Books published by Oneworld Publications

A renowned neuroscientist with no musical talent investigates what it takes to make musicOn the eve of his fortieth birthday, renowned cognitive scientist Gary Marcus decided to fulfil a lifelong dream and learn to play the guitar. He had tried many times before failing miserably. This time, he decided to use the tools of his trade to see if he might suceed. On his quest he jams with twelve-year-olds and takes master classes with guitar gods. A groundbreaking exploration of the allure of music, Guitar Zero is also an empowering case for the minds ability to grow throughout life.

As the western worlds most wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden has fought to keep his personal life a mystery loyalty and fear keeping those who know him from speaking out until now. For the first time, two of Osamas closest family members, his first wife Najwa and their fourth son Omar, go behind the headlines to reveal the truth about the character and life of a man feared and revered around the globe. In gripping detail, they recount the drama, tensions, and everyday activities of the man they knew as a husband and father. Married at fifteen, Najwa describes the transformation of the quiet, serious young man she fell in love with into an authoritarian husband and stern father, an entrepreneur, and finally the leader of a complex international terrorist network. Uprooted from a life of extraordinary luxury and privilege in Saudi Arabia, they suddenly found themselves living life on the run, fleeing from country to country under assumed names and fake passports. Omar describes how he and his siblings were brought up in remote ranches and fortified Afghani mountain camps, handling Kalashnikovs and learning desert survival skills. Their eventual escape from Afghanistan would come just days before the terrible events of 9/11 changed the world forever. With unprecedented access and exclusive family photographs, Jean Sasson, author of the bestselling Princess, presents the story that we were never meant to hear.

Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize Shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year He just knocked, that was all, knocked at the front door and waited, like the fourteen years since the night I'd killed my mother hadn't happened at all...A"e; Crushed by an impossible shame, Jinx's life has been little more than a shell; estranged from her husband, she is even relieved when he takes her young son with him. When Lemon, an old friend of her mother's, turns up on her doorstep, Jinx is forced to confront her past, and with the pain of remembrance comes the possibility of redemption. But Lemon has his own secrets to share, and together they unravel an unforgettable family drama, stoked with violence and passion. Rich with voices from East London and the West Indies, Edwards's narrative is delivered with a unique and uncompromising bite that announces a new talent in British fiction.

They helped invent the bar code. They revolutionized business schools and created the corporate practices that now rule our world. They reinvented the idea of American capitalism and aggressively exported it across the globe. McKinsey employees are trusted and distrusted, loved and despised. They are doing behind-the-scenes work for the most powerful people in the world, and their ranks of alumni include the chairman of HSBC and William Hague. Renowned financial journalist Duff McDonald uncovers how these high-priced business savants have ushered in waves of structural, financial, and technological shifts but also become mired in controversy across the years. Discover how the firm both endorsed and celebrated Enron's disastrous corporate structure and how they've been instrumental in the Coalition's controversial NHS reforms. Are they worth their astronomical fees? And what do firms and governments actually get for their money? Based on exclusive interviews with key McKinsey players and written in gripping prose, this is a revealing window onto one of the most secretive and powerful companies in the world.

The first book to reveal how everday pricing strategies manipulate us Why do text messages cost money while emails are free? Why do cereal packets keep getting smaller? Why do department stores have a few extortionate goods that no one will buy? Why do so many prices end in 9?Why do text messages cost money while e-mails are free? How does Apple persuade people to pay for music instead of downloading it for nothing? In Priceless, bestselling author William Poundstone reveals how we perceive value and why businesses set the prices we pay. Rooted in the emerging field of behavioural decision theory, Poundstone reveals the secrets that multinationals - including Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Nestle, Nokia and Mercedes - are willing to pay millions for from so-called price consultants. Revealing how conventional economics gets it all wrong, this is a stunning expose of how irrational we all are and how global businesses are taking advantage.

