Books

The perils and pains of growing old; romancing a Romance language; on hold, again; learning from failure; transparent higher education

Book of the week: The scrutiny to which two intellectuals submit their relationship fascinates Shahidha Bari

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

Martin Cohen on a study that strives to position a much-quoted thinker as a social geographer

David Wheeler finds reason for hope in a critique of the neoliberal academy that also offers sound ideas for reform

Shelley King is happy to linger over an erudite, witty and intimate journey through Wonderland

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

As we cannot cut the cords tethering us to tech, we must fully grasp the connection, says John Gilbey

A study focused on Singapore’s Biopolis centre concentrates on various global ‘currents’ in bioscience, says Flora Samuel

From atoll to reef, a coleopterist fears we may not know what we’ve got until it’s gone, says Jules Pretty

A biologist who spent 10 years in the African sun seeking to explain the wild horse’s pelage is in a class of his own, says Tim Birkhead

The professor of religious studies and author of Revelatory Events on personal paths, spiritual paths and electoral grief and confusion

Book of the week: A study of our leviathan appetite for seafood dares to go deep and recovers pearls, says Philip Hoare

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

Shahidha Bari on an idiosyncratic and tantalising inward-looking exercise in soulful diary-keeping

Tristan Bekinschtein lauds a Nobel laureate’s fusion of art interpretation and analysis with the internal mechanisms by which we see works of art

Are our mental faculties really too unevolved to keep us afloat in an ocean of digital distraction? asks Shane O’Mara

The tale of a shocking killing falls short as true crime and as social history, says Sharon Wheeler

On draught: tales of early Muslim lives lived; bad soldiers; oh joy – emoji decoded; and cogito ergo vino

All the spoken and unspoken desires in one household are unveiled in a study of their prolific, and introspective, writings, says Jane Shaw

The professor of medieval history and author of Blanche of Castile: Queen of France on the literary and scholarly stepping stones that fuelled her interest in the Middle Ages

Book of the week: From the black stuff to books, who gets the goods in a sharing and streaming era? asks Paul Bernal

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

Do mobile phones give you brain tumours? Don’t ask the people in white lab coats, says Jennifer Rohn

June Purvis on an engaging study of the doughty pioneers who swapped Edwardian life for the front line

London as an eco-village? Treehouses in Accra? Danny Dorling lauds beautiful and bold what-ifs

Book of the week: Political Svengalis, not the public, drive populist pantomimes of democracy, says Angelia Wilson

Jonathan Mirsky on a bleak but believable view of rampant corruption taking a country to the dogs

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

Has the corporation acted as an arm of the state in the past, and might it in the future? Ivor Gaber wonders

A.W. Purdue on the man whose narcissism led to his becoming a mouthpiece for the Nazis

Duncan Wu on the art of biography

The latest recommended reading takes in a Marxist view of the history of the US academy, Norse sagas (walrus penis bone, check), leisure time inequality, and American army victors and their spoils

The radical anthropologist and author of Decoding Chomsky traces his interest in animal behaviour, tribal customs and language back to Doctor Dolittle via Tolstoy, Engels and Marx

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

Cheap taxis come at a price but remodelling the online marketplace is an option, says Kylie Jarrett

A study offers a new perspective on one of the most important yet elusive Jewish thinkers of the past century

Book of the week: New sources yield fresh insights and oversights by the father of psychoanalysis, says Janet Sayers

Karen Harvey on a cultural history of sexuality that attempts to put real people centre stage

Martin Cohen on the philosophical implications of living the simple life – and owning a homemade toilet-brush holder

Book of the week: A memoir wrestles with moral questions about using animals in research. Kristin Andrews writes

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

A clear-eyed study of shiny and new inventions calls for better oversight, says Richard Joyner

Marcus Chown on a deeply political study that explains why inequality exists and that while ending it will not be easy, it is not impossible

US bureaucrats are ignorant of the public’s views despite sharing similar outlooks, says Kori Schake

Clare Griffiths on a study that recovers the complexities of the lives of six individuals who lived their principles

The state’s war on welfare, the tracks of our years, what the emperor’s historian daughter saw, Ronnie forever, and tales of an American city

National brutality has taken many twists and turns but domestic savagery endures, finds Dick Hobbs

Repeal the Human Rights Act? A study explains why we would be mad to do so, says Rachael Ita

The professor of neurology on the doctor’s life, treating and befriending a treasured author and bringing memoir, medical biography and pop-sci together in writing Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Medicine

William Kolbrener on a study of the tales that centre on a place that is both a real Polish city and an imaginary realm

Blow your mind by travelling to the bizarre yet beautiful frontier of physics, says Tara Shears

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

Book of the week: Universities pay lip service to minorities while maintaining the status quo, says Kalwant Bhopal

Once upon a time, authors pushed young readers to see the world very differently, says Shelley King

A controversial philosopher turns his mind to subjects ranging from happiness and euthanasia to vegetarianism, incest and doping, says Jane O’Grady

A fresh run at Homer; unseen dirty work; all the lols of yoof-speak; and the link between Ayn Rand’s bad thoughts, worse writing and financial catastrophe

Book of the week: Working through university crushes US students. Laurie Taylor fears the UK will share their pain

Seneca meets The Sopranos in a lively who, what, when, where and why of cursing, says Tom Palaima

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers