Alain de Botton meets Russell Brand in this glorious rant about everything that drives you mad about the modern world. How did everything get so dumb? How did we become hostages to idiocy? What must we do to be freed from a captor whose ransom note simply reads, 'D'oh'? The deteriorating quality of our public debate and the dwindling of common sense in media, politics and culture can drive you to despair and rage. It certainly drove writers Helen Razer and Bernard Keane to a desperate act: befriending each other for long enough to write a book. Join forces with these uneasy allies to fight against a world that has lost its reason. Explore what's behind the remorseless spread of idiocy, and why there's just so much damn Stupid around you. Stupid isn't just ignorance; it's not just laziness. Worse than the absence of thought, Stupid is a virus that drains our productivity and leaves us sick and diminished. And Stupid has a long, complex and terrible past, one we need to understand in order to defeat it. A Short History of Stupid traces the origins of this maddening ill, examining the different ways in which we've been afflicted over the last three thousand years. It damns those who have spread Stupid and celebrates the brave few who resisted. It shows how Stupid tightens the grubby grip of the foolish around our throats. Hilarious, smart, unpleasant, infuriating and rude, A Short History of Stupid is at once a provocation and a comfort. It will spark debate, soothe the terminally frustrated and outrage the righteously Stupid. It is a book whose Stupid time has come.

A hilarious tale of girl meets boy, girl falls in lust, girl discovers boy is not playing with a full deck... When Kas meets William while on safari in South Africa he seems perfect-a gorgeous park ranger, both kind and brave (he saved the tour from certain death by water buffalo). Her two best friends, Max, an endlessly scheming personal trainer, and Libby, a jobless bombshell, would like to get their hands on William...but he's only interested in Kas, an editorial assistant at a struggling New York literary agency who thinks William is out of her league. The two have a fling, and Kas returns home to New York wondering if she'll hear from William again. So when he finally sends an email, she's delighted. Until she opens it. The email is not quite the love missive Kas expected. Did she misjudge William? A miscommunication ensues, triggering a rapid-fire series of comic developments that, within days, bring William to New York, now under the impression that Kas has offered him a place to live. As he unveils his big plan to take Manhattan by storm and make his fortune, Kas finally recognizes how limited William's intellectual capabilities are: He makes Kevin Federline look like Albert Einstein. Readers are along for the outrageous ride as Kas copes with her new roommate's eccentricities, including a preoccupation with the Psychic Friends Network and a passion for collecting Big Apple-themed souvenirs, and the realization that her dream man is a comic nightmare. "Elaine Szewczyk is smart and funny, and knows that New York bars and African safaris have something important in common: When it comes to dating, it's a jungle out there. If you savor Sophie Kinsella or Lauren Weisberger, you'll want to add her to your reading list." -- Chris Bohjalian, author of Midwives, The Double Blind, and Skeletons at the Feast "Spirited, irreverent, bilious, and above all funny, Elaine Szewczyk's bitter cocktail provides a much-needed antidote for the chick-lit genre..." -- Adam Langer, author of Ellington Boulevard, Crossing California, and The Washington Story

What if the smartest people in the world understand something that the rest of us don't? (They do.) What if they know that in order to achieve success, they will sometimes have to do things that others may initially perceive as stupid?The fact of the matter is that the smartest people in the world don't run from stupid, they lean into it (in a smart way).In The Power of Starting Something Stupid, Richie Norton redefines stupid as we know it, demonstrating that life-changing ideas are often tragically mislabeled stupid. What if the key to success, creativity, and fulfillment in your life lies in the potential of those stupid ideas? This deeply inspiring book will teach you:¿ How to crush fear, make dreams happen, and live without regret.¿ How to overcome obstacles such as lack of time, lack of education, or lack of money.¿ The 5 actions of the New Smart to achieve authentic success.No more excuses. Learn how to start something stupid-the smartest thing you can do. Drawing on years of research, including hundreds of face-to-face interviews and some of the world's greatest success stories past and present, Richie shows you how stupid is the New Smart-the common denominator for success, creativity, and innovation in business and life.

Third in the medieval fantasy series. “A perfectly delicious, not entirely serious, reimagining of part of Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur.”—Booklist Her castle under siege by an evil knight who keeps beheading all her would-be rescuers, Lady Lynet realizes the only way to get help is to get it herself. So one night she slips away and strikes out for King Arthur’s court where she hopes to find a gallant knight to vanquish the Knight of the Red Lands and free her castle. Gerald Morris’s Arthurian novel is a highly comic tale of hidden identities, mysterious knights, faeries and enchantments, damsels-in-distress, and true love. “In Morris’s third wry, sometimes hilarious, take on an Arthurian legend, a sharp-tongued young damosel gets an education in sorcery, intrigue and what true knighthood is all about . . . Fans of Gail Carson Levine’s Ella Enchanted, Patricia Wrede’s Enchanted Forest Chronicles and similarly lighthearted fantasy will be delighted.”—Kirkus Reviews “A rollicking treatment of a lesser-known episode from Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur . . . The novel is also enjoyable for its good-natured spoofing of the conventions of its medieval setting.”—School Library Journal “A rare action-fantasy that crosses age and gender lines.”—The Bulletin

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • Inspired by her popular TED Talk, the founder and CEO of Girls Who Code urges women to embrace imperfection and live a bolder, more authentic life. “A timely message for women of all ages: Perfection isn’t just impossible but, worse, insidious.”—Angela Duckworth, bestselling author of Grit Imagine if you lived without the fear of not being good enough. If you didn’t care how your life looked on Instagram. If you could let go of the guilt and stop beating yourself up for making human mistakes. Imagine if, in every decision you faced, you took the bolder path? As women, too many of us feel crushed under the weight of our own expectations. We run ourselves ragged trying to please everyone, pass up opportunities that scare us, and avoid rejection at all costs. There’s a reason we act this way, Saujani says. As girls, we were taught to play it safe. Well-meaning parents and teachers praised us for being quiet and polite, urged us to be careful so we didn’t get hurt, and steered us to activities at which we could shine. As a result, we grew up to be women who are afraid to fail. It’s time to stop letting our fears drown out our dreams and narrow our world, along with our chance at happiness. By choosing bravery over perfection, we can find the power to claim our voice, to leave behind what makes us unhappy, and to go for the things we genuinely, passionately want. Perfection may set us on a path that feels safe, but bravery leads us to the one we’re authentically meant to follow. In Brave, Not Perfect,Saujani shares powerful insights and practices to help us let go of our need for perfection and make bravery a lifelong habit. By being brave, not perfect, we can all become the authors of our best and most joyful life.