July non-fiction round-up

This month, Bookhugger’s publishers have a wide-ranging selection of non-fiction titles – from classical, pop and jazz music to exploration in hot and cold extremes, from a must-read history of philosophy to observations on the soul-sapping world of work, and countries in economic and environmental crisis.

The Booklist: I do like to be beside the seaside…

Summer is upon us, and we will flock to the coast to enjoy the breeze and avoid the worst of the heat, thronging on the beaches and piers, riding the rollercoasters and swimming in the sea. This month’s Booklist features titles with a seaside theme, though not necessarily donkey rides and sticks of rock.

Paul Collier on The Plundered Planet

Paul Collier’s The Bottom Billion had a profound impact on our thinking about global poverty. Now, with The Plundered Planet, he has set himself an even more ambitious goal: to reconcile the immediate needs of the world’s burgeoning population with a sustainable environmental future.

An extract from Talking to Zeus: My Year in a Greek Garden, by Jane Shaw

Jane Shaw was working as a volunteer in Chelsea’s famous Physic Garden when she earned a placement to work for a year on a very special organic garden in Greece. But this was to be no easy-going break in the Mediterranean…

You are here…

Learn more about your place in the great chain of being with this fantastic animation to celebrate the paperback release of Christopher Potter’s You Are Here. From the nucleii of your cells to the vastness of the universe, this will put you in your place!

Jarvis Cocker reads a story from David Eagleman’s Sum

In this startling book, David Eagleman shows us forty possibilities of life beyond death. With wit and humanity, he asks the key questions about existence, hope, technology and love. These short stories are full of big ideas and bold imagination – hear Jarvis Cocker read Descent of Species.

Lewis Wolpert on how we live and why we die

How do we move, think and remember? Why do we get ill, age and die? Distinguished biologist Lewis Wolpert explains how cells provide the answers to the fundamental questions about our lives, in conversation with George Miller.

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Sir John Lister Kaye on his definition of nature writing

Naturalist and conservationist Sir John Lister Kaye on what it means to him to be a nature writer.

February non-fiction round-up

The best of the new non-fiction covers such diverse topics as nature writing, how to make the right decisions, the television of the 1970s, the eternal struggle between journalists and politicians, and how dogs think!

The Candle Problem

‘The Candle Problem’ is a classic experiment created by the Austrian psychiatrist Karl Duncker in 1945.

We ask science writers Jonah Lehrer and Daniel Pink to explain what this exercise can teach us about creativity, motivation and decision making.

Charles Darwin and the voyage of the Beagle

James A. Secord talks about the purpose of the famous voyage of the Beagle, on which the young Charles Darwin was exposed to many of the sights and experiences which led him to formulate his ground-breaking theories.

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Science writer Marcus Chown on extraterrestrial life: “Where is everybody?”

Science writer Marcus Chown responds to the question first posed by Enrico Fermi – the Italian physicist who developed the first nuclear reactor – about the apparent absence of extraterrestrial life: “Where is everybody?”

December Non-fiction Round-up – Best of 2009

2009 was an amazing year for our publishers’ non-fiction lists. Here we focus on just a few of the wide-ranging titles that saw the light of day and the shelves of many.

Christopher Potter is here with insights in to the Universe

George Miller talks to Christopher Potter about You are Here: A Portable History of the Universe, a dazzling exploration of the universe and our relationship to it, as seen through the lens of today’s most cutting-edge scientific thinking.

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Graham Farmelo on The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Quantum Genius

Graham Farmelo talks about The Strangest Man, his biography of Paul Dirac, the greatest British physicist since Newton – and one of the strangest geniuses of the 20th century, who may have suffered from autism.

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An interview with Marcus Chown

George Miller talks to Marcus Chown about his urge to explain the inner workings of the universe, and the techniques that he uses to help people understand what’s going on…

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November Non-fiction Round-up

Memoirs, science and not fiction, fleeting meetings and long memories, interviews with writers, writing on art, commentary on the UK as it is now and the changes it’s gone through… all these and more are to be found in our November non-fiction list.

The Bookhugger Author Panel: Popular science

We asked three notable authors of popular science books about their craft? How do you strike the balance between your intended purpose and the complexities of the subject matter?

October non-fiction round-up

Truth can be stranger than fiction: whether it’s the science of the universe, the lives of real people as told to their diaries, or the secret history of Britain, there’s something in our non-fiction round-up for everyone this month.

Beatrix Potter’s Perthshire

Beatrix Potter needs no introduction – her art and life have been extensively examined in books and film. Potter spent time in Perthshire with her family in 1892, where she met and befriended naturalist Charles McIntosh; The Tale of Peter Rabbit was written in Dunkeld the next year.

Thomas Levenson Q&A

Thomas Levenson is the author of Newton and the Counterfeiter. Here, he sheds further light on why he felt compelled to write about Newton and ‘the scoundrel’, how much he enjoyed researching 18th-century London, and what new material the reader can expect to encounter in the book.

Andrew Lambert on Franklin

Andrew Lambert re-examines the life of Captain Sir John Franklin with his customary brilliance and authority. In this riveting story of the Arctic, he discovers a new Franklin: a character far more complex, and more truly heroic, than previous histories have allowed.