In the roll-call of student summer reading certain volumes stand out, including Desmond Morris's body language phenomenon The Naked Ape and Richard Bach's Jonathan Livingston Seagull. To those can be added a volume by Robert M Pirsig that snuggled its way into every hitchhiker's hand-crocheted body satchel. Unlike Bach, whose books were like being hit with a wiffle bat full of pot-pourri, Pirsig is the real deal. Born in 1928, this precocious university student was eventually expelled for studying too hard, after growing bewildered by the choice of multiple hypotheses in his chosen field, biochemistry. Overwhelmed by the limitations of science, he tackled Eastern philosophy instead, spending time in India before returning to a US college.

The Week in Books

Is Robert Langdon back in town?

Will Everton full-back Leighton Baines follow David Moyes to Manchester United? And what will the Everton manager's arrival at Old Trafford mean for Wayne Rooney?

Even Dante could not have conjured quite such a hellish punishment: for almost two months, 11 people were confined to an underground bunker in Italy and forced to read the new novel by Dan Brown – all day, every day. Brown's Inferno, which reportedly makes repeated reference to Dante's Inferno, is due for publication on 14 May.

Right-wing columnist launches her own branded merchandise as she takes on the American market

Your weekly guide to what's really going on in the world of books

Ebooks are not killing the publishing industry as feared by analysts. Quite the opposite, in fact, according to the latest sales figures which show the publishing industry in Britain is booming.

Financial Times owner Pearson today admitted underlying sales fell 1% to  £1.2 billion in the first quarter, against a 3% rise a year ago, in a sign of the tough task facing new chief executive John Fallon.

A magazine publisher and a photographer have been placed under formal investigation in France for allegedly invading the privacy of the Duchess of Cambridge.

Quercus pins hopes on Suggs

Government seeks to 'clarify the position' over smaller scale operations