3-minute read

2023 was a year in which I managed to read and review only 42 books. Yes, there were some really big books, but mostly this has been a year of intensification: reviews are becoming longer and I am taking many more notes while preparing them. A course correction seems in order as I would like to increase that number next year. Another development you might have noticed was several double-reviews, triptychs, and even a quartet. Increasingly often I find that new titles complement earlier books that I have on my shelves, unread. I am keen to learn more, dig deeper, and in the process hopefully provide useful context, so I plan to continue this habit next year.

What follows is my personal top 5 of the most impactful, most beautiful, and most thought-provoking books I read during 2023.

1. Radical by Nature: The Revolutionary Life of Alfred Russel Wallace

Princeton University Press published some smashing science biographies this year, several of which I still need to get around to, but Radical by Nature was hands down my favourite book of the year. Evolutionary biologist James T. Costa has written an in-depth, tremendously enjoyable, and updated biography that draws on intimate details gleaned from the Wallace Correspondence Project. As I have long wanted to read more about Alfred Russel Wallace, it marked the start of a three-part review. Read more…

2. Blue Machine: How the Ocean Shapes Our World

Oceanographer Helen Czerski’s new book, published by Transworld’s non-fiction imprint Torva, has been lauded by the press and it is not hard to see why. An engrossing odyssey into oceanography that oozes lyricism in places, Blue Machine is a captivating book about the liquid engine powering our planet. Read more…

3. The Age of Mammals: Nature, Development, & Paleontology in the Long Nineteenth Century

The University of Pittsburgh Press seems to have had a major shake-up of its biology roster as a large number of fascinating titles flowed from the press this year. Chief amongst them was science historian Chris Manias’s book The Age of Mammals. Admittedly a more obscure and academic topic, this wide-ranging and serious intellectual history shows that you cannot understand the history of palaeontology without considering mammals. Read more…

4. The Value of a Whale: On the Illusions of Green Capitalism

Published last year by Manchester University Press, and part of an expanding list of highly critical books, researcher and analyst Adrienne Buller’s The Value of a Whale is a shocking and necessary corrective to the green capitalist solutions being peddled to address climate change. Read more…

5. Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet

When I learned that environmental journalist Ben Goldfarb had just written a new book, I knew this was going to be good. Published by W.W. Norton during their centenary year, Crossings is a globetrotting, wide-ranging, and eye-opening reportage on the impacts of roads and how ecologists are trying to mitigate them. Read more…

If you are looking for more recommendations, do check out my earlier top 5s. Or browse the archive which lists all reviews where, newly added this year, you will notice separate subject archives and a cover gallery.