Published
AT REST
AT REST is a science-grounded literary novel about motion, perception, certainty, family, and the strange possibility that a thing can be relative and still be true.
Books by Sonny Saggar
Science and Big Questions
Questions you never outgrow.
Why aren't we spheres? Where does a thing end? Who gave that value?
Sonny Saggar begins with questions that sound simple and follows them into science, philosophy and everyday life. These standalone books use humour, stories and thought experiments to help you look again at something familiar.
For curious adults, older teenagers and anyone who still asks why. No scientific background required. Read in any order. Bring your own objections.
Where these questions began
Some thoughts and meditations from when I was in captivity.
This collection grew from questions I sat with during that time. Questions that can sound childlike until you try to answer them. Ordinary life rarely leaves much room to follow one such thought, let alone several. These books make room to wonder.
Available now
Five standalone books, including the novel At Rest and the illustrated nonfiction Why Aren't We Spheres?.
Published
Why Aren't We Spheres?
Why do drops become round, crystals grow corners, and living things develop limbs? An illustrated nonfiction exploration of how forces, materials, growth and history shape the world.
Out Now
A Good Use Of Time
A book about the question beneath time management: whether an hour was genuinely worthy of a life.
Out Now
GROUND
A short book about what is left of a person once everything that defined them is gone.
Published
DESERVE
A book about the word deserve, the moral accounts people keep, and the harder questions hidden inside claims about what anyone is owed.
Forthcoming books
Eighteen books are planned. Three manuscripts are in development. These are working titles; publication dates have not been announced.
Forthcoming · In development
Where Does a Thing End?
Where do you end and the world begin? Skin, breath, tools and relationships challenge the boundaries we take for granted.
Forthcoming · In development
The Shape of What's Missing
An empty glass, a missing piece, an absent person. How can what is not there shape everything that is?
Forthcoming · In development
Pieces of Paper
Passports, deeds, certificates and money. How do words on a document acquire the power to change a life?
Forthcoming
What Holds It Together?
Bodies, relationships and societies depend on more than their parts. What keeps a whole together, and when is separation wiser?
Forthcoming
The Egregore
Can a group create something that begins to govern its members? A curious journey through beliefs, rituals, institutions and collective life.
Forthcoming
When Does One Thing Become Another?
When does a collection become a whole, or a habit become an identity? An exploration of thresholds and transformations.
Forthcoming
A Person Is a Verb
What if a person is something happening? Bodies, memories and relationships invite a fresh look at who we are.
Forthcoming
Who Is Doing the Thinking?
Notice a thought. Who is noticing? An exploration of attention, inherited ideas, the observing self and agency.
Forthcoming
The World Between Things
What do we miss when we study things one at a time? Explore the relationships that make bodies, families and worlds possible.
Forthcoming
The Useful Wrong Answer
When is an imperfect answer useful enough? Models, uncertainty and the art of making decisions without knowing everything.
Forthcoming
Can Anything Be Finished?
A book ends. A building opens. The work continues. What does it mean to call something finished?
Forthcoming
The Same River, a Different Man
A river keeps its name while its water changes. Reflections on continuity, loss and rebuilding a life.
Forthcoming
Why Must It Be This Way?
Some limits belong to nature. Others were invented. How can we tell the difference, and what becomes possible when we ask?
Forthcoming
May I Ask a Stupid Question?
What happens if we do not do that? A celebration of children's questions and the adult courage needed to answer them honestly.
Forthcoming
How Much Is Enough?
Enough money, success, certainty or time. How do we choose a stopping point in a world that keeps offering more?
Forthcoming
Who Gave That Value?
Why does one thing seem priceless and another worthless? Scarcity, status, belonging and endless digital copies complicate the answer.
Forthcoming
Who Put the Computer in Charge?
Rules are followed and absurdity results. Who can question an automatic decision, correct a mistake or take responsibility?
Forthcoming
If Everyone Understood Everyone
If translation became perfect, would we finally understand each other? Words, humour, context and disagreement suggest a more interesting answer.
Experiments to come
Small interactive thought experiments are planned to accompany the books: change a rule, draw a boundary, question a price, or reconsider what a sentence means. They will be designed for phones as well as larger screens, with no login required. These experiences are not live yet.
Follow a question beyond the series
Books can speak to each other without belonging to the same collection.
GROUND explores identity after upheaval. The Road offers practical guidance through criminal charges for people and their families.
For philosophical fiction in dialogue, explore Questions for God and Questions for the Devil.