1.

Inherent Vice מאת Thomas Pynchon Part noir, part psychedelic romp, all Thomas Pynchon— private eye Doc Sportello comes, occasionally, out of a marijuana haze to watch the end of an era as free love slips away and paranoia creeps in with the L.A. fog It's been awhile since Doc Sportello has seen his ex-girlfriend....

2.

Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work מאת Matthew B. Crawford A philosopher / mechanic destroys the pretensions of the high- prestige workplace and makes an irresistible case for working with one's hands Shop Class as Soulcraft brings alive an experience that was once quite common, but now seems to be receding from society-the experience of makin...

3.

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto מאת Michael Pollan What to eat, what not to eat, and how to think about health: a manifesto for our times "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." These simple words go to the heart of Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food, the well-considered answers he provides to the questions posed in the bestselling <...

4.

Hitler's Empire: How the Nazis Ruled Europe מאת Mark Mazower Drawing on an unprecedented variety of sources, Mark Mazower reveals how the Nazis designed, maintained, and ultimately lost their European empire and offers a chilling vision of the world Hitler would have made had he won the war. Germany’s forces achieved, in just a few years, the astound...

5.

While America Aged: How Pension Debts Ruined General Motors, Stopped the NYC Subways, Bankrupted San Diego, and Loom as the Next Financial Crisis מאת Roger Lowenstein From the bestselling author of Buffett, When Genius Failed, and Origins of the Crash, a wake-up call to the pension and retirement crisis facing America and the road map for a way out In While America Aged, bestselling author Roger Lowenstein explains how corporations and...

6.

Wolf Totem: A Novel מאת Jiang Rong An epic Chinese tale in the vein of The Last Emperor, Wolf Totem depicts the dying culture of the Mongols-the ancestors of the Mongol hordes who at one time terrorized the world-and the parallel extinction of the animal they believe to be sacred: the fierce and otherworldly Mongolian wolf<...

7.

Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century מאת P. W. Singer A military expert reveals how science fiction is fast becoming reality on the battlefield, changing not just how wars are fought, but also the politics, economics, laws, and ethics that surround war itself P. W. Singer’s previous two books foretold the rise of private military contractors a...

8.

Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life מאת Winifred Gallagher Winifred Gallagher revolutionizes our understanding of attention and the creation of the interested life In Rapt, acclaimed behavioral science writer Winifred Gallagher makes the radical argument that the quality of your life largely depends on what you choose to pay attention to and h...

9.

Shadows at Dawn: A Borderlands Massacre and the Violence of History מאת Karl Jacoby A groundbreaking exploration of one of the worst Indian massacres in American history illuminates the clash of American, Mexican, and tribal cultures in the southwestern borderlands. In the predawn hours of April 30, 1871, a combined party of Americans, Mexicans, and Tohono O’odham Indians ...

10.

Dog Man: An Uncommon Life on a Faraway Mountain מאת Martha Sherrill How one man's consuming passion for dogs saved a legendary breed from extinction and led him to a difficult, more soulful way of life in the wilds of Japan's remote snow country As Dog Man opens, Martha Sherrill brings us to a world that Americans know very little about-the snow count...

11.

The Garden of Invention: Luther Burbank and the Business of Breeding Plants מאת Jane S. Smith A wide-ranging and delightful narrative history of the celebrated plant breeder Luther Burbank and the business of farm and garden in early twentieth-century America A century ago, Luther Burbank was the most famous gardener on the planet. His name was inseparable from a cornucopia of new and...

12.

The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet מאת Reif Larsen Book DescriptionA brilliant, boundary-leaping debut novel tracing twelve-year-old genius map maker T.S. Spivet's attempts to understand the ways of the worldWhen twelve-year-old genius cartographer T.S. Spivet receives an unexpected phone call from the Smithsonian announcing he has won...

13.

The Girl from Foreign: A Search for Shipwrecked Ancestors, Forgotten Histories, and a Sense of Home מאת Sadia Shepard In this beautifully crafted memoir, a young half-Muslim, half-Christian woman travels to India to connect with a tiny Jewish community and unlock her family’s secret history. Sadia Shepard grew up in a joyful, chaotic home just outside of Boston, Massachusetts, where cultures intertwined, ...

14.

