I have been through all the catalogue that I can lay my hands on and these are the books that I am most looking forward to reading next year. I even have a couple of them already! Any take your fancy?
Bloomsbury
Burning The Sky: Project Argus, The Most Dangerous Scientific Experiment In History by David Sumpter
Around The World In 80 Trains: A 45,000-Mile Adventure by Monisha Rajesh
A Vicious Wonderland: Travels In Burma by David Eimer
Mudlarking: In Search Of London’s Past Along The River Thames by Lara Maiklem
Coastal Britain: England And Wales – Celebrating The History, Heritage And Wildlife Of Britain’s Shores by Stuart Fisher
Tracking The Highland Tiger: In Search Of Scottish Wildcats by Marianne Taylor
The Gentle Art Of Tramping by Stephen Graham
Mountain Man: 446 Mountains. Six Months. One Record-Breaking Adventure by James Forrest
Take The Slow Road: England And Wales by Martin Dorey
Clearing The Air: The Beginning And The End Of Air Pollution by Tim Smedley
Superheavy: Making And Breaking The Periodic Table by Kit Chapman
Skateboarding And The City: A Complete History by Iain Borden
The Wind At My Back: A Cycling Life by Paul Maunder
Bodley Head
Now We Have Your Attention: Inside The New Politics by Jack Shenker
In Praise Of Walking by Shane O’Mara
Canongate
Salt On Your Tongue: Women And The Sea by Charlotte Runcie
Quicksand Tales: The Misadventures Of Keggie Carew by Keggie Carew
When: The Scientific Secrets Of Perfect Timing by Daniel H. Pink
The Chronology Of Water by Lidia Yuknavitch
Unspeakable: The Things We Cannot Say by Harriet Shawcross
London Made Us: A Memoir Of A Shape-Shifting City by Robert Elms
Outpost by Dan Richards
The Story Of Looking by Mark Cousins
A Human’S Guide To The Cosmos by Jo Marchant
Constable
A Road For All Seasons by Harry Bucknall
A Walk Across The Rooftops by Dom Joly
Ebury Press
Earth From Space: Epic Stories Of The Natural World by Michael Bright And Chloe Sarosh
I Never Knew That About Coastal England by Christopher Winn
This Nation’s Saving Grace by Stuart Maconie
Eland
The Innocent Anthropologist: Notes From A Mad Hat by Nigel Barley
A Plague Of Caterpillars: A Return To The African Bush by Nigel Barley
Not A Hazardous Sport: Misadventures Of An Anthropologist In Indonesia by Nigel Barley
Faber & Faber
The Universe Speaks In Numbers: How Modern Maths Reveals Nature’s Deepest Secrets by Graham Farmelo
All Together Now: One Man’s Walk In Search Of His Father And A Lost England by Mike Carter
Gollancz
The Shadow Captain by Alastair Reynolds
Granta
The Way To The Sea: The Forgotten Histories Of The Thames Estuary by Caroline Crampton
Choked: The Age Of Air Pollution And The Fight For A Cleaner Future by Beth Gardiner
Not Working: Why We Have To Stop by Josh Cohan
Island Song by Madeline Bunting
Hamish Hamilton
Underland by Robert Macfarlane
Irreplaceable: The Fight To Save Our Wild Places by Julian Hoffman
Head Of Zeus
Cage Of Souls by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Money For Nothing: The South Sea Bubble And The Invention Of Modern Capitalism by Thomas Levenson
The Royal Society And The Invention Of Modern Science by Adrian Tinniswood
The Book Of Kells by Victoria Whitworth by Female by
The Making Of Walnut Tree Farm by Rufus Deakin And Titus Rowlandson
Hodder
The Intelligence Trap: Why Smart People Do Stupid Things And How To Avoid Them by David Robson
The Science of Fate: Why Your Future Is More Predictable Than You Think by Dr Hannah Critchlow
The Supernavigators: How Creatures, Great And Small, Find Their Way by David Barrie
Icon Books
Six Impossible Things by John Gribbin
