Contributors

Christopher Robbins is the author of five non-fiction books, including the award-winning The Empress of Ireland. He became intrigued by Kazakhstan sitting on an aeroplane next to an American from Arkansas on his way there to collect an Internet bride.

Jim Robbins is a frequent contributor to the science section of the New York Times. He has written for Vanity Fair,Sunday Times, Scientific American, Discover, Psychology Today and numerous other magazines. He lives in 20 acres of woods in Helena, Montana.

Martin Robbins is a writer and freelance journalist who worked in the tech industry for over a decade learning everything there is to know about how organizations fail.

His work has featured in the Guardian, New Statesman and Vice among others, and he has been shortlisted for a Comment Award for Best Foreign Commentator. He lives in Bedfordshire with his partner Kat and they hope to have a spaniel one day.

Dr Jacqueline Riding specialises in British history and art of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Formerly Assistant Curator at the Palace of Westminster and Director of the Handel House Museum, she is the Book Reviews Editor for The Art Newspaper, a consultant for museums, galleries, historic buildings, and historic adviser on feature films including Mike Leigh's Mr. Turner and Peterloo and Wash Westmoreland's Colette. Her books include Jacobites: A New History of the '45 Rebellion, Peterloo: The Story of the Manchester Massacre, Hogarth: Life in Progress and Hard Streets: Working-Class Lives in Charlie Chaplin's London.

Al Ries is one of the world's best-known marketing strategists. He is the co-author of such best-selling books as The Battle for your Mind; Marketing Warfare; and The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, and the author of Focus: The Future of Your Company Depends on It.

Laura Ries is a graduate of Northwestern University and a partner in the marketing strategy firm Ries & Ries. They act as consultants of major corporations, including Alcoa, Frito-Lay, Glaxo Wellcome, Merck and Pillsbury.

Peter Riley lectures in American literature at the University of Exeter, and the inaugural winner of the Profile-Aitken Alexander Prize. He has been investigating the world of the whale scavengers since his teens.

C. E. Riley is a writer and director of the literary festival, Primadonna, which is described as 'books, with a little bit of rock'n'roll' – a festival that showcases established and emerging voices that aren't heard enough in the mainstream. She lives in London, and has previously published two works of non-fiction. Is This Love? is her debut novel.

Thomas Rid is a professor at Johns Hopkins University. He is the author most recently of the acclaimed Rise of the Machines (2016), a history of cybernetics. He testified on disinformation in front of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Peter Riddell is the former director of the Institute of Government and current Public Appointments Commissioner for the British Government. He is a journalist and was a regular contributor to the Financial Times, where he was US Editor and Washington Bureau Chief until 1991, and the Times. Over his career, he has gained access to the innermost reaches of Whitehall and has written seven books and dozens of articles revealing the inner-workings of British Politics. This work earned him a President's Medal from the British Academy and, in 2012, a CBE.

Wilbert Rideau has won many journalism awards. He was editor of theAngolite, the first prison publication to be nominated for a National Magazine Award. It was nominated seven times under his editorship. He also co-directed the documentary The Farm which was nominated for an Oscar. He now lives in Louisiana.

Bill Ridgers is the business education editor at The Economist, editor of the Gulliver business travel blog and cricket editor for The Economist's sports blog. He has written and edited a number of reports on talent management, education and the cost of doing business. Prior to joining the newspaper, he edited the 'Which MBA?' guide for eight years.