Cal Flyn, Deputy Editor

We are building ever more powerful machines that will compute answers to any questions we care to ask them, says Tom Chatfield, the author and tech philosopher. But are we asking the right questions? Here, he selects five of the best books on the ethics of technology—thoughtful explorations of how our newly-made tools might remake us.

The fall of empires and sudden societal collapse are often the subject matter of darkly fascinating reads, in both fiction and nonfiction. Here Paul Cooper—the author of Fall of Civilizations, a new history book based on the hit podcast—recommends five books that offer perspectives on what it might feel like to live through the ‘end of the world.’

Writers approach historical fiction from many different angles, explains the novelist Paul Carlucci—whose new, evocative novel is set in colonial-era Canada. Here, he recommends five of his favourite literary historical novels that manipulate form, character and setting in interesting ways while simultaneously summoning the atmosphere of the past.

Author Caroline Crampton was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma as a teenager. She recovered, but ever since she has suffered from health anxiety—what you might call ‘hypochondria.’ Here, she recommends five of the best books on hypochondria, from memoirs by sufferers to Jane Austen’s final, caustic novel.

Agatha Christie and Raymond Chandler were among the leading lights of a ‘golden age’ of detective fiction in the 1930s. It’s also a period that contemporary writers like to revisit as a setting for their own books. Louise Hare—author of the evocative historical crime novel Harlem After Midnight—recommends five of the best 1930s mysteries.

Today the idea of wellness has been wrapped into ‘self care’ and the luxury lifestyle. But the movement grew out of radical ideas in the 1960s and 1970s, explains the Cambridge academic James Riley, whose new book presents a cultural history of alternative health. Here he recommends five of the best books on wellness—taking in both satirical novels and how-to guidebooks.

Every spring, the judges of the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards draw up a shortlist for the title of the ‘travel book of the year.’ The 2024 shortlist highlights six fascinating recent travelogues that wrestle with political and environmental issues, and explore the contrast between the outsider and the insider gaze.

In the face of climate change and widespread extinction, there has never been a more important time to study plant science, says Chris Thorogood – author of Pathless Forest: The Quest to Save the World’s Largest Flowers. Here he recommends five of his favourite books on botany, including historical accounts of plant exploration and a beautiful photobook profiling the world’s most impressive botanical gardens.

During Ramadan, the ninth month in the Islamic calendar, Muslims fast during daylight hours and refrain from sinful behaviours. We asked Tharik Hussain, author of acclaimed travelogue Minarets in the Mountains and the new companion guide Ramadan Mubarak, to choose five texts that offer readers insight into the true meaning of Ramadan.

The Scottish Highlands are known for the stark splendour of the landscape and the bellowing of the stags. They have inspired many classic works of poetry and nature writing, says Annie Worsley—the author of a memoir set on Scotland’s rugged north west coast. Here, she recommends five books on the Scottish Highlands that portray the people and their place.