Author Archives: Frostie

MIND YOUR LANGUAGE: HARNESSING THE POWER OF THE SPOKEN WORD TO SPARK POSITIVE LIFELONG CHANGE

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By James Carré-Rice

For better or worse our potential is shaped, and indeed kept in check, by the things we believe about ourselves. Let me give you an example of how this is plays out.

Many years ago, while serving time in Borstal, an officer took us outside to play football on the yard. Then, while standing alongside me before kick-off, he casually spoke about having watched ‘Last Night at the Proms’ on TV the night before. “Wonderful those young people,” he muttered, “educated, dignified, the future of our great land.” Then, giving me a sidelong glance, added, “unlike scum like you,” and wandered away. His words stung, but sadly, I figured that on the balance of it, he was probably right.

The damage caused by such condemnation comes partly in the saying, but primarily in the believing. Years later, after transforming my life through meaningful therapy, those past self-beliefs tried to hold me back at key moments of opportunity. For instance, on the eve of my driving test, which secured me a great job and helped provide my first mortgage, I came under a vicious emotional attack. Sickening waves of negativism arose, as if from nowhere, trying to stifle my progress. ‘Who on earth do you think you are?’ they demanded, trying to belittle me. ‘You’re not like decent people, now get back where you belong.’ Emotionally, it made me feel uncomfortably out-of-place and unworthy. However, having previously engaged in meaningful therapy and gained a firm understanding about my true worth, I was able to overcome that spiteful attack and prosper.

From an early age our personalities are affected by the things others say but primarily by the conclusions we reach about ourselves. No sooner do we bloom into the fullness of childhood than the process of maturity arises to cover most of it up. At that time, a powerful element known as the ego sets to work, shaping its opinion about who it thinks we are. The ego accepts that which we believe about ourselves and forms it into an internal model.

For instance, in the case of a little girl being utterly neglected by her father (a common story), her inner ego is likely to be self-critical about why that has happened. The usual conclusion reached by a young mind is, ‘I’m not good enough.’ Such an emotional belief, no matter how inaccurate, will damage her prospects in many areas of life; not least when dealing with men. Nobody, not even she, will understand why she went on to accept second-rate options and lived way below potential.

So, what can be done? In the case of self-limiting beliefs, it’s hard to avoid the prospect of therapy, in which the root of the storyline can be re-visited in safety. Egoic beliefs are like hardy bushes that survive trimming, being ignored and severe pruning. Therefore, in order to be rid of them, we have to get down to the roots.

Those with the wherewithal to confront deep-seated trauma discover something remarkable at the point of contact. Far from the trauma overwhelming us, our conscious observation neutralises it. Yes, there will be a fearful moment of intensity, and perhaps a few tears, but our very open-eyed awareness will diminish its power.

The reward for taking such a brave course of action is to break the chains that bind and go forth to leave our mark upon this life. As described in my own story, rooting out damaging internal narratives, unleashes our true potential.

James Carré-Rice is a bestselling author, a renowned life coach, and a sought-after public speaker. But his life was not always so successful. As a young man, he was sentenced to a total of more than seven years at Her Majesty’s Pleasure for a string of violent offences. James, now 57, turned his life around and used his negative experiences of the penal system to develop a pioneering rehabilitative system for the New York State Criminal Justice Department that helped US gang members re-join society. Over 200,000 copies of his first book, Within These Streets, are in prisons here and abroad.

His new book, Another Kind of Knowing, is out now priced £7.99 from Amazon UK. For more information about James’ work, go to www.jamescarrerice.com

Melissa’s Life-Changing Carrot and Olive Oil Cake

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Makes 1 x 23cm round cake

Equipment 23cm round, deep, loose-bottom cake tin

Sorry for the melodramatic title of this cake but to be honest it was life-changing for me, so please just go with it. It’s the complex play of the spices that really brings this cake to life. Cloves, cardamom and cinnamon combine to heighten the flavours and aromas to an almost intoxicating level. With 500g of grated carrot in this cake there’s no getting away from its presence, though it’s surprising how the cake doesn’t really taste of it. Its purpose is to bind in the flour – in this case spelt, that is higher in protein and fibre than wheat. The fruity olive oil unifies all the other flavours. This recipe is so forgiving. Even overcooked, it’s still moist and delicious!

