Cribbage, Knockout Whist, Rummy and Klondike are among the multitude of games and variations packed into this simple companion to essential entertainment. With scoring systems and tips and tricks to amaze your friends and keep you sharp you'll find this new book an invaluable part of your leisure time, a sociable break from mobiles and TV screens.

If you were to imagine your ideal guide to a book of word games, who would you picture? Does an urbane, witty writer come to mind? How about a widely recognized authority and historian of games? Perhaps you'd want someone who successfully creates games himself and has written extensively on a wide variety of games? And oh what the heck let's make him British to add a bit of extra charm.

Well, if that sounds like the ideal game guide, look no further. David Parlett is an internationally recognized master of games. The author of many books, including the Oxford History of Board Games and The Penguin Book of Card Games, he has also created many games including Hare & Tortoise, which has sold over 3 million copies.

In "The Book of Word Games" Parlett presents a practical and entertaining guide to word games and how to play them. He offers clear and witty introductions to over 150 word games, indicating degree of difficulty, appropriate number of players, and age range (many of the games are great for the classroom or to give your kids some fun while improving their language skills). Parlett also gives a wealth of interesting etymological knowledge, including word origins, phonetic facts and interesting tidbits like the longest word in the English language. There is something for everyone, from new readers to sophisticated word connoisseurs.

From well-known favorites such as Boggle and Consequences to lesser-known but equally enjoyable games such as Bacronyms and Aesop's Mission, "The Book of Word Games" presents a wide-ranging collection of word games for verbivores of all ages.

The Penguin Book of Card Games is the authoritative up-to-date compendium, describing an abundance of games to be played both for fun and by serious players. Auctions, trumpless hands, cross-ruffing and lurching: card players have a language all of their own. From games of high skill (Bridge) to games of high chance (Newmarket) to trick-taking (Whist) and banking (Pontoon), David Parlett, seasoned specialist in card games, takes us masterfully through the countless games to choose from. Not content to merely show us games with the conventional fifty-two card pack, Parlett covers many games played with other types of cards - are you brave enough to play with Tarot? With a 'working description' of each game, with the rules, variations and origins of each, as well as an appendix of games invented by the author himself, The Penguin Book of Card Games will delight, entertain and inform both the novice and the seasoned player.

Emile Jaques-Dalcroze (1865-1950) was a Swiss composer and pedagogue who devised a method of music education based on rhythm, movement and aural training, entitled Eurythmics. He founded the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze in Geneva after World War I, and from there his ideas and influence spread throughout Europe, America and the English-speaking world. Dalcroze believed that, far from being the prerogative of an elite, the study of music should be universal, and that sensitive teaching could nurture and help express the innate musicality of children. His approach sought to develop a refined ear, nervous sensitivity, a sense of rhythm and a spontaneous ability to externalize inward sensations, all things essential to a deep comprehension of music. The use of movement and improvization became central to the learning process, as Dalcroze considrered the first-hand aural and physical experience of music essential to the growth of musicianship. At the same time the emphasis on the primacy of the individual's response, on the importance of experience over rule-learning, and on the individual as creator, as well as responder, leads to a deeper self-awareness and enriched understanding of many