Danny Wallace wanted to write about a place so special and so crucial to our existence that it had never before been tackled: the Centre of the Universe. But then he realised that getting there might be a problem, and when he did, there'd probably be nothing much to write about. Until he heard about a manhole cover, on a small street, in a small town, tucked away in a remote part of Idaho. The manhole cover had been declared the Centre of the Universe. The mayor had the science to back it up. The town rejoiced. And the name of the town? Wallace. It was a cosmic coincidence Danny couldn't resist...
Danny Wallace wanted to write about a place so special and so crucial to our existence that it had never before been tackled: the Centre of the Universe. But then he realised that getting there might be a problem, and when he did, there'd probably be nothing much to write about. Until he heard about a manhole cover, on a small street, in a small town, tucked away in a remote part of Idaho. The manhole cover had been declared the Centre of the Universe. The mayor had the science to back it up. The town rejoiced. And the name of the town? Wallace. It was a cosmic coincidence Danny couldn't resist...
The inspiration for the new Warner Bros. movie starring Jim Carrey, Wallace's offbeat bestseller reveals what happens when he says yes to absolutely everything for a year.
From Sunday Times bestselling author Maureen Lee - written specially for the World Book Day Quick Reads promotion. Until that fateful day in Brighton, Maggie had thought she would never be happy again... Maggie's once-happy marriage has turned sour, leaving her tied to a husband who no longer seems to love her. So she continues to work, keeps in touch with her friends and tries not to think about the lack of love in her life. But all that changes when Maggie meets someone who transforms how she feels about herself and turns her entire world upside down.
She's called 'The Headhunter'. Petite North Walian Jade Jones certainly lived up to her nickname at London 2012 when she fought her way to become Britain's youngest Olympic Champion. Using her trademark style of scoring extra points by targeting kicks to her opponent's head, Jade secured her place in Olympic history as Britain's most successful taekwondo player adding the Olympic Gold to her medal collection. In Headhunter Jade, still only 20, describes how her passion for the sport was sparked at the age of eight when her Grandad first took her to a class at his local club. Over the years her ambition and hard work has paid off, winning her numerous Sportswoman of the Year awards. As she works towards her Olympic goals for Rio 2016, Jade follows her mantra 'If you believe . . . you can do it! Try hard enough and you can!' And she does.
When Lions and Wales rugby star Richard Hibbard crashed into George Smith under a clear night sky in Australia, it felt as though the tremors might have rocked Sydney Harbour Bridge. Smith was the ‘Mr Indestructible’ of Australian rugby, yet he was helped off the pitch. Hooker Hibbard simply shook his trademark blond locks and carried on helping the Lions earn their 2013 series victory. Soon, pictures of "Hibbz" celebrating in the dressing room with James Bond actor Daniel Craig were being beamed around the world. In Lionheart the Ospreys star reflects on his long and often rocky road to the top of world rugby: from his roots in Port Talbot, to his stint with rugby league club Aberavon Fighting Irish, to fighting back from countless serious injuries.
Danny Wallace has friends. He has a wife and goes to brunch, and his new house has a couch with throw pillows. But as he nears 30, he can't help wondering about his best childhood friends, whose names he finds in a long-forgotten address book. Where are they now-and where, really, is he? Acting on an impulse we've all had at least once, he travels from London to Berlin, Tokyo, Australia, and California, risking rejection and ridicule to show up on his old pals' doorsteps. Memories of his 1980s childhood-from Michael Jackson to Ghostbusters-overwhelm him as he meets former buddies who have blossomed into rappers and ninjas, time-traveling pioneers, mediocre restaurant managers, and even Fijian royalty. Danny's attempt to re-befriend them all gives remarkable new resonance to the age-old mantra, "friends forever!"
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “The Uninhabitable Earth hits you like a comet, with an overflow of insanely lyrical prose about our pending Armageddon.”—Andrew Solomon, author of The Noonday Demon NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New Yorker • The New York Times Book Review • Time • NPR • The Economist • The Paris Review • Toronto Star • GQ • The Times Literary Supplement • The New York Public Library • Kirkus Reviews It is worse, much worse, than you think. If your anxiety about global warming is dominated by fears of sea-level rise, you are barely scratching the surface of what terrors are possible—food shortages, refugee emergencies, climate wars and economic devastation. An “epoch-defining book” (The Guardian) and “this generation’s Silent Spring” (The Washington Post), The Uninhabitable Earth is both a travelogue of the near future and a meditation on how that future will look to those living through it—the ways that warming promises to transform global politics, the meaning of technology and nature in the modern world, the sustainability of capitalism and the trajectory of human progress. The Uninhabitable Earth is also an impassioned call to action. For just as the world was brought to the brink of catastrophe within the span of a lifetime, the responsibility to avoid it now belongs to a single generation—today’s. LONGLISTED FOR THE PEN/E.O. WILSON LITERARY SCIENCE WRITING AWARD “The Uninhabitable Earth is the most terrifying book I have ever read. Its subject is climate change, and its method is scientific, but its mode is Old Testament. The book is a meticulously documented, white-knuckled tour through the cascading catastrophes that will soon engulf our warming planet.”—Farhad Manjoo, The New York Times “Riveting. . . . Some readers will find Mr. Wallace-Wells’s outline of possible futures alarmist. He is indeed alarmed. You should be, too.”—The Economist “Potent and evocative. . . . Wallace-Wells has resolved to offer something other than the standard narrative of climate change. . . . He avoids the ‘eerily banal language of climatology’ in favor of lush, rolling prose.”—Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times “The book has potential to be this generation’s Silent Spring.”—The Washington Post “The Uninhabitable Earth, which has become a best seller, taps into the underlying emotion of the day: fear. . . . I encourage people to read this book.”—Alan Weisman, The New York Review of Books
It all starts with a girl . . . because yes, there’s always a girl. Jason Priestley (not that one) has just seen her. They shared an incredible, brief, fleeting moment of deep possibility, somewhere halfway down Charlotte Street. And then, just like that, she was gone—accidentally leaving him holding her old-fashioned disposable camera, chock full of undeveloped photos. And now Jason—ex-teacher, ex-boyfriend, part-time writer and reluctant hero—faces a dilemma. Should he try to track The Girl down? What if she’s The One? But that would mean using the only clues he has, which lie untouched in the beaten-up camera.
'HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!' Frank Cottrell Boyce 'Hilarious' Tim Minchin 'Danny Wallace and Jamie Littler's books contain all the wit and warmth of Dahl and Blake at their best. Irresistible.' Phil Earle 'Like David Walliams, Danny Wallace is a comedian turned children's author. Of the two, Wallace's writing is funnier' The Sunday Times, Children's Book of the Week A hilarious adventure from presenter and bestselling author Danny Wallace brought to life with illustrations from Jamie Littler, perfect for fans of David Walliams, Roald Dahl, David Baddiel and David Solomons! Nobody knows it yet, but the people of Earth are in big, big trouble. Like - HUGE trouble. Oh, come on, where's your imagination? Double what you're thinking! It involves a shadowy figure, an enormous tower, some sinister monsters, an army of huge clanking and thundering metal oddballs, and people who are just like you… but not like you at all. So now you have a decision to make: read this book and discover a secret that will change your life FOREVER or run away screaming while you can...
