The Sunday Times - UK (2021-11-28)

BUSINESS

An Ugly Truth Inside

Facebook’s Battle for

Domination by Sheera Frenkel

and Cecilia Kang

Bridge Street Press £20

There is no shortage of books

about Facebook, yet this

investigation by two New York

Times journalists is a welcome

addition. Impeccably

researched through interviews

with the company’s present

and former employees,

investors and even enemies,^

it examines how the social

network is used to spread

disinformation and its role

in the Cambridge Analytica

scandal and Donald Trump’s

2016 presidential victory.

Work Won’t Love You Back

by Sarah Jaffe

Hurst £20

Nothing in life is more

satisfying than quitting a job

that you loathe. Yet a strange

expectation has arisen in the

opposite direction: that you

should adore the nine-to-five.

This relationship is entirely

one-sided, as anyone who has

slogged tirelessly at work only

to get the boot can testify.

Jaffe’s timely and punchy

book explores how we’ve

been sold a dud dream: told

to find fulfilment and meaning

from work, while job security

evaporates and working

conditions deteriorate.

Witness Amazon donating to

black communities after the

death of George Floyd, while

firing staff who want better

working conditions. Even

those who don’t share

Ramaswamy’s conservative

views are likely to find his

arguments enticing.

Scary Smart The Future of

Artificial Intelligence and

How You Can Save Our World

by Mo Gawdat

Pan Macmillan £18.99

The world’s reigning

champion in chess is a

machine. By far the safest

drivers are computers. In

this easy-to-read if apocalyptic

book, Mo Gawdat, a former

chief business officer at

Google’s research lab, says

that is only the beginning;

by 2049 AI will be a billion

times cleverer than us. He

then explores how we can

be better “parents” to our

genius offspring.

Toxic A Guide to Rebuilding

Respect and Tolerance in a

Hostile Workplace

by Clive Lewis

Bloomsbury £20

Most of us have worked with a

“toxic colleague” — one who is

uncollegiate, unkind or

abusive. #MeToo exposed an

extreme form of workplace

abuse, but bullying and

favouritism are common too.

Clive Lewis, a business

psychologist, explores how to

handle and prevent toxicity to

stop employees voting with

their feet. This should be

required reading for company

bosses across the land. c

Bosses behaving badly

Woke, Inc Inside the Social

Justice Scam

by Vivek Ramaswamy

Swift Press £20

A successful entrepreneur,

Ramaswamy argues that big

business has appropriated

identity culture in a bid to

prove that it cares about

something other than profit.

Two faced An Ugly Truth

looks at Facebook’s dark side

Greed, corruption

and sharp practices

head up Rosamund

Urwin’s list

BOOKS OF THE YEAR

Empire

of Pain

The Secret

History of the

Sackler Family

by Patrick

Radden Keefe

Picador £20

The name “Sackler” used

to be associated with

philanthropy; now it

signifies the suffering of

opioid addicts. Keefe, a staff

writer for The New Yorker,

won the Baillie Gifford prize

for non-fiction for this

damning investigation into

the dynasty’s role in the

crisis, which is killing an

estimated 128 people a day

in the US. This is a morally

rigorous, pulsating story of

greed and corruption, and

the suffering they cause.

OUR BOOK

OF THE YEAR

TOM WILLIAMS/GETTY IMAGES

44 28 November 2021