Books by Ed Conway

The British Academy Book Prize is awarded annually for a nonfiction book that combines rigorous research with engaging writing—and promotes global cultural understanding. Charles Tripp, chair of this year’s judging panel, explains what that means and introduces the six books that made the 2024 shortlist.

If you like nonfiction books that will get you up to speed with what’s going on in the world, the Financial Times annual book prize is a great place to start. If you run a business, one or two useful books also feature. Andrew Hill, the newspaper’s senior business writer, talks us through the books that made the 2023 shortlist, from cobalt extraction in the Congo to how to manage the AI genie that’s out of the bottle and coming towards us at speed.

As high summer hits the northern hemisphere, Sophie Roell, editor of Five Books, takes a look at the many nonfiction books published over the last three months. With so many books coming out that are both readable and written by people who know what they’re talking about, reading remains one of the most enjoyable ways to make sense of the world around us.