Best books… Theodore Zeldin

Philosopher Theodore Zeldin, who searches for new answers to public and private dilemmas, chooses his five favourite reads. His latest book, The Hidden Pleasures of Life, is published by Maclehose Press at £9.99

Paper Promises by Philip Coggan, 2011 (Penguin £10.99). Coggan reveals how paper money is used to tax you without your noticing, to make you a conspirator in “felonious larcenies”, and to nourish your illusion that you live in a sovereign nation. So now what different questions would you ask in a future referendum?

The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek, 1923 (Penguin Classics £10.99). The stillrelevant satire about governments, armies and institutions cooking up mad regulations, with a hero, classified as feeble-minded, misinterpreting orders and

turning them into farce. How to make this compulsory reading for human resources, strategic planners, and mission statement writers? The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Philip Pullman, 2010 (Canongate £8.99). A gripping and moving story with implications far beyond the quarrels of believers and unbelievers. What would you do to prevent truth being twisted into myth, and ideals being transformed into institutional dogma?

exhumation of the intimate thoughts of a previous generation of terrorists, the Anarchists – educated and idealistic people who found salvation in violence, but who disagreed among themselves as much as with the society they attacked. How would you respond to today’s terrorists?

Extraordinary Gardens of

the World by Monty Don, 2009 (out of print). Five hundred photographs of amazing gardens, with a warm-hearted guide to the eccentrics who created them. What will we create when, as predicted, 75% of the world’s population live in huge cities, surrounded by robots?