- The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
- An exploration of how trauma physically reshapes the brain and body, and the innovative treatments that can help survivors heal.
- A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
- A landmark work in scientific writing that explores the most profound questions of the universe, from the Big Bang to black holes and the nature of time itself.
- Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
- A Nobel Prize-winning psychologist explains the two systems that drive the way we think—one fast and emotional, the other slow and logical—and how they shape our judgments and decisions.
- The Art of War by Sun Tzu
- An ancient Chinese military treatise that provides strategic advice on conflict and competition, emphasizing the importance of psychology and positioning over brute force.
- A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
- A journey through the history of science that attempts to explain how we went from there being nothing to there being us, covering everything from geology to particle physics.
- We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- A modified version of a TEDx talk that offers a contemporary definition of feminism, rooted in inclusion and awareness of systemic gender inequality.
- Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
- The untold story of the Black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations helped fuel some of America's greatest achievements in space.
- Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
- An investigation into the international fast food industry, examining its impact on our health, economy, landscape, and social structures.
- Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
- An oddly entertaining exploration of what happens to our bodies after death when they are donated to science, from car crash testing to medical research.
- Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
- A surgeon examines the limitations of modern medicine in dealing with aging and death, arguing for a focus on well-being and quality of life rather than just survival.
- Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
- A powerful account of the American justice system’s flaws, focusing on the work of the Equal Justice Initiative to defend the poor, the wrongly condemned, and the marginalized.
- The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
- An exploration of the ecological and social consequences of our food choices, tracing four different paths from the farm to the dinner plate.
- The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks
- A collection of neurological case studies that reveal the resilience of the human mind and the strange ways it can malfunction.
- The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
- A critical analysis of the U.S. criminal justice system, arguing that mass incarceration functions as a contemporary system of racial control.
- Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
- A study of the unspoken hierarchy that has shaped America, comparing its social structure to the caste systems of India and Nazi Germany.
- The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert
- A journalistic investigation into the massive, human-caused extinction event currently underway, comparing it to five previous cataclysms in Earth's history.
- Evicted by Matthew Desmond
- An immersive look at the American housing crisis, following eight families in Milwaukee as they struggle to keep a roof over their heads.
- Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Pérez
- A data-driven look at how a world built primarily for and by men results in systemic bias that ignores half the population in everything from urban planning to medical research.
- Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green
- A history of humanity's deadliest infection, examining why the disease persists today as a social problem despite being curable.
- The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman
- A study of the cultural clash between a small Hmong family and their American doctors over the treatment of a child with epilepsy.
- Manufacturing Consent by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky
- An analysis of the political economy of the mass media, arguing that the media serves to mobilize support for the special interests that dominate the state and private sector.
- Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall
- A critique of mainstream feminism, arguing that it often ignores the basic survival needs—like food and housing—of marginalized women.
- The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein
- A history of how local, state, and federal governments in the U.S. systematically used laws and policy to enforce racial segregation in metropolitan areas.
- The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein
- An exploration of how neoliberal capitalism exploits national crises—such as disasters or wars—to push through unpopular economic policies while citizens are in shock.
- Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman
- A classic critique of the impact of television on public discourse, arguing that the medium's focus on entertainment trivializes serious political and social issues.
- No Logo by Naomi Klein
- An analysis of the rise of brand culture and the corporate globalization that relies on sweatshop labor and the erosion of public space.
- White Trash by Nancy Isenberg
- A history of the American class system, debunking the myth of a classless society by examining the 400-year history of the marginalized white poor.
- Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond
- A follow-up to Evicted that investigates why the United States has more poverty than any other advanced democracy and how the affluent benefit from it.
- The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff
- An examination of a new economic order that claims human experience as free raw material for hidden commercial practices of prediction and sales.
- Cobalt Red by Siddharth Kara
- An exposé on the human rights abuses and environmental devastation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo linked to the mining of cobalt for modern electronics.
- Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology by Neil Postman
- An argument that our society has moved beyond using technology as a tool and is now entirely shaped and defined by it.
- Feminism for the 99%: A Manifesto by Cinzia Arruzza et al.
- An argument for a feminism that is anti-capitalist, eco-socialist, and centered on the needs of the many rather than elite "lean-in" corporate success.
- The New Age of Sexism by Laura Bates
- An investigation into how emerging technologies and AI are being used to reinvent and amplify misogyny and gender-based violence.
- Algorithms of Oppression by Safiya Umoja Noble
- A study of how search engines like Google reinforce negative biases and racial stereotypes through their data and algorithms.
- How to Kill a City by Peter Moskowitz
- An investigation into the systematic process of gentrification and how it displaces vulnerable communities in cities across America.
- Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis by Dean Spade
- A guide to the theory and practice of mutual aid as a tool for social change and community survival outside of state systems.
- Elite Capture by Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò
- A philosophical examination of how powerful figures and institutions co-opt radical movements and identity politics to maintain the status quo.
- The New Age of Empire by Kehinde Andrews
- An analysis of how racism and colonialism remain embedded in the structures of modern global capitalism.
- Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse by Cory Doctorow
- A sharp critique of digital platforms, explaining how they inevitably decay as they pivot from serving users to extracting value for shareholders.
jan 18 2026 ∞
jan 18 2026 +
