The bestselling author of Lost Connections and Stolen Focus takes a revelatory look at the new drugs transforming weight loss as we know it – sharing his personal experience on Ozempic and examining our ability to heal society's dysfunctional relationship with food, weight and our bodies.

In January 2023, Johann Hari started to inject himself once a week with Ozempic, one of the new drugs that produces significant weight loss. He wasn't alone – some predictions suggest that in a few years, one in four of the British population will be taking these drugs. While around 80 per cent of diets fail, someone taking one of the new drugs is likely to lose up to a quarter of their body weight in six months. To the drugs' defenders, this is a moment of liberation from a condition that massively increases your chances of diabetes, cancer and an early death.

Still, Hari was wildly conflicted. Can these drugs really be as good as they sound? Are they a magic solution – or a magical illusion? Finding the answer to this high-stakes question led him on a journey from Iceland to Minneapolis to Tokyo, and to interview the leading experts in the world on these issues. He found that along with the drugs' massive benefits come twelve significant potential risks. He also learned that these drugs radically challenge what we think we know about shame, willpower and healing.

These drugs are about to change our world, for better and for worse. Everybody needs to understand how they work – scientifically, emotionally and culturally. Magic Pill is an essential guide to the revolution that has already begun – and which one leading expert argues could be as transformative as the invention of the smartphone.

THE SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A SPECTATOR AND FINANCIAL TIMES BEST BOOK OF 2022 'If you read just one book about how the modern world is driving us crazy, read this one' TELEGRAPH 'This book is exactly what the world needs right now' OPRAH WINFREY 'A beautifully researched and argued exploration of the breakdown of humankind's ability to pay attention' STEPHEN FRY 'A really important book . . . Everyone should read it' PHILIPPA PERRY Why have we lost our ability to focus? What are the causes? And, most importantly, how do we get it back? For Stolen Focus, internationally bestselling author Johann Hari went on a three-year journey to uncover the reasons behind our shortening attention spans. He interviewed the leading experts in the world on attention, and learned that everything we think about this subject is wrong. We think our inability to focus is a personal failing - a flaw in each one of us. It is not. This has been done to all of us by powerful external forces. Our focus has been stolen. Johann discovered there are twelve deep causes of this crisis, all of which have robbed some of our attention. He shows us how in a thrilling journey that ranges from Silicon Valley dissidents, to a favela in Rio where attention vanished, to an office in New Zealand that found a remarkable way to restore our attention. Crucially, he learned how - as individuals, and as a society - we can get our focus back, if we are determined to fight for it.

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

'Brilliant for anyone wanting a better understanding of mental health' ZOE BALL

'This amazing book will change your life' ELTON JOHN

'Eye-opening' GUARDIAN

'Brilliant, stimulating, radical' MATT HAIG

'Wonderful' HILLARY CLINTON

'A game-changer' DAVINA MCCALL

'Extraordinary' DR MAX PEMBERTON

'Beautiful' RUSSELL BRAND

Depression and anxiety are now at epidemic levels. Why? Across the world, scientists have uncovered evidence for nine different causes. Some are in our biology, but most are in the way we are living today.

Lost Connections offers a radical new way of thinking about this crisis. It shows that once we understand the real causes, we can begin to turn to pioneering new solutions - ones that offer real hope.

NOW WITH A NEW AFTERWORD, THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND THE SOURCE OF THE VIRAL TED TALK

'Screamingly addictive' STEPHEN FRY

'Superb ... Thrilling story-telling' NAOMI KLEIN

'A powerful contribution to an urgent debate' GUARDIAN

What if everything we've been told about addiction is wrong? One of Johann Hari's earliest memories is of trying to wake up one of his relatives and not being able to. As he grew older, he realised there was addiction in his family. Confused, he set out on a three-year, thirty-thousand mile journey to discover what really causes addiction - and how to solve it.

Told through a series of gripping human stories, this book was the basis of a TED talk and animation that have been viewed more than twenty million times. It has transformed the global debate about addiction.