Clay Shirky

Renowned foreign policy expert Anne Marie-Slaughter looks at the increasingly complex networks in which 21st century states find themselves.

A conversation with the economist, educator, omnivore, polymath and co-founder of Marginal Revolution, highlighting books about decentralised information, mass collaboration and spontaneous order

Former editor-in-chief of The Guardian talked to us in 2012 about brave new frontiers for journalism, the hunt for a business model to pay for it all, and what he hoped (and feared) the Leveson Inquiry would decide about press regulation.

Richard Tofel, general manager of the non-profit newsroom ProPublica and former assistant publisher of the Wall Street Journal, explains why the printed newspaper is doomed. He recommends the best books to read to better understand the changing business of journalism.

The book critic and technology columnist for Time magazine says there’s a level on which the Internet is a mass tool for pacification. It allows people to play out their lives in a fantasy context, which is very politically unthreatening. He picks the best books on the World Wide Web.

The human condition has not changed down the millennia, so it’s no surprise that ancient philosophy has much to teach us about how to live our lives, argues Jules Evans. He picks the best books about ancient philosophy in modern life.

In a break from our usual practice of focusing on books, we asked the journalism analyst and veteran blogger Jay Rosen to recommend five articles illustrating the upheavals of the news business