Before the internet broke my attention span I read books compulsively. Now, it takes willpower My brain on a good book is a better place. But carving out space for one requires carefully devised strategies
Why Instagram’s biggest book accounts aren’t your usual influencers They stage backdrops and match book covers to flowers. But they’re also avid readers. Could they actually be living the lives they promote online?
Cynthia Cockburn obituary Academic, feminist and peace activist who explored the themes of masculinity and war, and gender and technology
Vaclav Smil: ‘Growth must end. Our economist friends don’t seem to realise that’ The scientist and author on why humanity’s endless expansion must stop.
After Caroline Calloway: should ghostwriters speak out against their subjects? Natalie Beach’s tell-all about the controversial influencer wasn’t the first case of a ghost exposing their subject, following Julian Assange and Donald Trump
Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale sequel escapes from tight secrecy Strict measures meant to keep all details of The Testaments confidential until publication have fallen through for some US readers
Imaginary friends are a sign of a lively, creative mind. But they are leaving us Children have fewer invisible playmates than before. We must help them rediscover the art of being bored, says author Daisy Buchanan
Douglas Adams was right – knowledge without understanding is meaningless Supercomputers are solving complicated problems but we often don’t know how
Behind the Screen review – inside the social media sweatshops Sarah T Roberts’s vital new study demonstrates how online content moderation is a global industry that operates on the back of human exploitation
Too busy? Distracted by your phone? How to love reading again If reading has given way in your life to social media and other distractions, it can be hard to pick it up again. But these tips could help
JD Salinger estate finally agrees to ebook editions Author’s son explains that wish for accessibility has persuaded trustees to look past his father’s dislike of digital media
The Warehouse by Rob Hart review – tussles with a tech titan A satirical tale of a near future dominated by a single power-hungry firm is gripping and cerebral
No Logo at 20: have we lost the battle against the total branding of our lives? Twenty years on from the book that analysed the growing political power of ‘superbrands’
The Twittering Machine by Richard Seymour review – our descent into a digital dystopia A stark polemic argues that social media may have unleashed an age of nihilism from which there is little hope of escape
Stand Out of Our Light: politics and the big tech threat Books by James Williams and Carles Boix offer fascinating takes on how we can combat anger and distraction online