Icon Book Mail
Icon Books.
This week, I was thrilled to receive a special delivery of book mail—all from the incredible Icon Books!
What do childhood, body hair, the internet and our increasingly polarised world have in common?
A brilliant selection of non-fiction has arrived from Icon Books, and this is such an interesting mix of subjects. These four books explore very different areas of modern life, but each looks at something we probably don't question nearly enough.
📚 Childhood Ltd How We Turned Children into Data and Why We Need to Stop by Cherry Casey:
This examines what is happening within education and childcare, particularly the increasing tendency to reduce children to statistics and data. Casey looks at the systems and organisations shaping children's lives, who benefits from the way those systems currently operate, and the people trying to create alternatives that put children and their needs first.
Working within the NHS, I'm particularly interested in discussions around how services and systems can sometimes lose sight of the individual behind the data, so I'm curious to see how Casey approaches this within childhood and education.
Support a local and independent bookshop and purchase the book here.
🧑🦱 Anxious and Hairy by Judy Wearing:
Body hair is something almost everyone has an opinion about, whether we have too much, too little or simply think it's growing somewhere it shouldn't!
Wearing looks at why humans have developed such complicated feelings about hair, bringing together evolutionary biology, psychology, anthropology, history and art. This sounds like one of those books that begins with an everyday subject and ends up revealing something much bigger about how we view ourselves and our bodies.
Support a local and independent bookshop and purchase the book here.
🌐 Distorted by Seb Butcher:
This feels particularly relevant to the way so many of us now experience the world through our screens. Butcher explores how algorithms, technology addiction, generative AI, misinformation and our own biases can shape what we see and ultimately what we believe.
I'm particularly interested in the idea that two people can now inhabit completely different versions of reality depending on what their feeds repeatedly show them. I'm intrigued to see what solutions Butcher offers for rebuilding trust and finding common ground.
Support a local and independent bookshop and purchase the book here.
💬 The Nuance Drought: Reclaiming Truth and Complexity in a Polarised World by Natasha Devon:
This feels like an interesting companion to Distorted. Devon examines our increasing tendency to reduce complicated subjects to opposing sides, particularly across politics, media, health and our personal relationships.
The idea of losing our ability to sit with uncertainty and consider the grey areas between two positions really interests me. With so much online discussion rewarding immediate reactions and absolute opinions, I'm looking forward to reading Devon's thoughts on how we can have more thoughtful conversations without automatically treating disagreement as conflict.
Support a local and independent bookshop and purchase the book here.
Four completely different subjects, but there is an interesting connection running through all of them: how the systems and ideas surrounding us influence the way we understand ourselves, other people and the world.
Thank you to Icon Books for such a thought-provoking selection of book mail. I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into these!
