The new year offers a clean slate and an opportunity to reinvent yourself as a more well-read person. It’s important to keep in mind when trying to predict what this year will be like. It means there are some great books coming out this year. Diving into microhistory, a nonfiction book that tries to address larger issues by focusing intently on a narrow or “micro” subject, can help cut through the noise. It’s a fun and easy way to become an at-home expert while checking at least one item off your list of solutions.
Below, I’ve compiled a list of the 10 upcoming microhistory books I’m most looking forward to, in order of publication.

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The needs of living things: Writers respond to the science of animal protection
Edited by Christopher Kondrich, Lucy Spellman, Susan Tascent
University of Minnesota Press, January 2025
(Tag: Environment)
living needs The book is described by the publisher as a “multi-vocal call to action on animal extinction and habitat loss” from more than 30 contributors, ranging from poets to scientific researchers. The book itself is less than 200 pages and is divided into six parts, each representing basic needs such as air, food, water, and shelter. Few books combine works from different literary genres while focusing on a simple message: “We must save our only precious planet.”
Superbloom: How connected technology is tearing us apart
Written by Nicholas Carr
WW Norton, January 2025
(Tag: Technology)
This book might convince you to quit social media, or at least delete the apps from your phone. Nicholas Carr, author of the 2010 book The Shallows: What the Internet is doing to our brains Introducing old issues to a new generation of readers. Technology is weird, very bad, and doesn’t always go as planned. From simple messaging apps to generative artificial intelligence, Kerr explains how the recent “superbloom” of technology is having serious downsides to our basic communication skills and ability to understand each other. I will explain. We weren’t meant to live in online comment sections. In less than 300 pages, Carr promises to transport readers into the murky waters of an ever-expanding technological landscape.
Waste Wars: The wild afterlife of your trash can
Written by Alexander Clapp
Little, Brown, February 2025
(Tag: Garbage)
You may have heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a loose raft filled with tens of thousands of tons of plastic debris. But do you know what happens when you throw batteries, clothing, and even food in the trash?Author Alexander Clapp has traveled across continents, jungles, and trash mountains to uncover dozens of stories about what happens to our trash. A true billion-dollar story brought to life. Clapp introduces readers to people like recycling gangs and whistleblowers, and presents a frank and frankly damning investigation into who is making money off of what we throw away. He’s won more journalism awards than he can list on his resume, so I’m optimistic that this 400-page microhistory will be fun, funky, and certainly not in the trash.

Air-Borne: The hidden history of the life we breathe
Written by Carl Zimmer
Dutton, February 2025
(Tag: Air)
We breathe in 2,000 gallons of air every day. It’s a surprising fact woven into Carl Zimmer’s novels air transport, The publisher describes the book as “an adventure through the living atmosphere and the history of its discovery.” The book promises answers to questions such as how do air quality experiments work and how did Amelia Earhart get involved? From airborne espionage and biological weapons to the latest understanding of the coronavirus, Zimmer aims to take readers on an exciting, surprising, and eye-opening journey into the atmosphere.
The Franklin Stove: The Unintended American Revolution
Written by Joyce E. Chaplin
Farrar, Strauss, Giroux, March 2025
(Tag: Benjamin Franklin)
We all know that Benjamin Franklin invented many appliances that are still in use today, but this book focuses on one of them, the Franklin Stove, and explains why he thought it was so effective for our environment. Explain what you wanted to change your understanding forever. Pardon the pun, but it seems like Franklin saw the forest through the trees here. He was concerned about the ever-expanding deforestation he was witnessing, and wanted to regulate heat and air flow inside his home in hopes of understanding more about our environment. atmosphere. At over 400 pages, this book appears to be a fascinating and scholarly collection of research and hypotheses by a Harvard professor of early American history.
A history of the world in six plagues: From cholera to coronavirus, how epidemics, class, and incarceration shaped us.
Written by Edna Bonhomme
Atria/One Signal Publishers, March 2025
(Tag: Pandemic)
While the urge to hide under the duvet persists, the time has come to better understand serious illnesses in preparation for the future, and this book seems to be the book for that purpose. Edna Bonhomme traces the highs and lows of policies that changed the course of six devastating diseases: cholera, HIV/AIDS, the 1918 influenza, sleeping sickness, Ebola, and the coronavirus. Bonhomme seems to address the hidden and obvious ways in which these pandemics have exacerbated existing social problems, embedded discriminatory tactics, and long-standing stigmas across these diseases. Described by the publisher as a “literary account of humanity’s battle against epidemics,” this 300-plus page book is likely to make us wake up, mask up, and plan ahead. .

Slither: How nature’s most malevolent creatures illuminate our world
Written by Stephen S. Hall
Grand Central Publishing, April 2025
(Tag: Snake)
Simply put, if you don’t understand Indiana Jones phobia at all, or are currently talking about snake safety in your local Facebook group, this might be just the book for you. yeah. As the publisher points out, snakes have been admired and feared for thousands of years, but for the at-home reptile enthusiast there is a great deal of information on the ecological, cultural, and historical significance of these animals. Few books attempt to combine breadth. Early rave reviews by best-selling animal-lover authors like Leila Phillippe beaverland) and Cy Montgomery (author of) octopus soul) Makes me think this might be my next favorite among my fellow readers of nature nonfiction.
Matter on Earth: A journey through the release, excretion, and decay of our bodies.
– Artist: Cutter Wood
Mariner Books, April 2025
(tag: excrement)
I’m really looking forward to telling people I know all the damn facts I hope they’ll learn from this book. The publisher explains that “the human organism is inherently porous, whether we blow our noses, wipe the sweat from our foreheads, or go to the bathroom,” which is hysterical and disturbing. , is basically true. With nearly 400 pages divided into 13 chapters, this book is not for the faint of heart. Hopefully, for the rest of us, we can learn where all the urine in major cities goes and what mucus has to do with our understanding of natural selection and other strange facts. I hope you can find out. I hope this book will lead readers to be like a modern-day Ms. Frizzle, making us cringe and check our glands, organs, and membranes while enjoying scientifically-backed poop jokes.
The story of astrophysics in five revolutions
Written by Ercilia Vaud. Translated by Vanessa Di Stefano
WW Norton, April 2025
(Tag: Astrophysics)
A good microhistory takes a vast subject matter and seamlessly boils it down to a few key points, such as points in time or points of interest. In this book, Ercilia Vaud aims to cover the entire field of astrophysics and draw our attention to five surprising discoveries. In “poetic prose,” Vord takes readers from Isaac Newton’s discovery of the law of gravity to Edwin Hubble’s revelation that the universe is expanding, including antiparticles, which physicists are not yet sure about. I will guide you. Physics is a difficult subject that many people find difficult to wrap their heads around, but this book, in just 200 breezy pages, may finally clear it up for you.
Foreign Fruits: A Personal History of Oranges
Written by Katie Go
Tin House, May 2025
(Tag: Orange)
This book sounds like a perfect summary of the best parts of great microhistory. A niche topic you’ve always loved (everyone loves oranges, from emperors to schoolchildren) by a relatively new and talented author (the publisher’s copy says she grew up) Written by “Queer in a Chinese-Malaysian-Irish Family in the North of Ireland” (I personally can’t wait to hear about her approach to food and culture). The publisher describes the book as both “research and meditative, a deeply moving encounter between orange and self.” This is the book I’m most looking forward to as it takes me away from the shivers of winter and brings me back to the sweetness of spring with citrus and adventure.