Books for our time: seven classics that speak to us now | Books and Culture - Nature.com

Leading thinkers choose past works illuminating crucial issues today by Nature.com.

Photo: Richard Wilkinson

From planetary change to geopolitical recalibrations, 2019 has been convulsive. The year saw millions worldwide protesting against governmental inaction on the cascading crises in the global environment. Anxiety over nuclear annihilation vied with concerns over the repugnant resurgence of ‘race science’ and the emergent ethics of gene editing. Amid the tumult, Nature asked seven scientists, scholars and historians to pluck a book from all time that speaks to our time.

Freeman Dyson, retired professor in the School of Natural Sciences, Alondra Nelson, Harold F. Linder Chair at the School of Social Science, Emilie Savage-Smith, retired professor of the history of Islamic science, Ann Pettifor, director of Policy Research, Callum Roberts, professor of marine conservation, Ismail Serageldin, founding director and Chikwe Ihekweazu, director-general chose science-inflected volumes — on the often-forgotten lessons of Hiroshima, the rise of unregulated markets, the ubiquity of plastic, mapping the eleventh-century world, and more. Together, they offer a composite lens on our complicated present.

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Source: Nature.com