Books

A Century of Tomorrows: How Imagining the Future Shapes the Present Glenn Adamson A history of futurology, including the futures imagined by people the field usually leaves out. 1 recommender A Cheesemonger’s Tour de France Ned Palmer A working cheesemonger crosses France region by region, using rinds and monastic orders as the way into local history and the AOC rules that froze it. 1 recommender A Clash of Kings George R. R. Martin A comet burns over a continent at war, and every man who calls himself king is certain the sign belongs to him. A Colony in a Nation Chris Hayes Hayes argues America runs two justice systems: a Nation for the privileged and a Colony, policed by force, for everyone else. A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole Ignatius J. Reilly, thirty and unemployed in New Orleans, blames the century for everything. 1 recommender A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court Mark Twain A modern engineer wakes in Camelot and industrializes it, in Twain's time-travel satire of feudal superstition, and of progress itself, that turns dark. A Cook’s Tour Anthony Bourdain Bourdain circles the globe in search of the perfect meal, from a Tokyo fish market to the Mekong Delta, eating whatever the moment demands. A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow Laura Taylor Namey Sent from Miami to an English village after a devastating year, a Cuban American teenager has to choose her own future. 1 recommender A Cultural History of the British Empire John M. MacKenzie The empire understood through what it exported and absorbed rather than through what it governed. 1 recommender A Curtain of Green Eudora Welty Seventeen stories that found the whole American South inside small Mississippi rooms. 1 recommender Cadillac Jack Larry McMurtry An antiques scout lives out of his Cadillac, collecting objects and women with equal futility. 1 recommender Cairo: Architectural Guide Thomas Meyer-Wieser A thousand years of Cairo building by building, from Fatimid mosques and Mamluk tombs to colonial downtown and Nasser-era modernism, with plans and photographs. 1 recommender Calamity Brandon Sanderson The finale of the Reckoners trilogy, where David has to face what the powers actually cost, and what his old mentor has become. Caledonian Road Andrew O'Hagan A wealthy London professor's life comes apart across sixty characters and one very long novel. California Kevin Starr Starr compresses five centuries of California into one volume, from Spanish missions to the modern megastate. 1 recommender Camp Zero Michelle Min Sterling A far-northern settlement where every group has been sent for a different undisclosed reason. 1 recommender Can’t Hurt Me David Goggins A retired Navy SEAL and ultramarathoner on transforming himself from an overweight, abused kid into one of the toughest endurance athletes alive. 1 recommender Cane River Lalita Tademy Lalita Tademy's novel traces four generations of women in her own Louisiana family, from slavery toward freedom. 1 recommender Capitalism and its Critics: A History: From the Industrial Revolution to AI John Cassidy Two centuries of people arguing that the system was wrong, from machine-breakers to degrowth, each given a fair hearing rather than a place in a progress story. 1 recommender Carbon Hunters: Reflections and Forecasts of Climate Markets in the 21st Century Richard Sandor The man who invented interest-rate futures went on to build a market for carbon, and explains both. 1 recommender Carthage: A New History Eve MacDonald Rome destroyed Carthage and then wrote its history. This is the attempt to recover the rest. 1 recommender Case Histories Kate Atkinson Three cold cases and a private detective who is grieving harder than any of his clients. 1 recommender Cassandra in Reverse Holly Smale After losing her job and her boyfriend in a week, an autistic woman finds she can rewind time and keep trying again. 1 recommender Caste Isabel Wilkerson Isabel Wilkerson argues that America is shaped by a hidden caste system, drawing parallels to India and Nazi Germany to explain enduring inequality. 1 recommender Cat’s Eye Margaret Atwood A painter returns to Toronto and to the childhood friend whose cruelty shaped her. Atwood on how girls wound each other Cause for Alarm Eric Ambler An unemployed engineer takes a job in Milan in 1937 and lands between competing intelligence services. Ambler made thrillers modern by making his heroes ordinary. 1 recommender Celestial Bodies Jokha Alharthi Three sisters marry, or refuse to, as Oman moves from a slave-owning past into something it cannot yet name. 1 recommender Central Europe: The Death of a Civilization and the Life of an Idea Luka Ivan Jukic Central Europe keeps being declared dead and keeps being invoked. Jukic asks what the idea was ever for. 1 recommender Change Your Life in 7 Days Paul McKenna A week-long self-improvement programme from the hypnotist Paul McKenna. 1 recommender Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life Brian Tracy Twelve principles Tracy says govern how thinking turns into results, and how to change the thinking first. Chapal Rani, the Last Queen of Bengal Sandip Roy One of Kolkata's last great female impersonators, recorded in his own words. 1 recommender Chase, Chance, and Creativity James H. Austin A neurologist argues that chance arrives in four distinct kinds, and only one of them is genuinely beyond your influence. 1 recommender Chasing Fog Laura Pashby Pashby chases fog across the Somerset Levels, the Thames and the Scottish haar, making a natural history of weather into an argument for not seeing clearly. 1 recommender Chinese Cosmopolitanism: The History and Philosophy of an Idea Shuchen Xiang China had its own traditions of openness to outsiders, and rather more of them than expected. 1 recommender Christian Reconstruction: R. J. Rushdoony and American Religious Conservatism Michael J. McVicar An intellectual history of the theologian whose fringe theocratic programme shaped homeschooling, the religious right, and arguments now heard in the mainstream. 1 recommender Cinderella Liberator Rebecca Solnit Solnit retells Cinderella so that the heroine frees herself, and everyone else, rather than marrying up. 1 recommender