About 	 Lucy Rycroft: Lucy is the founder of The Hope-Filled Family, a ministry encouraging Christian parents, carers and all those investing in the younger generation. She is the author of several books for adults and children, including Busy Family Devotional and the Mighty Girl, Mighty God series. She is mum to four children ages 11 to 16, who arrived by birth and adoption, and is married to Al, a church leader in York, England.

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A A Gill

About A D Swanston: Andrew Swanston read law at Cambridge, but was inspired to write by his lifelong interest in early modern history. His Thomas Hill novels – The King’s Spy, The King’s Exile and The King’s Return – are set against the backdrops of the English Civil War, Cromwell’s Commonwealth and the early Restoration respectively. He is also the author of Waterloo: The Bravest Man and Beautiful Star and Other Stories. His first historical thriller set during the reign of Elizabeth I – Incendium (published in paperback as The Incendium Plot) – introduced readers to the academic, lawyer and intelligencer Dr Christopher Radcliff, whose adventures continue in Chaos. Andrew Swanston lives in Surrey.

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A G Hopkins

About A J Baime: A. J. BAIME is the New York Times best-selling author of The Arsenal of Democracy: FDR, Detroit, and an Epic Quest to Arm an America at War and Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans. Both books are in development for major motion pictures. Baime is a longtime regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal, and his articles have also appeared in the New York Times, Popular Science, and Men’s Journal. He lives in Granite Bay, California. Visit him at facebook.com/ajbaime and trumanbook.com.

A J Baime

A J Jacobs

A J P Taylor

About A J Pollard: Anthony James Pollard is a British medieval historian, specialising in the fifteenth century and in particular the Wars of the Roses. A leading authority in the field, he is profesor emeritus of Teesside University. His books include North-Eastern England during the Wars of the Roses, Richard III and the Princes in theTower, Imagining Robin Hood: the Late Medieval Stories in Historical Context and Warwick the kingmaker: Politics, Power and Fame.

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A J Rochester

About A K Benjamin: A K Benjamin is a clinical neuropsychologist and the author of Let Me Not Be Mad: A Story of Unravelling Minds.

A K Benjamin

About A L Berridge: A. L. Berridge read English at Oxford, and taught for ten years before moving into television, where her production credits range from period drama and thrillers to long-running soaps. She has written two previous novels, Top Ten besteller Honour and the Sword and In the Name of the King. Into the Valley of Death is her third novel.

A L Berridge

About A L Gaylin: Alison Gaylin's first job was as a reporter for a celebrity tabloid, which sparked a lifelong interest in writing about people committing despicable acts. More than a decade later, she wrote and published her Edgar-nominated first novel, HIDE YOUR EYES. 
 
She's since published nine more books, including the USA Today and international bestselling Brenna Spector suspense series, which has been nominated for the Edgar, Anthony and Thriller awards and won the Shamus award. 
 
She lives in upstate New York with her husband, daughter, cat and dog.

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A P Wavell

About A S Webb: A.S. Webb is the Sunday Times bestselling author of Daughter of Chaos, the first instalment of The Dark Pantheon Trilogy. She is inspired by stories rooted in history and mythology, that push the boundaries of imagination and urge us to reflect on what it means to be human.

A S Webb

About A. A. Dhand / A. A. Dhand: A. A. Dhand is the author of six previous novels, and has been shortlisted for the CWA Steel Dagger Award. His DI Harry Virdee novels are currently being adapted for TV by the BBC. He was raised in Bradford and spent his youth observing the city from behind the counter of a small convenience store. After qualifying as a pharmacist, he worked in London and travelled extensively before returning to Bradford to start his own business and begin writing. The history, diversity and darkness of the city have inspired all his novels. For more information about A. A. Dhand and his books, follow him on X @aadhand, and on Instagram @aa_dhand.

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A. Anatoli

About A. B. Poranek / A. B. Poranek: A. B. Poranek grew up sharing her time between Ontario, Canada and rural Poland, and eventually completed a veterinary degree at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences. A lover of mythology and history, she enjoys exploring both in her writing. Her debut novel, Where the Dark Stands Still, an instant New York Times bestseller, is an ode to Poland's folktales, while A Treachery of Swans transports readers to a world inspired by 17th century France.

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A. Bradley

About A. C. Grayling / A. C. Grayling: Professor A. C. Grayling is Principal of the New College of the Humanities at Northeastern University, London, and a Supernumerary Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford. He has written and edited over thirty books on philosophy, history, science and current affairs. For several years he wrote columns for the Guardian newspaper and The Times and was the chairman of the 2014 Man Booker Prize.

A. C. Grayling

About A. D. Miller / A. D. Miller: A.D. Miller is the author of Snowdrops, The Earl of Petticoat Lane and The Faithful Couple. Snowdrops was a bestseller and was shortlisted for many prizes including the Man Booker and the CWA Gold Dagger. It was translated into 25 languages. As Moscow Correspondent of The Economist A.D. Miller has travelled across the former Soviet Union and covered the Orange Revolution in Ukraine; he is now the magazine’s Culture Editor based in London. 
 
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John Lloyd

The seventeenth series of the much-loved panel show, in which a cast of curious minds and comic voices donate extraordinary exhibits to an ever-expanding imaginary museum. 
 
Join Professor of Ignorance John Lloyd and curator Anna Ptaszynski as they open the doors once again to a collection of the strange, the surprising and the delightfully unclassifiable. Across six episodes, a distinguished line-up of guests – including Miriam Margolyes, Chris McCausland, Rosie Holt, Carlo Rovelli, Dame Sarah Storey and Alfie Moore – present their chosen additions, sparking conversations that roam from science and history to culture, philosophy and the outright absurd. 
 
