World markets crashing, economies collapsing and a rolling snowball of bailouts – it seems all the safe havens have well and truly disappeared. And while we’re all watching our own pennies as the weekly Sainsbury’s shop creeps up at no slow pace, it’s easy to start panicking.

Then you read that the US deficit is 15 trillion dollars. 15 trillion! What exactly is this fathomless number? And what would it look like piled up in oh, let’s say my bank account. Here’s a rather terrifying but fascinating snapshot to put it in perspective: click here to picture a trillion dollars…

In the meantime, if you’d like to bury yourself in a book and forget about the financial meltdown for a few hours, may I point you in the direction of the Amazon Kindle summer sale where you can buy hundreds of books for bargain prices – including our fab summer holiday read for only 99p! Perfect for reading while lazing by the beach…or even in your own back garden if your lottery win hasn’t come in yet.  In any case, a cheap way to escape reality for a while.

Lara Crisp, Managing Editor