The fact that humanity shares a common fate on a crowded planet is the defining challenge of the 21st century, Sachs says. We are, as never before, crowded into an interconnected society of global trade, migration, conflict, risk of pandemic diseases, refugee movements and terrorism. Yet despite the all-embracing title and ambition, much of his book is about the need to tackle global poverty. Sachs plots the growth rates of about 70 countries against possible causes ranging from education attainments to fertility rate to social and racial factors. The fact that he rarely mentions governing regimes or political systems is revealing.

Indeed, you know Sachs lives in bubble when he states that the greatest potential to change the world is simply to overcome cynicism, by ending our misguided view of the world as an enduring struggle of “us” vs. “them” and instead embracing a new approach based on cooperation among nations and the dynamism and creativity of the nongovernmental sector.

For world leaders too busy to plough through this roadmap to solving all our problems, here is an abbreviated version: develop some sustainable systems of energy, land and resource use that avert the most dangerous trends of climate change, species extinction and destruction of ecosystems; stabilise the world population through voluntary reduction of fertility rates; end extreme poverty by 2025; and improve economic security within the rich countries as well. BF

The Writing on the Wall China and the West in the 21st century

By Will Hutton

According to Hutton, China lacks reason; that is, the values that the West credits to its 18th century Enlightenment – rule of law, an independent judiciary, freedom of the press, and democratic government. Communism is a debauched daughter of that Enlightenment and started as moral outrage at the iniquities of industrial capitalism, yet today China is without values. It sounds like a complacent rant except that the Enlightenment Hutton has in mind has been degraded by the West too. The message: the West and China need each other – and both need a new enlightening. RL

The Chinese Negotiator: How to succeed in the world’s largest market

By Robert M. March & Su-Hua Wu

Companies that hurled themselves into China based on the lure of enormous profits and vast numbers of consumers only to fail ignominiously include the likes of Pfizer, Novartos, Glaxo Wellcome, GM, Peugeot, AT&T, Maytag and Whirlpool – principally because they didn’t understand China, the Chinese and most importantly how to negotiate a business deal. This book is absolutely indispensable as a comprehensive guide to how to get the most from China, and has the added bonus of being well written. A must-read for anyone doing business in China. RL

The Elephant and the Dragon: The Economic Rise of India and China, and What It Means for the Rest of Us:

By Robyn Meredith

Meredith breezes through the recent histories of two nascent superpowers, bothembracing capitalism and globalisation, and assesses what the ‘rest of us’ (in other words, America) has to fear from both. Not much, thinks Meredith. The US will continue to gain from the undervalued yuan, with US firms profiting from cheap Chinese-made goods. Meanwhile, India, the world’s outsourcing capital, will continue to return most of its resulting profits to the US. Meredith also looks critically at their plans for the future, and concludes that as India and China can transform, so can the US. BF

China: Practical Advice on Entry Strategy and Engagement

Ed. Jonathan Reuvid

While this book won’t win many literary awards – and will have one of the year’s longest titles unless there is a Borat-inspired handbook for Kazakhstan–bound entrepreneurs – it is a superb nuts-and-bolts guide to cracking the Chinese market. There are must-read chapters on managing bank accounts and foreign exchange transactions; risk and IP management; managing joint ventures; and several personal perspectives on living and working in China. There are also several useful essays on the culture of business and, helpfully, contact details of, seemingly, everyone in the country. BF