Top Ten Tuesday – My Anticipated Non-Fiction Releases For 2018 Part 1 #NonFiction #TopTenTuesday #Reading #Books

Welcome to another #TopTenTuesday here on ATIB. I have definitely become more Non-Fiction based after last November and I am enjoying having that extra dimension to my blog. NF is important to me as it benefits my understanding of the world and helps me become a better reader. I have decided to make this list all about the new and exciting NF that are due out this year and why I am keenly anticipating them. I read all sorts of of NF (except sports because…meh!) but mostly scientific, travel, writing and memoirs. I am going to attempt to expand my repertoire if possible but there are so many to choose from, hence ‘Part 1’ :D. I hope you enjoy the list and find a couple of reads you might consider picking up yourself.

My Anticipated Non-Fiction Releases In 2018 Part One

Released 17/05/18 via Ebury Press

I am incredibly under-informed about details surrounding the Vietnam War so I want to read this as soon as possible. There is so much to the Vietnam conflict that goes beyond the fighting and I think that this is a provocative read that I cannot miss out on in 2018.

Book Synopsis

More than forty years after the Vietnam War ended, its legacy continues to fascinate, horrify and inform us. As the first war to be fought in front of TV cameras and beamed around the world, it has been immortalised on film and on the page, and forever changed the way we think about war.

Drawing on hundreds of brand new interviews, Ken Burns and Geoffrey C. Ward have created the definitive work on Vietnam. It is the first book to show us the war from every perspective: from idealistic US Marines and the families they left behind to the Vietnamese civilians, both North and South, whose homeland was changed for ever; politicians, POWs and anti-war protesters; and the photographers and journalists who risked their lives to tell the truth. The book sends us into the grit and chaos of combat, while also expertly outlining the complex chain of political events that led America to Vietnam.

Beautifully written, this essential work tells the full story without taking sides and reminds us that there is no single truth in war. It is set to redefine our understanding of a brutal conflict, to launch provocative new debates and to shed fresh light on the price paid in ‘blood and bone’ by Vietnamese and Americans alike.

Released 15/05/18 via Allen Lane

I am a huge fan of popular science so The Book Of Why is perfect for me. I try and read as many books about the modern view on ourselves and science as it helps me as both a reader and a human being. I am a big thinker so anything that could help with that process could be beneficial to me. We shall see very soon!

Book Synopsis

‘Correlation does not imply causation.’ This mantra was invoked by scientists for decades in order to avoid taking positions as to whether one thing caused another, such as smoking and cancer and carbon dioxide and global warming. But today, that taboo is dead. The causal revolution, sparked by world-renowned computer scientist Judea Pearl and his colleagues, has cut through a century of confusion and placed cause and effect on a firm scientific basis. Now, Pearl and science journalist Dana Mackenzie explain causal thinking to general readers for the first time, showing how it allows us to explore the world that is and the worlds that could have been. It is the essence of human and artificial intelligence. And just as Pearl’s discoveries have enabled machines to think better, The Book of Why explains how we can think better.

Released 02/08/18 via Jonathan Cape

Anyone who has read this blog consistently knows that I am a huuuuuuge mythology geek. Red Thread checks all my boxes and I am eager to throw myself into this book head-first and savour all the mythological goodness within. Labyrinths are a key part of the history of fiction and I can’t thank Charlotte Higgins enough for taking the time to explore some.

Book Synopsis

The tale of how the hero Theseus killed the Minotaur, finding his way out of the labyrinth using Ariadne’s ball of red thread, is one of the most intriguing, suggestive and persistent of all myths, and the labyrinth – the beautiful, confounding and terrifying building created for the half-man, half-bull monster – is one of the foundational symbols of human ingenuity and artistry.

Charlotte Higgins, author of the Baillie Gifford-shortlisted Under Another Sky, tracks the origins of the story of the labyrinth in the poems of Homer, Catullus, Virgil and Ovid, and with them builds an ingenious edifice of her own. She follows the idea of the labyrinth through the Cretan excavations of Sir Arthur Evans, the mysterious turf labyrinths of northern Europe, the church labyrinths of medieval French cathedrals and the hedge mazes of Renaissance gardens. Along the way, she traces the labyrinthine ideas of writers from Dante and Borges to George Eliot and Conan Doyle, and of artists from Titian and Velázquez to Picasso and Eva Hesse.

