Business Minds: Innovative Reads for Strategic Thinkers

‘One of the most original and important books on Africa in years’ FINANCIAL TIMES

The birth of new nations, independent democracies, the unprecedented growth of cities from Lagos to Cairo; the African continent is booming. So why do myths about underdevelopment, unproductive land and overpopulation remain?

In a groundbreaking new study of Africa’s developmental history, economist Joe Studwell debunks long-held views about the continent’s presumed resistance to growth, charting monumental changes in government, demography and asset management.

Considering everything from settler colonialism to soil conditions, mineral extractivism to disease development and eradication, Studwell persuasively argues that the seizing back of land, people and states across Africa, has also been the seizure of mass economic development.

From slavery to independence and beyond, this is the definitive account of the world’s second largest continent – and an optimistic look to its future.

AFTER THE RISE, THERE COMES A FALL.

In 2020, Alexander Hurst was 29 years old and broke, living as a writer in a cramped Paris flatshare. There were murmurs that a global pandemic was coming. Financial stability seemed unattainable, so far removed from his reality – the reality of the generation who came of age during the 2008 financial crisis.

On a whim, he poured his meagre savings into highly risky options trading. Within a year this small set of stocks was worth $1.2 million. Enough to turn his life on its head – but not in the way he had imagined, as he began a slow-motion descent into losing it all.

In exploring Alexander’s remarkable rise and fall from wealth, Generation Desperation grapples with the vital questions of our age: what do class and status mean in a late-stage capitalist society? Can everyone really build the life they want? Or is there a cost to pursuing money above everything?

Generation Desperation is an urgent, unmissable fable for our times.

The Next World War takes readers behind the scenes of the most dangerous era of international tensions since the end of the Cold War, as countries and military forces prepare for potential large-scale combat on a scale unseen since 1945.

From the corridors of power in Washington, Whitehall, Moscow and Beijing to the new frontlines of conflict in Ukraine, Taiwan, cyberspace and even the far side of the moon, Peter Apps unflinchingly explores the fault lines where global peace is already starting to unravel.

Featuring the voices of the commanders, diplomats and technologists already shaping history, as well as the nervous conscripts and ordinary people directly caught up in events, The Next World War examines the real-world effects of this new era of global confrontation. For some – including millions of citizens told to stockpile food and water and prepare for potential mass disruption – it still may not feel entirely real. But for Russia, China and their growing ‘axis of upheaval’, today’s conflicts represent a growing opportunity to reshape the world as they would like it – leading to potential disaster for the West if it cannot heed the warnings in time.

From the return of Cold War-style atomic threats to new forms of sabotage and ‘hybrid warfare’, the battle for global dominance is already firmly underway. The Next World War is the book you need to understand the growing precariousness of our current situation – and the unending battle to stop it escalating past the point of no return.

From your morning coffee order, to weaving through passengers on the train, sitting through tense work meetings, riding in a packed elevator, attending a happy hour with colleagues, or relaxing on the couch with family, every day is filled with social interactions that nurture and support your brain’s health. Whether mundane or extraordinary, they collectively make up the ‘social diet’ that you feed your brain, that influences your well-being, shapes your experience, and, done right, even lengthens your life.

In an age of isolation, WHY BRAINS NEED FRIENDS is a neuroscience-backed guide to social interactions, drawing insights from the world of science to help you understand the biology behind your relationships, reconsider the value of companionship, and build a healthier, happier, and more connected life. It’s not just what you feed your brain that matters – it’s who.

We all want financial freedom. But we also know just how much pressure the subject of money exerts on us, and many of us feel our personal finances are out of control. But that’s not surprising – after all, no-one ever explained how to manage money properly – or if they did, we didn’t listen.

If a head-in-the-sand approach to personal finance ever worked, it doesn’t now. Not only do we openly worry about the state of our finances and the cost of living, we increasingly yearn for the kind of financial independence which will enable us to do our own thing and live life to the full. This paradox is right at the heart of everything we do, and a solution is needed.

This book will teach you everything you should have learned about money at school – but didn’t. It will stop you waking in the middle of the night to check you have enough money for your home, your childcare, your summer holiday or your secret masterplan.

And the process of learning how to embrace, not hide, from your financial responsibilities will release you from layers of anxiety, shame and confusion.

You will learn how to be rich forever – rich in time, rich in freedom, rich in opportunity. It will revolutionise the way you think and feel about money and free you to grow!

AI is nothing to be afraid of.
After all, AI is merely software.

It’s great at some things and (at least right now) terrible at others. But for workers who take time to experiment with AI and develop expertise, AI will make them more productive and more creative, saving them time, giving them job security, and boosting their income.

In How to AI, Wall Street Journal columnist Christopher Mims introduces readers to people just like them who are at the forefront of using AI in the world of work. Imagine a freelance lawyer who suddenly has a whip-smart assistant to help her nail every deposition. Or a family-run construction company whose new software tool is automating construction bids that used to eat up hundreds of hours.

But even as half a billion people around the world have leapt at the chance to use ChatGPT and other tools, millions of us have stayed on the sidelines. Are you one of them? Maybe you feel you should be using AI tools, but you don’t know where to begin. Or maybe you love AI but find yourself struggling to get your co-workers or employees on board. In How to AI, Mims teaches readers twenty-four simple but eye-opening “laws” of AI and how we should approach it, including:

AI is an assistant, not a replacement.
AI isn’t creative, but it can help you be.
Give AI your least favorite things to do.
AI can’t create finished products, but it’s great at prototypes.

Animated by the wit and brilliant explanatory power that have earned Mims’s Wall Street Journal columns a devoted following, How to AI will prepare readers to become a part of the AI revolution-and, most importantly, arm them with the tools to make it work for them.