Among the proposed exhibits: a fruit fly that could save your life; a wonder of the ancient world alongside a relic of 1990s nostalgia; the never was, the may be, …and a jar of marmalade. Each donation opens a rich seam of insight and humour, as the panel explore life’s oddities with wit, intelligence and a sense of the unexpected. 
 
As ever, the Museum’s galleries are filled not with objects you can see, but ideas you won’t forget – brought to life by some of the most engaging voices in comedy, science and the arts. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by John Lloyd 
Curated by Anna Ptaszynski 
Exhibits catalogued by Mike Turner, Mandy Fenton and Lydia Mizon of QI 
Executive Producer: James Robinson 
Produced by Sam Holmes and Leying Lee 
Production Co-ordinator: Sarah Nicholls 
Sound: David Thomas 
A BBC Studios production 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 20 February - 27 March 2023 
 
©2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

The Museum of Curiosity: Series 17

The BBC Radio Comedy Panel Show

David Spiegelhalter

We live in a world where uncertainty is inevitable. How should we deal with what we don’t know? And what role do chance, luck and coincidence play in our lives? 
 
David Spiegelhalter has spent his career dissecting data in order to understand risks and assess the chances of what might happen in the future. In The Art of Uncertainty, he gives readers a window onto how we can all do this better. 
 
In engaging, crystal-clear prose, he takes us through the principles of probability, showing how it can help us think more analytically about everything from medical advice to pandemics and climate change forecasts, and explores how we can update our beliefs about the future in the face of constantly changing experience. Along the way, he explains why roughly 40% of football results come down to luck rather than talent, how the National Risk Register assesses near-term risks to the United Kingdom, and why we can be so confident that two properly shuffled packs of cards have never, ever been in the exact same order. 
 
Drawing on a wide range of captivating real-world examples, this is an essential guide to navigating uncertainty while also having the humility to admit what we do not know.

The Art of Uncertainty

How to Navigate Chance, Ignorance, Risk and Luck

Liaquat Ahamed

On Friday, 9 May 1873 the Vienna stock market collapsed. Four months later Wall Street was in trouble. Elsewhere, as panic selling spread across financial markets, some countries defaulted on their debts, while the Bank of England was forced to raise its rates to their highest level in a century. It was the first global crash in history. And it was to have calamitous consequences. 
 
In his powerful new book, the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Lords of Finance tells the epic story of that crash and explores its economic and human costs. He describes how the growth of the international bond market in the 1850s and 60s funded a frenzy of speculation in railways, construction and nation-building. He examines those who became swept up in the boom, from leading bankers like the Rothschild dynasty to national leaders both visionary and venal, to rogues and chancers like the shameless Jay Gould, to such sceptical onlookers as Mark Twain and Karl Marx. He then traces how, in the subsequent panic, investors were left with catastrophic losses, while governments on both sides of the Atlantic rushed misguidedly to reorder the world’s financial system. 
 
As he shows, the blunders made as the crisis unfolded set the stage for twenty years of deflation, and a punitive legacy of aggrieved populism that infected every part of the globe. Amid the crash’s many aftershocks, the US abandoned Reconstruction, European powers staged an economic takeover of the heavily indebted Ottoman Empire, and the principle of international free trade came under pressure. Meanwhile there was a revival of antisemitic movements in Europe that blamed ‘Jewish finance’ for the disaster. 
 
A brilliant evocation of a key turning point in world history, 1873 is also a masterly examination of the unforeseen political and social consequences of financial misjudgements.

1873

The First Great Depression and the Making of the Modern World

Vaclav Smil

'There is no author whose books I look forward to more' Bill Gates 
 
‘There is perhaps no other academic who paints pictures with numbers like Smil’ Guardian 
 
Discover how speed shapes life on Earth, from grinding geological processes to the astonishing speed of light. In this wide-ranging ideas book, internationally bestselling author Vaclav Smil explores the connections between speed, nature, and human innovation. With surprising insights - like how erosion actually accelerates mountain growth - Smil debunks the myth that modern life is accelerating at an unprecedented rate. 
 
Combining compelling statistics with insightful analysis, Smil take readers on a captivating journey through the vast timescales of Earth’s history all the way down to the complexities of the present day. 
 
Smil explains how we measure speed and reveals its theoretical limits, offering a thought-provoking look at the forces defining our world. This eye-opening book encourages readers to see speed’s vital role in everything around us.

Speed

How it Explains the World

Turi Munthe

'This book is always fascinating but frequently mind-blowing' 
Marina Hyde, Guardian columnist and co-host of The Rest Is Entertainment 
 
'Fizzing with insights and ideas... I loved it' 
Jenny Kleeman, author of The Price of Life 
 
'Intriguing... Munthe explains why robust debate is essential for a creative and healthy society' 
Timothy Garton Ash, author of Free Speech and Guardian columnist 
 
An eye-opening journey through the secret forces shaping our opinions, this book reveals why we think what we think – and why disagreement matters 
 
Our opinions – whether we believe in God or in ghosts, our views on sex or animal rights or immigration, our basic sense of what’s good or fair – are shaped by a breathtaking web of hidden forces. The age-old idea that our views are forged by reason and evidence alone is wrong: we are influenced by everything from the quirks of distant history, through the geology of where we grew up, to the lines of our genetic code. 
 
