A handbook for the new decade: a book that helps you think about how to slow down, reconnect and live a gentler life.

Monocle has always been a champion of taking it slow. It has encouraged readers to dive into a lake and go for a run. To sleep well. To eat food whose makers are proud of its provenance. In a shouty, jabbing-finger moment in history, it has done its bit to argue for a new modern etiquette to be generous with our time, hospitality and forgiveness.

Now its editors and correspondents have brought all of this together in The Monocle Manifesto for a Gentler Life, a book that urges us all to slow down, reconnect, make good things and see nice places. And it also knows when to wear a cheeky smile. Chapters include:

• An illustrated guide to being nice, respecting your neighbour and controlling your social media rants. 
• Profiles of the happiest nations – and the least lonely too.
• How to build a house that’s good for you and your family.
• Essays from leading thinkers and great writers on what we can gain if we shift gear.
• The businesses charting a better course – from management to pride in production.
• Food – a celebration of the locally made, the chefs that bring people together and a recipe or two.
• The objects to own that will give pleasure for years.
• The people who changed direction, slowed down and made it work.
• The compact cities where you can run a company, be inspired, have a good social life – and be hiking in a forest at 5pm.