Reading: Nonfiction

Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt explores how the rapid integration of digital technology into children's lives has contributed to a rise in mental health issues among Generation Z, emphasizing the need for real-world connections. Nonfiction. 385 pages. Available as ebook and audiobook

Drawing on proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience, the author provides an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Nonfiction. 306 pages. Available as ebook and audiobook

Mary Roach shows how and why sexual arousal and orgasm can be so hard to achieve and what science is doing to make the bedroom a more satisfying place. Nonfiction. 319 pages.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa has witnessed some of the worst crimes peopel can inflict on others. So wherever he goes, he inevitably gets asked, How do I forgive? This book is his answer. Nonfiction. 229 pages, Available as ebook

Focusing on the human relationship with plants, the author of Second Nature uses botany to explore four basic human desires, sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and control, through four plants that embody them: the apple, tulip, marijuana, and potato. Nonfiction. 271 pages.

This best selling book tells the story of the University of Washington's 1936 eight-oar crew and their epic quest for an Olympic gold . It traces the story of the team that defeated elite rivals at Hitler's 1936 Berlin Olympics, sharing the experiences of their enigmatic coach, a visionary boat builder, and a homeless teen rower. Nonfiction. 404 pages.

As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has spent a career learning how to ask questions of nature using the tools of science. As a Potawatomi indigenous woman, she considers plants and animals to be our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowing together. Nonfiction. 390 pages. Available as ebook and audiobook

Shortened version of the popular book about the scientific and indigenous view of the natural world. . Young adult nonfiction. 303 pages. Available as ebook and audiobook

Explores the role of environmental emotions in deciding whether, when, and why people today decide to become parents--or not Nonfiction. 170 pages. Available as ebook

Adam Gazzaley and Larry Rosen - a neuroscientist and a psychologist - explain why our brains aren't built for multitasking and suggest better ways to live in a high-tech world without giving up our modern technology. Nonfiction. 286 pages.

A female-centered look at Olympus and the Furies, focusing on the goddesses whose prowess, passions, jealousies, and desires rival those of their male kin. Nonfiction. 259 pages.

A comprehensive look at the opiate crisis, from the formulation of heroin in 1898, to the aggressive marketing of Oxycodone and over-prescription of pain meds, to the current devastation of heroin and fentanyl addiction, to the addiction treatment industry. Nonfiction. 376 pages.

Brilliantly synthesizing philosophy, literature, science, memoir and his own detective work, Eating Animals explores the many fictions we use to justify our eating habits-from folklore to pop culture to family traditions and national myth-and how such tales can lull us into a brutal forgetting. Nonfiction. 341 pages.

Through personal stories of the working poor, single parents, landlords and tenants, Matthew Desmond traces the very real consequences of the housing crisis that is plaguing many large cities. Nonfiction. 418 pages. Available as ebook

Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? What kind of impact did Roe v. Wade have on violent crime? These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask--but Levitt is not a typical economist. Nonfiction. 315 pages. Available as ebook

With a 100% chance of a mega-quake hitting the Pacific Northwest, this fascinating book reports on the scientists who are trying to understand when, where, and just how big THE BIG ONE will be". Nonfiction. 273 pages. Available as ebook

Two Pulitzer Prize winners address our era's worst human rights violation: the oppression of women in the developing world. They show that a little help can transform lives, and that the key to economic progress lies in unleashing women's potential. Nonfiction. 294 pages.

An account of the previously unheralded but pivotal contributions of NASA's African-American women mathematicians to America's space program describes how they were segregated from their white counterparts by Jim Crow laws in spite of their groundbreaking successes. Nonfiction. 346 pages.

In this engaging personal narrative, Kendi weaves together ethics, history, law, and science, and asks us to think about what an antiracist society might look like, and how we can play an active role in building it. Nonfiction. 305 pages

A mind-expanding exploration of animal senses, showcasing everything from shrimp that see colors we can't fathom to dogs who smell time, unveiling the extraordinary ways creatures experience the world around us.Nonfiction. 449 pages. Available as ebook

Michael Pollin describes the medical and scientific revolution taking place around psychedelic drugs--and the spellbinding story of his own life-changing psychedelic experiences. Nonfiction. 465 pages.

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer, yet her cells--taken without her knowledge--became one of the most important tools in medicine. Nonfiction. 381 pages. Available as ebook and audiobook

This is the true story of teenager Rudi Vrba in 1944, whose death-defying escape from a concentration camp helped save over 100,000 lives. Young adult nonfiction. 243 pages.

