Archives de catégorie : Nonfiction

THE ZORG de Siddharth Kara

From Pulitzer finalist and New York Times bestselling author of Cobalt Red: A notorious slave ship incident that led to the abolition of slavery in the UK and sparked the US abolitionist movement.

THE ZORG:
A Tale of Greed and Murder That Inspired the Abolition of Slavery
by Siddharth Kara
St. Martin’s Press, October 2025

In late October 1780, a slave ship set sail from the Netherlands, bound for Africa’s Windward and Gold Coasts, where it would take on its human cargo. The Zorg (a Dutch word meaning both “care” and “worry”) was one of thousands of such ships, but the harrowing events that ensued on its doomed journey were unique.

After reaching Africa, The Zorg was captured by a privateer and came under British command. With a new captain and crew, the ship was crammed with 442 slaves, and departed in 1781 for Jamaica. But a series of unpredictable weather events and mistakes in navigation left the ship drastically off course and running out of food and water. So a proposition was put forth: Save the crew and the most valuable of the slaves―by throwing 140 people, mostly women and children, overboard.

What followed was a fascinating legal drama in England’s highest court that turned the brutal calculus of slavery into front page news. For the first time, concepts such as human rights and morality entered the discourse on slavery, in a notorious case that boiled down to a simple but profound question: Were the Africans on board the Zorg people or cargo?

The case of the Zorg catapulted the nascent anti-slavery movement from a minor evangelical cause to one of the most consequential moral campaigns in history. In this book, Siddharth Kara utilizes primary source research, masterful storytelling, and painstaking investigation to uncover the Zorg’s journey, the lives and fates of the slaves on board, and the mystery of who finally revealed the truth of what happened on the ship.

Siddharth Kara is an author, researcher, and activist on modern slavery. He is a British Academy Global Professor and an Associate Professor of Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery at Nottingham University. Kara has authored several books and reports on slavery and child labor, and he won the Frederick Douglass Book Prize. He has also taught courses on modern slavery at Harvard University, UC Berkeley, and Cornell University. He divides his time between the U.K. and the U.S.

HUBRIS MAXIMUS de Faiz Siddiqui

The rise, fall, and revival of the Caesar of Silicon Valley.

HUBRIS MAXIMUS:
The Shattering of Elon Musk
by Faiz Siddiqui
St. Martin’s Press, April 2025

Elon Musk has cast himself as the savior of humanity, an altruistic force whose fortune is tied to noble pursuits from halting our dependence on fossil fuels to colonizing Mars. Once frequently heralded as a modern-day Edison, Musk has taken up a new place in the public consciousness with his growing desire to disrupt not just the automotive and space industries but the policies that shape our nation, placing him at the center of America’s most complex undertakings in manufacturing, politics, and defense and technology, even as his increasingly erratic personal behavior has raised questions about his stability and judgement.

Musk famously leads his companies from a bully pulpit, eroding guardrails and cutting through red tape whenever possible with little regard for the fallout as long as it serves his larger goals. Many in his orbit have seen their lives upended or their careers throttled by believing in his utopian vision. As the scale of the wagers he makes with his fortune and concerns about his credibility have grown in recent years, he alternately seems to be in complete command or on the verge of a meltdown. Yet in the long run, he has only become wealthier, and now the stakes have risen. Thanks to astute political maneuvering, Musk is no longer limited to gambling with a company’s bottom line or the livelihoods of his workers; he is poised to apply his uncompromising approach to business to the foundational rules and regulations that hold our society together.

At a moment when America’s tech gods are more influential than ever, Hubris Maximus is a cautionary tale about the pitfalls of lionizing magnetic leaders. Washington Post journalist Faiz Siddiqui offers a gripping, detailed portrait of a singularly messy and lucrative period in Musk’s career, as well as a case study in the power of using one’s platform to shape the public narrative in a world that can’t turn away from its screens.

