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Politicians, environmentalists and special interest groups all strive to sway public opinion. But what exactly is “the public”? Philosopher Alastair Hannay’s On the Public (Routledge, £8.99) is an interesting short guide. The internet, he points out, touted as the ultimate public space, lacks the one thing that made the ancient Greek agora political and public: the physical presence of your peers. You can pursue this idea with Thomas Hughes, who thinks about technology and how it shapes culture in Human-Built World (University of Chicago Press, £9.50/$13).