For the sceptics, the art lovers, and the five million of us who visit the Tate every year - the funniest, liveliest and most accessible history of modern art ever written, by the BBC Arts Editor What is modern art? Why do we either love it or loathe it? And why is it worth so much damn money? Join Will Gompertz on a dazzling tour that will change the way you look at modern art forever. You will learn: not all conceptual art is bollocks; Picasso is king (but Cezanne is better); Pollock is no drip; Dali painted with his moustache; a urinal changed the course of art; why your five year-old really couldn't do it. Refreshing, irreverent and always straightforward, What Are You Looking At? asks the basic questions that you were too afraid to ask.

What are you looking for? So asks Tokyo's most enigmatic librarian, Sayuri Komachi. But she is no ordinary librarian. Sensing exactly what someone is searching for in life, she provides just the book recommendation to help them find it. In this uplifting book, we meet five visitors to the library, each at a different crossroads: - The restless retail assistant eager to pick up new skills - The mother faced with a demotion at work after maternity leave - The conscientious accountant who yearns to open an antique store - The gifted young manga artist in search of motivation - The recently retired salaryman on a quest for newfound purpose Can she help them find what they are looking for? Already loved by thousands of readers all over the world, What You Are Looking For is in the Library is an inspirational tale of love, life, and the comfort that can be found in good book. Which book will you recommend?

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 is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world; we explain that world with words, but word can never undo the fact that we are surrounded by it. The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled.' John Berger's Ways of Seeing is one of the most stimulating and influential books on art in any language. First published in 1972, it was based on the BBC television series about which the Sunday Times critic commented: 'This is an eye-opener in more ways than one: by concentrating on how we look at paintings... he will almost certainly change the way you look at pictures.' By now he has. If you enjoyed Ways of Seeing, you might like Susan Sontag's On Photography, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.

An Artist’s Insights on Art Appreciation Written by a practicing artist, this book decodes and maps the basic elements of visual art, leading the reader to a greater understanding and appreciation. Not an art history lesson per se, this illustrated guide is rather a tool kit to make the study of art and a visit to the museum truly rewarding. An entertaining and informative read, The Joy of Art offers the reader: A working art vocabulary to help you identify and explain what you’re looking at Answers to many of the questions you may have about visual art in general A summary of the basic criteria to consider when looking at art Highlights of the primary art genres and an introduction to the artists who pursued them Many visual examples of aesthetic considerations and practices Interesting facts about your favorite artists and clues to why they made the choices they did A few games to test your new skills The Joy of Art contains 150 color photographs and many interesting insights from an artist-author who takes readers behind the curtain and into the studio to uncover what actually goes into making a work of art. If you love art, this book will take your appreciation to a new level. Not only will your enjoyment of art increase, you’ll be able to clearly communicate your understanding to others.

Welcome to HMP Ashcroft. An institution run by a corrupt governor whose determination to impose his will at any cost will have far-reaching consequences on all the inmates. Within these walls, friendships are forged that will last beyond a sentence, but some inmates can turn in the blink of an eye, because that's all part of being locked up. In here you are kept from your loved ones and forced into a surrogate family with women you wouldn't even look at on the outside, let alone call friends. But at Ashcroft, Alliances can mean everything. Each one of these women has their own story to tell and their own penance to deal with. But whilst they fight for their rights on the inside, who is looking after their family, their friends and children on the outside. Whilst they battle to survive in a closed off world what's happening in the real world. At Ashcroft there's always a price to be paid, and for some it's high, but these women are prepared to pay anyway they can…

At last pulses are ditching their 70s hippie label and are back in vogue. Pulses are incredibly economical and healthy and, increasingly, people are looking for new sources of protein as meat eating goes on the wane (for both environmental and economical reasons). The time is ripe for a truly modern look at preparing these under-exploited ingredients. Including an illustrated guide to pulses, this exhaustive volume will also cover all you need to know to buy, prepare and cook pulses, and how to store them. 180 recipes are divided into dips and purees, fritters, croquettes and patties, soups, salads, formal starters, sides, vegetarian mains, and 'the full monty' (hearty mains, including meat). Jenny Chandler has collected a mouthwatering range of recipes that are truly international in flavour and will provide plenty of tips for everyday catering. With modern, crisp photography and an elegant design this is a book to update every foodie’s bookshelf and will be a go-to book for years to come.

