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[[Category:Reference|*]]__NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=John Sutherland1394159544|title=How to be Well Read: A guide to 500 great novels and a handful of literary curiositiesRecycling for Dummies|author=Sarah Winkler

|genre=ReferenceLifestyle|summary=Being well read is rather like having good manners: it's something that we all aspire to but there's always a nagging doubt that there's something lacking in what we've achieved. That is, Recycling one ton of course, why a book with the title ''How plastic can save up to be Well Read'' pulled me in so successfully with its promise of being a guide to five hundred great novels and a handful of literary curiosities16. Was I going to find that ultimate list of books which I would have to read to ensure that I could think 3 barrels of myself as well read? No - I was going to find something far more useful and interestingoil.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847946402</amazonuk>}}''

{{newreview|title=A Sting in the Tale|author=Dave Goulson|rating=5|genre=Reference|summary=It seems that Dave Goulson, founder ''Recycling one ton of the incredibly successful Bumblebee Conservation Trust, did not always have natural aptitude for helping wildlife if his early recollections are anything to go bypaper can save 17 trees from being cut down. Despite boundless enthusiasm and a passion for the natural world, his childhood efforts to give nature a helping hand quite frequently ended in some sort of gory aftermath. For example, there was the incident with the drowned bumblebees, in which a young Goulson unwisely decided to dry the bedraggled victims out on the hotplate of the electric cooker. Then there was the time he accidentally dropped a live electrical heater into his aquarium, frying the poor fish instantly. I could go on to mention the beheading of the footless quail, the snake wrapped in sticky tape and the countless taxidermy experiments, but alas, time does not permit. Suffice to say that despite this unpromising start in life, things did eventually improve...|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099575124</amazonuk>}}''

{{newreview|title=Colorstrology|author=Michele Bernhardt|rating=4|genre=Reference|summary=First impressions of this book left me slightly worried that I would have little If you send an apple core to go on to write any kind of helpful review; landfill, it was basically a little book of colour swatches, resembling something of a home décor paint guide. Flicking through, I saw that each page represented a day, allowing the reader to refer to their birthday to gain information relating will take between 6 months and 2 years to their character, rather like a horoscopedecompose. So all I had to go on was, effectively, a painting guide to star signs. With this is mind (and with fairly low expectations) I began reading from the beginning, refraining from jumping straight in A glass bottle will take up to analyse my birthday characteristics1 million years.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1594746915</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|title=The Autistic Brain |author=Temple Grandin and Richard Panek|rating=4.5|genre=Reference|summary=Temple Grandin is As a just-post-WWII baby, I faced a lady of many labelsdilemma: professor of animal science, bestselling authorreducing, consultant, activist, engineer, public speaker reusing and subject recycling is part of an award-winning biopicmy DNA. She also happens to be autistic, a label she earned at a very early age back NEVER throw away anything that might ''possibly'' come in handy now or in the days before future. NEVER buy anything if you can cobble together something that would serve the majority of people knew what autism waspurpose. She describes Almost everything can be used one more time and any purchase must pass the timing test of her diagnosis as fortuitous; only a few years later and 'Is this absolutely essential?' On the accepted ‘treatment’ for autistic children other hand, I suspected I was removal from their parents guilty of wishcycling: assuming that something must be recyclable (toothpaste tubes - I'm looking at you) and life dropping it in an institutionthe kerbside bin. Yes, I could go searching on the internet - and get conflicting advice - but what I needed was a recycling bible.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846044499</amazonuk>s

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Neil Davey1913750353|title=The BlufferBritannica's Guide to Chocolate (Bluffer's Guides)Word of the Day|author=Patrick Kelly, Renee Kelly and Sue Macy|rating=45|genre=CookeryChildren's Non-Fiction|summary=I've always been a little bit nervous about the 'Britannica'Bluffers Word of the Day'' series, on the basis that I would be sure to come out with has a cleversub-sounding phrase, only to be found out when someone asked the follow-up question. Better, I thought title: ''366 Elevating Utterances to stay silent Stretch Your Cranium and appear ignorant than Tickle Your Humerus'' which probably tells you all that you need to open my mouth and prove myself a foolknow about this brilliant book. But then It starts on January 1st with ''Razzmatazz'The Bluffer's Guide , tells you how to Chocolatepronounce it ('' came my way raz-muh-TAZ''), gives you a definition and then includes the word in a sentence so that you know how it should be used. You also get an engaging and frequently amusing illustration too. I couldndon't resist - any more than think I've ever been able to resist chocolate.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1909937045</amazonuk>encountered a word which uses the letter Z four times before!

