A work that deftly balances the emotional and the political, and shows what a contested, layered place we inhabit.

The question of what constitutes a 'good death' has been the central preoccupation of philosophers since ancient times. This book includes 190 philosopher's deaths that are bizarre, and tales of madness, murder, and pathos.

Looks at various aspects of buying, selling, and creating serious art.

Explores our ideas of the wild. This book also tells the story of a friendship, and of a loss. It mixes history, memory and landscape in a strange and beautiful evocation of wildness and its vital importance.

Charts the relationship between Mark Rowlands, a rootless philosopher, and Brenin, his extraordinarily well-travelled wolf. This life-affirming book can make you reappraise what it means to be human.

Diana Athill made her reputation as a writer with the candour of her memoirs and freed from any inhibitions that even she may once have had, she reflects frankly on the losses and occasionally the gains that old age brings, and on the wisdom and fortitude required to face death.

Should you really do as the Romans do when in Rome and practice what you preach? Is the grass always in fact greener on the other side of the fence, and is there ever smoke without fire? Is beauty always in the eye of the beholder and is it actually better to be safe than sorry? This title presents a selection of short capsules of philosophy.

After a noisy upbringing as one of six children, and adulthood as a vocal feminist and mother, the author began to crave silence. She has spent periods of silence in the Sinai desert, the Australian bush, and the Isle of Skye. This book interweaves these experiences with the history of silence through fairy-tale and myth.

Why do so many feel compelled to risk their lives climbing mountains? During the climbing season, one person a day dies in the Alps, and more people die climbing in this season in Scotland than they do on the roads. This title pursues an investigation into our responses to mountains, and how these have changed over the last few centuries.

Presents 100 thought experiments: short scenarios which pose a problem in a vivid and concrete way, and invites the reader to think about possible answers for him/herself. Experiments cover identity, religion, art, ethics, language, knowledge and more. This book aims to make philosophy not only mind-stretching but also entertaining.

In 1989, the Berlin Wall fell; shortly afterwards the two Germanies reunited and East Germany ceased to exist. In this book, Anna Funder tells extraordinary tales from the underbelly of the former East Germany, including the story of Miriam, who as a 16-year-old might have started World War III.

'Straw Dogs' is a radical work of philosophy that challenges our most cherished assumptions about what it means to be human. John Gray explores how the world and human life look once humanism has been finally abandoned.

In the past few decades many of us have become foodies, but our new focus on flavour has been dominated by what we eat. This title intends to redress the balance, by explaining how to drink well at all times of day, and on all occasions. It includes recipes for mint juleps in the spring, sloe gin in the autumn, and hot buttered rum in the winter.

Andrew Brown spent part of his childhood in Sweden during the 1960s. In the 1970s he married a Swedish woman and worked in a mill raising their son. In the mid-1980s his marriage and the country fell apart. Twenty years later Andrew travelled the length of Sweden in search of the country he had loved, and then hated, and now found he loved again.

Short listed for the Richard & Judy Book Club 2007. Presents a story set in Los Angeles about one man's effort to bring himself back to life. This work reveals what can happen if you are willing to open up to the world around you.

A memoir about sharing domestic life with wild birds. It combines natural and cultural history with a personal story told with wit, lyricism and affection.

A prescient book criticising the greed and unsustainable economic practices which have proved to be the seeds of a world-wide recession. It considers how the economic landscape has shifted in a decade, and asks the crucial question: where do we go from here?

Features 52 stories - one for each week - from the lives of Granta writers including the day that Raymond Carver gave up drinking; the day Jackie Kay travelled to Nigeria to meet her birth father, the born-again Christian; and the day Richard Ford failed to get a job at Sports Illustrated magazine (and went home and wrote The Sportswriter ).

In this volume, English historian Richard Evans offers a defence of his craft. At a time of deep scepticism about our ability to learn anything from the past, even to recapture any serious sense of past cultures and ways of life, Evans shows us why history is possible and necessary.

Presents facts, figures, lore and trivia about various things edible from the sea. This book includes recipes gathered from around the world, instructions for eating pufferfish, and the official explanation of how Popeye the Sailor discovered the strength-enhancing capabilities of spinach.