“Siddiqui blends insightful reporting with prescient analysis to give an authoritative look at one of the world’s most polarizing figures. He captures the ambition of Elon Musk’s innovations while also holding power to account, questioning the societal and cultural impact at the heart of his transformation. In this time, when Musk’s influence is tangible in everything from how information is shared to the race for space colonization, Siddiqui’s work could not be more vital.”
―Astead Herndon, host of the New York Times political podcast “The Run-Up”

« Siddiqui dissects the rise and psychological unraveling of one of the most influential and controversial figures of our time. Combining meticulous research with vivid storytelling, he reveals how Musk’s bold vision and unchecked ambition transformed industries, reshaped public narratives, and courted chaos. From Tesla’s triumphs to Twitter’s disasters, this gripping book exposes the cost of power without accountability in a world that idolizes innovation. »
―Bradley Hope, Pulitzer Prize finalist and coauthor of New York Times bestseller Billion Dollar Whale

“An electrifying masterpiece of investigative journalism, offering a riveting deep dive into the rise and fall of Elon Musk, and the definitive account of his transformation from inspirational entrepreneur to a dangerous and polarizing figure. With unmatched clarity and depth, Siddiqui dissects Musk’s power and influence. The book is a gripping cautionary tale and a masterful cultural critique―essential reading for anyone captivated (or confounded) by the most controversial billionaire of our time.”
―Taylor Lorenz, Author of Extremely Online and founder of User Magazine

Faiz Siddiqui is a technology journalist who writes for the Washington Post and has covered companies such as Tesla, Uber and Twitter (now X) for the Business Desk. His reporting has focused on transportation, social media and government transformation, among other issues. His work has been recognized by the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing and he has earned multiple Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence and Hearst Journalism awards. His writing has also appeared in the Boston Globe and NPR.

OCTOPUS X de Kenna Hughes-Castleberry

A fascinating narrative about “citizen science” and the discovery of the mysterious creature that has been called “the Bigfoot of Octopuses” – perfect for readers of Sy Montgomery and Ed Yong

OCTOPUS X
by Kenna Hughes-Castleberry
Island Books, 2026
(via The Martell Agency)

OCTOPUS X will be an exploration of passionate “citizen science” in the person of diver and artist Arcadio Rodaniche, who, along with his mentor and famed cephalopod behavioralist Martin Moynihan, found a mysterious colony of social octopuses off the coast of Panama. These octopuses were unlike any previously described, as they lived in mated pairs, constantly laid eggs, mated beak-to-beak, and exhibited unique hunting strategies, all of which went against the norm for octopus behavior.

Fascinated by these creatures, Rodaniche studied them at his Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) laboratory. He tried to present his findings at a Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) symposium but was laughed out of the event as few believed his claims about this bizarre octopus (it didn’t help that he didn’t have an academic background in cephalopod research but instead had an electrical engineering degree). Rejected, his paper and findings sat untouched for decades, with only his drawing of the animal accompanying them, adding to the allure of this creature.

Then, some years later, a team of researchers at U.C. Berkeley obtained samples of Rodaniche’s mysterious octopus, and their observations validated everything Rodaniche found. They asked Rodaniche to co-author their paper, and in 2016, they released their findings to the world. Even with this validation, Rodaniche’s story has never been fully told. Unfortunately, Rodaniche died only five months after seeing his work validated.

Currently, this octopus (known commonly as the Larger Pacific Striped Octopus or LPSO) is being genetically analyzed by a separate team from U.C. Berkeley working to classify it as its own species scientifically. If this happens, the lead researcher, Dr. Gul Dolen, plans to name the animal Octopus rodaniche, giving a further victorious ending to Rodaniche’s story. Kenna also plans to highlight ongoing research to study the LPSO in its wild habitat, which has never been done before.

Kenna Hughes-Castleberry is the Science Communicator at JILA (a world-leading physics research institute established by CU Boulder and NIST) and a freelance science journalist. She focuses on animal intelligence, specifically in corvids and cephalopods. Her work has appeared in such publications as National Geographic, Scientific American, New Scientist, and Discover Magazine. She holds several degrees, including undergraduate degrees in English and Biology from Colorado State University and a Master’s degree in Science Communication from Imperial College London.