This astounding book takes us through culture, biology, geography, history, psychology and much more to uncover the hidden DNA of our opinions. It reveals: 
<ul><li>why the descendants of rice farmers have different values to the descendants of grain farmers</li><li>how our physical appearance shapes the way we see the world – and why conventionally attractive people tend to support the free market</li><li>why liberals think pineapple should go on pizza, and why conservatives prefer smooth peanut butter to crunchy</li><li>why hot and humid countries favour authoritarian leaders, and drought-prone ones prefer authoritarian gods</li></ul> 
 
Packed with extraordinary stories and counterintuitive discoveries, Why We Think What We Think asks a fundamental question of ourselves. If we are predisposed to our beliefs, how can we escape the bounds of our own perspective? The answer lies in disagreement. Argument is how we reason, how we think our way to a better world. To thrive, as individuals and societies, we need the other side.

Why We Think What We Think

The Unexpected Origins of Our Deepest Beliefs

Nick Clegg

The global, open internet is fragmenting. 
 
As democracies seek to rein in the power of Big Tech, as Silicon Valley pivots to an America-first agenda, as authoritarian regimes such as China and Russia segregate their populations from the rest of the internet, the most powerful tool ever created for bringing the world together risks being dismantled. 
 
Taking us behind the scenes at Meta and his interactions with world leaders, Nick Clegg, Meta’s former President, Global Affairs, sets out where Big Tech has gone wrong, how Silicon Valley’s insularity has blinded it to its missteps, and the radical reforms of the global platforms that are now needed if they are to secure a long-term future. 
 
But he also makes the case that many of the charges against them – including that their algorithms polarise, manipulate and harm – are vastly overstated or simply untrue. And while new laws that regulate these corporations are essential, imposing national borders on the internet cannot be the answer. That will fatally undermine its capacity for knowledge-sharing, collaboration, education, trade, medical and scientific research, and ultimately for the improvement and empowerment of billions of lives. 
 
Radical, reasonable, deeply felt and disarmingly honest, How To Save the Internet sets out a blueprint for the global cooperation we need in order to reform Big Tech while preserving the fundamental openness of the internet on which our future so depends.

How to Save the Internet

The Threat to Global Connection in the Age of AI and Political Conflict

Thomas Asbridge

In the mid-fourteenth century, a lethal plague struck the medieval world, causing unimaginable suffering and destruction. This terrifying pandemic – the Black Death – was unquestionably one of history’s defining episodes, yet a critical feature of its progress has often been ignored: the disease was not confined to Europe, but rather affected almost all of the known world, including the Near and Middle East, Byzantium, north Africa and Asia. 
 
Tracing the pandemic’s course across the medieval globe, The Black Death contrasts the experiences of different peoples, including Christians, Muslims and Jews, charting this catastrophe’s transformative effects on diverse aspects of medieval life. And crucially, Asbridge demonstrates that the plague was often at its most destructive in the Islamic world, where it ultimately played a role in the collapse of the mighty Mamluk Empire. 
 
The Black Death also brings the human drama of this calamitous era to life, evoking the terror and the turmoil that beset cities such as London, Cairo and Florence. Asbridge reconstructs the lives of the men, women and children who faced the Black Death – from ruling monarchs to peasant farmers – laying bare both the abject horror they endured and the courageous resolve they often demonstrated while striving to survive. 
 
Uncovering a story that speaks to our own age, The Black Death highlights humankind’s capacity for compassion and resilience amidst a global crisis to explain how the medieval world confronted, and ultimately overcame, this shattering pandemic.

The Black Death

A Global History

Jefferson Fisher

There is always a next conversation, and there is no one better than trial lawyer Jefferson Fisher at giving you the tools to be ready for whatever it may bring. 
 
Fisher, one of the leading voices on real-world communication, has gained millions of followers through short, simple, practical videos teaching people how to argue less and talk more. Whether it’s handling a heated conversation, dealing with a difficult personality, or standing your ground with confidence, his down-to-earth teachings have helped countless people navigate life’s toughest situations.Through detailed prompts, visual aids, and hands-on exercises, this workbook will show you how to: 
<ul><li>Navigate the ignition and cooling phase of any argument</li><li>Make use of your breathing and short pauses to maintain control in any situation</li><li>Use assertive phrases to use when you need to stand your ground</li><li>Set healthy boundaries and frame conversations</li></ul> 
Filled with practical phrases that lead to powerful results, The Next Conversation Workbook is your go-to resource for when you need to find the right words to say.

The Next Conversation Workbook

Practical Exercises for Arguing Less and Talking More

Adrienne Adhami

From the acclaimed author and podcaster of Power Hour comes the inspiring and actionable guide to making better, more intentional everyday decisions to lead us to the life that we want. 
 
'For anyone who wants to make decisions with confidence and clarity, reclaim their mental space, and design a life that truly matters' ? Charles Duhigg, bestselling author of Supercommunicators and The Power of Habit 
 
‘A profound yet incredibly practical guide to what is arguably the most important single thing we do, as finite humans in search of meaningful lives: making decisions.' – Oliver Burkeman, bestselling author of Four Thousand Weeks and Meditations for Mortals 
 
 
It's estimated that the average person now makes around 35,000 decisions each day. 
 
We're living in the age of abundance, with more choices than ever before. From everyday mundane choices to big life decisions, the more options we have, the more overwhelmed we become. 
 
In Decisions That Matter, Adrienne Adhami – podcaster, business advisor and keynote speaker to industry-leading companies such as Microsoft, Spotify and Range Rover – provides the tools and insights you need to navigate these choices with confidence. Adrienne offers strategies and frameworks to help you make intentional decisions in a world full of distractions. 
 
