I have been through all of the 2022 publishers catalogues for the books they have coming out in spring that I could lay my hands on (28 so far and still a few missing too). I have extracted all the books that I really like the look of. Most are non-fiction, as you have probably come to expect by now, but there are a smattering of fiction, sci-fi and the odd poetry in this list. What has staggered me a little is there are 194 books in this list below. That is more than I normally read in a year which is ominous as there are more books to follow for the latter half of the year and I still have many others to read. The pain of a reader…
4th Estate
Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Reshaped America – William Sommer
Allen & Unwin
Dalvi: Six Years in the Arctic Tundra – Laura Galloway
Allen Lane
Emotional: The New Thinking About Feelings – Leonard Mlodinow
Kingdom Of Characters: The Language Revolution That Made China Modern – Jing Tsu
Worn: A People’s History Of Clothing – Sofi Thanhauser
Otherlands: A World In The Making – Thomas Halliday
How To Stay Smart In A Smart World: Why Human Intelligence Still Beats Algorithms – Gerd Gigerenzer
Regenesis: How To Feed The World Without Devouring The Planet – George Monbiot
The Playbook: Protecting The Corporation From The Risks Of Scientific Knowledge – Jennifer Jacquet
Fantastic Numbers And Where To Find Them: A Cosmic Quest From Zero To Infinity – Tony Padilla
Atlantic Books
The Insect Crisis: The Fall of the Tiny Empires that Run the World – Oliver Milman
In the Camps: Stories from China’s High-tech Penal Colony – Darren Byler
Masters of the Lost Land: The Untold Story of the Fight to Own the Amazon – Heriberto Araújo
Dead in the Water: Murder and Fraud in the World’s Most Secretive Industry – Matthew Campbell and Kit Chellel
Covert Action: The Global Story of Subversion, Sabotage and Secret Statecraft – Rory Cormac
The Line of Sight: How Vision Made Us Human – Andrew Parker
Basic Books
A Natural History Of The Future: What The Laws Of Biology Tell Us About The Destiny Of The Human Species – Rob Dunn
Hidden Games: The Surprising Power Of Game Theory To Explain Irrational Human Behaviour – Moshe Hoffman & Erez Yoeli
Bloomsbury
The Perfect Golden Circle – Benjamin Myers
52 Ways To Walk: The New Science And Timeless Joy Of How, When, Where And Why – Annabel Streets
Don’t Trust Your Gut: Using Data Instead Of Instinct To Make Better Choices – Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
The Trespasser’s Companion – Nick Hayes
The Great Experiment: How To Make Diverse Democracies Work – Yascha Mounk
The Catch: Fishing For Ted Hughes – Mark Wormald
Motherlands – Amaryllis Gacioppo
The Digital Republic: Taking Back Technology – Jamie Susskind
Racing Green: How Motorsport Science Can Save The World – Kit Chapman
Growing Up Human – Brenna Hassett
Forget Me Not: Finding The Forgotten Species Of Climate Change Britain – Sophie Pavelle
Bluemoose Books
Ghost Stories by Stu Hennigan
Bodley Head
Cloudmoney – Brett Scott
The Journey Of Humanity – Oded Galor
An Immense World – Ed Yong
British Library
The Philosophy of Curry – Sejal Sukhadwala
The Book of Book Jokes – Alex Johnson
Shadows on the Wall: Dark Tales by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman – Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
The Ghost Slayers: Thrilling Tales of Occult Detection – Mike Ashley
Our Haunted Shores: Tales from the Coasts of the British Isles – Emily Alder, Joan Passey & Jimmy Packham
The Philosophy of Whisky – Billy Abbott
Canongate
Time On Rock: A Climber’s Route Into The Mountains – Anna Fleming
The Unusual Suspect: The Remarkable True Story Of A Modern-Day Robin Hood – Ben Machell
