Five Books Newsletter 12

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Five Books Newsletter

Dear Five Books reader,

Below our selection of books for this week.

Have a lovely weekend!

Sophie

This Week's Books

http://fivebooks.com/recommended/history-reading-by-alberto-manguel

"This is the book with which general readers who are curious about the history of reading should start, because of its very accessible essayistic narrative. It offers a sweeping overview of the history of reading."

Leah Price on the History of Reading (http://fivebooks.com/interviews/leah-price-on-history-reading)

http://fivebooks.com/recommended/through-language-glass-by-guy-deutscher

"Does the world look different in other languages?"

Robert Lane Greene on Language and the Mind (http://fivebooks.com/interviews/robert-lane-greene-on-language-and-mind)

http://fivebooks.com/recommended/after-war-by-christopher-coyne

"Coyne really does show the futility of our efforts. All these efforts at war – the loss of lives, the billions of dollars spent – got us what?"

Peter Boettke on Austrian Economics (http://fivebooks.com/interviews/peter-boettke-on-austrian-economics)

http://fivebooks.com/recommended/peacemaking-among-primates-by-frans-de-waal

"Bonobos are fascinating for all sorts of reasons."

Paul Seabright on Evolution and Human Cooperation (http://fivebooks.com/interviews/paul-seabright-on-evolution-and-human-cooperation)

http://fivebooks.com/recommended/left-hand-darkness-by-ursula-k-leguin

"Ursula Le Guin may be the living writer I most admire. The Left Hand of Darkness, published in 1969, may be her best novel. Set on a beautifully evoked wintry planet, it concerns a diplomatic envoy called Genly Ai who visits the world to invite it to join an interplanetary polity called the Ekumen."

Adam Roberts on Science Fiction Classics (http://fivebooks.com/interviews/adam-roberts-on-science-fiction-classics)

http://fivebooks.com/recommended/spanish-civil-war-by-helen-graham

"This little book...is a remarkable work in that in a very short space she manages to deal with everything. Despite spending 40 years researching this subject myself, I found that it just glitters with insights."

Paul Preston on the Spanish Civil War (http://fivebooks.com/interviews/paul-preston-on-spanish-civil-war)

http://fivebooks.com/recommended/risk-by-john-adams

"If you want to get people to drive more carefully, have a spike set in the steering wheel, pointing towards the driver’s heart."

Lewis Wolpert on Science (http://fivebooks.com/interviews/lewis-wolpert-on-science)

Quote of the Week

"There is quite a lot of freedom to write...when you have no attention, no readership and no royalties."
Imraan Coovadia on South African Fiction (http://fivebooks.com/interviews/imraan-coovadia-on-south-african-fiction)