Packed with real-life examples and actionable steps, Decisions That Matter will help you: 
<ul><li>Overcome procrastination: build the confidence to make effective decisions.</li><li>Combat decision fatigue: reclaim your time and mental energy by simplifying the decision-making process.</li><li>Take control of your life: create a life that aligns with your values and goals.</li></ul> 
Motivating and infused with Adrienne’s infectious energy, Decisions That Matter is a manual that empowers you to break free from indecision and make choices with clarity and conviction. 
 
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Praise for Decisions that Matter: 
 
‘A brilliant, practical guide to overcoming the decision paralysis that plagues our lives. Decisions That Matter is packed full of empathy, wisdom and the best kind of actionable solutions. In a world of endless choices, definitely choose Adrienne.’ ? Viv Groskop, bestselling author of How to Own the Room 
 
‘Adrienne writes with the kind of vulnerability that makes every chapter feel like a chat with a wise, no-nonsense friend. Reading this book is definitely a decision that matters!’ – Candice Brathwaite, bestselling author of Sista, Sister, Manifesto and I Am Not Your Baby Mother 
 
‘In the age of countless options, the ability to make thoughtful decisions has never been more essential – or more difficult. Adrienne Adhami’s Decisions That Matter is an insightful guide we need right now.’ – Mo Gawdat, bestselling author of Solve for Happy, The Little Voice in Your Head and Unstressable 
 
‘A must read to help give you confidence in your decision making!’ 5-star reader review

Decisions That Matter

How to Make Decisions in A World of Endless Choice

Odd Arne Westad

If there are lessons from history, now is the time when we need to heed them, so that we do not end up in another Great Power war because of the fatal combinations of jingoism, fear, fatalism, and sheer stupidity that set off the first major war of the 20th century. 
 
The great majority of people alive today have come of age in a world of remarkable stability, presided over by either one or two superpowers. This is not to say the world has been peaceful; but it has to an extent been predictable. As an increasing number of Great Powers now jostle for regional supremacy our world has become more fragile, unpredictable – and combustible. 
 
To understand the threats that face us in this complex new terrain, we must look to the lessons of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century – a time when Great Powers clashed and sought regional dominance, when nationalism and populism were on the rise, and many felt that globalization had failed them: a time, in other words, that carries eerie parallels with our own.

The Coming Storm

Power, Conflict and Warnings from History

Afua Hirsch

Our bodies tell our story. 
 
Upon turning forty, Afua Hirsch had an encounter that forever altered her preconceived notions of ancestry and body image, making her question everything from body-modification rituals such as tattoos and piercings to the foundations of sexuality. 
 
Decolonising My Body charts her year-long journey of radical unlearning. Bringing together global scholarship, on-the-ground reportage, personal anecdotes and interviews with beauty experts, practitioners and service users, Hirsch reassesses notions of body image beyond those of the colonial, patriarchal gaze. Taking us from puberty to end-of-life, she shows us that the ways in which we adorn and present ourselves have spiritual implications and shape the possibilities we see for ourselves in the world.

Decolonising My Body

On Ancestry, Tradition and Cultural Reinvention

A radical exploration of rituals and beauty

Alice Mah

'Part of me knew what the hungry ghosts wanted all along, what they still want. It is not vengeance. No, they want something else, but we refuse to listen. They want us to face up to our broken obligations.' 
 
Every spring during the Qingming Festival, people return to their home villages in China to sweep the tombs of their ancestors, making offerings of food and incense to prevent them from becoming hungry ghosts that could cause misfortune. Yet for the past century, a time ruptured by war and revolution, many tombs have been left unattended. Following a record year of wildfires, Alice Mah returns to her family’s rice village in South China, and discovers that her ancestors are almost forgotten, and there are no tombs left to sweep. Instead, there are incalculable clan debts to be paid. 
 
Here Mah chronicles her journey from the rice villages of South China to her home in post-industrial England, through the Chinatowns of Western Canada where she grew up, to the isles and industry of Scotland where she now lives. As years pass and fires rage on, she becomes increasingly troubled by her ancestors’ neglected graves. Her research on pollution gives way to growing eco-anxiety, culminating in a crisis of spiritual belief. 
 
A haunting blend of memoir, cultural history and environmental exploration, Red Pockets confronts the hungry ghosts of our neglected ancestors, while searching for an acceptable offering. What do we owe to past and future generations? What do we owe to the places that we inhabit?

Red Pockets

An Offering

Leor Zmigrod

Why do some people become radicalized? Who is most susceptible to ideological thinking? Can we unchain our minds from toxic dogmas? 
 
Drawing on her groundbreaking research, Dr Leor Zmigrod uncovers the hidden mechanisms driving our beliefs and behaviours. She uses the powerful tools of neuroscience to show that our political beliefs are not transient thoughts in our minds, divorced from our bodies – ideologies actually change our neural architecture, our cells. For instance, she demonstrates how a simple card sorting game can reveal your entire approach to life. Cognitive rigidity in such tasks – struggling to adapt to new rules – mirrors the rigidity with which you cling to social and political ideologies. While some individuals are more susceptible to dogmatic thinking than others, all of us can strive to be more flexible. 
 
The Ideological Brain is essential reading in today’s polarized and polarizing world. To foster a more informed, resilient and freer society, we need to zoom into the processes happening inside each of us and learn to spot rigid thinking in ourselves and others. We need to learn to avoid black-and-white thinking and embrace ambiguity. We need to recognize our ability to resist irrational rules and authority. Regardless of your political stance, this book will challenge you to reassess your convictions – and what they are doing to your brain.

