In July 1969, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins piloted the Apollo 11 spacecraft to the moon.

Fifty years later, it is still one of the greatest achievements in human history.

In this remarkable memoir, a defining classic, Michael Collins conveys, in a very personal way, the drama, beauty, and humour of that adventure. He also traces his development from his first flight experiences in the air force, through his days as a test pilot, to his involvement in Project Gemini and his first spaceflight on Gemini 10. He presents an evocative picture of the famous Apollo 11 spacewalk, detailing the joys of flight and a new perspective on time, light, and movement from someone who has seen the fragile Earth from the other side of the moon.

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the moon-landing, Carrying the Fire by Michael Collins is the utterly absorbing and truly compelling classic account of what it was like to be a member of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon.

'Thrilling, inspiring and informative page-turner.' Walter Isaacson, author of The Code Breaker You know what went wrong. This is the untold story of what went right. Few were ready when a mysterious respiratory illness emerged in Wuhan, China, in January 2020. Politicians, government officials, business leaders and public-health professionals were unprepared for the most devastating pandemic in a century. Many of the world's biggest drug and vaccine makers were slow to react or couldn't muster an effective response. It was up to a small group of unlikely and untested scientists and executives to save civilization. A French businessman dismissed by many as a fabulist. A Turkish immigrant with little virus experience. A quirky Midwesterner obsessed with insect cells. A Boston scientist employing questionable techniques. A British scientist resented by his peers. Far from the limelight, each had spent years developing innovative vaccine approaches. Their work was met with scepticism and scorn. By 2020, these individuals had little proof of progress. Yet they and their colleagues wanted to be the ones to stop a virulent virus holding the world hostage. They scrambled to turn their life's work into life-saving vaccines in a matter of months, each gunning to make the big breakthrough - and to beat each other for the glory that a vaccine guaranteed. A number-one New York Times bestselling author and award-winning Wall Street Journal investigative journalist, Zuckerman takes us inside the top-secret laboratories, corporate clashes and high-stakes government negotiations that led to effective shots. Deeply reported and endlessly gripping, this is a dazzling, blow-by-blow chronicle of the most consequential scientific breakthrough of our time. It's a story of courage, genius and heroism. It's also a tale of heated rivalries, unbridled ambitions, crippling insecurities and unexpected drama. A Shot to Save the World is the story of how science saved the world. ***LONGLISTED FOR THE FT MCKINSEY BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2021***

'Many a beautiful plant cultivated to deformity, and arranged in strict geometrical beds, the whole pretty affair a laborious failure side by side with divine beauty.' A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf is the second book in John Muir's Wilderness-Discovery series. It is within this work that we are really given strong clues toward Muir's future trailblazing movement for environmental conservation, in such comments as 'The universe would be incomplete without man; but it would also be incomplete without the smallest transmicroscopic creature that dwells beyond our conceitful eyes and knowledge.' Muir's walk from Indiana to Florida was conceived in order to explore and study further the flora and fauna across states. He undertakes this alone, a dangerous choice perhaps so soon after the civil war, as many characters along the way forewarn. Indeed, Muir is threatened by a robber, and we see a new side to the quiet, lowly gentleman we know as he springs into self-defence mode with lightning initiative and remarkable courage. This is not the only facet of Muir's personality that is uncovered throughout this journey. He makes reference to feeling 'dreadfully lonesome and poor', which is intriguing as his circumstances are self-sought: 'Stayed with lots of different people but preferred sleeping outside alone where possible'. He spends a substantial period of time struck down with malaria, which does not come as a surprise; he was covering many miles on an unsustainably meagre diet with thirst often quenched with swamp water or not at all. Join Muir in Kentucky forests, Cumberland mountains, Florida swamps and all the elegantly described trees, plants, creatures and rocks in-between. A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf teaches us as much about Muir himself as it does the ecosystems in the wilderness across those 1,000 miles.

