Environment

by Pilita Clark

How We Sold Our Future: The Failure to Fight Climate Change by Jens Beckert, translated by Ray Cunningham (Polity)
The reason the world keeps failing to meaningfully address climate change may not be as obvious as you think. German sociologist Jens Beckert makes a powerful, if dismal, case that even the greenest governments and businesses shy from action that would cut the profits, tax revenues and economic growth they need to survive.

Wildly Different: How Five Women Reclaimed Nature in a Man’s World by Sarah Lonsdale (Manchester University Press)
Think of a great explorer and it’s likely you will think of a man. But as this book shows, female explorers, conservationists and scientists have been braving starvation, freezing temperatures and the bleak attitudes of male adversaries to chart the natural world for much longer than is widely imagined.

Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane (Hamish Hamilton/WW Norton)
Who speaks for nature? It’s hard to say it has been the law, considering how much of the world’s wilderness has been lost. This acclaimed writer asks us to think about rivers the way many indigenous communities have, as living entities, all the better to protect them and the life they sustain.

In Search of Green China by Ma Tianjie (Polity)
Everyone knows China is a green energy colossus with a powerful grip on the world’s solar, wind, battery and electric car markets. The story of its struggle to clean up its notoriously polluted air and rivers is less well known and as this book shows, not unlike some battles fought by western environmental campaigners.

The Power of Nuclear: The Rise, Fall and Return of Our Mightiest Energy Source by Marco Visscher (Bloomsbury)
Nuclear power is having a moment and this book argues it is high time to reconsider one of the world’s most contentious forms of electricity generation. It has been over-regulated and under-appreciated for too long, writes Dutch journalist Visscher, in part because of its unhappy early association with atomic warfare. 

Science

by Clive Cookson

Our Brains, Our Selves: What a Neurologist’s Patients Taught Him About the Brain by Masud Husain (Canongate)
Neurologist Husain writes an engaging medical memoir about his experiences with seven patients whose symptoms illustrate the workings — and failings — of the human brain. At the same time he looks sympathetically at the way society treats people as their neural disorders progress and their behaviour changes.

The Forgotten Sense: The New Science of Smell by Jonas Olofsson (William Collins)
Don’t underestimate the power of your nose, urges olfactory researcher Olofsson, who is on a mission to elevate the status of smell in an age dominated by sight and hearing. Contrary to popular belief, humans can detect odours better than most animals (although not as well as dogs). He offers lively advice too on improving your own sense of smell.

The Ideological Brain: A Radical Science of Susceptible Minds by Leor Zmigrod (Viking/Henry Holt)
Zmigrod is a leading researcher in the emerging field of political neuroscience, which aims to relate people’s ideological inclinations — and the flexibility or rigidity of their thinking — to brain biology. Although many of the answers are unclear, her book provides a fascinating and sometimes provocative guide to work in progress.

Proof: The Uncertain Science of Certainty by Adam Kucharski (Profile/Basic Books)
As a prominent UK epidemiologist, Kucharski became a hero to some and villain to others for his evidence-based views on the Covid-19 pandemic. The experience led him to write this excellent book about proof, uncertainty and — very importantly — how to communicate scientific evidence to the public as clearly and convincingly as possible.

Blueprints: How Mathematics Shapes Creativity by Marcus du Sautoy (4th Estate)
Du Sautoy, a master of popular maths writing, illuminates the intricate relationships between numbers, nature and the creative arts. He runs through key mathematical principles that have inspired painters, architects, writers and musicians — consciously or unconsciously — giving vivid descriptions of the resulting output.

Summer Books 2025

All this week, FT writers and critics share their favourites. Some highlights are:

Monday: Business by Andrew Hill
Tuesday: Environment by Pilita Clark
Wednesday: Economics by Martin Wolf
Thursday: Fiction by Maria Crawford
Friday: Politics by Gideon Rachman
Saturday: Critics’ picks

Technology

by John Thornhill

Superbloom: How Technologies of Connection Tear Us Apart by Nicholas Carr (WW Norton)
To understand why the debate about technology is turning increasingly bleak, it is worth reading Carr’s incisive essay. Every new technological innovation, from the telegram to the television to the internet and now AI, has been accompanied by high hopes that it will lead to a blooming of human understanding. But we cannot resist gorging on our own desires.

Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI by Karen Hao (Penguin Press)
Hao’s unauthorised examination of Sam Altman’s OpenAI is critical and unnerving, raising big doubts about the character of its chief executive and the governance of the company as it races to build increasingly powerful AI models. The account of “The Blip” when Altman was fired and rehired by the board is especially gripping.

The Optimist: Sam Altman, OpenAI, and the Race to Invent the Future by Keach Hagey (WW Norton)
Two books on OpenAI may be considered excessive. But as the Wall Street Journal reporter and author argues, the start-up that developed ChatGPT is emerging as one of the most consequential companies of our time. Hagey’s account contains more direct input from Sam Altman himself and his entourage, but also raises concerns about his trustworthiness.

World Builders: Technology and the New Geopolitics by Bruno Maçães (Cambridge University Press)
A former Portuguese politician turned author makes a bold, if not totally convincing, attempt to redraw the contours of our age by exploring the interconnections between technological innovation and geopolitical change. Competition between the great powers is moving from the world of atoms to bits, revolving around software and internet protocols as much as rockets and battleships.

Careless People: A Story of Where I Used to Work by Sarah Wynn-Williams (Macmillan/Flatiron Books)
A former Facebook employee lifts the lid on the inner workings of Facebook revealing what happens when a bunch of near-teenagers, brandishing technological superpowers and an ungodly amount of money, redesign the world. A sprightly and well-told personal tale that highlights the chilling carelessness of Silicon Valley. No wonder Facebook tried to shut the publicity down.

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