No One Round Here Reads Tolstoy: Memoirs Of A Working-Class Reader – Mark Hodkinson
How To Be Animal: What It Means To Be Human – Melanie Challenger
The Instant – Amy Liptrot
Explorer: The Quest For Adventure, Discovery And The Great Unknown – Benedict Allen
The Fire People: A Collection Of Black British Poetry – Ed. Lemn Sissay
More Fiya: A New Collection Of Black British Poetry – Ed. Kayo Chingonyi
Things I Have Withheld – Kei Miller
Blood Legacy: Reckoning With A Family’s Story Of Slavery – Alex Renton
The Secret History Of Here: A Year In The Valley – Alistair Moffat
Chatto & Windus
Bless The Daughter Raised By A Voice In Her Head – Warsan Shire
Nine Paths – Lexi Stadlen
Unearthed – Claire Ratinon
Coronet
We Need Snowflakes: In Defence Of The Sensitive, The Angry And The Offended – Hannah Jewell
A New Science Of Heaven: How The New Science Of Plasma Is Shedding Light On Spiritual Experience – Robert Temple
Custom House
Wahala – Nikki May
Doubleday
Wild Fell: Fighting For Nature On A Lake District Farm – Lee Schofield
Duckworth
Nice Is Not A Biscuit: How To Build A World-Class Business By Doing The Right Thing – Peter Mead
Vagabonds: Life On The Streets Of Nineteenth-Century London – Oskar Jensen
Elliott & Thompson
On the Scent: Unlocking the mysteries of smell – and how losing it can change our world – Paola Totaro and Robert Wainwright
A River Runs Through Me: A year and a life of salmon fishing in Scotland – Andrew Douglas-Home
A Village in the Third Reich: How ordinary lives were transformed by the rise of Fascism – Julia Boyd & Angelika Patel
Beside the Seaside: The Story of the English Coastal Town – Ian Walker
Europa Editions
In the Margins: On the Pleasures of Reading and Writing – Elena Ferrante Tr Ann Goldstein
The Passenger: Rome – Various
The Passenger: Ireland – Various
Faber & Faber
Wild Green Wonders – Patrick Barkham
The Stasi Poetry Circle – Philip Oltermann
Shadowlands – Matthew Green
Black And Female: Essays – Tsitsi Dangarembga
Iconicon – John Grindrod
Sounds Wild And Broken – David George Haskell
The Premonitions Bureau – Sam Knight
Exiles: Three Island Journeys – William Atkins
Beyond Measure – James Vincent
Gollancz
The This – Adam Roberts
The Flight Of The Aphrodite – S.J. Morden
Eversion – Alastair Reynolds
Granta
Grounding: Finding Home In A Garden – Lulah Ellender
Different: What Apes Can Teach Us About Gender – Frans de Waal
Refractive Africa – Will Alexander
Garden Physic – Sylvia Legris
The End Of Bias: How We Change Our Minds – Jessica Nordell
Grove Press
Endpapers: A Family Story of Books, War, Escape and Home – Alexander Wolff
Harvill Secker
Africa Is Not A Country: Breaking Stereotypes Of Modern Africa – Dipo Faloyin
Head of Zeus
Furious Heaven The Sun Chronicles 2 – Kate Elliott
Dirty Work: Essential Jobs And The Hidden Toll Of Inequality – Eyal Press
Death By Nature?: Understanding Wildlife Diseases – Ben Garrod
Water Always Wins: Going With The Flow To Thrive In The Age Of Droughts, Floods And Climate Change – Erica Gies
A Feather At The Feast: Thomas Morton, America’s First Nature Writer And Falconer – Ben Crane
Headline
Chivalry – Neil Gaiman
Butter: A Celebration – Olivia Potts
The Mercenary River Private Greed, Public Good: A History Of London’s Water – Nick Higham
These Bodies Of Water – Sabrina Mahfouz
Hodder & Stoughton
When The Dust Settles: Stories Of Love, Loss And Hope From An Expert In Disaster – Lucy Easthope
Firmament: The Hidden Science Of Weather, Climate Change And The Air That Surrounds Us – Simon Clark
Escape From Siberia – Yoann Barbereau Tr Maren Baudet-Lackner
Dust: A History And A Future Of Environmental Disaster – Jay Owens
