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[[Category:Reference|*]] __NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=The Economist1394159544|title=Pocket World in Figures 2015|rating=4.5|genre=Reference|summary=There are people who don't understand the joy of raw data: no accompanying analysis (or spin) - just a collection of figures relevant to a particular circumstance. If you're one of those people then this book will mean little to you, but if you want a pocket (well, certainly handbag or briefcase) work of reference then this book will be a treasure. I once gave a copy to a diplomat and he kept his wife awake until the early hours as he came across another gem which she had to know without delay. The 2015 edition is the twenty fourth in the series - and diplomatic (and similar) spouses everywhere should prepare themselves Recycling for the onslaught.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781252734</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|title=The Bee: A Natural History Dummies|author=Noah Wilson-RichSarah Winkler
|rating=5
|genre=Animals and WildlifeLifestyle|summary=Bees have been making a bit ''Recycling one ton of a media splash plastic can save up to 16.3 barrels of late, due to heightened concern about their declining numbers and general welfareoil. Governments have been urged to do more to protect these important creatures, with a recent EU ban on neonicotinoid pesticides hailed as a 'victory for bees'. There is no doubt that these prolific pollinators are a vital part of our ecosystem, and the human fascination with bees goes back to our ancient history. But just why do we find these hardworking insects so fascinating?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782401075</amazonuk>}}
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{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1913750353|title=Top 10 Britannica's Word of Everything 2015the Day|author=Paul TerryPatrick Kelly, Renee Kelly and Sue Macy|rating=4.5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=The Top 10 ''Britannica's Word of Everything 2015 is, as the Day'' has a sub-title implies, a compilation of : 'top ten' lists covering a wide variety of topics including the natural world, pop culture, sport 366 Elevating Utterances to Stretch Your Cranium and technologyTickle Your Humerus'' which probably tells you all that you need to know about this brilliant book. The style of the book will appeal It starts on January 1st with ''Razzmatazz'', tells you how to its target audience of prepronounce it (''raz-muh-teens with its use of bright coloursTAZ''), vibrant images, fun facts, puzzles 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 quizzesfrequently amusing illustration too.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0600628868</amazonuk> I don't think I've ever encountered a word which uses the letter Z four times before!
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{{Frontpage
|isbn=suppl_stafl
|title=Supply Chain 20/20: A Clear View on the Local Multiplier Effect for Book Lovers
|author=Kim Staflund
|rating=4.5
|genre=Reference
|summary=So, you've finished writing your book and you think the hard work is all done? You're convinced that all you need to do now is get it published and the money will start rolling in?
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=John SutherlandFrederic Gros|title=How to be Well Read: A guide to 500 great novels and a handful Philosophy of literary curiositiesWalking
|rating=5
|genre=ReferencePolitics and Society|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, of course, why a book with I confess I picked this one up from the title ''How to be Well Read'' pulled me library in so successfully with its promise of being a guide to five hundred great novels and a handful my pre-lockdown forage of literary curiositiesrandom stuff. Was Now I going have to find go out an buy my own copy so that ultimate list of books which I would can turn down the pages I have marked and return to read its varying wisdom when I need to ensure that I could think of myself as well read? . Some books draw you in slowly. No - I was going to find something far more useful and interestingThis one had me in the first two pages, wherein Gros explains why ''walking is not a sport''.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1847946402</amazonuk>1781688370
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{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1788037812|title=A Sting The Fraternity of the Estranged: The Fight for Homosexual Rights in the TaleEngland, 1891-1908|author=Dave GoulsonBrian Anderson
|rating=5
