Non-Fiction Books

In the US edition of this international bestseller, Adam Kay channels Henry Marsh and David Sedaris to tell us the "darkly funny" ( The New Yorker ) -- and sometimes horrifying -- truth about life and work in a hospital. Welcome to 97-hour weeks. Welcome to life and death decisions. Welcome to a constant tsunami of bodily fluids. Welcome to earning less than the hospital parking meter. Wave goodbye to your friends and relationships. Welcome to the life of a first-year doctor. Scribbled in secret after endless days, sleepless nights and missed weekends, comedian and former medical resident Adam Kay's This Is Going to Hurt provides a no-holds-barred account of his time on the front lines of medicine. Hilarious, horrifying and heartbreaking by turns, this is everything you wanted to know -- and more than a few things you didn't -- about life on and off the hospital ward. And yes, it may leave a scar.

'Read this book and you're virtually a qualified doctor! Educational and entertaining - it should be on the national curriculum!'- Harry Hill 'Hilarious and fascinating ! I wish Adam had been my biology teacher' - Konnie Huq The brand-new, hilarious book from bestselling, record-breaking author Adam Kay. The olden days were pretty fun if you liked wearing chainmail or chopping people's heads off but there was one TINY LITTLE problem back then . . . doctors didn't have the slightest clue about how our bodies worked. It's time to find out why Ancient Egyptians thought the brain was just a useless load of old stuffing that might as well be chucked in the bin, why teachers forced their pupils to smoke cigarettes, why hairdressers would cut off their customers' legs, and why people used to get paid for farting. (Unfortunately that's no longer a thing - sorry.) You'll get answers to questions like: Why did patients gargle with wee? How did a doctor save people's lives using a washing machine, a can of beans and some old sausages? What was the great stink? (No, it's not what doctors call your bum.) If you're sure you're ready, then pop a peg on your nose (there was a lot of stinky pus back then), pull on your wellies (there was a lot of poo there too), wash your hands (because they certainly didn't) and explore this gross and gruesome history of the human body! Praise for Kay's Anatomy: 'An enjoyably gross look at the human body. Hours of gruesome fun guaranteed' i 'Like listening to a teacher who makes pupils fall about' Sunday Times 'Totally brilliant!' Jacqueline Wilson 'Fun and informative' Malorie Blackman 'Very funny - this exciting book is bound to inspire the next generation of medics' Sunday Express

One hundred billion people have lived on earth. Unfortunately, this book would be too heavy if it talked about them all, so it's about ten of them. You'll meet Amelia Earhart, who flew across a huge ocean in a tiny plane, back in the days when planes were basically made out of old bits of wood (and worst of all, they didn't have in-flight movies) and Thomas Edison, who invented light bulbs and movie cameras (but only went to school until he was twelve). Plus a whole bunch more other brilliant people with brilliant brains who woke up one day and thought 'Oh, I've got an idea... !' and changed the world forever

Do you ever wonder where the stuff around you all came from? No, not from the shops. I mean, who had the amazing idea of making video games or the annoying idea of building a school? In the latest laugh-out-loud book from the record-breaking and extremely handsome Adam Kay and Henry Paker, you’ll learn about everything ever invented, from the daft to the disgusting to the downright dangerous.You’ll discover all The queen who pooed on the first ever toilet- How velcro was invented by a dog- Why the Ancient Greeks wiped their bums on dinner platesAs well as 48,762,851,208 other facts. (Approximately.) Praise for Kay's 'An enjoyably gross look at the human body. Hours of gruesome fun guaranteed' i'Like listening to a teacher who makes pupils fall about' Sunday Times'Totally brilliant!' Jacqueline Wilson'Fun and informative' Malorie Blackman'Very funny - this exciting book is bound to inspire the next generation of medics' Sunday Express Praise for Kay's Marvellous 'A ridiculously funny read that will delight, gross out and educate all at the same time' Independent'Educational and entertaining. It should be on the national curriculum!' Harry Hill'Completely marvellous and very funny' BookTrust