Summer Learning 2026 for Adults

A mix of new and recommended fiction and nonfiction titles.

Updated May 27, 2026
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Between Two Rivers: Ancient Mesopotamia and the Birth of History
Al-Rashid, Moudhy
'I have never read a book on Mesopotamia that so beautifully brings to life the people themselves ... It melts away the sense of time.' TOM HOLLAND 'Tender, moving and vivid.' ROBERT MACFARLANE 'Beautiful' STEPHEN GREENBLATT ...
The Decline and Fall of the Human Empire: Why Our Species Is on the Edge of Extinction
Gee, Henry
Paper Book
From the winner of the Royal Society Science Book Prize, a thrilling and thought-provoking account of the rise and fall of humankind. 'Brilliant' - The Times 'Hugely informative and entertaining' - New Scientist 'Put this at the head...
Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Life
Dorling Kindersley Ltd. (COR)/ Smithsonian Institution (COR)
Paper Book
A comprehensive pocket guide to dinosaurs and prehistoric animals and the world they inhabited millions of years ago. Packed with more than 700 full-colour illustrations, this definitive pocket guide paints a vivid portrait of extraordinary dinosaurs and prehistoric...
Dragon teeth : a novel
Crichton, Michael
Paper Book
From Michael Crichton, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Jurassic Park, comes a thrilling adventure set in the Wild West that will keep you on the edge of your seat from the first page to the last! The year is 1876. Warring Indian tribes still populate America's western...
Footprints : in search of future fossils
Farrier, David
Paper Book
A profound meditation on climate change and the Anthropocene and an urgent search for the fossils--industrial, chemical, geological--that humans are leaving behind A Times Book of the Year * A Daily Telegraph Book of the Year What will the world look like ten thousand...
Jurassic Park : a novel
Crichton, Michael
Ebook
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the author of Timeline, Sphere, and Congo, this is the classic thriller of science run amok that took the world by storm. Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's...
Otherlands : A Journey Through Earth's Extinct Worlds
Halliday, Thomas
Paper Book
This is the past as we've never seen it before. Otherlands is an epic, exhilarating journey into deep time, showing us the Earth as it used to exist, and the worlds that were here before ours. Travelling back in time to the dawn of complex life, and across all seven continents,...
The rise and fall of the dinosaurs : a new history of a lost world
Brusatte, Stephen
Paper Book
The Times Science Book of the Year. A Sunday Times Bestseller. 'A masterpiece of science writing' - The Washington Post 66 million years ago the dinosaurs were wiped from the face of the earth. Today, Dr. Steve Brusatte, one of the leading...
The Rise and Reign of the Mammals : A New History, from the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us
Brusatte, Steve
Paper Book
The passing of the age of the dinosaurs allowed mammals to become ascendant. But mammals have a much deeper history. They - or, more precisely, we - originated around the same time as the dinosaurs, over 200 million years ago; mammal roots lie even further back, some 325 million years.Over these...
A short history of nearly everything
Bryson, Bill.
Paper Book
Bill Bryson describes himself as a reluctant traveller, but even when he stays safely in his own study at home, he can't contain his curiosity about the world around him. This book is his quest to understand everything that has happened from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization - how we got from...
Time song : journeys in search of a submerged land
Blackburn, Julia
Paper Book
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE AND THE HESSELL-TILTMAN PRIZE A journey told through stories and songs into Doggerland, the ancient region that once joined the east coast of England to Holland Time Song tells of the creation, the...
Why dinosaurs matter
Lacovara, Kenneth
Paper Book
What can long-dead dinosaurs teach us about our future? Plenty, according to world-renowned paleontologist and recent star of BBC show The Day the Dinosaurs Died Dr Kenneth Lacovara, who has discovered some of the largest creatures to ever walk the Earth, including the super-massive...

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