From Malcolm Gladwell to Richard Dawkins, here are the popular science and smart thinking books we've loved this year.
The smart thinking genre - that alchemical mix of psychology, science and philosophy - owes its reputation in large part to breakout bestsellers like Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point and The Signal and the Noise by Nate Silver. All three authors are back this year with terrific titles, alongside a bravura cultural history of money and an illuminating investigation into chance.
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The acclaimed author of modern classic Sapiens turns his attention to the power of information networks and their importance to human evolution in this insightful and entertaining tour de force.
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Reflecting on the psychological, social and physical consequences of a phone-based childhood, the author of the perennially bestselling The Righteous Mind delivers an eye-opening examination into the causes of the current mental health epidemic among young people.
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Returning to the themes of the seminal The Tipping Point twenty-five years after its original publication, Gladwell's revelatory volume examines modern society's turbocharged epidemics and how tipping points must be taken seriously if we want to create a better world.
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From hedge fund managers to blue-chip art collectors, the author of the bestselling The Signal and the Noise shines a penetrating light on 'the River' - the risk takers who are winning big in today's society.
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Charting the relationship between humans and money, McWilliams' eye-opening and entertaining volume ranges across trade, science, art and philosophy.
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A compelling investigation into the overarching importance of chance and randomness in both individuals' lives and the workings of society as a whole from the author of Corruptible.
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From learning to recognise 'frenemies' to the secrets of rewarding conversation strategies, this fascinating volume from the author of The Intelligence Gap lifts the lid on the science behind the effects of social connection, showing just how important our interpersonal life is to our health and longevity.
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From interviews with expert persuaders to the neuroscience of listening, the bestselling author of The Power of Habit draws from various sources to deliver an eye-opening, fact-based guide for how to communicate successfully, even in the most difficult circumstances.
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The third volume in Holiday's acclaimed Stoic Virtues series analyses the lives and values of figures such as Ulysses S. Grant and Marcus Aurelius in an insightful exploration of character, morality and conscience.
As Richard Dawkins traces natural selection in The Genetic Book of the Dead and Venki Ramakrishnan investigates human mortality in Why We Die, a light is shone on the much-misunderstood world of hormones by Max Nieuwdorp and Philip Ball explains what the cutting edge of biological research means for us.
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Revelatory and compelling, Ball's investigation into the frontline of cutting-edge biological research explores the remarkable things we now know about organisms, tissue and much more and how it can transform our lives.
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The prominent scientist and author of The Selfish Gene unpicks evolutionary code in this fascinating deep dive into Darwinian natural selection and how every creature's past can be read like a book.
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Thoroughly explaining the little-understood but all-pervasive subject of hormones, Professor Nieuwdorp covers everything you could possibly want to know from cradle to grave in a lively and accessible style.
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Blending medical science and ethical philosophy, Ramakrishnan's incisive and revelatory study into ageing and mortality draws from the latest cutting-edge research and thinking.
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Focusing on the three evolutionary biases of conformism, religiosity and tribalism, anthropologist Whitehouse lucidly explains how the facets of behaviour that have driven humanity's progress over millennia are now in danger of destroying the modern world.
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A brilliantly marshalled melange of popular science, nature writing, history and environmentalism, Bradley's definitive account of the power and majesty of the ocean holds important messages for our planet's future.
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Written with pace and a keen eye for pen portraits, Impossible Monsters comprises an engrossing account of the clash between laboratory and church that followed the discovery of the first dinosaur fossils.
From the inspirational and deeply moving account of a heart transplant to a shocking expose of the weight-loss drug industry, books on matters medical have made for astounding reading this year.
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Eye-opening and incredibly poignant, this tenderly written work from the author of Dear Life, tracks the process of a heart transplant through the intertwined stories of two extraordinary children.
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A timely and revelatory investigation into the phenomenon of weight-loss drugs from the author of Stolen Focus, Magic Pill draws from both Hari's personal experience and interviews with world-leading experts.
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The medical scientist and Head Nutritionist at ZOE unpacks exactly what we need to eat - and in what amounts - from conception to our senior years to maintain a healthy lifestyle in this pioneering volume.
The enduring magic and mystery of the stars and the solar system fuelled some stunning writing on space and astronomy this year, from Marcus Chown's enlightening exploration of black holes to Rebecca Boyle's wide-ranging tribute to the moon.
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Packed full of breathtaking images of the universe captured by the James Webb Space Telescope, this stunning volume from the renowned Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock brings the majesty of the cosmos to your coffee table.
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From being dismissed as too ridiculous to be true to taking cosmic centre stage, the remarkable story of black holes – and our evolving understanding of them – is engagingly chronicled in Chown's fascinating volume.
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From the Hubble Telescope to pulsars, the Sky at Night presenter traces the key astronomical discoveries of the past century in this endlessly enlightening and brilliantly accessible volume.
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An immersive history of humankind's relationship to the moon, Boyle's fascinating volume traces a path from prehistory through Copernicus and Galileo to the modern-day space race.
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Compiled and luminously illustrated by experts in astronomy, this charming guide to the celestial events of 2025 is a perfect present for all lovers of the night sky.
The facets of human dreams and memory were deftly analysed in two game-changing books this year from Rahul Jandial and Dr Charan Ranganath, whilst Daniel Tammet delivered a revelatory account of lives on the autistic spectrum.
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Based on up-to-the-minute neuroscientific discoveries, this jaw-dropping work from leading neurosurgeon Rahul Jandial examines the remarkable impact our dreams can have on our waking lives.
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A groundbreaking exploration of how and why memories are stored, this fascinating book from a leading neuroscientist sheds light on the latest discoveries in memory research and the quietly pervasive influence of memory on how we learn, make decisions and change.
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From a pioneering surgeon to a bestselling novelist, the nine minds explored in Tammet's revelatory study of the complexity and benefits of autism cast a life on the spectrum in an entirely new light.
From a light-hearted inquiry into trigonometry to a prescient warning about the dangers of artificial intelligence, discover the year's very best reading about mathematics and technology.
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The author of The Art of Statistics delivers a perceptive and eye-opening volume that presents the principles of probability as well as offering new and helpful perspectives on how to embrace uncertainty.
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From pulled-apart pop songs to the great pig stampede of 2012, the stand-up mathematician and author of Humble Pi presents a hilarious and highly informative guide to the wonders of trigonometry.
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From 3-D printing to machine learning, Quantum Leaps is an eye-opening and extremely readable examination of the mathematics behind modern technology from the author of Lying Numbers.
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As insightful as it is informative, this hugely accessible book from one of the great authorities in the field of artificial intelligence is an eye-opening exploration of how AI is serving and changing the world we live in.
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A timely and revelatory meditation on the complexities of artificial intelligence and automated decision-making , Code Dependent explores the enormous effect of powerful and often exploitative technologies on individuals, communities and society at large.
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A deep-dive into the race surrounding the invention and development of artificial intelligence, Supremacy is an astonishing behind-the-scenes story of the battle between two of the world's largest AI companies and its enormous consequences for us all.
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