The fifteenth century saw the evolution of a distinct and powerfully influential European artistic culture. But what does the familiar phrase Renaissance Art actually refer to? Through engaging discussion of timeless works by artists such as Jan van Eyck, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo, and supported by illustrations including colour plates, Tom Nichols offers a masterpiece of his own as he explores the truly original and diverse character of the art of the Renaissance.

From Malcom X to the Wu Tang Clan, the first in-depth account of this fascinating black power movementWith a cast of characters ranging from Malcolm X to 50 Cent, Knight's compelling work is the first detailed account of the movement inextricably linked with black empowerment, Islam, New York, and hip-hop. Whether discussing the stars of Five Percenter rap or 1980s crack empires, this fast-paced investigation uncovers the community's icons and heritage, and examines its growing influence in urban American youth culture.

In 1942, five young German students and one professor at the University of Munich crossed the threshold of toleration to enter the realms of resistance, danger and death. Protesting in the name of principles Hitler thought he had killed forever, Sophie Scholl and other members of the White Rose realized that the ';Germanization' Hitler sought to enforce was cruel and inhuman, and that they could not be content to remain silent in its midst. With detailed chronicles of Scholl's arrest and trial before Hitler's Hanging Judge, Roland Freisler, as well as appendices containing all of the leaflets the White Rose wrote and circulated, this volume is an invaluable addition to World War II literature and a fascinating window into human resilience in the face of dictatorship.

"e;Most of us will never experience K2. Mick Conefrey leaves readers with both tremendous admiration for and an appreciation of the consequences for those who succeed in an adventure so physically, mentally, and emotionally taxing. Kirkus Reviews At 28,251 ft, K2 might be almost 800 ft shorter than Everest, but its a far harder climb. In this definitive account, Mick Conefrey grippingly describes the early attempts to reach the summit and provides a fascinating exploration of the first ascents complex legacy. From the drug-addicted occultist Aleister Crowley to Achille Compagnoni and Lindo Lacedelli, the Italian duo who finally made it to the summit, The Ghosts of K2 charts how a slew of great men became fixated on this legendary mountain.Through exclusive interviews with surviving team members and their families, and unrivalled access to diaries and letters that have been archived around the world, Conefrey evokes the true atmosphere of the Savage Mountain and explores why it remains the mountaineers mountain, despite a history steeped in controversy and death. Wrought with tension, and populated by tragic heroes and eccentric dreamers, The Ghosts of K2 is a masterpiece of mountaineering literature.

It is commonly claimed that Islam is antiblack, even inherently bent on enslaving Black Africans. Western and African critics alike have contended that antiblack racism is in the faith's very scriptural foundations and its traditions of law, spirituality, and theology. But what is the basis for this accusation? Bestselling scholar Jonathan A.C. Brown examines Islamic scripture, law, Sufism, and history to comprehensively interrogate this claim and determine how and why it emerged. Locating its origins in conservative politics, modern Afrocentrism, and the old trope of Barbary enslavement, he explains how antiblackness arose in the Islamic world and became entangled with normative tradition. From the imagery of ';blackened faces' in the Quran to Shariah assessments of Black women as ';undesirable' and the assertion that Islam and Muslims are foreign to Africa, this work provides an in-depth study of the controversial knot that is Islam and Blackness, and identifies authoritative voices in Islam's past that are crucial for combatting antiblack racism today.

The model of marriage constructed in classical Islamic jurisprudence rests on patriarchal ethics that privilege men. This worldview persists in gender norms and family laws in many Muslim contexts, despite reforms introduced over the past few decades. In this volume, a diverse group of scholars explore how egalitarian marital relations can be supported from within Islamic tradition. Brought together by the Musawah movement for equality and justice in the Muslim family, they examine ethics and laws related to marriage and gender relations from the perspective of the Qur'an, Sunna, Muslim legal tradition, historical practices and contemporary law reform processes. Collectively they conceptualize how Muslim marriages can be grounded in equality, mutual well-being and the core Qur'anic principles of ';adl (justice) and ihsan (goodness and beauty).