The Ideological Brain

How Rigid Beliefs Harm Our Minds & Bodies – And Why It Matters

A Radical Science of Susceptible Minds

Alison Wood Brooks

Conversation is at the heart of our relationships and decision-making - but the science behind our everyday interactions, and how to improve them, is little known. 
 
In Talk, Harvard Professor Alison Wood Brooks provides fascinating insights into the power of effective communication. She gives you the tools that her MBA students say transform their lives, bringing together psychology, linguistics, sociology and neuroscience in her original framework: 
 
T – Topics – including the surprising impact of preparing topics before a conversation 
A – Asking – why we need to do more (and why we do less than we think) 
L – Levity – how to find the fun in conversations with anyone 
K – Kindness – how to be a better listener and not simply pretend to be one! 
 
Through her own original research, Brooks shows readers how small changes in how we communicate can make a big difference to our relationships, our careers and our lives.

Talk

The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves

Dr Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston

Just as surgeons once believed pain was good for their patients, some argue today that death brings meaning to life. But given humans rarely live beyond a century – even while certain whales can thrive for over two hundred years – it’s hard not to see our biological limits as profoundly unfair. No wonder then that most people nearing death wish they still had more time. 
 
Yet, with ever-advancing science, will the ends of our lives always loom so close? For from ventilators to brain implants, modern medicine has been blurring what it means to die. In a lucid synthesis of current neuroscientific thinking, Zeleznikow-Johnston explains that death is no longer the loss of heartbeat or breath, but of personal identity – that the core of our identities is our minds, and that our minds are encoded in the structure of our brains. On this basis, he explores how recently invented brain preservation techniques now offer us all the chance of preserving our minds to enable our future revival. 
 
Whether they fought for justice or cured diseases, we are grateful to those of our ancestors who helped craft a kinder world – yet they cannot enjoy the fruits of the civilization they helped build. But if we work together to create a better future for our own descendants, we may even have the chance to live in it. Because, should we succeed, then just maybe, the future will love us enough to bring us back and share their world with us.

The Future Loves You

How and Why We Should Abolish Death

Mat Watson

A highly entertaining, clued-up and panoramic guide to cars by Mat Watson, the world’s most followed car journalist on social media. 
 
Mat Watson knows everything there is to know about cars. 
 
In his 25-year career as a motor journalist, he has driven and tested every vehicle under the sun, from engineering marvels such as the Bugatti Chiron and Ferrari F40, to the grand-touring stalwarts of highways and motorways the world over – Audis, Volvos, Fords, Fiats, Citroens, Mercedes and Teslas – to absolute crapheaps which should never have made it out of the factory gates. He has crawled into hundreds of boots, peered under thousands of bonnets, kicked tens of thousands of tyres, and has perfected a nose for what makes a beautiful, brilliant and, sometimes truly atrocious, car. 
 
Mat is trusted and loved by his many millions of followers online, and his seal of approval is highly sought-after by car manufacturers the world over. His signature unserious yet highly informed style has granted him exclusive access to the biggest launches, the most exclusive cars, and the best in-car snacks. 
 
In Auto Biography, his long-awaited first book, Mat presents his own 100% completely correct and highly opinionated guide to the world of cars. From Aston Martin to Kia, BMW to Porsche, he offers up discerning and pithy takes on all the major car manufacturers, telling stories and sharing industry information that has never before been heard. 
 
Whether you're in the market for a hatchback or a hypercar, an SUV or an EV – or if you just want to know what it's like to drag-race a Koenigsegg – this is the book for you.

Auto Biography

An A-Z Exposé of Cars

Steve Punt

David Tyler

The complete second collection of the quiz show where a team of three University students take on a team of three of their professors, hosted by Steve Punt (star of BBC Radio 4’s The Now Show and the brains behind Horrible Histories), including the complete final series 15. 
 
The show is recorded on location at a different University each week, and pits three Undergraduates against three of their Professors in this fresh take on an academic quiz. The General Knowledge rounds include a quickfire bell-and-buzzer finale and the ‘Highbrow & Lowbrow’ round is cunningly devised to test not only the students’ knowledge of history, art, literature and politics, but also their Professors’ awareness of TV, music and sport. Meanwhile there are the three Specialist Subject rounds, in which students take on their Professors in their own subjects, and where we find out whether the students have actually been awake during lectures... 
 
In the eighth series the universities are Newcastle, Hertfordshire, Dundee, Merton College Oxford, Sheffield and Brunel. Questions range from Bach and benzene rings to Gnasher from The Beano and why eating detergent is wrong. 
 
In the ninth series the universities are Royal Holloway, Aberdeen, Plymouth, St Catharine’s College Cambridge, Brighton, and Oxford Brookes. We’ll hear about Lego, Scottish Gaelic fishing jargon and horse teeth via Jack Straw, James Bond and Dick Dastardly. 
 
In the tenth series the universities are Bournemouth, Imperial College, Reading, Durham, Ulster, and Mansfield College Oxford. Questions range from sarcophagi to cocktail ingredients to Jack Reacher, with a bit of Tristram Shandy thrown in. 
 
In the eleventh series the universities are Southampton, Cumbria, Brasenose College Oxford, Anglia Ruskin, Northampton, and Nottingham Trent. Subjects include brothels, bats and robbing a bank, plus there’s a chance to brush up on Plato, piercings, and postage. 
 
