Why does the West rule? In this magnum opus, eminent Stanford polymath Ian Morris answers this provocative question, drawing on 50,000 years of history, archeology, and the methods of social science, to make sense of when, how, and why the paths of development differed in the East and West — and what this portends for the 21st century.

Ian Morris, Profile Books, 4 November 2010

How modern are our lives? Or are we still living the lives our ancestors lived?

Natalie Haynes, Profile Books, 4 November 2010

"The Hemlock Cup" gives Socrates the biography he deserves, setting him in the context of the Eastern Mediterranean that was his home, and dealing with him as he himself dealt with the world. Socrates was a soldier, a lover, a man of the people.

Bettany Hughes, Jonathan Cape Ltd, 7 October 2010

Why dense cities, nuclear power, transgenic crops, restored wildlands, radical science, and geoengineering are necessary

Stewart Brand, Atlantic Books, 1 October 2010

Instead of creating a new world, their actions really fostered a nation riddled with inequality, elitism and political corruption. "Jilted Generation" sets out how the next generation might succeed where this one failed.

Ed Howker & Shiv Malik, Icon Books Ltd, 2 September 2010