86 Books & arts The EconomistDecember 7th 2019
2 Cambodia, Vollie returns to America and is
dispatched to New York to conduct sur-
veillance on a supposed renegade Nazi.
This assignment will come to haunt him,
too. “Who among us”, he asks, “has lived
only once?” A searing yet poetic record of
war and the lies people live by.
The Far Field.By Madhuri Vijay.Grove Press;
448 pages; $27 and £14.99
A courageous, insightful and affecting
debut novel—and the winner of the presti-
giousjcbprize for Indian literature—
which places a naive upper-class woman
from southern India in the midst of far
messier realities in Kashmir. Along the
way, the story challenges Indian taboos
ranging from sex to politics.
Trust Exercise.By Susan Choi.Henry Holt;
272 pages; $27. Serpent’s Tail; £14.99
The title of this tricksy, beguiling novel,
winner of a National Book Award, refers to
the relationship between writer and read-
er, as well as to the bonding exercises
undertaken by the theatre students in the
story—and to the trust between teenage
girls and predatory men. A tale of missed
connections and manipulation, and of
willing surrender to the lure and peril of
the unknown.
Black Sun.By Owen Matthews.Doubleday;
320 pages; $26.95. Bantam Press; £16.99
Based on real events—the bid by Andrei
Sakharov to develop a bomb to end all
bombs—this story is set in a secret Soviet
city in 1961. Featuring murder and betray-
als, and a flawed but principledkgbman
as its hero, it unfolds in the aftermath of
Stalinism, amid the scars left by the
purges, denunciations and Great Patriotic
War. The prolific author (see Biography), a
former Moscow correspondent, knows his
terrain inside out.Science and technology
The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warm-
ing. By David Wallace-Wells. Tim Duggan
Books; 320 pages; $27. Allen Lane; £20
One of the most persuasive of the many
books that spell out the consequences of
climate change—and one of the most
terrifying. As Earth moves beyond the
conditions that allowed people to evolve,
the author warns, “the end of normal” has
arrived. Yet amid the rising seas, floods,
fires, droughts and hurricanes, both cur-
rent and impending, he remains optimis-
tic about humanity’s ability to deal with
the havoc it has caused.
The New Rules of War: Victory in the Age of
Durable Disorder. By Sean McFate. William
Morrow; 336 pages; $29.99
A former paratrooper and mercenary
makes the case that the American armed
forces are ill-equipped for the conflicts ofthe 21st century. To keep the country safe,
he contends, the top brass need to mo-
dernise their thinking, and respond to the
information warfare that is now waged by
their adversaries.
Good Reasons for Bad Feelings. By Ran-
dolph Nesse. Dutton; 384 pages; $28. Allen
Lane; £20
A fascinating study of the evolutionary
roots of mental illness. The author, a pro-
fessor of psychiatry, argues that, in the
right proportion, negative emotions may
be useful for survival in a similar way to
physical pain. Humans, he says, may have“minds like the legs of racehorses, fast but
vulnerable to catastrophic failures”.
Novacene: The Coming Age of Hyperintelli-
gence.By James Lovelock with Bryan Ap-
pleyard. MIT Press; 160 pages; $22.95. Allen
Lane; £14.99
In a brief but thought-provoking book, the
scientist who developed the “Gaia Theory”
about the Earth’s life and climate—and
who this year turned 100—predicts that
cyborgs may eventually evolve to supplant
carbon-based humankind. But don’t de-
spair: the robots, he suggests, might de-
cide to keep people around as pets.Genesis. By Geoffrey Carr.Elsewhen Press;
285 pages; £9.99
Our science editor’s debut novel is a
techno-thriller in which computerised
devices suddenly go haywire; scientists
and researchers perish in a string of
mysterious accidents; and a billionaire
inventor schemes to colonise Mars.
Meanwhile, deep in the Cloud, some-
one—or something—is watching the
havoc unfold.
Extreme Economies. By Richard Davies.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 416 pages; $28.
Bantam Press; £20
An exploration of the lessons to be drawn
from disaster-stricken economies and
imperilled (but innovative) people,
which ranges from the jungles of Panama
to post-tsunami Indonesia to the prison
system of Louisiana and Syrian refugee
camps. By a former economics editor,
now at the London School of Economics.
The House on the Hill. By Christopher
Impey. Tangerine Press; 215 pages; £14
This history of Brixton prison (now 200
years old) recalls the stints behind its
bars of Mick Jagger, Oswald Mosley and
Bertrand Russell, and chronicles its place
in criminal-justice policy, from tread-
mills to rehabilitation schemes. By a
senior producer on “The Intelligence”,
our daily podcast, who was formerly
editor of National Prison Radio.
The Moon: A History for the Future.
By Oliver Morton.Hachette; 352 pages;
$16.99. Economist Books; £20
A multifaceted account of humankind’s
past relationship with the Moon—from
the imaginings of artists to the Apollo
missions—and of its possible future,
from space tourism to Moon-mining and
(perhaps) human settlement. “Brilliant
and compelling”, said the Sunday Times.“Engrossing”, reckoned the Washington
Post. By our briefings editor.
Uncommon Knowledge: The Economist
Explains.Edited by Tom Standage. Econo-
mist Books; 272 pages; $11.99 and £8.99
A compendium of our explainer articles
and daily charts, which spell out why
Americans are sleeping more, why the
global suicide rate is falling and why
carrots were not always orange. Com-
piled by one of our deputy editors.
Cricket 2.0: Inside the T20 Revolution.
By Tim Wigmore and Freddie Wilde. Polaris;
320 pages; $28.95 and £17.99
Through dozens of interviews with
players and executives, Mr Wigmore, a
frequent contributor on sport, and his
co-author show how the shortened
Twenty20 format has transformed crick-
et for an age of globalisation and big data.
The New Statesmancalled it “a lucid and
thoughtful guide”.Giant leaps
Staff booksThis year our writers went to the Moon and back