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=suppl_stafl|title=The Fun Stuff and Other EssaysSupply Chain 20/20: A Clear View on the Local Multiplier Effect for Book Lovers|author=James WoodKim Staflund

|summary=The So, you''Fun Stuff ve finished writing your book and Other Essays'you think the hard work is all done? You' provides, as the title suggests, a panoramic sampling of James Wood’s critical writing. A popular re convinced that all you need to do now is get it published and oft-quoted writer, the essays collected here offer stimulating insights into Wood’s chosen subjects.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224097113</amazonuk>}}money will start rolling in?

{{newreview|title=Winter|author=Adam Gopnik|rating=4|genre=Reference|summary=In this collection of five essays, each one offering a unique Wrong and fascinating perspective on wrong again. You presumably wrote the season of winter, Adam Gopnik takes book because you wanted to - and you had a talent for delivering the reader on a captivating journey, exploring history, art and society, through ''Romantic Winter'written word. You knew your subject back to front. Now you're going to have to get to grips with the book supply chain, which even parts of the publishing industry believe to be wrong but it''Radical Winter''s too difficult to change and no one wants to be the first to try. Then, when you ''Recuperative Winterfinally''have a copy of the book in your hands, you're going to have to work out how to sell it - because it 'Recreational Winter'is' and ''Remembering Winter''. In each essay, Gopnik focuses on one or two central themes, whilst also touching on surrounding ideas. For example, in Romantic Winter his central topics are art and poetry, however, issues such as changing society, technology, sex and culture are also explored, in relation going to these pivotal notions. He also includes two sections featuring collections of artwork be down to illustrate his viewpoints, which add a charming, individual touch to this bookyou.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780874472</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Alannah MooreFrederic Gros|title=The Creative Person's Website BuilderA Philosophy of Walking|rating=45|genre=ReferencePolitics and Society|summary=Creating a website is not difficult. Although some technical knowledge is a help I confess I picked this one up from the library in my pre- as is familiarity with your computer - you would be surprised at the speed with which you can have your own website and the sense lockdown forage of achievement which this will give yourandom stuff. If you're running a big business then you might want Now I have to go out an buy my own copy so that I can turn down the pages I have marked and return to a web designer but it is possible its varying wisdom when I need to have a site for very little . Some books draw you in the way of expenditureslowly. I know - we've done it and we've grown our little baby into a business. I was lucky to have This one had me in the expertise of our first tech guy when we built Bookbagtwo pages, but Alanah Moore has produced wherein Gros explains why ''walking is not a book which could give you a reasonable start and a great deal of inspirationsport''.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1781571066</amazonuk>1781688370

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1788037812|title=Telling Lies for Fun and ProfitThe Fraternity of the Estranged: A Manual The Fight for Fiction WritersHomosexual Rights in England, 1891-1908|author=Lawrence BlockBrian Anderson

