The Top Five Sunday Times Bestseller'Excellent . . . persuasive . . . convincing' – The Times'Funny, whipsmart and devastating. Sanity on steroids' – Emily Maitlis'Fantastic. An exquisite analysis' – The Secret BarristerWhy does nothing work in Britain?It’s harder than ever to get a GP appointment. Burglaries go unpunished. Rivers are overrun with sewage. Real wages have been stagnant for years, even as the cost of housing rises inexorably. Why is everything going wrong at the same time?It's easy to blame dysfunctional politicians who are out for themselves. But, in reality, it’s more complicated. Politicians can make things better or worse, but all work within our state institutions. And ours are utterly broken.In Failed State, Sam Freedman, one of Britain's leading policy experts, offers a devastating analysis of where we’ve gone wrong. With historical depth and plenty of infuriating examples, he explains why British governance has fallen so far behind. Speaking to politicians of all stripes, civil servants and workers on the frontline, this book bursts with insight on the real problems that are so often hidden from the front pages. The result is a witty, landmark book that paves the way for a fairer and more prosperous Britain.'We can only hope that every member of the new government will read and digest this book' – David Aaronovitch, BBC Radio 4 Presenter'Brilliantly timed and frighteningly true' – Sir Anthony Seldon, bestselling author of Johnson at 10 Read more

‘Kiko Llaneras is one of the most consistently interesting data journalists to have emerged in the last decade’John Burn-Murdoch, Chief data reporter, Financial TimesIt’s almost impossible to feel confident we’ve made the right choice when we are constantly faced with conflicting data. From choosing the right school for our children to understanding major social and political events, making informed decisions can feel overwhelming. In a world overflowing with data, it is more important than ever to decipher what the numbers tell us.Drawing on years of work interpreting and explaining data about almost anything, renowned data journalist Kiko Llaneras offers practical tools and shortcuts to help you understand the numbers and make better decisions using a quantitative lens. Through a series of compelling examples, he reveals some of the surprising insights that a data-driven perspective can offer such as:What caused the Chernobyl disasterHow Barack Obama made decisions and slept so peacefully during his presidencyWhy so many footballers are born in JanuaryAn essential guide for decoding the complexities of our modern world, Think Clearly will transform the way you view and use data in every aspect of your life. Read more

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERThe essential blueprint for a better future, from the leading economist and Labour rising star‘Stellar: brilliant, incredibly pragmatic’ Rory Stewart‘No one has done more to re-inject sanity into our national policy’ Emily Maitlis'Everyone should read this book if they care about our country' Tom BaldwinGreat Britain? is both a clear-eyed diagnosis of the problems facing our country – a uniquely toxic combination of huge inequality and stagnant economic growth – and a bold vision for the alternative.In this treasure trove of enlightening and original analysis, Torsten Bell argues that our era of chaos and cynicism needs neither utopianism nor nostalgia, but a practical patriotism to raise living standards and create a more equal country. This is a book bursting with ideas and infectious hope: Bell passionately points us towards a Britain that we can actually build – a future worth fighting for.*Updated with a new Preface*'Pretty cool' Alastair Campbell‘Refreshingly optimistic’ The Times‘A dose of Torstenomics is the only thing that can give us hope’ Amol Rajan‘Spiced with wit, masterful, fact-packed’ Polly Toynbee Read more

The crisis of 2008 ended the illusion of a golden era in which many people imagined that prosperity and political calm would continue to spread indefinitely. In a world now racked by slowing growth and mounting unrest, how can we discern which nations will thrive and which will fail? Shaped by prize-winning author Ruchir Sharma's twenty-five years travelling the world, The Rise and Fall of Nations rethinks economics as a practical art. By narrowing down the thousands of factors that can shape a country's future, it spells out ten clear rules for identifying the next big winners and losers in the global economy.Each rule looks at a nation's political, economic, and social conditions in real time to filter out the hype and noise. He shows, for example, how slow population growth is eroding economic growth, and ranks nations by how well they respond. He describes the way cycles of political complacency and revolt fuel economic booms and busts. Amid growing tensions over inequality, he demonstrates how billionaire lists yield clues to which economies are most or least threatened by extreme wealth. In a period when the world is struggling with trillions of dollars in new debt, he explains which nations are most likely to avert this threat or buckle under it. Sharma's rules are based on the data he has collected over many years at Morgan Stanley Investment Management in New York, where he is now Head of Emerging Markets and Chief Global Strategist. This is a book of original research, not mere opinion. The final chapter takes the reader on a surprising world tour of the likely winners and losers in the near future. The Rise and Fall of Nations is enlivened by Sharma's stories from the road and his encounters with presidents, tycoons, and villagers from Rio to Beijing. It is a pioneering field guide to understanding our impermanent world. Read more