ArtArtificialtelligence by Yorik Wilks
Survellience Valley by Yasha Levine
Beyond Coincidence by Martin Plimmer & Brian King
The Big Ones by Lucy Jones
The Spy In Moscow Station by Eric Haseltine
Influx Press
Mothlight by Adam Scovell
Built On Sand by Paul Scraton
Jo Fletcher
Lost Acre by Andrew Caldecott
John Murray
The Human Tide: How Population Shaped The Modern World by Paul Morland
The Stonemason: An Insider’s History Of Britain’s Buildings by Andrew Ziminski
Unthinkable: An Extraordinary Journey Through The World’s Strangest Brains by Helen Thomson
The Brief Life Of Flowers by Fiona Stafford
Jonathan Cape
Time Song: Searching For Doggerland by Julia Blackburn
Little Toller
Woods Of The Helford River by Oliver Rackham
Living With Trees by Robin Walter
Little, Brown
Cold Warriors by Duncan White
Macmillon
The Warship by Neal Asher
Children Of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky
I Spy: My Life In MI5 by Tom Marcus by Male
Michael Joseph
The Glass Woman by Caroline Lea
A History Of Britain In 12 Maps by Philip Parker
Oneworld
Weirder Maths At The Edge Of The Possible by David Darling And Agnijo Banerjee
The Way Home: Tales Of A Life Free From Technology by Mark Boyle
Orbit
The Rosewater Insurrection by Tade Thompson
Penguin
Agency by William Gibson by Male
A Fistful Of Shells: West Africa From The Rise Of The Slave Trade To The Age Of Revolution by Toby Green
The Demon In The Machine by Paul Davies by Male
Humble Pi: A Comedy Of Maths Errors by Matt Parker
Upheaval: How Nations Cope With Crises (Or Don’t) by Jared Diamond
Licence To Be Bad: How Economics Corrupted Us by Jonathan Aldred
Picador
Nature’s Mutiny: How The Little Ice Age Transformed The West And Shaped The Present by Philipp Blom
Profile
Chasing The Sun: How The Science Of Sunlight Shapes Our Bodies And Minds by Linda Geddes
A Farmer’s Diary A Year At High House Farm by Sally Urwin
Keirin: War On Wheels: Inside Japan’s Cycling Subculture by Justin Mccurry
The Forager’s Calendar: A Seasonal Guide To Nature’s Wild Harvests
Working With Nature Saving And Using The World’s Wild Places by Jeremy Purseglove
Robinson
Empty Planet by Darrell Bricker & John Ibbitson
10 Women Who Changed Science, And The World by Catherine Whitlock & Rhodri Evans
All The Ghosts In The Machine by Elaine Kasket
Talking To Robots by David Ewing Duncan
Square Peg
Wild London by Sam Hodges And Sophie Vickers
How To Catch A Mole: And Find Yourself In Nature by Marc Hamer
The Bodley Head
Origins: How The Earth Made Us by Lewis Dartnell by Male
Transworld
Sunfall by Jim Al-Khalili
Still Water: Reflections On The Deep Life Of The Pond by John Lewis-Stempel
Viking
Walking: One Step At A Time by Erling Kagge
W&N
Out Of The Woods by Luke Turner
Syria’s Secret Library by Mike Thomson
Like the best wish list ever!
I’m still bothered by the fact that Robert McFarlane is younger than me. I don’t know why: I’m not that young myself and I don’t need sage elders particularly, but it does. Happy reading if you get to all and any of these!
He is younger than me too
Looks like there could be some gems in there. I have read just one of these, in proof form. Also one to look out for that is not on your list is Horizon by Barry Lopez, out from Bodley Head in March. I am halfway through and it’s an absolute stunner of a book, one of the best things I’ve read in years.
Thanks for that, Neil, will add that to the list. Kathleen Jamie has got a new one coming out too called Surfacing and Elliott and Thompson have just sent me their list of new releases too, which has three really good ones.