|genre=ReferenceBiography|summary=If I was going to write a list of authors I admire - wellOriginally passed in 1885, I wouldn't begin it now. There are so many the law that I'd still be doing it at the end of Novemberhad made homosexual relations a crime remained in place for 82 years. But if I did take it upon myself to write a listduring this time, Lawrence Block would probably be restrictions on top of itsame-sex relationships did not go unchallenged. Hugely prolific and vastly varied when it comes to thrillers Between 1891 and crime stories1908, he's someone who seems able to turn his hand to so many different types three books on the nature of novel or short story with excellent results every timehomosexuality appeared. He's created my They were written by two favourite crime-solvers, alcoholic ex-cop Matt Scudder homosexual men: Edward Carpenter and gentleman burglar Bernie RhodenbarrJohn Addington Symonds, and as well as the contrast between heterosexual Havelock Ellis. Exploring the grittiness margins of society and studying homosexuality was common on the former series and European Continent, but barely talked about in the cosiness of UK, so the latter would place him high on my list publications of favourites even without his other work. Throw in these men were hugely significant – contributing to the comic capers scientific understanding of Evan Tannerhomosexuality, whose sleep-centre was destroyed by shrapnel and now works beginning the struggle for a mysterious department going across the world recognition and stirring up troubleequality, and stamp-collecting assassin Keller, and you've got four excellent series of novels. Then there's leading to the short stories, which feature all milestone legalisation of these characters and many others, often rivalling Roald Dahl for darkness and clever plot twistssame-sex relationships in 1967.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0688132286</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Stanley Gibbons1912242052|title=Great Britain Concise Stamp Catalogue 2013O Joy for me!|author=Keir Davidson|rating=53|genre=ReferenceArt|summary=When I began collecting GB stamps ''Collect British StampsOh Joy for me!'' was my bible and I eagerly awaited each new edition. After a while I came gives Coleridge credit for being ''the first person to realise that I needed a little more depthwalk the mountains alone, but not because he had to the level provided by the [[Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue 2013: Commonwealth and Empire Stamps 1840 for work, as a miner, quarryman, shepherd or pack- 1970 by Hugh Jefferies|Specialised Catalogue Series]] not least horse driver, but because I was still at the stage of spending the money on stamps rather than books about them. There is something he wanted to fill the gap though for pleasure and that's the Great Britain Concise catalogueadventure. It's designed to meet the needs His rapturous encounters with their natural beauty, and its literary consequences, changed our view of the dedicated amateur rather than the specialist or the casual collectorworld''.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0852598998</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1072549271|title=Sea Monsters: The Lore and Legacy Simple Act of Olaus Magnus's Marine MapSelf-Publishing With Amazon: A Simple Step by Step Guide|author=Joseph NiggGeorgianne Landy-Kordis

|genre=Popular ScienceBusiness and Finance|summary=A confessionI frequently meet authors who are struggling to be published by the traditional houses, but when I suggest self-publishing they explain that they don't have the big bucks required to go down that road with Author Solutions or Matador or their like. When reading hardbacks I take then ask if they've considered Kindle and the paper cover, if there answer is one, offinevitably, that they wouldn't know where to keep it pristinestart. I can empathise with that. Sometimes there's Despite having used a second benefitcomputer for about thirty years, with [[Longbourn by Jo Baker]] as an example running most of having an embossed illustration underneathmy life ''and'' a website online, or suchlikeI'm still nervous when it comes to starting something new. But with this book I won't be alone, like someone to hold my hand as I go through it for the cover folds out into an amazing artwork, such as has only two extant original copiesfirst time. ItThat was why I was very interested when 's a coloured replica of a large map of the northern seas and Scandinavia, dating from 1539, and is in a category 'The Simple Act of three major artful scientific papers from where the whole Self Publishing With Amazon'here be dragons' cliché about maps comes fromcame across my desk.. Its creator, Olaus Magnus, followed it up years later with a commentary of all the sea creatures he drew on it, but Magnus has waited centuries for this delicious volume to commentate on both together, in such a lovely fashion.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782400435</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Peter Roberts and Shelley EvansHigashida_Fall|title=The Book of FungiFall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species Young Man's Voice From Around The Worldthe Silence of Autism|author=Naoki Higashida and David Mitchell|rating=45|genre=Popular ScienceHome and Family|summary=Fungi are Naoki Higashida was only 13 years old when he wrote the fifth order international best-seller ''The Reason I Jump''. The book was popular because it gave a rare glimpse into the workings of the natural kingdom and it’s estimated that there are approximately one and autistic mind, as told from the unique perspective of a half million speciesteenager with non-verbal autism. Naoki communicates by using an alphabet grid, found throughout or by tracing letters on the worldpalm of a transcriber. ‘’The Book of Fungi’’ looks at six hundred of the known fungi Despite this slow and each is pictured at its actual size in full colour and there’s a scientific explanation laborious method of its distributionwriting, habitat, form, spore colour he has published several books in his native Japan and edibility. The tone of the book is academic but don’t let this put you off - before I began reading my knowledge was broadly restricted manages to knowing that it was better give public presentations to discover fungus growing outside your house than attached raise awareness of his condition. Fall Down 7 Times Get up 8 reintroduces us to the structure inside - Naoki as a young adult in his 20s and I found it interesting, entertaining (which I didn’t expect) and accessibleexplains how his perspectives on life have changed since writing his first book.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908005858</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Naoki Higashida and David MitchellJenkins_100|title=The Reason I Jump: One BoyBritain's Voice from the Silence of Autism100 Best Railway Stations|author=Simon Jenkins

