The year has now ended, and book lovers would love to know which books are worth reading from the year 2021. Following is a list of best 18 paperbacks of 2021 which book readers can check out.
Check prices
AmazonWaterstonesBook ShopAudible
Genre: Colonialism & imperialism
In his brilliantly insightful new book, Sathnam Sanghera explores how many of the things we think to be contemporary Britain is actually rooted in our imperial past. With prose that is simultaneously clear-eyed and packed with acerbic wit, Sanghera reveals the ways in which our past is all around us in everything from the way we live to how you think about it, from genesis for the NHS to the roots of our race and our insecurity about intellectuals in the public sphere, to the awe-inspiring individualism that infused our political campaign for Brexit along with the early responses of the government in Covid.
The British Empire ran for centuries and covered huge swaths of the globe as Sanghera shows, essential to understanding Britain. But there are those who believe in the empire and desire to not take in too much detail – to not include it in the history textbooks we read at school and not to stress it in the most popular museums.
In the midst of a great divide, where we argue about what is it to be British, Sanghera’s book beckons us to tackle this confusing paradox. It is taking a step back and examining the origins of who we are to start to comprehend what we really are and what we share.
Genre: Zoology & animal sciences
Fungi are present throughout the earth, in the air, and even our bodies. They may be tiny, but they also account for the largest living thing ever recorded. They were the first living thing on land that could survive without protection in space and flourish even in the presence of radiation from nuclear sources. In reality, the majority of life is dependent on fungi.
These awe-inspiring organisms have no brains but they are able to solve problems and alter animal behavior with a dazzling accuracy. They have provided us with bread, alcohol and life-saving drugs. Fungi have had a profound impact on our history. Their psychoactive properties have been proven to treat many mental ailments. The ability of fungi to digest chemicals, plastics and pesticides as well as crude oil are being exploited in cutting-edge technologies. The discovery that they connect plants through underground networks, referred to as the “Wood Wide Web” is changing our understanding of ecosystems. However, over 90 percent of their species are undocumented.
Entangled Life is a mind-bending trip through a stunning and unexplored universe, and illustrates that fungi are an insight into the world in which we live as well as life itself.
Genre: Politics, Society & Education
The writer of the No.1 Bestseller The Shepherd’s Life is back with a gripping story of loss, family and the land through three generations on the Lake District farm.
As a young man James Rebanks’s grandpa taught him to cultivate on the land in the old-fashioned method. The farm that his family owned located in the Lake District hills was part of an old agricultural landscape comprised of a variety of crops and meadows, with pastures that were grazed by cattle, with hedgerows that were brimming with wildlife. But when James acquired the farm it was not even recognizable. The family and the workers were gone from the fields, the barns made of stone had sunk and the skies were devoid with birds singing their songs.
English Pastoral is the story of an inheritance, one that is affecting all of us. It tells the story of how rural landscapes across the world came close to collapse, and how the traditional rhythms of work, weather and community as well as nature were also lost. Yet this elegy from the northern fells is hopeful that tells of how, guided by history, a farmer set out to save the tiny part of England that was his own, and was determined to reclaim the past that was gone and leave an enduring legacy for the future.
This book is about the meaning of it to feel the love and respect of an area and, despite every obstacle it is possible to create a new pastoral landscape: not a utopia, but something that is decent for everyone.
Genre: Biography & True Stories
Following the hugely popular Sunday Times bestseller, Wainwright Golden Beer Book Prize winner and Costa shortlisted The Salt Path, Raynor Winn comes back with her acclaimed second novel.
The story this time focuses on the issues surrounding returning to normality after being homeless for a time.
Regaining self-esteem and confidence in her own self and other people, is more difficult than she anticipated. Raynor along with her husband Moth remain fighting the crippling illness that afflicts him, until an amazing gesture from one of the people changes everything.
The book is about adapting to the new reality of homeless living and also about regaining faith and self-confidence following traumatizing events – emotions which can manifest into various events in the lives of each of us.
AmazonWaterstonesBook Shop
Genre: Postwar 20th century history: 1945 to 2000
In his bestselling, internationally-acclaimed The Shortest History of Germany, James Hawes told the story of a nation in 240 invigorating pages, tracing the roots of today’s challenges back to the first encounters with Rome. In the The shortest History of England, Hawes applies the same method to his home country.
