Institute of Ideas Publications
- Books
- Battles in Print
- Culture Wars
- Debating Matters Topic Guides
For older publications, including the Debating Matters series, Occasional Papers, Policy Watch and Conversations in Print, visit the Publications Archive.
From the Institute of Ideas in association with 
In this provocative essay David Perks, head of physics at a London state secondary school, argues that attempts to make school science more popular by making it more ‘relevant’ are giving today’s students a watered-down science education that will not produce the scientists we need.
From IMPRINT ACADEMIC
A collection of essays by contributors to the Battle of Ideas 2005. For more information, go to the book's dedicated page.
Battles in Print
The IoI publishes a collection of essays to accompany its two-day interdisciplinary festival at the end of October, the Battle of Ideas. The Battles in Print are written by leading academics, journalists and practitioners in various professions from medicine to education, in an effort to present new ways into contemporary debates and to provide a year-long resource and material for reflection away from the festival itself.
The essays are specially commissioned by the Battle of Ideas editorial team. Bound selections of these essays are on sale from the Institute of Ideas: 2006 / 2007.
All the essays are available in electronic form from the Battles in Print section of the Battle of Ideas site. (NB: 2006 Battles in Print are archived on the old Battle of Ideas site. Click here.)
In addition to the specially commissioned Battles in Print, the Battle of Ideas site, maintained by the IoI, hosts a further resource in the form of its ‘Recommended Readings’, providing links to a multitude of invaluable sources on Battle of Ideas topics. The links to books, reviews, articles and essays aim to give background to and frame the debates at the festival.
Culture Wars
The IoI maintains an online reviews publication, Culture Wars. In line with the IoI’s aim of shaping the future through debate, Culture Wars publishes twice-weekly reviews of books, theatre, art, film and talks, as well as features, interviews and essays on aspects of contemporary culture and society. The site is edited by Dolan Cummings. Contributors are a combination of writers with an expertise in particular areas, arts practitioners, postgraduate students, often involved in other aspects of the Institute’s work. Culture Wars also has a thematic focus on religion and humanism, radicalism, public intellectuals and cultural policy. The publication combines critical reflection on particular work with a thematic approach, looking at how contemporary ideas are expressed through the culture.
Debating Matters Topic Guides
The IoI’s acclaimed sixth-form debating competition produces a Topic Guide for each and every debate. The guides contain a specially written introduction to the controversy at hand, followed by an extensive bibliography providing links to a variety of resources. Aside from simply framing the debate, the guides aim to provide a serious and challenging overview of the moral, legal, and technical complexities of the issues.
The Topic Guides cover questions such as ‘Free speech should stop where offence begins’, ‘The UK is right to resist the commercial planting of GM crops’, ‘The dangers of nanotechnology are being exaggerated’, ‘Protecting the public from terrorism should come before civil liberties’, and ‘Western museums should agree to requests to repatriate cultural artefacts.’ The topics are arranged according to three themes: Science and Society; Politics and Policy; and Arts and Culture.
