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A A Gill

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.

A D Swanston

A E Langsford

A G Hopkins

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

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.

A J Pollard

A J Rochester

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

A K Benjamin

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

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.

A L Gaylin

A Maxwell-Hyslop

A McArthur

A P Wavell

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

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.

A. A. Dhand

A. A. Gill

A. A. Milne

A. Anatoli

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.

A. B. Poranek

A. Bradley

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

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. 
 
admillerbooks.com

A. D. Miller

A. E. Ellis

A. E. W. Mason

A. Humphreys

A. Igoni Barrett was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, in 1979 and lives in Lagos. He is a winner of the 2005 BBC World Service short story competition, the recipient of a Chinua Achebe Center Fellowship, a Norman Mailer Center Fellowship, and a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Residency. His short story collection, Love is Power, or Something Like That, was published in 2013. In 2014 he was named on the Africa39 list of sub-Saharan African writers under 40. Blackass is his first novel.

A. Igoni Barrett

The short life of A.J.A. Symons (1900-41) was described by his biographer as an intricate and largely harmless confidence trick. His many interests included the collection of musical boxes and rare books as well as the study and practice of forgery; they left him time to edit an anthology of Edwardian verse and compose studies of H.M. Stanley and other notable figures. He is remembered for The Quest for Corvo, one of the most remarkable biographies ever written, and for co-founding the Wine and Food Society.

A. J. A. Symons

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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

Vaclav Smil

Explore how speed influences every aspect of life on Earth, from the slow grind of geological processes and the fleeting lifespans of organisms to the astonishing speed of light and the remarkable adaptations of creatures like the swift antelope and the soaring albatross. In this ambitious and wide-ranging ideas book, internationally bestselling author Vaclav Smil uncovers the intricate connections between speed, nature, and human innovation. 
 
With counterintuitive insights, such as how erosion actually accelerates mountain growth, Smil challenges long-held myths. For example, Smil debunks the notion that our modern lives are accelerating at an unprecedented pace: the rapid adoption of mobile phones – from 0% in 1983 to 90% in 2002 (19 years) – is like the spread of earlier technologies such as radio (22 years), colour television (24 years) and even microwave ovens (17 years). 
 
In SPEED, Smil combines his trademark compelling statistics with insightful analysis to take readers on a captivating journey through the vast timescales of Earth’s history and the complexities of modern life. He explains how we measure speed and reveals the theoretical limits that shape our societies, offering a thought-provoking exploration of the forces that define our world. This eye-opening book encourages readers to see speed’s vital role in everything around us.

Speed

How it Explains the World

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

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

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

Adam Aleksic

“A linguist explores how the internet is redefining our vocabulary. No cap—this bruh slaps and slays.” - Adam Grant, author of Think Again 
 
"Incisive and funny, this is a page turner from start to finish. Algospeak is a must read for anyone seeking to understand how we communicate today." - Taylor Lorenz, author of Extremely Online 
 
"A glorious romp through the myriad of ways video-powered social media is changing how we speak. - Sophia Smith Galer, journalist and author 
 
"Algospeak takes our understanding of online communication to a new level.” - David Crystal, author of How Language Works 
 
"Your chance to decode the linguistic mysteries of TikTok with one of the internet's most astute linguistic creators." - Sarah Ogilvie, author of The Dictionary People 
 
"Packed with fascinating facts, of-the-moment observations and a sparkling voice, Algospeak is a gift to any word nerd." - Amanda Montell, author of The Age of Magical Overthinking and Cultish 
 
From the rise of leetspeak and words such as “unalive” to the trend of adding “-core” to different influencer aesthetics, the internet has ushered in an unprecedented linguistic upheaval. We’re entering an entirely new era of etymology, heralded by the invisible forces driving social media algorithms. And with over 7 billion internet users uploading over 2.5 quintillion bytes of media every day, the sheer volume of potential new words is astounding. 
 
In Algospeak, online etymologist Adam Aleksic shines a light on the roots of words that we don’t realise have come from unexpected places – from incel culture, from the innovation of users trying to get around content moderation algorithms, from the marketing speak that has invaded our personal lives. New slang emerges and goes viral overnight. Accents are shaped or erased on YouTube. Grammatical rules, loopholes, and patterns surface and transform our interactions, social norms and habits. 
 
An energetic, astonishing journey into language and the internet, Algospeak reveals the bigger social story of how language shapes us, just as much as we shape it.

Algospeak

How Social Media is Transforming the Future of Language

Richard Overy

There can be few more important but also more contentious issues than attempting to understand the human propensity for conflict. Our history is inextricably tangled in wave after wave of inter-human fighting from as far back as we have records. 
 
