Fascinating topics, strange experiences and unusual advice Series

A classic guide to tricks and tactics for winning arguments, with commentary on the use of and defence against each tactic. The best summary of this book is ‘being right doesn’t mean you’re gonna win, and this is why’. It’s the ultimate guide to spotting the many different kinds of bullshit people pull in order to win over the crowd, rather than argue the point at hand. There’s very few of them that don’t immediately bring examples to mind, and having it laid out clearly like this is the perfect armour to stop people derailing you. In the real world, people don’t win arguments based on what’s correct. They win because they win over the crowd, or change the subject, or bully their rival, or 35 other causes. This guide will walk you through the various strategies that people use, with notes on usage and defence for each point. Arthur didn’t intend this work as a guide for winning fights. Much like Machiavelli’s The Prince, this is a satire – a guide on what to watch out for in others and yourself, not a toolkit. If you can’t win your argument on fair grounds, you need to reconsider your position; but that doesn’t mean you should let people steal the day by underhand means. This book will teach you how to spot and spike them before they get a head of steam.

If you're struggling with how to demystify the world, check out this guide. With answers about everything from AI and mental health, to living through hard times and discussions of philosophy, theology and spirituality, it contains a wealth of interesting facts, ideas and opinions. Also includes a section on marijuana-related questions, and properly reflective reviews of great sci fi, fantasy, non fiction and comedy books. You'll be guaranteed to find a classic work that you'll love in there.

A series of articles on various topics relating to society, including: Management styles and theory Quality philosophies  The structure of law Case studies in reducing crime and recidivism A reflective study on criminal justice A case study on Warner Brothers' political cartoons Articles on occupy, disintermediation, and ethical concerns A wide range of short questions and answers about life issues, philosophy, theology, and more

A collection of comic articles, collecting humorous travelogues as a Brit wanders the wilds of Africa and Asia. Includes... - A rock diary following a gigging band in London in the mid 2000s, who might be any aspirant post student band you've ever known - Travels around Asia on the modern Grand Tour, back in the years before the crisis hit - Strange journeys and getting attacked at a go kart track in India - The ruminations of an Englishman emigrating to South Africa and wondering what the hell is going on, but loving it - collected journalism from Durban in South Africa, early in the Zuma years - selected short fiction

This is not a self-help book, or a book of specific guidance. In fact, it was written because too many works that claim to help you find your way either disappear into meaningless abstraction or are so petty and particular they fall at the first hurdle, teaching control instead of acceptance. There are a lot of spiritual self help books out there, but most of them either pretend to be enlightened or provide such specific direction that you’ll never truly open your mind. This books is an attempt to address that problem. Come with Arthur and Chirag as they discuss the ways they have sought understanding and progress over time, both within and without. The intent of this book is to give something back, and perhaps help others seeking greater truths about the world and themselves to find their path, and not feel so alone. Perhaps in their tales of the search, you can find a further step on your own path.

What is humanism? For a long time, I thought I knew. I was wrong, though. I thought it was a branch of philosophy that had been born in the renaissance, and become the foundation for the Enlightenment and everything that came after. Looking back, I see that that was horribly Eurocentric. Of course, I learned about it growing up in England, so of course I would be told it was European. The real truth is hugely more sophisticated and ancient. Once I began to realise just how much verified contact between cultures there had been over the millennia, and how much of what I was told was humanism was a remnant of an older belief system, I knew something closer to the truth. This is the story of a history and tradition as long and complex as any major religion, and far older than most. It has traced a conceptual path around Eurasia, holding onto remnants of each place. Today, part of humanism is the spiritual path trod in India, the ethics born in Confucianist China, and the legal system that came forth in medieval Islam. Secular humanism has hidden much of this history from us. In insisting that humanism is a science-based, post-enlightenment European project, it has left us without the core spiritual and social components that humanism's rich history has left us. This book aims to redress the balance by exploring Humanism's path from China, through India, the Middle East, northern Africa and finally Europe.

Are you keen to perfect your writing? This audiobook will teach you how to be a stylish, insightful and convincing writer. This compilation includes Twain's On the Decay of the Art of Lying, Strunk's The Elements of Style, and Bennett's The Author's Craft - all in one. The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr first clarifies the writer's understanding of how to - correctly. In it, Strunk has laid a detailed, essential map, one he believed pays off, for in unlocking the secrets of style, one opens the terrain for mastery of literature.Now over a century since its first publication, the book is anything but outdated, as it is still widely used today – just testament to Strunk’s timeless knowledge and mastery with the pen."The skilled observer ... does not have to change his mind." – Arnold Bennett.The Author's Craft is Arnold Bennett’s four-part writing tutorial. As an esteemed journalist, novelist and playwright, he believed truly 'Seeing Life' primed the pen, out of which 'Writing Novels', 'Writing Plays' and 'The Artist and The Public' emerge. In the exposition, he expands on how to see the world, and how to not overlook the details most miss… These skills and techniques give rise to the craft he feels the author is really trying to achieve: art.Mark Twain’s “On the Decay of the Art of Lying” was his wryly told essay on why he felt the world needs educated lying, published in 1880 for a meeting of the Historical and Antiquarian Club of Hartford, Connecticut. The way he saw it, everyone lies at some point in their lives. Twain decided that lying could be a valuable skillset in various different arenas - provided you knew how to do it well, and didn’t try to hurt anybody. As he put it, "What chance has the ignorant uncultivated liar against the educated expert? What chance have I against Mr. Per—against a lawyer? Judicious lying is what the world needs."