The Best Intentions...

Kofi Annan described 2004 as his annus horribilis. A man who had received the Nobel Peace Prize, who was widely counted one of the greatest UN secretaries general, was nearly hounded from office by scandal. Indeed, both Annan and the institution he incarnates were so deeply shaken after the invasion of Iraq that critics, and even some friends, began asking whether this sixty-year-old experiment in global policing has outlived its usefulness.  

The Complete Polysyllabic...

In his monthly accounts of what he’s read - along with what he may one day read - Nick Hornby brilliantly explores everything from the classic to the graphic novel, as well as poems, plays, sports books and other kinds of non-fiction. If he occasionally implores a biographer for brevity, or abandons a literary work in favour of an Arsenal match, then all is not lost. His writing, full of all the joy and surprise and despair that books bring him, reveals why we still read, even when there’s football on TV, a pram in the hall or a good band playing at our local pub.

The Code Book...

The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography from the best-selling author of Fermat’s Last Theorem, The Code Book is a history of man’s urge to uncover the secrets of codes, from Egyptian puzzles to modern day computer encryptions. As in Fermat’s Last Theorem, Simon Singh brings life to an astonishing story of puzzles, codes, languages and riddles that reveals man’s continual pursuit to disguise and uncover, and to work out the secret languages of others.