Amphibians and reptiles were the first vertebrates to venture forth from the seas some 300 million years ago. Exactly when and which kind of fish was the first to make the move is not known with any degree of precision, but this was one pioneering piscean! As well as being the first vertebrates to leave the water, they were also the first to mate without using water to transport gametes, colonise the deserts, burrow into the ground, take to the air and, critically, the first to get their oxygen from the air rather than the water. Yet today, having walked the Earth for so long, there are a great many of their species at critical risk of extinction. Here, in this companion book to his 2008 BBCTV series the world's greatest natural history broadcaster travels the world to tell their epic story - their astounding past success and the profound implications of their uncertain future. Having once ruled the planet, their descendants today exhibit some of the most colourful variety, bizarre form and peculiar behaviour in all the animal kingdom. Sumptuously illus in colour throughout, Sir David gets up close and personal with those descendants and through them traces the fascinating history their pioneering ancestors. He explains in his inimitable manner how it is that some of today's amphibians and reptiles have changed little from their prehistoric forebears yet, as we know, some evolved into dinosaurs, then birds and mammals and his eye for the unusual and quirky is as sharp as ever, with hundreds of examples of amazing physiological and behavioural adaptations featured throughout. The camerawork is second to none, with incredible shots of impossibly photogenic crocodiles, axolotls, salamanders, the cutest frogs imaginable and the most threatening snakes, especially the King Cobra which appears to be about to launch itself at you from the page! The finest natural history in 288pp.

A fascinating portrait of China in the 1980s and 1990s, how the Cultural Revolution shaped families, and how the country's economic ambitions gave rise to great change. Xiaolu Guo is one of the most acclaimed Chinese-born writers of her generation. She lives in London and Berlin. Her iconoclastic and completely contemporary voice gave us 'A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers' and 'I Am China'. Her vivid and poignant memoir is the story of a curious mind coming of age in an inhospitable country, and her determination to seek a life beyond the limits of its borders. She has travelled further than most to be who she needed to be. Now spurred by the birth of her daughter in a London maternity ward surrounded by women from all over the world, she looks back on her journey which began in a fishing village shack on the East China Sea. There her illiterate grandparents raised her and brought her to the city of Wenling to reunite with parents she had never met. She learned the dangers of being a girl. A young woman and aspiring filmmaker, she got herself to a rapidly changing Beijing, full of contradictions - a thriving underground art scene amid mass censorship, curious Westerners who held out affection only to disappear back home. Eventually, unable to make the films or write the books she wanted to create, Xiaolu determined to see the world beyond China for herself, and now after some 15 years in Europe, her words resonate with the insight of someone who is both outsider and insider. 'A certain nostalgia washed over me, and I try to remember the taste of the roasted silkworms on skewers that I had eaten so often as a child on those desolate afternoons after school. But I couldn't recall the taste on my tongue.' Reading like fiction, she brings to life her lifelong struggles against the chains of poverty, gender and censorship in her coming-of-age story. 366pp, photos.

Sir Peter Scott was the only son of legendary explorer Captain Scott. His godfather was J. M. Barrie and he was married to Elizabeth Jane Howard. He represented GB and Northern Ireland at sailing in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, winning a bronze medal. He founded the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and also helped found the Worldwide Fund for Nature. A Life In Nature is a portrait of Peter Scott collected from his own conversations, articles and broadcasts, including thoughts on expeditions to Lapland and Africa, conservation and travels in Europe and much more. Originally published in 1967 under the title 'Happy the Man', chapter headings include The Ethics of Shooting, Badgers and Animals in the Wiltshire Woods, Food Production and Conservation, Sightseeing in East Africa's Game Parks, Slimbridge Discovered, South America 1953, Saving a Goose From Extinction, Galapagos Expedition, Fire At Sea, The Story of SGB9, The America's Cup, Britain's Canals, Venice 1939 and Journey to the South Pole among them. 'I believe something goes wrong with man when he cuts himself off from the natural world. I think he knows it, and this is why he keeps gardens and window-boxes and houseplants, and dogs and cats and budgerigars. Man does not live by bread alone. I believe he should take great pains to look after the natural treasures which inspire him as he does to preserve his man-made treasures in art galleries and museums. This is a responsibility we have to future generations.' 432pp and beautiful colour plates featuring Peter's own bird illustrations including a pair of teal and three pintails.
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Sub-titled 'An Intimate Collection of Behind-The-Scenes Photos Featuring the Legendary Art Collector', the renowned photographer took these images between 1967 and 1974, and many have never been seen before. Born into a wealthy New York family in 1928, Marguerite 'Peggy' Guggenheim was one of the greatest art collectors of the 20th century. Using her inheritance to open her first art gallery, her love of art led her to eventually settling in Venice where she relaunched her life after becoming the star of the 1948 Venice Art Biennale. Striking, enigmatic and dramatic, Moses photographed Peggy in her favourite places around Venice, as well as in her private palazzo at Canal Grande. She glides on her gondola with her Lhasa apso dogs, and wears her iconic butterfly glasses, a fur-trimmed coat and bright red stockings. She had been photographed by Man Ray in 1924, wearing flapper eveningwear, by Gisèle Freund in 1939 with Herbert Read, and by Berenice Abbott in 1926, a dog in her arms, and of course by Moses who shows her from provocative poise to complete relaxation in this collection. She is pictured surrounded by pigeons on St Mark's Square and around the first buildings of the Renaissance, surrounded by artworks in her own home, being shown paintings as she reclines on a sofa, reading a book in front of a bottle of Gordon's Dry Gin, enjoying the company of visitors approving of the paintings by Magritte and Max Ernst to be seen on the walls of her barchessa. There are blue glass Venetian figures, sculptures, she is pictured with paintings by Miró, Chagall, or sitting on her Byzantine style throne looking at a photo album in the grounds of her home. Inside her turquoise bedroom the 'headboard' is by Alexander Calder and the lamps were made by Carlos Scarpa for Venini. In her salon there is a huge painting by Grace Hartigan (Ireland, 1958) and she is pictured with her grandson and his wife in front of a Giacometti sculpture (Walking Woman, 1936). There is also a wonderful series of black and white images and family snapshots and portraits and pet dogs from the archive included on black pages in one special section. 144 exceptional pages, 23 x 29.5cm, colour.

