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Most publishers make books. Hungry Minds makes objects worth keeping. Founded by Vsevolod Batishchev and Timur Kadyrov, the London-based independent publisher has built something genuinely unusual in the book world, a small catalogue of illustrated encyclopedias that are as carefully considered as the research inside them, crafted slowly, deliberately, and with a level of artistic and material quality that has earned the brand over 400,000 copies sold and more than $3 million in crowdfunding before most people had heard of it.
Where It Started
The origin story is one of the more honest ones in modern publishing. A child who wondered what a bowstring was made of in the Middle Ages, could not find a satisfying answer, and kept asking. That curiosity became a research project, the research became a vision, and the vision became The Book: The Ultimate Guide to Rebuilding Civilization, Hungry Minds’ flagship title and the product that put the brand on the map.
The Book was published in 2022 after raising over $3 million in crowdfunding with the help of crowdfunding veteran Artur Stelmakh. It went on to become the number one bestseller in History of Civilization and Culture on Amazon, with a 4.6-star rating from over 2,600 verified buyers, and has since sold more than 300,000 copies through the publisher’s own website alone.
What Makes Hungry Minds Different
The Hungry Minds collective stands apart, proudly slow, painstakingly deliberate, and utterly uncompromising in their mission to marry literary depth with artistic brilliance. That description is not marketing language. Creating The Book consumed over 5,000 hours, with each illustration painstakingly designed by talented artists and every fact rigorously verified by scientists and experts. The result is a product that sits in a category of its own. It is not a conventional encyclopedia, not a coffee table book in the decorative sense, and not an academic text. Their flagship title exemplifies their premium tier positioning through superior materials and expert craftsmanship, including 157gsm paper, silver embossing, and sewn binding, elevating it beyond a typical encyclopedia into a contemporary work of art.
The Book is printed using high-quality lithographic printing with soy-based inks for exceptionally rich color and sharp detail, with a premium cover featuring silver embossing and expertly sewn binding for elegant presentation and long-term durability.
The Book: What Is Inside
The 400-plus page encyclopedia covers nine domains of human civilisation: medicine, basic materials, mechanisms, military arts, hearth and home, farming, entertainment, musical instruments, and society. Each section approaches its subject through practical invention and discovery, exploring not just what humans created but how they created it and why it mattered. The Book is a hand-illustrated guide to the discoveries, inventions, and social systems that have propelled our species forward. It is a celebration of human creativity and achievement, brought to you by artists, writers, researchers, and other makers of things, to be touched, shared, and passed from one hungry mind to another.
The illustrations are original, detailed, and designed to explain rather than decorate. From the mechanics of ancient siege engines to the development of early musical instruments, each page combines a pencil sketch tradition with finished artwork that makes complex subjects immediately accessible. A later section called Art forgoes text entirely in favour of interpretive illustration, which reflects the confidence the team has in the visual side of the work.
A Brand That Thinks Beyond the Page
Hungry Minds considers itself to be a purveyor of both books and experiences. A Manhattan pop-up in Soho in 2025 brought the world of The Book into a physical space, with walls lined in navy and silver and steampunk ceiling installations, turning a publishing brand into something closer to an immersive cultural venue. The founders, both longtime members of the Burning Man community with backgrounds in global escape rooms and art installations, bring that instinct for experience design directly into how they think about the brand.
The Hungry Minds Initiative is a platform designed to support organisations, artists, and creatives making a positive impact, including Sungai Watch, a Bali-based NGO working to stop plastic pollution in rivers before it reaches the ocean.
What Is Coming Next
The upcoming The Last Book has raised more than $400,000 in crowdfunding between Kickstarter and Indiegogo. It will tell the story of a fictional apocalypse survivor through illustrated diary entries, a narrative intimacy designed to help readers connect with the existential questions that The Book introduced. Further out, The Black Book, which has raised more than $500,000 on Kickstarter, will extend the steampunk encyclopedia genre to inventions that were lost or crushed by history, such as arboreal architecture.
Both follow-up titles reflect the same philosophy as the original: original illustration, rigorous research, premium production, and a subject matter that rewards curiosity rather than satisfying it quickly.
A Publisher Worth Paying Attention To
As the founder put it: when you are a kid there were no problems, there were just dreams. The Book is a gentle way to remind you that the world is still amazing, and it was built by humans. It is not about knowledge, to be honest.
That framing captures what Hungry Minds is doing better than any product description could. For anyone who has ever looked at a beautifully made book and felt grateful that someone took the time to make it properly, this is a brand that is worth knowing about.