215 ml extra virgin olive oil

250g coconut sugar

4 eggs, beaten

250g spelt flour

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ground cardamom

1 tsp salt

125g pecans, coarsely chopped

500g carrots, grated

Vanilla cashew nut icing or Maple cream

cheese icing (see below)

Roughly chopped walnuts, for topping

1 Preheat the oven to 190°C/fan 170°C/

Gas mark 5 and line a 23cm round, deep loose bottom

cake tin with baking parchment.

2 In a bowl mix together the olive oil, sugar and

eggs until well combined.

3 In a second bowl combine the flour and the

other dry ingredients and make a well in

the centre. Add the egg and oil mixture and

stir thoroughly until it is all blended. Finally,

add the pecans and carrots and mix again.

4 Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake

for about 1 hour 20 minutes, until a skewer

inserted into the middle comes out clean.

5 Allow the cake to cool in the tin for

10–15 minutes, then turn it out onto a cooling

rack. Once it’s completely cool, top it with

either Vanilla cashew nut icing or Maple

cream cheese icing.

Nutrition Note:

The olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fats that are better for your heart than the saturated fats in butter.

Vanilla Cashew Nut Icing

Equipment High speed blender

GF, DF, V+

We have to get really creative when it comes to ‘icing’ our cakes as we don’t use icing sugar. This recipe is one of our go-to icing recipes, it’s really easy to make and absolutely delicious. The basic recipe is for a vanilla icing, but it can easily be adapted to different flavours – we particularly like to add matcha for a vibrant green colour!

150g unsalted cashew nuts, soaked for

At least 4 hours but preferably overnight

300g full-fat coconut milk

2 tbsp lemon juice

75g maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

100g coconut oil, melted

Drain and rinse the soaked cashew nuts.

Put them in a blender with all the other

ingredients and blend until completely smooth

and creamy. Pour into a container and chill in

the fridge until firm. We usually leave the icing

in the fridge overnight, but around 4 hours

should do the trick.

Maple Cream Cheese Icing

GF

This is our take on classic cream cheese icing. It’s a lot less sweet and totally delicious.

2 tbsp maple syrup

225g organic full-fat cream cheese,

straight from the fridge

2 tbsp coconut oil, melted

1 Stir the maple syrup into the chilled cream

cheese until completely combined.

2 Add the melted coconut oil and mix very

quickly to prevent lumps from forming.

Modern Baker: A New Way To Bake by Melissa Sharp with Lindsay Stark (Ebury Press, RRP £26). Photography by Laura Edwards.

 

Why do women love thrillers?

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From the international bestseller The Girl on the Train to last year’s The Breakdown, the psychological thriller has become society’s favourite means of escape – and women have long made up the majority of readers. But their appetite for crime and suspense is no mystery, writes Rex Richards.

When it comes to literary thrill-seekers, women are at the front of the rollercoaster queue. But why the hunger for suspense when female characters are routinely killed off (or otherwise abused) at the hands of a male villain? To understand the attraction, let’s take a look at what makes a good thriller.

Lots of thrillers have the same basic plot: A beautiful young woman with the best years of her life ahead of her is brutally killed. Things go downhill from there until, finally, everything gets resolved at the end. Quite often, scary and perverted things happen in the interim, and in the most successful thrillers, there are insights into the killer’s mind that are just as chilling as the acts themselves.

I have to confess, in the new thriller I’ve written, The New Prophet, that’s exactly how it starts but not exactly how it ends. I see writing thrillers like baking a cake. There’s a basic recipe that it makes sense to follow, but why not sling in some chocolate too and maybe some chilli for a real surprise? Normally a thriller sets itself apart by the dreadful details of the killer’s acts. My book, The New Prophet is different to other thrillers because it’s also very funny in places, and full of social comment, taking serious digs at TV news and celeb culture. Of course, it’s got loads of suspense, amazing female characters and a seriously chilling bad guy who thinks he’s possessed by a living fire that tells him who to kill.

So, given the formula and the likelihood of a female victim, why are women so hungry for goosebumps? I think the obvious answer is because women are more creative thinkers than men. Men prefer to have things laid out for them, and see order restored. Women are more imaginative and artistic, and like to piece it all together themselves. In my book, The New Prophet, there are clues as to why the killer does what he does. I’ve written it in just such a way that your ingenious mind will start whirring early and wondering what the real truth about his childhood and background is.

