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  • Published: 29 March 2022
  • ISBN: 9781785947186
  • Imprint: BBC Books
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $26.00

Rethink

The Surprising History of New Ideas




Based on the hit BBC podcast, a guide to our global 'reset moment', examining life after the pandemic, with contributions by Pope Francis, HRH Prince Charles, The Dalai Lama, Lady Hale, Tara Westover, Steven Pinker, Caleb Femi, Carlo Rovelli, and many more.

After darkness, there is always light

In a time of increasing uncertainty, Rethink offers a guide to a much-needed global 'reset moment', with leading international figures giving us glimpses of a better future after the pandemic. Each contribution explores a different aspect of public and private life that can be re-examined - from Pope Francis on poverty and the Dalai Lama on the role of ancient wisdom to Brenda Hale on the courts and Tara Westover on the education divide; from Elif Shafak on uncertainty and Steven Pinker on Human Nature to Xine Yao on masks and Jarvis Cocker on environmental revolution. Collectively, they offer a roadmap for positive change after a year of unprecedented hardship.

Based on the hit BBC podcast, and with introductions by presenter and journalist Amol Rajan, Rethink gives us the opportunity to consider what a better world might look like and reaffirms that after darkness there is always light.

RETHINK List of contributors

WHO WE ARE
Carlo Rovelli - Rethinking Humanity
Pope Francis - Rethinking Poverty
Peter Hennessy - Rethinking Democracy
Anand Giridharadas - Rethinking Capitalism
Jared Diamond - Rethinking a Global Response
Ziauddin Sardar - Rethinking Normality
The Dalai Lama - Rethinking Ancient Wisdom
C.K. Lal - Rethinking Institutions
Jarvis Cocker - Rethinking an Environmental Revolution
Clare Chambers - Rethinking the Body
Steven Pinker - Rethinking Human Nature
Tom Rivett-Carnac - Rethinking History
Jonathan Sumption - Rethinking the State

WHAT WE DO
David Skelton - Rethinking Industry
Emma Griffin - Rethinking Work
Caleb Femi - Rethinking Education
Gina McCarthy - Rethinking Activism
Tara Westover - Rethinking the Education Divide
Kwame Anthony Appiah - Rethinking the Power of Small Actions
Charlotte Lydia Riley - Rethinking Universities
K.K. Shailaja - Rethinking Development
Samantha Power - Rethinking Global Governance
KT Tunstall - Rethinking the Music Industry
Rebecca Adlington - Rethinking the Athlete's Life
Brenda Hale - Rethinking the Courts
Nisha Katona - Rethinking Hospitality
Katherine Granger - Rethinking the Olympics
David Graeber - Rethinking Jobs
James Harding - Rethinking News
Carolyn McCall Rethinking Television

HOW WE FEEL
Mohammad Hanif - Rethinking Intimacy
H.R. McMaster - Rethinking Empathy
Carol Cooper - Rethinking Racial Equality
Paul Krugman - Rethinking Solidarity
Amonge Sinxoto - Rethinking Safety
Reed Hastings - Rethinking Togetherness
Kang Kyung-wha - Rethinking Accountability
Lucy Jones - Rethinking Biophilia
Colin Jackson - Rethinking Our Responsibility for Our Health
Mirabelle Morah - Rethinking Ourselves
Nicci Gerrard - Rethinking Old Age
Brian Eno - Rethinking the Winners
Jude Browne - Rethinking Responsibility
Elif Shafak Rethinking Uncertainty

HOW WE LIVE
Amanda Levete - Rethinking How We Live
Niall Ferguson - Rethinking Progress
David Wallace-Wells - Rethinking Consensus
Margaret MacMillan - Rethinking International Cooperation
HRH The Prince of Wales - Rethinking Nature
Onora O'Neill - Rethinking Digital Power
Matthew Walker - Rethinking Sleep
Henry Dimbleby - Rethinking How We Eat
Eliza Manningham-Buller - Rethinking Health Inequality
Pascal Soriot - Rethinking Medical Co-operation
Xine Yao - Rethinking Masks
George Soros - Rethinking Debt
Mariana Mazzucato - Rethinking Value
Douglas Alexander - Rethinking Economic Dignity

WHERE WE GO
Peter Frankopan - Rethinking Asia
Stuart Russell - Rethinking AI
DeRay McKesson - Rethinking the Impossible
V.S. Ramachandran - Rethinking Brains
Seb Emina - Rethinking Travel
Aaron Bastani - Rethinking an Aging Population
Rana Foroohar - Rethinking Data
Anthony Townsend - Rethinking Robots

  • Published: 29 March 2022
  • ISBN: 9781785947186
  • Imprint: BBC Books
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $26.00

About the author

Amol Rajan

Amol Rajan is Comment Editor at the Independent, having previously been a news reporter and Sports News Correspondent for the newspaper. He is also a columnist for the Independent and Evening Standard, and a restaurant critic for the Independent on Sunday. He grew up in Tooting, south London, and from the age of 11 played for Sinjuns Cricket Club (now Sinjuns & Grammarians) in Wandsworth, becoming the youngest captain of a men's team when leading the Sunday First XI in 2002, aged eighteen.

www.twitter.com/amolrajan

Also by Amol Rajan

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Praise for Rethink

Shows what we can learn by considering obsolete ideas from a new perspective

Guardian Science Podcast

Clever and entertaining … when it comes to describing a complex idea clearly, Poole is one of the best writers around.

Sunday Times

Entertaining and important … Elegantly written and full of surprises

Daily Telegraph

Always entertaining and often eye-opening

Financial Times

Steven Poole’s book is full of fascinating stories … It’s a treasure trove for people who like to begin stories with "Did you know that…?"

The Times

It is testament to the author’s narrative skill that this whirlwind of discovery doesn’t end up in a pile of papers scattered across the floor … Among the greatest compliments you can give a book is that it helps you to see things differently.

Guardian

[A] fascinating compendium of new ideas that aren't new at all

New Statesman

Fascinating … Poole confirms his standing as one of our liveliest and most thought-provoking writers on science and technology.

Spectator

Poole has enlightening things to say

Times Literary Supplement

For those interested in influencing change, whether in business, science or culture, Poole’s perspective is an invitation to reexamine the discarded or discredited as part of today’s – and tomorrow’s – creative mix.

J. P. Morgan Summer Reading List

Rethink is a book that both informs and makes the reader think and rethink (and occasionally argue with the author). It’s even fun . . . I consider that a winning combination.

ValueWalk