Spring 1958: a mysterious individual believed to be high up in the Polish secret service began passing Soviet secrets to the West. His name was Michal Goleniewski and he remains one of the most important, least known and most misunderstood spies of the Cold War. Even his death is shrouded in mystery and he has been written out of the history of Cold War espionage - until now. Tim Tate draws on a wealth of previously-unpublished primary source documents to tell the dramatic true story of the best spy the west ever lost and how Goleniewski exposed hundreds of KGB agents operating undercover in the West; from George Blake and the 'Portland Spy Ring', to a senior Swedish Air Force and NATO officer and a traitor inside the Israeli government. The information he produced devastated intelligence services on both sides of the Iron Curtain. Bringing together love and loyalty, courage and treachery, betrayal, greed and, ultimately, insanity, Tim Tate tells the extraordinary true story of one of the most significant spies of the Cold War. Acclaim for The Spy Who Was Left Out in the Cold: 'Totally gripping . . . a masterpiece. Tate lifts the lid on one of the most important and complex spies of the Cold War, who passed secrets to the West and finally unmasked traitor George Blake.' HELEN FRY, author of MI9: A History of the Secret Service for Escape and Evasion in World War Two 'A wonderful and at times mind-boggling account of a bizarre and almost forgotten spy - right up to the time when he's living undercover in Queens, New York and claiming to be the last of the Romanoffs.' SIMON KUPER, author of The Happy Traitor 'A highly readable and thoroughly researched account of one of the Cold War's most intriguing and tragic spy stories.' OWEN MATTHEWS, author of An Impeccable Spy

THIS HEARTBREAKING, HEARTWARMING, TRUE STORY FOLLOWING THE HISTORY OF A FAMILY IN WALES IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT BOOKS EVER WRITTEN. 'I am a proud supporter of our National Health Service which has shown yet again what an important and valued institution it is in the UK. As the first NHS baby through to her work today, Aneira's story shows her dedication and passion for protecting this phenomenal service for future generations.' KEIR STARMER 'This book speaks from the heart about a passion to preserve our NHS - as powerful a symbol of goodness as we have. Nye's own experience and that of her family represents our deep need to fight for a society where all are equal in worth and value. And how the NHS stands fast as a symbol of equality, of fairness, and of compassion for all.' MICHAEL SHEEN 'Aneira has written a memoir which is a deeply personal, richly researched and incredibly timely tribute to Britain's commitment to provide free and equal healthcare to all.' - DAILY MAIL Book of the Week, 22 May 2020 'Moving tribute to the NHS.' - WI Life _____________________________________________________________ 'Edna,' says the doctor, coming to stand beside her bed. 'You need to wait. It's not long now. Don't push. Just hold on, Edna!' The birth of the National Health Service coincided with the birth of one little girl in South Wales: Aneira 'Nye' Thomas, the first baby delivered by the NHS. This is the touching story of Nye's family - their loves and losses - and the launch of a treasured public service that has touched the lives of every family in the nation.

'I hope the slave trade may be abolished. I pray it may be an event at hand.' Published a few days before the British parliament first debated the abolition of the slave trade in 1789, Olaudah Equiano's Interesting Narrative gives the author's account of his enslavement after his childhood kidnapping in Africa, and his journey from slavery to freedom. Equiano was slave to a captain in the Royal Navy, and later to a Quaker merchant, and he vividly depicts the appalling treatment of enslaved people at sea and on land. He takes part in naval engagements, is shipwrecked, and has other exciting adventures on his travels to the Caribbean, America, and the Arctic. Equiano claimed his own freedom and became an important abolitionist, but his Narrative is much more than merely a political pamphlet. The most important African autobiography of the eighteenth century, it has achieved an increasingly central position among the century's great works of literature. The introduction to this edition surveys recent debates about Equiano's birthplace and identity, and considers his campaigning role and literary achievements.

