Books are dying. Across the world the number of people reading is in free fall. Literacy is declining or stagnating in most developed countries. At universities, students are unable to read the books assigned to them by their teachers. Addictive digital entertainment technologies have colonised our free time with infantilising ‘slop’. The golden chain of knowledge linking reader to reader through the centuries is breaking for the first time since the collapse of the Western Roman Empire ushered in the Dark Ages.

The New Dark Ages is an impassioned attack on the trivial and meaningless culture of the screen and a defence of the written word. Drawing on history and classic works of literature and theory, The New Dark Ages argues that reading and writing are essential for innovation, creativity and critical thinking.

Above all, the culture of print is essential to the functioning of modern democracies which require their citizens to grapple with ideas at length and in depth. And as print dies, we risk returning to the chaos, tribalism, and rage of a pre-literate society. (Penguin)

James met Jack at Larry’s beneath London’s National Portrait Gallery.

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In Do Not Go Gentle, acclaimed writer and philosopher Kathleen Stock tackles one of the great debates of our time: should we set up a system of assisted death?

With her trademark sharp thinking and dry wit, the bestselling author of Material Girls argues that despite what some progressives might tell you, assisted death will not give a person more “freedom” or “control” over their lives. Whether you have a terminal illness, are in chronic pain, or are disabled, being able to ask your doctor to kill you fundamentally changes society’s attitude towards the vulnerable - and in a sinister direction.

Life is complex. For some individuals, an assisted death might be the right choice. But we should be deeply wary of introducing a system that offers death as just another option, especially when palliative care is so under-resourced. Expertly marshalling the arguments, Stock’s laser polemic cuts through the wishful thinking and clouded reasoning that surrounds the issue and reaffirms life, rather than death, as what we should be fighting for. Collectively, we should rage against the dying of the light.

Kathleen met Jack at Chez Antoinette in Victoria, London

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This episode was the novelist and essayist Will Self’s first live interview celebrating the publication of his new novel, The Quantity Theory of Morality. We hosted Will alongside our events collaborators for the evening, Special Rider Books and Records at Shepherd’s Bush Market, on 23rd April. Will did not hold back on this one (did he ever?), and the longer you listen, the more apparent it is that his answers are in large part an attempt to hold the audience to account for the very social, political, and even theological malaise the book diagnoses in 21st Century British culture.

As for the plot of the novel, The Quantity Theory of Morality follows a familiar cast of middle-class, middle-English characters as they circle through endless dinner parties and polite conversation until the veneer of civility inevitably fractures and exposes the darkness that they hide in. A sequel to his award-winning debut The Quantity Theory of Insanity, the novel returns to Self’s enduring preoccupations: the fragility of morality, the absurdity of social conventions, and the alienation of modern life. Both deranged and hilarious, it confirms Self as a master of satire as well as one of our most searching critics of contemporary culture.Special thanks is owed to York Underwood meanwhile for playing an instrumental role in bringing this unrepeatable event together.

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