Full of jokes, conundra and startling insights...Eco has both moved with the times and moved his discipline along... Few will come to Kant and the Platypus for a bulletin on the world of literary theory...what the general reader will find here is an extraordinary mind at play

A typical Eco book in its scope and vastness of ambition. In his hands, semiotics is transformed from a specialist branch of learning into a theory of everything...readers will not fail to be stimulated

Eco's sensitivity to the mysteries of signification supplies the irony and perceptiveness of his essays. Here, he addresses the mysteries themselves. He does it in characteristic fashion, with wit and invention; but with serious intent too... Eco deploys all his skills of anecdote and illustration, pleasurably decorating an earnest and complicated matter

Umberto Eco is perhaps the leading contemporary representative of the philosophy of semiotics... The discussion is consistently fertile and provocative and provides a wealth of suggestive anecdotes and illustrations

You'll read this. Then you'll hope your competition isn't reading this. It's that good.

Nir's work is an essential crib sheet for any startup looking to understand user psychology.

When it comes to driving engagement and building habits, Hooked is an excellent guide into the mind of the user.

I've learned a great deal from Nir, and you will too. He'll help you design habits to benefit your users, and your company.

If you're serious about designing seductive products that sell, 'hooked' is the only psychological toolkit you'll need

Captivating...fascinating...His answer to the questions “Nature or nurture?” is both. If that sounds like a hedge, it isn’t: instead, it’s a testament to the author’s close attention to nuance.

Intelligently, rigorously and politely debunks the "10,000 hours" myth

Perhaps the most fascinating book of the year... Absorbing and full of fascinating detail

This subtle, enthralling study by the Sports Illustrated writer avoids making excessive claims for genetics

David Epstein's The Sports Gene has a discussion that badly needs to happen at all levels in sport; about the relationships between talent, genetics, practice and success in sport

Respect is due to Epstein…for injecting some objectivity into the debate with his gripping new tome

The Sports Gene offers a fascinating insight into the topic of nature v nurture…a great read

A welcome corrective to those who have deliberately underplayed the notion that genetic makeup is relevant

An illuminating read

Fascinating

Well written and contains important research, and has some wonderful anecdotes

The most intriguing sports books of the year, and possibly the best-researched

An enjoyable mixture of easily digestible science, anecdote and argument

This is a book to counter the 10,000-hour rule popularised by Malcolm Gladwell

In a book packed with fascinating anecdotes, it’s hard to pick out highlights … If sport is a passion, The Sports Gene is required reading

Highly entertaining and enlightening

The Sports Gene does not try to simplify the nature vs nurture argument, but it does provide a welcome corrective to those who have underplayed the notion that genetic make-up is relevant

Epstein explores this territory with canny verve

Interesting reading

Dazzling and illuminating

Epstein is too respectful of the complexity of his subject matter to leap to any grand conclusions. The book was conceived partially as a rebuttal to glib theorising, and it is all the more fascinating as a result

Fascinating from start to finish

Epstein forces us to rethink the very nature of athleticism

Looks at the science of extraordinary athletic performance.

Captivating… Dazzling and illuminating

Epstein is not afraid to follow science in “trekking deep into the bramble patches of sensitive topics like gender and race"

Captivating… In a particularly fascinating chapter, Epstein investigates an old theory that purports to explain why Jamaica produces so many Olympic sprinters