All our books

An Unnatural History of Britain: In Search of Our Obscure and Non-native Species

Kevin Parr

A lyrical and informative look at Britain’s non-native species, featuring original line art.

Most people have no idea that we have scorpions, Aesculapian snakes, eagle owls, wallabies and many more unusual non-native species living and breeding in the British Isles.

In An Unnatural History of Britain nature writer Kevin Parr travels the length and breadth of the country seeking out these rare creatures and exploring the myths and folklore which have emerged around them along the way.

The Divorce of Nations

João Vale de Almeida

Today we are witnessing one of the most dangerous geopolitical situations of modern times, heralded by loud populist and nationalist voices, and steeped in uncertainty. But how did the nations of the world come to find themselves in such a predicament? Is the international liberal order condemned?
Having met every consequential global leader since the turn of the millennium, one of the world’s foremost diplomats lifts the veil on modern foreign affairs and enables us to trace how countries have been sleepwalking towards the ‘Divorce of Nations’, and the steps we can take to fix it.
Based on contemporary notes and further reflections, The Divorce of Nations is a necessary and important book that enables us to move forward with better awareness and understanding of the current volatile and fragmented scene, at both national and global levels.

Moreish

Matt Buttrick

It is said we make around 200 food decisions every day, and most of them are completely out of our control. So what really happens when it’s time to eat?
Moreish digs into the unseen triggers, secret influences and mysterious motivations hovering above the table every time we get peckish. Explore the impact of words in menu construction alongside the power of comfort food; why the first bite is not always with the eyes; and how the worlds of sex, symbolism and animal instinct are simmering beneath the surface in all of us.
Continually eye opening and perceptive, often witty and entertaining, Moreish sets a place for persuasive packaging, in your face pop songs, underhand menu writing and over the top advertising. It demonstrates that while we often feel fully in control of our food choices the opposite is almost definitely true. If you've ever eaten food, this book is for you.

Chemically Imbalanced

Joanna Moncrieff

For years, we’ve been led to believe that depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain and antidepressants are the solution. But what if this widely accepted belief has been built on unreliable truths?
In Chemically Imbalanced, renowned psychiatrist Joanna Moncrieff takes readers on a thought-provoking journey through the history of the serotonin theory of depression, from its origins in the 1960s to its widespread acceptance in the 1990s. With clarity and compelling evidence, Moncrieff exposes how scientific understanding has been swayed by social and economic forces, leading to misconceptions that have shaped treatment decisions for millions.
Accessible yet profoundly insightful, Chemically Imbalanced is essential reading for anyone seeking to make more informed choices about their mental health and understand the forces that shape the way we perceive and treat depression today.

Rigged

Andy Verity

Rigged exposes a cover-up at the highest level on both sides of the Atlantic, upending the official story of the biggest scandal since the global financial crisis.
Banks’ health is judged by an interest rate called Libor. To save themselves from collapse, nationalisation and loss of bonuses, banks instruct traders to manipulate Libor down – a criminal practice known as lowballing. Outraged, traders turn whistleblowers, alerting the authorities.
Their instructions come first from top bosses – then from central banks and governments. But when the scandal explodes into the news, prosecutors allow banks to cover up the evidence pointing to the top. Instead, they accuse 37 traders of another kind of interest rate ‘rigging’ that no one had seen as a crime. In nine trials from 2015 to 2019, nineteen are convicted and sentenced. Rigged exclusively shows why all the defendants are innocent, and how any real culprits go unpunished.
Turns out, it’s not just the market that’s rigged. It’s the entire system.

You Must Stand Up

Amanda Becker

When the US Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion care by way of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the country was thrown into chaos.
In You Must Stand Up, Nieman Fellow Amanda Becker provides a real-time portrait of the creative resistance that unfolded in America's first year without the protections of Roe v. Wade. Becker traces the story of the people rising to meet these new challenges – doctors and staffers turning to new financial and medical models to remain open and provide abortions, volunteers campaigning against anti-abortion ballot initiatives, and medical students fighting to learn to provide what can be life-saving care.
In depicting the splintered reality of post-Dobbs America, Becker ultimately shows how outrage can beget hope, and give rise to a new movement.

The Quiet Moon: Pathways To An Ancient Way of Being

Kevin Parr

A lyrical exploration of mental health and nature, set to the phases of the moon.