Another reason is all the emotions. Women are generally more in touch with their emotions than men. The older men get, quite often the more rigid and closed-up they become, whereas women understand their emotions more as they travel through life. In my book, women can read the quiet despair behind my main character Jack’s life. Yes, he’s funny, but some men might just miss why he is that way; women will know. When there are moments of utterly concentrated experience, such as when The New Prophet kills his first victim, there’s an emotional intensity to it that some men might miss. Women won’t.

The final reason women love thrillers is because these twisted tales are so different to their own lives. Seeing the bad guy get away with something really naughty appeals to a side of all of us that wants to break the rules too. Who doesn’t want to escape from the monotonous routine of their day-to-day lives?

But it’s not just a spirit of rebellion that makes these stories so compelling. Reading about another woman coming to an unfortunate end plays on our own insecurities. We can lose ourselves in the intensity of it, imagine ourselves in that position, even wonder if the character deserved it, then we can come out the other side in one piece and back to our normal lives. Phew!

The New Prophet by Rex Richards is out now, priced £9.99 in paperback and £2.39 as a Kindle eBook. It is available for sale on Amazon UK

We have 3 copies of The New Prophet by Rex Richards to win. Just send you details to frostmagazine@gmail.com to enter.

 

WHY I TRADED IN A HIGH-FLYING CAREER IN THE HOTEL INDUSTRY TO PURSUE MY ACTING DREAMS, AND HOW I DID IT

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By Peter Meyer, author of The Boy from the Wild

Most of us dream about quitting the 9-5 (or is that the 8-7) rat race, but few ever do.  The author Peter Meyer is proof that following a dream can be more than just a daydream. He hung up his suit and left a highly-paid job in the hospitality industry to embark on a career as an actor – and was soon rubbing shoulders with Brad Pitt.

I grew up in the hospitality industry, quite literally. I was born and raised on a game reserve in South Africa that my father created. It had a safari park, a five-star hotel and a conference centre. It was once known as Safari World and its pioneering fusion of Disney-style theme park and nature reserve  made it akin to a real-world Jurassic Park

When I was older, I graduated from Les Roches Hospitality University in Switzerland and went on to work all around the world in places including the UK, Jamaica, Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Kuala Lumpur.  I worked in different director roles in sales, marketing and business development for groups like Hilton, Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, JA Resorts & Hotels and then YTL Hotels.  At one point I was even one of Hilton’s youngest directors at 26 years old.  I had it all going for me – the experience, the qualifications, the connections, the lifestyle and so much more…. but then it all changed.

In 2014, I dropped everything to spend time with my father after hearing he had a very rare form of terminal cancer.  My father was my life and an incredibly special person, so I was going to be by his side.  After I lost him I lost a part of myself and realised that you are vulnerable – and that life is governed by time that we take for granted.  I tried to get back into hotels and got a huge position in Kuala Lumpur but was ultimately in a very bad mental state and lost my zest and desire for the industry.  I was missing my dad plain and simple.

By chance a short while later a family friend suggested that I try acting and modelling for fun, and at least until I’d planned my next move.  So, a short while later, I signed onto a website that was a portal for jobs in that industry.  Within the space of a few days I was contacted by a production company, which asked me to do a TV commercial for Ford.

I did the shoot and was told I was a “natural” and was advised to do more! Two weeks later I got a call from a director making an independent British film and I got a tiny part as a news anchor with some lines.  It was then that I realised how much I loved acting and it woke me up out of semi-depressed state for my father.  I decided to see where it went.

Suddenly I was getting acting and modelling roles and even got my first lead in a short film within three months of starting.  My biggest came when I got a call to audition for Allied with Brad Pitt and got the smallest part to sing.  Sadly, the role was cut but I was still an extra and got picked to be near Brad Pitt and enjoyed getting to know him. I then got chosen to work as an extra next to Liam Neeson this time on The Commuter.  He partly inspired my book “The Boy from the Wild”.  In less than 18 months all this had happened.  I was also doing a lot of plus size modelling and was Tesco’s first plus size male model wearing Jacamo.  But I have also modelled internationally with groups such as El Corte Ingles wearing Hugo Boss, GANT, Ralph Lauren and more.  Who knows what’s next?

