The Monocle Companion: Fifty Essays for a Brighter Future is brimming with canny, clever and upbeat ideas – modest, big and world-changing – to improve everything from our daily lives to public discourse and how to solve some thorny problems that the world faces. The second outing of our popular paperback format is packed with knowing nudges, inspiring ideas and positive suggestions for fixing things.

Here is just some of what you’ll learn:

– How to look forward with hope and why regret can be a constructive emotion.

– How to go off-grid. Small communities share big ideas for solving the energy crisis.

– What is driving the future of architecture, the bits between buildings and some achievable ways to be greener and tread a little lighter as we go.

– Why world leaders should care more about how we feel than what we earn.

– Whether national service is really worth fighting for.

– Why climbing a tree or solving a problem could teach us more than the current curriculum.

– Why the current course of technology is boring and how building human interaction into it is cause for cheer.

– Why there isn’t an app for everything – and shouldn’t be.

– Lifelong learning is important to all our futures. Throwing a pot or attending an art class might just change your world.

– How new habits – rather than revolutions – will nudge the world in a better direction.

– Why we mostly agree about the important things but get caught up in the differences. A blueprint for healthier conversations.