Archives de catégorie : Nonfiction

A BRIEF HISTORY OF CLIMATE FOLLY de Tim & Emma Flannery

This book reveals an outrageous history of dreamers and schemers who wanted to bend the climate to their will.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF CLIMATE FOLLY
by Tim and Emma Flannery
Text Publishing Australia, August 2026

In this entertaining and at times terrifying book, Tim and Emma Flannery tell the story of how human beings have tried to change the weather. It’s a long story that goes back to priests and shamans who prayed to weather gods and sang and danced to make it rain. It’s a story of shysters and charlatans and snake-oil salesmen. And it’s a story of shocking schemes to reshape nature.

Climate shapes species and plays a key role in evolution. But we are the only species that has ever dreamed of making the weather suit ourselves. And now that we are in danger of triggering catastrophic global warming, the history of human climate folly is more alarming than ever. Hitler, for instance, wanted to drain the Mediterranean. In the 1950s Soviet and US governments contemplated nuking the Arctic ice cap in order to create a warmer climate.

These schemes seem ludicrous to us, but are they any stranger than the idea that we can arrest runaway climate change by burying our carbon emissions deep in the earth or by seeding clouds with sulphur to block out the sun?

Tim Flannery is a paleontologist, an explorer, a conservationist and a leading writer on climate change. His books include the award-winning international bestseller The Weather Makers, and Here on Earth, Atmosphere of Hope and Europe: The First 100 Million Years, as well as his previous collaboration with his daughter, Emma Flannery, Big Meg.

Emma Flannery is a scientist and writer. She has explored caves, forests and oceans across most of the globe’s continents in search of elusive fossils, animals and plants. Her research and writing on geology, chemistry and palaeontology has been published in scientific journals, children’s books and a number of museum-based adult education tours.

THE LOST VOICES OF POMPEII de Jess Venner

THE LOST VOICES OF POMPEII will transport readers into the final 24 hours of the ancient city, vividly detailing the lives of seven diverse characters. Through a blend of meticulous research and compelling storytelling, this book brings Pompeii’s last day to life in a way that is both immersive and unforgettable.

THE LOST VOICES OF POMPEII:
The Last 24 Hours
by Jess Venner
HarperCollins, Spring 2026
(via Northbank Talent Management)

In her thrilling new take on the ancient city, Dr Jess Venner casts aside traditional archaeological and historical perspectives to immerse readers in the vibrant daily lives of its inhabitants. We meet Julia Felix, a successful female entrepreneur defying Roman convention; a slave who gains his freedom during a night of revelry; and politician Gaius Cuspius Pansa who is hosting the Plebian Games at the amphitheatre.

Using real historical figures the book plausibly recreates their final day before the eruption; a fresh narrative approach that brings the ancient streets to life through the eyes of those who lived, worked, loved, and ultimately met their fate there.

Dr Jess Venner is an award-winning ancient historian and archaeologist, and a world-leading expert on Pompeii and Herculaneum. She is currently an academic at the prestigious Institute of Classical Studies in London and was elected as an Associate Fellow of the Royal Historical Society for her contributions to history. She has a following of over 140,000 engaged history fans on TikTok as @lifeinthepastlane_, and has appeared in publications such as The Times, The Mirror, The Daily Star, and Ancient History Magazine.

KINGDOM OF FEAR d’Anuj Chopra

A riveting portrait of Saudi Arabia under Mohammed bin Salman and the untold stories of those living under the influence of the millennial dictator’s rule, for readers of Barbara Demick and Svetlana Alexievich.

KINGDOM OF FEAR:
A millennial dictator rises from the shadows, unmaking and remaking Saudi Arabia
by Anuj Chopra
Granta, Late 2026
(via Sterling Lord Literistic)

In incisive, deeply-reported prose, KINGDOM OF FEAR introduces us to ten indelible characters, from a monied rival to a flashy aide, and from a defiant female activist to an outspoken dissident. Through their carefully unfolded stories, we come to understand them not only as individuals but also as representatives of different strata of Saudi society, layers that have been, as Anuj says, “upended, uprooted, or uplifted” by dramatic changes under MBS.

Along the way, Anuj himself becomes an eleventh character. His on-the-ground reporting grants us an intimate view of a country in turmoil, one that can often seem opaque to the outside world. And through the eyes of a reporter fighting for his sources and their stories, we witness the terrifying impact of a growing culture of fear, one that seeks to silence and oppress. But as Anuj reminds us, silence, too, can speak volumes, and he thoughtfully unpacks those weighted moments, bringing clarity to darkness.