|genre=ReferenceArt|summary=Imagine if you willIn the mid-twentieth century, a world where the normal laws of physics have been slightly changed. You swirl around almost weightlessly, railway was something which harked back to the Victorian age with no control over your limbs. Sounds seem either deafeningly loud or hopelessly muffled. Sensory input floods your systemtrains being supplanted by cars and planes, overwhelming you with bright coloursbut steam was being replaced by oil, patterns even then and odours that attack you from every side, without warning. Communication in the twenty-first-century oil is almost impossiblegiving way to electricity. You open your mouth It's cleaner, more environmentally friendly and the wrong words come out. People talk down stations which we'd all rushed through as quickly as possible, keen to you as if you escape their grime, were a childrestored and became places to be admired, possibly even lingered in. Welcome to Naoki’s worldSimon Jenkins has chosen his hundred best railway stations.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444776754</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Richard MabeyTaylor_Owls|title=The Ash and the BeechOwls: A Guide to Every Species|author=Marianne Taylor

|genre=ReferenceAnimals and Wildlife|summary=''The Ash and The Beech'' is an updated version I feel like I am being watched. A huge pair of Mabey’s popular ''Beechcombings''piercing orange eyes are staring right at me, which has been given a new foreword and afterword by locking me into their gaze. In contrast with the author in light hardness of the recent issues concerning ash diedeep-backamber eyes, soft grey feathers fan out into the surrounding area, intricate, detailed and beautiful. An enigma; harsh and gentle at the same time, which currently threatens Britain’s ash populationthe owl is beckoning the reader to turn the pages and take a closer look inside... Mabey expands on this topic }}{{Frontpage|isbn=JVDK_ELO|title=Electric Light Orchestra: Song by examining Song|author=John Van der Kiste|rating=4.5|genre=Entertainment|summary=My memories of pop music in the history of British treesearly sixties revolve around guitars and drums, particularly sometimes the Beech piano with only occasional excursions into strings and brass. Pop music rarely stands still and how it has managed to survive wasn't long before the basic instruments were seen as constraints and adapt over the centuries despite threats from warThe Beatles, fellingThe Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys began to experiment, disease and stormswith other groups following where they led. He raises some important Amongst these groups was The Move and thought-provoking ideas their lead guitarist and questions whether our constant intervention in such cases serves songwriter, Roy Wood. Wood wanted to do develop the group's sound by adding more harm than goodinstruments but was prevented from achieving what he wanted by cost limitations and because the rest of the group didn't really share his enthusiasm.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099587238</amazonuk>

{{newreviewRead the synapse-shattering story summaries!<br>|author=Gavin MortimerSee the horrific hand-painted cover imagery!<br>|title=A History of Cricket in 100 Objects|rating=4|genre=Sport|summary=[[A History of Football in 100 Objects by Gavin Mortimer|A History of Football in 100 Objects]] was a brave attempt, but was slightly let down by being a little too clinical. Being a game imbued with passion, And learn the book lacked this which took some true-life tales of the edge off it. Cricketwriters, whilst inspiring passion amongst devoteesartists, has a slightly more laid back following; and publishers who gleefully violated every literary law but one that may work better in this format– never be boring. That said, being a game that has been played for five centuries, narrowing it down to just 100 objects is no less an undertaking than for football.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846689406</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Polly MorlandBrowne_Many|title=The Society Many Faces of Timid Souls: Or, How to be BraveCoincidence|author=Laurence Browne

|genre=ReferencePopular Science|summary='I see no reason why the shy and timid in any community couldn’t get together and help each other.' The above words were uttered in 1943 by Browne does not mislead with this choice of title; he does without a gentleman called Bernard Gabriel. Mr Gabriel was a piano player who founded a unique club, ''The Society of Timid Souls'' that encouraged timid performers and fear-wracked musicians to come in out of doubt explore the cold 'to play, to criticise and be criticised in order to conquer that old bogey many faces of stage frightcoincidence.' The method evidently worked, as many a timid soul claimed to be cured by these unorthodox methods and club membership grew considerably in the years that followed.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781251908</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Mary Beard1903385679|title=Confronting the Classics: Traditions, Adventures and InnovationsThe 100 Best Novels in Translation|author=Boyd Tonkin|rating=43.5