|genre=ReferenceBiography|summary=It seems that Dave GoulsonOriginally passed in 1885, founder of the incredibly successful Bumblebee Conservation Trustlaw that had made homosexual relations a crime remained in place for 82 years. But during this time, restrictions on same-sex relationships did not always have natural aptitude for helping wildlife if his early recollections are anything to go byunchallenged. Despite boundless enthusiasm Between 1891 and a passion for 1908, three books on the natural world, his childhood efforts to give nature a helping hand quite frequently ended in some sort of gory aftermathhomosexuality appeared. For exampleThey were written by two homosexual men: Edward Carpenter and John Addington Symonds, there as well as the heterosexual Havelock Ellis. Exploring the margins of society and studying homosexuality was common on the incident with the drowned bumblebeesEuropean Continent, but barely talked about in which a young Goulson unwisely decided to dry the bedraggled victims out on UK, so the hotplate publications 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 these men were hugely significant – contributing to mention the beheading scientific understanding of the footless quailhomosexuality, and beginning the snake wrapped in sticky tape struggle for recognition and the countless taxidermy experimentsequality, but alas, time does not permit. Suffice leading to say that despite this unpromising start the milestone legalisation of same-sex relationships in life, things did eventually improve..1967.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099575124</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1912242052|title=ColorstrologyO Joy for me!|author=Michele BernhardtKeir Davidson|rating=43|genre=ReferenceArt|summary=First impressions of this book left '' Oh Joy for me slightly worried that I would have little !'' gives Coleridge credit for being ''the first person to go on walk the mountains alone, not because he had to write any kind of helpful review; it was basically for work, as a little book of colour swatchesminer, resembling something of a home décor paint guide. Flicking throughquarryman, I saw that each page represented a dayshepherd or pack-horse driver, allowing the reader to refer to their birthday to gain information relating but because he wanted to for pleasure and adventure. His rapturous encounters with their characternatural beauty, rather like a horoscope. So all I had to go on wasand its literary consequences, effectively, a painting guide to star signs. With this is mind (and with fairly low expectations) I began reading from changed our view of the beginning, refraining from jumping straight in to analyse my birthday characteristicsworld''.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1594746915</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1072549271|title=The Autistic Brain Simple Act of Self-Publishing With Amazon: A Simple Step by Step Guide|author=Temple Grandin and Richard PanekGeorgianne Landy-Kordis
|rating=4.5
|genre=ReferenceBusiness and Finance|summary=Temple Grandin I 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. I then ask if they've considered Kindle and the answer is , inevitably, that they wouldn't know where to start. I can empathise with that. Despite having used a computer for about thirty years, running most of my life ''and'' a lady website online, I'm still nervous when it comes to starting something new. I like someone to hold my hand as I go through it for the first time. That was why I was very interested when ''The Simple Act of many labelsSelf Publishing With Amazon'' came across my desk...}}{{Frontpage|isbn=Higashida_Fall|title=Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight: professor A Young Man's Voice From the Silence of animal science, bestselling Autism|author, consultant, activist, engineer, public speaker =Naoki Higashida and David Mitchell|rating=5|genre=Home and subject of an awardFamily|summary=Naoki Higashida was only 13 years old when he wrote the international best-winning biopicseller ''The Reason I Jump''. She also happens to be The book was popular because it gave a rare glimpse into the workings of the autisticmind, a label she earned at a very early age back in the days before as told from the majority unique perspective of people knew what a teenager with non-verbal autism was. She describes Naoki communicates by using an alphabet grid, or by tracing letters on the timing palm of a transcriber. Despite this slow and laborious method of her diagnosis writing, he has published several books in his native Japan and manages to give public presentations to raise awareness of his condition. Fall Down 7 Times Get up 8 reintroduces us to Naoki as fortuitous; only a few years later young adult in his 20s and explains how his perspectives on life have changed since writing his first book.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=Jenkins_100|title=Britain's 100 Best Railway Stations|author=Simon Jenkins|rating=5|genre=Art|summary=In the mid-twentieth century, the railway was something which harked back to the accepted ‘treatment’ for autistic children Victorian age with trains being supplanted by cars and planes, but steam was removal from being replaced by oil, even then and in the twenty-first-century oil is giving way to electricity. It's cleaner, more environmentally friendly and the stations which we'd all rushed through as quickly as possible, keen to escape their parents grime, were restored and life became places to be admired, possibly even lingered in an institution.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846044499</amazonuk>Simon Jenkins has chosen his hundred best railway stations.