'Bracingly original... Hayek’s Bastards demonstrates how a history of ideas can be riveting. Slobodian grounds intellectual abstractions in the lives of the people who espoused them... His book offers an illuminating history to our current bewildering moment, as right-wing populists join forces with billionaire oligarchs to take a chain saw to the foundations of public life, until there’s nothing left to stand on' - Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times A revelatory exploration of how today’s rightwing authoritarianism emerged not in opposition to neoliberalism, but from within itAfter the end of the Cold War, neoliberalism, with its belief in the virtues of markets and competition, seemed to have triumphed. Communism had been defeated – and Friedrich Hayek, the spiritual father of neoliberal economics, had just about lived to see it. But in the decades that followed, Hayek’s disciples knew that they had a problem. The rise of social movements, from civil rights and feminism to environmentalism, were now proving roadblocks in the road to freedom, nurturing a culture of government dependency, public spending, political correctness and special pleading. Neoliberals needed an antidote.In this illuminating new book, historian Quinn Slobodian reveals how, from the 1990s onwards, neoliberal thinkers turned to nature, in an attempt to roll back social changes and to return to a hierarchy of gender, race and cultural difference. He explores how these thinkers drew on the language of science, from cognitive psychology to genetics, in order to embed the idea of ‘competition’ ever deeper into social life, and to advocate cultural homogeneity as essential for markets to truly work. Reading and misreading the writings of their sages, Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig von Mises, they forged the alliances with racial psychologists, neoconfederates, ethnonationalists that would become known as the alt-right. Hayek’s Bastards shows that many contemporary iterations of the Far Right, from Javier Milei to Donald Trump, emerged not in opposition to neoliberalism, but within it. As repellent as their politics may be, these supposed disruptors are not defectors from the neoliberal order, but its latest cheerleaders. Read more

A common-sense guide to living rich . . . instead of dying rich Imagine if by the time you died, you did everything you were told to. You worked hard, saved your money, and looked forward to financial freedom when you retired.   The only thing you wasted along the way was . . . your life.  Die with Zero presents a startling new and provocative philosophy as well as practical guide on how to get the most out of your money—and out of your life. It’s intended for those who place lifelong memorable experiences far ahead of simply making and accumulating money for one’s so-called “golden years.”   In short, Bill Perkins wants to rescue you from over-saving and under-living. Regardless of your age, Die with Zero will teach you Perkins’s plan for optimizing your life, stage by stage, so you’re fully engaged and enjoying what you’ve worked and saved for.   You’ll discover how to maximize your lifetime memorable moments with “time-bucketing,” how to convert your earnings into priceless memories by following your “net worth curve,” and how to navigate decisions about whether to invest in, or delay, a meaningful adventure with your “fulfillment curve” and “personal interest rate.”   Using his own life experiences as well as the inspiring stories and cautionary tales of others—and drawing on eye-opening insights about time, money, and happiness from psychological science and behavioral finance—Perkins makes a timely, convincing, and contrarian case for living large. Read more

***One of Barack Obama's best books of 2024***Shortlisted for the 2024 Financial Times & Schroders Business Book of the YearA revelatory account of the past, present, and future of economic growth - and how we should rethink itOver the past two centuries, economic growth has freed billions from poverty and made our lives far healthier and longer. As a result, the unfettered pursuit of growth defines economic life around the world. Yet this prosperity has come at an enormous price: deepening inequalities, destabilizing technologies, environmental destruction and climate change.Resolving this growth dilemma, best-selling economist Daniel Susskind argues, is the urgent task of our age. For many, in our era of sluggish productivity, the worry is slowing growth—in the UK, Europe, China and elsewhere—and reversing this stagnation is the goal of every politician. Others understandably claim, given its social and environmental costs, that the only way forward is through 'degrowth', deliberating shrinking our economies.At this time of uncertainty about growth and its value, Susskind has written an essential reckoning. In a sweeping analysis full of historical insight, he explores what really drives growth, offering original ideas for combatting our economic slowdown. He argues that we cannot abandon growth but shows instead how we can redirect it, making it better reflect what we truly value.Lucid, thought-provoking and brilliantly researched, Growth: A Reckoning is a vital guide to one of our greatest challenges. Read more

