Humans have been making, using, perfecting, and decorating umbrellas for millennia--holding them over the heads of rulers, signalling class distinctions, and exploring their full imaginative potential in folk tales and novels. In the spirit of the best literary gift books, Brolliology is a beautifully designed and illustrated tour through literature and history. It surprises us with the crucial role that the oft-overlooked umbrella has played over centuries--and not just in keeping us dry. Marion Rankine elevates umbrellas to their rightful place as an object worthy of philosophical inquiry. As Rankine points out, many others have tried. Derrida sought to find the meaning (or lack thereof) behind an umbrella mentioned in Nietzsche's notes, Robert Louis Stevenson wrote essays on the handy object, and Dickens used umbrellas as a narrative device for just about everything. She tackles the gender, class, and social connotations of carrying an umbrella and helps us realize our deep connection to this most forgettable everyday object--which we only think of when we don't have one.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 176

Dimensions: 139 x 193 mm

Publication Date: 31-12-2017

Holly moved to Brighton to escape her grief over the death of her boyfriend, Sam. But now she is here, sitting on a bench, listening to the sea sway... what is supposed to happen next? The solitude she had so craved leaves her feeling wrecked. Stranded. But after she meets Frank, the tide begins to shi . Frank, a retired magician who has experienced his own loss but manages to be there for everyone else. Gradually, as he introduces Holly to a circle of new friends, young and old, all with their own stories of love and grief to share, she begins to learn to live again. A moving and powerful debut, Let Me Be Like Water is a book simultaneously about nothing and everything: about the humdrum yet extraordinariness of everyday life; of lost and new connections; of loneliness and friendship.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 224

Dimensions: 150 x 210 mm

Publication Date: 10-05-2018

In an age of confusion, fear, and loss, Hanif Abdurraqib's is a voice that matters. Whether he's attending a Bruce Springsteen concert the day after visiting Michael Brown's grave, or discussing public displays of affection at a Carly Rae Jepsen show, he writes with a poignancy and magnetism that resonates profoundly. In the wake of the nightclub attacks in Paris, he recalls how he sought refuge as a teenager in music, at shows, and wonders whether the next generation of young Muslims will not be afforded that opportunity now. While discussing the everyday threat to the lives of black Americans, Abdurraqib recounts the first time he was ordered to the ground by police officers: for attempting to enter his own car. In essays that have been published by the New York Times, MTV, and Pitchfork, among others—along with original, previously unreleased essays—Abdurraqib uses music and culture as a lens through which to view our world, so that we might better understand ourselves, and in so doing proves himself a bellwether for our times.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 300

Dimensions: 127 x 198 mm

Publication Date: 04-10-2018

Embarking on a public toilet tour from London to San Francisco to Toronto, from pay potties to deserted alleyways, No Place To Go is a marriage of urbanism, social narrative, and pop culture that shows the ways public toilets just don't work. Peel back the layers on public bathrooms and it's clear many more people want for good access than have it. Public bathroom access is about cities, society, design, movement, and equity. The real question is: Why are public toilets so crappy?

Bind: paperback

Pages: 224

Dimensions: 129 x 198 mm

Publication Date: 01-11-2019

More than 90% of the world’s population is exposed to air pollutant concentrations exceeding World Health Organisation guideline levels. Having air that is healthy to breathe is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st Century. Some of this is unfinished business from the last 60 years, but as more and more of us live in cities, more of us are living close to pollution sources. Europe is wrestling with air pollution from diesel transport and in China and India they are facing air pollution problems that they have never met before. The air pollution that we breathe every day is largely invisible to us but it is having a significant impact on our health and that of our children. The Invisible Killer will take you on a journey from London to Los Angeles to Beijing, challenging our ideas of what creates air pollution and how we measure it, and introducing us to incredible individuals whose groundbreaking research paved the way to today’s understanding, often at their own detriment. Dr Fuller argues that to change the future of our planet and collective global health, city and national government action is essential. It is not for lack of evidence that air pollution harm persists. Instead it remains in place due to a lack of political will to make changes to our urban lives, to persuade the public and to make polluters bear the full cost of the harm that they do.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 224