'If you are looking for an intellectual and artistic honesty, a patient thoughtfulness and detailed insight into other lives...this novel will delight and move you' Guardian In spite of his brilliance, Colin Saville doesn't fit in easily at the grammar school in town - 1940s middle-class society is so different from the mining village of his childhood. He makes tentative friendships and meets girls over long, empty summers but feels like an outsider with them and, increasingly, at home. Following the pattern of David Storey’s own early years, Saville is a remarkably honest portrait of the tensions between parents and children, the difficulties of making one’s own way in life, and the social divisions that persist still.

An original and breathtakingly beautiful perspective on how art developed through the ages, this book reveals how new materials and techniques inspired artists to create their greatest works. The Story of Painting will completely transform your understanding and enjoyment of art. Covering a comprehensive array of topics, from the first pigments and frescos to linear perspective in Renaissance paintings, the influence of photography, Impressionism, and the birth of modern art, it follows each step in the evolution of painting over the last 25,000 years, from the first cave paintings to the abstract works of the last 100 years. Packed with lavish colour reproductions of paintings and photographs of artists at work and the materials they used, it delves into the key paintings from each period to analyse the techniques and secrets of the great masters in detail. Immerse yourself in the pages of this stunning book and find yourself dazzled by new colours; marvel at the magic of perspective; wonder at glowing depictions of fabric and flesh; understand cubism; and embrace abstraction. You will look at paintings in a whole new light.

In his landmark bestseller The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell redefined how we understand the world around us. Now, in Blink, he revolutionizes the way we understand the world within. Blink is a book about how we think without thinking, about choices that seem to be made in an instant-in the blink of an eye-that actually aren't as simple as they seem. Why are some people brilliant decision makers, while others are consistently inept? Why do some people follow their instincts and win, while others end up stumbling into error? How do our brains really work-in the office, in the classroom, in the kitchen, and in the bedroom? And why are the best decisions often those that are impossible to explain to others?In Blink we meet the psychologist who has learned to predict whether a marriage will last, based on a few minutes of observing a couple; the tennis coach who knows when a player will double-fault before the racket even makes contact with the ball; the antiquities experts who recognize a fake at a glance. Here, too, are great failures of "blink": the election of Warren Harding; "New Coke"; and the shooting of Amadou Diallo by police. Blink reveals that great decision makers aren't those who process the most information or spend the most time deliberating, but those who have perfected the art of "thin-slicing"-filtering the very few factors that matter from an overwhelming number of variables.

A profound meditation on climate change and the Anthropocene and an urgent search for the fossils—industrial, chemical, geological—that humans are leaving behind What will the world look like ten thousand or ten million years from now? In Footprints, David Farrier explores what traces we will leave for the very deep future. From long-lived materials like plastic and nuclear waste, to the 50 million kilometres of roads spanning the planet, in modern times we have created numerous objects and landscapes with the potential to endure through deep time. Our carbon could linger in the atmosphere for 100,000 years, and the remains of our cities will still exist millions of years from now as a layer in the rock. These future fossils have the potential to tell remarkable stories about how we lived in the twenty-first century. Through literature, art, and science, Footprints invites us to think about how we will be remembered in the myths, stories, and languages of our distant descendants. Travelling from the Baltic Sea to the Great Barrier Reef, and from an ice core laboratory in Tasmania to Shanghai, one of the world’s biggest cities, David Farrier tells a story of a world that is changing rapidly, and with long-term consequences. Footprints will not only alter how you think about the future, it will change how you see the world today.

Nurses and paramedics pass down intravenous skills to new employees as best they can, but the fine details are often missed or forgotten. Bob Rynecki, a registered nurse and an award-winning paramedic, wrote this guide so you can establish peripheral intravenous lines easily and effectively. Taking a no-frills approach, he delivers the tricks and tips that will enable you to: * become the go-to person for starting difficult IVs; * boost your confidence no matter what your level of experience; * succeed on the first stick - almost every time. Many medical professionals desperately need to learn this basic skill because it's so often overlooked in school. Many students practice starting an IV on an anatomical arm with bulging veins that doesn't mesh with what they most often find at the bedside or in the field. Drawing upon his nineteen years of experience as a bedside critical care nurse and his fifteen years of experience as an EMT/Paramedic, Rynecki shares personal stories and examples that will help you succeed in even the most challenging circumstances. Whether you're a novice or veteran clinician, you'll improve your proficiency at initiating lifelines with The Art of the IV Start.

