Steven Pinker unpacks the concept of common knowledge, revealing how it shapes diplomacy, dating, social media mobs, and the hidden logic behind human behavior.
 

One of the world’s greatest thinkers investigates the logic and psychology of common knowledge

As a cognitive scientist, the ultimate subject of Steven Pinker’s fascination is how we think about each other’s thoughts, ad infinitum. It sounds impossible, but Steven Pinker shows that we do it all the time. This awareness, which we experience as something that is public or “out there,” is called common knowledge, and it has a momentous impact on our social, political, and economic lives.

Common knowledge, Pinker shows, can make sense of many of life’s enigmas: financial bubbles and crashes, revolutions that come out of nowhere, the posturing and pretence of diplomacy, the eruption of social media shaming mobs and academic cancel culture, the awkwardness of a first date. But people also go to great lengths to avoid common knowledge—to ensure that even if everyone knows something, they can’t know that everyone else knows they know it. And so we get rituals like benign hypocrisy, veiled bribes and threats, sexual innuendo, and pretending not to see the elephant in the room.

In exploring the paradoxes of human behaviour, When Everyone Knows that Everyone Knows… invites us to understand the ways we try to get into each other’s heads, and the harmonies, hypocrisies, and outrages that result.

From Dustin Thao, bestselling author of TikTok sensation You’ve Reached Sam, comes the magical YA romance novel When Haru Was Here.

'It's magical how Dustin Thao can make you fall in love with having your heart broken' - Adam Silvera, author of They Both Die at the End

After the death of his best friend, Eric Ly creates imaginary scenarios in his head to deal with his grief. Until one of them becomes real, and a boy he met last summer – Haru Tanaka – walks into the coffee shop and sits down next to him. The only thing is, nobody else can see him.

Eric suddenly has someone to connect with, making him feel less alone in the world. But as they spend more time together, he begins to question what is real. Soon Eric is losing control of the very thing that is holding him together, and must confront his reality. Even if it means losing Haru forever.

'Get your tissues ready, this is another heart-wrenching, stunning exploration of love and loss from Dustin Thao' – Alex Aster, author of Lightlark

"Solà pushes past the limits of human experience to tell a story of instinct and earth-time that is irresistible in its jagged glory." - C Pam Zhang, author of How Much of These Hills is Gold

When Domenec - mountain-dweller, father, poet, dreamer - dies suddenly, struck by lightning, he leaves behind two small children, Mia and Hilari, to grow up wild among the looming summits of the Pyrenees and the ghosts of the Spanish civil war.

But then Hilari dies too, and his sister is forced to face life's struggles and joys alone. As the years tumble by, the inhabitants of the mountain - human, animal and other - come together in a chorus of voices to bear witness to the sorrows of one family, and to the savage beauty of the landscape. This remarkable English-language debut is lyrical, mythical, elemental, and ferociously imaginative.

Final Destination meets House of Hollow in this haunting and lyrical speculative horror about a group of girls doing Death’s bidding in exchange for preserving their own lives.

Roslyn Volk isn’t herself any more. It’s been a year since her older sister, Adeline, was found dead in the woods under suspicious circumstances, and she’s still shackled by grief. When six mysterious girls appear in town one morning, Roslyn finds herself inexplicably drawn to them, soon learning that Adeline spent her last summer with the group.

Desperate to find out what really happened to her sister, Roslyn agrees to accompany the girls on their road trip. But this strange sisterhood share an inconceivable secret. All of them have been spared from Death’s clutches and now must pay for the privilege. Gifted with Death’s touch, the girls travel the country reaping souls in return for preserving their own lives.

As Roslyn becomes more entangled with the girls, in particular the group's leader Shiloh, and begins to kill on behalf of Death, she learns things that make her question her whole life. Did she ever truly know her sister? And how well does she know herself . . . ?

A burned-out pop star stranded in small-town Kentucky can't help falling for her unlikely knight in shining armour - the notoriously grumpy owner of the local pie shop - in this charming slice of romance from the author of the TikTok sensation The Cheat Sheet and Practice Makes Perfect.

'This modern take on the Hepburn classic Roman Holiday is a quick, fun, slow-burn rom-com' ABBY JIMENEZ

'Sarah Adams has written the Kentucky-set homage to Roman Holiday I never knew I needed. Full of cozy small-town vibes, a pie-baking hero (swoon!), and a slow-burn romance that will keep you flipping the pages, When in Rome is a charming and comforting escape' KERRY WINFREY

'My Audrey Hepburn loving heart is so happy! When in Rome is a delectable romance, sweet and satisfying as a slice of warm apple pie' CHLOE LIESE

'Sarah Adams' books are woven with pure sunshine and rainbows . . . It's everything you could want in a small-town romance, along with a heaping dollop of her signature wit and sparkling charm' AMY LEA

'You can always count on a Sarah Adams rom-com to be equal parts funny, sweet, and swoony' SOPHIE SULLIVAN
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Rome is where the heart is.

Amelia Rose is burned-out from years of maintaining her public image as pop princess Rae Rose. Inspired by her favourite Audrey Hepburn film, Roman Holiday, she drives off in the middle of the night for a break in Rome . . . Rome, Kentucky, that is.

Running the pie shop his grandmother left him, Noah Walker is busy enough as it is. But after finding Amelia on his front lawn in her broken-down car, he decides to let her stay in his guest room - on a very temporary basis, of course.

As the two of them grow closer, Noah starts to see a new side to Amelia - kind-hearted and goofy, yet lonely from years in the public eye. Amelia may have to go back to her other life someday, but for now she's perfectly happy falling in love with the cozy small town she's found herself in . . . and her grumpy tour guide isn't half-bad either.

And now return to Rome, Kentucky, in Sarah Adams' latest rom-com Practice Makes Perfect!
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Discover The Cheat Sheet - the heartwarming friends-to-lovers romance that became a sensation on TikTok!

'I just adored this story . . . I'm ready to eat up anything that Sarah Adams writes'

'A perfect mix of hilarious banter, comical situations, and sweet romance'

'This romance is brilliant! It is fast paced, laugh out loud and so cute!'

'A feel-good rom-com with everything you want in a romance!'