I’ve gone from surviving animal attacks and snake bites on a safari park to surviving the concrete jungles of Hollywood.  How, people ask?  Well, get headshots, get a showreel, get an agent, brand yourself to get your followers and have passion.  If you are determined and do what you love then you will achieve.  Sometimes you have to risk it to get the biscuit. A dream is yours and yours to fail, so don’t let it.

The Boy from the Wild by Peter Meyer is out now, priced £9.99 in paperback and £3.99 as an eBook. It is available for sale on Amazon UK. Visit  www.petermeyer.com

Ergobaby Aura Baby Wrap Review

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Ergo baby have launched new Aura Baby Wrap, an ergonomically designed lightweight wrap which gives parents the freedom to enjoy their baby, hands free and Frost has reviewed it. 
I am a huge fan of baby slings. They tend to soothe a crying baby and you can breastfeed with them on the go. The Aura baby wrap has the advantage of being able to breastfeed without using a breastfeeding scarf. Perfect for when you forget your scarf, which I have done many times and then had a panic. Some baby wraps and slings really hurt your back but this one sits well and is comfortable. Putting it on is daunting at first. You spread it out and it looks impossible but it is easy when you get the hang of it. Even for me. It also has an integrated pocket for storage.
 
I cannot say how much I love this wrap. It is light and breathable for baby. It is also soft against the skin. It looks good and baby loves it. I cannot recommend it enough. Baby is happy, safe and secure up to 13.6kg or 30lbs. A parenting essential.

The Aura Baby Wrap comes in three stylish colourways; Grey Stripes, Indigo and Sage and comes in a light and durable fabric which keeps babies cool when snuggled up close to the parent’s body.

 

http://www.ergobaby.co.uk

 

 

Mokee’s Upcycled Wool Bag | Frost Loves

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Mokee’s Upcycled Wool Bag

We love stylish things at Frost and this gorgeous upcycled bag from Mokee, the design-led baby furniture company, is more gorgeous than most. it is their first ever bag – the upcycled WoolBag.

mokee wool bag

Made from off-cuts of their woolnest, the felt material is matched with the colourful straps and is big enough to throw all your baby products in there.  Or, keep it for yourself- this stylish bag shouldn’t just be used for nappies.

The bag is roomy and long. It will easily fit onto a pram handle. It is also a great bag for shopping. it is great quality and well made. We love.

Coming soon at https://en.mokee.eu/

 

 

Five Essential Goal-Setting Habits for the Entrepreneur By Emine Suleyman, author of Aliya

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Ever wondered why some people get ahead and others tread water? It’s not luck, says life coach, mindfulness expert and career mentor Emine Suleyman – it’s about how well they spend their time. Here, Emine offers her own top 5 habits that every budding entrepreneur should practice to realise their ambitions in 2018. Her new book Aliya, a practical day-to- day productivity diary for 2018, is available now priced £25.

Habit #1: Clarify & Regularly Reaffirm Your Life Mission  

We spend the majority of our adult lives working, so we owe it ourselves to spend that time doing something we love and that we feel is a reflection of who we are and what we want to say to the world.

Finding our element – living a life of purpose – is crucial to our wellbeing and to our success. This has been well documented. The sooner we can clarify our life mission statement the sooner we can begin a fuller more satisfying life.

So how do you start? Kick back with a pen and a diary and write down what it means to be successful in your life and on your own terms. Make lists of all that you love doing, what all your skills are, what problems you feel connected to in your community or in the world.

Upon regular reflection of your purpose and these three lists, your day-to-day life will reveal a common thread where you can creatively tie aspects from each list into new ideas and projects. The side projects you pursue could well evolve into a great income and lifestyle over time.

Habit #2: Self -Reflection

Self-reflection is the school of wisdom. It is no secret that a regular practice of self-reflection is necessary for mental and physical health. Allow this to be a humbling process and use it to look back over your last year. Life must be understood backwards before it is effectively lived forward. At the end of each year, ask yourself: what were all my highlights? What challenges did I face and how did I grow through them?  Writing your answers down is a great way of extracting them into physical form and owning them.