Where The Wildflowers Grow My Journey Through Botanical Britain – Leif Bersweden
After They’re Gone: A Love Letter To The Lost Species Of The World – Peter Marren
Hurst Publishers
Another World Is Possible: How To Reignite Radical Political Imagination – Geoff Mulgan
China Unbound A New World Disorder – Joanna Chiu
No Shortcuts: Why States Struggle To Develop A Military Cyber-Force – Max Smeets
Edge Of England Landfall In Lincolnshire – Derek Turner
Work Won’t Love You Back How Devotion To Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted And Alone – Sarah Jaffe
Icon Books
Hurricane Lizards And Plastic Squid: How The Natural World Is Adapting To Climate Change – Thor Hanson
Dear Bill Bryson: Footnotes From A Small Island – Ben Aitken
Game Theory: Understanding The Mathematics Of Life – Brian Clegg
Jo Fletcher
Momenticon – Andrew Caldecott
John Murray
The Fairy Tellers: A Journey Into The Secret History Of Fairy Tales – Nicholas Jubber
Nomads: The Wanderers Who Shaped Our World – Nicholas Jubber
Extraterrestrial: The First Sign Of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth – Avi Loeb
Futureproof: 9 Rules For Humans In The Age Of Automation – Kevin Roose
Free To Go: From Orkney To New Zealand On A Motorbike – Esa Aldegheri
Rebel With A Clause Tales And Tips From A Travelling Grammar Guru – Ellen Jovin
Jonathan Cape
The Treeline: The Last Forest And The Future Of Life On Earth – Ben Rawlence
Pilgrim Bell – Kaveh Akbar
Ephemeron – Fiona Benson
Dreaming The Karoo – Julia Blackburn
Birdgirl – Mya-Rose Craig
Little Toller
Millstone Grit – Glyn Hughes
Shalimar – Davina Quinlivan
Brother Do You Love Me – Manni Coe & Reuben Coe
The Loveliness Of Ladybirds – JC Niala
Maclehose
Alice’s Book: How The Nazis Stole My Grandmother’s Cookbook – KARINA URBACH Tr. Jamie Bulloch
Michael Joseph
Small Island: 12 Maps That Explain The History Of Britain – Philip Parker
Prized Women – Caroline Lea
The Lost Paths – Jack Cornish
One Place De L’Eglise – Trevor Dolby
Oneworld
A Brief History Of Timekeeping: The Science Of Marking Time, From Stonehenge To Atomic Clocks – Chad Orzel
The Elements Of Choice: Why The Way We Decide Matters – Eric J. Johnson
How Minds Change: The Science Of Belief, Opinion And Persuasion – David McRaney
The Biggest Number In The World: A Journey To The Edge Of Mathematics – David Darling and Agnijo Banerjee
Orion
Wild City: Encounters With Urban Wildlife – Florence Wilkinson
Pan Macmillan
Wild Flowers Of Britain And Ireland – Roger Phillips
The Greatest Escape – Neil Churches
Too Big To Jail: Inside Hsbc, The Mexican Drug Cartels And The Greatest Banking Scandal Of The Century – Chris Blackhurst
Penguin
The Voltage Effect – John A List
Picador
In Defence Of Witches: Why Women Are Still On Trial – Mona Chollet
The Vulture – Gerard Woodward
Tomorrow’s People: The Future Of Humanity In Ten Numbers – Paul Morland
Lurex – Denise Riley
The Greatest Invention: A History Of The World In Nine Mysterious Scripts – Silvia Ferrara
Who Are We Now? Stories Of Modern England – Jason Cowley
The Book Of Minds – Philip Ball
Sea Of Tranquility – Emily St. John Mandel
Profile Books
The Social Lives Of Animals: How Co-Operation Conquered The Natural World – Ashley Ward
Tickets For The Ark: From Wasps To Whales – How Do We Choose What To Save? – Rebecca Nesbit
Strandings: Confessions Of A Whale Scavenger – Peter Riley
How To Live With Each Other: An Anthropologist’s Notes On Sharing A Divided World – Farhan Samanani
Tenants: The People On The Frontline Of Britain’s Housing Crisis – Vicky Spratt
Everybody Hertz: The Amazing World Of Frequency, From Bad Vibes To Good Vibrations – Richard Mainwaring
Geography Is Destiny: Britain’s Place In The World, A 10,000-Year History – Ian Morris