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER and MOST-ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2025 FROM THE FINANCIAL TIMES and NEXT BIG IDEA CLUB'Spectacular ... Inspires hope' New York Times'Forceful, quick-moving ... important' Financial Times'Ambitious' New Yorker'Necessary' New Statesman'Chilling ... Inspirational ... A book that matters' Sunday Times'One of the most important political books of the past decade' The New EuropeanThe threat to liberal democracy isn't just autocrats - it's a lack of effective action by so-called progressives. We have the means to build an equitable world without hunger, fuelled by clean energy. Instead, we have a politics driven by scarcity, lives defined by unaffordability and public institutions that no longer deliver on big ideas. It's time for change.Bestselling authors Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson have spent decades analysing the political, economic and cultural forces that have led us here. In this once-in-a-generation intervention, they unpick the barriers to progress and show how we can, and must, shift the political agenda to one that not only protects and preserves, but also builds. From healthcare to housing, infrastructure to innovation, they lay out a path to a future defined not by fear, but by abundance. Read more

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER / OVER A MILLION COPIES SOLD THE AMERICAN VICE PRESIDENT'S ORIGIN STORY‘Essential reading for this moment in history’ New York Times'You will not read a more important book about America this year' Economist‘Brilliant … offers an acute insight into the reasons voters have put their trust in Trump’ ObserverJ. D. Vance grew up in the hills of Kentucky. His family and friends were the people most of the world calls rednecks, hillbillies or white trash.In this deeply moving memoir, Vance tells the story of his family’s demons and of America’s problem with generational neglect. How his mother struggled against, but never fully escaped, the legacies of abuse, alcoholism, poverty and trauma. How his grandparents, ‘dirt poor and in love’, gave everything for their children to chase the American dream. How Vance beat the odds to graduate from Yale Law School. And how America came to abandon and then condescend to its white working classes, until they reached breaking point.‘A beautiful memoir but it is equally a work of cultural criticism about white working-class America … Vance offers a compelling explanation for why it’s so hard for someone who grew up the way he did to make it … a riveting book’ Wall Street Journal** Now a major-motion picture directed by Ron Howard and starring Amy Adams, Glenn Close, and Gabriel Basso **J. D. Vance's book 'Hillbilly Elegy' was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 2024-07-15. Read more

SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER‘If you think the UK isn't corrupt, you haven't looked hard enough … This terrifying book follows a global current of dirty money, and the murders and kidnappings required to sustain it’ GEORGE MONBIOT, GUARDIANAN ECONOMIST AND WASHINGTON POST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020‘When you pick this book up, you won’t be able to put it down’ MISHA GLENNY, author of MCMAFIA‘Gripping, disturbing and deeply reported’ BEN RHODES, bestselling author of THE WORLD AS IT ISIn this real-life thriller packed with jaw-dropping revelations, award-winning investigative journalist Tom Burgis reveals a terrifying global web of kleptocracy and corruption.Kleptopia follows the dirty money that is flooding the global economy, emboldening dictators, enriching oligarchs and poisoning democracies. From the Kremlin to Beijing, Harare to Riyadh, London to the Trump White House, it shows how the thieves are uniting – and the terrible human cost.A body in a burned-out Audi. Workers riddled with bullets in the Kazakh desert. A rigged election in Zimbabwe. A British banker silenced and humiliated for trying to expose the truth about the City of London – the world’s piggy bank for blood money.Riveting, horrifying and written like fiction, this book shows that while we are looking the other way, all that we hold most dear is being stolen. Read more

For readers of Putin's People by Catherine Belton comes the stunning story of Russia's slide back into a dictatorship led by Vladimir Putin - and how the world is now paying the price. 'Brave, trenchant and convincing' Sunday Times 'Ferocious and unforgiving' Financial TimesThe ascension of Vladimir Putin - a former lieutenant colonel of the KGB - to the presidency of Russia in 1999 was a strong signal that the country was headed away from democracy. Yet in the intervening years - as America and the world's other leading powers have continued to appease him - Putin has grown not only into a dictator but an international threat. With his vast resources and nuclear arsenal, Putin is at the centre of a worldwide assault on political liberty and the modern world order. For Garry Kasparov, none of this is news. He has been a vocal critic of Putin for over a decade, even leading the pro-democracy opposition to him in the farcical 2008 presidential election. Yet years of seeing his Cassandra-like prophecies about Putin's intentions fulfilled have left Kasparov with a darker truth: Putin's Russia, like ISIS or Al Qaeda, defines itself in opposition to the free countries of the world. As Putin has grown ever more powerful, the threat he poses has grown from local to regional and finally to global. In this urgent book, Kasparov shows that the collapse of the Soviet Union was not an endpoint - only a change of seasons, as the Cold War melted into a new spring. But now, after years of complacency and poor judgement, winter is once again upon us. Argued with the force of Kasparov's world-class intelligence, conviction and hopes for his home country, Winter Is Coming reveals Putin for what he is: an existential danger hiding in plain sight. Read more