How can we make sense of what Einstein called 'the dark places of human will and feeling'? Richard Overy draws on a lifetime's study of conflict to write this challenging, invaluable book. Studying every facet of war from biology to belief, psychology to security, Overy allows readers to understand the many contradictory or self-reinforcing ways in which warfare can suddenly appear a legitimate option. 
 
Repeatedly humans have foresworn war, have understood its appalling risks and have wished to create more pacific, productive societies. And yet almost inevitably circumstances emerge under which war once more seems inevitable or even desirable.

Why War?

Jeannette Nelson

How the world’s best actors communicate with gravitas – and how you can, too. 
 
‘The theatre stars’ voice guru’ Daily Mail 
 
Acting is all about charisma. Whether you’re an A-list star or an extra, when you’re on stage you need to perform in a way that makes your audience listen. 
 
That stage presence is something we can all learn from. Every time you speak up in a meeting, recount an anecdote, or tell a joke, it’s essential to communicate with gravitas. 
 
Jeannette Nelson knows a thing or two about gravitas. As Head of Voice at the National Theatre, she has spent three decades working with the world’s leading actors – from Al Pacino to Benedict Cumberbatch to Juliette Binoche – teaching them to speak clearly and move confidently. 
 
Now, Nelson pulls back the curtain on the tricks that professional performers use to own the room. Starting with clear speech and good posture, before moving on to the art of rhetoric and overcoming stage fright, she outlines a holistic three-stage method to communicating with authority, authenticity and eloquence. Throughout, she peppers the book with stories of how world-renowned actors learnt to make themselves heard – and how you can, too. 
 
The result is a fascinating and eminently practical guide to the art of performance. If all the world’s a stage, then this book will turn you into its lead actor.

Centre Stage

Lessons from Actors on the Art of Charisma

Rahul Jandial

A TIMES AND SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024 
 
'COMPLETELY TRANSFORMED MY WAY OF THINKING ABOUT DREAMS' Jay Shetty 
'A JOURNEY THROUGH NEUROSCIENCE, NEUROCHEMISTRY, MAGIC, MYSTERY . . . A FANTASTIC READ' Dr Rangan Chatterjee 
'TRANSFORMATIONAL' Julia Samuel 
'ELEGANTLY LIFTS THE CURTAIN ON THE DREAMSCAPE TERRITORY' David Eagleman 
'THIS BOOK WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE' Lewis Howes 
'OUR POET LAUREATE OF NEUROSCIENCE' Greg Whyte 
'AN INSTANT CLASSIC' Bryan Fogel 
 
Dreams are a source of mystery. They have changed the course of individual lives and the world, spurring business deals, inspiring art and scientific breakthroughs, triggering military invasions and mental breakdowns. Yet the source of dreams is not mysterious. They are the product of an extraordinary transformation that occurs in the brain each night when we sleep. 
 
In this pioneering book, bestselling neurosurgeon Rahul Jandial delves into the dreaming brain and shares stories from his own practice to show the astonishing impact that dreams have on our waking life. He explains how dreaming of an exam might help you score up to 20% higher, why taking a long nap could make you better at problem-solving, and even that certain dream disorders can warn you of serious diseases like Parkinson’s years ahead of other symptoms. He offers clear and compelling advice, backed by new research, to become a lucid dreamer, understand your dreaming patterns and unleash their creative power. 
 
Sharing the very latest discoveries in modern neuroscience, This Is Why You Dream provides answers to some fundamental questions: Why do we dream? How do we dream? What do dreams mean? And perhaps, most importantly, do we sleep in order to dream?

This Is Why You Dream

What your sleeping brain reveals about your waking life

Vincent Deary

What happens when our minds and bodies are pushed beyond their limits? Vincent Deary is a health psychologist who has spent years helping his patients cope with whatever life has thrown at them. In How We Break, he has written a book for all of us who sometimes feel we have reached our breaking point. 
 
Drawing on clinical case studies, cutting-edge scientific research, intimate personal stories and references from philosophy, literature and film, How We Break offers a consoling new vision of everyday human struggle. The big traumas in life, Deary points out, are relatively rare. More common is when too many things go wrong at once, or we are exposed to prolonged periods of difficulty or precarity. When the world shrinks to nothing but our daily coping, we become unhappy, worried, hopeless, exhausted. In other words, we break. Breaking, he shows us, happens when the same systems that enable us to navigate through life become dysregulated. But if we understand how the wear and tear of life affects us, then we have a better chance of navigating through times of burnout, stress, fatigue and despair. 
 
By equipping us with a better understanding of what happens to us when we're struggling to cope, and making a bold case for the power of rest and recuperation, How We Break helps chart a path through difficult times.

How We Break

Navigating the Wear and Tear of Living

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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