When he travels through Caesar to Brexit through Conquest, Empire and World War, he discovers an England that is quite different from the typical image. Our fortress-like island that is steadfastly independent, the birthplace of parliaments and world-spanning empires, is divided by a fault line dating back to the time long before even the Romans, and its destiny has always been interwoven with the fate of its neighbors regardless of whether we agree or not. And – over the past a thousand years, it has been home to an unrivaled system of class that is not found anywhere elsewhere on Earth.
Genre: Maritime history
King Henry I was sailing for England achieving victory after four years of battle with the French. The king gathered in the harbor of Barfleur on that cold November night the best of the Anglo-Norman elite including three of his kids, among them the one and only legitimate male successor to the throne and also the flower of the Aristocracy, famous knights and powerful courtiers. By the year 1120, Henry was perhaps the most powerful ruler in Europe and had an impressive performance on the battlefield as well as vast lands and riches and a remarkable authority within his kingdoms. All that he had been working so hard to achieve was finally achieved and he was now ready to give it over to his son and his heir William Atheling.
Henry I and his retinue began their journey first. The White Ship, regarded as the most efficient vessel on the water was was to follow while carrying the prince. Arrogant and spoiled, William was known to bribe his fellow passengers and his crew with a drink as soon as he came on board. Late in the night, the drunken helmsman crashed the ship into the rocks and only one person survived.
In this novel, he commemorates the 909th anniversary of the wreck. Charles Spencer evokes the harsh and brutal tale of the Normans from Conquest to Anarchy. After the death of their heir, a civil war with unimaginable violence broke out, and the game of thrones that witnessed families being slain by one another with English as well as Norman barons as well as rebellious Welsh princes, and the Scottish King all taking a piece in the bloody and battle to be king.
Genre: Behavioural theory / Behaviourism
From the ‘folk hero of Davos’, Fox News antagonist and author of the best-selling international book Utopia for Realists, this book is a sweeping account of our inherent capacity to be kind. This is a belief system that connects the extreme right and the left, philosophers and psychologists as well as historians and writers. It is the driving force behind the news stories that are a part of our lives and the laws that affect our lives. The earliest examples range from Hobbes to Machiavelli and Freud up to Pinker, the beliefs that underlie this have been buried deep in Western philosophy. Human beings, according to what we’re taught, are naturally self-centered and guided by self-interest.
Humankind presents an argument that is new: it is logical and even revolutionary to think that all people are good. The desire to collaborate rather than compete, and to trust instead of distrust has an evolutionary root that goes to the very start of Homo sapiens. When we think that others are the worst we reveal the worst aspects of our society and economy too. In this major book, international-bestselling author Rutger Bregman takes some of the world’s most famous studies and events and re-frames them, providing a new perspective on the last 200,000 years of human history.
From real-life Lord of the Flies to the co-operation that took place after the Blitz and the defects within the Stanford Prison Experiment to the truth behind the murder of Kitty Genovese, Bregman shows how believing in the goodness of humanity and selflessness could be an innovative way of thinking and be the basis for real transformation for our world. We are in need of an overhaul of our understanding of the human character.
Genre: History
Follow the bioarchaeologist Dr. Cat Jerman and the most cutting-edge techniques of forensic analysis that are integral to her work, which uncover the incredible stories from the Viking time period. She tracks the tiny ‘Carnelian’ beads discovered in the Viking burial site within Derbyshire to its source thousands of miles east of Gujarat.
Dr. Cat Jarman is a bioarchaeologist with a specialization in forensic techniques to study the journeys of Vikings who sank on British soil. Through the examination of teeth currently more than one 1,000 years old, she’s able to determine the diet of a child and, consequently, the location where someone was born. Radiocarbon dating can establish a death date that is within the range of several years. Her research provides new perspectives on the possible gender roles played by the female and child in Viking society.
The year 2017 saw the first time a carnelian necklace came into her possession temporarily. River Kings sees her trace its route back to the eighth century Baghdad and India, revealing throughout the process that the Vikings traveled widely than we believe. They brought people over from across the Middle East and not just Scandinavia. The primary reason for this surprising integration between Eastern as well as Western worlds could well be a slave trade that ran along across the Silk Road up to Britain.
It is told as a thrilling tale that reveals the Vikings and the strategies that we employ to comprehend the Vikings, this book is a significant re-examination of the ferocious, often mythological travelers of the north as well as of the medieval global world we live in today.
Genre: True war & combat stories
The fascinating story of the most renowned female spy in the history of women, by one of Britain’s best-known historians.