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER and RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK*An Economist, Financial Times, Times and New Statesman Book of the Year*Shortlisted for the FT Business Book of the Year Award and the British Academy Book Prize, Longlisted for the Wainwright Conservation Writing Prize'Compelling' TIM MARSHALL'Lively, rich and exciting' PETER FRANKOPAN'Vitally important' TIM HARFORD_____________Sand, salt, iron, copper, oil and lithium. They built our world, and they will transform our future.They took us from the Dark Ages to the present day. They power our computers and phones, build our homes and offices, and create life-saving medicines. But most of us take these six crucial materials completely for granted.In Material World, Ed Conway travels the globe to uncover a secret world we rarely see. As we wrestle with climate change, energy crises and the threat of new global conflict, Conway shows why these substances matter more than ever before, and how the hidden battle to control them will shape our geopolitical future. Read more

'Any investor with skin in the game needs to buy this book.' Niall FergusonFrom Wall Street to the White House, the fantasy of an eventual 'return to normal' is still alive and well. But the economic world as we know it - and the rules that govern it - are over. And few are prepared.Here, market risk expert Lawrence McDonald unveils the predictive model he developed in the aftermath of Lehman Brothers’ collapse, outlining actionable trading ideas for a radically reshaped economy. Readers will discover:Why inflation will stay near 3-5% for the next decadeWhy hard assets and rare minerals like lithium and cobalt will outperform growth stocks and passive investment strategiesWhy America will likely lose its position as a global superpower and holder of the world's premier reserve currencyRather than merely doomsaying, How to Listen When Markets Speak equips readers to make sense of our current moment, resist reactionary narratives and baseless analysis and pounce on a new investing playbook. Read more

*INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER**NO. 1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*‘Extraordinary’ The Observer‘A stupefyingly pleasurable book to read’ New Yorker‘Lewis’s storytelling is as good as ever’ The EconomistFrom the #1 bestselling author of The Big Short and Flash Boys, the high-octane story of the enigmatic figure at the heart of one of the 21st century's most spectacular financial collapses'I asked him how much it would take for him to sell FTX and go do something other than make money. He thought the question over. "One hundred and fifty billion dollars," he finally said-though he added that he had use for "infinity dollars"...'Sam Bankman-Fried wasn't just rich. Before he turned thirty he'd become the world's youngest billionaire, making a record fortune in the crypto frenzy. CEOs, celebrities and world leaders vied for his time. At one point he considered paying off the entire national debt of the Bahamas so he could take his business there.Then it all fell apart.Who was this Gatsby of the crypto world, a rumpled guy in cargo shorts, whose eyes twitched across TV interviews as he played video games on the side, who even his million-dollar investors still found a mystery? What gave him such an extraordinary ability to make money - and how did his empire collapse so spectacularly?Michael Lewis was there when it happened, having got to know Bankman-Fried during his epic rise. In Going Infinite he tells us a story like no other, taking us through the mind-bending trajectory of a character who never liked the rules and was allowed to live by his own. Both psychological portrait of a preternaturally gifted 'thinking machine', and wild financial roller-coaster ride, this is a twenty-first-century epic of high-frequency trading and even higher stakes, of crypto mania and insane amounts of money, of hubris and downfall. No one could tell it better. Read more

The astonishing reality of living without our most important resource: money. 'An inspiring and entertaining guide to escaping the money trap and reconnecting with reality.' Paul Kingsnorth, author of Real England Imagine a year living without spending money... Former businessman Mark Boyle undertook this extraordinary challenge and recounts the amazing adventure it led him on. Going back to basics and following his own strict rules, Mark learned ingenious ways to eliminate his bills and discovered that friendship has no price. Encountering seasonal foods, solar panels, skill-swapping schemes, caravans, compost toilets, and – the unthinkable – a cash-free Christmas, Boyle puts the fun into frugality and offers some great tips for economical (and environmentally friendly) living. A testament to Mark’s astounding determination, this witty and thought-provoking book will make you reevaluate what is most precious in life. Read more

