Not my usual topic of choice when reading non-fiction, but it had been on my radar as something I thought I'd like to read for years. Goodreads kept recommending it, and I've picked it up in the bookshop a couple of times but it never made it home. I spotted it on the Libby app and it was checked straight out. Annoyingly, neither of the library services I'm a member of have the rest of the series electronically, but Devon libraries does have them physically. 

The book was absolutely fascinating and very information. I swear I learned more about the conflicts in the Middle East in 1o pages than I've ever learned in my entire life. I've also never been more ashamed to be a white British person - like, I knew colonialism caused a whole bunch of shit and we were responsible for it, but not quite to this extent. 

I was also blissfully unaware of quite how close the world is to devolving into entire chaos, and how many different countries either Russia or China have a hand in. It now feels like the slightest hair-trigger could cause what now feels like the entire world to spiral into war - because no matter where it happens, either China, Russia or the US is involved and then India or Japan or the UK would get involved

It actually started to trigger my main agoraphobia symptoms - the one I've spent the last two years working on of 'the world outside isn't safe - so I had to put it down for a while, which is why it's lost a half point. 

I will, however, still be picking up and reading the next book - but with the proviso it's going to be alternating read with something a little light and fluffy for the sake of my mental health