Monday Books: 22 books

Last week, a patient arrived in the prison, a fit (though presumably not very skilful) young burglar. ‘Are you on any treatment?’ I asked him. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘DF 118, diazzies and amitrippiline.’ An opiate analgesic, an addictive tranquilliser and an anti-depressant. ‘Why?’ I asked....

The smash-hit bestseller about the world's worst air crashes and the disaster detectives who pick through the wreckage to find out why they happened - now fully revised and updated, with 30% new material. From the early tragedies of the Comet and the DC10 to the modern-day horror of the Concorde...

''For the first time in my young military career, those recruitment posters showing lads windsurfing and relaxing on the beach swam into my mind s eye without a trace of irony.'' Young soldier Eddy Nugent can't believe his luck. It's 1991, and he's been posted to tropical Belize - where he...

It's 1985, The Smiths are in the charts and Maggie Thatcher is in No10. Eddy Nugent's in Manchester, he's 16 and he's slowly going out of his mind with boredom. So what does he do? He joins the British Army. Overnight, he leaves the relative sanity of civvie street and falls headlong into...

Florida: a land of dazzling white sands, sizzling sun... and utterly incompetent British criminals. Like the British woman who hijacked a helicopter to bust her husband out of Death Row, the Scottish gap year student who robbed a bank and tried to escape on a kid's bike and the unlucky Londoner...

The No1 best-seller about law and order that the government lied about... Wasting Police Time is the hilarious and shocking truth about Britain's criminal justice system. Ever wondered why you can't find a policeman when you want one? PC David Copperfield has the answer: they're all...

You do not have to know anything about the police, but it may harm your understanding of the world you live in if you do not read this book. Arresting 10-year-olds for for stealing sweets… Nicking adults for denying the existence of Santa Claus… Investigating Kelly's ex's new girlfriend's...

The long-awaited follow-up to the bestselling Wasting Police Time. Wasting More Police Time takes readers back to the front line of British policing for more fascinating stories and insights. PC David Copperfield was widely praised for the first book, which lifted the lid on bureaucracy,...

"The tapes are on, the interview begins, and I ask my standard opening question: ‘Do you understand why you have been arrested?’ Believe it or not, sometimes these words alone can prompt a confused confession. ‘I ain't been arrested,’ says Shimona. Not exactly a confession. ‘Well,...

Stuart Gray is a paramedic dealing with the worst life can throw at him. A Paramedic's Diary is his gripping, blow-by-blow account of a year on the streets - 12 roller-coaster months of enormous highs and tragic lows. One day he'll save a young mother's life as she gives birth, the next he might...

If you only read one book about our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, read this one. A searing, gripping, action-packed series of 25 amazing tales of courage, by medal-winning soldiers, Royal Marines and RAF men in their own words. These are the bravest of the brave, a collection of modest, honest,...

Frank Chalk is an ordinary teacher in an ordinary British school... a school where the kids get drunk, beat up the teachers and take drugs - when they can be bothered to turn up. It's Your Time You're Wasting is the blackly humorous diary of a year in his working life. Chalk confiscates...

In this quirky and entertaining book, Steve Pope reveals the stories behind some of the world's most remarkable inventions and discoveries - and all of them are British. Presented in an easy to read A-Z format, So That's Why They Call It Great Britain is quite simply crammed full of fascinating...

Most of the antipodean beachcombers were heavy drinkers. It was a way of life with them. An Australian trader consulted me one day because of a serious drink problem he had. ‘I only had ten cans yesterday, doc,’ he said. ‘And today I haven’t had any. I just don’t feel like it. Today’s...