Art Hardy’s œuvre majeure is one of the most innovative and genre-defying books I’ve read. Like the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy but with an existential twist, it’s a journey through space and time to arrive at the truth of life’s essential purpose for every human species—or ‘self-actualisation’, the ‘cosmic challenge’ of every world. At times witty and wonderful, at times dark and beguiling, we are treated to a kind of cosmic simulation game that progresses through each chapter like building a fictional Sim City. I’ve certainly never a read a book before that manages to interweave history, sociology, environmentalism, philosophy, psychology, and of course economics with the most unique brief history of capitalism. Inspiring stuff! There is also an endless creativity with the depiction of so many different worlds and races, often hilariously like the community of Pofta on Planet Skylor—just brilliant. It certainly deserves a place on everyone’s bookshelves, and an audiobook narrated by Stephen Fry!

—Adam Parsons, UK

"The Tension Dynamic is Arthur C. Clark meets Harari meets Nietzsche meets H.G. Wells. It's a weird and totally original book - one worth staying up for. The end is literally in a different galaxy from the beginning, and there's so much packed in that the book is an education for sure. It certainly goes places and is a lesson in perspective that I hadn't come across. Recommended reading."

Helen McLean, UK