In the tranquil Cotswolds town in Great Rollright in 1944, the thin, but elegant housewife stepped out of her house to go for her typical cycle ride. A dedicated mother of three, a caring wife and a friendly neighbor, Sonya Burton seemed to be the perfect example of the rural British family life.
Instead of going to the stores with her rations book, Sonya was off to the Oxfordshire countryside to get her hands on the secrets from a nuclear scientist which would help the Soviet Union to build the Atomic bomb.
A far cry from a docile homemaker, Sonya Burton was a committed communist, decorated colonel, and a veteran spy who put her life in danger to preserve her country, the Soviet Union in the nuclear arms race. She had a husband who like her was a Soviet agent. Her kids had three fathers, all of whom were her lovers during her extraordinary career.
In the book Agent Sonya, Ben Macintyre tells the enthralling background of the most significant female spy in the history of women and the enormous emotional burden of having a child, wife, and an agent all at once.
Genre: Society & culture
Originating from a collection of city states around 150 decades ago, not a nation has experienced such a turbulent background as Germany or enjoyed such prosperity in such a brief period of time. As many of the world’s nations succumb to authoritarianism, and the democratic system is destroyed at the root, Germany stands as a stronghold for stability and decency.
Combining personal stories and anecdotes with solid empirical proof, the book is a thoughtful and engaging look at the nation that many in the West are still prone to hate. In posing important questions for the post-Brexit world, Kampfner asks why, regardless of its shortcomings, Germany has become a example for others to copy and why Britain is unable to meet the current issues. Part autobiographical, part historical and Part travel story, The Reason the Germans Do it Better is an engaging and humorous depiction of an ever-changing country.
Genre: Human geography
Tim Marshall’s cult best-selling book Prisoners of Geography demonstrated how each nation’s choices are restricted by rivers, mountains, oceans and concrete. Since then, geographical landscape hasn’t changed. But the world has.
In this enthralling novel, Marshall explores ten regions which are likely to influence the world’s politics in an time of great power rivalry: Australia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the UK, Greece, Turkey, the Sahel, Ethiopia, Spain and Space. Discover the reasons why the next crisis of refugees in Europe could be more likely than you think as tensions rise in the Sahel, and why is it that the Middle East must look beyond oil and sand to ensure its future, as well as the reason why the east Mediterranean is among the most volatile flashpoints in the 21st century; and the reason why the earth’s atmosphere is poised to become the next battlefield in the world.
With Marshall’s trademark humor and insight The book is a concise and riveting investigation of the impact of geography on humanity’s past, present and even the future.
Genre: Meditation & visualisation
There is nothing more important to our well-being and health than breathing. Take air in, exhale it and repeat it 25,000 times per day. However we, as a species we have lost our ability to breathe properly and with serious consequences. With Breath writer James Nestor travels the world to find out the secrets of breathing techniques from the past to determine the cause and ways to correct it.
Recent research has shown that even a small change to how we breathe and exhale could boost fitness, restore internal organs, reduce breathing problems, asthma, snoring and autoimmune diseases, and even straighten the scoliotic spines
All of this is feasible, but it is basing itself on many thousands of years of ancient wisdom, and cutting-edge research in the fields of psychology, pulmonology and human physiology. Breath transforms the traditional wisdom we believe we are aware of as the most fundamental biological function.
Genre: True crime
Can the courts actually ordain the murder of your innocent child? Did you know of an illegal immigrant who was not deported due to the fact that he owned a cat? Are unelected judges really opponents of the common people?
We think that the law is applicable only to criminals. However, the law is applicable to all aspects of our lives, from intimate family issues to the most important issues that affect our society.
Uncertainty is dangerous as it leaves us vulnerable to political spin, media falsehoods and false information that is often sourced from loud-mouthed people and those who have deep-seated interests. The fake law allows the powerful and the inexperienced to manipulate justice with no knowledge of it or even worse, the possibility of being complicit in their actions.
Thankfully The Secret Barrister is back to expose the naiveté of malice, incompetence and apathy behind many of the most important legal dramas of recent times. The Fake Law dispels the myths and provides a hilarious and shocking defense against the misuse of our laws as well as our rights and democratic process.
Genre: Mathematics & science
In this book, Tim Harford shares his experiences as an economist as well as the host of BBC’s radio program “More or Less’. He dives deep into the world of deceit and confusion, bad research and misplaced motives to discover the treasures of analysis and data which make communicating using numbers worth it. Harford’s characters span between the artist who deceived the Nazis to the prostitute who found an affair with the powerful Congressman of Washington; and famous data detectives like John Maynard Keynes, Daniel Kahneman and Florence Nightingale. Harford shows us how to assess the claims made by us with conviction, curiosity, and a healthy amount of skepticism.
