Penguin After. A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal About Life and Beyond Geyson Bruce

We are unprepared for the greatest discovery of modern science. Scientists are confident that there is alien life across the universe yet we have not moved beyond our perception of 'aliens' as Hollywood stereotypes. The time has come to abandon our fixation on alien monsters and place our expectations on solid scientific footing • Using his own expert understanding of life on Earth and Darwin's theory of evolution - which applies throughout the universe - Cambridge zoologist Dr Arik Kershenbaum explains what alien life must be like. This is the story of how life really works, on Earth and in space

The new dad's complete guide to your baby's first months • You read the pregnancy books, the nine months flew by without a hitch, the birth was brilliant and your healthy baby arrived on schedule. Job done, right? Often, the birth of your baby can feel like the end of the journey but really the adventure has only just begun. If you look down at you-junior, heart swelling with pride, then think 'What now?', this book is for you • In this essential guide for new dads, Rob Kemp - the bestselling author of The Expectant Dad's Survival Guide - reveals what to expect in the first 18 months, arming you with the tools you need to be a fantastic dad. Covering everything from how to bond with your baby and support his development to practical issues, such as how to manage your working arrangements and finances, this book gives new dads the confidence, skills and knowledge to enjoy fatherhood - and do a brilliant job of it

'L-d! said my mother, what is all this story about? - A COCK and a BULL, said Yorick - And one of the best of its kind, I ever heard' • Laurence Sterne's great masterpiece of bawdy humour and rich satire defies any attempt to categorize it, with a rich metafictional narrative that might classify it as the first 'postmodern' novel. Part novel, part digression, its gloriously disordered narrative interweaves the birth and life of the unfortunate 'hero' Tristram Shandy, the eccentric philosophy of his father Walter, the amours and military obsessions of Uncle Toby, and a host of other characters, including Dr Slop, Corporal Trim and the parson Yorick. A joyful celebration of the endless possibilities of the art of fiction, Tristram Shandy is also a wry demonstration of its limitations

A brilliant, yet brutal, portrait of a woman struggling to retrieve both life and love, from the author of Wide Sargasso Sea • For six months, Julia has lived alone in a drab Parisian hotel on an allowance from her ex-lover, Mr. Mackenzie. When his cheques stop, Julia decides to leave France and return to London. The tale of her ten day visit contains some of Jean Rhys's most sensitive, poignant writing. Past her prime, exhausted by broken love affairs and addled by drink, Julia is tragically unable to find what she really wants - love

The Queen of the Revenge Comedy returns with a razor-sharp new novel about friendship and secrets • Georgia and Lydia are so close they're practically sisters • So when Lydia starts an online business that struggles, Georgia wants to help her - but she also understands Lydia's not the kind to accept a handout • Setting up a fake Twitter account, Georgia hopes to give her friend some anonymous moral support by posing as a potential customer • But then Lydia starts confiding in her new internet buddy and Georgia discovers she doesn't know her quite as well as she thought • Especially when Lydia reveals a secret that could tear Georgia's marriage apart

What is phantom limb pain? Can words actually hurt? Why do we experience pain, even after we've healed? • We know pain when we feel it. We fear it and try to avoid it. But do we know what it really is? We're currently experiencing a Renaissance in pain science. In recent years our understanding of pain has altered so radically it's fair to say that everything we thought we knew about pain is wrong. As Dr Monty Lyman reveals, we misunderstand pain - with harmful consequences • Exploring cutting-edge research that encompasses everything from phantom aches to persistent pain, as well as interviews with survivors of torture and those who have never felt pain, Dr Lyman not only provides hope for reducing and managing pain but takes us to a deeper understanding of what it means to be human

After Rain - Twelve remarkable stories by the master storyteller William Trevor • In this collection of twelve dazzling, acutely rendered tales, William Trevor plumbs the depths of the human heart. Here we encounter a blind piano tuner whose wonderful memories of his first wife are cruelly distorted by his second; a woman in a difficult marriage who must choose between her indignant husband and her closest friend; two children, survivors of divorce, who mimic their parents' melodramas; and a heartbroken woman traveling alone in Italy who experiences an epiphany while studying a forgotten artist's Annunciation • Trevor is, in his own words, 'a storyteller. My fiction may, now and again, illuminate aspects of the human condition, but I do not consciously set out to do so

'Teetotal!' Ma said. 'It's a libel. He'll never live it down. He'll never be able to hold his head up again. Whatever will people think? What's he going to say when anybody asks him to have one?' • 'No,' said Dr Conner • 'You'll have to strap him down,' Ma said. 'You'll have to put the handcuffs on.' • And so after a mild heart-attack - caused by rather too much of what you fancy - Pop Larkin finds himself off the booze, off the good food and off the good life generally, much to his own and everyone's else's horror and upset • And while Ma tries to find ways around 'doctor's orders', young Primrose is finding her own way round a rather flustered - not to say flushed - Mr Candy

Meet Aisling. She's a small-town girl with a big heart • She has a steady job and a loyal boyfriend (though he hasn't put a ring on it even after seven years) • Then one disastrous romantic getaway convinces Aisling to leave him behind and head for the bright lights • But with glamorous new flatmates, a scandal at work and a weird love square, Aisling has no idea what's about to hit her • Fans of Marian Keyes, Bridget Jones and Sophie Kinsella will LOVE this

Why would a man in Morocco who doesn't have enough to eat buy a television? • Why do the poorest people in India spend 7 percent of their food budget on sugar? • Does having lots of children actually make you poorer? • This eye-opening book overturns the myths about what it is like to live on very little, revealing the unexpected decisions that millions of people make every day. Looking at some of the most paradoxical aspects of life below the poverty line - why the poor need to borrow in order to save, why incentives that seem effective to us may not be for them, and why, despite being more risk-taking than high financiers, they start businesses but rarely grow them - Banerjee and Duflo offer a new understanding of the surprising way the world really works

Imagine a world where all the news you see is defined by your salary, where you live, and who your friends are. Imagine a world where you never discover new ideas. And where you can't have secrets • Welcome to 2011 • Google and Facebook are already feeding you what they think you want to see. Advertisers are following your every click. Your computer monitor is becoming a one-way mirror, reflecting your interests and reinforcing your prejudices • The internet is no longer a free, independent space. It is commercially controlled and ever more personalised. The Filter Bubble reveals how this hidden web is starting to control our lives - and shows what we can do about it

'I always wanted to be friends with both my sisters. Perhaps that was the source, really, of all the troubles of my life...' • It is the summer of 1938 and Phyllis Forrester has returned to England after years abroad. Moving into her sister's grand country house, she soon finds herself entangled in a new world of idealistic beliefs and seemingly innocent friendships. Fevered talk of another war infiltrates their small, privileged circle, giving way to a thrilling solution: a great and charismatic leader, who will restore England to its former glory • At a party hosted by her new friends, Phyllis lets down her guard for a single moment, with devastating consequences. Years later, Phyllis, alone and embittered, recounts the dramatic events which led to her imprisonment and changed the course of her life forever