Nonfiction Books

Every year, the judges of the Royal Society Science Book Prize put together a shortlist of the smartest, sharpest, funniest science books of the previous twelve months. We asked the chair of the 2024 panel—the leading evolutionary biomechanics researcher Professor John Hutchinson—to talk us through their picks of the best new popular science books.

The nonfiction book prizes we cover at Five Books are a great way to keep up with books on important subjects that are written in an accessible and engaging way. We keep an eye on prizes in a range of nonfiction genres—including history, politics, business, science, sports and general nonfiction.

With Amazon refreshing its entire range in 2024—including the introduction of the first colour Kindle—it's hard to know which is the best Kindle for reading. We turned to Kindle expert Maneetpaul Singh, author of Kindle Bookworm, to talk us through the latest Kindles as we go into 2025.

History is too complex to be an easy guide for navigating the present, but that doesn't mean the experience of those who came before can't shed valuable insights into our current dilemmas. In his latest book, History for Tomorrow, social philosopher Roman Krznaric looks at ten crises currently facing the world and how lessons from the past might be able to help.

Biographers create character studies of fascinating people, through which we might insight into the historical context and the systems these individuals functioned within. Here, journalist and attorney William Cooper recommends five U.S. political biographies and memoirs that allow readers special access to the rooms where American decision-making takes place.

From the Baroque painter who killed a man in Rome during the Counter-Reformation to the surrealist artist who left Britain and died in Mexico City in 2011, award-winning biographer Sue Prideaux talks to us about her favorite biographies of artists. Her new biography of Paul Gauguin, Wild Thing, is out this week and has been longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize.

If you're looking for nonfiction with a literary sensibility and a historical bent, the books highlighted by the annual Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize are a great place to start. British historian Susan Brigden, author of Thomas Wyatt: The Heart's Forest and one of the prize's judges, talks us through the 2024 shortlist — from war and revolution to the splendours of Mughal India and Monet's garden at Giverny.

Mountaineering is a thrilling, mind-altering pastime that brings the climber into direct contact with some of the world's most beautiful landscapes. But it is also one that carries significant risk, explains Anna Fleming, author of the rock-climbing memoir Time on Rock. Here, she recommends five fascinating mountaineering books that combine history, nature, and sheer adventure.

From a dynasty that ruled ancient Egypt to the 1986 space shuttle disaster, from the fight to get rich from spices in the 16th century to making billions from bankrupt countries in the 21st century, Five Books editor Sophie Roell gives an overview of the new nonfiction books that have appeared since April.

From the origins of sex to the effects of social media, from the invention of the wheel to the race against climate change, Five Books editor Sophie Roell gives an overview of the new nonfiction books appearing in January, February and March of 2024.