The month’s best paperbacks: Don DeLillo, a Malcolm X biography and more
Looking for reading inspiration? Here’s our guide to October’s best paperbacks, from a remarkable study of salmon to the introduction of John Banville’s new detective
September 2021
Books that made me
Joshua Ferris: ‘ A House for Mr Biswas is as near to perfect as a book gets’
The author on reading John Gray at a time of grief, the joy of Samuel Pepys and and his favourite Thomas Pynchon
October 2020
John Gray: 'What can we learn from cats? Don't live in an imagined future'
The philosopher’s new book attacks the idea that any ideology has the answers to life’s questions – but advice from cats might be his exception…
April 2018
Seven Types of Atheism by John Gray review – fascinating study of disbelief
Book of the day
Seven Types of Atheism by John Gray review – is every atheist an inverted believer?
July 2015
Best holiday reads 2015
Authors, critics and philosophers tell us which books they will be reading on the beach
April 2015
The Soul of the Marionette by John Gray review – bleak, bracing and highly entertaining
The Guardian Books podcast
Will Self and John Gray on freedom and determinism – books podcast
March 2015
The Soul of the Marionette by John Gray; The Challenge of Things by AC Grayling – review
John Gray is gloomy and AC Grayling is upbeat about humanity in two contrasting books
Guardian Live featuring John Gray and Will Self: Is free will an illusion?
At a sold-out event for Guardian Members, Will Self and John Gray debated the notion of free will and destiny. So do we have any control over our lives, or are we more constrained than we realise?
Guess what? More people are living in peace now. Just look at the numbers
Steven Pinker
John Gray is not just wrong but flat-earth wrong. Conflict dominates the headlines, yet the most destructive form of war has effectively ceased to exist
December 2014
Books blog
Tips, links and suggestions: what are you reading this Christmas?
Your space to discuss the books you are reading and what you think of them
November 2014
2014 in review
Writers pick the best books of 2014: part one
Naomi Klein tackled climate change, Owen Jones got to grips with class politics, and Russell Brand preached revolution. Writers from Hilary Mantel to Lena Dunham recommend the titles that leaped out at them this year
October 2014
John Gray and the evil at the core of human nature
Letters: It’s possible to believe that social institutions are all we’ve got without believing they provide the royal road to the perfection of anything
November 2013
Writers and critics on the best books of 2013
Hilary Mantel, Jonathan Franzen, Mohsin Hamid, Ruth Rendell, Tom Stoppard, Malcolm Gladwell, Eleanor Catton and many more recommend the books that impressed them this year
July 2013
Point of view
Richard Mabey: in defence of nature writing
Steven Poole criticised nature writers – and their readers – for whimsy and for idealising the non-human world. He was wrong
March 2013
The Silence of Animals by John Gray – review
Critical eye
Book reviews roundup: The Silence of Animals, Instructions for a Heatwave and Calcutta: Two years in the City
February 2013
Book of the week
The Silence of Animals by John Gray – review
John Banville hails a modern prophet who insists that the world is without meaning
November 2012
2012 in review
Books of the year 2012: authors choose their favourites
From a meditation on walking Britain's ancient paths to an epic American novel, from reportage on life in a Mumbai slum to a blockbuster biography of LBJ ... writers choose their books of the year
