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Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are.",{"_813":832,"_815":1035,"_786":1036},"audience","Trade",{"_813":832,"_815":845,"_786":1038},"Penguin Books, Limited",{"_813":832,"_815":820,"_786":1040},"UK- A Format Paperback",{"_813":832,"_815":850,"_786":851},{"_813":832,"_815":1043,"_786":1044},"bic_subject","LITERARY ESSAYS",{"_813":832,"_815":856,"_786":1046},"2008-10-27",{"_813":832,"_815":859,"_786":1048},"144",{"_813":862,"_815":344,"_786":863},{"_813":862,"_815":724,"_786":863},{"_813":862,"_815":866,"_786":867},{"_813":862,"_815":869,"_786":867},{"_813":862,"_815":871,"_786":867},{"_813":862,"_815":873,"_786":1055},"17/03/2026",{"_813":862,"_815":876,"_786":1057},"10/03/2026",{"_813":862,"_815":879,"_786":1059},"20.0",{"_813":862,"_815":881,"_786":1059},{"_813":862,"_815":883,"_786":1062},"2",{"_813":862,"_815":886,"_786":1062},{"_813":888,"_815":889,"_786":1065},"Essays,Ideas",{"_813":888,"_815":344,"_786":1067},"Ideas",{"_813":888,"_815":724,"_786":1069},"Essays;Ideas",{"_813":888,"_815":894,"_786":1071},"ESSAYS,IDEAS",{"_813":888,"_815":896,"_786":1073},"IDEAS",{"_813":888,"_815":898,"_786":1075},"ESSAYS;IDEAS",{"_813":888,"_815":900,"_786":1077},"ESSAYS,NON FICTION",{"_813":888,"_815":902,"_786":914},{"_813":888,"_815":904,"_786":1080},"ESSAYS;NON FICTION",{"_813":888,"_815":906,"_786":1082},"ESSAYS & REFERENCE,NON FICTION",{"_813":888,"_815":909,"_786":914},{"_813":888,"_815":911,"_786":1085},"ESSAYS & REFERENCE;NON FICTION",{"_813":888,"_815":913,"_786":914},{"_813":888,"_815":916,"_786":1088},"NON FICTION;NON FICTION",{"_813":888,"_815":918,"_786":925},{"_813":888,"_815":921,"_786":925},{"_813":888,"_815":924,"_786":925},{"_763":1093},[1094],{"_766":109,"_767":-5,"_123":1095,"_203":1096,"_777":1100,"_783":1101,"_17":750,"_787":1103,"_789":1104},"gid://shopify/ProductVariant/43581571465413",{"_770":1097,"_772":773,"_123":1098,"_759":1017,"_775":1099},"Books V Cigarettes #57 Cover Image","gid://shopify/ProductImage/34874154877125",1254,{"_779":780,"_781":1059},[1102],{"_746":747,"_786":750},"9780141036618",{"_791":1105},[1106,1109],{"_794":1107},{"_796":109,"_126":1108},{"_746":341},{"_794":1110},{"_796":109,"_126":1111},{"_746":722},{"_123":1113,"_17":1114,"_735":1115,"_757":1116,"_810":1118,"_761":1167},"gid://shopify/Product/8766129340613","Porn","porn-an-oral-history",{"_759":1117},"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0625/6679/3413/files/978-1-80427-040-0.jpg?v=1773267491",[1119,1121,1123,1124,-5,1126,1127,1128,1129,1131,1133,-5,1135,1137,1138,1139,-5,1140,1142,1144,-5,-5,1146,-5,1147,1148,-5,1149,-5,1150,-5,1152,1154,-5,1155,1156,-5,1157,1158,-5,1159,1160,-5,1161,1162,-5,1163,1164,-5,1166],{"_813":814,"_815":17,"_786":1120},"Porn: An Oral History",{"_813":814,"_815":817,"_786":1122},"BARTON POLLY",{"_813":814,"_815":820,"_786":821},{"_813":814,"_815":823,"_786":1125},"FITZCA",{"_813":814,"_815":829,"_786":830},{"_813":832,"_815":833,"_786":834},{"_813":832,"_815":17,"_786":1114},{"_813":832,"_815":838,"_786":1130},"An Oral History",{"_813":832,"_815":817,"_786":1132},"Polly Barton",{"_813":832,"_815":843,"_786":1134},"

How do we talk about porn? Why it is that when we do talk about porn, we tend to retreat into the abstract? How do we have meaningful conversations about it with those closest to us? In Porn: An Oral History, Polly Barton interrogates the absence of discussion around a topic that is ubiquitous and influences our daily lives. In her search for understanding, she spent a year initiating intimate conversations with nineteen acquaintances of a range of ages, genders and sexualities about everything and anything related to porn: watching habits, emotions and feelings of guilt, embarrassment, disgust and shame, fantasy and desire. Soon, unfolding before her, was exactly the book that she had been longing to encounter - not a traditional history, but the raw, honest truth about what we aren't saying. A landmark work of oral history written in the spirit of Nell Dunn, Porn is a thrilling, thought-provoking, revelatory, revealing, joyfully informative and informal exploration of a subject that has always retained an element of the taboo.