*FEATURED IN BILL GATES'S 2019 SUMMER READING RECOMMENDATIONS* From world-renowned economist Paul Collier, a candid diagnosis of the failures of capitalism and a pragmatic and realistic vision for how we can repair itDeep new rifts are tearing apart the fabric of Britain and other Western societies: thriving cities versus the provinces, the highly skilled elite versus the less educated, wealthy versus developing countries. As these divides deepen, we have lost the sense of ethical obligation to others that was crucial to the rise of post-war social democracy. So far these rifts have been answered only by the revivalist ideologies of populism and socialism, leading to the seismic upheavals of Trump, Brexit and the return of the far right in Germany. We have heard many critiques of capitalism but no one has laid out a realistic way to fix it, until now. In a passionate and polemical book, celebrated economist Paul Collier outlines brilliantly original and ethical ways of healing these rifts - economic, social and cultural - with the cool head of pragmatism, rather than the fervour of ideological revivalism. He reveals how he has personally lived across these three divides, moving from working-class Sheffield to hyper-competitive Oxford, and working between Britain and Africa, and acknowledges some of the failings of his profession. Drawing on his own solutions as well as ideas from some of the world's most distinguished social scientists, he shows us how to save capitalism from itself - and free ourselves from the intellectual baggage of the 20th century. Read more

"The most important book to read about the AI boom" (Wired): The "gripping" (New Yorker) true story of the first time machines came for human jobs—and how the Luddite uprising explains the power, threat, and toll of big tech and AI today Named one of the best books of the year by The New Yorker, Wired, and the Financial Times • A Next Big Idea Book Club "Must-Read" The most urgent story in modern tech begins not in Silicon Valley but two hundred years ago in rural England, when workers known as the Luddites rose up rather than starve at the hands of factory owners who were using automated machines to erase their livelihoods. The Luddites organized guerrilla raids to smash those machines—on punishment of death—and won the support of Lord Byron, enraged the Prince Regent, and inspired the birth of science fiction. This all-but-forgotten class struggle brought nineteenth-century England to its knees. Today, technology imperils millions of jobs, robots are crowding factory floors, and artificial intelligence will soon pervade every aspect of our economy. How will this change the way we live? And what can we do about it? The answers lie in Blood in the Machine. Brian Merchant intertwines a lucid examination of our current age with the story of the Luddites, showing how automation changed our world—and is shaping our future. Read more

Discover the bestselling book that reveals how mainstream economics has led us astray - and what we can do to fix it, now with a new afterword.*The Sunday Times Bestseller**A Financial Times and Forbes Book of the Year**Longlisted for the FT/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award*Relentless financial crises. Extreme inequalities in wealth. Remorseless pressure on the environment. Anyone can see that our economic system is broken.But can it be fixed?Oxford academic Kate Raworth has identified seven critical ways in which mainstream economics has led us astray - from selling us the myth of 'rational economic man' to obsessing over growth at all costs - and offers an alternative roadmap for bringing humanity into a sweet spot that meets the needs of all, within the means of the planet.Ambitious, radical and provocative, Doughnut Economics offers a new cutting-edge economic model fit for the challenges of the 21st century.Praise for Doughnut Economics:'Raworth's magnum opus . . . Fascinating.' Books of the Year, Forbes'At last – an economic model that won't destroy the planet . . . the John Maynard Keynes of the 21st century.' Guardian'This is sharp, significant scholarship . . . Thrilling.' Times Higher Education'A book you will need to know about . . . If only 10% of the ideas get implemented, the world will be a much better place.' Dr Duncan Green, Professor in Practice in International Development at LSE'[Raworth's] biggest question . . . is one that terrifies all mainstream economists: is 'growth' endless?' Andrew Marr, Spectator'A compelling and timely intervention.' The Ecologist Read more

Learn the tricks of the trade from a gambling and investment legend The New York Times bestseller Mathematics professor. Professional gambler. Tech inventor. Hedge fund heavyweight. Bestselling author. Edward O. Thorp is one of a kind. In a remarkable career, Thorp rose from nothing to become a professor at MIT, invented card counting and the world’s first wearable computer, beat the casinos of Las Vegas at blackjack and roulette, then became a bestselling author and a hedge fund heavyweight, ushering in a revolution on Wall Street. Now he shares his incredible life story for the first time, revealing how he made his fortune and giving advice to the next generation of investors. An intellectual thrill ride, replete with practical wisdom, A Man for All Markets is a scarcely imaginable tale of ludicrous success. ‘An extraordinary autobiography which reads like a novel.’ John Kay, author of Other People’s Money Read more

Assume nothing, question everything.This is the message at the heart of Freakonomics, Levitt and Dubner's rule-breaking, iconoclastic book about crack dealers, cheating teachers and bizarre baby names that turned everyone's view of the world upside-down and became an international multi-million-copy-selling phenomenon.'Prepare to be dazzled' Malcolm Gladwell'A sensation ... you'll be stimulated, provoked and entertained. Of how many books can that be said?' Sunday Telegraph'Has you chuckling one minute and gasping in amazement the next' Wall Street Journal'Dazzling ... a delight' Economist'Made me laugh out loud' Scotland on Sunday Read more