13th June 2025


the 20th century has shaped him and his community.


Catherine Clarke A History of England in 25 Poems


Allen Lane, 4th, £25, HB, 9780241765982


Including both famous poems but also little- known ones, this gifty alternative telling of English history from the Great Fire of London to the miners’ strike suggests 25 poems which invite immersive encounters with different periods.


Nikita Gill Hekate: The Witch Simon & Schuster, 16th, £18.99, HB, 9781398537149


Since I interviewed her for The Bookseller in 2017, the work of Irish-Indian poet Gill has burgeoned in popularity and she now has 750,000 Instagram followers for her poems, which centre on women in both Greek and Hindu myth, as well as folklore. This is her vivid and propelling retelling of the story of Greek goddess Hekate – child of war turned goddess of witchcraft and necromancy. The package looks gorgeous.


Robert Minhinnick (ed, trans) Alcatraz: Poems from the Contemporary Welsh


Carcanet, 25th, £15.99, PB, 9781800175037


This dual-language collection features a range of Welsh language poets and explores cultural concerns ranging from space exploration to warfare, and offers perspectives on both immigration and “cultural suffocation”.


Paul Muldoon (ed) Scanty Plot of Ground: A Book of Sonnets


Faber, 11th, £14.99, HB, 9780571373444


Including the work of John Donne, Elizabeth Bishop, WB Yeats and many more, the distinguished Irish poet collects his candidates for the greatest sonnets ever written across many centuries.


Kevin Young Night Watch Jonathan Cape, 4th, £13, PB, 9781787335271


Culture and poetry editor of the New Yorker, US writer Young is also the director of the Smithsonian National Music of African American History. This “richly evocative” new collection focuses on African- American identity,


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“rippling with timely and devastating truths about the insidious nature of the American nation”.


Popular science & technology


James Bluemel Once Upon a Time in Space


BBC, 25th, £27, HB, 9781785949807


Accompanying a new documentary series from BAFTA- award-winning director Bluemel, a lavishly illustrated history of 50 years of human space exploration, centring on the oral testimonies of the astronauts, scientists, engineers, astro-theorists, space tourists and entrepreneurs who lived it.


Jonas Enander Facing Infinity: Black Holes and Our Places on Earth


Atlantic, 4th, £18.99, HB, 9781805464662


A Swedish bestseller, this is billed as the most up-to-date book on black holes, taking in the latest scientific findings and also featuring interviews with more than 20 leading black hole researchers, including several Nobel Laureates.


Michael D Gurven Seven Decades: How We Evolved to Live Longer


Princeton UP, 16th, £30, HB, 9780691231990


Challenging the belief that life in the past was “nasty, brutish and short”, this uncovers new evidence for the evolutionary origins of human longevity and explains why growing old is an opportunity not a burden.


Nick Foster Could, Should, Might, Don’t: How We Think About the Future


Canongate, 11th, £20, HB, 9781837263806


How might we think about the future with greater rigour? The US designer and writer who has worked with leading technology companies encourages us to create more balanced, detailed and truthful versions of the future so we can improve what we leave behind for those who follow.


Marcus Hall Our Bodies, Our Planet: A Parasite’s History of Us


Reaktion, 1st, £20, HB, 981836391074


“Singular, surprising” account of how parasites and parasitic relationships are fundamental to life on earth and to human


history, with far-reaching cultural, biological and geophysical consequences.


Anjana Khatwa The Whispers of Rock: Stories from the Earth


The Bridge Street Press, 4th, £25, HB, 9780349128856


From the sacred stones of Stonehenge to the rose red city of Petra, this “revelatory” approach to geology by an award- winning earth scientist and TV presenter explores humanity’s profound relationship with rocks through the millennia.


Michaela Vieser, Isaac Yuen The Sound Atlas: A Guide to Strange Sounds Across Landscapes and Imagination


Reaktion, 1st, £14.99, HB, 9781836391104


Blending history, science and personal reflection, these 36 essays explore the profound cultural significance of sounds; from outer space to the crackle of Arctic sea ice and the singing pillars of Hampi.


