Original sin

Kathryn Paige Harden Weidenfeld and Nicolson (2026)

A 2021 analysis of genetic data from 1.5 million people, co-edited by psychologist Kathryn Paige Harden, concluded that some DNA sequences were more common in people with addiction than in those without. “This combination of genetics with incorrigibility is another legacy of the doctrine of original sin,” says Harden in his intriguing study of the causes of human evil actions, based on a Christian upbringing that he later rejected. DNA, as with original sin, “cannot say with certainty that a crime will be committed.”

Tell me where it hurts

Raquel Zoffness Grand Central (2026)

Pain is a complex phenomenon. “It hurts more when we are alone and sad than when we are happy and surrounded by people we love,” writes pain scientist Rachel Zoffness. Her fascinating book abounds with vivid and complex examples of grief. For example, a construction worker jumped off a board onto a 7-inch vertical nail that went through his entire boot and caused him agony. But after doctors sedated him and removed the boot, they saw that the nail had miraculously passed through a space between his toes and “not a scratch was found.”

The status of the information

Jacob Siegel Henry Holt (2026)

The experience as a US Army officer in Afghanistan allowed journalist Jacob Siegel to recognize the techniques of information warfare. His well-informed book accuses US government-tech partnerships, established after 2001 to wage the global war on terrorism, of now targeting Americans through a war on disinformation. Instead of reforming the Internet’s infrastructure, they make it serve their own interests, as the files of the social media company Twitter (now X) reveal.

Inescapable

F.Marina Schauffler Johns Hopkins University. Press (2026)