Sloth, wrath, envy, gluttony, greed, lust and vanity take centre stage in this enticing, beautifully illustrated anthology in which seven writers wrestle with the complexities of sin and explore its manifestations from mythology to the modern world. "Two things awe me most, the starry sky above me and the moral law within me," wrote philosopher Immanuel Kant, an epigraph to this engrossing book whose contributors perceptively probe how external forces of historical and social context influence views on "the moral law within".

What exactly do we mean by sin? The trickier to define, the more fascinating, argues Alex Clark in the engaging preface. A whole palette of emotion is captured as writers explore extremes of human desire. The border between sloth and laziness is wittily patrolled by Todd McEwen, who philosophises on fulfilling potential, and makes a rousing polemic on political idleness. John Sutherland eruditely distils 1,400 years of thinking on wrath. Martin Rowson's pictorial response to gluttony is deliciously graphic. Dylan Evans argues the potential virtues of greed and traces shifting perceptions of "vice" to "psychological problem". David Flusfeder writes seductively about lust, and Nicola Barker's examination of vanity is powerful in its playful typography.

"Telling stories is one of the only tools we have for dealing with envy," asserts the narrator in Ali Smith's excellent short story "The Modern Psyche", which interweaves wisdom on the green-eyed monster from Ovid to Melanie Klein.

It needn't be a guilty pleasure to enjoy reading these entertaining, educative pieces about the thin line between virtue and vice.