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Neil DaveyTaylor_Owls|title=The Bluffer's Owls: A Guide to Chocolate (Bluffer's Guides)Every Species|author=Marianne Taylor|rating=45|genre=CookeryAnimals and Wildlife|summary=I've always been a little bit nervous about feel like I am being watched. A huge pair of piercing orange eyes are staring right at me, locking me into their gaze. In contrast with the ''Bluffer'' series, on hardness of the basis that I would be sure to come out with a cleverdeep-sounding phraseamber eyes, only to be found soft grey feathers fan out when someone asked into the follow-up questionsurrounding area, intricate, detailed and beautiful. BetterAn enigma; harsh and gentle at the same time, I thought the owl is beckoning the reader to stay silent turn the pages and appear ignorant than to open my mouth and prove myself take a foolcloser look inside.. But then ''The Bluffer's Guide to Chocolate'' came my way and I couldn't resist - any more than I've ever been able to resist chocolate.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1909937045</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=JVDK_ELO|title=The Fun Stuff and Other EssaysElectric Light Orchestra: Song by Song|author=James WoodJohn Van der Kiste
|rating=4.5
|genre=ReferenceEntertainment|summary=The My memories of pop music in the early sixties revolve around guitars and drums, sometimes the piano with only occasional excursions into strings and brass. Pop music rarely stands still and it wasn''Fun Stuff t long before the basic instruments were seen as constraints and Other Essays'' providesThe Beatles, as the title suggestsThe Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys began to experiment, a panoramic sampling of James Wood’s critical writingwith other groups following where they led. A popular Amongst these groups was The Move and oft-quoted writertheir lead guitarist and songwriter, Roy Wood. Wood wanted to develop the essays collected here offer stimulating insights into Wood’s chosen subjectsgroup's sound by adding more instruments 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>0224097113</amazonuk>
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{{Frontpage
|isbn=Hendrix_PBHell
|title=Paperbacks from Hell: A History of Horror Fiction from the '70s and '80s
|author=Grady Hendrix
|rating=4.5
|genre=Horror
|summary=Demonic possession, murderous babies, man-eating moths… for these books, no plot was too ludicrous, no cover art too appalling, no evil too despicable. Now horror author Grady Hendrix risks his soul and his sanity (not to mention the reader's!) to relate the true, untold story of a fascinating and often forgotten era in publishing.
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Alannah MooreBrowne_Many|title=The Creative Person's Website BuilderMany Faces of Coincidence|author=Laurence Browne|rating=43.5|genre=ReferencePopular Science|summary=Creating a website is Browne does not difficult. Although some technical knowledge is a help - as is familiarity mislead with your computer - you would be surprised at the speed with which you can have your own website and the sense of achievement which this will give you. If you're running a big business then you might want to go to a web designer but it is possible to have a site for very little in the way choice of expenditure. I know - we've done it and we've grown our little baby into title; he does without a business. I was lucky to have doubt explore the expertise many faces of our first tech guy when we built Bookbag, but Alanah Moore has produced a book which could give you a reasonable start and a great deal of inspirationcoincidence.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781571066</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1903385679|title=Telling Lies for Fun and Profit: A Manual for Fiction WritersThe 100 Best Novels in Translation|author=Lawrence BlockBoyd Tonkin|rating=3.5
|genre=Reference
|summary=If I was going to write a list of authors I admire - wellConsider, if you will, I wouldntranslated fiction. Some say it't begin it now. There are so many s impossible – that I'd still be doing it at the end of November. But if I did take it upon myself to write a list, Lawrence Block would probably be on top of book was so good in one tongue itcould never survive being put into another. Hugely prolific Samuel Beckett must have laboured over ever syllable and vastly varied when it comes to thrillers and crime stories''Breath'', but he's someone who seems able to turn could translate his hand to so many different types of novel or short story with excellent results every timeown works, and other equally complex pieces can cross borders. HeIt's created my two favourite crime-solversa market that has actually doubled in sales volume between 2000 and 2016 (thanks, alcoholic ex-cop Matt Scudder and gentleman burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr''Millennium Trilogy''). Novels, in particular, in translation, and are – as the contrast between introduction here so smartly puts it – ''a privileged means of passing border posts, a sort of universal passport issued by that Utopian state, the grittiness Republic of Letters''. We here at the former series 'Bag regularly try and give equal credit to the cosiness translator, without whom we wouldn't be reading what we have in our hands. But all that said, do we really need one of the latter would place him high on my those list of favourites even without his other work. Throw in books about the comic capers of Evan Tanner, whose sleep-centre was destroyed by shrapnel and now works for subject? I got given a mysterious department going across book the world and stirring up troubleother year detailing 1001 places to go to before I die, and stamp-collecting assassin Keller, and you've got four excellent series of novelsI might even then have missed out a zero. Then thereIt would take as long as a fortnight's the short storiesholiday to wade through, which feature all of these characters and many otherseven though this is not as long as your typical Bolano housebrick, often rivalling Roald Dahl for darkness and clever plot twistsit's not a short thing.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0688132286</amazonuk>Should it take our time?
