Books

Simon Mitton finds much to admire in a grand tour of our home galaxy

Dario Castiglione considers an informative reflection on the state of Europe and the political problems it faces

Kitty Stewart on how belt-tightening means life-shortening for some

Annmarie Adams on one man’s quest to find places where form meets libido

Chris Pierson considers a pitch for ‘assertive social democracy’ in an age dominated by neoliberalism

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Sandra Leaton Gray on a must-read for academics and their students

Erika Cudworth discusses neoliberalism’s ‘digestive turn’

Victoria Bateman on the parallels and differences between 1929 and 2008

The international hunt for chemistry’s ‘missing links’ makes for an engrossing tale, finds Alan Rocke

Female scholars talk candidly about their experiences of combining an academic career with child-rearing

A Harvard scholar on what makes Jewish wisecracks distinctly Jewish

Shahidha Bari welcomes a thoughtful look at ordinary anatomy and extraordinary anxiety

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

Roger Morgan on a vivid social history of Britons seeking to modernise

Jon Turney on the latest scientific findings regarding interactions between life and our planet that do not support the Gaia theory

Joanna Depledge is disturbed by advice to be passive in the face of human-induced apocalypse

Robert Zaretsky on a study that shows how history defeats not just prediction, but also our predilection for theory

A. W. Purdue on the evolution of the Tube system

Consumerisation’s spread to all aspects of life and work leaves a hollow feeling, finds Cary Cooper

Hilary Hinds praises an account of the social shifts discerned in small ads, smooching and soulmates

Gwendolyn Beetham on a collection of essays that remind us that an alternative to global capitalism’s inequality is badly needed

Annmarie Adams on the architecture of buildings with ‘controversial’ uses

Laurence Coupe celebrates efforts to rethink urban spaces to give them an ecological dimension

Robert J. Mayhew on how people need to recover their ability to find their way without using technology

Pat Hudson on a treasure trove of accounts of working-class individuals enjoying new opportunities and choices amid change

Erik Jan Zürcher salutes a study showing how the military shaped the founder of the Republic of Turkey

Howard Davies finds the mooted global monetary solutions unrealistic and the translation astoundingly sloppy

Graham Farmelo on a scientific giant’s debt to his wife

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An exercise in persuasion by an expert in corporate responsibility is a must-read for Aurora Voiculescu

Roger Morgan welcomes a book that tackles ignorance, dispels confusion and inspires appreciation about the EU

Felicity James toasts an ideal introduction to critical analysis

Euan Clarkson discusses a scientific discipline’s literary foundations

Constantine Sandis on Darwin’s dangerous ideas man

Angela Vanhaelen on the fascination and fear aroused by 18th-century mechanical figures

John Gilbey on a stimulating discussion of the definition of a widely used term

Richard Bosworth on the ‘bad air’ of Rome and how it influenced artists and travellers

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Gary Day delights in a critique that sweeps aside the perceived gulf between ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture

Colin Higgins on Victorian women writers and poets who thrived, or not, in the atmosphere of the Round Reading Room

Martin Cohen on an analysis of thought and how concepts are understood through the use of analogies

The view from Down Under on what lies ahead for universities looks familiar, finds Roger Brown

Roger Morgan on how a liberal doyen blackballed a Red rival

Tiffany Taylor weighs the evidence of the importance of random changes in species development

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

Peter Gwyn seeks more interpretation in a biography of the Virgin Queen and her male favourites and Ladies of the Bedchamber

Jean Hartley on the qualities and insights necessary in leaders

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

Ursula King hails a committed effort to advance interfaith relations

A rogue’s gallery stopped the ‘crippler’, but for how long? asks Helen Bynum

Fred Inglis welcomes fresh currents of political resistance

Alec Ryrie on an intriguing book that doesn’t do what it says on the tin

Caroline Osella considers a slice of the subcontinent at the heart of the Gulf

Ulrike Zitzlsperger on the changing nature of heritage and the consequent effects on national identities in European nations

Benson P. H. Lau on a study of Modern architect Le Corbusier’s religious thinking and architecture

Stewart Lansley on claims that the bourgeois advance is stuck in reverse

Bryony Randall lauds an insightful and overdue study of literary representations of parenting

Gary Day on a sympathetic study of influential literary critic F. R. Leavis and how the teaching of literature has changed

Pavlos Eleftheriadis on an angry book charting a volatile situation