Arguing with Zombies review: Paul Krugman trumps the Republicans

The Nobel-winning economist and New York Times columnist is at the top of his game in eviscerating those who have dragged America down

Children’s books roundup – the best new picture books and novels

A badminton-playing panda, a celebration of the avocado, a travel agency with gateways to other worlds and more

Natural by Alan Levinovitz review – the seductive myth of nature’s goodness

From ‘clean eating’ to the countryside to Goop, ‘natural’ is assumed to be good and is almost a new religion, argues this book. But is the author focusing on the right question?

The Glass Hotel by Emily St John Mandel review – haunted visions of a global crisis

Financial meltdown looms in this elegant portrait of complacency, from the author of Station Eleven

Active Measures review: how Trump gave Russia its richest target yet

In divided, chaotic and fearful times, Thomas Rid’s ‘secret history of disinformation and political warfare’ is a must-read

Double Lives by Helen McCarthy – a history of working mothers

Three quarters of British mothers are now in paid employment – a huge change over the past century – but, as this impressive study suggests, women still do more at home

The See-Through House by Shelley Klein review – a father’s obsession

A moving, bracingly honest account of a father-daughter relationship, and the modernist home that shaped family life

Hollow in the Land by James Clarke review – hard lives in Lancashire

From abandoned quarries to dingy pubs, tales of love and loss form a novel full of insight, empathy and wry laughter

Can You Keep a Secret? review – dull, strangers-on-a-plane romcom

A young woman opens her heart to the passenger sitting next to her in this unfunny adaptation of a Sophie Kinsella novel

The Flip by Jeffrey J Kripal review – it’s time for a mystical revelation

The ‘Flip’ is the moment of realisation that the entire universe comprises a single vast mind. This book promises a new path to understanding...

Around the World in 80 Trees by Jonathan Drori review – a wonderful tour

From baobabs to London planes, the unique characteristics of the Earth’s trees and their role in human lives

Survey of London: Oxford Street review – a bravura history, but also an obituary?

From public hangings to Primark … a lively account of the capital’s famous shopping street, edited by Andrew Saint

Hinton by Mark Blacklock review – tricksy tale of a disgraced scientist

The writer follows up his debut about the Yorkshire Ripper hoaxer with this ingenious fictionalised Victorian life story

Medicine: A Graphic History by Jean-Noël Fabiani and Philippe Bercovici – review

These tales of diseases and cures by a French surgeon and his cartoonist sidekick will have you in stitches

If It Bleeds review – Stephen King on vintage form

The horror writer is at his familiar best with four suspenseful and sometimes surprisingly tender novellas