All articles tagged with #books
Michael Pollan’s A World Appears surveys consciousness across animals, plants, and AI, blending neuroscience, philosophy and personal exploration; the Times reviewer praises Pollan’s readable synthesis and measured skepticism toward hype around AI, while noting gaps (dreaming and hypnosis) and inviting readers to rethink what consciousness means in nature and machines.
Journalist Michael Pollan discusses his new book A World Appears, which ties together questions about consciousness—what it is, who has it, and why—with explorations of plant sentience, psychedelic experience, and the risk that we mistake chatbots for true consciousness, all while examining how humans relate to mind, self, and technology.
The HBO Max/Crave series Heated Rivalry has boosted sales of HarperCollins’ Game Changers romance novels, driving a quarterly revenue up to a record $633 million. News Corp reported overall revenue of $2.36 billion, up 6% year over year, with CEO Robert Thomson attributing AI-aware content strategies and strong brand momentum (including Bridgerton titles) as growth drivers.
A Washington Post review of P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance by Vanessa Díaz and Petra R. Rivera-Rideau, which traces Bad Bunny’s ascent as a musical icon and argues his work has become a global platform for Puerto Rican activism and resistance, blending his chart-topping achievements with political and cultural messaging.
The New York Public Library will offer immediate e-book and audiobook access to Rachel Reid’s Game Changers, the source material for the heated-rivalry romance, to roughly 3,000 patrons on the waitlist. The move follows a surge in interest after Crave’s adaptation on HBO Max, with sales up about 1,000% since the show’s premiere. A new Game Changers volume, Unrivaled, is due in September, and a second season of Heated Rivalry is in the works, while the NYPL says it remains committed to meeting community needs.
In a thoughtful review, Pico Iyer praises George Saunders’s Vigil for its humane, unsparing inquiry into reality, suffering, and death, using supernatural figures to blow up political binaries and echo Saunders’s border reporting and Buddhist practice; the piece situates Vigil with Lincoln in the Bardo as part of Saunders’s ongoing project of empathy across divides.
A Globe Living Arts round-up offers cozy ways to weather a snowstorm: a 3-minute chocolate‑fudge mug cake, comforting meals, and a curated indoors lineup of TV shows, films, books, and listening picks to pass the stormy hours (while keeping up with storm updates and the Patriots game).
Jennette McCurdy’s debut novel Half His Age centers on a 17-year-old’s forbidden romance with her teacher, a narrative echoing McCurdy’s move from child star to celebrated author; her memoir I’m Glad My Mom Died spent many weeks on the NYT bestseller list and is being adapted for film with Jennifer Aniston, as McCurdy candidly discusses longing to feel special and life after stardom in this feature interview.
A critical take on Jennette McCurdy's Half His Age argues the novel leans on shock via a 17-year-old student’s affair with her 40-year-old teacher, without enough nuance to transcend provocation; McCurdy’s strength shows in depictions of female rage and mother/daughter dynamics, but the book ultimately stalls after its provocative sex scenes, offering limited depth beyond the sensational setup.
In a Guardian interview, George Saunders discusses Vigil, his new ghost story about an oil tycoon who hid climate science and is visited by spirits on his deathbed, using supernatural perspectives to probe truth, mortality and empathy while reflecting on his life, craft and politics in Trump-era America.
Book Riot highlights 2026's top historical-fiction releases, including Vanessa Riley’s Fire Sword and Sea (a seafaring tale about lady pirates), June Hur’s Behind Five Willows (a Pride-and-Prejudice-inspired Joseon-era romance with censorship and book transcription), The Seven Daughters of Dupree by Nikesha Elise Williams (multi-generational Alabama/1917 secrets starting in 1995), Sunyi Dean’s The Girl With a Thousand Faces (Hong Kong-set historical dark fantasy about a ghost talker), and Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s The Intrigue (1940s Veracruz noir-styled boardinghouse caper). The lineup promises diverse settings and compelling premises for fans of historical fiction in 2026.
A life-and-style piece listing 12 practical ways to read more, from using a Kindle and Libby to subscribe plans, a reading journal, and Goodreads challenges, to joining book clubs, attending events, building a cozy reading space, and planning monthly reading lists—designed to help busy readers hit big goals (the author notes finishing about 50 books a year).
Washington Post reviewer Sophia Nguyen ponders Colleen Hoover’s return with Woman Down, a novel about the burden of fame released after Hoover’s three-year hiatus, and questions whether it marks Hoover’s most revealing work to date.
James Muldoon’s Love Machines surveys how people form emotional attachments to AI chatbots, arguing that intimate digital relationships reveal loneliness, ethical concerns about privacy and manipulation by profit-driven tech firms, and the urgent need for regulation as AI therapy grows. While bots can offer affirmation and support, they can mislead about capabilities, miss human cues, and reinforce harmful beliefs, making cautious deployment essential as AI becomes more embedded in daily life.
Seventeen years after his sensational debut, Daniyal Mueenuddin returns with a collection of interlinked novellas set in Pakistan’s feudal society; Porter Shreve lauds the depth of structure, prose, and sense of place, calling the volume worth the long wait and likening it to Tolstoy and Edward P. Jones.