The Egyptologist and lecturer for the British Museum and Victoria & Albert Museum Delia Pemberton has created a beautiful book on the treasures, wisdom and spirituality of Buddhism. Through carefully selected words and pictures she presents the fascinating events of his life, a summary of his teachings, the Cosmic Buddhas, paradise, the afterlife, and the future. Long popular among Western art lovers and collectors, these objects include lacquered wood figures from Japan, painted textiles from Tibet, a Buddhist Stupa in India, a limestone drum slab, gold reliquary set with garnets, huge statues, silk paintings and panels, a huge monk statue in the Prayer Hall in Rangoon, illuminated manuscripts, bronze figures from Java and stones inscribed with Buddhist mantras in Dharamsala, India. 'In the Pure Land, all material needs are met and conditions are perfect for receiving the Dharma teachings continually provided by the presiding Buddha. Those beings fortunate enough to be reborn into a Pure Land are thus guaranteed to attain Enlightenment in the future.' 47 colour illustrations, 96pp.

From 1931 to 1949, Julian Levy's New York gallery played an essential role in the shift of the avant-garde from Paris to America. It championed experimental film and photography and served as a venue for artists fleeing Europe and Hitler. It presented the first New York exhibitions of artists such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Joseph Cornell, Frida Kahlo, Salvador Dalí, Arshile Gorky, Lee Miller, René Magritte, and Dorothea Tanning, all the while promoting a vision of art at its broadest. There were 'idea shows' suggested by such critical thinkers as André Breton and Marcel Duchamp, as well as shows about fashion, design, dance, popular culture and even music including a performance by Paul Bowles. It was also a place to watch the identity of the art gallery as a commercial institution taking shape, from a mere curiosity shop full of books, prints and lampshades among the first wares, to a contemporary art gallery - naked, white and modern. All this history argues for the need to read Levy's memoirs afresh. He tells the world he lived in with wit and appetite in a book that deals in sensual adventure; Levy was devoted to Surrealism, to Duchamp and Alfred Stieglitz, whom he claimed as his godfathers in art. Both men were high priests of early Modernism, prone to sermonising and wearing capes and to be reverent, especially of photography, then a new medium of dubious aesthetic standing. Duchamp inducted the young man into the living pleasures of both media when he invited him to tag along on a trip to Paris. On board ship, the two men speculated on the makings of a self-lubricating mechanical woman and discussed plans to shoot a film using Man Ray's equipment. The film was never made, but the trip altered the course of Levy's life and his co-travellers as artists, dealers, publishers, curators, writers and lovers of printed matter passed all their inclinations on to the young Levy. Besides running a gallery for almost 19 years, Levy wrote extensively and helped create exhibitions throughout his life with a high sense of style. There are tales of luminaries like James Joyce and incendiary episodes such as Duchamp's Kiss and Levy's purported rescue of Eugène Atget's great photographic archive of Paris. Levy slightly glorified his early investment and enthusiasm for the work at the expense of Berenice Abbott's essential role. Levy introduced Yves Tangui to New York, conceived the idea for Dalí's 'Birth of Venus' Pavilion at the World's Fair, shared a summer house with Max Ernst and fished with André Breton. He was with Gorky in the final tragic days before the painter's suicide. The memoir is a story of prescient vision and lifelong devotion. 320 page paperback, 32 pages of black and white photos, 2003 first edition US paperback facsimile of the original 1977 publication.

Gathered in this book is a whole archipelago of undiscovered islands, grouped into six sections - Mythical Places Confined to Stories, Islands Found by Early Travellers in the Atlantic and Pacific when few people knew the world beyond their own shores, the Age of Exploration, Sunken Islands thought to have been submerged, and Fraudulent Islands invented by hoaxers and liars. The sixth and final group are recent un-discoveries made during the 20th and 21st centuries. Each of these places has its own story and none is alike. Some have helped to shape entire cultures while others have been barely noticed. All reflect in some ways the values of their age, and all have enriched the geography of the mind. This glamorous book seeks to celebrate and commemorate these undiscovered islands and through them tell the story of how man has created our image of the world. Their names include the Isles of the Blessed, Kibu, Hawaiki, St Brendan's Isle, the Island of Seven Cities, Hy Brasil, Davisland, the Auroras, Atlantis, Sarah Ann Island, Javasu, Crockerland and Los Jardines among them. Wondrous stories and equally wondrous colour decorations of whales and serpents and fruit and skulls and palm trees as we traverse these mysterious lands. 144 large pages, colour.

Sir Lenny Henry rang up the Office for National Statistics to confirm something he had been thinking about for a long time. They confirmed to him that only 29.5% of the United Kingdom's population is made up of white, heterosexual, able-bodied men. So, he wonders, why do they still make up the vast majority of people we see in our media? Joining forces with the former Chair of the Royal Television Society's Diversity Committee, Marcus Ryder, he draws on decades of experience to reveal why recent efforts to diversify media have been thus far ineffective, and why they are simply not enough. With wit, humour and unflinching gravitas they analyse the flaws of current diversity initiatives, point out the structural and financial imbalances working against the cause, and provide clear solutions to get the media industry back on track. They include important and inspiring stories and delicious details like biscuits in meetings with senior UK politicians and when Nicola Sturgeon eats Tunnock's teacakes! From a pun at the BAFTAs to giving evidence at the Houses of Parliament and beyond, Lenny Henry goes on a journey to find out why so many of us feel excluded in society, and what we can do about it. 181pp, Faber paperback.

