The Brilliant Abyss by Helen Scales; Below the Edge of Darkness by Edith...
Two books on the mysteries of the deep ocean take very different approaches in stressing the urgent need for conservationDivers investigating an underwater canyon off California made a startling...
View ArticleFemi Fadugba: ‘There’s no reason why Peckham couldn’t be the theoretical...
The physicist‑turned-YA novelist talks about choosing to set The Upper World in south London, and how it was snapped up by Daniel Kaluuya for NetflixRead an extract from The Upper World belowHad it not...
View ArticleParadise regained in the New Forest: no planes, no people. Just one man and...
A cameraman who recorded the lives of a goshawk family in the New Forest during lockdown saw them as a symbol of hopeThere were moments last spring when wildlife cameraman James Aldred felt guilty...
View ArticleIn brief: The Island of Missing Trees; Tunnel 29; Vesper Flights – review
A powerful novel with a Cypriot backdrop, the thrilling story of a cold war escape and astute essays from nature writer Helen MacdonaldElif ShafakViking, £14.99, pp368Continue reading...
View ArticleThe best books about the post-human Earth
From Mary Shelley’s sole survivor to David Farrier’s survey of the traces we leave behind … author Cal Flyn on the most potent predictionsWe humans have a profound impact on the world around us. Bob...
View ArticleLife’s Edge by Carl Zimmer review – what does it mean to be alive?
This profound meditation on the science of life explores where it has come from and how it evolves At a medical research laboratory in California, Alysson Muotri has used chemistry to change skin cells...
View ArticleCan ‘smart thinking’ books really give you the edge?
Trust your gut, boost your memory, de-bias your decision making… can we train our brains to perform better? The world out there can often seem as though it is hurtling to hell in a handcart: people are...
View ArticleBeing You by Professor Anil Seth review – the exhilarating new science of...
Our world and the self are constructions of the brain, a pioneering neuroscientist argues For every stoner who has been overcome with profound insight and drawled, “Reality is a construct, maaan,” here...
View ArticleCrude Britannia by James Marriott and Terry Macalister review – a harrowing read
A story of missed opportunities and industrial decline is told with rare insight and vivacityThis November the eyes of the world will turn to Glasgow. “Cop26 meeting is last chance, says Alok Sharma as...
View ArticleThe Story of Work and The Man Who Mistook His Job for His Life review – pride...
Nine to five for 700,000 years: two books show that working life is all about cooperation, whether hunting prey or a pay riseHunting is hard. You have to run fast, for miles, often in the heat of the...
View ArticleBeing a Human review – two go mad in the stone age
Charles Foster’s search for the meaning of human life leads him and his son to become hedgehog-eating hunter-gatherers in a Derbyshire woodCharles Foster’s previous book, Being a Beast, is one of the...
View ArticleWalking the Invisible by Michael Stewart review – following in the Brontës’...
A walking tour of the north of England becomes a celebration of the Brontës’ work and a love letter to the wily, windy places that inspired them I walked recently through the North York Moors national...
View ArticleSocial Warming by Charles Arthur review – a coolly prosecutorial look at...
Social media giants contribute to global conflicts and allow misinformation. How have they gained so much control, and what is that doing to our lives?It’s good to remember that every time Mark...
View ArticleThe Sea Is Not Made of Water by Adam Nicolson review – of mollusc and men
This lyrical dive into rock pools illuminates the interconnectedness of all natural habitatsThere’s a WTF moment about a third of the way through Adam Nicolson’s new book, The Sea Is Not Made of Water....
View ArticleWritten in the wild: the best radical nature writing
From This Land Is Our Land to Why Rebel, the message is that if we take heed of the natural world, we can heal ourselvesEnglish nature writing can be a bit polite. Decorating nature with adjectives has...
View ArticleThis Is Your Mind on Plants by Michael Pollan review – the trip of a lifetime
This fascinating insight into our relationship with mind-altering plants weaves personal experimentation with cultural historyMichael Pollan has written for many years, brilliantly, about our...
View ArticleSpike by Jeremy Farrar and Anjana Ahuja; and Vaxxers by Sarah Gilbert and...
Two urgent and fascinating accounts from the frontlines show how scientists succeeded, and failed, at saving us from Covid-19What did you do in the pandemic, Mummy and Daddy? Memoirs by battered...
View Article12 Bytes by Jeanette Winterson review – how we got here and where we might go...
Twelve essays drawing on years of research into artificial intelligence ask challenging questions about humanity, art, religion and the way we live and loveIn Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein, a...
View ArticleSpike: The Virus v the People review – Sage scientist’s revelatory Covid memoir
Jeremy Farrar’s account of the spread of the pandemic, in particular his view of government policy and fears about the virus’s origins, is genuinely shockingIt cannot be easy keeping confidences when...
View ArticleThe Brilliant Abyss by Helen Scales; Below the Edge of Darkness by Edith...
Two books on the mysteries of the deep ocean take very different approaches in stressing the urgent need for conservationDivers investigating an underwater canyon off California made a startling...
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