Top summer reading picks for students
It's not easy when you're a student or heading towards GCSE and A-levels to find time to read for pleasure. Yet, reading for enjoyment can reduce stress and improve overall mental well-being. It also stimulates the brain, improves focus, and encourages the exploration of new ideas. This makes summer a good time to pick up a book and move away from academic texts. No matter your interests, here's a range of the best new books.
Maths reading
The Great Mathematical Problems by Ian Stewart
The Great Mathematical Problems explains why maths problems exist, why they matter, and where they stand in the context of mathematics and science as a whole.
This is a maths book for soon-to-be university students and Maths enthusiasts. If you're also halfway through a maths or physics degree, this book could be exactly what you want to read this summer.
Professor Povey's Perplexing Problems by Thomas Povey
Thomas Povey shares 109 of his favourite problems in physics and maths. A tour de force of imagination and exposition, he takes the reader by the hand through challenging territory that will expand minds and encourage an exploratory approach to study.
He says the puzzles are like toys. We should pick up the one we most enjoy and play with it. The questions span the gap between Year 12 and university-entrance standard material.
Economics
The Trading Game by Gary Stevenson
A witty and sharp look at the world of high finance and trading raises questions about who runs the global financial system and why it matters. It's a good, easy read for summer about the banking world, the wealth gap and how the system works.
Left Behind by Paul Collier
World-renowned development economist Paul Collier has spent his life working in neglected communities. In this book, he offers his candid diagnosis of why some regions and countries are failing and a new vision for how they can catch up.
He draws lessons from seemingly disparate fields, such as behavioural psychology, evolutionary biology, and moral philosophy, to share a bolder vision for the world.
Biology
Pathogenesis: How Germs Made History by Jonathan Kennedy
A revelatory book by Dr Jonathan Kennedy, which argues that germs have shaped humanity at every stage, from the first success of Homo sapiens over the equally intelligent Neanderthals to the fall of Rome and the rise of Islam.
Thrilling and eye-opening. From Neolithic diseases to Covid-19, Jonathan Kennedy explores the enormous role played by some of the tiniest life on Earth: the power of plagues in shaping world history
Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon
Are women always the weaker sex? Is sexism helpful for evolution? And are our bodies at war with our babies?
Author Cat Bohannon findings, include everything from the way C-sections in the industrialized world are rearranging women's pelvic shape to the surprising similarities between pus and breast milk, will completely change what you think you know about evolution and why Homo sapiens have become such a successful and dominant species, from tool use to city building to the development of language.
Politics and History
Empireworld: How British Imperialism Has Shaped the Globe by Sathnam Sanghera
The award-winning author and journalist explores the international legacies of the British empire - from the creation of tea plantations across the globe to environmental destruction, conservation, and the imperial connotations of Royal tours.
The journey runs from Barbados and Mauritius to India, Nigeria, and beyond to show how deeply British imperialism is baked into our modern world.
Emperor of Rome by Mary Beard
Historian Mary Beard goes to the heart of Roman history by looking at the Roman emperors, the power that they held, how they acceded to the throne, ruled over an empire, and even became gods.
The book is a close-up examination of Rome's greatest or most notorious figure, the mad Caligula, the monster Nero, and the philosopher Marcus Aurelius.
The Golden Road: How ancient India transformed the world by William Dalrymple
An exhilarating account of how Indian ideas in mathematics, philosophy, science and art were the crowning achievements of the ancient world and helped to forge a path toward modernity.
Historian William Dalrymple discusses the spread of Indian ideas that transformed the world, crossing political borders and influencing everything they touched, from statues of Indian ascetics erected in Roman seaports to Cambodian friezes of the Mahabharata.