With a foreword by Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize winner 'A must-read for anyone concerned with human rights in Iran. A gripping, moving and utterly shocking account.' Kylie Moore-Gilbert New introductions written by Shannon Woodcock and Nayereh Tohidi Extended solitary confinement has been condemned as a severe violation of human rights. Yet it is still widely used in Iranian prisons. In White Torture, thirteen women, including Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, share their experiences of imprisonment: harassment and beatings by guards, total blindfolding and denial of medical treatment. Angry interrogators threaten their families and lie about their whereabouts. One prisoner is even told she is dead. None of the women have committed crimes they are prisoners of conscience or held hostage as bargaining chips. Through psychological torture, the Iranian state hopes to remake their souls. These interviews, carried out while each woman was in prison or facing charges, are astounding documents of resistance and integrity. White Torture unveils the rot at the heart of the Iranian legal system and calls on us to act for change.

A TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 'A small masterpiece. There is something funny, notable or awe-inspiring on every single page' Jenny Colgan, SpectatorA joyful celebration of books the perfect gift for bibliophiles, word lovers and anyone who's ever wondered, should you judge a book by its cover? We love the words in books but what about the words on them? How do they work their magic? Here is a book about the ways books entice us to read them: their titles, quotes, covers and, above all, blurbs via authors from Jane Austen to Zadie Smith, writing tricks, classic literature, bonkbusters, plot spoilers and publishing secrets. It's nothing less than the inside story of the outside of books.And it answers questions like: Why do some authors hate blurbs so much they burn their own books? Should all adjectives be murdered? Is blurbing sometimes maybe lying? Is it true that (checks jacket) you need an animal on a book's cover to make it a bestseller? What are the most terrible blurbs of all time? Join Penguin publishing word wizard Louise Willder five thousand blurbs written, mostly avoiding the phrase ';unputdownable tour-de-force' to discover why we should judge a book by its cover. Even this one. (It's an unputdownable tour-de-force.)';The bookiest book about books you'll ever read I loved it' Lucy Mangan ';Truly delightful...I couldn't have had more fun' Benjamin Dreyer ';Very funny, erudite and profound. A delight!' Nina Stibbe

A Sunday Times bestseller and Financial Times Book of the Year. The unmissable inside story of the race against the virus. Catapulted into an international crisis, Kate Bingham knew the odds were heavily stacked against a workable Covid-19 vaccine. From a remote cottage, Bingham juggled vaccine suppliers, Whitehall, the media circus‿ as deaths mounted and the world shut down. Political manoeuvring, miscommunications and administrative meddling nearly jeopardised the project. But perseverance and expertise paid off. Bingham‿s eclectic team secured the first vaccine doses administered in the West, saving thousands of lives in the UK as new variants struck. Now, nearly every adult in Britain has had the jab, lockdowns have ended and we can finally live with Covid. This is the insider view into how the Vaccine Taskforce beat those long odds and delivered a scientific miracle.

Environment Award for Children's Literature Winner ';Engaging, entertaining, vocabulary-enhancing and empowering.' Jen Carney, author of The Accidental Diary of B.U.G. ';A charming and funny book, but also an important one.' Anthony McGowan, author of Lark ';Wildly funny and eye-opening.' Rashmi Sirdeshpande, author of Dosh The outrageous story of three best friends, one greedy mayor and a whole lot of pranking Casey Wu tries to stay out of the spotlight, which is why no one would suspect her of being the mastermind behind a string of attention-grabbing stunts. Together with best friends Zeke and Cookie, she is part of Green Peas a secret activist organisation designed to make adults sit up and pay attention to important environmental issues. But when the three young activists get wind of a major cover up in their town, things really start to get serious. It's time for Green Peas to stage their biggest prank yet. But will they be able to pull it off?

