Lots of science books will be published over the course of the coming year 鈥� tonnes, in fact. After spending last month wading through the books and publisher catalogues that came into our offices, I have decided on the science books that I am most excited about, arranged in categories so it is easy to find what you love throughout the year. Of course, if you are a bit of an omnivore like me, you could end the year an expert in everything from spotting psychopaths to very, very huge numbers.
Space
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Let鈥檚 start at a grand scale, with environmental historian Dagomar Degroot鈥檚 . He considers how the solar system shaped humanity, whether that鈥檚 Martian dust storms sparking stories about aliens, or comet impacts on Jupiter inspiring the first planetary defence strategy. Degroot also looks at human impact on the cosmos, calling for 鈥渋nterplanetary environmentalism鈥� (lovely phrase).
We go from grand to even grander, as astrophysicist Emma Chapman鈥檚 reveals how we use radio waves to explore the distant universe. Chapman follows one on a journey from Earth into the wider Milky Way, passing black holes and pulsars.
New 杏吧原创 columnist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein also takes us on a journey in , drawing on poetry and culture to explain theoretical physics and the quantum nature of space-time.
Health
There are two strands to 2026鈥檚 health titles I am most excited about. The first is using science to make yourself healthier. In , health journalist David Cox explores nutrition science and how to use it to slow biological ageing. Surgeon, clinical research director and self-confessed recovering alcoholic Charles Knowles reveals , and writer Bill Gifford tells us how we can use heat to improve our health in . We evolved, Gifford argues, to exist in sweltering conditions, and temperature extremes can expand our physical and mental limits.
Aside from self-improvement, we have a phalanx of investigative writers probing what is really going on in the health industry. Celebrity doctor Xand van Tulleken promises to expose 鈥渢he world of wellness to find a healthy way of living鈥� in .
Science journalist Deborah Cohen鈥檚 looks at the world of internet medicine, from Ozempic influencers to AI-powered diagnoses, while Reuters columnist Aimee Donnellan brings her experience writing about business (including big pharma) to bear on GLP-1 drug Ozempic in . Then there is journalist Alev Scott鈥檚 , which tears into the fertility industry and how the 鈥渕aternal body鈥� has been commodified.
Maths
In the world of maths, we are thinking big this year, as two top mathematicians get stuck in. Richard Elwes鈥檚 is a look at how counting higher and higher has shaped human thought, while Ian Stewart鈥檚 goes to the edges of mathematics to look at the biggest, smallest and prickliest of our mathematical conundrums.
Technology and AI
by computational neuroscientist and experimental psychologist Gaurav Suri and psychology professor Jay McClelland is out to explain emergence, where complex systems arise as a result of the interactions of simpler systems.
The pair apply this to the human brain 鈥� and to AI 鈥� in a book that would be nicely complemented by Tom Griffiths鈥檚 . Here, the head of Princeton University鈥檚 AI Lab shows how we use maths to describe thinking, looking at the ideas underlying modern AI, and how these differ from the ones about human minds.
Sticking with AI, sociologist James Muldoon鈥檚 explores how our relationships are being changed by our interactions with tech, from chatbots to attempts to 鈥渞esurrect鈥� dead loved ones.
I also won鈥檛 be missing Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor鈥檚 in which the journalist and activist collaborate to tell the story of the rise of the far right, and what they call a 鈥渘ew, apocalyptic alliance of religious fundamentalists, billionaire Silicon Valley tech kings and ethno-nationalists鈥�. Luckily the duo aren鈥檛 only investigating the situation, they are also telling us how we can resist it.
Two other tech books also caught my eye: the first is by investigative reporter Katherine Dunn, the story of the Global Positioning System. GPS was conceived as a military system, but daily life now depends on that blinking blue dot on our screens. And at a different scale, YouTuber and top construction influencer (yes, really) Fred Mills picks 10 megaprojects and looks at how they will transform the world in .
