What We Are Reading Today: The Premonitions Bureau by Sam Knight

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Updated 03 May 2022
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What We Are Reading Today: The Premonitions Bureau by Sam Knight

The Premonitions Bureau is an enthralling account of madness and wonder, of science and the supernatural.

With an unforgettable ending, it is a mysterious journey into the most unsettling reaches of the human mind. 

“In Sam Knight’s crystalline telling, this astonishing true story comes to encompass the secrets of the world,” said a review on goodreads.com.

We all know premonitions are impossible — and yet they come true all the time. Our lives are full of collisions and coincidence: The question is how we perceive these implausible events and therefore make meaning in our lives,” said the review.

It added: “Consisting of just over 200 pages, this book is a little gem that flits around the topics of the paranormal, philosophy — the concept of ‘free will’ — and is actually an extension of Knight’s 2019 New Yorker article of the same title.”

Knight “takes no firm stance on the objective truth of premonitions, which made the book thought-provoking rather than restrictive,” said the review.

“This book feels like a quirky film plot.”


What We Are Reading Today: Freedom from Fear by Alan Kahan

Updated 27 February 2026
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What We Are Reading Today: Freedom from Fear by Alan Kahan

“Freedom from Fear” offers a striking new account of the dominant political and social theory of our time: liberalism. In a pathbreaking reframing of the historical debate, Alan Kahan charts the development of Western liberalism from the late eighteenth century to the present. 

Examining key liberal thinkers and issues, Kahan shows how liberalism is both a response to fear and a source of hope: the search for a world in which no one need be afraid.

“Freedom from Fear” reveals how liberal arguments typically rely on three pillars: freedom, markets, and morals. 

But when liberals ignore one or more of these pillars, their arguments generally fail to persuade.