The Intelligence from The Economist

What do we mean by a “good book”? Some people choose a holiday read that demands time and attention. Others pick rip-roaring novels that require little thought. Our bookworms discuss whether art has to be improving to be praiseworthy, and give genre fiction some much-needed air time.

This is a full list of the books mentioned in the show:
“Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen
“Red Rising” by Pierce Brown
Jack Reacher series by Lee Child
“The Hunt for Red October” by Tom Clancy
“Riders” and the other Rutshire chronicles by Jilly Cooper
Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman
“Middlemarch” by George Eliot
“Ulysses” by James Joyce
“Wolf Hall” by Hilary Mantel
“The Diamond Age” by Neal Stephenson
The Murderbot series by Martha Wells
“The Martian” by Andy Weir
“American Wife” by Curtis Sittenfeld

Guests and host:
Catherine Nixey, culture and Britain correspondent
Tom Standage, Economist deputy editor
Alexandra Suich Bass, culture editor
Alex Hern, AI writer
Rosie Blau, host of “The Intelligence”

Topics covered:
Fiction, romance, sci-fi, crime, thrillers, fantasy, romantasy
Jane Austen, Jilly Cooper, Curtis Sittenfeld, Lee Child
Matt Dinniman, Pierce Brown, Neal Stephenson

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Elon Musk has launched the largest stockmarket listing in history. The accompanying space mission remains grounded. Our correspondent weighs SpaceX’s extraordinary ambitions. The Republican party trades on its masculine image, but some young men are turning away. And, after a blind tasting 50 years ago unleashed a new wave of wine drinking, the market is drying out.

Watch extended clips from Insider here

Guests and host:
Tim Cross, senior science writer
Robert Guest, Economist deputy editor
Alexandra Suich Bass, culture editor
Rosie Blau, co-host of “The Intelligence”
Jason Palmer, co-hosts of “The intelligence”

Topics covered:
SpaceX, Starlink, XAI, Elon Musk
Donald Trump, Republicans, masculinity
Wine, Judgement of Paris

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Within the space of a week Chinese president Xi Jinping has welcomed both Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin to Beijing. Our correspondent explains the significance of these consecutive meetings. How the Premier League got its kick – and became one of Britain’s most successful businesses. And, some relax on holiday, others relish adrenaline-fuelled activities.

Guests and host:
Jeremy Page, chief China correspondent
Sonny Loughran, Britain writer
Caitlin Talbot, culture correspondent
Rosie Blau, co-host of “The intelligence”
Jason Palmer, co-host of “The intelligence”

Topics covered:
Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump
Premier League, football, soccer
Adrenaline holidays, darecations

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Is Binyamin Netanyahu’s time up as Israel’s prime minister? As a vote in parliament triggers the election campaign, our correspondent – and Netanyahu’s biographer – analyses what comes next. We join a US-backed counter-terrorism training exercise in Africa and question whether such missions will outlast Trump. And how Cape Verde came to take part in its first World Cup.

Guests and host:
Anshel Pfeffer, Israel correspondent
Tom Gardner, Africa correspondent
Jon Fasman, senior culture correspondent
Rosie Blau, host of “The Intelligence”

Topics covered:
Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel, Knesset, Gaza, Hizbullah, Iran
Ivory Coast, jihadism, anti-terrorism, overseas aid
World Cup, FIFA, Cape Verde

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The latest Ebola emergency is different from previous ones: there is no vaccine, and the kind of community-level work that stops the spread has been thinned by aid cuts. Britain is likely to get a new prime minister soon; we profile Andy Burnham, the Labour party’s polling favourite. And celebrity book clubs abound—but useful criticism in them does not.

Guests and host:
John McDermott, chief Africa correspondent
Joel Budd, social affairs editor
Catherine Nixey, culture correspondent
Jason Palmer, co-host of “The Intelligence”

Topics covered:
Ebola outbreak, West Africa
Andy Burnham, British politics
celebrities, book clubs, book industry

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