Books

STEPHEN Shapiro's short volume is intended for students about to read Karl Marx for the first time. Unlike contemporaries of Marx, many will be doing so in an environment and culture which is not conducive to understanding his basic concepts and assumptions.

GEOFF Simons has written a number of books on the tragedy that is Iraq and his meticulously assembled and justified works have been acclaimed by such notables as John Pilger, Noam Chomsky and Ramsey Clark.

IT is difficult to underestimate the importance of music in society today. But why does it play such an important part in our lives and why does different music elicit different reactions?

SET in Sarajevo during the siege of the 1990s, this wonderfully written book is a grim and sometimes quite horrific read that shows people having to make some impossible choices.

JOHN MOORE follows the turbulent life of Chilean writer Isabel Allende.

This book by lawyer and prison reformer Louis Blom-Cooper is both depressing and uplifting at the same time. The depression comes from an analysis of the past two centuries that shows that politicians charged with running the criminal justice system have learnt very little concerning the ineffectuality of locking people up.

Resembling a beautiful notebook adorned with 1970s-style flowers, On Guerrilla Gardening is a fantastic read.

If any one man were to get the most credit for pushing the US to war with Iraq, then Ahmed Chalabi, a wealthy exile who spent most of is life out of Iraq, would certainly be a leading contender.

DAN COYSH is shocked to discover the extent of the influence that the military-industrial complex has on millions of people's lives.

THIS is the book of the film that has won awards in the US for best documentary.