The best and most anticipated 2025 books

Anger is bad, right? A totem of toxic masculinity, to be purged through therapy and mindfulness. Well, maybe not. Sam Parker, an editor at GQ, embarked on a study of this most stigmatised of emotions after it helped him recover from a period of anxiety and depression. On a journey that takes in boxing and smash rooms, meditation and somatic therapies, Parker consults the wisdom of ancient thinkers, business gurus, artists, psychologists and scientists to build a counterintuitive case for why anger can be a source of energy, clarity and wisdom if we engage it properly – while the cost of trying to ignore or repress it can be catastrophic. You can pre-order Good Anger here.

The Genius Myth by Helen Lewis (19 June)

Atlantic journalist Helen Lewis’s first book, 2020’s Difficult Women, rescued key feminist icons from the varnish of history and presented them in all their imperfect glory. For her second, Lewis takes aim a similarly reductive way we categorise notable people: in this case, the super talented. Does the idea of ‘genius’ really serve figures like da Vinci and Austen, or for that matter, modern day titans like Stephen Hawking or Elon Musk? And what does the way we hand out (and withhold) that label say about society? Expect plenty of Lewis’s usual deep research, exacting scepticism and playful humour. You can pre-order The Genius Myth here.

Men in Love by Irvine Welsh (3 July)