Chums: How A Tiny Group Of Oxford Tories Took Over Britain – Simon Kuper
Mathematical Intelligence: What We Have That Machines Don’t – Junaid Mubeen
The Celts: The Fall And Rise Of An Idea – Simon Jenkins
Quercus
The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story Of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds And Our World – MAX FISHER
Reaktion Books
Hope and Fear: Modern Myths, Conspiracy Theories and Pseudo-History – Ronald H. Fritze
Polling UnPacked: The History, Uses and Abuses of Political Opinion Polls – Mark Pack
Sandstone Press
The Year the World Went Mad: A Scientific Memoir – Mark Woolhouse
Saraband
Ring Of Stone Circles – Stan L Abbott
North Country – Karen Lloyd
Summersdale
Riding Out – Simon Parker
The Best British Travel Writing Of The 21St Century – Jessica Vincent
Tor
Eyes Of The Void – Adrian Tchaikovsky
The Kaiju Preservation Society – John Scalzi
Two Roads
An Atlas Of Endangered Animals – Megan McCubbin
Devorgilla Days A Memoir Of Hope And Healing – Kathleen HartWindswept: Walking In The Footsteps Of Remarkable Women – Annabel Abbs
Viking
How The World Really Works: A Scientist’s Guide To Our Past, Present, And Future – Vaclav Smil
A Black Boy At Eton – Dillibe Onyeama
This Way To The Universe: A Journey Into Physics – Michael Dine
Birds And Us: A 12,000 Year History, From Cave Art To Conservation – Tim Birkhead
Vintage
Pharmacopoeia – Derek Jarman
W&N
The Cure For Sleep – Tanya Shadrick
Control: The Dark History And Troubling Present Of Eugenics – Adam Rutherford
Spring Tides: A Story From A Small Island – Fiona Gell
The Ballast Seed: A Memoir Of Motherhood, Nature And Staying Afloat – Rosie Kinchen
Wellcome Collection
Dark And Magical Places: The Neuroscience Of How We Navigate – Christopher Kemp
This Book Is A Plant: How To Grow, Learn And Radically Engage With The Natural World – Various
Am I Normal: The 200-Year Search For Normal People (And Why They Don’t Exist) – Sarah Chaney
William Collins
The Sloth Lemur’s Song: Madagascar from the Deep Past to the Uncertain Present – Alison Richard
Origin Africa – Jonathan Kingdon
Black Holes – Brian Cox & Jeff Forshaw
Enough: The Violence Against Women and How to End It – Harriet Johnson
Where The Seals Sing – Susan Richardson
In Search Of One Last Song – Patrick Galbraith
To Cure All Ills – Camper English
Platypus Matters – Jack Ashby
How To Speak Whale – Tom Mustill
Where My Feet Fall – Duncan Minshall
The Social Machine – Justin Hampston-Jones
Nazi Billionaires – David de Jong
Any that take your fancy? And are there any that you know about that you think that I should know too? Let me know in the comments below.
Some interesting choices on your list – and a few I’ve had my eye on.
Here’s to a year filled with wonderful Books in 2022.
I do try and read the interesting books only
A wonderful selection! I have Wahala on my NetGalley TBR and want the Alex Renton book, esp after transcribing an interview with him. Africa is Not a Country is going straight on my wish list, and I have requested to read No One Here Reads Tolstoy for Shiny.
Glad you found some on there that appeal, Liz
Thanks Paul, I enjoyed going through this list.
You are very welcome, Penny
Thanks for including my book!
You’re welcome, Christopher
Have you had any thoughts on how you’re going to narrow this down?!
I didn’t find Dalvi worthwhile. Pilgrim Bell is brilliant, but I’m not sure it will be to your taste (what poets have you liked?). I’m reading Tanya Shadrick’s memoir now. I have Otherlands on order from the library, and I’m keen on Ben Myers’ and Ed Yong’s new books.
No!!! They will just go on the every expanding TBR and I will get to them one day