The Reading Room

Each month a member of the team reviews a book of their choosing, irrelevant of genre or publishing date.

Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed and Fail

Ray Dalio

Published: 2021, Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster

Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order examines history’s most turbulent economic and political periods to reveal why the times ahead will likely be radically different from those we’ve experienced in our lifetimes and to offer practical advice on how to navigate them.

Africa Is Not A Country: Breaking Stereotypes of Modern Africa

Dipo Faloyin

Published: 2022, Vintage Publishing

Brimming with humour and intellect, Faloyin’s fascinating volume mines the rich and varied span of histories and cultures of the continent’s many countries, delivering a punchy corrective against lazy sterotypes of Africa.

Chums: How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK

Simon Kuper

Published: 2022, Profile Books

The lack of academic effort generally put in by Oxford undergraduates is an important theme running through this book, penned by Financial Times columnist Kuper. It links this work-shy attitude to the centuries’ old dominance of Oxford by the top English public schools spawning “top tory toffs with a born to rule attitude”.