Welcome to the New Scientist Book Club, a place to find out about the very best science and science fiction writing out there, and to talk about them with your fellow book lovers.
Every six weeks, we select a new title to read and then discuss. Once we’ve got to grips with our latest choice, we interview its author and dig into why and how they wrote it.
We also bring you extracts from our chosen books and insights into our authors’ favourite reads and inspirations.
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Love reading? Come and join our friendly group of fellow book lovers. Every six weeks, we delve into an exciting new title, with members given free access to extracts from our books, articles from our authors and video interviews.
New Scientist book club
We are currently reading Tade Thompson’s award-winning novel Rosewater, set in a future Nigeria. Its focus is a community (the titular Rosewater) that has grown up around a mysterious alien biodome with strange healing powers. We don’t know much about the aliens, but they have also created a “xeno-sphere” that certain “sensitive” human psychics can access. Kaaro, our protagonist, a former criminal turned government agent, is one of these sensitives – and he’s looking for answers.
You can read an extract from Rosewater, and Thompson has also written us an essay about how he came to write it.
Imagining Nigeria as ground zero in an alien invasion
Tade Thompson, author of sci-fi novel Rosewater, the latest pick for the New Scientist Book Club, on subverting the expectations of invasion narratives and writing about people not tech
If you want to catch up on some of our past Book Club reading, our picks are listed in reverse chronological order below, along with extracts, articles and videos from our authors. Happy reading!
All Systems Red by Martha Wells
Read an extract from All Systems Red
Martha Wells on what a machine intelligence might want
Martha Wells: I didn’t know how non-neurotypical I was until Murderbot
The author of All Systems Red, the latest pick for New Scientist Book Club, on the challenges of imagining technology of the future, an upcoming TV adaptation – and how she fell for her character while writing
Nuclear War: A scenario by Annie Jacobsen
Read an extract from Nuclear War: A scenario
Annie Jacobson on the “shocking truths” about a nuclear attack
Annie Jacobsen: Everything I learned about nuclear war shocked me
What would happen next after a nuclear missile strike?
In Ascension by Martin MacInnes
Read an extract from In Ascension
Martin MacInnes: ‘It is all but impossible life exists, and yet it is here’
Martin MacInnes: ‘Science fiction can be many different things’
The author of In Ascension, the latest pick for the New Scientist Book Club, on why he wrote his novel, cultivating a sense of wonder and the role of fiction in the world today
The Future by Naomi Alderman
Read an extract from The Future
Naomi Alderman on why she explored the corrupting power of tech billionaires in The Future
Read our review of The Future
The Future author Naomi Alderman: ‘We wake up terrified of the future’
Bestselling author of ‘The Power’, Naomi Alderman talks her new dystopian thriller ‘The Future’ in which a few billionaires are leading the world to destruction.
Julia by Sandra Newman
Read an extract from Julia
Sandra Newman on retelling 1984 from a female perspective
Julia author Sandra Newman:’Orwell’s not the only literary misogynist’
Julia author Sandra Newman is retelling George Orwell’s iconic 1984 to delve deeper into the Anti-Sex League and rectify Julia’s ‘bizarre’ characterisation.
The Seventh Son by Sebastian Faulks
Read an extract from The Seventh Son
Sebastian Faulks: ‘Homo sapiens is a very odd creature’
Seventh Son author Sebastian Faulks: ‘I’m 3.7 per cent Neanderthal’
Our New Scientist Book Club has been reading Sebastian Faulks’s The Seventh Son, a futuristic sci-fi thriller exploring ethics, genetics and what it is to be human.
Bridge by Lauren Beukes
Read an extract from Bridge
Lauren Beukes on why she tackled the multiverse in Bridge
Read our review of Bridge
Bridge author, Lauren Beukes: There are a lot of multiverses out there
Our New Scientist Book Club has been reading Lauren Beukes’s Bridge, a thrilling sci-fi novel exploring neuroparasitology and the multiverse
Pod by Laline Paull
Read an extract from Pod
Laline Paull on why she wrote Pod from the perspective of a dolphin
Watch a video interview with Laline Paull
Pod author, Laline Paull: ‘I was terrified to take this novel on’
The Pod author on why she decided to write a story that initially felt too daunting, how she put together a scene she pondered calling “oceanic sex rave”, and why we should all care more about the treatment of our oceans
The Ferryman by Justin Cronin
Read an extract from The Ferryman
Justin Cronin on the books and films that inspired The Ferryman
Read our review of The Ferryman
Justin Cronin on writing a book with a “holy hell” moment in it
The Ferryman author talks through his mind-blowing plot twist – with plenty of spoiler warnings – and reveals his thoughts on everything from AI to how the actions of today’s billionaires influenced his writing
