**One of Next Big Idea Club's Best Books of 2025From a groundbreaking neuroscientist, a book that will reshape the way we understand how our brain perceives the world around us—for readers of Adam Grant's Think Again and Lisa Genova's Remember.**How does your brain decide what it's seeing, from the physical world to other people? For decades, scientists have tried to understand how our brains work, not realizing that the answer lies much closer to home. Ne...

From a groundbreaking neuroscientist, a book that will reshape the way we understand how our brain perceives the world around us—for readers of Adam Grant's Think Again and Lisa Genova's Remember.How does your brain decide what it's seeing, from the physical world to other people? For decades, scientists have tried to understand how our brains work, not realizing that the answer lies much closer to home. New research in neuroscience and psychology...

Brought to you by Penguin.The global powerhouse that is the United States of America is younger even than the British Museum, Guinness and the flushing toilet. In 2026 it will celebrate its 250th birthday. How did this vast land, long inhabited by diverse indigenous cultures, come to be dominated by English speakers? How has it grappled with the stark contradictions between its ideals of liberty and the grim reality of genocide and slavery?This extraordinar...

‘Jenkins sets about his task with infectious enthusiasm and draws out all the most important themes in America’s 250-year history' The TimesIn the two hundred and fifty years since its foundation, the United States of America has grown to become the world’s richest and most powerful union. How did this new nation come to dominate global culture, economics, politics and warfare?Informed by years of close observation, bestselling author Simon Jenkins...

Who does the Mona Lisa actually depict?Why do we still look to the Greeks and Romans to inform our politics?Where do we find meaning in a world dominated by technology?Culture is like a language. Art, architecture, history and philosophy are its grammar. And, like a language, anyone can learn it.In 2022, Sheehan Quirke took to Twitter (now X) as The Cultural Tutor with the aim of making culture accessible for everyone. He wrote about poetry, paintings...

Brought to you by Penguin.From breakups that ended empires to naps that sank ships, 10 Mistakes That Changed History reveals how overlooked historical errors are responsible for some of the most era-defining events of the past.Featuring many of the most recognisable characters and episodes in history, from Cleopatra to the sinking of the Titanic, comedian and historian Paul Coulter reframes our understanding of the...

Brought to you by Penguin.50,000 years ago, we were not the only species of human in the world. There were at least four others, including the Neanderthals, Homo floresiensis, Homo luzonesis and the Denisovans. At the forefront of the latter's ground-breaking discovery was Oxford Professor Tom Higham. In The World Before Us, he explains the scientific and technological advancements - in radiocarbon dating and ancient DNA,...

'The Cultural Tutor is dedicated to a cosmopolitan view of culture. It writes about every continent, every religion, every tradition of art and poetry' TOMIWA OWOLADE, THE TIMES'For anyone who has enjoyed The Cultural Tutor on X, this book will be more of the same delight. Expect nuggets of insight and wisdom, wrapped in the author's trademark warmth and wit' ALAIN DE BOTTON'A rema...

A rich and vivid history of Britain's second city through the people who made it‘What Manchester thinks today, England thinks tomorrow.’Long before Manchester gave the world titans of industry, comedy, music and sport, it was the cosmopolitan Roman fort of Mamucium. But it was as the ‘shock city’ of the Industrial Revolution that Manchester really made its mark on the world stage. A place built on hard work and innovation, it is no coincide...

'A superb book’ – Observer‘Gripping, vivid and compelling’ – The Critic‘Humane, absorbing and meticulous’ – New Statesman‘An extraordinary book’ James O’Brien, TLSThree Weeks in July is the extraordinary and definitive account of the events of the 7/7 London bombings, publishing on the 20th anniversary of the event.Thr...

Humanity's relationship with black holes began in 1783 in a small English village, when clergyman John Michell posed a startling question: What if there are objects in space that are so large and heavy that not even light can escape them? Almost 250 years later, in April 2019, scientists presented the first picture of a black hole. Physicist Jonas Enander has traveled the world to investigate how our understanding of these elusive celestial objects has evolved since the days of Michell.

BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK'A teeming chronicle of those scorching months. Superbly researched.' THE TIMES'Scorching, animated and essential reading. Superb.' THE MAIL ON SUNDAY'Grippingly captures the three months that shook Britain's cultural landscape' PAULINE BLACK'Scorching, seething and scintillating, Heatwave conjures a slow-burnin...