Why aren't you sitting comfortably?

IF you have ever suffered from anxiety, if you know someone who has, or if you just have a passing interest in the subject, then My Age Of Anxiety is well worth a read.

The book covers all aspects of the clinical condition and poses the question – what exactly is the difference between “normal” anxiety and “clinical” anxiety?

From there, Scott Stossel looks at anxiety’s impact on the body as well as performance, how drugs have both treated anxiety and formed how it is diagnosed, describing in detail how early attachment to parents plays a key role in the development of anxiety, and finally how to deal with the disorder.

But what makes this book a real winner is that Stossel is an author with a difference.

The 40-something editor of The Atlantic magazine has real insight into the condition because he has suffered severe anxiety of all types and he has tried nearly every treatment out there. The result is a fascinating, page-turning book.

Sophie Herdman

The Fateful Year: England 1914 by Mark Bostridge (Viking, £25) **** 

THERE are, quite rightly, going to be endless books about the First World War this centenary year – but this seems like a good place to start.

The elusive “history book that doesn’t read like a history book”, tells the facts of what England was like in that pivotal year, without ever trying to lecture.

Some of these facts are, of course, already well-known, like the antics of the Suffragettes, the crisis in Ireland and the general fear of German re-armament. But to really show how unsettled the country was beneath its veneer of Edwardian calm, Bostridge also delves into lesser reported stories. He talks of a school-pupil strike in a small east Anglian village, and the reaction to the murder of a small child on a north London train. With each topic, he writes passionately and engagingly, and the chapters easily flow, until finally, war breaks out and England – and the world – changes forever. So, whether your interests lie in history, society, or merely in finding an informative and rewarding book, The Fateful Year is a must.

Nel Staveley

Wrong by Richard S Grossman (OUP, £18.99) ****

IN the light of continuing banking scandals, economics professor Grossman looks at the current level of disaster and compares and contrasts it with others over the past 200 years. He comes up with conclusions that aren’t very reassuring.

Antony Jenkins, the new chief executive of Barclays may admit that it will take up to ten years to restore public faith in the banks – but how can you trust him when he then declares “people in large organisations want to do the right thing – it’s sometimes that they perceive the right thing differently”. And a happy and prosperous new year to you, too Mr Jenkins.

Steve Craggs