Simple words have had the most profound effect on the world — its history, literature, art, science, religion and economics. To know and to have read the great masters is to understand and appreciate the complex interaction of world events as they unfold. 51 Great Books You Should Have Read (and probably didn't) is the first attempt to organize the great literature, both fiction and non-fiction, in such a way as to demonstrate their world-wide impact. This invaluable book is a selection of 51 seminal works and a fascinating peep into the beliefs, teachings and thought-process of some of the greatest and the finest minds who ever walked this planet. Every attempt has been made to introduce readers to books and literature that is international in scope and spans the centuries. The works included are from Homer's The Iliad, Plato's The Republic and Mahabharata to Nelson Mandela's The Long Walk to Freedom and Alan Turing's On Computable Numbers. The works chosen are not necessarily the most famous — nor are their authors. Rather, they represent seminal works, masterpieces that every educated individual should have at least some familiarity with. In a few short pages, you will learn about the authors, their background and influences, as well as a good deal about the works themselves. In many ways this is a very sophisticated book with many important topics — but it is presented in an easy-to-read reference style.

50 plus one Greatest Books You Should Have Read is a masterpiece of information for educated individuals who want to expand their horizons or simply impress friends at a cocktail party. George Walsh and his advisory panel looked through the world's literature to find those books, both fiction and non-fiction, which have the greatest impact on writing, government, international politics, religion, the arts and sciences. The list is international in scope and spans the centuries, from Plato's Republic to Dickens' Great Expectations; this is a stellar resentation, which will round out any education. You have the advantage of not only learning about the authors and the books themselves, but will gain specific commentary on why each title is so important and how its impact had national and international implications. Many of the books chosen for this list have survived centuries and are considered essential for a liberal education.

As any reader of Jo Walton's Among Others might guess, Walton is both an inveterate reader of SF and fantasy, and a chronic re-reader of books. In 2008, then-new science-fiction mega-site Tor.com asked Walton to blog regularly about her re-reading—about all kinds of older fantasy and SF, ranging from acknowledged classics, to guilty pleasures, to forgotten oddities and gems. These posts have consistently been among the most popular features of Tor.com. Now this volumes presents a selection of the best of them, ranging from short essays to long reassessments of some of the field's most ambitious series. Among Walton's many subjects here are the Zones of Thought novels of Vernor Vinge; the question of what genre readers mean by "mainstream"; the underappreciated SF adventures of C. J. Cherryh; the field's many approaches to time travel; the masterful science fiction of Samuel R. Delany; Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children; the early Hainish novels of Ursula K. Le Guin; and a Robert A. Heinlein novel you have most certainly never read. Over 130 essays in all, What Makes This Book So Great is an immensely readable, engaging collection of provocative, opinionated thoughts about past and present-day fantasy and science fiction, from one of our best writers. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

'The Call of the Wild' is the story of Buck, a domestic dog stolen, sold as a sled dog and forced to endure the brutal work and competition with the other dogs to be leader of the pack. 'White Fang' presents a similar story but in reverse as a wild wolf-dog mix is domesticated but faces great cruelty before finding a master.

India Taylor lived in a world of manicured lawns and neatly-maintained calendars. With four wonderful children, India believed in commitment and sacrifice, just as she believed in Doug, the man she had married seventeen years before. She had chosen this life, not the award-winning career as a photojournalist she once had, and it was a choice she had never regretted - until she began to regret it with all her heart. India couldn't pinpoint the exact moment when the price of the sacrifices she she'd made began to seem high. But when she met Paul Ward, a Wall Street tycoon married to a bestselling author, India could share her dreams with him, and offer comfort when he suffered a heartbreak of his own. India hadn't planned to become Paul's friend, and anything more was unthinkable.When Paul urged India to reclaim her career, Doug was adamantly against it, determined to keep her tied to the home. But with Paul's encouragement India slowly, painfully, began to break free and find herself again.

'This book is a not-so-small joy in itself.' NIGELLA LAWSON 'Parkinson has the gift of making you look with new eyes at everyday things. The perfect daily diversion.' JOJO MOYES 'Always funny and frank and full of insight, I absolutely love Parkinson's writing.' DAVID NICHOLLS 'I loved this book . . . Parkinson's writing transports you to unexpected places of joy and comfort . . . these pages contain happiness.' MARINA HYDE 'The twenty-first century feels a lot more bearable in Parkinson's company.' CHARLOTTE MENDELSON Drawn from the successful Guardian column, these everyday exultations and inspirations will get you through dismal days. Hannah Jane Parkinson is a specialist in savouring the small pleasures of life. She revels in her fluffy dressing gown ('like bathing in marshmallow'), finds calm in solo cinema trips, is charmed by the personalities of fonts ('you'll never see Comic Sans on a funeral notice'), celebrates pockets and gleefully abandons a book she isn't enjoying. Parkinson's everyday exaltations - selected from her immensely successful Guardian column - will utterly delight. FEATURES BRAND NEW MATERIAL 'A compendium of delights.' OBSERVER 'Delightful . . . a love letter to those little moments of bliss that get us through the daily grind.' RED

“The ultimate literary bucket list.” —THE WASHINGTON POST Celebrate the pleasure of reading and the thrill of discovering new titles in an extraordinary book that’s as compulsively readable, entertaining, surprising, and enlightening as the 1,000-plus titles it recommends. Covering fiction, poetry, science and science fiction, memoir, travel writing, biography, children’s books, history, and more, 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die ranges across cultures and through time to offer an eclectic collection of works that each deserve to come with the recommendation, You have to read this. But it’s not a proscriptive list of the “great works”—rather, it’s a celebration of the glorious mosaic that is our literary heritage. Flip it open to any page and be transfixed by a fresh take on a very favorite book. Or come across a title you always meant to read and never got around to. Or, like browsing in the best kind of bookshop, stumble on a completely unknown author and work, and feel that tingle of discovery. There are classics, of course, and unexpected treasures, too. Lists to help pick and choose, like Offbeat Escapes, or A Long Climb, but What a View. And its alphabetical arrangement by author assures that surprises await on almost every turn of the page, with Cormac McCarthy and The Road next to Robert McCloskey and Make Way for Ducklings, Alice Walker next to Izaac Walton. There are nuts and bolts, too—best editions to read, other books by the author, “if you like this, you’ll like that” recommendations , and an interesting endnote of adaptations where appropriate. Add it all up, and in fact there are more than six thousand titles by nearly four thousand authors mentioned—a life-changing list for a lifetime of reading. “948 pages later, you still want more!” —THE WASHINGTON POST