In addition to annual self-reflection, regular monthly reflection throughout your year is a habit worth cultivating. We can do this is our diaries each month. Self-reflection helps to build two components to emotional intelligence: self-awareness and self-regulation. This gives us the ability to understand our emotions, strengths, weaknesses, drives, values and goals, and to recognise their impact.

Habit #3: Set & Monitor Goals

You have more efficacy to create your life than you may realise. What matters most is right now. You cannot change the past and the future hasn’t yet happened, so the only thing we can change is the moment. How you feel right now and the story you’re telling yourself will transcend as your future. Put aside all limiting beliefs and ask yourself, what would I do if I knew couldn’t fail? Literally make an inventory of all your dreams in your diary. Remember that we go only as far as our imagination takes us. Include a range of short, mid and long-term goals over the next three months, one year, three years, five years, 10 years and 20 years.

After listing all that you would love to have a go at in life, review your list and pick your top 3- 5 priority goals to get started on. Break each chosen top goal down into 5 actionable steps. Then simply give each step a deadline in your diary. You can include a reward for each goal if you wish. At the end of each month make it a habit to reflect on the previous four weeks and review your progress.

Habit #4: Identify Two Priority Tasks Daily

Before you go about your day or perhaps from the night before, take a moment to pause and decide what two things you can do today that will have the biggest impact on getting you to your goals. This habit is so simple yet so powerful and has the ability to focus your mind each day. Forget checking emails and running small errands until your two priority tasks for the day are done.

Habit #5: Keep a Gratitude List

The benefits linked to gratitude are one of the most beautiful things about life itself. Whilst a whole book can be written on all the endless benefits, I would just outline a few. It opens the door for better relationships, improves physical health, psychological health, enhances empathy and reduces aggression, helps you sleep better, increases mental strength and boosts self-esteem. It just simply makes us happy; if there were a key to happiness, this would be it.

Saying ‘thank you’ for all that we have and experience, doing it often and actually writing it down is the most important habit of all.

Aliya by Emine Suleyman is out now, priced £25 in hardback. Visit www.planmyvision.co.uk

 

Top Books For December

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Becoming Hitler. The Making of a Nazi by Thomas Weber

A fascinating and well researched book. 

The story of the making of Adolf Hitler that we are all familiar with is the one Hitler himself wove in his 1924 trial, and then expanded upon in Mein Kampf. It tells of his rapid emergence as National Socialist leader in 1919, and of how he successfully rallied most of Munich and the majority of Bavaria’s establishment to support the famous beer-hall putsch of 1923. It is an account which has largely been taken at face value for over ninety years. Yet, on closer examination, Hitler’s account of his experiences in the years immediately following the First World War turns out to be every bit as unreliable as his account of his experiences as a soldier during the war itself.

In Becoming Hitler, Thomas Weber continues from where he left off in his previous book, Hitler’s First War, stripping away the layers of myth and fabrication in Hitler’s own tale to tell the real story of Hitler’s politicization and radicalization in post-First World War Munich. It is the gripping account of how an awkward and unemployed loner with virtually no recognizable leadership qualities and fluctuating political ideas turned into the charismatic, self-assured, virulently anti-Semitic leader with an all-or-nothing approach to politics with whom the world was soon to become tragically familiar. As Weber clearly shows, far from the picture of a fully-formed political leader which Hitler wanted to portray in Mein Kampf, his ideas and priorities were still very uncertain and largely undefined in early 1919 ― and they continued to shift until 1923.

It was the failed Ludendorff putsch of November 1923 – and the subsequent Ludendorff trial ― which was to prove the making of Hitler. And he was not slow to spot the opportunity that it offered. As the movers and shakers of Munich’s political scene tried to blame everything on him in the course of the trial, Hitler was presented with a golden opportunity to place himself at the centre of attention, turning what had been the ‘Ludendorff trial’ into the ‘Hitler trial’. Henceforth, he would no longer be merely a local Bavarian political leader. From now on, he would present himself as a potential ‘national saviour’. In the months after the trial, Hitler cemented this myth by writing Mein Kampf from his comfortable prison cell. His years of metamorphosis were now behind him. His years as Führer were soon to come.