|summary=For a lot of usConsider, if you will, the idea of learning Classics conjures up images translated fiction. Some say it's impossible – or memories – of rows of (usually public) schoolboys endlessly repeating different conjugations of Latin verbsthat if a book was so good in one tongue it could never survive being put into another. Samuel Beckett must have laboured over ever syllable and ''Breath''Amo, amasbut he could translate his own works, amat...' and so onother equally complex pieces can cross borders. It's an idea imprinted on a market that has actually doubled in sales volume between 2000 and 2016 (thanks, ''Millennium Trilogy''). Novels, in particular, in translation, are – as the popular imagination introduction here so smartly puts it – ''a privileged means of passing border posts, a sort of universal passport issued by countless booksthat Utopian state, films the Republic of Letters''. We here at the 'Bag regularly try and TV showsgive equal credit to the translator, and indeed by anecdotal memory. Iwithout whom we wouldn'm pretty sure my dad would t be reading what we have been in our hands. But all that said, do we really need one of those schoolboys in list books about the subject? I got given a book the 1960sother year detailing 1001 places to go to before I die, and I might even then have missed out a zero. It would take as long as a fortnight's holiday to wade through, and even though this is not as long as your typical Bolano housebrick, it's not a short thing.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781250480</amazonuk>Should it take our time?

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Stanley GibbonsFry_Mythos|title=Stamps Mythos: A Retelling of the World 2013Myths of Ancient Greece|author=Stephen Fry

|summary=Philatelists have long come to rely on The Greek Myths are, arguably, the annual publication of Stanley Gibbons’ Stamps of the World simplified cataloguegreatest stories ever told. For years it has had an unrivalled reputation for accuracy So old and influential they cast a shadow over western tales and usability for both dealers traditions, yet remain relatable and collectorsreadable millennia later. Commemoratives, definitivesHere comedian, airmail stampsactor, postage duestelevision presenter, official stamps actor and miniature sheets are all listed (both mint author Stephen Fry brings his considerable talent to these special stories and used)recreates them with a wit, using warmth and humanity that brings them into the modern age whilst still giving the internationally recognised Stanley Gibbons catalogue number honour and set out according to date of issue respect that such ancient and by country. Indeed, it’s difficult to imagine that any serious dealer or collector could be without the six volume set but many must wonder if it’s entirely necessary to make what is a substantial investment on an annual basisinfluential stories deserve.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0852598610</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=A L KennedyMahnke_Lore|title=On WritingThe World of Lore, Volume 1: Monstrous Creatures|author=Aaron Mahnke|rating=4.5

|summary=How do you even begin to write Every country, every town, every village has a review of folktale – a book which expresses trenchant, no-holds-barred opinions story passed down through generations that often focuses on reviewers the dark and unexplained. No matter how the process of being reviewed? But the task is theremodern world moves on, so there's nothing for it but a still a part of everyone that is vulnerable to a good tale. From ghosts to roll up your sleeveswerewolves, gather your courage by way of wendigos and mutter elves, author Aaron Mahnke delivers the word with which A L Kennedy regularly signs off reader legends from her blog: Onwardsall over the world, whilst examining how they've become part of our collective imaginations, still striking fear into the hearts of many of us today.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224096974</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Hugh JefferiesFowler_Forgotten|title=Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue 2013: Commonwealth and Empire Stamps 1840 - 1970The Book of Forgotten Authors|author=Christopher Fowler

