Interview with Laura Dodsworth, author of A State of Fear: How the UK government weaponised fear during the Covid-19 pandemic

A State of Fear: How the UK government weaponised fear during the Covid-19 pandemic

Laura Dodsworth

Review from Book Depository: This is a book about fear. Fear of a virus. Fear of death. Fear of losing our jobs, our democracy, our human connections, our health and our minds. It's also about how the government weaponised our fear against us - supposedly in our best interests - until we were the most frightened country in Europe.

But why did the government deliberately frighten us, and how has this affected us as individuals and as a country? Who is involved in the decision-making that affects our lives? How are behavioural science and nudge theory being used to subliminally manipulate us? How does the media leverage fear? What are the real risks to our wellbeing?

Ahead of any official inquiry into the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, Laura Dodsworth explores all these questions and more, in a nuanced and thought-provoking discussion of an extraordinary year in British life and politics. With stories from members of the general public who were impacted by fear, anxiety and isolation, and revealing interviews with psychologists, politicians, scientists, lawyers, Whitehall advisers and journalists, A State of Fear calls for a more hopeful, transparent and effective democracy.

Buy On:

(All links earn commission from purchases. Prices accurate at time of writing)

Battle for the Mind

William Sargant

Review From Book Depository: How can an evangelist convert a hardboiled sophisticate? Why does a POW sign a "confession" that he knows is false? How is a criminal pressured into admitting his guilt? Do the evangelist, the POW's captor, and the policeman use similar methods to gain their ends?

These and other compelling questions are discussed in this definitive work by William Sargant. Sargant explains and illustrates the basic techniques used by evangelists, psychiatrists, and brain-washers to dissolve existing, established patterns of belief, and then substitute new beliefs and behaviors.

Buy On:

(All links earn commission from purchases. Prices accurate at time of writing)

The Obesity Epidemic: What Caused It? How Can We Stop It?

Zoe Harcombe

Review From Book Depository: "The Obesity Epidemic: What caused it? How can we stop it?" does what it says in the title - it answers those two critical questions. It takes you on the journey that the author, Zoe Harcombe went on to answer those questions and hopefully it will shock you as much as it shocked her. The starting point must be - when did The Obesity Epidemic start? The graphs and tables show a stunning increase in obesity levels at the turn of the 1980's and obesity literally takes off, like an aeroplane trajectory, from that point onwards. Obesity in the UK, as an example, increases almost 10 fold between the 1970's and 1999 from 2.7% to 25%. So what happened? The short answer is - we changed our diet advice. More accurately we did a U-turn in our diet advice. We used to believe (and our grandmothers still do) that bread and potatoes were fattening and we should put butter on our vegetables. We changed this completely to tell citizens of the 'developed' world to base our meals on starchy foods and to replace nature's butter with man-made hydrogenated spreads. Coincidence or cause?

The Obesity Epidemic takes you through the actual documents that changed our diet advice, most importantly why the advice changed and what is stopping us from changing the advice back. This is a journey through the landmark turning points in the history of public health diet advice and the impact that this has had on obesity - and all the accompanying modern illnesses: heart disease; cancer; diabetes and the lack of well being that the average human suffers today. If you currently believe that "energy in equals energy out" - be prepared to change your view, if you read this book with an open mind. If you think one pound equals 3,500 calories, you may be in for a surprise. If you assume that you will lose one pound for every deficit of 3,500 calories you create, you will see irrefutable evidence to the contrary. You will understand where five-a-day comes from and will hopefully revise your adherence to this marketing slogan afterwards. You will hopefully be shocked and appalled at the conflict of interest in the food and obesity industries. You may never drink fruit juice again.

With 400 references and every fact backed up with sourced and presented evidence - this is the most informative book on the subject of obesity ever written. You cannot fail to learn a great deal and to have your thinking continually challenged in a highly engaging way. The research for this book changed everything the author held to be true - read with an open mind - it could do the same for you. Love it or hate it, you have to read it.

Buy On:

(All links earn commission from purchases. Prices accurate at time of writing)

The 48 Laws of Power

Robert Greene

Review From Book Depository: Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this multi-million-copy New York Times bestseller is the definitive manual for anyone interested in gaining, observing, or defending against ultimate control - from the author of The Laws of Human Nature.

In the book that People magazine proclaimed "beguiling" and "fascinating," Robert Greene and Joost Elffers have distilled three thousand years of the history of power into 48 essential laws by drawing from the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, and Carl Von Clausewitz and also from the lives of figures ranging from Henry Kissinger to P.T. Barnum. Some laws teach the need for prudence ("Law 1: Never Outshine the Master"), others teach the value of confidence ("Law 28: Enter Action with Boldness"), and many recommend absolute self-preservation ("Law 15: Crush Your Enemy Totally"). Every law, though, has one thing in common: an interest in total domination. In a bold and arresting two-color package, The 48 Laws of Power is ideal whether your aim is conquest, self-defense, or simply to understand the rules of the game.

Buy On:

(All links earn commission from purchases. Prices accurate at time of writing)

Review from Book Depository: Owl lives by himself in a warm little house. But whether Owl is inviting Winter in on a snowy night or welcoming a new friend he meets while on a stroll, Owl always has room for visitors!

There are traditional nursery rhymes and fairy tales as well as modern classics by author's like Shirley Hughes and Jane Hissey alongside Beatrix Potter's THE TALE OF MRS TIGGY-WINKLE and THE BORROWERS by Mary Norton. There are extracts too from old favourites like Wind in the Willows, The Secret Garden, Ballet Shoes and The Jungle Book. What a fantastic line-up! The contents list reads like a who's who of children's literature. - This lavishly illustrated, prize-winning anthology celebrates the diversity of children's literature with nursery rhymes, short stories, fables, fairy tales and extracts from the classics. Each entry is a work of true literary distinction; taken together they form a superb collection which will carry a child through his or her reading life. For the young reader, there are nursery rhymes and fairy tales. Stories by modern masters like Jane Hissey, John Burningham, Anthony Browne and Shirley Hughes are set alongside Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Mrs Tiggy-winkle and Margery Williams' The Velveteen Rabbit. The older child will revel in the verse of Hilaire Belloc and delight in Roald Dahl's wicked humour.

The Treasury will give children their first experience of the classics with extracts from Peter Pan, The Wind in the Willows, A Christmas Carol and The Jungle Book. There are also selections from the work of prize-winning contemporary authors, such as Joan Aiken, Ruth Thomas, Brian Jacques and Judy Blume. The illustrations have been chosen from the most beautiful and often the original editions of the books selected; children will delight in the work of Arthur Rackham, Randolph Caldecott, Maurice Sendak, Quentin Blake and Nicola Bayley, among others. The Treasury is the perfect introduction to a great literary heritage and the best in contemporary writing.

Buy On:

(All affiliate links earn commission from purchases that help fund this site. Prices accurate at time of writing)