What on Earth is Going On?

Get in the xigxag app
This book is not purchasable in your country. Please select another book.
Pre-order Buy Now £{{ price }}
How does xigxag pricing work?

Listen to a sample

What to expect

"Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense." Gertrude Stein

READ BY TOM BAIRD AND ARTHUR HOUSE.
The world's a complex and bewildering place. Every day we are bombarded with far information than we can possibly hope to absorb. We don't have the time, energy or patience to process it all and select what's important, and sometimes it's tempting to drop the news section straight in the bin and curl up on the sofa with the colour supplements instead.

But there are a lot of things happening in the world that we simply can't afford to ignore. What On Earth Is Going On? fills in the background to the key issues of our times – from Climate Change to the Credit Crunch, Darfur to Devolution – taking the form of an alphabetical glossary that can be consulted at convenient moments. This is a book for the bedside table, the morning commute or the downstairs loo. A rich hotchpotch of world events, current affairs, historical background and amusing trivia, it is a gentle survival guide for people of all ages who wish they knew a little bit more about what on earth is going on.

Critics Review

  • ‘Their aim is to provide a short, digestible précis of 62 global issues…there is basic help here for the perplexed.’ Times

    Highlighted as the STOCKING FILLER OF THE YEAR in the Sunday Times “A sharp and sober collection of succinct, background briefings on the current-affairs subjects we all pretend to know about…the perfect topical catch-up…awash with authoritative statistics”

Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to get tailored content recommendations, product updates and info on new releases. Your data is your own: we commit to protect your data and respect your privacy.