The year’s best reads for work and pleasure, chosen by scholars and senior figures in the sector. Alasdair Allan Minister for learning, science and Scotland’s languages, Scotland
For pleasure: King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism (Pan) by Adam Hochschild. Pleasure is perhaps not the right word, but this is an eye-opening and sobering account of a forgotten piece of history – what happened in the Belgian Congo a hundred years ago to hundreds of thousands of Africans forced to labour in European rubber plantations. For work: Complete Norwegian: Teach Yourself (Hodder Education) by Margaretha Danbolt Simons. I have been meaning to do this for a long time, as I am a bit of a fan of Norway. I have not, in honesty, mastered much of the language, but I can now sing the Norwegian national anthem. Read more...