|summary=You might think that as all ''Absence doesn't make the stamps in this catalogue have been in existence for at least forty years there can be little more to be said about them but this 115th edition is acknowledged to be the most significant in many yearsheart grow fonder''. Most exciting (but probably more so to sellers than buyers) is the fact that in a time of economic downturn there are thousands of price increases and evidence of a very lively market. Demand for good stamps is greater than it has been at any time in the last thirty years according to editor Hugh Jefferies, although he does add that prices are rising faster in some areas than others. Itmakes people think you's difficult to see how a serious collector - or seller - can be without an up-to-date copy of the catalogue for this reason alonere dead.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0852598513</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=Kindle Direct Publishing|title=Publish on Amazon Kindle with Kindle Direct Publishing|rating=2|genre=Reference|summary=If There's truth in that statement, you're thinking of going down the road of self-publishing your book know, but are unwilling or unable to fund the services offered by some of the leaders in the field then publishing on Kindle is the obvious place to look first. Itthere's a big step though and you want to get conundrum when it right - not least because what you publish could be out there 's applied to haunt you for a very long timeauthors. This book comesShakespeare is dead: Dickens is dead, as but we haven't buried what they've written: that lives on until... when? Is it until fashion decrees that they should be no more? Or is it were, from as in the horsecase of some children's mouth authors that they are on life support through licensing deals and I was expecting explanationsastute marketing? Christopher Fowler has unearthed (exhumed?) ninety-nine authors who were once hugely popular, guidance, advice andbut whose works have disappeared, well, something which would leave me with the feeling that I ''could'' do this successfullysometimes quite literally. How did it square up?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B004LX069M</amazonuk>

 {{newreview|author=Theodore Dalrymple|title=The Pleasure of Thinking: A Journey Through the Sideways Leaps of Ideas|rating=4Frontpage|genreisbn=ReferenceAngell_Triang|summary=Having recently read [[Pieces of Light: the New Science of Memory by Charles Fernyhough]], I expected something similar, judging only from the title of Theodore Dalrymple's ''The Pleasure of Thinking: a Journey Through the Sideways Leaps of Ideas''. Instead of being a book about how people think laterally, as I thought it might be, it turned out to be something rather different, but ultimately equally interesting.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>190809608X</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewTri-ang Collectables|author=IBPA Contributors|title=The Book Publishers Toolkit: 10 Practical Pointers for Independent and Self Publishers Vol. 1Dave Angell

|summary=Ten articles originally published in the Independent Book Publishers Association magazine have been gathered together to provide useful advice A guide to the small independent publisher or anyone looking to self-publish. The authors of trains produced by the articles Tri- Kate Bandos, Kimberley Edwards, Joel Friedlander, Steve Gillen, Abigail Goben, Tanya Hall, Brian Jud, Stacey Miller, Kathleen Welton, and David Wogahn are all acknowledged experts in their own fields and whilst much of it is more relevant in ang company from its inception until the USA it's all thought-provoking and worth considerationcompany became Hornby. Each piece is short, snappy and A very personal guide to the point and reading the entire book took me less than an hourcollecting of model trains.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B00AAY8M7O</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Daniel J BarrettChase_Orchids|title=MediaWiki (Wikipedia The Book of Orchids: A life-size guide to six hundred species from around the world|author=Mark Chase, Maarten Christenhusz and Beyond)Tom Mirenda

|summary=I don't usually open reviews by explaining how I came to read a particular book, but One in seven flowering plants on this occasion it will help you to judge whether or not this book earth is suitable for you if you know where I'm coming froman orchid: there are 26,000 species in 749 genera. Back They flourish in 2006 three people got together remarkable habitats such as deserts and between them they built a site - letthe Arctic circle, in fact, all areas but the most inhospitable. There's call it [httpa wide range of colours, shapes and scents://www.thebookbag.co.uk The Bookbag]. In they're dramatic, delicate and ingenious in the early days Bookbag was for fun: it was rather like Everestways that they've developed not just to survive but to thrive. We did it because it Tom Mirenda describes them as ''couldmasters of manipulation'' be there and we wanted to see if what we (loosely) had in mind could be done. It was a simple HTML site and I had no problems in mastering the technicalities. I'd built the site under instruction 'famous for lying and I knew it inside out.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0596519796</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Mikael Krogerus and Roman Tschappeler|title=The Change Book: Fifty models cheating their way to explain how things happen|rating=3.5|genre=Reference|summary=their many evolutionary successes''The Change Book' , yet his love of them is a pocket-sized publication with lofty ambitionsas obvious as his respect for the insight they give us into the processes which shaped our world. Small enough He hopes that understanding how that has come about will inspire us to slip into a handbag, and a mere 167 pages long, it makes the following claim:|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178125009X</amazonuk>conserve what we have.