A hauntingly beautiful debut for fans of Isabel Allende and Kazuo Ishiguro

A blazing new story collection that will make you feel like the house is collapsing in on you, from the three-time International Booker Prize finalist, 'lead[ing] a vanguard of Latin American writers forging their own 21st-century canon.' O, the Oprah magazine The seven houses in these seven stories are strange. A person is missing, or a truth, or memory; some rooms are enticing, some unmoored, others empty. But in Samanta Schweblin's tense, visionary tales, something always creeps back in: a ghost, a fight, trespassers, a list of things to do before you die, or the fallibility of parents. Seven Empty Houses offers an entry point into a fiercely original mind, and a slingshot into Schweblin's destabilizing, exhilarating literary world. In each story, the twists and turns will unnerve and surprise: Schweblin never takes the expected path and instead digs under the skin and reveals uncomfortable truths about our sense of home, of belonging, and of the fragility of our connections with others. This is a masterwork from one of our most brilliant modern writers.

The human body is a marvel - but what happens when it comes under attack? A fascinating guide to why we get sick and how we get better.

Heart-wrenching historical fiction from bestselling novelist Mary Chamberlain

';It broke my heart and then splinted it back together again... Magnificent.' Hannah Gold, bestselling author of The Last Bear ';A dog's eye perspective that's so vivid you can almost taste the earthworms.' FT, YA Book of the Year ';This visceral story of heartbreak and survival...has the memorable feel of a classic.' The Guardian, Best children's and YA books of 2022 Chernobyl 1986. Natasha's world is coming to an end. Forced to evacuate her home in the middle of the night, she must leave her puppy behind and has no idea if she'll ever return. Some time later, growing up in the shadow of the ruined nuclear power plant, pups Misha and Bratan need to learn how to live wild - and fast. Creatures with sharp teeth, claws and yellow eyes lurk in the overgrown woods. And they're watching the brothers' every move... A tale of courage, companionship and hope from the Carnegie award-winning author of Lark.

Delve back into vibrant, paranoid 1960s London in this fast-paced second book in the Richard Knox Spy Thriller series

'A fascinating insider account' Grace Blakeley British democracy is on trial. We can no longer hold our leaders to account; the state has too much power; and the truth doesn't matter at all. Those we voted into government have nothing but contempt for the democratic system that got them there. When the Prime Minister illegally prorogued Parliament, barrister Sam Fowles was part of the team that took him to court, and won. The scenes of the police violently restraining women at a vigil for Sarah Everard shook the nation. In a high-profile parliamentary inquiry, Fowles proved the Met's actions fundamentally breached our right to protest. For decades, the Post Office pursued criminal prosecutions against its own employees, knowing the evidence was dodgy all along. Fowles helped reveal the rot at the heart of a trusted national institution. We shouldn't have to take our rulers to court just to get them to follow the rules. At a crucial juncture for British governance, Fowles urges us not to take our freedoms for granted.

Percy Jackson meets Yu-Gi-Oh in this hilarious, action-packed fantasy adventure. Zachary Ying has never had much chance to learn about his Chinese heritage. So when he's chosen to host the spirit of the First Emperor of China for a vital mission, he is woefully unprepared. As a result, the emperor botches his attempt to possess Zack's body and binds to his AR gaming headset instead. With the legendary tyrant yapping in his headset, Zack must journey across China to steal magical artifacts and defeat figures from history and myth. Using his newfound water dragon powers, can Zack complete the mission in time to save the mortal world?

The extraordinary ways the brain can misfire'Fascinating and compassionate' Horatio Clare The King of France ? thinking he was made of glass ? was terrified he might shatter…and he wasn't alone. After the Emperor met his end at Waterloo, an epidemic of Napoleons piled into France's asylums. Throughout the nineteenth century, dozens of middle-aged women tried to convince their physicians that they were, in fact, dead. For centuries we've dismissed delusions as something for doctors to sort out behind locked doors. But delusions are more than just bizarre quirks ? they hold the key to collective anxieties and traumas. In this groundbreaking history, Victoria Shepherd uncovers stories of delusions from medieval times to the present day and implores us to identify reason in apparent madness.