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Here is 91av‘s pick of books you should not miss this year

What holds the essence of who we are? It’s all in the way our 100 billion neurons link up, says computational neuroscientist Sebastian Seung.

Natural selection operates at a cosmic level, as this book reveals, with black holes driving the universe’s evolution.

The neurologist and prolific author aims to dispel the stigma that often surrounds hallucinations, and shares his own bewildering experiences – including a chat he had with a spider.

Death both fascinates and frightens us. It is also a force for progress, says Stephen Cave, who argues that our desire to live forever spurs ingenuity.

How feasible is virgin birth? Aarathi Prasad looks to the animal kingdom and our history of biological tinkering to suggest that conception without sex or pregnancy could soon be a real possibility.

In this lyrical exploration of our powers of recall, psychologist and novelist Charles Fernyhough argues that our memories are worth cherishing – even though some of what we think we remember is, in fact, fiction.

Synthetic biology could extend life and even revive extinct species, but as this book reveals, we must face up to the ethical issues it brings, and soon.

Why do people lie and cheat? Dan Ariely explores how we all have an “acceptable” level of dishonesty dictated by our own unique balance between rationality and its opposite.

Was a hormone to blame for the financial collapse of 2008? In this book, neuroscientist and former trader John Coates makes a compelling case that testosterone may have been a major force on the road from risk to ruin.

Being in the headlines for weeks has not made the Higgs boson any easier to understand – so allow yourself to be filled in by this fascinating book, in which cosmologist Sean Carroll does not shy away from the difficult stuff.

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