It's been an outstanding year in terms of publishing across management, the humanities, cultural studies, geopolitics and economics and we could have easily included a list of 50 titles, but we've narrowed it down to ten that we think are essential reading, but as ever, we welcome your feedback. This year, we've been blessed with a hamper full of brilliant thinking, ranging from musings on the future of democratic capitalism, to the impact of unconscious gender bias to a playbook on how to be future proof. Hopefully there's something here to challenge you, inspire you or guide you for the year ahead.

‘The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism’ by Martin Wolf

We are living in an age when economic failings have shaken faith in global capitalism. Political failings have undermined trust in liberal democracy and in the very notion of truth.

The ties that ought to bind open markets to free and fair elections are being strained and rejected, even in democracy's notional heartlands. Around the world, democratic capitalism, which depends on the determined separation of power from wealth, is in crisis. Some now argue that capitalism is better without democracy; others that democracy is better without capitalism. This book is a forceful rejoinder to both views.

‘The End of the World is Just Beginning’ by Peter Zeihan

In this fascinating book, the author claims that 2019 was the last great year for the world economy. As he points out, for generations, everything has been getting faster, better, and cheaper. Finally, we reached the point that almost anything you could ever want could be sent to your home within days—even hours—of when you decided you wanted it. America made that happen, but now America has lost interest in keeping it going. All of this was artificial. All this was temporary. All this is ending. Geopolitical strategist Peter Zeihan maps out the next world: a world where countries or regions will have no choice but to make their own goods, grow their own food, secure their own energy, fight their own battles, and do it all with populations that are both shrinking and aging. The list of countries that make it all work is smaller than you think. Which means everything about our interconnected world—from how we manufacture products, to how we grow food, to how we keep the lights on, to how we shuttle stuff about, to how we pay for it all—is about to change. A world ending. A world beginning…

‘The Authority Gap: Why women are still taken less seriously than men, and what we can do about it’ by Mary Ann Sieghart

Imagine living in a world in which you were routinely patronised by women, having your views ignored or challenged by them, people always addressing the woman you are with before you. Now imagine a world in which the reverse of this is true.

This is a brilliant manifesto explaining why women are still so underestimated and overlooked in today's world, but as a review in The Observer put it ‘this is an impassioned, meticulously argued and optimistic call to arms for anyone who cares about creating a fairer society'. The Authority Gap provides a startling perspective on the unseen bias at work in our everyday lives, to reveal the scale of the gap that still persists between men and women. Marshalling a wealth of data with precision and insight, Mary Ann Sieghart exposes unconscious bias in this take on how to address and counteract systemic sexism in ways that benefit us all.

‘Freedom to Think: protecting a fundamental human right’ by Susie Alegre

From Galileo to Nudge Theory to Alexa, Alegre charts the enticing history of our most vital human right – the freedom of thought – and explores the serious challenges modern technology and big data impose on our quest to liberate our minds. Without a moment's pause, we share our most intimate thoughts with trillion-dollar tech companies. Their algorithms categorise us and jump to conclusions about who we are. They even shape our everyday thoughts and actions—from who we date to how we vote. But this is just the latest front in an age-old struggle. Part history and part manifesto, human rights lawyer Susie Alegre explores how the powerful have always sought to get inside our heads, influence how we think and shape what we buy. As the reviews say, we must protect this most fundamental element of our freedoms at a time when it is in danger of being impacted by propaganda, fake news and hate-fuelled social media.

‘Seeing what others don’t by Gary Klein

A unique perspective on insights – a term that has been abused and misused for far too long in data & business circles – is delivered by this book, which was praised in a review by non-other than Daniel Kahneman, who said that “Gary Klein is a living example of how useful applied psychology can be when it’s done well”. Klein believes that we often unwittingly build barriers to seeing what is in front of us. Both as individuals and organisations we can hold on to flawed beliefs and conform to established processes that can interfere with our perceptions. Having clear insight can transform the way in which we understand things, the decisions we make and the actions we take. He therefore demonstrates five key strategies for spotting connections and contractions to ensure you too can see what others don't.

