New Non-Fiction: August

Blog · Posted July 24, 2024

Our booksellers have chosen their top non-fiction picks for the upcoming month.

PAPERBACK

Fire Weather by John Vaillant | 29th August | £12.99

In May 2016, a Canadian oil town was overrun by wildfire, turning entire neighbourhoods into firebombs and driving 90,000 people from their homes. Fire Weather is an astounding account of this century’s most intense urban fire, and an urgent examination of humanity’s future in an ever-hotter, more flammable world.

 


Not The End of The World by Hannah Ritchie |29th August | £10.99

We are bombarded by doomsday headlines that tell us the soil won’t be able to support crops, fish will vanish from our oceans, and we should reconsider having children. But in this bold, radically hopeful book, data scientist Hannah Ritchie argues that if we zoom out, a very different picture emerges. The data shows we’ve made so much progress on these problems, and so fast, that we could be on track to achieve true sustainability for the first time in history.

 


A Day in the Life of Abed Salama by Nathan Thrall | 1st August | £10.99

Milad is five years old when, while on a school trip, his bus is involved in a horrific accident. His father, Abed, sets off on a journey to learn Milad’s fate, navigating a maze of physical, emotional, and bureaucratic obstacles he must face as a Palestinian. a deeply immersive, stunningly detailed portrait of life in Israel and Palestine, and an illumination of the reality of one of the most contested places on earth.

 


Material World by Ed Conway | 1st August | £10.99

Ed Conway travels the globe – from the sweltering depths of the deepest mine in Europe to spotless silicon chip factories in Taiwan, to the eerie green pools where lithium originates – to uncover a secret world we rarely see. Revealing the true marvel of the six most crucial substances in human history, he follows the mind-boggling journeys, miraculous processes and little-known companies that turn the raw materials we all need into products of astonishing complexity.

 


A Promised Land by Barak Obama | 13th August | £18.99

Barack Obama tells the story of his improbable odyssey from young man searching for his identity to leader of the free world. Arriving in paperback for the first time, this beautifully written and powerful book captures Barack Obama’s conviction that democracy is not a gift from on high but something founded on empathy and common understanding and built together, day by day.

 


Story of Art Without Men by Katy Hessel | 29th August | £12.99

How many women artists do you know? Who makes art history? Did women even work as artists before the twentieth century? Have your sense of art history overturned, and your eyes opened to many art forms often overlooked or dismissed. From the Cornish coast to Manhattan, Nigeria to Japan, this is the story of art for our times – one with women at its heart, brought together for the first time by the creator of @thegreatwomenartists.

 


HARDBACK

Elena: A Hand Made Life by Miriam Gold | 22nd August | £25

This is the story of the ordinary extraordinary life of Dr Elena Zadik. A refugee twice before she was 17, Elena ran through the twentieth century without looking back. Miriam gathers the threads of her Granny’s story, reflecting on their unconventional relationship and how trauma travels down through the generations in this gorgeous brocade of illustration and collage.

 


Midweek Recipes by Jess Elliott Dennison | 1st August | £23.50

Covering everything from crispy-edged kimchi and Cheddar fritters to the easiest lemon-cream linguine; the fluffiest flatbreads and a comforting self-saucing chocolate pudding to flop onto the sofa with. Welcome to easy, joy-filled Midweek Recipes. If you would like to order this book, please call us on 01835 824087 or email us at books@mainstreetbooks.co.uk.

 


Ootlin by Jenni Fagan | 22nd August | £16.99

Jenni Fagan was property of the state before birth. She drew her first breath in care and by the age of seven, she had lived in fourteen different homes and had her name changed multiple times. Ootlin is a journey through the broken UK care system – it is one of displacement and exclusion, but also of the power of storytelling. It is about the very human act of making meaning from adversity.

 


Dinner by Meera Sodha | 1st August | £27

From quick-cook recipes to one-pan wonders and delectable dishes you can just bung in the oven and leave to look after themselves, Dinner is the essential companion for the most important meal of the day. Discover 120 vibrant, easy-to-make vegetarian and vegan main dishes bursting with flavour, including baked butter paneer, kimchi and tomato spaghetti.