile, from decades at the very frontline of eating

But is it an antidote to modern life, or a symptom of a modern illness?Adharanand Finn travelled to the heart of the sport to find out - and to see if could become an ultra runner himself.

Guardian columnist and Springwatch expert Stephen Moss combines detective work, natural history, folklore and firsthand observations to explore how birds got their names and our long and eventful relationship with the natural world.

It was only through Amelia Gentleman's tenacious investigative and campaigning journalism that it emerged that thousands were in Paulette's position. In The Windrush Betrayal, Gentleman tells the story of the scandal and exposes deeply disturbing truths about modern Britain.

'The Maybot is rebooted as strong and humble. Stumble for short.' 'Kim Jong-May awkward and incredulous as journalist asks question.' 'Supreme leader produces pure TV Valium on The One Show.' Throughout 2017 John Crace, the Guardian's parliamentary sketch writer, has watched Prime Minister Theresa May's efforts to remain strong and stable - and, indeed, Prime Minister. He coined the term 'Maybot' for her malfunctioning public appearances. And now, in this edited collection of his unremittingly witty sketches, he tells the full story of Theresa May's turbulent first year in Westminster. As waspishly hilarious as Craig Brown's diaries in Private Eye, I, Maybot is essential and hysterically funny reading for anyone trying to make sense of our crazy political year.

It is an oasis for creation, available to anyone with a little space and the compunction to get their hands dirty."In Natural Selection, Dan Pearson draws on ten years of his Observer columns to explore the rhythms and pleasures of a year in the garden.

Introducing Italy's best kept secret. This title includes lovingly written recipes that capture the spirit of this beautiful and often unexplored region, and Valeria's memories of the people and places that make the Veneto so special. It also shares the food and flavours at the heart of the Veneto region in North Eastern Italy.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE, THE JHALAK PRIZE, THE CWA GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION AND THE BREAD AND ROSES AWARD Saturday, 23rd November 2013. It was just another day in America. And as befits an unremarkable day, ten children and teens were killed by gunfire. Far from being considered newsworthy, these everyday fatalities are simply a banal fact.The youngest was nine; the oldest nineteen. None made the news. There was no outrage at their passing. It was simply a day like any other day. Gary Younge picked it at random, searched for the families of these children and here, tells their stories. Another Day in the Death of America explores the way these children lived and lost their short lives, offering a searing portrait of the vulnerability of youth in contemporary America.

Emily Chappell was never meant to be a cycle courier. She planned to earn her living using her mind rather than her legs. She thought it'd be a useful stopgap while searching for a 'real' job. Today, six years on, she's still pedalling. 'It's my most enduring love affair; the career that's shaped my life, made me what I am, and entirely derailed any hope of a normal existence.'As she flies through the streets of the capital, dancing with the traffic, Chappell records the pain and pleasure-both mental and physical-of life on wheels: the hurtling, dangerous missions; the ebb and flow of seasonal work; the moments of fear and freedom, anger and exhaustion; the camaraderie of the courier tribe and its idiosyncratic characters; the conflict and harmony between bicycle and road, body and mind.At the same time it is a hymn to London; its changing skyline, its chaos and interconnectedness: 'the unlikeliest street corners will have some tattered threads of memory fluttering from them like a flag...It's almost as if the memories have overflowed from my head and scattered themselves about the city. Some parts of my life I can recall simply by thinking of them; others I think I'd remember better if I went back to a certain part of London and plucked them up from the tree I'd hung them from, or retraced them from the park bench I'd scratched them on, or snatched them up as they blew around in circles in an alleyway like a discarded carrier bag'. This is a book about discovery and belonging, connection and memory, choosing life's uncharted course and the delicious sensation of just riding.

THE SUNDAY TIMES-BESTSELLING BOOK BY ONE OF BRITAIN'S BEST-LOVED COMIC WRITERS**Pre-order now: David Mitchell's new book Dishonesty is the Second-best Policy**There are many aspects of modern life that trouble award-winning comedian David Mitchell, such as: Why is every film or TV programme a sequel or a remake? Why are people so f***ing hung up about swearing? Why do the asterisks in that sentence make it ok? Why do so many people want to stop other people doing things, and how can they be stopped from stopping them?Join Mitchell on a tour of the absurdities of our times - from Ryanair to Richard III, Downton Abbey to phone etiquette, UKIP to hotdogs made of cats. Funny, provocative and shot through with refreshing amounts of common sense, Thinking About It Only Makes It Worse celebrates and commiserates on the state of things in our not entirely glorious modern world.'Mitchell is an exceptionally clever, eloquent and spot-on commentator. We should be grateful for him.' Daily Mail, Books of the Year

An enchanting visual glossary of the British landscape: photographs and stories which take the reader from the waterlogged fens to the white sands of the Western Isles. 'Out .

