Latest Book Recommendations

The best books on Abandoned Places, recommended by Cal Flyn

©Nancy Macdonald

Five Books deputy editor Cal Flyn selects five of the best books on abandoned places, including a cultural history of ruins, an account of natural recovery in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, plus two unsettling works of science fiction. Her own book, Islands of Abandonment: Life in the Post-Human Landscape, is out now.

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“Once you start seeing philosophy in pictures you see it everywhere”

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"Galileo was a great communicator of science to the public. He wanted to involve society in the project of science"

Favourite Theatre Books, recommended by Gyles Brandreth, British broadcaster and author
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The Best Nonfiction Books of 2020,
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The Best History Books: the 2020 Wolfson Prize, recommended by Sir Richard Evans
"Global history has made great strides in the last 15 years or so and The Boundless Sea is a very good example of how history on a global scale is being written in Britain at the moment.”

The Best Fiction of 2020, recommended by Margaret Busby, chair of this year's Booker Prize judges
"We didn’t check passports or work permits or birth certificates. We read the books"

The best sci fi of 2020, recommended by Tom Hunter, director of the Arthur C. Clarke Award
"An alien world gives you the opportunity to explore both this strange new planet and, also, humanity”

The Best Philosophy Books of 2020, recommended by Nigel Warburton
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Recent Reader Lists

Our aim is to make Five Books the place to go to on the web for book recommendations, arranged by topic. Help us achieve our goal by making a reading list on a subject you know a lot about. These lists have been created by our readers using our new interactive tool. Browse them all, or make your own.

Best Books About Artists in 2020 – A Pick List by Hauser & Wirth Publishers, recommended by Romas Viesulas

Richard Jackson
by John Welchman, Dagny Corcoran & Richard Jackson

Young, Gifted and Black: A New Generation of Artists: The Lumpkin-Boccuzzi Family Collection of Cont
by Antwaun Sargent, Thomas Lax, Jamillah James, Jessica Brown, Graham Boettcher, Connie H. Choi, Anthon

Maria Lassnig: Letters to Hans Ulrich Obrist: Living with Art Stops One Wilting!
by Hans Ulrich Obrist, Peter Pakesch, Hans Werner Poschauko & Maria Lassnig

Luchita Hurtado
by Karen Marta, Hans Ulrich Obrist & Luchita Hurtado

Philip Guston Now (D.A.P./NATIONAL)
by Harry Cooper, Mark Godfrey, Alison de Lima Greene, Kate Nesin, Philip Guston, Peter Fischli, Trenton

The Best Books on Walking, recommended by Elan Kluger

Walking
by Henry David Thoreau

A Philosophy of Walking
by Frederic Gros, Clifford Harper & John Howe

Werner Herzog – A Guide for the Perplexed
by Paul Cronin

In Praise of Walking: A New Scientific Exploration
by Shane O'Mara

Twilight of the Idols: or How to Philosophize with a Hammer (Oxford World's Classics)
by Friedrich Nietzsche

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