For many people the greatest artist, and the quintessential Renaissance man, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was a painter, architect, theatre designer, engineer, sculptor, anatomist, geometer, naturalist, poet and musician. His Last Supper in Milan has been called the greatest painting in Western art. Illegitimate, left-handed and homosexual, Leonardo never made a straightforward career. But from his earliest apprenticeship with the Florentine painter and sculptor Andrea Verrochio, his astonishing gifts were recognised. His life led him from Florence to militaristic Milan and back, to Rome and eventually to France, where he died in the arms of the King, Francis I. As one of the greatest exponents of painting of his time, Leonardo was celebrated by his fellow Florentine Vasari (who was nevertheless responsible for covering over the great fresco of the Battle of Anghiari with his own painting). Vasari's carefully researched life of Leonardo remains one of the main sources of our knowledge, and is printed here together with the three other early biographies, and the major account by his French editor Du Fresne. Personal reminiscences by the novelist Bandello, and humanist Saba di Castiglione, round out the picture, and for the first time the extremely revealing imagined dialogue between Leonardo and the Greek sculptor Phidias, by the painter and theorist Lomazzo, is published in English. An introduction by the scholar Charles Robertson places these writings and the career of Leonardo in context. Approximately 50 pages of colour illustrations, including the major paintings and many of the astonishing drawings, give a rich overview of Leonardo's work and mind.

A smaller, cheaper edition of this acclaimed illustrated biography of Beatrix Potter. Respected biographer Sarah Gristwood discovers a life crisscrossed with contradictions and marked by tragedy, yet one that left a remarkable literary - and environmental - legacy. This illustrated biography of the beloved writer has been a strong seller and critical success. It is now available in a smaller, more affordable format. Interest in Beatrix Potter and her characters is undimmed, with the second Peter Rabbit film being released in summer 2021 and an exhibition at the V&A from February 2022, 'Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature'. Few people realise how extraordinary Beatrix Potter's own story is. She was a woman of contradictions. A sheltered Victorian daughter who grew into an astute modern businesswoman. A talented artist who became a scientific expert. A famous author who gave it all up to become a farmer, then a pioneering conservationist. Bestselling biographer Sarah Gristwood follows the twists and turns of Beatrix Potter's life and its key turning points - including her tragically brief first engagement and happy second marriage late in life. She traces the creation of Beatrix's most famous characters - including the naughty Peter Rabbit, confused Jemima Puddleduck and cheeky Squirrel Nutkin - revealing how she drew on her unusual childhood pets and locations in her beloved Lake District. A fitting legacy for a pioneering conservationist who helped save thousands of acres of the Lake District.' - The Mail on Sunday 'Excellent, anecdotal text...' - The Times Literary Supplement 'Beautifully illustrated.' - The Sunday Express

Black Sabbath is currently on The End Tour," which they have proclaimed as their final concert tour . Iron Man chronicles the story of both pioneering guitarist Tony Iommi and legendary band Black Sabbath, dubbed The Beatles of heavy metal" by Rolling Stone . Iron Man reveals the man behind the icon yet still captures Iommi's humour, intelligence, and warmth. He speaks honestly and unflinchingly about his rough-and-tumble childhood, the accident that almost ended his career, his failed marriages, personal tragedies, battles with addiction, band mates, famous friends, newfound daughter, and the ups and downs of his life as an artist. Everything associated with hard rock happened to Black Sabbath first: the drugs, the debauchery, the drinking, the dungeons, the pressure, the pain, the conquests, the company men, the contracts, the combustible drummer, the critics, the comebacks, the singers, the Stonehenge set, the music, the money, the madness, the metal.

A wryly funny and surprisingly moving account of an extraordinary life lived almost entirely in the public eye

A teen idol at fifteen, an international icon and founder of the Brat Pack at twenty, and one of Hollywood's top stars to this day, Rob Lowe chronicles his experiences as a painfully misunderstood child actor in Ohio uprooted to the wild counterculture of mid-seventies Malibu, where he embarked on his unrelenting pursuit of a career in Hollywood.

"The Outsiders" placed Lowe at the birth of the modern youth movement in the entertainment industry. During his time on "The West Wing," he witnessed the surreal nexus of show business and politics both on the set and in the actual White House. And in between are deft and humorous stories of the wild excesses that marked the eighties, leading to his quest for family and sobriety.

Never mean-spirited or salacious, Lowe delivers unexpected glimpses into his successes, disappointments, relationships, and one-of-a-kind encounters with people who shaped our world over the last twenty-five years. These stories are as entertaining as they are unforgettable.

"You think you know her . . ."
Now read the stories even her famous children haven't heard in this gripping and inspirational "New York Times "bestseller from the superstar matriarch of one of the biggest celebrity empires of our time.
On "Keeping Up with the Kardashians," we've watched Kris Jenner do it all. She runs a household, manages her children's blockbuster careers, produces four television shows featuring her larger-than-life family, and still finds time to tweet to her fans. In this thoughtful, candid, and no-nonsense memoir, Kris opens up about the parts of her life that aren't always in the spotlight: her marriage to Robert Kardashian, the late father of her four oldest children; her husband Olympic champion Bruce Jenner's pivotal role in ending the Kardashians' messy divorce so they could all move forward as a family; her close relationships with Nicole Brown Simpson and O. J. Simpson and her insider knowledge about the murder, its aftermath, and the infamous trial; and even her controversial decision to make her charming family into an international brand.
If you think your life is chaotic, try keeping up with Kris Jenner.