Environment
Writer and activist Rebecca Solnit offers us hope with her new book . She talks about the revolution in human thinking over the past 50 years, and the changes we have seen around race, gender, sexuality, science and the environment. The old world is still fighting back, but Solnit reminds us the power to make change is within our reach. So does environment journalist Fred Pearce in 鈥� a former New 杏吧原创 staffer, he has written a 鈥渉andbook for climate hopefuls鈥�, telling us it isn鈥檛 too late, that things can change for the better. His reasons for (cautious) hope include nature鈥檚 ability to thrive in unexpected places and humans reaching 鈥減eak stuff鈥�.
Another shot of hope in a burning world comes from biology professor Dave Goulson鈥檚 , on our toxic food system and how to solve it. And in , journalist Jeevan Vasagar considers rising flood waters over history 鈥� timely, given 150 million people will live below the high tide line by 2050. Here, the hope lies in the groundbreaking engineering solutions he shares.
Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor collaborate to tell the story of the rise of the far right in their new book
Nature
Climate change is everywhere, including in , the story of conservation biologist Louise K. Blight鈥檚 time studying penguins in Antarctica. She shows how global warming is altering this remote corner in her intriguing insight into working in the Antarctic wilderness.
The world that marine biologist Ruth Searle explores in is a little warmer, but equally fascinating 鈥� a hugely dynamic and fragile ecosystem where land meets sea, constantly reshaped by humans.
Zoologist Jo Wimpenny is out to have some fun in , a defence of 鈥渘ature鈥檚 least loved animals鈥� (snakes, wasps, crocodiles and the like) and why we should champion them amid catastrophic biodiversity loss.
And who could resist biologist Lixing Sun鈥檚 dive into the 鈥渨eird and wonderful鈥� science of reproduction in On the Origin of Sex?
Meanwhile, just how profoundly animals have shaped human brains over millennia is revealed in by Michael Bond, another former staffer at New 杏吧原创.
Psychology
Homing in on our brain yields welcome surprises this year. I love , in which psychobiologist Daisy Fancourt draws on neuroscience, psychology, immunology, physiology, behavioural science and epidemiology to show how the arts can improve our health and well-being. (I totally agree!)
Celebrity doctor Xand van Tulleken promises to expose 'the world of wellness' in Make Me Well
Elsewhere, two books by neuroscientists take on the techno-social change we are facing more directly, with Hannah Critchlow discovering how to become more resilient in and Paul Goldsmith explaining in how our 鈥渁ncient鈥� minds evolved for a very different world than the one we inhabit, and what we need to thrive now.
Leanne ten Brinke is out to improve our lives more specifically in , as the psychopathy expert wants to help us identify the psychopaths, narcissists, manipulators and sadists in our lives and learn how to take evasive action.
There are also plenty of opportunities to examine how our brains work to build complex people and societies. In , writer, academic and activist Michael Pollan explores the mystery of why we are conscious from scientific, philosophical, spiritual, historical and psychedelic perspectives.
Elsewhere, other psychologists are hard at work: Paul Eastwick looks at the science of attraction, sex and relationships in , while Melissa Maffeo鈥檚 uses neuroscience and psychology to explain alien abductions and psychic readings.
Clearly, it is time to clear out our bookshelves to make way for this year鈥檚 rich new treasures!
THE BEST OF THE BEST: FOUR TOP PICKS FOR 2026
by Sarah Alam Malik
Particle physicist Sarah Alam Malik explores discoveries that changed our perception of the cosmos, from the Babylonians tracking the skies on clay tablets to the Copernican revolution.
by Cal Flyn
Islands of Abandonment by Cal Flyn was a highlight of 2021 for me. In her new book, she travels deep into isolated wilds, exploring the nature of wilderness and how to protect wild places.
by Joanna Stern
Wall Street Journal technology reporter Joanna Stern (pictured) spent a year using AI to do almost everything and to replace almost everyone, just to see what happened. A brilliant, and terrifying, idea.
by Steve Brusatte
Palaeontologist Steve Brusatte turns to the evolutionary history of the birds, the 鈥渄inosaurs among us鈥�. Penguins the size of gorillas? Ducks weighing more than cows? I鈥檓 in.