The Elements of Style Illustrated מאת William Strunk Jr. Every English-language writer knows Strunk and White's famous little writing manual, The Elements of Style. Many people between the ages of seventeen and seventy can recite the book's mantra--make every word tell--and still refer to their tattered grade school copy when in need of a hint on h...

15.

The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet מאת Reif Larsen Book DescriptionA brilliant, boundary-leaping debut novel tracing twelve-year-old genius map maker T.S. Spivet's attempts to understand the ways of the worldWhen twelve-year-old genius cartographer T.S. Spivet receives an unexpected phone call from the Smithsonian announcing he has won...

16.

The King and the Cowboy: Theodore Roosevelt and Edward the Seventh, Secret Partners מאת David Fromkin The story of the unlikely friendship between King Edward the Seventh of England and President Theodore Roosevelt, which became the catalyst for an international power shift and the beginning of the American century. In The King and the Cowboy, renowned historian David Fromkin reveals h...

17.

Black Postcards: A Rock & Roll Romance מאת Dean Wareham A bewitching account of the lures, torments, and rewards of making and performing some of the most interesting music in some of the most iconic indie bands (Galaxie 500, Luna) in recent memory What do you do if you're an outsider with a funny accent coming of age in alien bastions of privile...

18.

The Unpossessed City: A Novel מאת Jon Fasman In this taut, atmospheric novel by the author of The New York Times bestseller The Geographer’s Library, a young American finds himself adrift in Russia amid murderous bureaucrats, Central Asian mobsters, and a conspiracy to sell Soviet bioweapons to the highest bidder. Jim Vi...

19.

The Second Book of the Tao מאת Stephen Mitchell Enhanced by Stephen Mitchell’s illuminating commentary, the next volume of the classic manual on the art of living The most widely translated book in world literature after the Bible, Lao-tzu’s Tao Te Ching, or Book of the Way, is the classic manual on the art of living. Following the phe...

20.

Nothing to Fear: FDR's Inner Circle and the Hundred Days That Created Modern America מאת Adam Cohen A revealing account of the critical first days of FDR’s presidency, during the worst moments of the Great Depression, when he and his inner circle launched the New Deal and presided over the birth of modern America Nothing to Fear brings to life a fulcrum moment in American history...

21.

The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World מאת Alan Greenspan The Age Of Turbulence is Alan Greenspan’s incomparable reckoning with the contemporary financial world, channeled through his own experiences working in the command room of the global economy longer and with greater effect than any other single living figure. Following the arc of his remark...

22.

The Wisdom Trail: In the Footsteps of Remarkable Women מאת Janet Lieberman An invitation to eavesdrop on a remarkable group of women who in their eighth and ninth decades reflect with candor and insight on the common threads in their well-lived lives The Wisdom Trail follows the life trajectories of extraordinary women, now in their seventies and eighties, wh...

23.

Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World מאת Liaquat Ahamed With penetrating insights for today, this vital history of the world economic collapse of the late 1920s offers unforgettable portraits of the four men whose personal and professional actions as heads of their respective central banks changed the course of the twentieth century It is commonly...

24.

Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy מאת Lawrence Lessig The author of Free Culture shows how we harm our children—and almost anyone who creates, enjoys, or sells any art form—with a restrictive copyright system driven by corporate interests. Lessig reveals the solutions to this impasse offered by a collaborative yet profitable “hybrid eco...

25.

Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art מאת Laney Salisbury A tautly paced investigation of one the 20th century's most audacious art frauds, which generated hundreds of forgeries-many of them still hanging in prominent museums and private collections todayProvenance is the extraordinary narrative of one of the most far-reaching and elaborate d...

26.

Unstuck: Your Guide to the Seven-Stage Journey Out of Depression מאת James S. Gordon M.D. A groundbreaking, inspiring, and practical guide to healing depression without the use of antidepressants, from world-renowned, Harvard trained psychiatrist Dr. James S. Gordon Each year, as many as twenty million Americans are diagnosed with clinical depression. Tens of millions more have lo...

27.

Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-time Eater מאת Frank Bruni The New York Times restaurant critic's heartbreaking and hilarious account of how he learned to love food just enough after decades of wrestling with his weight Frank Bruni was born round. Round as in stout, chubby, and hungry, always and endlessly hungry. He grew up in a big, loud ...