In the twelfth series the universities are UCL, Leeds Beckett, Gonville & Caius College Cambridge, Warwick, Bangor, and Lancaster. Questions range from the isotropy of the universe and Kartvelian Languages to Yellow Submarines and a song about sausage rolls. 
 
In the thirteenth series the universities are Exeter, Strathclyde, Somerville College Oxford, Keele, King’s College London, and Portsmouth. Subjects include a giant spider, Kate Winslet, and why it's no longer illegal to commit champerty. Also, there's your chance to hear the most-played piece of music ever. 
 
In the fourteenth series the universities are Leicester, St Andrews, Loughborough, Falmouth, Robinson College Cambridge, and UEA. We’ll meet a five-legged sheep and a Belgian biscuit, and discover how to luff a jib, how to deconstruct a dodecagon, and the one thing Hannibal Lecter really shouldn’t eat… 
 
In the fifteenth series the universities are Bristol, Queen Mary London, University of Kent, Worcester College Oxford, Manchester Metropolitan University and more. Specialist subjects include Environmental Science, Drama, and History, so naturally we’ll be discussing Boron/Calcium pH proxy analysis, Noël Coward’s wartime satire and St Cuthbert’s A-level results. All this and the world’s hottest chili pepper to boot. If not to eat. 
 
Hosted by Steve Punt 
Devised & produced by David Tyler 
First broadcast 25 June 2018 – 19 October 2025 
A Pozzitive Production for BBC Radio 4©2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P)2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

The 3rd Degree: Series 8-15

The BBC Radio 4 Brainy Quiz Show

Branko Milanovic

A Financial Times Book of the Year 
 
Global neoliberalism is on its last legs, while a new international economic order is taking hold. Trade blocs, tariff wars, economic sanctions, and national champions are in; nationalism, anti-immigration movements and the far-right are on the rise. Liberalism is being rejected by the civic realm, as the status quo of the past fifty years crumbles. What remains in its wake? 
 
Drawing on original research, leading economist Branko Milanovic reveals the seismic shifts that are shaping our world. He details the facts: how the rising economic power of Asia is creating a new global ‘middle class’ in the greatest reshuffle of incomes since the Industrial Revolution. He explores our fears: why are we becoming increasingly unhappy, when the world is becoming richer and more equal? And he shows us the fight ahead: as plutocracy returns, global war threatens, and a new system silently shapes our nations, driving malcontent to breaking point. In The Great Global Transformation, Milanovic provides an invaluable guide to the new 21st century.

The Great Global Transformation

National Market Liberalism in a Multipolar World

César A. Hidalgo

We all understand that knowledge shapes the fate of business and the growth of nations, but few of us are aware of the principles that govern its motion. The Infinite Alphabet unravels the laws describing the growth and diffusion of knowledge by taking you from a failed attempt to build a city of knowledge in Ecuador to the growth of China’s innovation economy. Through dozens of stories, you will learn why aircraft manufacturers in Italy began manufacturing scooters after the Second World War and how migrants like Samuel Slater shaped the industrial fabric of the United States. 
 
Knowledge is the secret to the wealth of nations. But to understand it, we must accept that it is not a single thing, but an ever-growing tapestry of unique ideas, experiences and received wisdom. An Infinite Alphabet that we are only beginning to fathom. 
 
César A. Hidalgo, a world-renowned scholar for his work on economic complexity, will walk you through the “three laws” and the many principles that govern how knowledge grows, moves, and decays. By the end of this journey, you will understand why knowledge grows exponentially in the electronics industry and what mechanisms govern its diffusion across geographic borders, social networks, and professional boundaries. 
 
Together these principles will teach you how knowledge shapes the world.

The Infinite Alphabet

And the Laws of Knowledge

Vlatko Vedral

For the last century, physics has been following the paths set out by the same two theories—quantum mechanics and general relativity—and, let’s face it, it’s getting pretty boring. Despite these great theories being fundamentally in conflict, most scientists are simply chasing decimal points in laboratories. To give the deeper explanation of reality we seek, we need new ways to explore and critique our best ideas of the universe on the smallest and largest scales. 
 
The situation is much like that in 1890, right before Planck, Einstein and Bohr blew the roof off Newtonian physics. As Vlatko Vedral argues in Portals to a New Reality, this suggests we are on the brink of a new revolution.Vedral first explains the state of the art of our current understanding when it comes to quantum mechanics and general relativity. Then he shows how quantum information theory has opened up radical new avenues, giving us a series of extraordinary experiments that could upend physics. They can sound very strange—one essentially involves entangling a human with Schrödinger’s cat—but they lay bare the elements of our theories that are particularly problematic, such as the widespread belief that nothing truly exists unless it is observed. 
 
At present these take the form of fascinating thought experiments, but nothing, save inertia and a lack of ambition, stands in our way. This revolution has been a century in the making—the time has finally arrived to rewrite our understanding of the universe.

Portals to a New Reality

Five Experiments to Unlock the Future of Physics

Richard Coles

Charles Spencer

Cat Jarman

Join the trio behind the hit history podcast, The Rabbit Hole Detectives, Richard Coles, Charles Spencer and Cat Jarman in their first trivia book as they investigate weird and wonderful facts and stories rescued from obscurity. From the earliest recorded examples of practical jokes to a whistle-stop tour of the world's ghost towns to a history of red heads, The Rabbit Hole Book is a fascinating and entertaining dive into all the things you didn't know you wanted to know.

