Simon Garfield

In 1936 the Mass Observation Project was set up. The idea was that ordinary people would record, in diary form, what happened in their everyday lives. Simon Garfield has woven a tapestry of diary entries, focusing mainly on six characters, in the period from 1945 to 1950. The result is moving, intriguing, funny and at times heart-breaking.

Explains how English chemist William Perkin accidentally discovered a way to mass-produce color in a factory in 1856, and discusses how his discovery of the color mauve changed the fashion industry.

Put a Lid on It, Donald E. Westlake's most recent novel, was published in Mysterious Press hardcover in 4/02. It will be published in mass market paperback in 3/03 to tie in with the hardcover release of MONEY FOR NOTHING.Westlake's critically acclaimed The Hook (Mysterious Press hardcover, 3/00) won a "Book World Rave" for 2000 in the Washington Post Book World and has over 90,000 hardcover and paperback copies in print combined. The Ax (Mysterious Press, 1997) reached #9 on the Los Angeles Times bestseller list, hit the New York Times business best-seller list, and has over 146,000 copies in hardcover and paperback print combined. Westlake's novels have a history of Hollywood success: Mel Gibson's Payback was the #3 money earner of the spring 1999 movie season, and What's the Worst That Could Happen? earned more than $50 million at the box office. Films based on four of his novels are in development.

Examines the pivotal relationship between mapping and civilization, demonstrating the unique ways that maps relate and realign history, and shares engaging cartography stories and map lore.

An ode to the dwindling art of letter writing explores its potential salvation in the digital age, chronicling the history of letter writing as reflected by love letters, chain mail, and business correspondence, while surveying the role that letters have played as literary devices.

"Not so long ago we timed our lives by the movement of the sun. These days our time arrives atomically and insistently, and our lives are propelled by the notion that we will never have enough of the one thing we crave the most. How have we come to be dominated by something so arbitrary? The compelling stories in this book explore our obsessions with time. An Englishman arrives back from Calcutta but refuses to adjust his watch. Beethoven has his symphonic wishes ignored. A moment of war is frozen forever. The timetable arrives by steam train. A woman designs a ten-hour clock and reinvents the calendar. Roger Bannister becomes stuck in the same four minutes forever. A British watchmaker competes with mighty Switzerland. And a prince attempts to stop time in its tracks. Timekeepers is a vivid exploration of the ways we have perceived, contained and saved time over the last 250 years, narrated in Simon Garfield's typically inventive and entertaining style. As managing time becomes one of the greatest challenges we face in our lives, this multi-layered history helps us understand it in a sparkling new light."--Dust jacket flap.

"Tiny Eiffel Towers. Platoons of brave toy soldiers. A doll{u2019}s house created for a Queen. Diminutive crime scenes crafted to catch a killer. Model villages and miniscule railways. These are just a few of the objects you will discover in the pages of In Miniature. Bringing together history, psychology, art, and obsession, Garfield explores what fuels the strong appeal of miniature objects among collectors, modelers, and fans. The toys we enjoy as children invest us with a rare power at a young age, conferring on us a taste of adult-sized authority. For some, the desire to play with small things becomes a desire to make small things. We live in a vast and uncertain world, and controlling just a tiny, scaled-down part of it restores our sense of order and worth. As it explores flea circuses, microscopic food, ancient tombs, and the Vegas Strip, In Miniature changes the way we perceive our surroundings, encouraging all of us to find greatness in the smallest of things."--Amazon.com. For some, the desire to play with small things becomes a desire to make small things. Tiny Eiffel Towers. Platoons of brave toy soldiers. Diminutive crime scenes crafted to catch a killer. Bringing together history, psychology, art, and obsession, Garfield explores what fuels the strong appeal of miniature objects among collectors, modelers, and fans. For some, controlling just a tiny, scaled-down part of our uncertain world restores a sense of order and worth. Learn how miniaturizing something can change the way we perceive our surroundings, encouraging all of us to find greatness in the smallest of things. -- adapted from slipcover

'To the Letter' tells the story of our remarkable journey through the mail. From Roman wood chips discovered near Hadrian's Wall to the wonders and terrors of email, Simon Garfield explores how we have written to each other over the centuries and what our letters reveal about our lives. Along the way he delves into the great correspondences of our time, from Cicero and Petrarch to Jane Austen and Ted Hughes, and traces the very particular advice offered by bestselling letter-writing manuals. He uncovers a host of engaging stories, including the tricky history of the opening greeting.

The stories of: Pam Ashford, a secretary at a shipping company; Christoper Tomlin, a salesman in Preston; Tilly Rice, who moves her children to Cornwall but returns to her home in Surrey just as the bombs start to fall; Eileen Pottder, a London social worker; Maggie Joy Blunt, a writer. Beginning in August 1939, and ending a year later with the Battle of Britain and the start of the Blitz.

When twin classmates are abducted from Bolton Prep, Tory and the Virals decide there’s no one better equipped than them to investigate. But the gang has other problems to face. Their powers are growing wilder, and becoming harder to control. Chance Claybourne is investigating the disastrous medical experiment that twisted their DNA. The bonds that unite them are weakening, threatening the future of the pack itself. The Virals must decipher the clues and track down a ruthless criminal before he strikes again, all while protecting their secret from prying eyes. And everyone seems to be watching.