Her intricately constructed narrative asks what it is to be lost, what it is to find one’s way, and what it is to travel the confusing and circuitous path of a lived life. Red Thread is, above all, a winding and unpredictable route through the byways of the author’s imagination – one that leads the reader on a strange and intriguing journey, full of unexpected connections and surprising pleasures.

Released 03/05/18 via Faber & Faber

Happiness has baffled scientists (in some respects) for quite some time. I have always wondered what the true nature of happiness is and where it actually manifests within our brains and it sounds like Dean Burnett might have the answers I have been looking for. I hope so!

Book Synopsis

Do you want to be happy?

If so – read on. This book has all the answers.*

In The Happy Brain, neuroscientist Dean Burnett delves deep into the inner workings of our minds to explore some fundamental questions about happiness. For starters: what does it actually mean to be happy? Where does it come from? And is there a secret to making it last forever?

In his research into these questions – and many more besides – Burnett unravels our complex internal lives to reveal the often surprising truth behind what makes us tick. From whether happiness really begins at home (spoiler alert: yes – sort of) to what love, sex, friendship, wealth, laughter and success actually do to our brains, this book offers a uniquely entertaining insight into what it means to be human.

* Not really. Sorry. But it does have some very interesting questions, and at least the occasional answer.

Released 05/04/18 via W&N (Orion)

Gravity is as ubiquitous to us as air and just as key to our survival. I know little to nothing about gravity other than it keeps me on the ground so I think it is about time I spend some time familiarising myself with gravity on a personal level. I want to know these things!

Book Synopsis

Gravity was the first force to be recognised and described yet it is still the least understood. If we can unlock its secrets, the force that keeps our feet on the ground holds the key to understanding the biggest questions in science: what is space? What is time? What is the universe? And where did it all come from?

Award-winning writer Marcus Chown takes us on an unforgettable journey from the recognition of the ‘force’ of gravity in 1666 to the discovery of gravitational waves in the twenty-first century. And, as we stand on the brink of a seismic revolution in our worldview, he brings us up to speed on the greatest challenge ever to confront physics.

Released 31/05/18 via Hutchinson

Though this might not completely be considered as NF though I am still counting it as it is a biographical tale that is based on the truth. The Murderer of Warren Street sounds so cool and different to the books I have been reading lately and I want to immerse myself in 19th century crime stories.

Book Synopsis

On 8 December 1854, Emmanuel Barthélemy visited 73 Warren Street in the heart of radical London for the very last time. In just half an hour, two innocent men would be dead.

The newspapers of Victorian England were soon in a frenzy. Who was this foreigner come to British shores to slay two upstanding subjects? As Oxford historian, Marc Mulholland, has uncovered, Barthélemy was no ordinary criminal. Rather, here was a dedicated activist fighting for the cause of the oppressed worker, a fugitive shaped by the storms of revolution, counterrevolution and a society in the midst of huge transformation.

Following in Barthélemy’s footsteps, Mulholland leads us from the barricades of the French capital and the icy rooftops of a Parisian jail to the English fireside of Karl Marx, a misty duelling ground and the dangling noose of London’s Newgate prison, shining a light into a dark underworld of conspiracy, insurrection and fatal idealism.

The Murderer of Warren Street is a thrilling portrait of a troubled man in troubled times – full of resonance for our own terrorised age.

Released 12/07/18 via Bloomsbury

I have come across this turbulent relationship in fiction, movies and video games but never in my actual life. I live in my own little cocoon of Britishness and now feel the need to venture out. The Lion & The Eagle covers quite a lot of ground so I should be up to speed in no time.

Book Synopsis

An invigorating history of the arguments and cooperation between America and Britain as they divided up the world and an illuminating exploration of their underlying alliance

Throughout modern history, British and American rivalry has gone hand in hand with common interests. In this book Kathleen Burk brilliantly examines the different kinds of power the two empires have projected, and the means they have used to do it. What the two empires have shared is a mixture of pragmatism, ruthless commercial drive, a self-righteous foreign policy and plenty of naked aggression. These have been aimed against each other more than once; yet their underlying alliance against common enemies has been historically unique and a defining force throughout the twentieth century.

