William Collins Nemesis. The Battle for Japan, 1944-45 Hastings Max

One of the greatest military feats during the Second World War was the transformation of the German force's activities in the weeks following the battles in Holland and on the German border, where the Allies had finally inflicted the greatest catastrophes of modern war on them • Somehow the Germans found the strength to halt the Allied advance in its tracks and to prolong the war to 1945. Armageddon, by military historian Sir Max Hastings, is the epic story of those last eight months of the war in northern Europe

The famous D-Day landings of 6 June 1944 marked the beginning of Operation Overlord, the battle for the liberation of Europe. Military historian Sir Max Hastings’ acclaimed account overturns many traditional legends in this memorable study • Drawing together the eyewitness accounts of survivors from both sides, plus a wealth of previously untapped sources and documents, Overlord provides a brilliant, controversial perspective on the devastating battle for Normandy

The theory of evolution by natural selection did not spring fully formed and unprecedented from the brain of Charles Darwin. Rather it has been examined and debated by philosophers the world over for thousands of years • This lively history traces the evolution of the idea of evolution, showing how it has changed and been changed by different societies over time. It will put 'Darwin’s Dangerous Idea' into its proper context, showing how it built on what went before and how it was developed in the twentieth century, through an understanding of genetics and the biochemical basis evolution. None of this diminishes the achievement of Darwin himself in perceiving the way evolution works at the level of individuals and species, but his contribution was one link in a chain that extends back into antiquity, and is still being forged today

The distinctive white-tailed sea eagle was driven to extinction in Britain more than 200 years ago, but this immense predator is making a return to our skies, thanks to Roy Dennis, an ornithologist, conservationist and arguably the driving force behind the UK’s reintroduction agenda • Roy was instrumental in returning the Osprey, red kite and golden eagle to the British Isles, but the road to reintroduction isn’t an easy one. In what will surely be the seminal book on British reintroductions, Roy details the painstaking process of returning the Goldeneye to Scotland, one duckling at a time, the die-hard determination needed to make a dazzling success of the red kite reintroduction and the leap of faith we will all need to make to accept sharing our forests and skies with large carnivores again

Операция "Наказание" была одним из самых экстраординарных эпизодов Второй мировой войны, но в то же время она стала одним из самых неправильно понятых • В книге "Наказание. Разрушители" Макс Гастингс рассказывает захватывающую историю рейда "Разрушителей дамбы", начиная с изобретения прыгающей бомбы и заканчивая залитыми лунным светом кабинами молодых пилотов, летящих на высоте верхушек деревьев под смертоносным огнем противника. Но Гастингс также бросает вызов тому, что, как нам кажется, мы знаем о Разрушителях Дамбы, проливая свет на трудные истины, которые часто оставались за рамками легенды • Книга на английском языке • A masterly history of the Dambusters raid from bestselling and critically acclaimed Max Hastings • Operation Chastise was one of the most extraordinary episodes of the Second World War, yet it has also become one of the most misunderstood

Adventure – something that’s new and exhilarating, outside your comfort zone. Adventures change you and how you see the world, and all you need is an open mind, bags of enthusiasm and boundless curiosity • So what’s a microadventure? It’s close to home, cheap, simple, short and 100% guaranteed to refresh your life. A microadventure takes the spirit of a big adventure and squeezes it into a day or even a few hours • The point of a microadventure is that you don’t need lots of time and money to meet a new challenge. This practical guide is filled with ideas for microadventures – for you to experience on your own or with friends and family – and over 150 stunning photographs, plus tips and advice on safety and kit • Whether it’s sleeping on a hilltop or going for a wild swim, cycling a lap of the Isle of Wight or walking home for Christmas, it’s time you discovered something new about yourself and the world outside your window

As Minister of State at the Foreign Office, Alan Duncan was once described as Boris Johnson’s ‘pooper-scooper’. For two years, he deputised for the then Foreign Secretary, now Prime Minister. Few are more attuned to Boris’s strengths and weaknesses as a minister and his suitability for high office than the man who helped clear up his mistakes • Riotously candid, these diaries cover the most turbulent period in recent British political history – from the eve of the referendum in 2016 to the UK’s eventual exit from the EU. As two prime ministers fall, two general elections unfold and a no-confidence vote is survived, Duncan records a treasure-trove of insider gossip, giving biting and often hilarious accounts of petty rivalries, poor decision-making, big egos, and big crises

In this unprecedented book, palliative medicine pioneer Dr Kathryn Mannix explores the biggest taboo in our society and the only certainty we all share: death • `Impossible to read with dry eyes or an unaltered mindset' Sunday Times • A Sunday Times bestseller & book of the year • Shortlisted for the Wellcome book prize • Told through a series of beautifully crafted stories taken from nearly four decades of clinical practice, her book answers the most intimate questions about the process of dying with touching honesty and humanity. She makes a compelling case for the therapeutic power of approaching death not with trepidation but with openness, clarity and understanding • With the End in Mind is a book for us all: the grieving and bereaved, ill and healthy

Simon Ingram takes us high into Britain’s most forbidding and astonishing wild places through all the seasons of the year – from the first blush of spring to the darkest bite of the mountain winter • In the late 18th century, mountains shifted from being universally reviled to becoming the most inspiring things on earth. Simply put, the monsters became muses – and an entire artistic movement was born. This movement became a love affair, the love affair became an obsession, and gradually but surely, obsession became lifestyle as mountains became stitched into the fabric of the British cultural tapestry • In his compelling new book, Simon Ingram explores how mountains became such a preoccupation for the modern western imagination, weaving his own adventures into a powerful narrative which provides a kind of experiential hit list for people who don’t have the time nor the will to climb a thousand mountains

Anne Bonny and Mary Read, pirate queens of the Caribbean • Tipu Sultan, the Indian ruler who kept the British at bay • Olaudah Equiano, the former slave whose story shocked the world • Mary Wollstonecraft, the feminist who fought for women’s rights • Ladies of Llangollen, the lovers who built paradise in a Welsh valley • ‘Mad, bad and dangerous to know’ is how Lord Byron, the poet who drank wine from a monk’s skull and slept with his half-sister, was described by one of his many lovers. But ‘mad, bad and dangerous’ serves as a good description for the entire Georgian period: often neglected, the hundred or so years between the coronation of George I in 1714 and the death of George IV in 1830 were years when the modern world was formed, and changes came thick and fast

In horse racing greatness is defined by speed. Being the second fastest counts for little. You have to win. And win. And keep winning until every challenger of your generation is put to the sword. Of the twelve horses lined up on Newmarket Heath that 2011 day, one would do just that. And more. To become the greatest racehorse that has ever lived • Frankel was born on 11 February 2008, with four white socks and a blaze, from impressive equine lines on both his parents' sides. Simon Cooper revisits the whole of the horse's life, giving readers an inside tour of the calm oasis that is life a stud farm, where a foal will live with his mother for the first year of his life. Next, the atmosphere of heady possibility that marks the early days of training

This is a book that calls time on the endless tide of violence against women and the failures of our criminal justice system to respond • From barrister Harriet Johnson, Enough lays bare the appalling status quo of abuse against women in our society, offering an irrefutable case for why change is needed in policing and justice. Most vitally, it also gives a manifesto for how to get there • With expertise, clear-sightedness and appropriate fury, this book helps us see where women are suffering – from homicide to domestic abuse to street harassment. It exposes the ways the criminal justice system lets women down – from officers failing to properly investigate to a lack of consequences when police behaviour is unacceptable, to backlogged courts and the realities of convincing a jury