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AC Grayling – The Frontiers of Knowledge: What We Know About History, Science and the Mind, and How We Know it (Viking, May)

Spanning the areas of science, history and psychology, the philosopher and polymath illustrates how each field has advanced to where it is now; from the rise of technology to quantum theory; from the dawn of humanity to debates around national histoires, and from ancient ideas of the brain to modern theories of the mind. “Written with verve, clarity, and remarkable breadth of knowledge,” says Viking.

Michio Kaku – The God Equation: The Quest for the Theory of Everything (Allen Lane, April)

Kaku, a renowned theoretical physicist, takes us on a mind-bending ride through the twists and turns of the quest to find a Theory of Everything: a “god equation” which would tie all the forces in the universe together. It could, he shows, unlock the deepest mysteries of space and time, as well as the elusive meaning of life.

John Batchelor – How the Just So Stories Were Made: The Brilliance and Tragedy Behind Kipling’s Celebrated Tales for Little Children (Yale, April)

Exploring the artistry with which Kipling created his Just So stories, this uses each tale as an entry point into the writer’s life and work, including the tragedy which shadows much of the volume: the death of his daughter, Josephine. Richly illustrated with Kipling’s original drawings and family photographs.

EDITOR’S CHOICE

Henry Mance – How to Love Animals in a Human-Shaped World (Jonathan Cape, April)

“If we appreciated other animals – on holidays, in birthday cards and in wildlife documentaries – we can’t cover our eyes and ears to farming and extinction”. In this provocative, witty and sometimes brutal consideration of the inconsistencies in how we treat other species, the animal-loving chief features writer at the FT embarks on a quest to better understand the issues at stake, from working on a pig farm and joining a hunting party in Poland, to attending CorgiCon in San Francisco. His conclusions are not always as cuddly as you might think.

ONE TO WATCH

Edmund de Waal – Letters to Camondo (Chatto, April)

De Waal returns with a “haunting” sequence of imagined letters to the Count de Camondo, the owner of a Parisian palace which he filled with beautiful objects for his son Nissim to inherit. But when Nissim was killed in the First World War, it became a memorial to him, and on Camondo’s death the palace was bequeathed to France and became a museum. Camondo was part of the same Belle Époque society as de Waal’s forebears, the Ephrussis whom we met in The Hare With Amber Eyes. This new book will be a beautifully designed object, small enough to fit into a pocket.

THE OFFICIAL OVERALL UK CHART, 2020

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