(Image: Lauri Rotko)
New Scientist's pick of books published this year that you should not miss
Connectome by Sebastian Seung
Allen Lane/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
?20/$27
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.
Gravity's Engines by Caleb Scharf
Allen Lane/Farrar, Straus & Giroux
?20/$26
Natural selection operates at a cosmic level, as this book reveals, with black holes driving the universe's evolution.
Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks
Picador/Knopf
?18.99/$26.95
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.
Immortality by Stephen Cave
Biteback/Crown
?20/$25
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.
Like a Virgin by Aarathi Prasad
Oneworld
?12.99/$19.95
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.
Pieces of Light by Charles Fernyhough
Profile
?14.99
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.
Regenesis by George Church and Ed Regis
Basic Books
$28
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.
The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty by Dan Ariely
HarperCollins
?16.99/$26.99
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.
The Hour Between Dog and Wolf by John Coates
Fourth Estate/Penguin
?20/$27.95
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.
The Particle at the End of the Universe by Sean Carroll
Oneworld/Dutton
?16.99/$27.95
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.
WIN a set of these books! For a chance to win all 10, go to: newscientist.com/bestbooks2012
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