Category: Non fiction
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How to Talk to AI
by Jamie Bartlett Knowing how to speak to AI – and how not to – is a skill that everyone now needs. Hundreds of millions of people now talk to AI, such as ChatGPT, every day. They organise their finances and holidays, ask advice, seek therapy and find love – via machines. Almost overnight, chatbots…
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Famesick
By Lena Dunham In this rowdy, frank reflection on illness, fame, sex, and everything in between, the remarkable mind behind the hit series Girls and the bestselling author of Not That Kind of Girl asks whether fulfilling her creative ambitions has been worth the pain. For the last decade, as she’s spent countless hours in doctor’s waiting rooms searching…
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London Falling
by Patrick Radden Keefe From the Baillie Gifford Prize-winning and Sunday Times bestselling author of Empire of Pain and Say Nothing comes a riveting story of wealth, violence and deceit at the heart of a glittering city. In 2019, a London teenager, Zac Brettler, fell to his death from a luxury apartment building on the banks of the Thames. On a…
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Lifeboat at the End of the World – a Volunteer’s Story
By Dominic Gregory “Do you really think all lives are worth saving?” This is the question that Dungeness lifeboat volunteer Dominic Gregory faces from a man on the beach when he and his crewmates return from trying to rescue strangers from some of the most dangerous seas on earth. This extraordinary book gave me an…
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Love in Exile
by Shon Faye Paperback, £12.99 Right from the first chapter of this insightful and engaging memoir and investigation into the politics of love, Faye made me question how I view the topic. Her writing is both rigorously researched and entertaining – Love in Exile is a clever analysis of how political and social influences can…
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Careless People: A story of where I used to work
By Sarah Wynn-Williams Paperback £10.99 By the time you read this review, every MP in the United Kingdom will have received a free copy of Careless People by Pan Macmillan, to try and fight against Meta’s wish to see this book buried at least three feet in the ground. If you want to know more…
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Ghosts of the British Museum
by Noah Angel What if the British Museum isn’t a carefully ordered cross section of history but is in instead a palatial trophy cabinet of colonial loot – swarming with volatile and errant spirits? When artist and writer Noah Angell first heard murmurs of ghostly sightings at the British Museum he had to find out…
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An Opinionated Guide to London Pubs
by Hoxton Mini Press Paperback, £9.99 A handy guide for exploring London pubs — to hit the right ones. One of the great collection of Opinionated London Guides by Hoxton Mini Press. A “pint-sized guide” with twenty-seven suggestions for your cozy daytime chat or night out.
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How to Spot a Fascist
By Umberto Eco Paperback £5.99 Bestselling collection of short essays by the Italian writer and commentator on the nature of fascism. Eco grew up during Mussolini’s period in power and draws on his experiences to identify the key features of fascism.
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The Trembling Hand: Reflections of a Black Woman in the Romantic Archive
By Mathelinda Nabugodi Hardback, £20 The Trembling Hand is a rich and thought-provoking discussion of the Romantic writers in the context of enslavement. I found that I was thinking about Percy and Mary Shelley, Byron, Keats and others differently, and that this was both hard and relevant. Nabugodi’s explanation of historical contexts of their lives…
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Nexus
By Yuval Noah Harari Paperback, £12.99 Stories brought us together. Books spread our ideas – and our mythologies. The internet promised infinite knowledge. The algorithm learned our secrets – and then turned us against each other. What will AI do? Nexus is the thrilling account of how we arrived at this moment, and the urgent…
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Autocracy, Inc
The Dictators Who Run the World By Anne Applebaum Penguin, Paperback, £10.99 The members of these networks are connected not only within a given country, but among many countries. The corrupt, state-controlled companies in one dictatorship do business with corrupt, state-controlled companies in another. The police in one country can arm, equip, and train the…
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The Salt Path
By Raynor Winn Penguin, Paperback, £10.99 Last year I embarked on a long-distance walk myself (in the North of Spain) and after such an incredible experience, I have vouched to slowly work my way through some of the books that talk about long-distance walking. Despite my reasons to undertake such a challenge were quite different…
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Slugs: a Manifesto
By Abi Palmer Makina Books, Paperback, £14 I came to Slugs having loved On Trampolining (by Rebecca Perry), the previous publication by Makina Books, and with very little notion of what it was about. My initial feelings about slugs varied from indifference to disgust, and I had no plans of learning more about them. So…
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Person Unlimited: An Ode to My Black Queer Body
By Dean Atta Canongate Books, Paperback, £10.99 In this memoir, celebrated children’s author and poet Dean Atta looks back at his life so far, not chronologically but thematically, using different approaches to explore his evolving relationship with his body. The book is not so much about his career as a writer, or only incidentally, rather…
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A History of the World in 47 Borders
by John Elledge Paperback, £10.99 I love a lateral history. They are a great way of reading history without getting bogged down in some of the things that history books like to get bogged down in, such as dry analysis, endnotes, learning-worn-heavily, that sort of thing. They can also be a bit disappointing owing to…
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The Anxious Generation
by Jonathan Haidt Paperback, £10.99 Acclaimed psychologist Jonathan Haidt reveals how the decline of free-play in childhood and the rise of smartphone use among adolescents is changing our worldFrom 2010, as teens traded in their flip phones for smartphones packed with social media apps, unsupervised time online soared while face-to-face conversations with friends and family…
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Bothy: In Search of Simple Shelter
Kat Hill Paperback, £10.99 Bothys are small basic shelters, of varying degrees of comfort, in remote spots in Scotland and beyond. They provide refuge for walkers, and are beloved of many. This book on bothy stories and culture, will make you want to get out into the wilds, right now. I heard Kat Hill lecture…
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