The news occupies the same dominant position in modern society as religion once did, asserts Alain de Botton – but we haven’t begun to understand its impact on us. In his dazzling The News: A User’s Manual, de Botton takes 25 archetypal news stories – from an aircrash to a murder, a celebrity interview to a political scandal – and submits them to intense analysis. Posing questions such as Why are disaster stories often so uplifting? What makes the love lives of celebrities so interesting? Why do we enjoy politicians being brought down? Why are upheavals in far off lands often so… boring? De Botton has written the ultimate manual for our news-addicted age.

An event from 2012 Jewish Book Week.