With one eye on as yet empty Christmas stockings and the other on cold winter’s nights, here is a short list of essential non-fiction titles recently released in paperback.
1) The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee
This “biography” of cancer by a New York oncologist whisks readers from the first documented appearance of the disease to modern day battles to find a cure.
What the critics thought:
Alexander Linklater, Observer: “[A] great and beautiful book … The notion of “popular science” doesn’t come close to describing this achievement. It is literature”
Jervoise Andreyev, Spectator: “This is a book about the past not the future. Lots of talk about phenomenal successes in fortunately rare diseases, leukaemia, Hodgkins lymphoma and testicular cancer, but barely a word about pancreatic cancer, where treatment remains dismal. Nor about preventing cancer in the first place”
Published by Fourth Estate at £9.99
2) Apollo’s
Britain’s best politics newsletters
You get two free articles each week when you sign up to The Spectator’s emails.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in