28.

The Hindus: An Alternative History מאת Wendy Doniger From one of the world’s foremost scholars on Hinduism, a vivid reinterpretation of its history An engrossing and definitive narrative account of history and myth that offers a new way of understanding one of the world’s oldest major religions, The Hindus elucidates the relationship...

29.

The Principles of Uncertainty מאת Maira Kalman Maira Kalman paints her highly personal worldview in an inimitable combination of image and text. The Principles of Uncertainty is an irresistible invitation to experience life through the psyche of Maira Kalman, one of this country's most beloved artists. The result is a book that is p...

30.

Defenders of the Faith: Charles V, Suleyman the Magnificent, and the Battle for Europe, 1520-1536 מאת Jr., James Reston A bestselling historian recounts sixteen years that shook the world- the epic clash between Europe and the Ottoman Turks that ended the Renaissance and brought Islam to the gates of Vienna In the bestselling Warriors of God and Dogs of God, James Reston, Jr., limned two epochal ...

31.

Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays מאת Zadie Smith A sparkling collection of Zadie Smith's nonfiction over the past decade. Zadie Smith brings to her essays all of the curiosity, intellectual rigor, and sharp humor that have attracted so many readers to her fiction, and the result is a collection that is nothing short of extraordinary. Split ...

32.

Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors מאת Nicholas Wade Based on a groundbreaking synthesis of recent scientific findings, an acclaimed New York Times science reporter tells a bold and provocative new story of the history of our ancient ancestors and the evolution of human nature Just in the last three years a flood of new scientific findings-d...

33.

The Assault on Reason מאת Al Gore A visionary analysis of how the politics of fear, secrecy, cronyism, and blind faith has combined with the degradation of the public sphere to create an environment dangerously hostile to reason At the time George W. Bush ordered American forces to invade Iraq, 70 percent of Americans believed...

34.

The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008 מאת Thomas E. Ricks Fiasco, Thomas E. Ricks’s #1 New York Times bestseller, transformed the political dialogue on the war in Iraq—The Gamble is the next news breaking installment Thomas E. Ricks uses hundreds of hours of exclusive interviews with top officers in Iraq and extraordinary on...

35.

God Is Back: How the Global Revival of Faith Is Changing the World מאת John Micklethwait Two Economist writers show how and why religion is booming around the world and reveal its vast effects on the global economy, politics, and moreOn the street and in the corridors of power, religion is surging worldwide. From Russia to Turkey to India, nations that swore off faith in t...

36.

How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America מאת Moustafa Bayoumi The story of how young Arab and Muslim Americans are forging lives for themselves in a country that often mistakes them for the enemyArab and Muslim Americans are the new, largely undiscussed “problem” of American society, their lives no better understood than those of African Americans a...

37.

Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets מאת Sudhir Venkatesh First introduced in Freakonomics, here is the full story of Sudhir Venkatesh, the sociology grad student who infiltrated one of Chicago's most notorious gangs The story of the young sociologist who studied a Chicago crack-dealing gang from the inside captured the world's attention whe...

38.

The Curse of the Good Girl: Raising Authentic Girls with Courage and Confidence מאת Rachel Simmons Bestselling author of Odd Girl Out, Rachel Simmons exposes the myth of the Good Girl, freeing girls from its impossible standards and encouraging them to embrace their real selvesIn The Curse of the Good Girl, bestselling author Rachel Simmons argues that in lionizing the Good G...

39.

The Canal Builders: Making America's Empire at the Panama Canal (Penguin History of American Life) מאת Julie Greene A groundbreaking history of the Panama Canal offers a revelatory workers-eye view of the momentous undertaking and shows how it launched the American century The Panama Canal has long been celebrated as a triumph of American engineering and technology. In The Canal Builders, Julie Gree...

40.

The China Lover: A Novel מאת Ian Buruma A transfixing portrait of a woman and a nation eagerly burying the past to transform the future.In his enthralling new novel, Ian Buruma uses the life of the starlet Yamaguchi Yoshiko as a lens through which to understand the lure of erotic fantasies in the conquest of nations. The China L...

41.