The Cleveland Street scandal, involving a homosexual brothel reputedly visited by the Queen's grandson, shocked Victorian Britain in 1889. This is the second edition, including much new information, of the full-length account of one of its key players, Jack Saul, an Irish Catholic rent boy who worked his way into the upper echelons of the aristocracy, and wrote the notorious pornographic memoir The Sins of the Cities of the Plain. Glenn Chandler, creator of Taggart, explores his colourful but tragic life and reveals for the first time the true story about what really went on behind the velvet curtains of 19 Cleveland Street.

The recorded history of the diving industry has been fundamentally corrupted over the past 150 years. The result is a complete misunderstanding of how it all began. Who invented the diving helmet? Refer to any encyclopaedia or history book and the answer you will find will almost certainly be wrong. The First Treasure Divers reveals the true and fascinating story. It blows away the myths and deliberate misinformation that have crept into the historical record. Thanks to the painstaking research the author has carried out over the past 25 years, the falsehoods are peeled away to unveil the true, definitive account. It follows the lives of two brothers as they struggle to turn their newly-invented diving helmet to advantage and how they wrestle with apathetic and even hostile authorities for recognition of their invention. It thunders through sunken treasure adventures to the heroism and horrors of the Crimean War. The impact of the invention of the diving helmet is immense. In the 180 years since the Deane brothers carried out the first ever commercial helmet dive off the Isle of Wight on the south coast of England, the diving business has expanded to a global industry with an annual turnover in excess of $3,000,000,000. From another point of view, the life-support technology developed in the diving industry provided the knowledge for keeping the pioneering, high altitude pilots alive, which in turn evolved into the life-support systems of the astronauts who walked on the moon.

A charming children's encyclopedia for little learners who love exciting journeys and incredible discoveries. The world is so much bigger than young minds can fathom and there is always more to learn. My Encyclopedia of Very Important Adventures is a vibrant encyclopedia for curious 5-9 year olds with an exciting introduction to the awe-inspiring adventures of eager explorers, dynamic daredevils, imaginative inventors and other pioneers who shaped the world. Combining fun facts with charming illustrations, young readers can take a dive into the unknown and go on a daring journey across land, sea and sky, as they explore the highest mountains, the deepest oceans and everything in between. Celebrate your child's curiosity as they travel through time to visit the workshops, labs and studios of history's most important minds, whilst the read about the pioneers who dared to go where nobody had ever been before! My Encyclopedia of Very Important Adventures is bursting with all sorts of subjects that early readers will love! From scientists and inventors to builders and thinkers, this adventure book is perfect for curious little kids with a thirst for knowledge. Mixing photography and colourful illustrations, kids will discover important facts about the world's most renowned explorers, pioneers, risk-takers and more. My Encyclopedia of Very Important Adventures is a friendly book that gets children learning, reading, and laughing too! Celebrate your child's curiosity as they: - Read fun facts about a variety of different people who shaped the world - Learn all about archeologists, scientists and more who made mind-boggling discoveries - Discover a unique approach to the subject that focuses primarily on events Our encyclopedia for children is the perfect blend of engaging and striking photography with lively text. Encourage early learners to go on a journey into the animal kingdom to explore a world of information, making this the ideal first reference book for kids aged 5-9 to enjoy for hours on end, whether for shared reading at bedtime or reading alone, this fun fact book for children also doubles up as the perfect gift for curious kids who love to learn. Tell the story of the world one page at a time, by uncovering: - Educational content written in a friendly and fun manner - Beautifully padded cover with several high-quality finishes, including padding and foil - Features a built-in ribbon bookmark so you never lose your place whilst reading More in the Series My Encyclopedia of Very Important Adventures is part of the educational kid's book series My Very Encyclopedia series. Complete the series and nurture your child's curiosity of the animal kingdom with My Encyclopedia of Very Important Animals, teach them about different sports with My Encyclopedia of Very Important Sport, or let them walk with the dinosaurs who ruled the earth before them in My Encyclopedia of Very Important Dinosaurs.

