There is nothing like the fresh energy of a new year to get us up and diving straight into new hobbies and plans! Today, we’ve collected up this month’s most promising nonfiction titles that we believe will give readers something to be excited or passionate about in the new year.
Alternatively, if fiction is your cup of tea, then look no further than our January fiction preview for all of the new titles you need on your shelves this month.
The Triathlete’s Training Bible
By Joe Friel
9781646046072 | Velopress | Paperback | Out 2nd Jan 2024 | £26.99
Is anyone else feeling squeezed out of their usual gym? Yep, the New Year’s resolution rush is REAL and everyone seems to be leaping at the opportunity to try their next fitness challenge. For many, the triathlon will be that challenge! The triathlon community is HUGE (and growing!), in 2022 over 17 thousand people competed in triathlon events in the UK. The Triathlete’s Training Bible is the only guide any good triathlete needs on their shelf. Joe Friel has greatly updated this new Fifth Edition of The Triathlete’s Training Bible to incorporate new training methods, especially on workout intensity, to help athletes train smarter and produce better results than ever. Whether someone has been training for years, or started their journey on the the first of Jan, this guide is essential.
Riding More with Less
By Sam Tracy
9798887440224 | PM Press | Paperback | Out 23rd Jan 2024 | £23.99
Changing gears a little here (wink wink). We’ve got an excellent companion for any cyclist – from the casual rider getting from A to B, to the lycra-clad speed demon. Riding More with Less is a well-organised compilation of the most effective, safe low-cost and for-free repair techniques for bikes. Using over 20 years of experience as a bike repair mechanic, Sam Tracy provides some great solutions to common problems, and innovative fixes that’ll keep cyclists rolling without splashing out on the costs of new parts.
The Fruit Cure
By Jacqueline Alnes
9781685890759 | Melville House Publishing | Hardback | Out 25th Jan 2024 | £25
Going back to the world of health and fitness, something we are often bombarded with this time of year is diet culture. However, this also makes this month as a great time to challenge the way society interacts with diet, and The Fruit Cure by Jacqueline Alnes does just that. In The Fruit Cure, Jacqueline powerfully examines how healthcare systems fail patients, which in turn feeds into mainstream culture’s fascination with wellness culture and extreme diets. Her own journey through the toxic wellness industry is enough to expose the many ways that industry tries to scam, scheme and prey on people’s vulnerabilities. This book makes for a great reprieve from the “new year, new me” marketing spamming our inboxes, and gives a great framework for challenging those ideals for a happier, healthier year ahead.
Hanging Out
By Sheila Liming
9781685890780 | Melville House Publishing | Paperback | Out 11th Jan 2024 | £16.99
A big shift I’m sure many of us have observed in recent years, has been how our resolutions and goals have often shifted towards thinking deeply about our digital lives. Many people I know have pledged themselves to less screen time or doom scroll detoxes, doing whatever they can to exchange a life online for more in-the-moment encounters. Sheila Liming’s Hanging Out is the perfect book for anyone setting out on such a journey. Hanging Out: The Radical Power of Killing Time makes a smart and funny case for the importance of this most casual of social structures, and shows us how just getting together can be a potent act of resistance all on its own. A great read for anyone who loved How To Do Nothing by Jenny Odell.
Everyday Something Has Tried to Kill Me and Has Failed
By Kim McLarin
9781632461582 | Ig Publishing | Paperback | Out 9th Jan 2024 | £16.99
Passionate readers looking for new ideas will undoubtedly gravitate towards Kim McLarin’s latest book Everyday Something Has Tried to Kill Me and Has Failed. She coins the term “Periracial America” as a new way of challenging the myth of a “post-racial” America and explore “life under that particular tooth in the zipper of interlocking systems of oppression”. Kim’s writing is sharp, concise and captivating. This is a great book for readers to sink their teeth into this month, providing powerful illuminations on ageing, Blackness and feminism.
Unwords
by Andrew Gallix
9780993575891 | Dodo Ink | Paperback | Out 18th Jan 2024 | £11.99
Speaking of books made to challenge and intrigue — Unwords by Andrew Gallix is the latest must-read title for fans of all things literary and perhaps a bit “meta”. Unwords consists of essays and reviews haunted by a phantom book the author never completed in his twenties. Andrew is one of the UK’s top literary critics, as founder of the blog 3:AM magazine and a regular contributor to numerous magazines and newspapers. Inside Unwords, readers find the highest form of intergloss, from reviews to manifestos, from interviews to personal essays, and deep dives into captivating literary rabbit holes.
The Ballad of Speedball Baby
By Ali Smith
9798212910514 | Blackstone Publishing | Paperback | Out 16th Jan 2024 | £14.99
Some of us need a new wave of inspiration this time of year – the cold, the dark and the post-holiday hangxiety is a recipe for feeling deflated. We’re pretty lucky that Ali Smith, bassist for the seminal punk/blues/avant-garde band Speedball Baby has blessed us with a thrilling and funny memoir to carry us through the month! Recently featured as a most anticipated non-fiction book of 2024 by Stylist, The Ballad of Speedball Baby takes us on a riotous journey of misadventures, misfits, and misbehaviour From the perspective of a fearless female musician in the male-dominated NYC music scene.
An Opinionated Guide to London Museums
By Emmy Watts
9781914314544 | Hoxton Mini Press | Paperback | Out 18th Jan 2024 | £10.99
Fun fact: London has over 200 museums and galleries! That’s a whole lot of rainy days’ worth of exploring to get done if someone wanted to get round all of them. But for travellers who only have time to see the very best stuff, or locals wanting to discover the most hidden of gems, it’s pretty daunting consider narrowing that list down. The latest opinionated guide from Hoxton Mini Press introduces readers to all the greatest collections, archives and house museums that they’ve never heard of but won’t be able to stop talking about. This guide is a definite highlight for the month, and we can’t think of a better way to kick off the year than with a bit of museum exploration!
The Everything Token
By Steve Kaczynski & Scott Duke Kominers
9780593545102 | Portfolio | Hardback | Out 23rd Jan 2024 | £18.99
What the heck is an NFT, anyway? With all of the misinformation and confusion floating around, it’s hard to have a concrete understanding of NFTs and their place in our world. No, they’re not a fad or something only those with a computer science degree can understand. The Everything Token uncovers the reality of what NFTs are: a new technology for creating digital assets and providing irrefutable proof of ownership. Communication experts and NFT collectors Kczynski and Kominers use original research and industry experience to help readers understand this innovation and its impact much better.
