Vesuvius: A Biography Lucia Gurioli feels the heat in these eyewitness accounts of Italy's famous volcano 11 March
Book of the week: No University Is an Island We'll swim together or sink separately, finds Charles R. Middleton 4 March
We Are Not Alone: Why We Have Already Found Extraterrestrial Life The claim that there is life on Mars - and beyond - is sadly not yet proven, writes Ian Crawford 4 March
The Canon: Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers. By Stanley Cohen By Susanne Karstedt 4 March
Let freedom ring Cary Nelson's latest book considers the dark forces ranged against free speech in the academy. Only collective action can save higher education, the activist and AAUP president tells Zoë Corbyn 4 March
The Empire Project: The Rise and Fall of the British World-System 1830-1970 All this magnificent study of Pax Britannica lacks is the scent of sweat and blood, writes Joanna Lewis 4 March
Nice Work If You Can Get It: Life and Labor in Precarious Times As insecurity increasingly defines work, Rosalind Gill glimpses the emerging global 'precariat' 4 March
Book of the week: Freefall: Free Markets and the Sinking of the Global Economy Arrogance and avarice caused the crash, and they're still going strong, learns Michelle Baddeley 25 February
How Many Friends Does One Person Need? Dunbar's Number and Other Evolutionary Quirks An evolutionary anthropologist's theory needs further developing, says Steven Rose 25 February
The Domestication of Genius: Biography and the Romantic Poet The obsession with the private lives of the famous is not a new phenomenon, writes Sharon Ruston 25 February
Grace Hopper and the Invention of the Information Age Ursula Martin discovers much about an IT pioneer's work, but too little about her personality 25 February
Don't Be Such a Scientist Kevin Fong reaches an uncomfortable realisation that science communicators need to improve 18 February
A Brilliant Darkness: The Extraordinary Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Ettore Majorana, the Troubled Genius of the Nuclear Age 18 February
Book of the week: Heidegger: The Introduction of Nazism into Philosophy A fresh look at an old controversy is revealing, finds Martin Cohen 18 February
The War that Killed Achilles Barbara Graziosi enjoys the clarity of a summary of the Iliad but finds some comparisons narrow 18 February
Book of the week: You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto A cool critique of Web 2.0 needs a pedagogic angle, writes Tara Brabazon 11 February
George Washington's War: In Caricature and Print Delightful images of America's difficult birth are let down by textual inaccuracies, writes Michael Heale 11 February