Spring 1958: a mysterious individual believed to be high up in the Polish secret service began passing Soviet secrets to the West. His name was Michal Goleniewski and he remains one of the most important, yet least known and most misunderstood spies of the Cold War. Even his death is shrouded in mystery and he has been written out of the history of Cold War espionage - until now. Tim Tate draws on a wealth of previously-unpublished primary source documents to tell the dramatic true story of the best spy the west ever lost - of how Goleniewski exposed hundreds of KGB agents operating undercover in the West; from George Blake and the 'Portland Spy Ring', to a senior Swedish Air Force and NATO officer and a traitor inside the Israeli government. The information he produced devastated intelligence services on both sides of the Iron Curtain. Bringing together love and loyalty, courage and treachery, betrayal, greed and, ultimately, insanity, here is the extraordinary true story of one of the most significant but little known spies of the Cold War. Acclaim for The Spy Who Was Left Out in the Cold: 'Totally gripping . . . a masterpiece. Tate lifts the lid on one of the most important and complex spies of the Cold War, who passed secrets to the West and finally unmasked traitor George Blake.' HELEN FRY, author of MI9: A History of the Secret Service for Escape and Evasion in World War Two 'A wonderful and at times mind-boggling account of a bizarre and almost forgotten spy - right up to the time when he's living undercover in Queens, New York and claiming to be the last of the Romanoffs.' SIMON KUPER, author of The Happy Traitor 'A highly readable and thoroughly researched account of one of the Cold War's most intriguing and tragic spy stories.' OWEN MATTHEWS, author of An Impeccable Spy

Inspired by her own foremothers' legacies and the friendships formed throughout her life, Rozella Kennedy centers and celebrates the stories of 100 Black, Brown, Asian, and Indigenous women--both famous and little-known--who changed the course of US history. In the beautiful pages of Our Brave Foremothers, discover an intergenerational, intercultural bouquet of Black, Brown, Asian, and Indigenous women lifted into the significance that they deserve. - From Etel Adnan to Mary Jones, Thelma Garcia Buchholdt to Pura Belpre to Zitkala-Sa, here are 100 women of color who left a lasting mark on United States history. Including both famous and little-known names, the thoughtful profiles and detailed portraits of these women herald their achievements and passions. - Following each entry is a prompt that asks you to connect your life to theirs, an inspiring way to understand their influence and the power of their stories. To consider on a deeper level the devotedness of Clara Brown, the fearlessness of Jovita Idar, the guts of Grace Lee Boggs, or the selflessness of Martha Louise Morrow Foxx. And to be as brave as we each can be--and then beyond that.

From 1933 to 1935, Ita Wegman was confronted by both Nazi fascism and internal crises in the General Anthroposophical Society. During those years, she traveled to Palestine in the fall of 1934 following a grave illness that nearly ended with her death. Her correspondence during this period, as well as her notes on the trip, reveal the great biographical importance to her of these travels and indeed the whole scope of her spiritual experiences in 1934. Ita Wegman had unambiguous perspectives and a uniquely clear view of both the political threat and her social-spiritual task during this period. There was, however, a radical change in her inner stance toward the opposition, aggression, and defamation she encountered within anthroposophic contexts in reaction to her intense, purely motivated efforts. She tried to live and work in true accord with her inner impulses and, ultimately, with Rudolf Steiner's legacy, especially within the anthroposophic movement. Doing so, she increasingly found her way to her own distinctive and uncompromising path. The author reveals the general nature of those three years-a period whose distinctive spiritual and Christological task and dramatic dangers Rudolf Steiner had foreseen in 1923: "If these men the Nazis] gain government power, I will no longer be able to set foot on German soil." Ita Wegman's efforts in 1933 to confront the dark powers of National Socialism and the convulsions in Dornach, which she experienced firsthand, as well as her subsequent illness and the clarity of her "Christological conversion" in 1934 to '35, reveal a very specific, intrinsically comprehensible and forward-looking quality whose spiritual signature is clearly prefigured in Rudolf Steiner's spiritual-scientific predictions. In this book, Peter Selg focuses exclusively on Ita Wegman, her development, and her words, simply presenting the processes she went through and, implicitly, their extraordinary spiritual nature, without any attempt at interpretation. This focus arises from the governing premise that the mysteries of a great life such as that of Ita Wegman reveal themselves in the details. Tracing the subtle steps in her life allow us deeper insight into Ita Wegman's being. She herself wrote, "In general meetings or gatherings, people always understood me poorly because I lacked a smooth way of expressing myself. But people of goodwill always understood what I meant." This book was originally published in German as Geistiger Widerstand und Uberwindung. Ita Wegman 1933-1935 by Verlag am Goetheanum, Dornach, Switzerland, 2005.

