8 brilliant books for Christmas

Chris Packham - Autumnwatch presenter

The books I want for Christmas

Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari, £20.30 (inc p&p)

All I want to read at Christmas is something to trip me up, to make me think – something that I won’t stop telling people about for months. I like to be startled or stabbed emotionally so I’m hoping this will do all that. Harari wrote the excellent Sapiens, which I couldn’t stop thinking about for ages.

Night of Fire by Colin Thubron (£14.85, incl p&p).

Thubron is one of my favourite authors, he is a travel writer by reputation but also writes novels – 1989’s Falling was one of my favourites – so I’m keen to see if his sense of terrible romance still burns.

The book I’ll be giving

Industrial Scars by J Henry Fair (£23.80, incl p&p)

I’ll be giving this out to challenge people. It’s a collection of extraordinary and very beautiful photographs of environmental destruction, taken by an American activist. It’s the most interesting and unsettling book of the year, and is a necessary antidote to the typical natural photography book.

Order Chris Packham’s Fingers in the Sparkle Jar: A Memoir for £17, incl p&p