Books

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry Neil deGrasse Tyson The universe, from the Big Bang to dark matter, explained in short chapters for readers with no time and no physics At Home Bill Bryson A history of domestic life told room by room, from why the dining room exists to what made spice worth dying for. Atomic Habits James Clear A practical framework for building good habits and breaking bad ones. 3 recommenders Atonement Ian McEwan A thirteen-year-old misreads what she sees between her sister and the housekeeper's son, and spends the rest of her life trying to undo it. 1 recommender Au Contraire: Figuring Out the French Gilles Asselin and Ruth Mastron Why the French keep seeming rude to visitors, and what is actually being communicated instead. 1 recommender Audition Katie Kitamura An actress meets a young man who may be her son. Then the novel splits down the middle and rearranges everything you thought you had already understood. 2 recommenders Augustus: First Emperor of Rome Adrian Goldsworthy How a sickly nineteen-year-old heir turned Caesar's assassination into forty years of one-man rule. 1 recommender Avant-Gardists: Artists in Revolt in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union Sjeng Scheijen Malevich, Tatlin and Rodchenko from the last years of the empire to the moment the state stopped tolerating them, with Tatlin weighted far more heavily than usual. 1 recommender Awaken the Giant Within Tony Robbins The master manual: how the decisions you make in a single moment can reshape a mind, a body and a life 1 recommender Ayiti Roxane Gay Stories of the Haitian diaspora from before she had an audience, pushing back on the headline version. The Abrahamic Faiths Jerald F. Dirks A former Methodist deacon's comparative study of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. 1 recommender The Abundance: Narrative Essays Old and New Annie Dillard The essays that made a generation of nature writers, including Living Like Weasels and Total Eclipse, refusing every consolation the subject matter invites. 1 recommender The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Mark Twain Twain's sunlit romance of Mississippi boyhood, pranks, treasure, and a witnessed murder, with a satirist's eye for respectable hypocrisy underneath. The Afterlife Penelope Fitzgerald The essays and reviews, for readers who have finished the nine novels and want more. 1 recommender The Age of AI Eric Schmidt, Henry Kissinger, Daniel Huttenlocher Kissinger, Schmidt, and Huttenlocher weigh how artificial intelligence will reshape knowledge, security, and human identity, and the questions societies must confront now. The Age of Innocence Edith Wharton Old New York enforces its rules so politely that nobody has to say what is being taken away. 1 recommender The Alchemist Paulo Coelho A shepherd boy leaves Andalusia for the pyramids chasing a recurring dream, and is taught to read the omens on the way. 1 recommender The Alice Network Kate Quinn Two wars, two women, and a real network of female spies whose work history almost entirely forgot. 1 recommender The Alliance Reid Hoffman Lifetime employment is dead, so stop pretending. A new pact between company and employee built on honest, finite tours of duty The Alloy of Law Brandon Sanderson Three centuries on, Mistborn's world has railroads and revolvers, and Allomancy is a lawman's tool. A frontier lawman is pressed back into the city. The Altar of My Soul Marta Moreno Vega A Puerto Rican scholar returns to the faith her grandmother practised and she was taught to hide. 1 recommender The American Cafe Sara Sue Hoklotubbe A Cherokee woman takes over a small-town diner and is promptly blamed for a murder. 1 recommender The Anxious Generation Jonathan Haidt The rewiring of childhood around smartphones and social media, and the mental-health crisis that followed a play-based upbringing's collapse. 2 recommenders The Argonauts Maggie Nelson Nelson braids memoir and theory around queer family-making, pregnancy, and a love affair with a fluidly gendered partner. 1 recommender The Arguers Corinna Luyken Everyone in town argues until the arguing takes a shape of its own. Luyken draws conflict as something physical, which is the most useful thing for a child inside one. 1 recommender The Art and Business of Online Writing Nicolas Cole One of the most-read writers on Quora and Medium on finding your niche, writing headlines that land, and building an audience online. 1 recommender The Art of Closing the Sale Brian Tracy Tracy demystifies the close as a learnable skill, with techniques for objections, buying signals, and the hesitation that kills deals. The Art of Creative Thinking Rod Judkins Short lessons on how creative thinking actually works. 1 recommender The Art of Profitability Adrian Slywotzky Twenty-three distinct ways a business can make money, taught through conversation rather than framework. 1 recommender The Art of Seduction Robert Greene Seduction reframed as a form of power, dissected through the great charmers of history into nine types and their tactics The Art of the Start 2.0 Guy Kawasaki Kawasaki's comprehensive, updated startup manual, covering how to launch, pitch, build a team, and market anything, distilled from his years evangelizing and investing. The Art of War Sun Tzu Win before fighting, or do not fight. Twenty-five centuries on, still read for what it says about avoiding battle 1 recommender The Autobiography of Charles Darwin Charles Darwin Darwin wrote it for his children, an hour each afternoon, and never meant it published. He is candid about losing his faith and his taste for poetry. 1 recommender The Autobiography of Malcolm X Malcolm X, Alex Haley The life story of the American civil-rights leader, told to Alex Haley. 2 recommenders The Autobiography of Mark Twain Mark Twain Dictated to be published only long after his death, Twain's unruly, candid memoir wanders through grief, humor, and score-settling, the man without a mask. The Awakened Woman Tererai Trent From an arranged marriage at eleven in rural Zimbabwe to a doctorate, written as a method rather than a miracle. 1 recommender