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Max Mosley's Top Book Recommendations

Want to know what books Max Mosley recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Max Mosley's favorite book recommendations of all time.

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What would it take to turn you into a suicide bomber?



How would you interrogate a member of Al Qaeda?



With access to formerly classified documentation and interviews from the CIA, the U.S. Army, MI5, MI6, and the British Intelligence Corps, acclaimed journalist Dominic Streatfeild traces the history of the world's most secret psychological procedure.



From the cold war to the height of today's war on terror, groups as dissimilar as armies, religious cults, and advertising agencies have been...
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Recommended by Max Mosley, and 1 others.

Max MosleyThis is a review of all the different means of influencing people’s thinking, primarily without their consent. So, you’ve got things like hypnotism, interrogation, people putting pressure on in all sorts of different ways, the religious cults, the Moonies, the question of whether you could have a Manchurian Candidate. Streatfeild goes into it in enormous detail and has done a great deal of... (Source)

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2

News of the World?

Fake Shiekhs and Royal Trappings

Do the great British public get the press the "Red Tops" think they deserve? Or are the tabloids' pious protestations of public interest really just a self-serving attempt to halt declining circulation? Peter Burden examines the News of the World's performance—with its Fake Sheikh and the illegal mobile phone tapping, which lead to a jail sentence for royal reporter Clive Goodman and the resignation of the editor. Burden also highlights the papers hypocrisy when Mazher Mahmood, the Fake Sheikh, was himself unmasked. This is a book for everyone concerned about standards in British... more
Recommended by Max Mosley, and 1 others.

Max MosleyFrom my personal point of view this is fascinating because it confirms all sorts of things I have long suspected. For example, he cites two separate instances of couples who were exposed by the News of the World as swingers, that is, people who wanted to involve outsiders in their sex lives. They were perfectly ordinary people but in both cases the husband committed suicide because they found the... (Source)

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3
After years of working as a respected journalist, Nick Davies broke the unwritten rule of the media by investigating the practices of his fellow colleagues. In this eye-opening exposé, Davies uncovers an industry awash in corruption and bias. His findings include the story of a prestigious Sunday newspaper that allowed the CIA to plant fiction in its columns; the newsroom that routinely rejects stories about black people; the respected paper that hired a professional fraudster to set up a front company to entrap senior political figures; as well as a number of newspapers that pay cash bribes... more
Recommended by Alan Rusbridger, Max Mosley, and 2 others.

Alan RusbridgerFive Books aims to keep its book recommendations and interviews up to date. If you are the interviewee and would like to update your choice of books (or even just what you say about them) please email us at editor@fivebooks.com (Source)

Max MosleyThis to me is fascinating because it’s the first time that a top-quality journalist has done a complete exposé on the way in which the media distort what’s going on. He says in his preface that dog doesn’t eat dog. Usually, all institutions are open to criticism by the media except the media themselves. So this is the first time that somebody has actually done it to the media. It’s immensely... (Source)

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4

The Rule of Law

The Rule of Law' is a phrase much used but little examined. The idea of the rule of law as the foundation of modern states and civilisations has recently become even more talismanic than that of democracy, but what does it actually consist of?

In this brilliant short book, Britain's former senior law lord, and one of the world's most acute legal minds, examines what the idea actually means. He makes clear that the rule of law is not an arid legal doctrine but is the foundation of a fair and just society, is a guarantee of responsible government, is an important contribution to...
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The Secret BarristerThis book is cited as mandatory reading for all prospective law students at every law school in the country, but I would go further and decree it compulsory for all politicians and indeed anybody with any interest in public life. (Source)

Max MosleyWhat’s interesting about The Rule of Law is that it’s written by someone who was until very recently the UK’s most senior judge, Lord Bingham. It’s comforting because it shows that the highest level of the judiciary is really interested in the liberty of the individual and freedom in all its various guises. It’s also got all sorts of fascinating little pieces in it. For example, he criticises the... (Source)

Shami ChakrabartiA new book from probably the greatest jurist of our times, probably anywhere in the world. (Source)

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5
In the vein of the international bestselling Freakonomics, award-winning journalist Matthew Syed reveals the hidden clues to success—in sports, business, school, and just about anything else that you’d want to be great at. Fans of Predictably Irrational and Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point will find many interesting and helpful insights in Bounce. less

James AltucherAnd while you are at it, throw in “Bounce” by Mathew Syed, who was the UK Ping Pong champion when he was younger. I love any book where someone took their passion, documented it, and shared it with us. That’s when you can see the subtleties, the hard work, the luck, the talent, the skill, all come together to form a champion. Heck, throw in, “An Astronaut’s Guide to Earth” by Commander Chris... (Source)

Melody HossainiI came across this book by chance, read a few pages and was intrigued by the examples to prove how experts in their field (in this case, drawn mostly from the world of Sports) come to be experts. The book will leave you empowered that one can truly become anything, and that you can defy genetical and circumstantial hinderances through the input of time and practice in your chosen field. I found... (Source)

Max MosleyBounce is fascinating. Matthew Syed was Britain’s number one table-tennis player for about 10 years and he’s now a top sports journalist on The Times. He writes extremely well. His thesis is that talent isn’t what matters, it’s all about hours and hours of training. The conventional view, and certainly my view before reading this book, is that some people are supremely gifted and therefore rise... (Source)

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