'It is a beautiful story of personal triumph over toxic nonsense of religious homophobia.' - Nicky Campbell. Vicky Beeching began writing songs for the church in her teens and by 30 she was a household name in churches on both sides of the Atlantic. But this poster girl for evangelical Christianity lived with an inner battle - she was gay. She knew if she ever spoke about her identity it would cost her everything. But despite losing so much she gained far more, she was finally able to live from a place of wholeness, vulnerability and authenticity and found peace and became a champion for others, fighting for LGBT equality in the church and beyond. She urges people to celebrate diversity, live authentically and become 'undivided'. As Steve Jobs said in 2005 'Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life... Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice... Have courage.' This book may not be just about sexual identity, but also of broader mental health issues, if you are on the autistic spectrum, always known you are trans but never dared tell anyone, fear chasing your dreams and keeping things private because it feels safer and less embarrassing. Time to share with the brave young woman. 288pp, paperback.

Libby Purves in the TLS said, 'God, I love these women! Their breeziness, compassion, humour and resilience are a tonic.' In February 1919, London's first women police officers took to the streets of the city. They battled entrenched gender stereotypes, institutional inequality, sexual harassment and assaults disturbingly familiar to today's generation of modern women. Female officers facing resentment from male colleagues and were expected to do little more than 'make the tea, luv' and were charged with the sole task of looking after women and children who fell into police hands. Yet in the course of a century police women have won the equality they demanded, overcome sexism and prejudice, rejected harassment and smashed through the glass ceiling to lead rather than follow their male colleagues. A woman, Cressida Dick, until recently held the most powerful position in British policing, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner. The book tells the story of a hundred years of service of female police officers within the Met as a consequence of interviews with hundreds of former and serving police women and the files and stories of thousands more held by the National Archives and private libraries to provide a detailed and fascinating oral history of the challenges they have faced. There are tales of heroism, humour, crime-busting and tragedy, their first-hand experiences in chapters including 'Are You A Bike... or a Dyke?'. 310pp, paperback.

The film The Seven Year Itch precipitated Marilyn into her stratospheric status as a sex symbol, but according to this author, a lifelong Marilyn fan, it was also paradoxically the film that gave Marilyn the confidence to assert herself against the studio system and to establish herself as a businesswoman with a keen interest in contracts and finance. By the time she made Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Marilyn was bored of her dumb blonde persona and seems to have married baseball legend Joe DiMaggio in order to get out of starring in The Girl in Pink Tights. When she landed The Seven Year Itch everything changed. The film fatally damaged her relationship with her second husband DiMaggio, who was unable to cope with the iconic image of Marilyn with her skirts blowing up around her. This was in spite of the fact that in her early career as a model Marilyn had posed for nude photographs, dividing opinion then and now as to whether this was a bold assertive act by a woman who needed to make her own living or a regrettable capitulation to a male agenda. Subsequent shows like There's No Business Like Show Business still failed to satisfy Marilyn, who let it be known she would like to star in films based on Dostoevsky. Abuse of women was widespread in the film industry and in 1955 she left her contract with 20th century Fox to start her own production company. At this time she also became involved with the Actors' Studio which taught Method acting, immersing yourself in every detail of a character, and the differences in their approach was at the root of the conflict between Marilyn and Laurence Olivier when they starred together in 1956 in The Sleeping Prince. 302pp, photos in black and white and colour.

