Authenticity

Currently a Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the Policy Institute at King's College London and a director of an open source intelligence company, Alice Sherwood has undergraduate degrees in philosophy and in chemistry, an MBA from INSEAD, and an MA in literary criticism and narrative non-fiction. She has worked in business, investigative television documentary making, and education and multimedia production at the BBC. She is chair of the Rising Tide women's network, and has served as a trustee of the Hay Festival Foundation and the London Library. She lives in London and Wales.

Authenticity is Alice's first book. It won a Royal Society of Literature Giles St Aubyn Award for Non-Fiction in 2020.

'I loved this book. Fast, funny start, and absolutely fizzing with interesting ideas from art, science, history, commerce, fashion and beyond ... Most of the stories here were quite new to me, and all of them were fun and thought-provoking ... Strongly recommended'
Tim Harford, Timharford.com

'A sweeping and persuasive manifesto ... Sherwood's study takes in an astonishing range of subject matters ... This is a profoundly academic book, but ... the research is worn so lightly that it reads as easily as a work of popular science ... A witty and wide-ranging call to arms that ... turns out to be a pleasure' Literary Review

'All credit to Alice Sherwood for her courage, resourcefulness and sheer imagination ... What makes Authenticity so terrific is that she is in no way bound by the intellectual paradigms, scholarly maps or political assumptions of her predecessors. Indeed, the sheer breadth of her subject matter is extraordinary: from the lessons of evolution and the art world to ... the growing industry of fact-checking'
Matthew d'Ancona, Tortoisemedia.com

'Both thought-provoking and highly entertaining, with extraordinary and intriguing anecdotes' Royal Society of Literature, Giles St. Aubyn Awards

'Alice Sherwood is the real deal when it comes to exploring authenticity ... she takes the reader on a wonderful rollercoaster of a ride to prepare them to recognise what's real and what's illusion' Marcus du Sautoy

'Beautifully written, hugely readable and completely fascinating- a book for smart thinkers everywhere' Mary Ann Sieghart, author of The Authority Gap

'Authenticity demonstrates that although those who wish to deceive us sometimes seem to have the upper hand, it's down to the individual to fight for authenticity' Elliot Higgins, author of We Are Bellingcat

'This is a trailblazing book' Rory Sutherland