'A beautiful, lyrical story of personal healing that deftly interweaves botanical history and lore, and highlights the importance of urban green spaces in an increasingly disconnected world.' - Kayte Nunn. Interweaving gardening history with memoir, here is nature writing and knowledge of horticulture to inspire readers to get planting and how plants have the power to help us find ourselves. When she suddenly finds herself uprooted, heartbroken, grieving and living out of a suitcase in her late 20s, Alice Vincent begins planting seeds. She nurtures pot plants and vines on windowsills and draining boards, filling her many temporary London homes with greenery. The benefits of sticking your hands in soil and where horticulture fits with the modern urban experience is blended in one enjoyable cocktail of memoir and botanical history. As the months pass and with each unfurling petal and budding leaf, Alice begins to come back to life. The book is a poem to wild hope, strength and tenderness in nature and in ourselves. 350pp, paperback.

For every Gaelic football fan here is a book offering fascinating insight into the egos, dressing room divides and bad habits from unwelcoming veterans to arseboxing and collapsing human pyramids, to marching to the Hill to startled earwigs and champions, Cotter has it all covered in his well written and insightful read. The raw and hardnosed nature of Gaelic football and the Dublin dressing room at the end of the 1990s jumps from the page. It was a time when Ireland's biggest, richest county went through such a barren period, from political squabbles to general mismanagement behind the scenes which kept the Dubs from taking Sam home for so long. There are also great snippets from interviews with former players and coaches from Bertie Ahern to a host of managers which add great colour to the stories. Dublin has become the dominant force in Gaelic football, setting new standards of skill and efficiency, but it was not very long ago that the county was a byword for underachievement and disorganisation. Every year from 1996 to 2010 the Dubs found new and creative ways of losing, of causing their fans to suffer, and of earning the scorn of the wider GAA public. The book is full of frank, witty and sometimes outrageous stories and analysis from those in the know. 256pp, paperback, colour photos.

Commoner-turned-royal, Nick Copeman is probably sitting in his caravan palace in Sheringham, eating a Taste the Difference ready meal and living the high life on the latest fashions from TK Maxx, drinking pink gin, watching trash TV and dreaming up his next scam. Living like a 'king' this is a funny, sad memoir of a man who creates ludicrous and funny situations. 25, unemployed, still living with his parents with absolutely nothing to move on to in life, Nick Copeman's answer was to change his name by deed pole to HM King Nicholas and found an empire from his royal seat - a caravan just outside Norfolk. Originally done as a bet, part of which was to arrive at Cromer Job Centre on a horse and wearing a crown, the prank soon escalated. Nick sells peerages over the Internet, receives corporate freebies, becomes a local celebrity, acquires a credit card in his name, and dreams of a date with Zara Phillips. But as His Majesty starts to believe his own hype, his evermore outlandish claims start catching up with him. Will the locals who hang around Costcutter make sure it's 'off with his head'? A great British eccentric who we believe still writes to Zara regularly. She has yet to reply. 274pp, paperback with photos.

For all new mums and those welcoming new arrivals, this has been described as 'A quietly revolutionary little book' from the award winning young New Yorker. A slanted, enchanted miscellany, Galchen writes about babies and art (with wrongly shaped head) and babies in literature (rarer than dogs or abortions and often monstrous). She writes about the effort of taking a passport photo for a baby not yet able to hold up her head, and the frightening prevalence of orange as today's chic colour for baby gifts, about Frankenstein as a sort of baby, and a baby as a sort of Godzilla. She calls her baby the Puma, and in her calm, literary style makes remarks such as: 'The baby loves to look at photos of babies. And at drawings of babies. And although she doesn't play with other babies often, she observes them on the street with a special interest, with much more interest than she gives to a similarly aloof adult. Albeit with less attention than she would give to a dog. It's a very particular kind of interest, a mirror interest, I am guessing. She doesn't know yet that she is going to get bigger?' 130pp.

The very personal guessing game with a warning that it is for Adults Only. You might think you know everything about your friend, partner or family member, but this game is here to put your theory to the test. Sit in pairs and put each player's name on a piece of paper. Each pair gets posed five questions. For example, who is the most argumentative of the two of you? What is their favourite colour? Who is their best friend? What is their Mum's-Dad's-first boyfriend/girlfriend's name? Jobs, dogs, who was naughtier at school, musical instruments they played, eye colour, aches and pains, who spends more time in the shower, who wakes up first, would they be calm if they met their favourite celebrity, if they could be any superhero who would they be? You get the gist. Then it gets hotter. Have they lost their virginity and how old were they? Do they still know the person they lost their virginity to? Have they ever sent a picture of themselves in underwear to a partner? Have they ever had a rebound relationship? Big cartoon style illustrations throughout and colourful page edges. Big board book.