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Stanley GibbonsFry_Mythos|title=Great Britain Concise Stamp Catalogue 2013Mythos: A Retelling of the Myths of Ancient Greece|author=Stephen Fry
|rating=5
|genre=Reference
|summary=When I began collecting GB stamps ''Collect British Stamps'' was my bible The Greek Myths are, arguably, the greatest stories ever told. So old and I eagerly awaited each new editioninfluential they cast a shadow over western tales and traditions, yet remain relatable and readable millennia later. After a while I came Here comedian, actor, television presenter, actor and author Stephen Fry brings his considerable talent to realise that I needed these special stories and recreates them with a little more depthwit, but not to warmth and humanity that brings them into the level provided by the [[Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue 2013: Commonwealth and Empire Stamps 1840 - 1970 by Hugh Jefferies|Specialised Catalogue Series]] not least because I was modern age whilst still at giving the stage of spending the money on stamps rather than books about them. There is something to fill the gap though honour and respect that's the Great Britain Concise catalogue. It's designed to meet the needs of the dedicated amateur rather than the specialist or the casual collectorsuch ancient and influential stories deserve.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0852598998</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=Mahnke_Lore|title=Sea Monsters: The World of Lore and Legacy of Olaus Magnus's Marine Map, Volume 1: Monstrous Creatures|author=Joseph NiggAaron Mahnke
|rating=4.5
|genre=Reference
|summary=Imagine if you willEvery country, every town, every village has a folktale – a world where story passed down through generations that often focuses on the normal laws of physics have been slightly changeddark and unexplained. You swirl around almost weightlesslyNo matter how the modern world moves on, with no control over your limbs. Sounds seem either deafeningly loud or hopelessly muffled. Sensory input floods your system, overwhelming you with bright colours, patterns and odours there's a still a part of everyone that attack you from every side, without warning. Communication is almost impossible. You open your mouth and the wrong words come out. People talk down vulnerable to you as if you were a childgood tale. Welcome From ghosts to Naoki’s werewolves, by way of wendigos and elves, author Aaron Mahnke delivers the reader legends from all 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>1444776754</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Richard MabeyFowler_Forgotten|title=The Ash and the BeechBook of Forgotten Authors|author=Christopher Fowler
|rating=5
|genre=Reference
|summary=''The Ash and The BeechAbsence doesn't make the heart grow fonder' is an updated version of Mabey’s popular ''Beechcombings'. It makes people think you', which has been given a new foreword and afterword by the author in light of the recent issues concerning ash die-back, which currently threatens Britain’s ash population. Mabey expands on this topic by examining the history of British trees, particularly the Beech and how it has managed to survive and adapt over the centuries despite threats from war, felling, disease and storms. He raises some important and thought-provoking ideas and questions whether our constant intervention in such cases serves to do more harm than goodre dead.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099587238</amazonuk>}}
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Polly MorlandAngell_Triang|title=The Society of Timid Souls: Or, How to be BraveTri-ang Collectables|author=Dave Angell
|rating=3.5
|genre=Reference
|summary='I see no reason why A guide to the shy and timid in any community couldn’t get together and help each other.' The above words were uttered in 1943 trains produced by 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 fearthe Tri-wracked musicians to come in out of ang company from its inception until the cold 'to play, to criticise and be criticised in order to conquer that old bogey of stage frightcompany became Hornby.' The method evidently worked, as many a timid soul claimed A very personal guide to be cured by these unorthodox methods and club membership grew considerably in the years that followed.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781251908</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Mary Beard|title=Confronting the Classics: Traditions, Adventures and Innovations|rating=4|genre=Reference|summary=For a lot of us, the idea of learning Classics conjures up images – or memories – of rows of (usually public) schoolboys endlessly repeating different conjugations collecting of Latin verbs. 'Amo, amas, amat...' and so on. It's an idea imprinted on the popular imagination by countless books, films and TV shows, and indeed by anecdotal memory. I'm pretty sure my dad would have been one of those schoolboys in the 1960smodel trains.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781250480</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Stanley GibbonsChase_Orchids|title=Stamps The Book of Orchids: A life-size guide to six hundred species from around the World 2013world|author=Mark Chase, Maarten Christenhusz and Tom Mirenda
