It has been said that, after the Bible, Plato's dialogues are the most influential books in Western culture. And of the dialogues, the Symposium is the most delightful and accessible, requiring no special knowledge of ancient Greek philosophy or customs. Dramatizing a party in fifth-century B.C. Athens, the deceptively unassuming Symposium introduces--in the guise of convivial after-dinner conversation--profound ideas about...

The extraordinary early life in India and England of one of the world's leading public intellectuals Where is 'home'? For Amartya Sen, home has been many places - Dhaka in modern Bangladesh, the little university town of Santiniketan, where he was raised as much by his grandparents as by his parents, Calcutta where he first studied economics and was active...

Based on the BBC television series, John Berger's Ways of Seeing is a unique look at the way we view art, published as part of the Penguin on Design series in Penguin Modern Classics. 'Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak.' 'But there is also another sense in which seeing comes before words. It...

'A latter-day Canterbury Tales ... Serious Money has a serious mission' The Times 'Eye-opening ... part guide, part indictment of a yawning wealth gap' Misha Glenny, Financial Times London is a plutocrat's paradise, with more resident billionaires than New York, Hong Kong or Moscow. Far from trickling down, their wealth is burning up the environment and swallowing up the city....

'Peculiarly hilarious!' - William Gibson 'Every page is a pleasure' - Lindsey FItzharris 'Utterly charming' - Tom Holland 'Laugh-out-loud' - Garth Nix 'A must read' - Fergus Butler-Gallie 'Brims with self-effacing charm' - Caitlin Doughty 'Unfortunately I have mislaid the book in question' - Neil Gaiman Welcome to Sotheran's, one of the oldest bookshops in the world, with its weird...

Through the ages, libraries have not only accumulated and preserved, but shaped, inspired and obliterated knowledge. Matthew Battles takes us on a fascinating journey from Boston to Baghdad, from classical scriptoria to medieval monasteries, from the Vatican to the British Library. The library has been a battleground of competing notions of what books mean to us, from the clay-tablet collections...

There's nothing much left to feel good about these days if you're British, but one of the few things where we all agree that we're still a world leader is our defining sense of humour. Thematically covering every subject imaginable, from God to dogs, this collection is the seminal gathering of our national wit and a picture of who we...

The Penguin Dictionary of International Relations provides an authoritative overview of this complex and constantly shifting subject. Ranging from the Arab-Israeli conflict to weapons of mass destruction, this is an indispensable and comprehensive guide to the events, organisations, theories and concepts that are shaping today's global community. ...

This magnificant, bestselling reference book finally leaves its old look to join the modern Penguin subject dictionary series. Why exactly did Van Gogh cut off his ear? Was Warhol an original or just a copyist? The answers to all this and more are found in The Penguin Dictionary of Art and Artists, the essential guide to over 700 years of...

'This book will challenge you to rethink some of your assumptions about democracy, capitalism, and globalization.' - Adam Grant Huge corporations are acting like nations, global wealth is going to billionaires and ordinary people are suffering. It's set to be a rocky decade - but we can fix it. As the market consolidates under fewer and larger companies, it's increasingly...

The at-a-glance layout of this guide allows collectors to plan their next trip to the United States or Europe around their collecting passion, providing them with the necessary information to find collections on, or related to their enthusiasm. ...

A brand new edition, the twelfth, of the essential reference book for all crossword addicts. The words are arranged within seven mini-dictionaries in word lengths of two to eight-letters, revealing the answers to a tricky clue at a glance. This unique format, combined with the dictionary's updated reference sections, including prime ministers and presidents, the zodiac and the Bible, the...

Empty shelves, petrol station queues and energy shortages: crises more familiar to those who lived through the 1960s and 1970s have now become a reality for many as global shipping times are squeezed, containers lie unopened at docks and supply shortages push up inflation, increasing the cost of consumer goods from milk to cars to building materials. In Sold Out,...

Two of the UK's leading economists call for an end to extreme individualism as the engine of prosperity 'provocative but thought-provoking and nuanced' Telegraph Throughout history, successful societies have created institutions which channel both competition and co-operation to achieve complex goals of general benefit. These institutions make the difference between societies that thrive and those paralyzed by discord, the difference...