The ancient Celts lived by and worshipped the moon. While modern, digital life is often at odds with nature – rubbing against it rather than working in harmony with it – is there something to be said for embracing this ancient way of being and reconnecting to the moon’s natural calendar?
In The Quiet Moon, Kevin Parr discovers that a year of moons has much to teach us about how to live in the world that surrounds us – and how being more in tune to the rhythms of nature, even in the cold and dark, can help ease the suffering mind.

Cypto Confidential

Jake Donoghue

An uncompromising account of the exorbitant greed and systemic corruption that typifies the cultish world of cryptocurrency, this is the salacious story of the industry everyone is talking about right now. It sheds light on some of the most scandalous financial crimes of the 21st century – from billion-dollar fraud cases to international money laundering cartels, political bribery and even faked deaths, it lifts the lid on the intricate and immense web of malpractice that crypto founders spin to trap ordinary investors.
Written by a prominent and well-connected insider, Crypto Confidential provides a first-hand account of how the industry truly operates, and how every aspect is engineered for one purpose: to make vast amounts of fast money for those on the inside, by any means necessary.

Friday is the New Saturday

Pedro Gomes

The five day working week must change. Here's how.

Friday is the New Saturday makes a compelling, provocative and timely case for societal change. Drawing on an eclectic range of economic theory, history and data, Pedro Gomes argues that a four-day working week will bring about a powerful economic renewal for the benefit of all society. It will stimulate demand, productivity, innovation and wages, whilst reducing unemployment and crushing populist movements. The arguments come from both the left and right of the political spectrum to show that a polarised society can still find common ground.
In the 2000s, Friday will become the new Saturday, and we will never look back.

The Super-Helper Syndrome: A Survival Guide for Compassionate People

Jess Baker & Rod Vincent

There’s a type of person out there who is better at helping others than they are at looking after themselves. Maybe you’re one of them. Maybe you know someone who is. There’s usually one in every family.
But these people, who do so much to help others, are struggling. Deeper down, beneath all of this, there is something else that causes helpers to suffer. It dwells in their psychology and the belief system that motivates them.
The Super-Helper Syndrome offers a new perspective on the psychology of helping. It offers support for people who want to adopt a Healthy Helper Mindset, including meeting their own needs, countering the inner critic, building assertiveness and setting helping boundaries. It’s only by doing these things that compassionate people can be most effective at helping others.

Milk Without Honey

Hanna Harms; translated by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp

An impactful and beautiful graphic novel about the plight of the bees.

We could live in a paradise where insects, especially bees, pollinate fragrant oceans of flowers whose fruits we harvest. Instead, patio wastelands and utilitarian lawns are now displacing flower gardens, and agriculture is dominated by monocultures. Pesticides and climate change are also causing insect mortality, with dramatic consequences for the global ecosystem. If this carries on unchecked, honey will be just one of the many foodstuffs no longer available to us – unless we learn to honour our innate connection with nature before it’s too late.

Milk Without Honey is a poignant and provocative graphic novel about the plight of the bees in which illustrator Hanna Harms inspires not only reflection but also action.

Faking It: Artificial Intelligence in a Human World

Toby Walsh

Artificial intelligence is, as the name suggests, artificial and fundamentally different to human intelligence. Yet often the goal of AI is to fake human intelligence. This deceit has been there from the very beginning. We’ve been trying to fake it since Alan Turing answered the question ‘Can machines think?’ by proposing that machines pretend to be humans.
Powerful AIs can convince us they are intelligent and blur the distinction between what is real and what is simulated. In reality, they lack true understanding, sentience and common sense. But this doesn’t mean they can’t change the world.
Can AI systems ever be creative? Can they be moral? What can we do to ensure they are not harmful? In this fun and fascinating book, Professor Toby Walsh explores all the ways AI fakes it, and what this means for humanity – now and in the future.

Eliminating Poverty in Britain

Helen Rowe

In this groundbreaking book, Helen Rowe brings together the latest research with stories from across Britain, to show us that ending poverty in the 21st century is possible. She describes the effects of deprivation on British society, our institutions, communities, families and individuals - down to their very DNA.
By using a combination of compassion, focus and a plan, Rowe describes how we can end poverty in five years, without raising taxes. Her radical ideas are grounded in practical realities, as she reveals how ordinary processes can yield extraordinary results. After Covid-19, Brexit, war, austerity and the global financial crash, Britain deserves a more positive future. How do we create it? Eliminating Poverty in Britain has the answers.

