Top 10 books to help you survive the digital age
From Philip K Dick’s obtuse robots to Mark O’Connell’s guide to transhumanism, novelist Julian Gough picks essential reading for a helter skelter worldI’m an Irish writer whose new novel is set in the...
View ArticleTen Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron...
Lanier was there for the creation of the internet and is convinced that social media is toxic, making us sadder, angrier and more isolated Many of the ideas in Jaron Lanier’s new book start off pretty...
View ArticleThe Ashtray by Errol Morris review – revenge against Thomas Kuhn
For the film-maker, Kuhn is ‘The Man Who Denied Reality’, whose relativism opened the door to fake news. The trouble is, he is totally wrongForty-five years ago, the inventor of the term “paradigm...
View ArticleBill Gates gives a book to every US student graduating in 2018
The Microsoft mogul is presenting all 4 million students passing out of college this year with a free download of Hans Rosling’s FactfulnessWhat does every college graduate need? According to Bill...
View ArticleLife in the Garden by Penelope Lively review – a rewarding, evocative ramble
In this vivid meditation, the novelist traces her love of gardens from childhood in Egypt to London and through art and literaturePenelope Lively modestly admits she is “only the most amateur...
View ArticleFrank Tallis: ‘I often feel when I write fiction that I am just doing...
The psychotherapist and fiction writer on the importance of sci-fi and Freud, and the connection between love and madnessFrank Tallis is a novelist, nonfiction writer and clinical psychologist. He has...
View ArticleCharles Mann: ‘The relationship between population and consumption is not...
The science journalist’s new book boils decades of environmental debate down to the starkly contrasting approaches of two key figuresCharles C Mann is a science journalist, author and historian. His...
View ArticleIn brief: Water Ways, The City Always Wins, A Shot in the Dark – reviews
Jasper Winn on the mood and meaning of Britain’s canals, Omar Robert Hamilton crafts a vivid story about Egypt’s revolution, and Lynne Truss exhibits her mastery of mysteryJasper WinnProfile, £16.99,...
View ArticleGround Work edited by Tim Dee review – anywhere can be a somewhere
Helen Macdonald, Philip Hoare and others celebrate local distinctiveness in these personal essays on places and peopleIn his poem “Going, Going”, Philip Larkin expressed the fear that one day our green...
View ArticleRichard Powers: ‘It was like a religious conversion. I realised the natural...
After writing novels on artificial intelligence, neuroscience and genetics, Powers’ has turned to trees. While on a hike through the Great Smoky Mountains, he talks about environmentalism and not...
View ArticleHelen Macdonald on Camberley, Surrey: ‘No place has so indelibly shaped my...
The writer on the meadows that inspired her love of nature and the eccentrics who taught her to live the life she wantedI grew up in Camberley, a Victorian town on the A30 in Surrey. It was made of...
View ArticleDoctors’ orders: writers from the medical world on how to cure the NHS
As the NHS reaches its 70th birthday, former junior doctor Adam Kay, GP Gavin Francis, nurse Christie Watson and others offer their prescriptions for its future healthRelated: What I owe the NHS, by...
View ArticlePsychedelic drugs: Michael Pollan on the history, science and experience of...
On this week’s show, we’re talking to Michael Pollan. You may know him from his food writing - books like The Omnivore’s Dilemma, The Botany of Desire, or Cooked, which is also now a Netflix show. His...
View ArticleWilding by Isabella Tree review – how a farm returned to nature
The owners of 1400 hectares in Sussex joined the rewilding revolution and brought back a profusion of plants and animalsLament for the human destruction of the non-human world dates back to at least...
View ArticleNew Dark Age by James Bridle review – technology and the end of the future
The consequences of the technological revolution may be even more frightening than we thoughtI suspect your enjoyment – or otherwise – of James Bridle’s New Dark Age will depend very much on whether...
View ArticleBest summer books 2018, as picked by writers – part one
Surrealist artists, dogged detectives, modern lovers and spies behaving badly ... leading authors pick their best books to enjoy these holidaysIf you only read one book this summer … make it this...
View ArticleBooks to get inside your head: Tim Parks picks the smartest books about the...
Is consciousness internal, readable, even uploadable? Does it exist in the external world? Here are some mind-bending reads that have the answersHumankind has been reflecting on consciousness from the...
View ArticleIf you only read one book this summer … make it this one
Do you feel like brushing up on politics? Trying a historical novel or some sci-fi? if you can’t choose from our summer book special, try our shortlist of absolute must readsSummer reading special:...
View ArticleMarcus du Sautoy and James Bridle – books podcast
On this week’s show, we’re exploring infinity and beyond with artist and writer James Bridle and mathematician Marcus du Sautoy.Through his visual art and writings on technology and culture, James...
View ArticleCountry diary: metamorphosis in a museum tower
Oxford University Museum: For 70 years, researchers have been watching ‘particularly hideous’ young swifts turn into long-winged angels This glorious structure is a place rich in history. As we walked...
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