‘Future Proof’ by Kevin Roose

Here’s a question – how do you intend to stay relevant and employable in the machine age? Kevin Roose wonders ‘what if all the advice we’ve been given is wrong, and what do we need to do instead to become futureproof?” He’s spent the past few years studying the question of how people, communities, and organisations adapt to periods of change, from the Industrial Revolution to the present. And the insight that is sweeping through Silicon Valley as we speak -- that in an age dominated by machines, it's human skills that really matter - is one of the more profound and counter-intuitive ideas he's discovered. Roose distills what he’s learnt about how to survive the future, and that the way to become futureproof is to become incredibly, irreplaceably human.

‘Look: how to pay attention in a distracted world’ by Christian Madsbjerg

“We've forgotten how to pay attention” Christian Madsbjerg says in his provocative new book. Listening carefully and observing intentionally are crucial human skills, yet we're not born knowing how to do them. And thanks to the ubiquity of social media, increasing social isolation, and the use of empty imagery and ideology as stand-ins for direct observation, we're losing our ability to interpret the world at a time when we desperately need to do that. Madsbjerg, a consultant and a professor at the New School, argues that most of us are stuck in bad habits of looking at the world without truly seeing it, and he guides us through the key observational skills we need to explain how we can recapture our ability to truly pay attention - what he calls 'the meta-skill of observation.'

‘How Big Things Get Done’ by Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner

On a happier note, nothing is more inspiring than a big vision that becomes a triumphant new reality. Think of how Apple’s iPod went from a project with a single employee to an enormously successful product launch in eleven months. But such successes are the exception. Oxford professor and ‘Megaproject Expert’ (BTW, that would look superb on a business card) Bent Flyvbjerg, along with best-selling author Dan Gardner, reveal the secrets to successfully planning and delivering ambitious projects on any scale. Most endeavours, whether launching a small business, organizing a conference, or just finishing a work project on time, commonly fail. Why? This book identifies the errors that lead projects to fail and the principles that can make others succeed.

‘Free and Equal’ by Daniel Chandler

Imagine: you are designing a society, but you don't know who you'll be within it - rich or poor, man or woman, gay or straight. What would you want that society to look like? This is the revolutionary thought experiment proposed by the twentieth century's greatest political philosopher, John Rawls. As economist and philosopher Daniel Chandler argues in this hugely ambitious and exhilarating intervention, it is by rediscovering Rawls that we can find a way out of the escalating crises that are devastating our world today. Taking Rawls's humane and egalitarian liberalism as his starting point, Chandler builds a careful and ultimately irresistible case for a progressive agenda that would fundamentally reshape our societies for the better. He shows how we can protect free speech and transcend the culture wars; get money out of politics; and create an economy where everyone has the chance to fulfil their potential, where prosperity is widely shared, and which operates within the limits of our finite planet. This is a book brimming with hope and possibility - a galvanising alternative to the cynicism that pervades our politics. Free and Equal has the potential not only to transform contemporary debate, but to offer a touchstone for a modern, egalitarian liberalism for many years to come, cementing Rawls's place in political discourse, and firmly establishing Chandler as a vital new voice for our time.

‘The Future we choose’ by Christina Eig

Discover why there's hope for the planet and how we can each make a difference in the climate crisis, starting today. Humanity is not doomed, and we can and will survive. The future is ours to create: it will be shaped by who we choose to be in the coming years. The coming decade is a turning point - it is time to turn from indifference or despair and towards a stubborn, determined optimism. The Future We Choose is a passionate call to arms from former UN Executive Secretary for Climate Change, Christiana Figueres, and Tom Rivett-Carnac, senior political strategist for the Paris Agreement. Practical, optimistic and empowering, the book shows us steps we can all take to renew our planet and create a better world beyond the climate crisis: today, tomorrow, this year and in the coming decade. The time to act is now. This book will change the way you see the world, and your place in it.