Preface -- Politics -- World news -- Economics -- Celebrity -- Disaster -- Consumption -- Conclusion.;From the author of The Art of Travel, a thought-provoking look at the manic and peculiar position that news has achieved in our lives. What does the news do to our brains, our souls, and our views of one another' We spend an inordinate amount of time checking on it. It molds how we view reality, we're increasingly addicted to it on our luminous gadgets, we check it every morning when we wake up and every evening before we sleep'and yet the news has rarely been the focus of an accessible, serious, saleable, book-length study. Until now. Mixing snippets of current news with philosophical reflections, The News will blend the timeless with the contemporary, and bring the wisdom of thousands of years of culture to bear on our contemporary obsessions and neuroses. There will be illustrations for this book'a shot of Emma Watson having an ice cream, a portrait of Jesus by Duccio (both were playing a similar role in their respective societies, the book will allege)'and examples of news stories will be drawn from across the world. The News ranges across news categories'from politics to murders, from economics to celebrities, from the weather to paparazzi shows'in search of answers to the questions: "What do we want from this'" and "Is it doing us any good'" After The News, we'll never look at a celebrity story, the report on a tropical storm, or the sex scandal of a politician in quite the same way again. (With black-and-white illustrations throughout.).