I occasionally listen to the oddly-named but excellent "Art of Manliness" podcast, and a recent episode brought me up short. It was an interview with Gregg Krech, author of "Naikan: Gratitude, Grace and the Japanese art of self-reflection". Krech suggested a practice...
Florence Nightingale, by Mark Bostridge. I don’t read many biographies and perhaps I should read more, if this is anything to go by. I have been particularly focused on the 1850s (nursing and statistics) and 1860s (public health campaigning and statistics) but of...
Self-help is a much-mocked section of the bookstore, and in truth there is much to mock. However I have a soft spot for certain self-help books that I have found useful over the years. These ones get my vote. The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff. A nostalgic pick,...
Two books this week that were written by friends of mine. First, a shout out for How To Buy A Planet by D.A. Holdsworth - a comedy about what happens when the world's leaders decide to sell Earth to some cute aliens in order to wipe the slate clean and press ahead,...
I picked up a copy of Bad Advice by Paul Offit a few months ago but have only now started to give it a proper read. Offit is a paediatrician and vaccine specialist, but the focus of this book is to discuss the importance of science and science communication. Offit is...
I am a sucker for Alex Bellos books - they're just such fun, full of unexpected ideas and charmingly written. (My very favourite is Alex's Adventures in Numberland (in the US, titled Here's Looking at Euclid).) His latest offering is The Language Lover's Puzzle Book,...
Not for the first time, I picked up Of Dice & Men: The Story of Dungeons and Dragons and the People Who Play it by David Ewalt. I've been researching the history of role-playing games and found Ewalt's book a useful complement to Jon Peterson's 720 page brick,...
The 99% Invisible City by Roman Mars and Kurt Kohlstedt. A beautifully-illustrated guide to the miscellanea of our everyday surroundings. Roman and Kurt have produced a cornucopia of miniature essays on topics ranging from the slip-base (an elegant piece of design...
Annie Duke, How To Decide. A workbook that talks through all the essentials of decision theory & behavioural science - the outside view vs the inside view; analysis paralysis, pre-mortems, "resulting" - while offering exercises & and self-tests. This is a book...