In shifting the focus to those impacted by MBS, Anuj pulls our attention away from the Crown Prince himself, spotlighting and empowering Saudi citizens in order to better understand them and their nation in all their complexity. KINGDOM OF FEAR is a powerful, necessary exploration of Saudi Arabia as it exists today, and how to grapple with the fear that undergirds MBS’s rule.

Anuj Chopra is a Washington D.C.-based reporter for Agence France-Presse (AFP). He was the 2022 Knight-Bagehot Fellow and Dart Center Ochberg Fellow at Columbia Journalism School in New York, and has won several prizes for his work, including the CNN Young Journalist Award, the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) Award, the Human Rights Press Award and the Ramnath Goenka prize for excellence in journalism. He covered Saudi Arabia and Yemen for four years (2017-21) as AFP’s Riyadh bureau chief. Anuj has also written from hotspots around Asia and the Middle East for international publications such as The Atlantic, The Guardian, TIME, The Economist, Foreign Policy, and The Washington Post.

SLOPOPOLIS de Laura Preston

A truly unique investigation of the people driving the AI revolution and the forces that drive them.

SLOPOPOLIS:
Travels in the New Digital Kingdom
by Laura Preston
W. W. Norton, 2027
(via Sterling Lord Literistic)

SLOPOPOLIS is a people first dispatch from tomorrow’s industrial frontier. It is not an AI explainer, nor does it aspire towards future forecasting. It is not a work of philosophy, nor a meditation on machines and human consciousness. Instead, it asks: who are the speculators racing West? How do they think about their place in history, and what sort of future are they trying to build? While the book will ostensibly be about tech, its chief interest will be people—people and their ambitions, delusions, contradictions, and ambivalent moral frameworks. It is an anthropological expedition to the quarries of the AI gold rush, where we are about to stake everything—even the hope of a habitable planet—on the opportunity not to think.

Laura Preston’s work has appeared in n+1, The New Yorker, The Believer and elsewhere. She graduated cum laude from Princeton University in 2013 with a degree in Art History and certificates in Studio Art and Creative Writing. She received her MFA in Fiction from the University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writers’ Program, where her work received Hopwood awards in both fiction and nonfiction categories. Laura lives in Brooklyn and this is her first book.

LIVING SOFTLY de Tara Stiles

A blueprint for moving from a life of tension and rigidity to one of ease and softness. Readers will learn that softness is a strength. You can accomplish so much more in a soft, easeful state than you can in an amplified environment. It’s time for an alternative to burnout culture, and an alternative to the grit and grin-and-bear-it to success mentality. Discover simple practices to make your life softer and more fulfilling!

LIVING SOFTLY:
Recover Your Energy and a New Sense of Purpose
by Tara Stiles
Balance, Fall 2026
(via Kaplan/DeFiore Rights)

Tara shows us how we hold ourselves with rigidity at a meeting or during a challenging conversation (making it even more challenging) then go to a yoga class to try to let go. Only to wake up and wonder why our back still throbs. We may even equate stress with achievement. All the while losing sight of what really matters to us.

Tara uses her deep knowledge of yoga, tai chi, shiatsu, and other Eastern practices that are the foundation to unwind our unconscious patterns. Her simple exercises help us walk through our lives with ease, rather than muscling our way through challenges, a surefire path to burnout and physical breakdown. The Six Principles of LIVING SOFTLY, which Tara uses in her workshops as well as with clients include using only the energy that you need (or Wu Wei) and learning to harmonize with your environment, rather than pushing through an agenda.

Readers of Emily Nagoski’s bestselling Burnout are ready for the larger vision of LIVING SOFTLY, which goes far beyond identifying the problem to envisioning a whole new way of living and accomplishing. Tricia Hersey’s readership for Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto will appreciate Tara’s programmatic approach and be drawn to softness as the next step in counter-cultural messaging and living intentionally.

Tara Stiles is a wellness expert, bestselling author, and the founder of Strala Yoga. The Strala approach combines yoga, tai chi, and Traditional Chinese and Japanese Medicine to help people release stress, heal, let go of negative habits, and move more easily through everyday challenges. Tara’s bestselling books, which have been translated into multiple languages, include Strala Yoga, Make Your Own Rules Diet, Yoga Cures, and Slim Calm Sexy Yoga, and she has been featured in The New York Times, Vogue, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, Esquire, and Shape. She lives in New York with her husband and their daughter.