Latest Book Recommendations

The Best Books on the Future of Work, recommended by Daniel Susskind

For many us, work is not only a vital source of income, but also an important part of our identity. As computers become ever better at doing jobs that used to be the exclusive preserve of humans, the work available to us and the rewards for doing it will change dramatically. As economist Daniel Susskind explains, these developments are going to force us to rethink how society as a whole works at a very fundamental level, changing the role of the state, the way we think about how individuals contribute to society and how they can, or should, be rewarded.

Recent Recommendations

“Across his career, Shakespeare was meditating upon this particular form: sometimes mocking it, sometimes praising it” Professor Scott Newstok of Rhodes College on the best books of Shakespeare's sonnets

"More and more people are complaining that they've been getting far less reading done in lockdown than hoped." Deputy editor Cal Flyn recommends very short books you could read in a day, from existentialist classics to graphic novels

"Intermittent fasting is the only diet I would recommend." Tim Spector, genetic epidemiologist and author of Spoon-Fed discusses diet books from their earliest beginnings to their latest iterations

Most Popular Expert Interviews

“Pessimists tend not to notice changes for the better” Philosopher Nigel Warburton on Critical Thinking Books

"World War II continues to be the most important war in history because of the effect that it had on so many people’s lives." British military historian Sir Antony Beevor on the best books on World War II

“It’s about three things: connection, connection and connection. Really good sex is about a deep, not just physical, but emotional, connection.” Susan Quilliam, who updated The Joy of Sex, on Sex

"History is not inevitable. It is based on decisions and choices that people make" Brent Glass, Director Emeritus of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, on American History

"In Nietzsche’s view, consciousness and reasoning are fairly superficial aspects of human beings." The professor and legal scholar Brian Leiter updates his reading recommendations.

“Historians are always asking what parts of the past we need in order to imagine our future” Professor Imani Perry of Princeton University on African American history

Most Recommended Books

The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
wealth of nations
Plato's Republic

Recent Reader Lists

Our aim is to make Five Books the place to go to on the web for book recommendations, arranged by topic. Help us achieve our goal by making a reading list on a subject you know a lot about. These lists have been created by our readers using our new interactive tool. Browse them all, or make your own.

The Best Books on Race and Christian Religion in America, recommended by Zach_Aument

The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race
by Willie James Jennings

Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America
by Michael O. Emerson & Christian Smith

Christians and the Color Line: Race and Religion after Divided by Faith
by J. Russell Hawkins & Phillip Luke Sinitiere

The Cross and the Lynching Tree
by James H. Cone

Race: A Theological Account
by J. Kameron Carter

Books on Adolescence, recommended by eric_parker4

Normal People
by Sally Rooney

The Catcher in the Rye
by J. D. Salinger

Brighton Rock
by Graham Greene

The Hunger Games
by Suzanne Collins

Giver (Essential Modern Classics)
by Lois Lowry

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