Books by Ian Leslie
Ian Leslie is a writer and author of acclaimed books on human behaviour. He writes about psychology, culture, technology and business for the New Statesman, the Economist, the Guardian and the Financial Times.
“He approaches the story of The Beatles through the central friendship between Paul and John, and the really intense relationship the two had right from when they first met as teenagers all the way through to John’s death.” Read more...
The Best Nonfiction Books: The 2026 Duff Cooper Prize
Andrew Holgate, Journalist
Conflicted: How Productive Disagreements Lead to Better Outcomes
by Ian Leslie
Conflicted by British journalist Ian Leslie is a thought-provoking look at what recent research says about arguments, mostly at a personal level, though public personalities and events are brought in to illustrate some of the main points. Disagreements, it turns out, make for better relationships, more accurate Wikipedia pages, and even helped in the discovery of DNA. The key, then, is to get better at having them. Leslie lays out some practical tips of how to achieve that, including the example of Nelson Mandela, who won over a sworn enemy by inviting him to tea.
Interviews with Ian Leslie
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1
The Enigma of Reason: A New Theory of Human Understanding
by Dan Sperber & Hugo Mercier -
2
Knowing Mandela: A Personal Portrait
by John Carlin -
3
The Five Percent: Finding Solutions to Seemingly Impossible Conflicts
by Peter Coleman -
4
Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration
by Teresa Bejan -
5
Learning Lessons From Waco: When Parties Bring Their Gods to the Negotiation Table
by Jayne Docherty
The best books on Disagreeing Productively, recommended by Ian Leslie
The best books on Disagreeing Productively, recommended by Ian Leslie
Many of us avoid conflict in our relationships with family and friends or at work, but that’s probably a mistake, says Ian Leslie, author of a number of nonfiction books on human behaviour. Here, he recommends books that offer insight into how to disagree productively, from evolutionary biology to 17th century Rhode Island, from Nelson Mandela to seemingly intractable conflicts.
Interviews where books by Ian Leslie were recommended
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1
Allies at War: The Politics of Defeating Hitler
by Tim Bouverie -
2
A Scandal in Königsberg
by Christopher Clark -
3
The Boundless Deep: Young Tennyson, Science and the Crisis of Belief
by Richard Holmes -
4
John and Paul: A Love Story in Songs
by Ian Leslie -
5
Lone Wolf: Walking the Faultlines of Europe
by Adam Weymouth
The Best Nonfiction Books: The 2026 Duff Cooper Prize, recommended by Andrew Holgate
The Best Nonfiction Books: The 2026 Duff Cooper Prize, recommended by Andrew Holgate
Now in its 70th year, the Duff Cooper Prize is awarded annually for an outstanding work of nonfiction that combines originality, rigour and a strong narrative drive—the kind of book that “general readers of serious nonfiction crave,” explains Andrew Holgate, former literary editor of the Sunday Times and one of this year’s judges. He talks us through the brilliant books that made the 2026 shortlist, from a fresh and revealing take on the defeat of Hitler to the politics of wolves in contemporary Europe.
