Dreams of El Dorado by H. W. Brands
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A broad overview of a complex subject that doesn’t disintegrate into a mélange of disconnected anecdotes.
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The Big Book of Reel Murders, Edited by Otto Penzler
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This huge book is a bonanza of finds, from the well-known to the gloriously idiosyncratic.
Read MoreUnbound by Heather Boushey
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The author assumes a degree of ignorance on the part of the reader, taking them on a journey that was only ever going to go in one direction.
It’s a Mystery: “The surest way to work up a crusade for some good cause is to promise people they will have a chance of maltreating someone”
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A richly atmospheric novel that explores love and pain in many guises.
Read MoreDogs by Mark Alizart
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Monoglot dog lovers can now spend an hour basking in Alizart’s singularly Gallic combination of eloquence and hooey.
Read MoreNarrative Economics by Robert Shiller
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The author describes a new theory of economic change driven by contagious narratives.
Read MoreCapitalism, Alone by Branko Milanovic
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Milanovic attempts to identify the key systemic, as opposed to incidental, social and economic features of two main variants of capitalism.
Read MoreWildhood by Barbara Natterson-Horowitz & Kathryn Bowers
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A genuinely thought-provoking broad-range inquiry into the strange, elastic period between youth and adulthood in humans and animals.
Read MoreUnravelling the Double Helix by Gareth Williams
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Williams fleshes out that story not only with clear explanations of the science involved but also with a broad, colorful gallery of personalities.
Read MoreThe Successor by Willemijn Van Dijk
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An account of Tiberius’ life before his reign that is about as full as it can be given the sources we have.
Read MoreImaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky
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Chbosky’s clear intent to write from a child’s point of view devolves into writing at a child’s level.
Read MoreFor the Love of Music by John Mauceri
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Mauceri takes on the ambitious task of teaching the reader to listen to music.
Read MoreCursed by Thomas Wheeler
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A raw, often brutal book told in a taut prose-line and is copiously illustrated by comics legend Frank Miller.
Read MoreThe Photo Ark: Vanishing by Joel Sartore
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Here are the animals on their way off the planet.
Read MoreEquality by Charles Postel
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The progressive spirit of equal rights movements was often burdened by the ugly weight of racism, sexism, and xenophobia.
Read MoreIt’s a Mystery: “Constant togetherness is fine—but only for Siamese twins”
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A deftly wrought standalone that calls to mind Agatha Christie’s Miss Jane Marple.
Read MoreWill My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? by Caitlin Doughty
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A willingness to lean into the jovial worldview of a child makes this book so successful.
Read MoreSomething Deeply Hidden by Sean Carroll
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A smart and intensely readable undergraduate class in the history of quantum theory and the nature of quantum mechanics.
Read MoreThe Economists’ Hour by Binyamin Appelbaum
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His primary concern doesn’t appear to be that the government is staffed with economists, but that it isn’t pursuing the policies and ends he would prefer.
Read MoreBerta Isla by Javier Marías
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The difference between material conservatism (née antiquarianism) and good old-fashioned, the-kids-aren’t-alright cultural conservatism is often hardly a difference at all.
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