The Tao Te Ching is a 2,400-year-old reminder that today, as then, every one of us has a choice to practise self-awareness and exercise our own power in and over the world. That might come as more of a nasty wakeup call than a comfort to some of us. As [David Foster] Wallace said: "It is unimaginably hard to do this, to stay conscious and alive in the adult world day in and day out." As hard as it is, for the moments we read it, the Tao Te Ching makes it seem at least possible.

How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt is a useful primer on the importance of norms, institutional restraints and civic participation in maintaining a democracy - and how quickly those things can erode when we're not paying attention

With great energy and integrity [Levitsky and Ziblatt] apply their expertise to the current problems of the United States.

We owe the authors a debt of thanks for bringing their deep understanding to bear on the central political issue of the day.

What's the worst thing to happen to US democracy recently? Most answers to that question start and end with Donald Trump. Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, though as horrified by Trump as anyone, try to take a wider view. This book looks to history to provide a guide for defending democratic norms when they are under threat, and finds that it is possible to fight back. Provocative and readable.

There are two must-read books about the Trump presidency at the moment. This is the one you probably haven't heard of. It is also the one that is most useful to British readers. Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt are anti-Donald Trump politics professors at Harvard. And the big advantage of political scientists over even the shrewdest and luckiest of eavesdropping journalists is that they have the training to give us a bigger picture.
They set out some rules about the slow, internal collapse of democracies, which are entirely relevant to Britain...

The greatest of the many merits of Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt's contribution to what will doubtless be the ballooning discipline of democracy death studies is their rejection of western exceptionalism. They tell inspiring stories I had not heard before...excellent, scholarly and readable, alarming and level-headed.

The political-science text in vogue this winter is How Democracies Die.

[An] important new book.

Levitsky and Ziblatt show how democracies have collapsed elsewhere-not just through violent coups, but more commonly (and insidiously) through a gradual slide into authoritarianism.... How Democracies Die is a lucid and essential guide to what can happen here.

We're already awash in public indignation-what we desperately need is a sober, dispassionate look at the current state of affairs. Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, two of the most respected scholars in the field of democracy studies, offer just that.

Grander, more didactic ambitions underpin "How Democracies Die" ... a more scholarly approach

The most thought-provoking book comparing democratic crises in different nations

The most important book of the Trump era was not Bob Woodward's Fear or Michael Wolff's Fire and Fury or any of the other bestselling exposés of the White House circus. Arguably it was a wonkish tome by two Harvard political scientists, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, published a year into Donald Trump's presidency and entitled How Democracies Die

Ackroyd delivers an excellent queer read about London, this time ‘our’ London… Endless facts delight and amuse in this celebration and investigation of queer life from Celtic times to the present day… Validating, interesting and endlessly fascinating

Teeming with incredible stories, amazing characters and extraordinary detail, Queer City is the fascinating story of LGBT+ London from the Romans to the present day and reveals the incredibly rich history of London’s LGBT+ past

The comedian and polymath retells age-old Greek myths in dramatic, modernised style

One of the nation's favourite intellectuals retells the epic myths of the Greek heroes in his own unique and very enjoyable way

This fascinating book prompts us to question how we think about the world, and challenges those in West and East who peddle the dangerous myth of civilisational conflict

This is an interesting, well-written and thoughtful book… He deserves credit for engaging with a highly complex and equally pertinent subject at a time when Islam is always in the news especially in the Western world

Highly readable… The Islamic Enlightenment has a bone to pick with those who argue that Islam needs to become more civilised.

A refreshingly optimistic counterpoint to the idea that Muslim and Western world-views are doomed to clash.

A tremendous combination of deep learning, forceful argument and arresting prose, The Islamic Enlightenment is bold, bracing and important

That there has been an Islamic Enlightenment at all will come as news to many. De Bellaigue’s account of the “very broad church” of Islam in the modern world is splendid and timely.

Nuanced and rich in detail

She offers insights into everyone from Donald Trump to Simon Cowell, showing them not just as what they represent, but as individuals with flaws and charm

One of the best we've read this year . . . This insightful, hilarious and engrossing memoir from one of our most well-liked TV broadcasters takes you behind the scenes of the biggest news stories in recent years

Recounts, one guest per chapter, a number of her interviews with the boldest of boldface figures . . . Entertaining

A quick, absorbing read . . . my overriding impression is of rather breathless thoughtfulness . . . her formidable intelligence and self-deprecating awareness shine brightly

We love the Maitlis

We're obsessed with Emily Maitlis in this house

Emily Maitlis is a particular hero of mine . . . I know I'm in for a treat with Airhead

Emily Maitlis is one of my favourite interviewers and I want to read her tales of interviewing people such as Donald Trump, Theresa May and Simon Cowell

A fascinating behind-the-scenes insight into modern television news

It's a brilliant, often funny, behind-the-scenes account of her working life, written by one of Britain's best television broadcasters. It proves she's far from an airhead!

She gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at some of the most engaging interviews she's conducted in recent years - with all the wrangling, arguing, pleading and last-minute script writing they involved. Insightful, funny and engrossing, we love it.