Utilizing ten easy rules to understand numbers – and one golden rule this book is extremely insightful. It reveals how, if we remain alert and focused, and think carefully about how numbers are obtained and presented, we will be able to examine the world around us, and see the adding up of the world in a clear way.
Genre: Myths & legends
In the Pandora’s Jar, Natalie Haynes – writer, broadcaster and a passionate classicalist – corrects the imbalance by taking Pandora and her Jar as her point of departure and puts women from The Greek myths on the same level with the men of the world. Through millennia of tales of men and gods, whether Zeus or Agamemnon, Paris or Odysseus, Oedipus or Jason, the voices that are heard in these pages are the voices from Hera, Athena and Artemis and also of Clytemnestra, Jocasta, Eurydice and Penelope.
Monsters and stories about gods are the foundation of epic poetry as well as Greek tragedy that span from Homer up to Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides and through The Trojan War to Jason and the Argonauts. Today many movies, plays, and novels take inspiration from tales which are more than three millennia old. But the contemporary tellers of Greek myths have typically been men and have generally shown little desire to tell women’s stories. When they do, the women are usually portrayed as a monster, vengeful, or even a bit wicked. However, Pandora was the first woman to be credited with having according to legend, unleashed chaos across the globe. She actually did not have the reputation of a villain. In fact, Medea and Phaedra are more complex stories told repeatedly for generations.
In February 1991, media business mogul who was also a former member of parliament, Robert Maxwell made a triumphant entry into Manhattan harbour on his yacht named The Lady Ghislaine in order to complete his acquisition of failing New York Daily News. The quayside was crowded with people waiting to catch his appearance as taxi drivers slowed their cabs to greet him by hand, and children squealed to sign his name. Then, just 10 months later, Maxwell was missing from that same boat off the Canary Islands, only to be discovered dead in the water shortly afterward.
Maxwell was the epitomization of the post-war boom in Britain. Born as an Orthodox Jew, he had survived the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia, fought during World War 2 and was awarded for his bravery through the Military Cross. He was later a Labour MP and an incredibly successful businessman, with a variety of publishing companies and newspapers. However, after his death his business empire sank because of his long-hidden debts, and fraudulent transactions came to light. Within a matter of weeks, Maxwell was being reviled as the epitome of corruption and greed.
What went wrong? How did a hero of war and model of the modern world reduced to a massive moral shambles? In this riveting publication, John Preston delivers the complete account of Maxwell’s astonishing rise to fame and his infamous descent.
Genre: Feminism & feminist theory
Ten years back, Caitlin Moran thought she knew everything. Her hit novel How to Be a Woman was an innovative approach to feminism and patriarchy In the past, she believed that the hard part was over and that her forties were going to be easy breeze.
If only she knew that when the age of middle comes around there are a myriad of questions to be answered. Why is there no thing as a ‘Mum Bod’? What happened to sex before it became boring? What do men really think? Where did all the things that are in the kitchen cabinets originate form? Are feminists able to get Botox? For what reason has wine turned against you? What is the difference between the Teenage Micro-Breakdown, and The Real Thing? Is feminism taking it too far? And Who’s watching out for the children?
Caitlin Moran is back with More than a Woman: a guide to aging as well as a manifesto to make a difference and a celebration for women of middle age who keep the world moving.
Genre: Military aircraft
The latest book by John Nichol, the Sunday Times bestselling author of Spitfire, is a passionate and deeply emotional dedication to Lancaster, the Lancaster bomber, its brave crews and the crew members and civilians who kept her in the air in the nation’s most dire time of need.
Sir Arthur Harris, the controversial director of Royal Air Force Bomber Command said of the Lancaster as his ‘shining sword’ and as the ‘biggest single aspect to win the war’. RAF bomber squadrons conducted offensive actions from the very beginning of the Second World War until the end. They flew over 300,000 sorties and dropped nearly 1 million tons of explosives including life-saving equipment. More than 10,000 of their aircrafts were never recovered. From among the 7377 Lancasters constructed during the war, over half were destroyed by enemy action or accidents during training.
The former RAF Tornado Navigator, Gulf War veteran and the best-selling book author John Nichol now tells the amazing and touching tale of the legendary aircraft that led the battle deep into Nazi Germany
Best 18 Paperbacks Of 2021
Continue reading...
