MUSTREADS

Out now in paperback

THE BOOK OF HUMANS by Adam Rutherford (W&N £9.99, 272 pp)

‘WHAT a piece of work is a man!’, muses Shakespeare’s Hamlet, concluding that humans are ‘ the paragon of animals’. The author and broadcaster Dr Adam Rutherford agrees that ‘the idea that humans are special animals is at the root of who we are’.

His book sets out to examine ‘what makes us animals and what makes us their paragon’.

Physically, our bodies resemble those of the Homo sapiens who lived in Africa around 200,000 years ago. However, 45,000 years ago, a transition occurred, ‘as we jumped into a state of intellectual sophistication that we see in ourselves today’.

As our understanding of the natural world advances, we find animals behaving in ways once considered uniquely human.

Rutherford’s fascinating examples of unexpected traits we share with fellow creatures include rats, which suffer regret.

CONVENIENCE STORE WOMAN by Sayaka Murata (Granta £8.99, 176 pp)

KEIKO is a worry to her family. As a child, she couldn’t see what was wrong with hitting a boy over the head with a shovel to stop a playground fight. Her parents and little sister love her, but fear that she will never be able to function in the world.

At 18, she begins work in a convenience store, where, ‘for the first time ever, I felt I’d become a part in the machine of society’.

But, 18 years on, although Keiko is perfectly happy with her life of unvarying routine, she no longer feels like a ‘normal cog in society’. Her sister is concerned that, at 36, she has never had a relationship.

Sayaka Murata herself spent 18 years working in convenience stores — her novel is quirky, funny and beautifully observed.

UNDER THE WIG by William Clegg QC (Quercus £8.99, 288 pp)

WILLIAM CLEGG QC is frequently asked how he can defend someone he knows is guilty. He has defended more than 100 people accused of murder, ‘probably more than any other lawyer practising in England’.

But he points out that the ‘ cab rank’ rule, intended to ensure equal access to justice for all, means that a barrister cannot pick and choose which clients to represent.

During his 47-year career, Clegg has been the defence counsel for clients including Colin Stagg, who was found not guilty of the murder of Rachel Nickell; Michael Stone, convicted of the murders of Lin Russell and her daughter Megan; and Barry George, wrongly convicted of killing TV presenter Jill Dando.

Between such serious case studies, his jovial memoir reflects on the challenges and satisfactions of life as a barrister.