Judith and Marcus Weber, Elizabeth Schwaiger (trans) The Ups and Downs of Physics: The Science of the World Around Us


Greystone, 9th Oct, £19.99 HB, 9781778400643


Why do bridges sway in the wind? Why do doorknobs sometimes produce shocks? This “spectacular and humorous” guide to the physics of the world around us is related in charming, conversational style by the husband and wife authors.


Eliezer Yudkowsky, Nate Soares If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: The Case Against Superintelligent AI


Bodley Head, 18th, £22, HB, 9781847928924


In this portentous but important sounding book, two influential thinkers on artificial intelligence come together to explain why superintelligent AI is a global suicide bomb, being developed by labs with no adequate plan or policies for tackling the “greatest threat to our existence that we have ever faced”.


Psychology


Steven Pinker When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows…: Common Knowledge and the Science of Harmony, Hypocrisy and Outrage


Allen Lane, 23rd, £25, HB, 9780241618820


The renowned cognitive scientist returns to explain the logic and psychology of “common knowledge”; that is, how we think about each other’s thoughts. The ways in which we try and get into each other’s heads, he argues, have a profound impact on our social, political and economic lives, with harmonies, hypocrisies and outrages all the result.


Reference & quiz books


GT Karber, Daniel Donohue, Dani Messerschmidt, Amin Osman


Bordergrams: 80 Secret Spy Connection Puzzles Souvenir, 11th, £12.99, PB, 9781805226147


From the award-winning creator of UK Christmas number one Murdle, this brand-new puzzle series combines spycraft, cryptic clues and a dystopian landscape with Connections-style puzzles as Agent B joins mysterious organisation, The Division, which is working to restore order to a chaotic, dystopian world. Do you have what it takes to join its ranks and restore order to chaos?


Sheehan Quirke The Cultural Tutor: Everything You Wish You Had Been Taught at School in Forty-Nine Lessons


Viking, 4th, £18.99, HB, 9780241742853


Quirke started his The Cultural Tutor Twitter account in 2022 with the aim of democratising elite knowledge and wisdom, and has since amassed more than 1.5 million followers. His first book is structured around seven pillars of culture and 50 short lessons and provides a witty and engaging cultural primer on subjects from Plato to Lionel Messi.


Angas Tiernan, Liam Runnalls Minute Cryptic: Over 160 Wordplay Puzzles to Decipher, Unlock and Untangle


Ebury, 4th, £16.99, PB, 9781529958379


Minute Cryptic is an Instagram and YouTube platform where Tiernan shares a daily video on how to solve a cryptic crossword clue. Billed as the new Wordle, this contains a plethora of cryptic word puzzles to solve.


Sport


Boris Becker Inside HarperCollins, 25th, £22, HB, 9780008737795


Forty years on from his first Wimbledon triumph, the tennis champ offers a “raw and unflinching” account of his time behind bars after being sent to prison over bankruptcy charges. He confronts the choices that led him there, reflecting on his past mistakes and the price of fame in this “sports memoir like no other”.


Björn Borg Heartbeats: A Memoir Sphere, 18th, £25, HB, 9781408722312


For the first time, the famously reclusive tennis player shares his story in a “tell-all” memoir, looking back at his career, and providing insights into his famous rivalry with John McEnroe, his shock retirement at the age of 26, his uncomfortable relationships with fame, and more.


Mikos Gouka Arne Slot: The New Era: The Definitive Biography of Liverpool’s New Hero


Seven Dials, 28th Aug, £22, HB, 9781399634267


Drawing on unparalleled access to Liverpool manager Slot, his current and former players and his family and friends, along with interviews with the man himself, this “impeccable” biography charts his career in football.


David Hendon Pots of Gold: A History of Snooker


Swift, 25th, £20, HB, 9781800753525


Billed as the only comprehensive modern history of snooker and written by a veteran snooker journalist and commentator, this shows how the fortunes of snooker have mirrored wider changes in British society.


Liverpool FC 20: The Official Liverpool FC Celebration


Ebury Spotlight, 11th, £26, HB, 9781529970708


The official celebration of Liverpool FC’s 20 Premier League titles, told in the club’s own words. Includes exclusive interviews with the players, more than 200 photographs and a foreword by Arne Slot.


Books New Titles: Non-Fiction


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