Decline & Fall hits the books-of-the-year charts

The Decline & Fall of the Human Empire hits the end-of-year charts as one of the 12 best science books of 2025 as selected by the Next Big Idea Club. This adds to the top-10 listing of the year's nonfiction of the German version by Deutschlandfunk Kultur, and its appearance on the 71-title long-list of the science book of 2026 prize in Austria.

In Conversation With ...

On Friday 14 November I was attending the Society of Vertebrate Palaeontology meeting in Birmingham, UK., and sat on a panel: left to right, Tom Holland (chair), Thomas Halliday (Otherlands) Elsa Pancirolli (Beasts Before Us) and me.

Aufstieg und Fall der Menschheit - the German-language version of The Decline & Fall of the Human Empire -- has made the 71-title longlist for the best science book of the year in Austria. A panel of judges will whittle down the list to 20, which will be published on 11 November. If it gets that far, the final choice goes out to a public vote, so if you're in Austria, please consider voting for me! You can find out more here.

Fascination Stations!

Here is a compendium of fun chats I've done with Daniel J Glenn on his podcast Fascinating Nouns about The Decline & Fall of the Human Empire and whether Gene Simmons' tongue is as long as that of a giraffe. And other stuff.

UK Paperback scheduled for 5 March 2026

The UK/Commonwealth paperback edition of The Decline & Fall of the Human Empire is scheduled for publication on 5 March 2026. Amazingly, you can already pre-order your copy. And here's the cover!

And today's featured bookstore is...

 

Foyles, Charing Cross Road, London. Spotted by L___ R___. 

German edition published 15 July

 

The German-language Edition of The Decline and Fall of the Human Empire is entitled Aufstieg und Fall Der Menschheit: Warum unsere Spezies am Rand des Aussterbens steht. It will be published on 15 July by Rowohlt.