This is a global and epic history of the rise and fall of empires. It ranges from America’s futile attempts to conquer Canada to her success in opening up Japan but rapid loss of leadership to Britain; from Britain’s success in forcing open China to her loss of the Middle East to the US; and from the American conquest of the Philippines to her destruction of the British Empire. The Pax Americana replaced the Pax Britannica, but now the American world order is fading, threatening Britain’s belief in her own world role.

In our uncertain times, this is the history we need: authoritative, measured and compelling.

Released 08/03/18 via John Murray

I have to admit that I have read more of these books than I probably should have but they are so good. This is has an intro by Stephen Hawking! (Rest in peace). Hopefully The Origin Of (Almost) Everything has some new perspectives that can expand on what I already know.

Book Synopsis

When Edwin Hubble looked into his telescope in the 1920s, he was shocked to find that nearly all of the galaxies he could see through it were flying away from one another. If these galaxies had always been travelling, he reasoned, then they must, at some point, have been on top of one another. This discovery transformed the debate about one of the most fundamental questions of human existence – how did the universe begin?

Every society has stories about the origin of the cosmos and its inhabitants, but now, with the power to peer into the early universe and deploy the knowledge gleaned from archaeology, geology, evolutionary biology and cosmology, we are closer than ever to understanding where it all came from. In The Origin of (almost) Everything, New Scientist explores the modern origin stories of everything from the Big Bang, meteorites and dark energy, to dinosaurs, civilisation, timekeeping, belly-button fluff and beyond.

From how complex life evolved on Earth, to the first written language, to how humans conquered space, The Origin of (almost) Everything offers a unique history of the past, present and future of our universe.

Released 29/03/18 via Center Street

Re-imagining the ten commandments is a long over due task and I am certainly keen to see Ana Levy-Lyons take on this process. The commandments don’t have to be seen as religious scripture, they can also be regarded as a outline of how to manage our lives. Bringing them into the 21st century could be beneficial to us all.

Book Synopsis

An insightful and fresh perspective of the Ten Commandments reveals how this ancient text is the underpinning for social justice, equality, and the foundation of society.

Each commandment is expanded beyond interpersonal morality to encompass the global economy and our hyper-connected age. Stealing, for example, is recast as the difference between the fair trade price of a commodity and what we pay. Keeping the Sabbath is recast as resistance to consumer culture, having enough.

The Ten Commandments are a resource for everyone, from the spiritual-but-not-religious to the deeply observant, who wants to resist injustice, heal our earth, and find personal dignity amid the free-for-alls of modern life.

We don’t have to invent a bunch of new practices to meaningfully integrate our spirituality and politics. There is already a perfectly good set of ten of them, with as much progressive firepower as any of us can handle, that has existed for some 3000 years.

Released 26/04/18 via Hachette Books

This isn’t really directed at me as a reader as I am a UK resident but it is all transferable so I am happy to delve into The War On Normal People as I am working class and invested in change. I would like to see our living wage increase to a more survivable amount and I am interested to see what Andrew Yang has to say on the subject.

Book Synopsis

The shift toward automation is about to create a tsunami of unemployment. Not in the distant future–now. One recent estimate predicts 13 million American workers will lose their jobs within the next seven years-jobs that won’t be replaced. In a future marked by restlessness and chronic unemployment, what will happen to American society?

In The War on Normal People, Andrew Yang paints a dire portrait of the American economy. Rapidly advancing technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics and automation software are making millions of Americans’ livelihoods irrelevant. The consequences are these trends are already being felt across our communities in the form of political unrest, drug use, and other social ills. The future looks dire-but is it unavoidable?

In The War on Normal People, Yang imagines a different future – one in which having a job is distinct from the capacity to prosper and seek fulfillment. At this vision’s core is Universal Basic Income, the concept of providing all citizens with a guaranteed income-and one that is rapidly gaining popularity among forward-thinking politicians and economists. Yang proposes that UBI is an essential step toward a new, more durable kind of economy, one he calls “human capitalism.”

Thanks for coming by to check out some exciting Non Fiction upcoming releases. 2018 is going to be a fantastic year for a lot of genres but Non Fiction might be coming out on top. There is a wide range of titles on this list and as you can see this is only part one! I might just to a part two later on in the year or three parts in total if I have time. I see to gravitate towards NF as a reader and a blogger. There is so much to explore and learn. I hope you find a title or two on this list that you fancy reading, let me know if you did.

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