Nurses and paramedics pass down intravenous skills to new employees as best they can, but the fine details are often missed or forgotten. Bob Rynecki, a registered nurse and an award-winning paramedic, wrote this guide so you can establish peripheral intravenous lines easily and effectively. Taking a no-frills approach, he delivers the tricks and tips that will enable you to: * become the go-to person for starting difficult IVs; * boost your confidence no matter what your level of experience; * succeed on the first stick - almost every time. Many medical professionals desperately need to learn this basic skill because it's so often overlooked in school. Many students practice starting an IV on an anatomical arm with bulging veins that doesn't mesh with what they most often find at the bedside or in the field. Drawing upon his nineteen years of experience as a bedside critical care nurse and his fifteen years of experience as an EMT/Paramedic, Rynecki shares personal stories and examples that will help you succeed in even the most challenging circumstances. Whether you're a novice or veteran clinician, you'll improve your proficiency at initiating lifelines with The Art of the IV Start.

An original and breathtakingly beautiful perspective on how art developed through the ages, this book reveals how new materials and techniques inspired artists to create their greatest works. The Story of Painting will completely transform your understanding and enjoyment of art. Covering a comprehensive array of topics, from the first pigments and frescos to linear perspective in Renaissance paintings, the influence of photography, Impressionism, and the birth of modern art, it follows each step in the evolution of painting over the last 25,000 years, from the first cave paintings to the abstract works of the last 100 years. Packed with lavish colour reproductions of paintings and photographs of artists at work and the materials they used, it delves into the key paintings from each period to analyze the techniques and secrets of the great masters in detail. Immerse yourself in the pages of this stunning book and find yourself dazzled by new colours; marvel at the magic of perspective; wonder at glowing depictions of fabric and flesh; understand cubism; and embrace abstraction. You will look at paintings in a whole new light.

An original and breathtakingly beautiful perspective on how art developed through the ages, this book reveals how new materials and techniques inspired artists to create their greatest works. The Story of Painting will completely transform your understanding and enjoyment of art. Covering a comprehensive array of topics, from the first pigments and frescos to linear perspective in Renaissance paintings, the influence of photography, Impressionism, and the birth of modern art, it follows each step in the evolution of painting over the last 25,000 years, from the first cave paintings to the abstract works of the last 100 years. Packed with lavish colour reproductions of paintings and photographs of artists at work and the materials they used, it delves into the key paintings from each period to analyze the techniques and secrets of the great masters in detail. Immerse yourself in the pages of this stunning book and find yourself dazzled by new colours; marvel at the magic of perspective; wonder at glowing depictions of fabric and flesh; understand cubism; and embrace abstraction. You will look at paintings in a whole new light.

What does an artist need to know about drawing? And what has to be mastered in order to achieve the drawings you want? In this book Barrington Barber shows you, offering advice and tips as he takes you through the various stages. From object drawing and still-life composition, the natural world and portraiture, to looking at form and shape, and assessing styles and techniques, The Complete Book of Drawing is a distillation of the many skills that the aspiring artist needs to develop. After training as a graphic designer, Barrington Barber went into advertising, working for top agencies such as Ogilvy & Mather, before progressing to freelance design and producing illustrations for a range of books and magazines. He taught art for many years, and now enjoys a successful career as a fine artist. He has written and illustrated a wide range of best-selling instructive art books, which to date have sold 4 million copies around the world. As Barrington Barber knows from his many years of both teaching and practising art, it is crucial for you as an individual to find your own style and way of doing things. And, uniquely among practical art books, this is what The Complete Book of Drawing provides, by revealing new possibilities and enabling you to look at the world around you with fresh eyes.

Tien is a talented artist. Three years out of art college, she finds herself still working in her Auntie Chau's nail salon. Feeling dissatisfied and unfulfilled, she worries about her future. However, a chance robbery at the nail salon opens up new doors for Tien, both professionally and romantically… But the main question remains - will Tien's ultimate dream of having her very own exhibition at an art gallery ever come true? Portrait of a Nail Salon is a lighthearted read about hope and perseverance and how you can never really know what is around the corner… DELTA Readers Me and my World is a series which aims to share stories about people's lives around the world and the issues they are confronted with. This reader includes: explanations of new vocabulary directly at the bottom of each page activities to check understanding and develop your language skills Think about it: opportunities to reflect on what you have read Find out more: questions and tasks designed to help you learn more about what you have read