Abandoned by their parents, Maya and her older brother, Bailey, are sent to live with their grandmother and uncle in the small Southern town of Stamps in Arkansas. Struggling with rejection, they endure the prejudice of their white neighbours and suffer several racist incidents. One day, their father unexpectedly returns and takes the children to live with their mother in St Louis, Missouri. Aged only eight, Maya is abused by her mother's boyfriend, an experience that haunts her for a lifetime.

Relax and find happiness amid the swirl of the modern world with this internationally best-selling guide to simplifying your life by a Japanese monk who embodies the wisdom of Zen. Drawing on centuries of wisdom, renowned Zen Buddhist priest Shunmyo Masuno applies the essence of Zen to modern life in clear, practical, easily adopted lessons - one a day for 100 days.

Britain's number one breath coach presents a practical audio guide to breathwork. We breathe around 20,000 times per day, but how often do we think about how we breathe and the power of our breath? Breathwork is being hailed as the next yoga, and Rebecca Dennis is on a mission to share her expertise and knowledge, teaching the benefits of breathwork and how it can make you happier, healthier and calmer. 

In 10 on-the-couch sessions, New Zealand clinical psychologist Karen Nimmo diagnoses, explains and treats Busy as F*ck syndrome, the condition that's consuming us all, whether we realize it or not. If we are going to squeeze the most from ourselves and our all-too-short lives, we need to be able to gauge when our Busy as F*ckness is compromising (or drip-feed destroying) our physical and emotional health, when we're hurting people we love, and when we're becoming that person others want to hide from. 

Mother deer that grieve? Horses that feel shame? Squirrels that adopt their grandchildren? We humans tend to assume that we are the only living things able to experience feelings intensely and consciously. But have you ever wondered what's going on in an animal's head? From the leafy forest floor to the inside of a beehive, The Inner Life of Animals takes us from microscopic levels of observation to the big philosophical, ethical and scientific questions.

From students looking for a comprehensive resource to those looking for a self-help audiobook, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Psychology provides an easy-to-understand look at both the history and modern practice of psychology. Written by Joni E. Johnston, an award-winning, practising clinical psychologist, this audiobook is a comprehensive look at psychology, but it pays extra attention to contemporary issues such as fear/anxiety, child psychology, health psychology, mood-altering drugs and forensics.

To most of us, learning something 'the hard way' implies wasted time and effort. Good teaching, we believe, should be creatively tailored to the different learning styles of students and should use strategies that make learning easier. Make It Stick turns fashionable ideas like these on their head and will appeal to all those interested in the challenge of lifelong learning and self-improvement.

We all know there are major, overlapping, global crises ahead of humanity: climate change, mass migration, new warfare, big tech, further pandemics, authoritarian capitalism. Rather than be daunted, this book charts a way that we can respond. With expertise from his work at the highest levels of international politics, education, activism and business, Tom Fletcher offers a practical manifesto that can help us transform the way we learn, live and work together. Amongst its key survival skills, this book offers ideas on how we renew education, restore society and reimagine the future. 

In this book, globetrotting neurosurgeon Dr Sanjay Gupta offers insights from top scientists all over the world, whose cutting-edge research can help you heighten and protect brain function and maintain cognitive health at any age. Keep Sharp debunks common myths about ageing and cognitive decline, explores whether there's a 'best' diet or exercise regimen for the brain and explains whether it's healthier to play video games that test memory and processing speed or to engage in more social interaction. 

In Atlas of the Heart, New York Times best-selling author Dr Brené Brown takes us on a journey through 87 of the emotions and experiences that define what it means to be human. As she maps the necessary skills and lays out an actionable framework for meaningful connection, she gives us the language and tools to access a universe of new choices and second chances - a universe where we can share and steward the stories of our bravest and most heart-breaking moments with one another in a way that builds connection.

This is a story about a life lived in two halves. It’s about what happens when real life collides with the increasing absurdity of a world accessed through a screen. It’s about where we go when existential threats loom and the high stakes of reality that claim us back. It’s about living in world that contains both an abundance of proof that there is goodness, empathy and justice in the universe and a deluge of evidence to the contrary.

From 1st January to 31st December the listener will discover a curious coinage or a fascinating etymological fact linked to that particular day - from the dramatic true story behind stealing someone's thunder to the original Jack the Lad. Word Perfect gathers all her very best discoveries from the true origin of freelancer which comes from knights who were free to use their lance for whoever paid most, rather than being tied to a single lord. (Also secretaries kept your secrets so were secretries).

Corey White was a golden child. He knew this because his father would hit his mother and his sisters but not him. And his mother adored him so much she let him drop out of primary school. After losing his father to jail and his mother to heroin, though, he became a target for cruelty and dysfunction in foster homes. A scholarship to a prestigious boarding school lifted him out of foster care and awakened a love of learning and reading for him, but this was soon overwhelmed by a crushing depression and drug addiction.

This Too Shall Pass unflinchingly deals with major issues relating to: family, love, work, health and identity. We follow the personal narratives of 20 or so everyday people in their 20s to 80s during their most vulnerable and transformative experiences. We follow Jackson's character-building story of first love; Rachel's difficult return from maternity leave; Maria's mid-life love crisis; Sara's hopeful new life as a refugee and Owen's well-received coming out. These are unforgettable and deeply intimate yet universal stories. 

With millions of copies sold The Stranger is one of the most widely read novels in the world. It stands as perhaps the greatest existentialist tale ever conceived. When a young Algerian named Meursault kills a man, his subsequent imprisonment and trial are puzzling and absurd. This remarkable translation by Matthew Ward has been considered the definitive English version since its original publication.