Summer reads

A new collection of our most beach-friendly articles


Welcome to Summer reads, our guide to a season of great reading. The Economist’s summer issue brings you five special stories from 1843 magazine, our sister publication. We’ve also sifted through our pages to find some of our other most enjoyable, luminous and thought-provoking articles. In the selection on this page, our writers suggest the best books to read on everything from money-making to mountaineering. Our columnists explain why there’s a new economics of fertility; and how the office romance fizzled. Our correspondents investigate how a free Hong Kong became a police state; and take you into the Alaskan wilderness on a hunt for the forces that will sustain the oil economy. Scroll down for much more. We hope this collection carries you through a brilliant summer.

Stephanie Studer
US digital editor

If you want... to discover our Summer specials

1843 magazine | How the Proud Boys are prepping for a second Trump term

They led the charge on the Capitol. What next?

1843 magazine | Marwan Barghouti, the world’s most important prisoner

There’s one Palestinian who could help end the conflict. He’s in an Israeli jail


1843 magazine | The cruise that will get you chased by the Chinese coastguard

China is bullying its rivals in the South China Sea. For some tourists, that makes it a perfect holiday destination


1843 magazine | How to get rich (Taylor’s version)

Think you know the story of how Taylor Swift took on the music industry? The reality is more complicated


1843 magazine | Secrets of a ransomware negotiator

When the gangs of the dark web come, most people panic. This man runs rings around them


If you want… to expand your mind

Richer societies mean fewer babies. Right?

A guide to the new economics of fertility

Do tips make for better service?

The evidence is mixed—and the practice varies widely across the world


The surprising upside of climate migration

To adapt to climate change, people will move. The results will not be all bad


How Microsoft could supplant Apple as the world’s most valuable firm

It hopes to seize on AI to transform the future of work


If you want… five perfect books on (almost) any topic

Five novels that imagine dictatorship in America

A gripping way into thinking about democracy under threat

Five books about Iraq, a cradle of civilisation and catastrophe

What to read to understand the country’s recent history—and its ancient beginnings


Five books on the best approaches to being an investor

What to read to understand how to make your money grow


Five of the best books on climbing mountains

The books and a documentary that capture the pull of the peaks


If you want… to gorge on food writing

How Provençal rosé became the summer tipple par excellence

When temperatures rise, wine-drinkers think pink

Chinese food is more diverse than Western eaters might think

In “Invitation to a Banquet” Fuchsia Dunlop celebrates the cuisine’s spread and savour


Liquorice flourishes in salty soils of the dried-up Aral Sea

Karakalpakstan is the sweet root’s new production hub


How to eat to 100

Dan Buettner’s book explores America’s healthiest cuisines


If you want… to escape to another world

War in space is no longer science fiction

Inside America’s celestial struggle against China and Russia

Romantasy brings dragons and eroticism together. At last

Novels starring hot fairies are selling millions of copies


Finding aliens means studying new sorts of planet

But the places extraterrestrial life can be looked for are not the places it is most likely to thrive


Tuvalu plans for its own disappearance

Is a country still a country if it sinks?


If you’d rather… get to know this one better

The Alaskan wilderness reveals the past and the future

The oil flows more slowly, the climate changes more quickly

How a free and open Hong Kong became a police state

It was a long time in the planning


Where capitalism and conservation meet

Can you put a price on the wonders of nature?


The deadly journey to the Gulf

Migrants from Ethiopia to Saudi Arabia risk drowning, extortion and violence


If you want… to gen up on artificial intelligence

How AI could change computing, culture and the course of history

Expect changes in the way people access knowledge, relate to knowledge and think about themselves

Three reasons why it’s good news that robots are getting smarter

They are becoming more capable, easier to program and better at explaining themselves


AIs will make health care safer and better

It may even get cheaper, too, says Natasha Loder


Could AI transform life in developing countries?

Optimists hope it will ease grave shortages of human capital


If you want… to read what everyone else is reading

Why Costco is so loved

Keeping customers, employees and investors happy is no mean feat


Why southern Europeans will soon be the longest-lived people in the world

Diet and exercise, but also urban design and social life



If you want… relationship advice and love The Economist

The decline of the office romance

Fewer romantic relationships will be forged at the water cooler. That is a shame

Sexual problems can wreck lives. Yet remedies are often simple

Doctors and schools should be franker about pleasure


Cousin marriage is probably fine in most cases

It is also illegal in 25 American states


Polyamory is getting slivers of legal recognition in America

Searching for rights in a monogamous world


If you’re… an omnivore and just want to be surprised

Can playing cards help catch criminals?

A novel idea for solving cold cases comes with high-stakes risks

God™: an ageing product outperforms expectations

An economist tries to explain religion


The third-largest exporter of television is not who you might expect

After America and Britain, Turkey is the biggest seller of scripted shows


Christian Californians may have a solution to America’s obesity

Lessons in longevity from Seventh-day Adventists