Covering everything from criminology to spaghetti sauce to show how the most ordinary subjects can illuminate the most extraordinary things about ourselves and our world. The author explores the underdogs, the overlooked, the curious, the miraculous and the disastrous, and reveals how everyone and everything contains an incredible story.

In these breathtaking intellectual adventure stories, covering everything from criminology to ketchup, job interviews to dog training, Malcolm Gladwell looks under the surface of everyday life to show how the most ordinary subjects can illuminate the most extraordinary things about us and our world.

'Masterpieces in the art of the essay' Steven Pinker, The New York Times

'Beautiful ... brings together the writing that made Gladwell the extraordinary figure he is today ... one of the most imaginative non-fiction writers of his generation' Ian Sample, Guardian

'Chatty, perceptive, impish and amiable ... Comes exuberantly close to ... what goes on inside other people's heads' Philip Womack, Daily Telegraph

'Gladwell makes the world seem fresh and exciting again' Evening Standard