Russell Senior is a man too smart to have ever been a pop star. And Pulp were too odd a band ever to have become so big. But we can only be grateful that he was, and they did – and that Freak Out the Squares tells the story in Russell’s inimitable, entertaining and fascinating way. The first account of life inside Pulp, Freak Out the Squares recounts the band’s origins in Sheffield to their glory days at the height of Britpop, revealing the story behind the anthem of a generation, “Common People”. The book gives a glimpse into the world of Britpop luminaries such as Blur, Elastica and Suede and charts Pulp’s 2011 reunion tour, which culminated in a triumphant Glastonbury performance. Freak Out the Squares is Russell’s exceptionally witty, unusual and enlightening account of the heady time of being a key member of Britpop’s best-loved and most enduringly relevant band.

Netflix’s most watched limited series to date! The thrilling novel of one young woman’s journey through the worlds of chess and drug addiction.​ When eight-year-old Beth Harmon’s parents are killed in an automobile accident, she’s placed in an orphanage in Mount Sterling, Kentucky. Plain and shy, Beth learns to play chess from the janitor in the basement and discovers she is a prodigy. Though penniless, she is desperate to learn more—and steals a chess magazine and enough money to enter a tournament. Beth also steals some of her foster mother’s tranquilizers to which she is becoming addicted. At thirteen, Beth wins the chess tournament. By the age of sixteen she is competing in the US Open Championship and, like Fast Eddie in The Hustler, she hates to lose. By eighteen she is the US champion—and Russia awaits . . . Fast-paced and elegantly written, The Queen’s Gambit is a thriller masquerading as a chess novel—one that’s sure to keep you on the edge of your seat. “The Queen’s Gambit is sheer entertainment. It is a book I reread every few years—for the pure pleasure and skill of it.” —Michael Ondaatje, Man Booker Prize–winning author of The English Patient

Mr. Lipton’s book is the first complete and unbiased survey of the beat generation and its role in our society. Here are the intimate facts about these people and their attitudes toward sex, dope, jazz, art, religion, parents, landlords, employers, politicians, draft boards, the law and, most important, toward the “square”. The author presents a picture of their way of life, their individual backgrounds, the language they have appropriated, in terms made clear for the first time to those of us who have been confused and puzzled about them. He also provides a balanced discussion of their literature, art and music, of what they produce and fail to produce in the arts they practice.—Print Ed.

An enthralling journey into the world of chess--a story of heartbreak, obsession, failure, and the hunger for greatness Sasha Chapin is a victim of chess. Like countless amateurs before him--Albert Einstein, Humphrey Bogart, Marcel Duchamp--the game has consumed his life and his mind. First captivated by it as a member of his high school chess club, his passion was rekindled during an accidental encounter with chess hustlers on the streets of Kathmandu. In its aftermath, he forgot how to care about anything else. He played at all hours, for weeks at a time. Like a spurned lover, he tried to move on, but he found the game more seductive the more he resisted it. And so, he thought, if he can't defeat his obsession, he had to succumb to it. All the Wrong Moves traces Chapin's rollicking two-year journey around the globe in search of glory. Along the way, he chronicles the highs and lows of his fixation, driven on this quest by lust, terror, and the elusive possibility of victory. Stylish, inventive, and laugh-out-loud funny, All the Wrong Moves is a celebration of the purity, violence, and beauty of the game.

Frontmatter --Contents --List of Color Plates --Preface --Prologue: Cambridge, England, 1993 --1. Mesopotamia, 1800 BCE --Sidebar 1: Did the Egyptians Know It? --2. Pythagoras --3. Euclid's Elements --Sidebar 2: The Pythagorean Theorem in Art, Poetry, and Prose --4. Archimedes --5. Translators and Commentators, 500-1500 CE --6. François Viète Makes History --7. From the Infinite to the Infinitesimal --Sidebar 3: A Remarkable Formula by Euler --8. 371 Proofs, and Then Some --Sidebar 4: The Folding Bag --Sidebar 5: Einstein Meets Pythagoras --Sidebar 6: A Most Unusual Proof --9. A Theme and Variations --Sidebar 7: A Pythagorean Curiosity --Sidebar 8: A Case of Overuse --10. Strange Coordinates --11. Notation, Notation, Notation --12. From Flat Space to Curved Spacetime --Sidebar 9: A Case of Misuse --13. Prelude to Relativity --14. From Bern to Berlin, 1905-1915 --Sidebar 10: Four Pythagorean Brainteasers --15. But Is It Universal? --16. Afterthoughts --Epilogue: Samos, 2005 --Appendixes --Chronology --Bibliography --Illustrations Credits --Index.

Skylar Evans, seventeen, yearns to escape Creek View by attending art school, but after her mother's job loss puts her dream at risk, a rekindled friendship with Josh, who joined the Marines to get away then lost a leg in Afghanistan, and her job at the Paradise motel lead her to appreciate her home town.

Told in their separate voices, sixteen-year-old Prince Oliver, who wants to break free of his fairy-tale existence, and fifteen-year-old Delilah, a loner obsessed with Prince Oliver and the book in which he exists, work together to seek his freedom.

With "virtuosic vulnerability" (The Atlantic), the iconic bassist and Red Hot Chili peppers co-founder pens a love letter to a youth spent wild in Los Angeles in his raw and riveting coming-of-age memoir. In Acid for the Children, Flea takes readers on a deeply personal and revealing tour of his formative years, spanning from Australia to the New York City suburbs to, finally, Los Angeles. Through hilarious anecdotes, poetical meditations, and occasional flights of fantasy, Flea deftly chronicles the experiences that forged him as an artist, a musician, and a young man. His dreamy, jazz-inflected prose makes the Los Angeles of the 1970s and 80s come to gritty, glorious life, including the potential for fun, danger, mayhem, or inspiration that lurked around every corner. It is here that young Flea, looking to escape a turbulent home, found family in a community of musicians, artists, and junkies who also lived on the fringe. He spent most of his time partying and committing petty crimes. But it was in music where he found a higher meaning, a place to channel his frustration, loneliness, and love. This left him open to the life-changing moment when he and his best friends, soul brothers, and partners-in-mischief came up with the idea to start their own band, which became the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Acid for the Children is the debut of a stunning new literary voice, whose prose is as witty, entertaining, and wildly unpredictable as the author himself. It's a tenderly evocative coming-of-age story and a raucous love letter to the power of music and creativity from one of the most renowned musicians of our time. New York Times BestsellerA #1 LA Times BestsellerA USA Today BestsellerOne of NPR's "Favorite Books of 2019"

In 1976, a fledgling magazine held forth the the idea that comics could be art. In 2016, comics intended for an adult readership are reviewed favorably in the New York Times, enjoy panels devoted to them at Book Expo America, and sell in bookstores comparable to prose efforts of similar weight and intent. We Told You So: Comics as Art is an oral history about Fantagraphics Books’ key role in helping build and shape an art movement around a discredited, ignored and fading expression of Americana. It includes appearances by Chris Ware, Art Spiegelman, Harlan Ellison, Stan Lee, Daniel Clowes, Frank Miller, and more.

Erwin Rowell displays unusual genius. His path leads him to believe that the impossible may be possible after all. Come on Erwins journey in The Rule of Squares and find what can happen when the curiously motivated follow their dreams.