Dimensions: 138 x 216 mm

Publication Date: 28-11-2018

How does one pay homage to A Tribe Called Quest? The seminal rap group created masterpieces throughout the 90s, and then 17 years after their last album, they resurrected themselves with an intense, socially conscious record, which arrived in the aftermath of the 2016 election. Here Hanif Abdurraqib digs into the group's history and draws from his own experience to reflect on how its distinctive sound resonated among fans like himself.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 216

Dimensions: 128 x 198 mm

Publication Date: 01-08-2019

In 1862, ambitious scientist James Glaisher set out to do the impossible: ascend higher into the skies than ever before. A pioneer of weather forecasting and of photography, he wanted to take ground-breaking research measurements from different altitudes. Before aeroplanes, the only unpredictable available method of air transportation was the hot air balloon. Embarking on several journeys between 1862 and 1866, sometimes with co-pilot and experienced aeronaut Henry Coxwell, Glaisher would pack his compass, thermometers and bottles of brandy and head skyward, hoping for hospitable conditions.On 2nd September 1862, the pair undertook what is now viewed as one of the greatest daredevil stories in the history of aviation. Rising higher and higher above the town of Wolverhampton, Glaisher started to experience balloon sickness'. At first his vision clouded over. His limbs began to feel heavy, and before long, movement was impossible. Coxton's hands turned black. And eventually, the pair lost consciousness. They peaked at 37,000 feet (7 miles or 11km), a height now almost always undertaken by mechanical probes and somehow together, on the verge of death, they managed to regain control of their own bodies, even record their observations, and begin their descent. They were lucky to be alive.Written in his own words, The Aeronauts chronicles Glaisher's incredible flights and discoveries first hand, as well as his observations on those pioneers who came before and inspired him. His death-defying journey forms the story of the forthcoming MajorMotion Picture The Aeronauts, with Eddie Redmayne playing Glaisher opposite Felicity Jones as his balloon companion, Amelia Wren.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 128

Dimensions: 129 x 198 mm

Publication Date: 05-09-2019

Under the cathartic spell of the sea, and with a little help from a retired magician, a young woman learns how to rebuild her life in this stunningly poignant debut novel. Holly moved to Brighton to escape her grief over the death of her boyfriend, Sam. But now she is here, sitting on a bench, listening to the sea sway… what is supposed to happen next? She had thought she’d want to be on her own. Wrecked. Stranded. But after she meets Frank, the tide begins to shift. Frank, a retired magician who has experienced his own loss but manages to be there for everyone else. Gradually, as he introduces Holly to a circle of new friends, young and old, all with their own stories of love and grief to share, she begins to learn to live again. A moving and powerful debut Let Me Be Like Water is a book simultaneously about nothing and everything: about the humdrum yet extraordinariness of everyday life; of lost and new connections; of loneliness and friendship.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 224

Dimensions: 127 x 198 mm

Publication Date: 04-04-2019

From childhood on, we’re barraged by messages that it’s sad to be old. That wrinkles are embarrassing, and old people are useless. Author and activist Ashton Applewhite believed them too—until she realised where this prejudice comes from and the damage it does. Lively, funny, and deeply researched, This Chair Rocks traces Applewhite’s journey from apprehensive boomer to pro-ageing radical, and in the process debunks myth after myth about late life. The book explains the roots of ageism—in history and in our own age denial—and how it divides and debases. It examines how ageist myths and stereotypes cripple the way our brains and bodies function, looks at ageism in the workplace and the bedroom, exposes the cost of myth of independence, critiques the portrayal of olders as burdens to society, describes what an all-age-friendly world would look like, and concludes with a rousing call to action. Whether you’re older or hoping to get there, this book will shake you by the shoulders, cheer you up, make you mad, and change the way you see the rest of your life.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 224

Dimensions: 138 x 216 mm

Publication Date: 07-03-2019