NANOCOSMOS de Michael Benson

A breathtaking tour of the natural world is offered in NANOCOSMOS, an examination of majestic topographies revealed by powerful scanning electron microscope (SEM) technologies.

NANOCOSMOS:
Journeys in Electron Space
by Michael Benson
Abrams, October 2025

The humbling beauty and cosmic immensity of our surrounding universe of planets, stars, and galaxies has inspired humanity since prehistoric times. But what about the vistas at the other end of the size-scale?

The tiny worlds here, invisible to our unassisted eyes, are if anything more intricate, complex, and extraordinary than anything so far seen in deep space. Lauded artist and author Michael Benson’s sensational NANOCOSMOS corrects this oversight with an unprecedented examination of natural design at sub-millimeter scales.

Nothing like NANOCOSMOS has ever been seen before. Previously renowned for his solar system landscapes, Benson here documents complex microscopic worlds visible at sub–millimeter scales in aesthetically stunning chromogenic prints. Assembled and refined over many years of painstaking work, this book constitutes a mesmerizing photographic tour of micro–worlds. These images constructed from SEM scans reveal the sublime and sensational beauty in aspects of the natural world invisible to the naked eye.

Michael Benson is an artist, writer, and filmmaker who focuses on the intersection of art and science. His highly regarded books include Beyond, Far Out, Planetfall, and Cosmigraphics. He lives in New York City.

HOW WE GROW UP de Matt Richtel

Building off his award-winning New York Times series on the contemporary teen mental-health crisis, the Pulitzer Prize–winning science reporter delivers a groundbreaking investigation into adolescence, the pivotal life stage undergoing profound—and often confounding—transformation.

HOW WE GROW UP:
Understanding Adolescence
by Matt Richtel
Mariner Books/HarperCollins, July 2025

The transition from childhood to adulthood is a natural, evolution-honed cycle that now faces radical change and challenge. The adolescent brain, sculpted for this transition over eons of evolution, confronts a modern world that creates so much social pressure as to regularly exceed the capacities of the evolving mind. The problem comes as a bombardment of screen-based information pelts the brain just as adolescence is undergoing a second key change: puberty is hitting earlier. The result is a neurological mismatch between an ultra-potent environment and a still-maturing brain that can lead to anxiety, depression, and other mental health challenges. It is a crisis that is part of modern life but can only be truly grasped through a broad, grounded lens of the biology of adolescence itself. Through this lens, Richtel shows us how adolescents can understand themselves, and parents and educators can better help.

For decades, this transition to adulthood has been defined by hormonal shifts that trigger the onset of puberty. But Richtel takes us where science now understands so much of the action is: the brain. A growing body of research that looks for the first time into budding adult neurobiology explains with untold clarity the emergence of the “social brain,” a craving for peer connection, and how the behaviors that follow pave the way for economic and social survival. This period necessarily involves testing—as the adolescent brain is programmed from birth to take risks and explore themselves and their environment—so that they may be able to thrive as they leave the insulated care of childhood.

Richtel, diving deeply into new research and gripping personal stories, offers accessible, scientifically grounded answers to the most pressing questions about generational change. What explains adolescent behaviors, risk-taking, reward-seeking, and the ongoing mental health crisis? How does adolescence shape the future of the species? What is the nature of adolescence itself?

Matt Richtel is a reporter at the New York Times. He received the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting for a series of articles about distracted driving that he expanded into his first nonfiction book, A Deadly Wandering, a New York Times bestseller. His second nonfiction book, An Elegant Defense, on the human immune system, was a national bestseller and chosen by Bill Gates for his annual Summer Reading List. Richtel has appeared on NPR’s Fresh Air, CBS This Morning, PBS NewsHour, and other major media outlets. He lives in San Francisco, California.