My Monocle Books

How to Make a Nation: A Monocle Guide reveals all you need to make a happy, vibrant and successful nation. From designing a better parliament, choosing a flag and creating social capital to taking care of your young and old, using culture to gain soft power and devising a national brand, this is a book for anyone who fancies a stint as PM, wants to be a more engaged citizen or just believes they deserve good government. This is a book about the small and big things that can make our nations work better for everyone who calls them home. Our 340-page guide features original photography and illustrations printed on a selection of great papers and bound with a linen cover. Published by Gestalten. Gestalten is a Berlin-based publisher and produces high-quality editions in an environmentally friendly and resource-efficient manner.

The Monocle Guide to Good Business is a book for would-be business leaders, start-ups and established companies that feel it's time for some new ideas. It's a book to be used - write in the margins and turn over the corners of the pages. But don't expect management speak, nor miracles for untold riches. It's not a book about staging a revolution. It's a book about doing things well (from how you run the show to the pens you buy). And even taking your dog to work. The 300-page book features original photography and illustrations printed on a selection of the highest-quality papers; it's a handbook for those who want to make a company that will last. The Monocle Guide to Good Business is the ultimate reference for doing a job you love. Published by Gestalten. Gestalten is a Berlin-based publisher and produces high-quality editions in an environmentally friendly and resource-efficient manner.

This title is for anybody who has ever dreamed of setting up shop- or simply enjoys a spot of retail therapy. The 306-page guide is packed with specially commissioned photography, original essays and engaging interviews with industry experts. This way to the checkout.

The Monocle Book of Gentle Living is a handbook to help you think about how to reconnect, make good things happen, to do something you care about and discover nice places and extraordinary people along the way. Sometimes the fixes are simple and personal: to run, dive into a lake, sleep more or set aside some time with the people who make us happy. Maybe it's about eating food from producers who are proud of its provenance or building spaces into cities that respect older residents and value younger ones. Our editors have brought all this together in one simple book - so how about taking a few moments away from the crush to flick through the pages? Gently does it, now.

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. For more on these, plus other fresh perspectives and long reads, big thinking and perceptive titbits, pick up your copy today.

Back in 2007 the first issues of Monocle magazine hit newsstands and kiosks around the globe. At its core was a pledge to commission all original photography capturing the world on film, on the ground and in the moment. In the years since, Monocle has continued in its pursuit of documenting through its unique lens from embassies and personal residences to world leaders and cultural stars. Each issue has featured a dedicated image-led Expo section celebrating lesser-known locales, obscure events and curious characters through truly outstanding photography. Syrian cities, French legionnaires, Thai festival goers, brutalist architecture and private member’s clubs have all graced the pages of the magazine. The Monocle Book of Photography draws on the best of these visual stories from an archive a decade and a half in the making. A handsomely produced linen-bound edition, the book also features original reporting about each of the assignments, as well as first-hand accounts from the photographers and editors involved.

The Monocle Companion: Fifty Ideas for a Better World is our summery new paperback that’s brimming with cheery, thoughtful and canny ideas for leaving things better than we found them. The latest outing of our popular paperback format is ideal for enjoying on a sunlounger or popping into a tote to read on the go. It is packed with entertaining reads, insights and thoughts that might just nudge the world in a better direction. Here is just some of what you'll find under the covers: Why words matter, how to use them more clearly and what taking pictures can teach us all. Travelling better, how not to be an expat and the importance of friendship in a lonely world. The difficulty of doing nothing at all – and getting around it. What would happen if children ran our cities and how urban centres might survive the loss of workers. Why we need to trash the recycling symbol, go easy on greenwashers (really) and exercise our imagination. War and peas: food diplomacy and why it matters, and rethinking how we eat to save the planet. How to avoid losing sleep over technology and be in the moment with others. The importance of planting seeds and the lessons that gardens can teach us. A common-sense manifesto for businesses and entrepreneurship. How to rethink society for the better. First question: do we need the nation-state?

Coming hot on the heels of the best-selling The Monocle Book of Japan, our new book turns its focus to Italy. It's a country that feels comfortingly familiar for many, yet beyond the clich’s lies a complexity and variety that's perpetually surprising. For more than a decade, Monocle has roamed the length of the nation and The Monocle Book of Italy is the result of our dedicated reporting. Join us as we throw down our towels at the best beaches, sit front row at dazzling runway shows, call in at vineyards, gelato spots and furniture fairs, and maybe even hit a disco or two. See Italy through a whole new lens.

How do we make better cities places that work for people of all ages and backgrounds? How do we make cities that provide the obvious essentials great transport, good places to work as well as the softer elements that truly deliver quality of life, from urban swimming pools to rooftop clubs? In this joyful new book the magazine's editors unpack what makes a great city, whether you're looking for a new place to call home or need help fixing your own. Discover how you too can have a High Line, create the most covetable housing or turn a dirty river into a summer asset. Packed with great images and intriguing reports, this is a book that takes the urbanism debate away from city hall and explains what's needed in ways that will inspire us all.

What can we learn from ancient civilisations about planning and development? How does Tokyo keep its streets so tidy? And what does the perfect news kiosk look like? Find the answers to all of these questions and more in Fifty Ideas for Building Better Cities, the fourth instalment in Monocle’s Companion series. This paperback powerhouse is packed with fresh ideas, intrigue and insights about how to make your own patch more lively and liveable. Let’s make cities better.

In Monocle’s book, Swim & Sun, you'll find our pick of the places in which to cool off when the mercury rises and plenty to get you dreaming about your next dip. We celebrate the joys of diving into the ocean, leaping into a river and allowing your limbs to stretch – and your mind to clear – as you simply swim. In its visually stunning pages, the guide celebrates the sunny pleasures on offer at our favourite beach clubs, urban pools and lakeside bathing spots. Pick up a copy and jump in. The water’s perfect.