I've been sent an advanced copy of Oliver Roeder's book Seven Games, and of course I'm delighted both by the premise and its execution. Roeder, a game theorist, puzzle fan and keen game player, dives deep into the world of high-level play of seven classic games:...
Marginalia
If it doesn’t fit anywhere else, it’s here.
The Expectation Effect, by David Robson
There's a fine line to walk between writing a book that argues that our mental state is surprisingly powerful, and writing a book that argues that if you ask the universe for a gift, the universe will respond. But @D_A_Robson walks the line skilfully here with The...
Assorted links
Publication day approaches for the paperback of "The Data Detective" (1 Feb). As always, pre-orders of the paperback, positive reviews if you've read the hardback, spreading the word - all are so valuable and very gratefully received. The UK edition of the same book,...
Assorted Links
Business School professor Christian Stadler names his "best ten business books of 2021". A good list, including "The Data Detective" (US/Can readers can pre-order the paperback, out 1 Feb). Michael Bungay Stanier's "How To Begin" is out tomorrow. Classic self-help,...
Treacle Walker, by Alan Garner
"It was a tune with wings, trampling things, tightened strings, boggarts and bogles and brags on their feet; the man in the oak, sickness and fever, that set in long, lasting sleep the whole great world with the sweetness of sound the bone did play." Where to start...
Book of the Week: The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
My resolution this year is to read (and review) more books, so I thought I might start with a book that promises to help me form better habits: (@CDuhigg) Charles Duhigg's The Power of Habit. The book, which is a Gladwell-influenced...
How to make New Year’s Resolutions that you will keep
As David Epstein @DavidEpstein recently pointed out in his newsletter, Range Widely, the first of January is a great time to make resolutions. Behavioural economist Katy Milkman @Katy_Milkman, with Hengchen Dai and Jason Riis, discovered evidence for a "fresh start...
The books you need for your 2022 New Year’s Resolutions
The self-help genre gets a bad press, and not without reason, but there are a few self-help books that I’ve read, enjoyed, and felt wiser as a result. The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff. I found this wise, witty little book served as a touchstone throughout my...
The best books about the pandemic
I don't think it's too early to provide a list of some of the best books about the pandemic - several of these books, in fact, were written before Sars-Cov-2 ever made the leap to humans. Covid-19 by Debora Mackenzie came out very early in the crisis and some of it...