New Modern Arcade – serie

An Independent Book of the Month‘Five Stars’ Ian Hislop‘A fun and fascinating look at one of those things we all do’ Jonathan Ross‘The history of modern life we didn’t know we wanted’ Giles Coren‘Breezy and enjoyable’ Independent‘(A) romp through our consumer landscape. Fascinating’ Mail on SundayThe story of how – and why – the world has come to rely on star ratings for almost everything.The world has come to rely on star ratings for almost everything. From Trustpilot to Google Reviews, eBay to Etsy, from doctors to teachers to politicians to toilets to books and culture, every facet of modern life has been distilled down to an online measure from one to five stars.In Rate This Book journalist and critic Benji Wilson – who both rates and gets rated as part of his job – looks at how star ratings have become as much a part of modern discourse as language itself. We rate everything, we get rated and a dropped star here or there can make or break products and people. The importance of a five-star rating has seen the system gamed so that, ironically, an emblem of trust can no longer be trusted. Reviews are now used as both bait and blackmail.But how did we get here? How has the pandemic and a corresponding lack of human connection increased our reliance on a number between one and five for our understanding of the world? And what has this reliance on something so reductive done to our ability to assess things for ourselves?

An Independent Book of the MonthA New Scientist Book of the Month‘A thoughtful, brilliantly researched and, at times, surprisingly funny look at the final moment that comes to us all’ Dominic Hughes, BBC Health Correspondent'[A] comprehensive exploration of how we can live with our uniquely human burden' David Jarrett, author of 33 Mediations on Death'A must-read for anyone interested in the subject of death and the assisted dying debate today' Baroness Anne Marie RaffertyA comprehensive, thought-provoking exploration of death and a rumination on how our own mortality affects how we live our lives.Timor Mortis – Latin for ‘fear of death’ – contemplates the fragility of life, exploring the myriad ways in which we confront our mortality, whether through stoicism, suffering, dignity, humour or grief. Public health doctor Richard Coker delves into the historical, biological, and psychological underpinnings of these experiences, as well as the moral complexities of human nature. He examines how our understanding of death has evolved, particularly through the lens of both his personal clinical and public health expertise.At a time when the role of medicine in end-of-life care is receiving increasing attention across public, policy and political spheres, Richard reflects on how the medical profession navigates, and sometimes fails to negotiate, this delicate process. Through unsettling examples, such as the humour that may be found in even the most unusual settings such as in giving an AIDS diagnosis to a young man, a professional failure in communication over resuscitation wishes, the desperation of a man too breathless to speak and the expectation to coordinate a death to fit a royal schedule, Timor Mortis invites readers to reflect on ageing, death and our relationship with a journey we will all take.Beyond addressing the philosophical and practical facets of mortality, Timor Mortis uniquely integrates a critical examination of contemporary societal phenomena that shape our relationship with death. The book also offers a compelling analysis of the political and economic forces at play in the business of death. By venturing into these rarely discussed intersections of commerce, policy and personal mortality, Coker provides a fresh and urgent perspective on the challenges of achieving a ‘good death’ and what this looks like in the modern era.

This is the story of a crime that reverberated around the world. The victim is a tree.For more than a century, the tree at Sycamore Gap stood along Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland. Planted in the nineteenth century, it became an iconic local landmark. It was immortalised in the 1991 film Robin Hood starring Kevin Costner, which transformed it into a symbol of the North East. One night in September 2023, two men – Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers – cut it down, prompting a manhunt and trial that played out through global headlines and an ensuing huge media outcry that took on a whole life of its own.Felled is about who these men are, why they cut this particular tree down and why the world felt so strongly about it. It is a portrait of two men who existed in the cracks; men who perhaps did not have the chance to compete on a level playing field; and how society was quick to condemn them when they were charged with felling the tree. It is a story about collective grief and outrage and of what we prioritise in our stories of loss and punishment. It examines the wider reaction to the felling by the British public and asks, concurrently, whether society – all of us – did enough to give these two men hope.Andrew Hankinson is an award-winning writer and the author of You Could Do Something Amazing With Your Life [You Are Raoul Moat], which won the CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction and was recently used for a production at the Royal Court, with Andrew as artistic adviser. His journalism has appeared in the New Yorker, The Sunday Times, FT, the Guardian, the Telegraph, GQ, Esquire, the Spectator and Wired. He was the only journalist to attend every day of the trial and sentencing of Graham and Carruthers.