The Rabbit Hole Book

99 adventures into the history of stuff

Richard H. Thaler

Alex O. Imas

Nobel Prize-winner and co-author of Nudge, Richard Thaler, and rising star economist Alex Imas explore behavioral economics in this fully updated edition of the seminal work The Winner’s Curse 
 
Why do people cooperate with one another when they have no incentive to do so? Why do we hold onto possessions of little value? And why is the winner of an auction so often disappointed? 
 
Over thirty years ago, Richard Thaler introduced readers to behavioral economics in his seminal Anomalies column, written with collaborators including Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky. These provocative articles challenged the fundamental idea at the heart of economics that people are selfish, rational optimizers, and provided the foundation for what became behavioral economics. That was then. Now, three decades later, Thaler has teamed up with economist Alex Imas to write a new book. Every chapter starts with an original Anomaly, retaining the spirit of its timestamp. Then, shifting to the present, they provide current updates to each, asking how the original findings have held up and how the field has evolved since then. 
 
It turns out these findings still show up almost everywhere. Anomalies pop up in people’s decisions to save for retirement and how they carry outstanding credit card debt. Even experts fail to optimize. The key concept of loss aversion explains missed putts by golf pros and the selection of which stocks to sell by portfolio managers. In this era of meme stocks and Dogecoin, it is hard to defend the view that financial markets are highly efficient. The good news, however, is that the anomalies have got much funnier. 
 
With both readability and rigor, The Winner’s Curse illuminates these ideas for anyone – from those with a cursory understanding of economics to fellow economists. Each chapter provides a key insight into human behavior so readers learn how to better understand the choices made by their friends, colleagues, and customers, and might just become better at making decisions themselves.

The Winner's Curse

Behavioral Economics Anomalies Then and Now

Fareed Zakaria

Fareed Zakaria first warned of the threat of “illiberal democracy” two decades ago. In Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present, he sets our era of populist chaos into the sweep of history. 
 
Based on deep research and conversations with world leaders from Emmanuel Macron to Lee Kuan Yew, this book tells the story of progress and backlash, of the rise of classical liberalism and of the many periods of rage and counter-revolution that followed seismic change. From the Dutch Republic – the first modern republic, techno-superpower, and haven for liberalism almost snuffed out by force – and the French Revolution to the Industrial Revolution in Britain and the United States, it traces the rise of the world’s modern superpowers, the birth of the political divides we know today, and the ways in which technology unsettled society and caused backlash from those who felt threatened by this new world. Zakaria also details the revolutions that have convulsed our times: globalization in overdrive, digital transformation, the rise of identity politics, the return of great power politics with a vengeful Russia and an ascendant China, and the democratic decay at home which threatens the very foundations of the world built by the Enlightenment. 
 
The book warns us that liberalism’s great strength has been freeing people from arbitrary constraints – but its great weakness has been leaving individuals isolated, a void that can all too easily be filled by tribalism, populism, and identity politics. Today’s revolutions in technology and culture can even leave people so adrift that they turn against modernity itself.

Age of Revolutions

Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present

Yuval Noah Harari

For the last 100,000 years, we Sapiens have accumulated enormous power. But despite all our discoveries, inventions and conquests, we now find ourselves in an existential crisis. The world is on the verge of ecological collapse. International and political tensions are rising. And we are rushing headlong into the age of AI – an alien information network that threatens to annihilate us. For all that we have accomplished, why are we so self-destructive? 
 
Nexus looks through the long lens of human history to consider how the flow of information has brought us here. Taking us from the Stone Age through the canonisation of the Bible, the invention of print, the rise of mass media and the recent resurgence of populism, Yuval Noah Harari asks us to consider the complex relationship between information and truth, bureaucracy and mythology, wisdom and power. He explores how systems like the Roman Empire, the Catholic Church and the Soviet Union have wielded information to achieve their goals, for good and ill. And he addresses the urgent choices we face as non-human intelligence threatens our very existence. 
 
Information is not the raw material of truth, nor is it a mere weapon. Nexus explores the hopeful middle ground between these extremes and, in doing so, rediscovers our shared humanity.

Nexus

A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

Michael Rosen

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 
 
An A-Z of hope and happiness from poet, bestselling author and national treasure Michael Rosen, with 26 ideas for bringing joy into every day. 
 
Discover a world where finding joy is as simple as ABC... 
 
In an uncertain world, we need hope and happiness more than ever. So what are the words that can help us find it? Let Michael Rosen take you on a quest for joy in his dictionary of delights, where each letter of the alphabet offers us a moment of daily enchantment, celebrating the magic of the small things that bring hope and happiness into our lives. 
 
Perfect for dipping into whenever you need a boost, open this joyful compendium to discover a new vocabulary of delight that will lift your spirits and brighten your day

Good Days

An A-Z of Hope and Happiness

Sheehan Quirke

'The Cultural Tutor is dedicated to a cosmopolitan view of culture. It writes about every continent, every religion, every tradition of art and poetry' TOMIWA OWOLADE, THE TIMES 
 
'For anyone who has enjoyed The Cultural Tutor on X, this book will be more of the same delight. Expect nuggets of insight and wisdom, wrapped in the author's trademark warmth and wit' ALAIN DE BOTTON 
 
'A remarkable book. The Cultural Tutor is a witty, wide-ranging, and engaging exploration of humanity's shared heritage, from ancient history to modern art.' DONALD ROBERTSON 
 
 
Who does the Mona Lisa actually depict? 
Why do we still look to the Greeks and Romans to inform our politics? 
Where do we find meaning in a world dominated by technology? 
 
* 
 
Culture is like a language. Art, architecture, history and philosophy are its grammar. And, like a language, anyone can learn it. 
 
