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Thom Brooks, professor of law and government, Durham University, is reading Robert Hutton¡¯s Would They Lie to You? How to Spin Friends and Manipulate People (Elliott & Thompson, 2014). ¡°This book is the ultimate codebreaker guide to doublespeak, uncommunication and undamaged control used too often in politics. A must-read for any aspiring politician ¨C or anyone wanting to understand what they¡¯re saying.¡±

Carina Buckley, learning skills tutor, Southampton Solent University, is reading Helen Zahavi¡¯s Dirty Weekend (Macmillan, 1991). ¡°The publication uproar described this book as immoral, brilliant, violent, brave, depraved. I didn¡¯t know any of that before I read it. I do know, now, that I don¡¯t like it. Not a bit. The prose is choppy, repetitive, at times poetically rhythmic, but in the sense that a migraine can also have a beat. It¡¯s angry, fearful and dated.¡±

Sir David Eastwood, vice-chancellor, University of Birmingham, is reading Iain Banks¡¯ Raw Spirit: In Search of the Perfect Dram (Arrow, 2004). ¡°I was given this by a good friend and fellow vice-chancellor. A wonderful holiday read. Banks was wrong about foreign policy and had execrable musical taste. He was right about cars and great roads, rapidly becoming illicit pleasures; and brilliant on his central theme, malt whiskies and that elusive alchemy that makes them one of life¡¯s great pleasures. Enjoy the book¡¯s peaty textures with a dash of water and savour its long finish.¡±

Matthew Feldman, professor in the modern history of ideas, Teesside University, is reading Masoud Banisadr¡¯s Destructive and Terrorist Cults: A New Kind of Slavery (Research Institute on Destructive Cults, 2014). ¡°Are ISIS and al-Qaeda death cults? Is this ¡®parasitic milieu¡¯ analogous to better-known enslavements involving chains and lashes? Absolutely, according to Banisadr, a survivor of Iran¡¯s Mujahedin-e Khalq. With scientific precision, the dynamics of both well-known and obscure hermetic groups are examined, with ideology, ¡®brainwashing¡¯ techniques and charismatic leadership stressed. His conclusion? It could happen to anyone. Impressive and chilling reading.¡±

Sharon Wheeler, visiting lecturer in journalism, Birmingham City University, is reading A. D. Miller¡¯s The Faithful Couple (Little, Brown, 2015). ¡°Two lads from different backgrounds meet on a post-university tour of the US. Something happens that will haunt them for the next 20-odd years. Except it¡¯s not that strong a hook and you spend most of the book waiting for something to happen. I¡¯m not sure Miller nails male friendship, but he does loads better on urban atmosphere and end of the century angst.¡±