A must-read for all mums with sons

Explosive ... powerful. Backed by a decade of research, and based on reams of publicly available data... The Body Economic should come as a broadside, morally armour-plated and data-reinforced

A powerful indictment of the unnecessary suffering and rising mortality rates associated with austerity policies unsoftened by remedial social programmes. I hope the finance ministers read it, and try mixing with the ordinary people, who are the only ones who can bring about economic recovery

A surprisingly readable book with a compassionate tone. The inclusion of stories about ordinary individuals affected by austerity lends it a poignancy not typically found in economics literature

Economist David Stuckler and epidemiologist Sanjay Basu have spent years correlating government policy and health statistics ... the data is as convincing as the stories are harrowing ... every country that has followed an economic crash with austerity has had a public health catastrophe

Far too many books are described as seminal, but The Body Economic really could be ... Stuckler and Basu are in the vanguard of a movement to recast economics as a matter of life and death ... We should organise a massive love-bombing of Treasury and IMF officials with copies of The Body Economic

The Body Economic is a bold synthesis of quantitative data, historical cases, personal narratives, and sociological and clinically informed analyses about the effects of investing, or failing to invest, in public health safety nets. In investigating the causes of adverse health outcomes in populations from the United States to the Soviet Union to Greece, Iceland, and the UK, David Stuckler and Sanjay Basu expose many of the myths and mystifications that prop up the regnant ideologies of fiscal austerity. Stuckler and Basu revive the great, progressive tradition of social medicine. Their work is important not just for all those who deliver health care services, but also for anyone who might, just might, one day be a patient

[Oliver James] does a great job of describing some of the problems in modern society and how the demands of the 21st century can affect a person's happiness... [he] uncovers the answer to how to reconnect with what really matters and learn to value what you've already got. In other words, how to be successful and stay sane.

Advice that focuses on training you - the parents - rather than your kids. A refreshing approach.