War Diary of the Ukrainian Resistance

The Kyiv Independent

How does a newsroom, made up of young journalists, find itself in a war zone overnight? How do you do your job as a correspondent when the conflict is literally on your doorstep?
Using their skills from reporting on business, entertainment, and geopolitics, members of The Kyiv Independent’s editorial staff make the choice to stay and report on the reality of the Russian invasion and the Ukrainian Resistance.
Combining articles published during the conflict with personal accounts, they give us an unprecedented inside look at the reality of the Russian invasion and its consequences.

Future Hackers: The Indispensable Guide for Curious Minds

Matt O'Neill

From technological advancements to cultural shifts, the coming years will bring unprecedented transformations that will shape our lives in ways we can't even imagine. This book is your essential guide to understanding these changes and adapting to them with optimism and confidence.
With expert insights into the latest trends in work, leadership and technology, Future Hackers is your indispensable tool for thriving in a rapidly changing world. Whether you're a business leader, a student, or just someone who wants to stay ahead of the curve, this book will help you navigate the road to 2030 and beyond.

Flaws of Nature: The Limits and Liabilities of Natural Selection

Andy Dobson

Species evolve over time to become perfectly adapted to their environments, right? Well, sometimes.
Consider that an elephant will not grow a seventh set of teeth, even though wearing down the sixth will condemn it to starvation or that whales are fully aquatic mammals who, millions of years after first abandoning the land, still cannot breathe underwater.
This book is about evolution, but not its greatest hits. Instead, it explores everything in the animal kingdom that is self-defeating, ill-made, uneconomical, or downright weird – and explains how natural selection has favoured it. In the grand struggle for survival, some surprising patterns emerge: animals are always slightly out-of-date; inefficiency tends to increase over time; predators usually lose, and parasites usually win. With equal parts humour and scientific insight, Andy Dobson is here to explain the how and why of evolution’s limits and liabilities.

The Ocean in a Drop: Navigating from Crisis to Consciousness

Dr Rosalind Savage MBE

The bad news is that our civilisation is collapsing. The good news is that you are already helping create a new and better one.
The Ocean in a Drop follows the quest of Roz Savage, a frustrated environmentalist and ocean adventurer, to find out why her own endeavours and the environmental movement more generally have failed to achieve change of the necessary scope, scale and speed. Her journey takes her from the environment through economics and politics into patriarchy and a global culture of domination. She examines the tragic psychological flaws in the way we think and the apparent inevitability of civilisational collapse, and deduces that our best hope is to transcend the current trap of runaway materialism.
Exploring cutting-edge theories she paints a bold, exciting vision of a future in which people and planet thrive.

Zero Altitude: How I Learned to Fly Less and Travel More

Helen Coffey

In recent decades, private jets have become status symbols for the world’s wealthiest, while quick and easy flights have brought far-flung destinations within the reach of everyone. But at what cost to the environment?
Now is the perfect time to pause and take stock of our toxic relationship with flying. Part climate-change investigation, part travel memoir, Zero Altitude follows Helen Coffey as she journeys as far as she can in the course of her job as a top travel journalist – all without getting on a single flight. Between trips by train, car, boat and bike, she meets climate experts and activists at the forefront of the burgeoning flight-free movement. Over the course of her travels, she discovers that keeping both feet on the ground is not only possible but that it can be an exhilarating opportunity for adventure. Her book is brimming with tips and ideas for swapping the middle seat for the open road.

Machines Behaving Badly: The Morality of AI

Toby Walsh

Can we build moral machines?

Artificial intelligence is an essential part of our lives – for better or worse. It can be used to influence what we buy, who gets shortlisted for a job and even how we vote. But as we continue to build more intelligent and autonomous machines, what impact will this have on humanity and the planet?

Professor Toby Walsh explores the ethical considerations and unexpected consequences AI poses. Machines Behaving Badly is a thought-provoking look at the increasing human reliance on robotics and the decisions that need to be made now to ensure the future of AI is a force for good, not evil.

Stop Believing Bullshit and Actually Start Helping Yourself

James Adonis

Everywhere you turn, there’s a motivational quote to greet you — on social media posts, clothing, billboards … you name it, one will be there. Sure, they can make us feel motivated, for an instant, but are they actually doing us more harm than good? In Stop Believing Bullsh*t, highly respected leadership educator James Adonis offers sense in place of the sparkling nonsense that permeates the inspiration industry. He exposes the unrealistic clichés and misleading mantras that frequently just end up making you feel bad, replacing them with evidence-based insights that are no less motivating, but are credible, reliable and, most importantly, scientifically tested.

