Icon Books

The Shrink and the Sage: A Guide to Living, written by British philosopher Julian Baggini, and therapist Antonia Macaro, is published today.

From what Aristotle can teach us about practical wisdom to how the work of psychologists such as Daniel Kahneman can improve our decision-making, they offer eminently practical advice to many common personal dilemmas.

Upbeat, enjoyable and thought-provoking, this brilliantly readable intellectual agony uncle and aunt team combine the insights of philosophy and psychology to begin to piece together a a guide to the good life and how to live it.

Read an extract from the book below.

To find out more about The Shrink and the Sage, go here.

Kate Monro, author of The First Time: True Tales of Virginity Lost and Found (Including My Own), will be at Queen’s Park Book Festival on 20th May, in the Qwerty tent, at 4pm.

The First Time is a groundbreaking and very personal insight into modern sexuality. To find out more about the book go here or watch the video below.

Tickets are £10 for the day (£8 concs) or £15 for a weekend ticket. To find out more about the festival go here.

Journal of Popular Romance Studies has also published a review this week, saying “Scholars of popular romance should find The First Time a witty and entertaining read, one that whets their appetites and provides a good jumping-off place for further systematic research on romance, love, and virginity loss”. To read more of the review go here.

Ireland’s Independent has reviewed Bobby’s Open by Steven Reid. Dermot Gilleece says, ‘I wasn’t disappointed. Acknowledging that few golfers have had more words written about them than Jones, [Reid] still manages to turn a number of fascinating fresh furrows.’ You can read more of the review here.

Bobby’s Open is the inspirational story of a golfing legend and one of the game’s defining contests. Steven Reid joined us in the office last week to sign copies of his highly anticipated book, published June 2012.

Steven will also be on CNN International’s Living Golf this Thursday, 9.30am.

To read more about Bobby’s Open go here.

Mark ‘Etymologicon‘ Forsyth was a guest of the wonderful people at Lost Lectures recently, and there gave a talk on, in their words, ‘what is considered ‘correct’ English: dispelling myths, highlighting inconsistencies and generally poking fun at what all our teachers taught us to be true. From prepositions to plurals he goes to the far reaches of the archives to tease out the most ridiculous rules that apparently govern our language, silencing even the most punctilious of linguistic pedants!’

Enjoy!

Mark Forsyth: An ‘Unruly’ Look at the English Language. from The Lost Lectures on Vimeo.

Mark Forsyth, author of The Etymologicon, discusses why Hamlet is EXACTLY 30 years old, wears a hat and has a beard, and recounts some scurrilous gossip about the Bard, who would be the ripe old age of 448 today.

Find out more about The Etymologicon here and it’s successor, The Horologicon, here.

The Universe Inside You provides fascinating facts and mind-boggling science of the human body. You can share some of these facts with your family and friends using our infographic:

Click the image to view a larger version.

Many more facts can be discovered in The Universe Inside You, available now to buy now. To find out more about the book go here.

See more about Mark Forsyth’s brilliant, Sunday Times Number One bestseller The Etymologicon here, and it’s sequel The Horologicon - which is published in November - here.

Julian Baggini and Antonia Macaro’s brilliant new ‘Guide to Living’, The Shrink and the Sage has arrived at Icon HQ today.

Should we be happy pessimists? How much should we care about our appearance? What should you do before you die?

Philosopher Julian and therapist Antonia present their unique brand of self-help – with a distinctly cerebral edge in their new book, and attempt to answer questions like those above.

In need of a little wisdom in your life? Of course you are… The book is published on 3rd May – see more here.