LONGLISTED FOR THE ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION 'One of the mysteries I've long been fascinated by, and I am so grateful that Ravi Somaiya has cracked it open so brilliantly' David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower Moon A PLANE CRASH IN THE JUNGLE. A LEGENDARY STATESMAN DEAD. A TRAGIC ACCIDENT... OR THE ULTIMATE CONSPIRACY? In 1961, a Douglas DC-6B aeroplane transporting the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjoeld, disappeared over the Congolese jungle at the height of the Cold War. Soon afterward, Hammarskjoeld was discovered in the smoking wreckage, an Ace of Spades playing card placed on his body. He had been heralded as the Congo's best hope for peace and independence. Now he was dead. The circumstances of that night have remained one of the Cold War's most tightly guarded secrets for decades. Now, with exclusive evidence, investigative journalist Ravi Somaiya finally uncovers the truth, with dark implications for governments and corporations alike.

A sparkling new translation of one of the greatest travel books ever written: Marco Polo's seminal account of his journeys in the east. Marco Polo was the most famous traveller of his time. His voyages began in 1271 with a visit to China, after which he served the Kublai Khan on numerous diplomatic missions. On his return to the West he was made a prisoner of war and met Rustichello of Pisa, with whom he collaborated on this book. His account of his travels offers a fascinating glimpse of what he encountered abroad: unfamiliar religions, customs and societies; the spices and silks of the East; the precious gems, exotic vegetation and wild beasts of faraway lands. Evoking a remote and long-vanished world with colour and immediacy, Marco's book revolutionized western ideas about the then unknown East and is still one of the greatest travel accounts of all time. For this edition - the first completely new English translation of the Travels in over fifty years - Nigel Cliff has gone back to the original manuscript sources to produce a fresh, authoritative new version. The volume also contains invaluable editorial materials, including an introduction describing the world as it stood on the eve of Polo's departure, and examining the fantastical notions the West had developed of the East.

'The inventions, the innovations, the stories, the surprises. A combination of history, reference and entertainment - something for every seafarer and many others too.' - Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence People have been sailing for thousands of years, but we've come some distance from longboats and clippers. How did we arrive here? In fifty tales of inventors and innovations, Sails, Skippers and Sextants looks at the history of one of our most enjoyable pastimes, from the monarch who pioneered English yachting to the engineer who invented sailboards. The stories are sometimes inspiring, usually amusing and often intriguing - so grab your lifejacket, it's going to be quite an adventure.

A WASHINGTON POST NOTABLE WORK OF NON-FICTION A SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR 'Meticulous, clinical and sobering, a shockingly important and incisive book' David Olusoga Vast and revelatory, Dan Gretton's I You We Them is an unprecedented study of the perpetrators of crimes against humanity: the 'desk killers' who ordered and directed some of the worst atrocities of the modern era. From Albert Speer's complicity in Nazi barbarism to cases of ecocide and the deaths of activists, Gretton shines a light on the figures 'who, by giving orders, use paper or a phone or a computer to kill, instead of a gun.' Over the past twenty years, Gretton has interviewed survivors and perpetrators, and pored over archives and thousands of pages of testimony. His remarkable insight into the psychology of the desk killers is deepened by the intimate journey he travels with his readers.