If you only had 24 hours in Berlin, where would you go?

Berlin is a place where men set their dreams in stone, brick or concrete. It forever longed for a noble past yet its youthfulness always spurred it toward the future. My three Must Sees are architectural: Schinkel’s restored Neues Museum which can be read like a book, telling – through its original walls, all-but-lost classical frescos and soaring new spaces – the story of man’s ability to create, destroy and preserve; Daniel Libeskind’s twisted and tortured extension to the Jewish Museum; and the city’s only preserved (and unadorned) stretched of Cold War border fortifications at the Die Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer on Bernauer Strasse.

What's the best local secret you've come across?

Berlin may be an urban jungle but the city is surrounded by thousands of acres of woods. Krumme Lanke, and nearby Schlachtensee, are quiet, curving lakes encircled by broad, earthen footpaths and sandy beaches from which bathers step down to favourite coves. Only an UBahn ride away, if you can’t make to the edge of town, check out Café am Neuen See, a Seventies glass pavilion dropped into the Tiergarten park in the heart of the old West. Berliners have refined Sunday brunch into the planet’s most relaxing meal with croissants, conversation and contentment, all washed down with litres of strong coffee. 

What's your favourite historical moment connected to the city?

No musician has left such an indelible impression on Berlin as David Bowie. In the enclave of West Berlin in 1976, he hung out in clubs, bars and cafés, producing much of three extraordinary albums: Heroes, Low and Lodger. In the last months of his stay, while he finished the ‘Berlin Trilogy’, I spent evenings with him at Café Paris and Hauptstraße 155, the apartment where he lived for two years. 

What's the most surprising fact you learned while researching or writing the book?

Not to go to Berghain before 4am. The world capital of Techno, Berghain is a former power station converted into a sensational dance club.  The bass beat grips the chest and pounds the body in waves so powerful that – in the second when they stop – you feels like a dust mote floating up into the yawning cavern of the building.  All variety of sexual fantasies are indulged here, so bring both an open mind and ear plugs (which are essential and not considered uncool).

The Shortest History of Berlin by Rory MacLean is a vivid journey through the people, ideas and upheavals that have shaped one of the world’s most fascinating cities.

Follow Rory MacLean on Facebook at @rory.wander.maclean and on Instagram and Threads at @rory.maclean.writes.