Becoming Hitler. The Making of a Nazi by Thomas Weber is available here.

Enid Blyton Five Get On The Property Ladder

Hilarious. It is impossible to not be amused by this funny and clever book. Perfect for fans of The Famous Five but also timely. Both retro and modern.

Enid Blyton’s books are beloved the world over and The Famous Five have been the perennial favourite of her fans. Now, in this new series of Enid Blyton for Grown-Ups, George, Dick, Anne, Julian and Timmy turn their attention to finding a property they can call their very own.

Join the Five as they struggle to get their feet (and paws) on the first rung of the property ladder. Luckily cousin Rupert is on hand to help. But not before they’ve had some very exciting adventures. Who knew that it was all going to be so difficult?

Enid Blyton Five Get On The Property Ladder is available here.

Sketchy Muma By Anna Lewis

A wonderful illustrated book which tells the truth about motherhood. 

This gorgeous little book charts the various bewildering stages of becoming a mother, from those tell-tale blue lines in the pregnancy test, to labour, birth, coming home and venturing out. Breastfeeding nightmares, eating dinner with one hand, soft play hell and chronic sleep deprivation – but also the sheer beauty of falling in love again and the amazing discovery of what it’s like to have a family – these are all captured in Sketchy Muma’s glorious drawings.

This is the perfect gift book for both young and experienced parents. Anna Lewis understands the light and shade that comes with motherhood, and it is those universal truths that will connect all those parents who delight in her sketches.

Sketchy Muma By Anna Lewis is available here.

The Book of Forgotten Authors By Christopher Fowler

This is a great book full of authors who deserve to be more famous. Will have you rushing to the bookshop or nodding your head in agreement, or disapproval. 

Absence doesn’t make the heart grow fonder. It makes people think you’re dead.

So begins Christopher Fowler’s foray into the back catalogues and backstories of 99 authors who, once hugely popular, have all but disappeared from our shelves.

Whether male or female, domestic or international, flash-in-the-pan or prolific, mega-seller or prize-winner – no author, it seems, can ever be fully immune from the fate of being forgotten. And Fowler, as well as remembering their careers, lifts the lid on their lives, and why they often stopped writing or disappeared from the public eye.

These 99 journeys are punctuated by 12 short essays about faded once-favourites: including the now-vanished novels Walt Disney brought to the screen, the contemporary rivals of Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie who did not stand the test of time, and the women who introduced us to psychological suspense many decades before it conquered the world.

This is a book about books and their authors. It is for book lovers, and is written by one who could not be a more enthusiastic, enlightening and entertaining guide.

The Book of Forgotten Authors By Christopher Fowler is available here.

You Do You By Sarah Knight

More great (anti) advice from Sarah Knight. Funny and tough: this book is perfect to kick you into action in January. 

In The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F**k, our favourite ‘anti-guru’ Sarah Knight unleashed the power of saying no. In Get Your Sh*t Together, she prioritised the sh*t you need and want to do so you can achieve your hopes and dreams. Now she’s back, doubling down on your happiness with her latest message: You Do You.

Being yourself should be the easiest thing in the world. Yet instead of leaning in to who we are, we fight it, listening too closely to what society tells us. You Do You helps you shake off those expectations, say f**k perfect, start looking out for number one and keep on with your badass self. From career and finances to relationships and family, lifestyle and health, Sarah Knight rips up the rulebook.

Writing about her mistakes and embarrassments in her own personal quest to ‘do me’ – because nobody gets everything right all day, every day – Sarah Knight shows why you can and should f**k up and teaches you to let yourself off the hook, bounce back and keep standing tall.

You Do You By Sarah Knight is available here.

Etiquette Rules! A Field Guide to Modern Manners By Nancy R. Mitchell

Full of common-sense and excellent advice. A book that everyone should read. 

Has there ever been a time when courtesy and kindness are needed more? We need only follow the news, drive down a road, look around our communities, or visit a favorite social-media site to know there is an etiquette crisis. With rudeness rampant and civility on life support, it’s time for each and every one of us to take a hard look at our behaviors to determine if we are contributing to the problem or helping to combat it.

