For six years Tom Rodwell ran cricketing programmes from Cuba to Zimbabwe, attempting to soothe the world’s ills with the curiously English balm known as cricket.

From Beersheva Cricket Club pavilion in Israel – a converted nuclear bomb shelter, useful in the face of Hamas’ regular rocket attacks – to a game of ‘tapeball’ cricket with ex-Tamil Tiger child soldiers behind barbed wire in Sri Lanka, Rodwell discovers that the heart of the game is beating fast in countries more used to conflict than cricket.

Check out the book trailer below to view some footage of Tom’s wonderful journey.

Touching, amusing and imbued with a deep love of the game, Third Man in Havana documents the characters and experiences Rodwell encountered. You can find out more about the book here and read an extract from it here.

‘Less Than Nothing: Introducing Slavoj Žižek in conversation with Jonathan Derbyshire’ will offer thought-provoking discussion and a Q&A session. The event is free, but ticketed, and will take place on Monday June 7th at Central Saint Martins. To find out more about the event watch the video below and go here to find out how to reserve a place.

Ian Livingstone, co-creator of the Fighting Fantasy series, and author of upcoming gamebook Blood of the Zombies, is running an exciting competition for Fighting Fantasy fans.

Ian Livingstone is giving one lucky winner the chance to have their name appear in Blood of the Zombies, published August 2012. To enter, tweet #bloodofthezombies to @ian_livingstone and he will pick one person at random.

The competition ends 1st June 2012.

The Universe Inside You, sequel to the bestselling Inflight Science, explores how your eyes are quantum traps, consuming photons of light from the night sky that have travelled for millions of years; your many senses, which include the ability to detect warps in space and time; and why meeting an attractive person can turn you into a gibbering idiot. It is available now in paperback and ebook format.

Martin Bell is author of In Harm’s Way: Bosnia: A War Reporter’s Story, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and more. Read more about his books here.

Tickets cost £10 and are available from the Theatre Royal Winchester Box Office. Call the box office on 01962 840 440 or email boxoffice@theatreroyalwinchester.co.uk. To find out more about the event go here.

And we have a sneak preview for you here – what does Queen Gunhilda have to do with your mobile phone?

Visit the AudioGo website here to buy either CD set or the downloadable version.

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.

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.

Enjoy!

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