Sci fi dystopias are often, paradoxically, hopeful: they show oppressive systems, but they also show resistance. Award-winning author Adrian Tchaikovsky picks out five titles that deserve more readers, ranging from near-futures to space operas, but all featuring complex humans responding to dire circumstances.

Body horror is often bloody and gory, argues the novelist Heather Parry, but it is also a vessel for social commentary. Here she recommends five books that explore notions of bodily autonomy, capitalism and technology through the form of a horror novel – cult hits that will make you wince, but also make you think.

Mythological beings were ever-present in the world for ancient Egyptians. Author Garry J. Shaw introduces his five best books to get started, from guides to source texts to lavish illustrations. He tells us why the worst parts were never written down, where to look for ghosts and magical spells, why the north is less well understood than the south, and why life is less well understood than the elaborate rituals of death.

There is romance in the study of ecology, explains the conservationist Kulbhushansingh Suryawanshi—whose new book draws from twenty years studying wild snow leopards. Here he recommends five excellent ecology books, from a study of the Serengeti lion to one man's search for a most elusive owl, that get to the heart of what it is to study the natural world.

In 1974, British politician Jeffrey Archer lost all his money in a con. As he tried to dig himself out of the financial hole, he wrote his first novel, Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less, about four men who fall victim to a stock market scam and take revenge on the con man behind it. The novel has never been out of print since its publication. As it celebrates its 50th anniversary, the bestselling author chooses his favourite books about heists and con artists, both fictional and all too real.

Henry David Thoreau insisted that "in wildness is the preservation of the world." His words have inspired conservationists to bring many of the planet's more ruggedly beautiful places under environmental protection. But 'wilderness' as a concept has become increasingly contested in recent years, explains Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn, whose new book The Savage Landscape unravels the history of an electrifying idea.

Machu Picchu has become the symbol of Peru, but this symbol has never been straightforward. Mark Rice recommends five books that give the full picture of the iconic site: from the record by its 'discoverer,' to the views of Pablo Neruda and Che Guevara, right through to the latest archaeological and historical works.

The novelist Emily Henry has developed a massive fanbase for her fun-but-not-too-frothy contemporary romance books, which bubble over with sexual chemistry and witty repartee. She publishes so regularly it can be difficult to keep track of which of her novels you've already read—and what you still have left to discover. To help, we put together a list of all Henry's novels, in order of publication.

More books are ghostwritten than you might imagine—and if it’s done well, you’d never know. Ghostwriter Joshua Lisec explains how it works and selects five standout examples, from Alexandre Dumas to Donald Trump.

Stonehenge does not stand alone: it is surrounded by earlier monuments, it was built alongside a settlement and other sites, and it presides over graves and shrines from people who lived centuries and even millennia later. In modern history, it has inspired a Druidry movement, hosted a military airbase, drawn festival crowds and seen police brutality. Susan Greaney pulls out five books that tell the many stories of Stonehenge, the astonishing monument that continues to surprise us with each new excavation.