For at least two decades now modern man has been on the brink of a crisis. Persuaded by both the post-feminist political landscape and his representation in the popular media to remodel himself as an endearingly hopeless halfwit, he now exists only as an object of pity. James May, co-presenter of The Grand Tour, and his happy band of brothers (plus a few women, but we try to edit them out) are engaged on a quest to lead maledom to a broad sunlit upland strewn with slim books of English verse and neatly stacked with correctly sharpened tools arranged in descending size order. From here they confront the mysteries of romance and fashion, the cult of men's cooking and the daunting underworld of hardcore DIY. Read it and remember that, as a chap, your first duty is to be dependable. And then you can have a pint.

'A typically Mayesque celebration of classic engineering ... May is extraordinarily good at explaining what a carburettor is or outlining how a governor works... It's charming, transfixing and surprisingly intimate...It might be the best thing he's ever done.' - Guardian [review of BBC4 TV series] 'Reassembly is merely a form of therapy; something that stimulates a part of my brain that is left wanting in my daily life. When I rebuild a bicycle, I re-order my head. So might you... I'm delighted that you will be holding in your hands a book about putting things back together. It's a subject that fascinates me but which I assumed was a lonely passion that I would take to the grave, unconsummated by the normal channels of human interaction. Welcome! You and I, we are not alone, and our screwdrivers are our flashing Excaliburs as we sally forth to make small parts of the fragmented world whole again.' As in his hit BBC4 TV series, as well as learning the history of the objects, we get a history of the component parts. As James rebuilds an engine, he explains the cylinders, what they are, how they came about and what they do.

Our world has been transformed beyond recognition, particularly in the twentieth century, and so were our lives and our aspirations. Throughout James May's Magnificent Machines, our Top Gear guide explores the iconic themes of the past hundred years: flight, space travel, television, mechanised war, medicine, computers, electronic music, skyscrapers, electronic espionage and much more. But he also reveals the hidden story behind why some inventions like the Zeppelin, the hovercraft or the Theremin struggled to make their mark. He examines the tipping points - when technologies such as the car or the internet became unstoppable - and gets up close by looking at the nuts and bolts of remarkable inventions. Packed with surprising statistics and intriguing facts, this is the ideal book for anyone who wants to know how stuff works and why some stuff didn't make it.

BUZZFEED'S "BEST BOOKS OF JUNE" FROLIC'S "UNDER THE RADAR" SELECTED JUNE READS Mona is a Millennial perfectionist who fails upwards in the midst of the 2008 economic crisis. Despite her potential, and her top-of-her-class college degree, Mona finds herself unemployed, living with her parents, and adrift in life and love. Mona's the sort who says exactly the right thing at absolutely the wrong moments, seeing the world through a cynic's eyes. In the financial and social malaise of the early 2000s, Mona walks a knife's edge as she faces down unemployment, underemployment, the complexities of adult relationships, and the downward spiral of her parents' shattering marriage. The more Mona craves perfection and order, the more she is forced to see that it is never attainable. Mona's journey asks the question: When we find what gives our life meaning, will we be ready for it?

In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.

The study of human body measurements on a comparative basis is known as anthropometrics. Its applicability to the design process is seen in the physical fit, or interface, between the human body and the various components of interior space. Human Dimension and Interior Space is the first major anthropometrically based reference book of design standards for use by all those involved with the physical planning and detailing of interiors, including interior designers, architects, furniture designers, builders, industrial designers, and students of design. The use of anthropometric data, although no substitute for good design or sound professional judgment should be viewed as one of the many tools required in the design process. This comprehensive overview of anthropometrics consists of three parts. The first part deals with the theory and application of anthropometrics and includes a special section dealing with physically disabled and elderly people. It provides the designer with the fundamentals of anthropometrics and a basic understanding of how interior design standards are established. The second part contains easy-to-read, illustrated anthropometric tables, which provide the most current data available on human body size, organized by age and percentile groupings. Also included is data relative to the range of joint motion and body sizes of children. The third part contains hundreds of dimensioned drawings, illustrating in plan and section the proper anthropometrically based relationship between user and space. The types of spaces range from residential and commercial to recreational and institutional, and all dimensions include metric conversions. In the Epilogue, the authors challenge the interior design profession, the building industry, and the furniture manufacturer to seriously explore the problem of adjustability in design. They expose the fallacy of designing to accommodate the so-called average man, who, in fact, does not exist. Using government data, including studies prepared by Dr. Howard Stoudt, Dr. Albert Damon, and Dr. Ross McFarland, formerly of the Harvard School of Public Health, and Jean Roberts of the U.S. Public Health Service, Panero and Zelnik have devised a system of interior design reference standards, easily understood through a series of charts and situation drawings. With Human Dimension and Interior Space, these standards are now accessible to all designers of interior environments.

Published to tie in with the BBC TV series, this is James May's idiosyncratic look at the great inventions of our time. He explores the iconic themes of the 20th century, including flight, space travel, television, mechanised war, medicine, video games, skyscrapers, electronic music, and more.