‘Axe the reading tax’: book industry demands end to VAT on ebooks

Following EU directive that allows governments to waive duty on digital publications, calls grow for the UK to end ‘illogical and unfair’ levy

Rare Leonardo da Vinci notebook to go on show at British Library

Bill Gates to lend notebook for 2019 show marking 500th anniversary of Leonardo’s death

Have you ever read a pirated book or been affected by piracy? Share your stories

We’d like to hear from people who have downloaded books illegally and those affected by book piracy

Mars is lovely at this time of year: futurists imagine life in 2050

From family holidays in space to robot doctors and an end to work… Four experts predict what life will be like 30 years from now

Donna Zuckerberg: ‘Social media has elevated misogyny to new levels of violence’

The academic, who has found that far-right men’s groups are using classical antiquity to back their views, talks about her new book

‘I wanted to go after big tech’: ex-Google exec’s novel rips Silicon Valley

It was once Jessica Powell’s job to defend Google. Now she’s taking her industry to task in a ‘totally fictional but essentially true’ book

Back to books: the joy of slow reading

Taking time over a book cuts stress, improves comprehension and promotes empathy

David Foster Wallace was right – even in paradise we will need the internet

There was one thing he didn’t predict: that when entertainment and addiction met in the internet, rage and hate would follow

Future Politics: Living Together in a World Transformed By Tech – review

In an age where our every action can be harvested as data and used against us, Jamie Susskind’s book makes crucial reading

Yuval Noah Harari: the myth of freedom

Governments and corporations will soon know you better than you know yourself. Belief in the idea of freedom has become dangerous

Why you should read this article slowly

Amid fears of shrinking attention spans, it’s time to stop skimming our screens and try slow reading – it is rich in rewards

What’s behind Mark Zuckerberg’s man-crush on Emperor Augustus?

The Facebook founder’s bromantic hero was a canny operator who was obsessed with power and overrode democracy

21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari – digested read

The historian’s thoughts on how the world of the present might prepare for an uncertain future are distilled, with artistic licence

‘Screaming nightmare’: William Shatner boldly goes into VR

Star Trek’s Captain Kirk voices concerns about virtual reality after simulating a walk on Mars

Is the future female? Fixing sci-fi’s women problem

When sci-fi fan Molly Flatt was asked to write a story about women in the future, she re-examined her relationship with the male-dominated genre – and why she remained immune to ‘the Scully effect’