Europe is facing a wave of migration unmatched since the end of World War II - and no one has reported on this crisis in more depth or breadth than the Guardian's migration correspondent, Patrick Kingsley. Throughout 2015, Kingsley travelled to 17 countries along the migrant trail, meeting hundreds of refugees making epic odysseys across deserts, seas and mountains to reach the holy grail of Europe. This is Kingsley's unparalleled account of who these voyagers are. It's about why they keep coming, and how they do it. It's about the smugglers who help them on their way, and the coastguards who rescue them at the other end. The volunteers that feed them, the hoteliers that house them, and the border guards trying to keep them out. And the politicians looking the other way.The New Odyssey is a work of original, bold reporting written with a perfect mix of compassion and authority by the journalist who knows the subject better than any other.

'Britain's funniest writer' (Jon Ronson) makes some sense of the delusional fever-dream of recent times. 'Marina Hyde is a joyous rallying voice in British journalism .

Parkinson's everyday exaltations - selected from her immensely successful Guardian column - will utterly delight. FEATURES BRAND NEW MATERIAL

Wild Green Wonders brings you a selection of twenty years' worth of Patrick Barkham's writings for the Guardian, and it bears witness to the great many changes imposed upon this planet and the challenges lying ahead for the future of nature. From Norwegian wolves to protests against the HS2 rail, from peregrine falcons nesting by the Thames to Britain's last lion tamer, Barkham paints an ever changing portrait of contemporary wildlife. This collection also presents thought-provoking interviews with conservationists, scientists, activists and writers such as Rosamund Young, Ronald Blythe and other eco-luminaries, including Sir David Attenborough and Brian May. 'Siding with the planet is siding with the underdog, and this has motivated much of my journalism', Barkham writes. Wild Green Wonders is his chronicle.

The history of British gambling is a history that stretches back nearly one thousand years, reaching into some of the nation's most fabled periods. It's now an industry worth billions of pounds.Investigative journalist and Guardian correspondent Rob Davies surveys the development of the gambling industry to explain how the Britain became one of the largest gambling markets in the world. From the turn to deregulation under the Blair administration and the resultant explosion of gambling advertising to predatory targeting and industry lobbying in the halls of power, Davies uncovers the sinister inner workings of one of the country's most nefarious industries.Exploring the fate of gambling in the UK and the uncertain future of the thousands of victims who have been all but abandoned along the way, Jackpot is a stark and vital investigation that forces us to confront deeply disturbing truths about modern British society.

Infectiously entertaining political satire, from the author of Decline and Fail and I, Maybot.

The definitive guide to outdoor swimming in Britain.

Award-winning journalist and bestselling author Luke Harding's haunting, brilliant account of the insidious methods used against him by a resurgent Kremlin which led to him becoming the first western reporter to be deported from Russia since the days of the Cold War. FEATURING A NEW FOREWORD FROM THE AUTHOR'A courageous and explosive expose.'ORLANDO FIGES'Luke Harding is one of the best reporters in the world.'ROBERT SAVIANO'An essential read.'NEW STATESMANIn 2007, Luke Harding arrived in Moscow to take up a new job as a correspondent for the British newspaper the Guardian. Within months, mysterious agents from Russia's Federal Security Service - the successor to the KGB - had broken into his flat. He found himself tailed by men in cheap leather jackets, bugged, and even summoned to Lefortovo, the KGB's notorious prison.The break-in was the beginning of an extraordinary psychological war against the journalist and his family. Vladimir Putin's spies used tactics developed by the KGB and perfected in the 1970s by the Stasi, East Germany's sinister secret police. This clandestine campaign burst into the open in 2011 when the Kremlin expelled Harding from Moscow.Luke Harding's Mafia State gives a unique, personal and compelling portrait of today's Russia, two decades after the end of communism, that reads like a spy thriller.

One in four people experience a mental health problem each year, with depression and anxiety alone afflicting over 500 million people. Why are these conditions so widespread?

From stone age to space age, every human who has ever looked up at the night sky has seen the same stars in the same patterns. They reveal our entire history, as well as hinting at our ultimate fate. In Beneath the Night, Stuart Clark investigates this incredible relationship between humanity and the night sky.

Shadow State is a gripping investigative account of how Russia's spies helped elect Donald Trump, backed Brexit, murdered enemies and threatened the very basis of western democracy. The operatives come in disguise.