The 17 best popular science books of 2026 so far

The first six months of the year have brought us popular science reads on everything from consciousness to cosmology. If you're looking for the perfect popular science read, we've got you covered Not one for an easy life, Michael Pollan has taken on tricky subjects before in the shape of psychedelics, plants and food. It's taken five years to bring to fruition, but is all the better for that, because, like the subject itself, the book is discursive, expansive - and sometimes abstruse (in a good way). It has one of the best titles of any book on the topic, while its author has the humility to admit that after a journey through sentience, feelings and emotion, thought and self, he knows less than he did when he began. Are we up to the challenges of the 21st century, as its powerful, hyperconnected and pervasive technology drives us ever on?