Enter Etiquette Rules! A Field Guide to Modern Manners, a common-sense examination of etiquette as an operating system for living life with kindness and courtesy as we work, play, shop, drive, dine, and interact in our real and virtual communities. Arranged by events and settings, the book clearly and succinctly defines rudeness and suggests corrective measures. Readers will not only raise their etiquette IQ, but will change their mindset about manners because Etiquette Rules! jettisons the old-school notion that etiquette is how to properly hold a teacup. In reality, it is a powerful tool that can help everyone feel comfortable and confident in a variety of situations, build personal and business relationships more easily, demonstrate respect for others, and live lives that flow more smoothly. Courtesy is contagious, and Etiquette Rules!will help to jump-start a saving pandemic.

Etiquette Rules! A Field Guide to Modern Manners By Nancy R. Mitchell is available here.

How To Draw Almost Every Animal. An Illustrated Sourcebook By Chika Miyata

A perfect book for any artist. A brilliant how-to to help you draw (almost) any animal. 

Not sure how to start your drawing of a flamingo or a flying squirrel? Boggled by how to draw an antelope, an armadillo, or a cheetah? How to Draw Almost Every Animal is here to help!

Have you ever wondered how to draw a hippopotamus? Or a lazy, brown dog? Or a hedgehog? Then this collection of over 75 adorable animals to draw and doodle is just the book for you!

This teaching tool does more than just show you completed pictures of the animals. Each illustration is broken down with step-by-step diagrams and helpful tips to truly teach you how to draw. Plus, we’ve included extra images to teach you how to draw animals relaxing in their natural habitats and on the move.

A helpful how-to section includes valuable coloring tips and techniques for mastering fur and feather, spots, stripes, scales, spines, and everything else animals are covered in.

How To Draw Almost Every Animal. An Illustrated Sourcebook By Chika Miyata is available here.

Please Don’t Do Coke In The Bathroom: Irreverent Hand Lettering For Every F*cking Occasion By Sami Christianson

An inappropriate sweary book. This is your guide to lettering told in an adult- and funny- way. 

Who says art has to be delicate and proper? Get angry, get creative, get your sweary soul out and do it beautifully! Please Don’t Do Coke in the Bathroom is your guide to mature (and funny) lettering.

Creatively express your irreverent attitude and sarcastic sentiments with beautiful calligraphy and hand lettering! Send an artfully lettered note telling your boss to f*ck off, let a friend know her cat is kind of an a$$hole, or share your true feelings about kale with the help of this laugh-out-loud lettering book for adults.

Featuring a crash course in calligraphy and hand lettering the alphabet, this book also includes a selection of removable hand-lettered signs with inappropriate sayings like “Monday is a D*ck,” “Your Spirit Animal is an A$$hole,” and more.

Now you can create your own brazen billboards or hostile stationery, or tell the sh*tty person in your life how you really feel, with delicate swirls and hand-drawn letters gleaned from Please Don’t Do Coke in the Bathroom. After all, if you’re going to tell someone they suck, it might as well look good when you do it!

Please Don’t Do Coke In The Bathroom: Irreverent Hand Lettering For Every F*cking Occasion By Sami Christianson.

How The Universe Works

A wondrous book. Excellently illustrated and fascinating. 

It’s hard to imagine how big the universe is, but with help from How the Universe Works, you can get to know what makes it tick.

The cosmos is a complex and intricate system that astronomers have been trying to dissect for years. From Galileo and Copernicus to the Space Race and Modern Day NASA missions, humanity has craved more knowledge about the universe and how it works. Hundreds of years of scientific discovery, and there’s still so much to learn. How the Universe Works is the latest installment in a series of books that deconstructs how things work and explains in a format that is easy to understand.

With beautiful and detailed visuals in the form of info-graphics, 3D illustrations, cutaways and renderings, How the Universe Works offers a tiny glimpse of the massive stretch of the universe.  Each page delves more into the composition of the stars and shows the information in such a way that makes even the most complex phenomenons easy to understand. Learn how different cosmic bodies interact with one another, why, and how humanity has worked to understand space.

The observable universe spans billions and billions of light years. How the Universe Works is a work intended to put the cosmos in the hands of its readers. Understanding the most complex mechanisms that rule space is quite a task, but with information for the entire family, this editorial ally is perfect for getting immersed in the intricacies of the observable universe and all its natural beauty.

How The Universe Works is available here.