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Nature editor and Science Book Prize winner Henry Gee explores the future of our species and our probable extinction, while suggesting how, through technological innovation, we might indefinitely postpone our fate.
An epic account of the decades-long battle to control the world's most critical resource – microchip technology
In 1786, France’s ancien régime was functioning as usual. Its alliance with the victorious American colonies had restored its diplomatic prestige, the economy seemed to be flourishing, and internal politics seemed quiet. But just a few short years later, the dynasty which had ruled France for over 800 years was swept away. What happened to cause such devastating change to the long-established political structure? John Hardman traces the political history of the French Revolution, from its origins to its aftermath. Hardman argues that the nature of ancien régime politics, the mismanagement of the fiscal crisis, and a new generation of young, overly confident politicians brought the Bourbon monarchy’s apparatus crashing down.
How should we deal with nuclear weapons? The discovery of nuclear fission fundamentally changed the world order. Its power was harnessed, nuclear bombs invented, and the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed. In recurring international crises and calls for arms control, the threat of nuclear war has hung over humanity ever since. David Holloway traces how these weapons shaped the last century, from the US-Soviet arms race to the rivalry between India and Pakistan. Deterrence and intimidation, alliances and war plans, international treaties and organizations have all played their role. At the centre were political leaders – among them Truman, Kennedy, and Reagan, as well as Stalin, Khrushchev, and Gorbachev – who all had their fingers on the nuclear button.
In August 1940, a man walked into Leon Trotsky’s study in Mexico City and drove an ice pick into his skull. The killer? Ramon Mercader – an aristocratic Spaniard turned Soviet assassin. The mastermind? Joseph Stalin. But this was no simple hit. It was the climax of a decade-long global hunt: a story of seduction and betrayal, of fake identities and secret loyalties, of idealists and fanatics, lovers and spies. While Trotsky raged in exile – still clinging to his revolutionary dream – Stalin’s agents closed in. And at the heart of it all was Mercader: a man trained to lie, charm and ultimately to kill.
Beautiful, sensuous and enigmatic, great carpets follow power Emperors, shahs, sultans and samurai crave them as symbols of earthly domination. Shamans and priests desire them to evoke the spiritual realm. The world’s 1% hunger after them as displays of extreme status. And yet these seductive objects are made by poor and illiterate weavers, using the most basic materials and crafts; hedgerow plants for dyes, fibres from domestic animals, and the millennia-old skills of interweaving warps, wefts and knots. In this book, Dorothy Armstrong tells the histories of some of the world’s most fascinating carpets, exploring how these textiles came into being then were transformed as they moved across geography and time in the slipstream of the great.
From its emergence in seventh century Arabia, Islam has been a faith on the move.Over the span of a thousand years, armies, missionaries, and merchants carried it to the edges of Europe, the coasts of Southeast Asia and the remote interior of China. From the Arab caliphate to the Mongol empire, from West Africa to the Philippines, Islam was a world-shaping force. By the nineteenth century, Muslims lived everywhere from South Africa to North America. In the age of European empires, through two World Wars and a Cold War, and into the globalised and fractured 21st century, Muslims lived through global conflicts and everyday struggles for adaptation and survival. Historian James McDougall charts the epic global story of Islam’s origins and transformations, as Muslims adapted to their changing times from late antiquity to the digital age, constantly remaking their own worlds as the wider world around them changed.
A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
A Waterstones Best Nature & Travel Writing Book 2025
‘Educational, smart and funny’ Richard Osman
‘This book is superb’ Charlie Brooker
‘Brilliant. Fascinating. Hilarious.’ Jonn Elledge, bestselling author of A History of the World in 47 Borders
In ‘Tracks on the Ocean’, Sara Caputo tells how our journeys around the globe became fixed lines on maps – and how journey lines themselves reshaped maps and the way that we view the world. From Captain Cook’s route across the South Seas to the disorientating power of digital technology, the tracks we’ve left on the oceans – trading, exploring and conquering – are a hidden record of humanity’s impact on the planet. Revealing their histories, Caputo uncovers a fascinating new history of maritime travel and modernity. Weaving human history, cartography, literature and climate science, ‘Tracks on the Ocean’ reveals how, on the path to discovery, we have changed the world.
Make room Herodotus, stand down Bede, pipe down Pepys – there’s a new history book in town. From the chart-topping podcast The Rest is History, a whistle-stop tour through the past – from Alexander the Great to Tolkien, the Wars of the Roses to Watergate. The nation’s favourite historians Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook take on the most curious moments in history, answering the questions we didn’t even think to ask: Did the Trojan War actually happen? What was the most disastrous party in history? Was Richard Nixon more like Caligula or Claudius? How did a hair appointment almost blow Churchill’s cover? Why did the Nazis believe they were descended from Atlantis?
‘Sapiens’ showed us where we came from. ‘Homo Deus’ looked to the future. ’21 Lessons for the 21st Century’ explores the present. How can we protect ourselves from nuclear war, ecological cataclysms and technological disruptions? What can we do about the epidemic of fake news or the threat of terrorism? What should we teach our children? Yuval Noah Harari takes us on a thrilling journey through today’s most urgent issues.
We live in a time of unprecedented upheaval, when technology and so-called progress have made us richer but more uncertain than ever before. We have questions about the future, society, work, happiness, family and money, and yet no political party of the right or left is providing us with answers. So, too, does the time seem to be coming to an end when we looked to economists to help us define the qualities necessary to create a successful society. We need a new movement. Rising to the challenge, Rutger Bregman outlines his vision for a truly egalitarian society.
The No. 1 Sunday Times and international bestseller: 10th Anniversary Edition, with a new introduction and conclusion.
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