Acceptance: A Legendary Guidance Counselor Helps Seven Kids Find the Right Colleges---And Find Themselves מאת David L. Marcus A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist spends a year with a legendary high school guidance counselor who gets kids into the right colleges by focusing on self-discovery rather than test scores, grades, and the other traditional tools of the tradeGwyeth Smith, known as Smitty, has made a national...

42.

The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power, and the Future of the World מאת Michelle Goldberg In this groundbreaking work of investigative journalism by the author of the New York Times bestseller Kingdom Coming, Michelle Goldberg exposes the global war on women’s reproductive rights and its disastrous and unreported consequences for the future of global development Wo...

43.

¡OBÁMANOS!: The Rise of a New Political Era מאת Hendrik Hertzberg The most critical election in living memory, viewed in real time through the eyes of one of our most trusted political commentators. Celebrated political analyst for The New Yorker Hendrik Hertzberg watches the long presidential campaign of 2007 and 2008 as it unfolds to reveal the tra...

44.

The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea מאת Michael Harney The country’s leading connoisseur presents a comprehensive guide for developing your tea palate. The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea transforms tea drinkers into tea experts. Written by one of the country’s leading tea professionals, The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea is an illuminat...

45.

Water Ghosts: A Novel מאת Shawna Yang Ryan A mesmerizing story of a community of Chinese immigrants in a small California town in 1928, weaving history and mythology around the lives of the townspeople and the ghosts who haunt themLocke, CA, 1928— Three bedraggled Chinese women suddenly appear out of the mist one afternoon in a smal...

46.

Glimmer: How Design Can Transform Your Life, and Maybe Even the World מאת Warren Berger The first book to reveal how thinking like a designer can help solve the greatest challenges we face in business, society, and our daily lives. What can we learn from the ways great designers think-and how can it improve our world? In this highly original book by journalist Warren Berger, in ...

47.

Googled: The End of the World As We Know It מאת Ken Auletta A revealing, forward-looking examination of the outsize influence Google has had on the changing media Landscape. There are companies that create waves and those that ride or are drowned by them. As only he can, bestselling author Ken Auletta takes readers for a ride on the Google wave, telli...

48.

Americans in Paris: Life and Death Under Nazi Occupation מאת Charles Glass Acclaimed journalist Charlie Glass looks to the American expatriate experience of Nazi-occupied Paris to reveal a fascinating forgotten history of the greatest generation. In Americans in Paris, tales of adventure, intrigue, passion, deceit, and survival unfold season by season, from ...

49.

Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer מאת Novella Carpenter Urban and rural collide in this wry, inspiring memoir of a woman who turned a vacant lot in downtown Oakland into a thriving farmNovella Carpenter loves cities-the culture, the crowds, the energy. At the same time, she can't shake the fact that she is the daughter of two back-to-the-land hipp...

50.

Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture מאת Ellen Ruppel Shell An Atlantic correspondent uncovers the true cost-in economic, political, and psychic terms-of our penchant for making and buying things as cheaply as possibleFrom the shuttered factories of the rust belt to the look-alike strip malls of the sun belt-and almost everywhere in between-Ame...

51.

Passing Strange: A Gilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line מאת Martha A. Sandweiss The secret double life of the man who mapped the American West, and the woman he loved Clarence King is a hero of nineteenth century western history; a brilliant scientist and witty conversationalist, best-selling author and architect of the great surveys that mapped the West after the Civil ...

52.

Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives מאת Michael Specter In this provocative and headline- making book, Michael Specter confronts the widespread fear of science and its terrible toll on individuals and the planet. In Denialism, New Yorker staff writer Michael Specter reveals that Americans have come to mistrust institutions and especially th...

53.

Imagining India: The Idea of a Renewed Nation מאת Nandan Nilekani A visionary look at the evolution and future of India by a preeminent business leader India’s recent economic boom—similar in scope to that of the United States during the early 1990s or Europe’s during the 1970s—has triggered tremendous social, political, and cultural change. The res...

54.

Not Becoming My Mother: and Other Things She Taught Me Along the Way מאת Ruth Reichl Bestselling author Ruth Reichl examines her mother's life, giving voice to the universal unarticulated truth that we are grateful not to be our mothers In Not Becoming My Mother, bestselling author Ruth Reichl embarks on a clear-eyed, openhearted investigation of her mother's life, pie...