Books like Space And Place — picked by fans

I’ve been at least a part-time environmental journalist for more than 25 years, and food and agriculture is arguably the biggest environmental problem—the biggest driver of water shortages, water pollution, deforestation, and biodiversity loss, and the second-biggest driver (after fossil fuels) of climate change. And it occurred to me in 2019 that I didn’t know squat about it! I realized that if I was spectacularly ignorant, others probably were, too, and I’ve been obsessed ever since.

While at UC Berkeley, pursuing a PhD in Ancient History, I took a seminar on the American Landscape and was fascinated. Here was a topic that was far from the pomp and grandeur of the Roman Empire and yet there was something compelling about looking deeply at what was right there in the everyday world around me. The idea of the prosaic, the banal, as a legitimate topic of inquiry was eye-opening and led eventually to a PhD in Cultural Geography. While these books might not alter the reader’s life trajectory, they will hopefully offer an invitation to view the everyday world with a bit more curiosity. 

While at UC Berkeley, pursuing a PhD in Ancient History, I took a seminar on the American Landscape and was fascinated. Here was a topic that was far from the pomp and grandeur of the Roman Empire and yet there was something compelling about looking deeply at what was right there in the everyday world around me. The idea of the prosaic, the banal, as a legitimate topic of inquiry was eye-opening and led eventually to a PhD in Cultural Geography. While these books might not alter the reader’s life trajectory, they will hopefully offer an invitation to view the everyday world with a bit more curiosity. 

While at UC Berkeley, pursuing a PhD in Ancient History, I took a seminar on the American Landscape and was fascinated. Here was a topic that was far from the pomp and grandeur of the Roman Empire and yet there was something compelling about looking deeply at what was right there in the everyday world around me. The idea of the prosaic, the banal, as a legitimate topic of inquiry was eye-opening and led eventually to a PhD in Cultural Geography. While these books might not alter the reader’s life trajectory, they will hopefully offer an invitation to view the everyday world with a bit more curiosity. 

My career has taken me zero millimeters from a large college, Christ Church, to a small, adjacent one, Corpus Christi, in 1971. In my mind, though, I have crisscrossed the world, leaping back in time to late antiquity and the Middle Ages, and nowhere proved more fascinating than Iran, which I have visited twice, in 1998 and 2002. I have written about different facets of its history at the end of antiquity, in particular its dominant role in the India trade and the coming of the Arabs.

A family visit to Hadrian’s Wall first sparked my interest in Roman Britain, and since then I’ve written eight novels, one novella, and a couple of short stories featuring Roman Army Medic and reluctant sleuth Gaius Petreius Ruso and his British partner, Tilla. I’m the owner of an archaeological trowel and infinite curiosity, both of which I wield as often as possible in search of the “real” Roman Britain. 

I’m Chief Executive of Humanists UK and President of Humanists International, organisations acting as representative bodies for non-religious people both in the UK and around the world. I grew up in Nuneaton, home to 19th-century humanist and novelist George Eliot, and spent my childhood reading books about Greek myths and modern imaginary worlds. I now alternate between novels and academic Classics books. I've written a number of books including Secularism: A Very Short Introduction, The Little Book of Humanism, and The Little Book of Humanist Weddings – the last two with Professor Alice Roberts. Humanism is about life, not humanism, so I’ve gone for books that encapsulate the humanist outlook on life.

I’m Chief Executive of Humanists UK and President of Humanists International, organisations acting as representative bodies for non-religious people both in the UK and around the world. I grew up in Nuneaton, home to 19th-century humanist and novelist George Eliot, and spent my childhood reading books about Greek myths and modern imaginary worlds. I now alternate between novels and academic Classics books. I've written a number of books including Secularism: A Very Short Introduction, The Little Book of Humanism, and The Little Book of Humanist Weddings – the last two with Professor Alice Roberts. Humanism is about life, not humanism, so I’ve gone for books that encapsulate the humanist outlook on life.

Nonfiction books are my thing, paperbacks my version of printed riches. I’m a mother, nature lover, and an author by burnout’s default. Two years ago, burnout compelled me to trade my successful senior management career for a more fulfilling existence. Without hesitation, slowing down, embracing the simple things, and returning to self transformed my life. These experiences led to my unexpected debut memoir, Thank You, Burnout. Today, I work part-time in a role I used to hire for—so, yes, I’m all in on the themes of my list. I’m sure my recommended reading experiences will gift as much therapeutic value to you as they did to me. 

I’m a physicist who ended up doing their PhD in philosophy, because the “so what” question for me always was more interesting to answer than finding out how the physical world is changing. Working as a climate scientist I see how climate change and extreme weather devastate livelihoods on a daily basis. It makes me very aware I know nothing, but also that the philosophical and humanist ideas we build our societies upon are much more important to solve the climate crisis than physics and technology. One of the most important ones is to reclaim freedom and actually allow people to live good lives.