In 2022, Sheehan Quirke took to Twitter (now X) as The Cultural Tutor with the aim of making culture accessible for everyone. He wrote about poetry, paintings, building design, and counter-intuitive but fascinating facts about history and geography. It wasn’t the sort of content you usually find on a newsfeed – and yet it has flourished, gaining over 1.7 million followers. 
 
Taught in forty-nine short lessons – from Babylon to Brutalism, Ronaldo to Ragnarök – Sheehan takes readers on a delightful and fascinating journey through culture. He explores provocative questions (is mythology any different to science?) and uncovers illuminating stories (did you know that the highest paid athlete in history was a Roman charioteer?). 
 
This is a witty and thought-provoking exploration of everything you need to know to begin your own adventures in the world of culture and see the everyday wonders around you.

The Cultural Tutor

Forty-Nine Lessons You Wish You’d Learned at School

Ngugi wa Thiong'o

Who owns language? In Decolonizing Language and Other Revolutionary Ideas, Ngugi wa Thiong’o presents a series of essays that build on his vast wealth of work on language and its constructive role in national culture, history, and identity. Intricate, nuanced and accessible, it reaffirms the revolutionary power of African languages to fight back against both the psychic and material impacts of colonialism, past and present.With immense relevance to our present moment, Decolonizing Language and Other Revolutionary Ideas is a brilliant distillation of the enduring themes of Ngugi’s work and a vital addition to the library of one of the world’s greatest and most provocative writers.

Decolonizing Language and Other Revolutionary Ideas

Nate Silver

In the bestselling The Signal and the Noise, Nate Silver showed how forecasting would define the age of Big Data. Now, in this timely and riveting new book, Silver investigates "The River," or those whose mastery of risk allows them to shape—and dominate—so much of modern life. 
 
These professional risk takers—poker players and hedge fund managers, crypto true-believers and blue-chip art collectors—can teach us much about navigating the uncertainty of the 21st century. By embedding within these worlds, Silver offers insight into a range of issues that affect us all, from the frontiers of finance to the future of AI. 
 
The River has increasing amounts of wealth and power in our society, and understanding their mindset—including the flaws in their thinking—is key to understanding what drives technology and the global economy today. There are certain commonalities in this otherwise diverse group: high tolerance for risk; appreciation of uncertainty; affinity for numbers; skill at de-coupling; self-reliance and a distrust of the conventional wisdom. For the River, complexity is baked in, and the work is how to navigate it, without going beyond the pale. 
 
Taking us behind-the-scenes from casinos to venture capital firms to meetings of the effective altruism movement, On the Edge is a deeply-reported, all-access journey into a hidden world of powerbrokers and risk takers.

On the Edge

The Art of Risking Everything

Charles Duhigg

There's never been a better time to set new habits. This book will change your life. 
 
In The Power of Habit, award-winning journalist Charles Duhigg takes us into the thrilling and surprising world of the scientific study of habits. 
 
He examines why some people and companies struggle to change, despite years of trying, while others seem to remake themselves overnight. He visits laboratories where neuroscientists explore how habits work and where, exactly, they reside in our brains. And he uncovers how the right habits were crucial to the success of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, and civil-rights hero Martin Luther King, Jr. 
 
The result is a compelling argument and an empowering discovery: the key to exercising regularly, losing weight, raising exceptional children, becoming more productive or even building revolutionary companies is understanding how habits work. By harnessing this new science, we can transform our businesses, our communities, and our lives. 
______________________________ 
 
'[An] essential manual for business and living.' Andrew Hill, Financial Times 
 
'Once you read this book, you'll never look at yourself, your organisation, or your world quite the same way.' Daniel H. Pink 
 
'This is a first-rate book - based on an impressive mass of research, written in a lively style and providing just the right balance of intellectual seriousness with practical advice on how to break our bad habits.' The Economist

The Power of Habit

Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change

Ian Graham

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER AND A FINANCIAL TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES AND TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024 
 
'The best book on football I have ever read' Daniel Finkelstein 
 
______________________________ 
 
The insider account of the data revolution that has swept through the modern football world written by one of its key architects, Ian Graham. 
 
Between 2012 and 2023, Ian Graham worked as Liverpool FC's Director of Research. His tenure coincided with the club’s greatest period of success since the 1980s, including winning the Premier League in 2020 – Liverpool’s first league title after an agonising three decades. 
 
Here for the first time, Graham reveals the fascinating data that informed some of the club’s most pivotal moments of the past decade, from the appointment of Jurgen Klopp as manager in 2015 to the signing of Mohamed Salah in 2017. Along the way, he shares groundbreaking insight into the modern game, including how a season largely played behind closed doors transformed our understanding of home team advantage, or why the GOAT (greatest of all time) might not be who you think. And, in a game that is increasingly dominated by an elite few, Graham charts a path for the future where a data-savvy competitor will always find the edge.

How to Win the Premier League

The Inside Story of Football’s Data Revolution

The year is 1Q84. This is the real world, there is no doubt about that. But in this world, there are two moons in the sky. Discover the 1Q84 Trilogy by Haruki Murakami.

1Q84

365 Days of Art

A BBC Christmas

A Black Book Thriller

A Box Full of Murders

A Cal Leandros Novel

A Christmas Mystery

The intelligent and capable police commissioner Guido Brunetti confronts crime in and around his home town of Venice.

A Commissario Brunetti Mystery

A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series

A Daisy Story

Chronicling the lives of over three hundred characters, unrivalled for its scope and humour, this is a unique evocation of life in twentieth-century England.

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