2030: How Today’s Biggest Trends Will Collide and Reshape the Future of Everything

Mauro F. Guillén

A FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR

The world is changing drastically before our eyes – will you be prepared for what comes next?

2030 is a groundbreaking analysis by one of the world’s foremost experts on global trends – from the shifting nature of retirement to the emergence of a new middle class, the rise of women as entrepreneurs and the end of modern banking. This essential guide to the future ends with insight into how COVID-19 will amplify and accelerate each of these changes.

Planet Grief

Dipti Tait

We all grieve. From the moment we are born into this cold, loud, bright world, we experience change and loss that can often threaten to overwhelm us, but – when managed well – can help mould us into our strongest, most powerful selves.
Grief is not only about death: it is part of our everyday lives. We grieve when our life changes and we grieve on a larger level – for a lost way of life and for our planet. Grief can even be found in joy and is one of the most universal shared emotions, connecting people across the world in an act of love.
In this surprisingly uplifting book, acclaimed grief therapist Dipti Tait draws on her own professional and personal experiences, her clients’ stories and the neuroscience behind our emotions to redefine grief for our lives and the world we live in.

Dwellbeing: Finding Home in the City

Claire Bradbury

We may have fallen out of love with our city homes, but cities are still going to be essential dwelling places for a growing population. With 68 per cent of the world’s population predicted to live in cities by 2050, Dwellbeing is a call to stand firm on the seven pillars we cherish and so desperately need from our city homes: wilderness, nourishment, movement, connection, dwelling, imagination and love.
International sustainability and wellbeing advocate, Claire Bradbury, explores what we need to do to fall back in love with the city, and find our city homes again. This beautiful book shows that, when it comes to reimagining our urban futures, everyone has a voice.

The Great Melt: Accounts from the Frontline of Climate Change

Alister Doyle

The time for action is now.
The fate of the world’s coasts rests on a knife edge as global warming melts ice sheets and glaciers from the Alps to the Andes. The choices we make now will determine whether oceans rise by a coast-swamping one metre by 2100 or whether we can save our coastal communities. The Great Melt is a wake-up call for action on climate change. It will bring the thaw to life by focusing on the most vulnerable people at the shoreline who are already moving inland, on the scientists puzzling about what is going on, and on the ideas about how to limit the damage.

A History of Seeing in Eleven Inventions

Susan Denham Wade

Packed with fascinating insights and impeccably researched, A History of Seeing in Eleven Inventions investigates the story of seeing from the evolution of eyes 500 million years ago to the present day. Time after time, it reveals, inventions that changed how people saw the world ended up changing it altogether. Drawing on sources from anthropology to zoology, neuroscience to Netflix, it traces the history of seeing from the first evolutionary stirrings of sight and discovers that each time we changed how or what we see, we changed ourselves and the world around us. Can our eyes keep up with technology? Have we gone as far as the eye can see?

Fuck Off, I’m Sewing!

Profanity Embroidery Group

Swearing is good for you. Stitching is good for you. It’s win fucking win.
Once upon a time in the quiet coastal town of Whitstable, previously known for oysters and fingering, a bunch of (mostly) novice embroiderers but accomplished swearers came together to sew, drink and swear. And amidst all the stitching and laughing, friendships flourished and beautiful, irreverent pieces of art were created, adding a contemporary flavour to the ancient art of embroidery. Fuck Off, I’m Sewing! brings you the highlights and lowlifes of the Profanity Embroidery Group. Often funny, at times moving and always profane, their colourful embroidery will leave you in stitches.

M-Boldened

Caroline Harris (editor)

It’s time to change the global menopause conversation.
M-Boldened is a book about menopause unlike any other. Its contributors, speaking from many different walks of life, open up the conversation in new and profound ways for people across the globe. Recognising menopause as a human rights issue that affects everyone everywhere, this book shapes a new courageous conversation about how we can and should view menopause and midlife. The honesty, intimacy and passion shared in these pages will make you see menopause in a whole new light. Read on to be part of the new conversation.

Dare To Be Great

Polly Higgins

Celebrated Earth lawyer Polly Higgins was a luminary in the environmental justice movement as she worked to Stop Ecocide globally. She was a beacon for how to live the brave, bold lives that, at our best, we imagine for ourselves. Both a playful, inspirational conversation and a heartfelt, lived call, this book offers each of us a transformational roadmap through selfcare to Earth-care, and will empower you ...