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The national bestseller, Phosphorescence is a beautiful, intimate and inspiring investigation into how we can find and nurture within ourselves that essential quality of internal happiness - the 'light within' - which will sustain us even through the darkest times.

Over the last decade, we have become better at knowing what brings us contentment, well-being and joy. We know, for example, that there are a few core truths to the science of happiness. We know that being kind and altruistic makes us happy, that turning off devices, talking to people, forging relationships, living with meaning and delving into the concerns of others offer our best chance of achieving happiness. But how do we retain happiness? It often slips out of our hands as quickly as we find it. So, when we are exposed to, or learn, good things, how do we continue to burn with them?

And more than that, when our world goes dark, when we're overwhelmed by illness or heartbreak, loss or pain, how do we survive, stay alive or even bloom? In the muck and grit of a daily existence full of disappointments and a disturbing lack of control over many of the things that matter most - finite relationships, fragile health, fraying economies, a planet in peril - how do we find, nurture and carry our own inner, living light - a light to ward off the darkness?

An intimate, achingly beautiful and inspiring exploration of the ways we can pursue awe, wonder and purpose, from one of our best, most perceptive writers.

'Like spending an evening with a wonderful friend, with unlimited time and a glass of good wine in hand ... A beautiful and rallying read' The Australian

'Julia Baird's new, beautiful consideration of the things that glow through the murk ... a book such as this one - one that aims to provoke delight and wonder and comfort, that is at its heart trying to find answers or modes of connection, or light - is of the moment in the best possible way' The Guardian

'Intelligent and emotionally astute ... Many will find sustenance in reading it' Sydney Morning Herald

'That is the beauty of this profound book. It transports you into all the deep, inner yearnings you've had for a long time, and then articulates them for you ... I could rave about this gem of a book forever. We need this book. You need this book. It is the perfect gift for us all right now. It is perfect' Better Reading

'Julia Baird is an alchemist, turning the dross of her life's harshest blows into shimmering prose. Both timeless and timely, this is a book of wisdom and wonder.' Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of March and Caleb's Crossing

'This book is a love letter to the world by a brilliant writer who nearly left it. Julia Baird has gone into the depths of human experience-her own, and others'-and come back with this luminous and profound celebration of people and the planet. Phosphorescence is a treasure to read and re-read your whole life.' Anna Funder, author of All That I Am and Stasiland

'I loved this book. A cupped hand full of light in a darkened world. A collection of glittering curios. I'll hold it close in trying times.' Cal Flyn, author of Islands of Abandonment

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Written with a light touch and with a wry sense of humour, these are also the essays of a great literary talent, grappling with sociology, sexuality and feminism, with the cultural clash of living in the USA, and with Chinese sci-fi, the internet, and beloved European writers like Bertrand Russell and Italo Calvino. Electrifying, containing a razor-sharp wit and intellect, this collection reveals the voice of a generation to English-speaking readers for the very first time.",{"_813":832,"_815":1035,"_786":1036},{"_813":832,"_815":845,"_786":1291},"Penguin Canada",{"_813":832,"_815":820,"_786":1293},"UK-B Format Paperback",{"_813":832,"_815":850,"_786":851},{"_813":832,"_815":1043,"_786":1044},{"_813":832,"_815":856,"_786":1297},"2024-07-30",{"_813":832,"_815":859,"_786":1299},"224",{"_813":862,"_815":724,"_786":863},{"_813":862,"_815":869,"_786":834},{"_813":862,"_815":871,"_786":867},{"_813":862,"_815":876,"_786":1304},"13/01/2026",{"_813":862,"_815":881,"_786":1151},{"_813":862,"_815":886,"_786":1153},{"_813":888,"_815":889,"_786":890},{"_813":888,"_815":724,"_786":890},{"_813":888,"_815":894,"_786":741},{"_813":888,"_815":898,"_786":741},{"_813":888,"_815":900,"_786":741},{"_813":888,"_815":904,"_786":741},{"_813":888,"_815":906,"_786":907},{"_813":888,"_815":911,"_786":907},{"_813":888,"_815":913,"_786":914},{"_813":888,"_815":916,"_786":914},{"_813":888,"_815":918,"_786":1165},{"_813":888,"_815":924,"_786":925},{"_763":1320},[1321],{"_766":109,"_767":-5,"_123":1322,"_203":1323,"_777":1327,"_783":1328,"_17":1276,"_787":1330,"_789":1331},"gid://shopify/ProductVariant/45988170236101",{"_770":1324,"_772":773,"_123":1325,"_759":1273,"_775":1326},"The Pleasure of Thinking Cover Image","gid://shopify/ProductImage/41646559133893",1335,{"_779":780,"_781":1151},[1329],{"_746":747,"_786":1276},"9780241633267",{"_791":1332},[1333],{"_794":1334},{"_796":109,"_126":1335},{"_746":722},"relatedProductsCollectionUrl","/collections/shop-all?shopify_products%5BrefinementList%5D%5Bmeta.categories.sub_merged%5D%5B0%5D=ESSAYS","relatedProductsFirstSubCategory","city","columbus","actionData","errors"]

A Hitch In Time

Writings from the London Review of Books

by Christopher Hitchens