|rating=5
|genre=Reference
|summary=Philatelists have long come to rely One in seven flowering plants on the annual publication of Stanley Gibbons’ Stamps of the World simplified catalogueearth is an orchid: there are 26,000 species in 749 genera. For years it has had an unrivalled reputation for accuracy They flourish in remarkable habitats such as deserts and usability for both dealers and collectors. Commemorativesthe Arctic circle, definitivesin fact, airmail stampsall areas but the most inhospitable. There's a wide range of colours, postage duesshapes and scents: they're dramatic, official stamps delicate and miniature sheets are all listed (both mint ingenious in the ways that they've developed not just to survive but to thrive. Tom Mirenda describes them as ''masters of manipulation'' and used), using the internationally recognised Stanley Gibbons catalogue number ''famous for lying and set out according cheating their way to date their many evolutionary successes'', yet his love of issue and by countrythem is as obvious as his respect for the insight they give us into the processes which shaped our world. Indeed, it’s difficult to imagine He hopes that understanding how that any serious dealer or collector could be without the six volume set but many must wonder if it’s entirely necessary has come about will inspire us to make conserve what is a substantial investment on an annual basiswe have.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0852598610</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=A L KennedyEdwards_Story|title=On WritingThe Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books (British Library Crime Classics)|author=Martin Edwards
|rating=5
|genre=Reference
|summary=How do It's easy to be confused by the various 'ages' of crime writing: if you have an interest in the genre you even begin to write a review 'll almost certainly have heard of the Golden Age of a book which expresses trenchantCrime, no-holds-barred opinions generally acknowledged as being the period between the first and second world wars. 'Classic Crime' on reviewers the other hand extends the time frame at either end and covers books published in the process first half of being reviewed? But the task is twentieth century. Throughout my adult life, there's been just one genre of books which has fascinated me, and that's crime, so thereI could hardly resist the chance of reading ''The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books''s nothing for it but to roll up your sleevesparticularly as the author, gather your courage Martin Edwards is an accomplished author within the crime genre and mutter an acknowledged expert on the word with which A L Kennedy regularly signs off from her blog: Onwardssubject.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224096974</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Hugh JefferiesDK_Childrens|title=Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue 2013: Commonwealth and Empire Stamps 1840 - 1970|rating=5|genre=Reference|summary=You might think that as all 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 years. 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. ItChildren's difficult to see how a serious collector - or seller - can be without an up-to-date copy of the catalogue for this reason alone.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0852598513</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewIllustrated Thesaurus|author=Kindle Direct Publishing|title=Publish on Amazon Kindle with Kindle Direct PublishingDK|rating=2|genre=Reference|summary=If you're thinking of going down the road of self-publishing your book 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 first4. It's a big step though and you want to get it right - not least because what you publish could be out there to haunt you for a very long time. This book comes, as it were, from the horse's mouth and I was expecting explanations, guidance, advice and, well, something which would leave me with the feeling that I ''could'' do this successfully. 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=45
|genre=Reference
|summary=Having recently read [[Pieces One of Light: the New Science of Memory by Charles Fernyhough]], most valuable literary skills which children can learn is how to use reference books. As a child every question which I expected something similar, judging only from the title of Theodore Dalrymplebegan with ''how do you spell...?''s would be answered with ''The Pleasure of Thinking: a Journey Through EXACTLY as it says in the Sideways Leaps of Ideasdictionary''. Instead of being a book about how people think laterallyThis was fine, but the family's Collins Little Gem Dictionary didn't encourage exploration, as I thought it might benot least because the font was small and difficult to read. Fortunately, those times have now changed and reference book for children are now much more inviting. Not every book comes with a set of instructions but it turned out 's worth studying the ''How to be something rather different...'' section, but ultimately equally interestingnot least because similar systems are used in other reference books.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>190809608X</amazonuk>
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