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Marina WarnerEdwards_Story|title=Stranger Magic: Charmed States and the Arabian Nights|rating=4.5|genre=Reference|summary='Arabesque' is, these days, a term little used outside ballet. However, in its original meaning it conveyed the idea The Story of an intricate pattern, constantly and exuberantly multiplying Classic Crime in countless new twists and turns, like the interlinked curves on a Middle Eastern carpet. That notion of arabesque – things spreading and connecting gorgeously – is pretty much crucial to both the theory and the design of Marina Warner's fantastical and fantastic new exploration of the rich intercultural history of the ''Arabian Nights'', ''Stranger Magic''.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099437694</amazonuk>}} {{newreview100 Books (British Library Crime Classics)|author=Christopher Johnson|title=Microstyle: The Art of Writing LittleMartin Edwards

|summary=Language changes and evolves all It's easy to be confused by the time, but since the dawn various 'ages' of crime writing: if you have an interest in the internet that change seems to genre you'll almost certainly have accelerated. Not only that, heard of the pervasion Golden Age of Crime, generally acknowledged as being the web into nearly every aspect of our daily lives means period between the written word has more power first and relevance than perhaps at any second world wars. 'Classic Crime' on the other hand extends the time frame at either end and covers books published in human historythe first half of the twentieth century. Given its influence over usThroughout my adult life, there's been just one genre of books which has fascinated me, it seems only prudent and that we should try to understand something 's crime, so I could hardly resist the chance of how this new vernacular of the internet works. In reading ''Microstyle: The Art Story of Writing LittleClassic Crime in 100 Books'' naming and verbal branding expert Christopher Johnson seeks to do just thatparticularly as the author, presenting us with 'a field guide to everyday verbal ingenuity'.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>039334181X</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|Martin Edwards is an accomplished author=Scarlett Thomas|title=Monkeys with Typewriters: How to Write Fiction within the crime genre and Unlock an acknowledged expert on the Secret Power of Stories|rating=4|genre=Reference|summary=I really wasn't expecting a book about how to write fiction to change my TV viewing habits. Alter my reading? Possiblysubject. Improve my writing? Hopefully. But watching Grand Designs in a completely different light?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857863789</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Phil Daoust (editor)DK_Childrens|title=Write.Children's Illustrated Thesaurus|author=DK

|summary=The Guardian newspaper has for some years now been publishing articles and interviews on One of the most valuable literary skills which children can learn is how to writeuse reference books. As a child every question which I began with ''how do you spell...?'' would be answered with ''EXACTLY as it says in the dictionary''. Successful authors This was fine, agents and publishers have offered pearls of wisdom in but the Guardian Masterclasses for genres as wide-ranging as travel writingfamily's Collins Little Gem Dictionary didn't encourage exploration, picture books not least because the font was small and screenplaysdifficult to read. Now their wisdom and their insights Fortunately, those times have been collected together in this slim volume which will intrigue both the readers now changed and reference book for children are now much more inviting. Not every book comes with a set of instructions but it's worth studying the writers among us''How to...'' section, not least because similar systems are used in other reference books.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>085265328X</amazonuk>

{{newreview|author=Dr Keith Souter|title=The Classic Guide Move on to King Arthur (Classic Guides)|rating=3.5|genre=Reference|summary=This is a comprehensive guide to the Arthurian legend, with the first half taking readers through the tale from Merlin helping Uther Pendragon to sleep with Gorlois - thus giving birth to King Arthur - right up to the deaths of all of the principal players in the story. The final section gives details of literary sources used for the legend, Arthurian poetry, folklore, the real people who may have inspired the legend, and depictions of King Arthur in popular culture. In between, there's a fairly short but useful guide to 'Who, What, Where and When In Arthur's Realm'.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780950063</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=The Economist|title=Pocket World in Figures 2013|rating=4|genre=Reference|summary=Pocket World in Figures 2013 is the twenty-second edition of the annual bestseller and once again it follows the tried and tested format. It opens with world rankings and is straight into natural facts - the largest this, the longest that and the highest of the other. The facts are largely incontrovertible, mostly unsurprising and they're going to be the same year after year. Populations do change though as do their rate of growth. India looks set to overtake China as the largest population by 2025 but even India doesn't have the fastest growing population - that's Niger, with an average annual growth of 3.52%. By contrast, Russia which currently has the ninth largest population, is declining at 0.1% annually. If you're looking for the place with the densest population (as in people per square kilometre rather than in terms of intelligence!) then that's Macau.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846685990</amazonuk>}}[[Newest Science Fiction Reviews]]