In April 1992, a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter. Into the Wild tells the unforgettable story of how he came to die. Nonfiction. 207 pages. Available as ebook

In the 1920s, members of the Osage nation who had gotten rich off the oil under their land began disappearing. White investigators who tried to uncover the truth were disappearing too. Young adult adaptation of a Nonfiction book. 322 pages. Available as audiobook

Evidence links the lack of nature in children's lives and the rise in obesity, attention disorders, and depression. This book looks for ways for children to experience the natural world more deeply. Nonfiction. 390 pages.

Facebook CEO Cheryl Sandberg examines why women's progress in achieving leadership positions has stalled, explains the root causes, and offers compelling commonsense solutions that can empower women to achieve their full potential. Nonfiction. 228 pages.

This best-selling guide to decluttering your home from Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo takes readers step-by-step through her revolutionary KonMari Method for simplifying, organizing, and storing. Nonfiction. 213 pages. Available as ebook and audiobook

Traveling from Senegal to the American South to Palestine, Coates exposes the destructive myths that shape our world and calls on us to embrace the liberating power of even the most difficult truths. Nonfiction. 235 pages. Available as audiobook

In this light-hearted guide to money, Berna Anat explains all the stuff young adults need to know about personal finance, covering everything from how and why to make a budget, to understanding the inequalities of our economy and how to work to change them. Young adult nonfiction. Available as audiobook

The definitive history of the drug cartels, Narcoland takes readers to the front lines of the "war on drugs." Hernández explains in riveting detail how Mexico became a base for the mega-cartels of Latin America and reveals the mind-boggling depth of corruption in Mexico's government and business elite. Nonfiction. 362 pages.

Navy SEALS: Their Untold Story charts the dramatic evolution of the frogmen from their origins in WWII to their rise to preeminence in Iraq and Afghanistan after 9/11. Nonfiction. 310 pages.

Although Jim Crow laws have been wiped off the books, an astounding percentage of the African American community remains trapped in a subordinate status. Alexander shows that, by targeting black men and decimating communities of color, the U.S. criminal justice system functions as a contemporary system of racial control. Nonfiction. 312 pages. Available as ebook and audiobook

Snyder writes, "Americans are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism and communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience"Nonfiction. 126 pages. Available as audiobook

Why do we remember the past and not the future? What does it mean for time to "flow"? Do we exist in time or does time exist in us? In lyric, accessible prose, Carlo Rovelli invites us to consider questions about the nature of time that continue to puzzle physicists and philosophers alike. Nonfiction. 240 pages.

This book offers a sweeping tapestry of people who are making the world a better place and a guide to the ways that we can do the same. Nonfiction. 382 pages.

In this landmark book, sociologist Matthew Desmond draws on history, research, and original reporting to show how affluent Americans knowingly and unknowingly keep poor people poor.Nonfiction. 288 pages. Available as ebook

Doing well with money isn't necessarily about what you know. It's about how you behave. Nonfiction. 242 pages.

This astute and inspiring book challenges introverts to "own" their introversion, igniting a quiet revolution that will change how they see themselves and how they engage with the world. Nonfiction. 333 pages. Available as ebook and audiobook

The spellbinding tale of Seabiscuit, a horse with crooked legs and a pathetic tail that made racing history in 1938, thanks to the efforts of a trainer, owner, and jockey who transformed a bottom-level racehorse into a legend. Nonfiction. 399 pages.

As Indigenous scientist Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity. How can we learn from Indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most? Nonfiction. 112 pages. Available as ebook

Stiff is an oddly compelling, often hilarious exploration of the strange lives of our bodies postmortem. In this fascinating account, Mary Roach tells the engrossing story of our bodies when we are no longer with them. Nonfiction. 303 pages.

In the military, soldiers form intimate bonds, a closeness that is lost at the end of deployment. Tribe explores the irony that for many veterans war feels better than peace, why we are stronger when we come together, and how that can be achieved even in today's divided world. Nonfiction. 168 pages. Available as ebook

This inspiring, exquisitely observed memoir finds hope and beauty in the face of insurmountable odds as an idealistic young neurosurgeon, diagnosed suddenly with terminal lung cancer, attempts to answer the question: What makes a life worth living? Nonfiction. 228 pages. Available as ebook

Filled with beautiful full-color art, dynamic storytelling and insightful analysis, Hillary Chute's Why Comics? reveals what makes one of the most critically acclaimed and popular art forms unique and so appealing, and how it got that way. Nonfiction. 449 pages.