Robert De Niro is one of the greatest screen actors of his generation. With performances in Mean Streets, The Godfather Part II, Taxi Driver, The Deer Hunter and Raging Bull he dazzled moviegoers and critics alike, displaying a talent that had rarely been seen. Yet little is known about the actor off stage. An intensely private man whose rare public appearances are often marked by inarticulateness and palpable awkwardness, his biographer here seeks to understand the evolution of an actor who has dived deeply into his roles as if to hide his inner nature. De Niro now seemingly avoids acting challenges by taking less demanding parts. The book adds depths of understanding never before seen to his friendships with Martin Scorsese, Meryl Streep, Harvey Keitel, Shelley Winters, Francis Ford Coppola, Brian de Palma, Michael Cimino and Elia Kazan among others. He was a master chameleon and an astonishing risk taker diving as deeply into his roles as any method actor ever has and coming through them stronger and better. He had a supernatural, mysterious air and conveys danger, poetry, sex, loneliness, daring, intensity, surprise and thrills. He was as exciting a screen actor as had been seen since the heydays of Brando and James Dean. At the age of 38 he was just getting started having in the spring of 1981 won his second Oscar in six years for his role in Raging Bull, built on astonishing physical transformations and raw, wrenching emotions. He continued to appear in high quality projects with notable collaborators: Brazil, The Mission, Angel Heart, The Untouchables, Midnight Run, We're No Angels, Mad Dog and Glory, Heat, Wag the Dog, Jackie Brown, Ronin. He made three more movies with Martin Scorsese - Goodfellas, Cape Fear and Casino, and made his directorial debut with the tender and substantial A Bronx Tale. Analyze This was a clever movie, making comic hay of De Niro's tough-guy aura. The following year he appeared in Meet the Parents, a witty comedy and an even bigger box office hit. He had misfires in the 1970s and 80s and worked with directors of finite gifts and dubious reputations. And he played a neurotic gambler trying to connect with his troubled adult son in Silver Linings Playbook which earned him his first Oscar nomination in 21 years. Brilliantly researched 600 page paperback with colour and black and white photos. Remainder mark.

Sir Francis Kennedy McClean died at the age of 80 in 1955. As well as being an aeronaut and a pioneer pilot, he ensured the initial success of Short Brothers as an aeroplane manufacturer, served as the company's first test pilot and, in the words of that great naval aviator Air Commodore Charles Rumney Samson, his generosity 'started the Navy flying'. In 1902 McClean became a director of the Cannock Chase Colliery Company, a post he retained until the company was nationalised in 1948 and on his father's death in 1904 he retired, aged only 28, with considerable independence enabling him to pursue his personal interest in astronomy. McClean was also a balloonist and pioneer aviator, flying with Wilbur Wright in France in December 1908. He provided the Royal Aero Club with one of the first flying grounds in the UK at East Church in Kent, personally purchased no fewer than 16 airplanes from Short Brothers before WWI, and acted as the company's unpaid test pilot. Convinced that aviation was destined to play a vital role in the nation's defence, he made his own aeroplanes freely available for training and ensured that the Navy had a suitable site on which to establish its first flying school. His flight up the Thames to Westminster on 10th August 1912, during which he flew between the upper and lower spans of Tower Bridge and passed beneath the other bridges, and his Nile expedition flight in 1914 caught the public imagination, but despite all these achievements he remained modest and reticent. He was happiest when he was flying at Eastchurch, well away from crowded public venues such as Hendon and Brooklands, and this meant that reports of his activities were sparce and much of his work was carried out quietly. When he did put pen to paper he was dryly witty and never afraid to have a joke at his own expense. He usually declined to take part in competitions and races, but ironically when he entered for the Around Britain Seaplane Race of 1913, his Short S.68 proved a troublesome non-starter. There is little doubt that the deaths of his close friends the Hon. Charles Rolls and Cecil Grace heightened his awareness of the increased risks entailed in flying competitively. Lavishly illustrated Seaforth publication, 184 large pages, rare images.

'No one knew more about the mob, Hollywood, and Las Vegas than Johnny Rosselli.' Gentleman gangster, Hollywood producer, CIA assassin, Johnny Rosselli was at the centre of the 20th century's darkest secrets, straddling the underworld and the day's most compelling headlines. Al Capone's last protégé, Handsome Johnny flourished for an extraordinary half century, beginning in the bloody bootlegging of the Roaring Twenties until he was tapped to be the Mob's 'Man in Hollywood', seducing seductresses such as Jean Harlow and Marilyn Monroe, and becoming indispensable to Columbia Pictures boss Harry Cohen. Later Rosselli himself would even make movies, producing to the best film noirs of the 1940s. After a stint in federal prison, he was deployed by new Chicago boss Sam Giancana to oversee the creation of Las Vegas. He was the gambling mecca's behind-the-scenes power, running the town from his suites at The Tropicana and the Desert Inn, and enjoying Rat Pack nights with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. In his most unexpected and combustible role, Rosselli became a central figure in the Kennedy-era CIA's attempt to assassinate Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. And even that patriotic job as an assassin was not his final chapter... The biography is full of glitter, grit, guns and gams, a true rags-to-riches life. 532pp, paperback with 16 pages of photos.