An acclaimed comedic actress and writer, former Oprah regular, wife of political and media star George Stephanopoulos, and a mother who lets her two girls eat cotton candy before bed, Ali Wentworth rebelled against her blue-blood upbringing, embracing Hollywood, motorcycles, even a few wildly inappropriate marriage proposals. In Ali in Wonderland, she takes us through the looking glass: from a childhood among Washington's elite and a stint in a New England prep school to her days doing L.A. sketch comedy alongside Will Ferrell and Lisa Kudrow. Constant throughout is her mother, Muffie, a flawlessly elegant, no-nonsense force of nature and pure WASP convictions. As charming and off-the-wall as Ali herself, her acclaimed memoir is a delightful look at life that is both intimate and uproarious.

From the Academy Award®-winning actor, an unconventional memoir filled with raucous stories, outlaw wisdom, and lessons learned the hard way about living with greater satisfaction.

I've been in this life for fifty years, been trying to work out its riddle for forty-two, and been keeping diaries of clues to that riddle for the last thirty-five. Notes about successes and failures, joys and sorrows, things that made me marvel, and things that made me laugh out loud. How to be fair. How to have less stress. How to have fun. How to hurt people less. How to get hurt less. How to be a good man. How to have meaning in life. How to be more me.

Recently, I worked up the courage to sit down with those diaries. I found stories I experienced, lessons I learned and forgot, poems, prayers, prescriptions, beliefs about what matters, some great photographs, and a whole bunch of bumper stickers. I found a reliable theme, an approach to living that gave me more satisfaction, at the time, and still: If you know how, and when, to deal with life's challenges - how to get relative with the inevitable - you can enjoy a state of success I call 'catching greenlights.'

So I took a one-way ticket to the desert and wrote this book: an album, a record, a story of my life so far. This is fifty years of my sights and seens, felts and figured-outs, cools and shamefuls. Graces, truths, and beauties of brutality. Getting away withs, getting caughts, and getting wets while trying to dance between the raindrops.

Hopefully, it's medicine that tastes good, a couple of aspirin instead of the infirmary, a spaceship to Mars without needing your pilot's license, going to church without having to be born again, and laughing through the tears.

It's a love letter. To life.

It's also a guide to catching more greenlights-and to realising that the yellows and reds eventually turn green too.

Good luck.

During two feverish decades between the world wars, Bernarr Macfadden did more to educate the world about healthy eating, alternative medicine, regular sexual activity, and exercise than anyone in history. His disciples included Upton Sinclair and Charles Atlas; among his employees were Walter Winchell, Ed Sullivan, and Eleanor Roosevelt. He launched the worst newspaper in U.S. history, founded a whole-grain utopian community in the New Jersey suburbs, trained fascist cadets for Mussolini, and came within a hair's breadth of being elected senator from Florida--running on a physical fitness platform. Yet today few have heard of this larger-than-life entrepreneur who changed American society. In "Mr. America," Mark Adams illuminates Macfadden's captivating, ambitious, and unparalleled life.

An inside look at the life of Comedy's Lovable Queen of Mean, Lisa Lampanelli, as she dishes on everything from relationships to food, fat, and rehab.

In her jaw-droppingly hilarious, gloriously, and unabashedly politically incorrect memoir, Lisa reveals all--including her dysfunctional childhood and her struggles with addictions to food and hot guys. By telling her story in a very real, very candid way, Lisa shows her audience that it's okay to be yourself, even if it's just one rehab stint at a time.

Afterword by Alzheimer's Research UK. 'Shobna Gulati is the Northern heroine of a nation' - Lemn Sissay 'Lucid and probing' - Guardian 'Wonderful and emotional, a masterpiece of resilience.' - Emma Kennedy Remember Me? is a memoir about caring for a parent with dementia and the memories that resurface in the process. In her first book, Shobna Gulati sets out to reclaim her mother's past after her death, and in turn, discovers a huge amount about herself and their relationship. Remember Me? captures the powerful emotions that these memories hold to both Shobna and her mother; secrets they had collectively buried and also the concealment of her mother's condition. What ensues is a story of cultural assimilation, identity and familial shame. 'A raw, honest, moving and wry account of the complexity of a mother daughter relationship convoluted by the torment of dementia.' - Sanjeev Bhaskar 'Gulati's book not only describes the complexities of caring (we must not forget its joys, she says, alongside its difficulties) and her mother's dementia, it is also an exploration of identity.' - Guardian 'You'll find yourself not wanting to leave her trusted embrace.' - Desiree Burch 'Beautifully written. Heartfelt.' - Kate Robbins 'I laughed, I cried ... a relationship like no other.' - Ferne Mccann

A blend of This Is Spinal Tap and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the cult classic confessions of a debauched rock 'n' roller and his adventures in excess on the '80s hair-metal nostalgia tour through Middle America--available again, and now revised and updated.

Once upon a time at the start of the new century, the unheard-of Unband got a chance to drink, fight, and play loud music with '80s metal bands like Dio and Def Leppard. To the mix they brought illegal pyrotechnics, a giant red inflatable hand with movable digits, a roadie dubiously named Safety Bear, a high tolerance for liver damage, and an infectious love of rock & roll and everything it represents.

Unband bassist Michael Ruffino takes us on an epic joyride across a surrealistic American landscape where we meet mute Christian groupies, crack-smoking Girl Scouts, beer-drinking chimps, and thousands of head-bangers who cannot accept that hair metal is dead. Here, too, are uncensored portraits of Ronnie James Dio, Anthrax, Sebastian Bach, Lemmy of Motorhead, and others.

Adios, Motherfucker is gonzo rock storytelling at its finest--excessive, incendiary, intelligent, hilarious, and utterly original.