Books

A Dance with Dragons George R. R. Martin Ruling turns out to be harder than winning, as a queen, a dwarf and a lord commander each meet the limits of power. A Dictionary of Symbols Juan Eduardo Cirlot Cirlot's classic decoder of the images that recur across art, myth and dream, from the labyrinth to the moon. 1 recommender A Different Person A Different Person James Merrill The poet's mid-twenties in 1950s Europe: analysis, love affairs, and a fortune he did not earn. 1 recommender Daisy Jones & The Six Taylor Jenkins Reid A 1970s rock band's rise and sudden breakup, told as an oral history where no two people remember it the same way. 1 recommender Dana Gioia: Poet & Critic John Zheng Essays in honour of a poet who spent his career arguing that poetry had lost its public. 1 recommender Daring: The Life and Art of Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun Jordana Pomeroy Marie Antoinette painter fled the Revolution and spent twelve years working through Rome, Vienna, St Petersburg and London, painting her way across the exile. 1 recommender Dark One, Book 1 Brandon Sanderson, Jackson Lanzing A graphic novel about a troubled young man told he is prophesied to destroy another world, cast as its villain rather than its hero. Daughter of Fortune Isabel Allende Isabel Allende's novel follows a young Chilean woman who stows away to Gold Rush California in search of her lover. 1 recommender Daughters of the Dust Julie Dash The script, the sixteen-year struggle to make it, and a conversation with Bell Hooks. 1 recommender David and Goliath Malcolm Gladwell The giant's advantages may be his weaknesses. A case for what disadvantage quietly builds. David Copperfield’s History of Magic David Copperfield, Richard Wiseman, David Britland A tour through magic's past drawn from Copperfield's own museum collection, profiling the conjurers whose inventions still shape the illusions we see today. Dawnshard Brandon Sanderson A Stormlight novella. Rysn, a merchant who cannot walk, sails to an island no expedition has ever returned from. Deacon King Kong James McBride James McBride's novel spins out from a drunken church deacon shooting a drug dealer in a 1969 Brooklyn housing project. 2 recommenders Dead and Alive Zadie Smith Smith's essays at their most characteristic: thinking against herself in public, and arriving somewhere unplanned. 1 recommender Dead Man Walking Helen Prejean A nun becomes spiritual adviser to a condemned man, and refuses to look away from either him or his victims. 1 recommender Dealing with China Henry M. Paulson Jr. The former Treasury Secretary draws on decades of dealings to explain how China's economy really works. 1 recommender Dealing with the Dead Alain Mabanckou A Congolese cemetery memoir, narrated from a vantage that makes the phrase less strange than it sounds. 1 recommender Dear Edward Ann Napolitano The only survivor of a crash that killed 183 others, handed a life he never asked to keep. 1 recommender Death by Black Hole Neil deGrasse Tyson Forty-two essays on the strangeness of the cosmos, including exactly what would happen to you falling into a black hole Death by Meeting Patrick Lencioni Bad meetings aren't too long, they're too boring, and a leadership fable shows what to do about it. 1 recommender Death in a Shallow Pond: A Philosopher, A Drowning Child, and Strangers in Need David Edmonds Singer published a drowning-child argument in 1972, and it grew into effective altruism. Edmonds takes the philosophy seriously and follows what money did to it. 1 recommender Decoded Jay-Z Jay-Z annotates three dozen of his own songs, unpacking the wordplay most listeners miss, and makes the case for hip-hop as serious poetry. Deep Simplicity John Gribbin John Gribbin explains chaos and complexity theory, showing how simple rules give rise to the intricate order seen across nature. 1 recommender Deep Thinking Garry Kasparov, Mig Greengard Kasparov's account of losing to IBM's Deep Blue and what two decades of man-versus-machine chess taught him about the real promise of artificial intelligence. Deep Work Cal Newport The ability to focus without distraction on demanding work is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable, which makes it a superpower. 1 recommender Default: The Landmark Court Battle over Argentina’s $100 Billion Debt Restructuring Gregory Makoff Argentina defaulted, a hedge fund seized a warship, and the courts spent fifteen years sorting it out. 1 recommender Defeating the Dictators: How Democracy Can Prevail in the Age of the Strongman Charles Dunst Democracies are not doomed against strongmen, provided they fix what made people lose faith. 1 recommender Defiant Brandon Sanderson The finale of the Skyward series, where Spensa must decide what she is willing to become to end a war that has outlived its reasons. Democracy’s Double Helix: Participation, Equality and Revolution in Early Modern Europe Lars Behrisch Semi-democratic decision-making began, Behrisch argues, not from any ideal of representation but from the practical business of assembling armies and raising money. 1 recommender Democracy’s Resilience to Populism’s Threat Kurt Weyland Populists win elections far more often than they dismantle democracies, and the data says so. 1 recommender Democratic Drain: Global Migration and the Struggle for Political Freedom Justin Gest Emigration removes the people most likely to demand reform, so migration can weaken freedom in the countries people leave. An argument about exporting dissent. 1 recommender Demon Copperhead Barbara Kingsolver Barbara Kingsolver reimagines David Copperfield in Appalachia, following a boy through foster care, poverty, and the opioid crisis. 1 recommender Desert Solitaire Edward Abbey A season as a ranger in the Utah desert, written by a man with no patience for anyone who arrives by car. 1 recommender Desperately Seeking Something Susan Seidelman From suburban Philadelphia to directing Madonna, one chapter per song title. 1 recommender Destroyer of Worlds: The Deep History of the Nuclear Age Frank Close A particle physicist on the decades before the Manhattan Project, including how dangerous the early radiation work was and how many of its practitioners it killed. 1 recommender Devotions Mary Oliver Fifty years of poems the poet chose herself, all arguing that noticing carefully is a moral act. 1 recommender