The Lifelong Learner Recommendations
spring Nonfiction Book Releases 2025-2026
Spring invites growth and fresh perspective. These new nonfiction titles teach, challenge, and inspire. Topics range from psychology to culture to personal development. The writing is accessible yet smart. Each book leaves you thinking long after the final page.
May New Release Books:
Young King: The Making of Martin Luther King Jr.
by Lerone Martin
From a preeminent King scholar, the origin story of the man, minister, and civil rights hero who would lead the nation and change the world.
We know who Martin Luther King, Jr. became, but who was he at the beginning of his life? How did his youth inform his outlook and activism?
Before Martin Luther King, Jr. was a civil rights leader, a Nobel Laureate, and a global hero, he was an emotional boy, a middling high school student devoted to fashion, dancing, and dating. Lerone A. Martin, Faculty Director of the Martin Luther King Institute at Stanford University, traces these roots to develop a fuller understanding of the influential preacher's emotional life, his youthful confusion about his future and career direction, his teenage missteps, and his inspiration to fight for justice.
Revelatory, humanizing, and compassionate, Young King unearths:
- MLK's Childhood on Auburn Avenue: his days as "Little Mike"--the ever-eager middle child and a precocious prankster--spent at Ebenezer Baptist Church and the Auburn Avenue Library in Atlanta
- Early Encounters with Racism: his early experiences of segregation and the summers he spent on a Connecticut tobacco farm, his first trip outside the Jim Crow South
- College Life at Morehouse: his transformative time at Morehouse, playing basketball, hosting parties, studying sociology, and joining the Ministers' Union
- Path to Seminary and Activism: his winding path to seminary and the co-development of his activist consciousness, his spiritual devotion, and his relationship with Coretta, his wife-to-be
As America undergoes another era of turmoil and change, this powerful biography provides a vital roadmap for how greatness comes to light. This essential work is a testament to how history shapes a leader.
Young King includes rarely seen black-and-white photographs of an adolescent MLK from his high school days and college years.
Walk: Rediscover the Most Natural Way to Boost Your Health and Longevity--One Step at a Time
by Courtney Conley - Milica McDowell
Discover the new rules of walking to increase your health, longevity, and overall wellbeing--from two go-to experts.
"A surprisingly interesting, thought-provoking, and practical read. Walk is about much more than counting your steps--it's about enriching your life. This book does for walking what Breath did for breathing." -- Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author
Did you know...
- Your risk of falls and overall longevity can be measured by your foot health
- Your walking speed can predict your overall health status and risk of early death
- Increasing your walking cadence has been shown to help reduce knee, hip, and lower back pain
- The number of daily optimal steps is not 10,000 (spoiler alert: it's fewer!)
What James Nestor did for breathing, Christopher McDougall and Mark Cucuzzella did for running, and Kelly and Juliet Starrett have done for mobility, founder of Gait Happens Dr. Courtney Conley and Dr. Milica McDowell do for walking.
Walking is as important to our health and longevity as sleep and proper breathing; it is the 6th vital sign. And yet we've almost engineered it out of our lives. Walk is an expert-driven, science-backed guide that not only underscores the power of movement to just about every aspect of our life, it restores walking to its rightful spot as one of the key pillars of health.
With the most up-to-date research, self-assessments, tips on choosing the best shoes for foot health, as well as easy movement snacks to help with low back pain and foot pain, and customizable programs to develop or enhance your own fitness, Walk is *the* definitive guide to optimizing wellness.
Body Electric: The Hidden Health Costs of the Digital Age and New Science to Reclaim Your Well-Being
by Manoush Zomorodi - Keith Diaz
From the award-winning journalist and NPR TED Radio Hour host comes a timely investigation into how screens and sitting are reshaping our bodies--and how a simple shift can change everything.
In today's world, a normal day means sitting in front of a screen for eight to ten hours. Meeting after meeting. Email after email. We leave our desks drained, overstimulated and unfocused, only to go home, sit down again, and scroll some more. The result? Headaches, back pain, restless sleep, and rising rates of preventable disease. We know technology is breaking us down--so why can't we break away? It's a question that Manoush Zomorodi has always wanted to answer.
As the host of the NPR's TED Radio Hour and Body Electric podcast, she has interviewed experts, conducted citizen experiments, and sought out research about how our digital lives are changing the way we think, learn, and feel. Now, in Body Electric, she presents an eye-opening investigation into the impact technology and sedentary living has had on our bodies and brains, from breath and eyesight to blood pressure, posture, and productivity, and shares what science (and tens of thousands of participants in a groundbreaking study with Columbia University Medical Center) have taught her--it's the small shifts, not the digital detoxes, that will make us healthier. And all we need is five minutes.
Filled with perspective-shifting data and real-life applications and tools, Body Electric is the next must-read for fans of Four Thousand Weeks and The Anxious Generation, and anyone else feeling trapped by their technology.
I Am Not a Robot: My Year Using AI to Do (Almost) Everything
by Joanna Stern
What happens when intelligent machines aren't just in our pockets but are also driving our cars, making our decisions, folding our laundry, and educating our kids?
You've heard the hype: AI will make us healthier, give every child a personalized tutor, run our businesses more efficiently, return hours of free time to our overworked brains, and make discoveries previously unimagined by humankind. The AI future is going to be unlike any other technological revolution. But what does that really mean? And will AI truly make life better?
To find out, award-winning journalist Joanna Stern surrendered her life to artificial intelligence for one year. The results are both hilarious and unsettling.
I Am Not a Robot is like a time machine trip to the very near future, where AI promises to be your doctor, chauffeur, teacher, masseuse, coworker, therapist, financial planner, chef, housekeeper, and even . . . romantic partner. Your colleague might be using ChatGPT to write emails at work, but Joanna used AI tools and robots to do household chores, to manage her health, and to transport her family on vacation. If there was a decision to make or a task to do, she let AI go first. Along the way, she conducted exclusive interviews with the tech leaders building this future, then reported back from the front lines as your funny, no-nonsense tour guide.
Of course, tech's sunny promises never tell the whole story, and that's what Joanna is here to share. Filled with illustrations and photographs, this book offers less hype, more clarity, and as little jargon as humanly (or robotically) possible. It's an AI guide for ordinary people--not the tech bros who tried to sell you a cruise to the metaverse or an NFT of a cartoon monkey.
This book is not the definitive story, because we're only a few years into the AI revolution. But after a year of living as a human lab rat, Joanna delivers one of the clearest--and funniest--pictures yet of what's really happening and what it means for you.
Killin' Time: My Life and Music
by Clint Black
The long-awaited memoir from country music legend, Clint Black--a raw, intimate, and unflinching story that traces his rise from struggling songwriter to chart-topping superstar and enduring music legend.
Over twenty million records sold. Twenty-two number one career singles. 31 top ten singles. Nearly two dozen gold and platinum awards. Countless CMA and ACM awards. A Grammy Award. A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. When it comes to modern music, few artists have had a bigger or more lasting impact than Clint Black. Since bursting onto the country music scene in 1989 with Killin' Time--the triple-platinum debut that delivered five consecutive number one singles--Black has built a genre-defining career spanning nearly four decades. Having written the soundtrack of a generation, Clint now puts pen to paper to write, for the first time, the story of the man behind the music.
In his long-awaited memoir, Black shares the unfiltered, extraordinary account of his journey from a kid with a dream on the outskirts of Houston to a country music legend. From his near-death experiences as a young boy, to his decision to drop out of high school to pursue music, to countless years struggling as an unknown young artist, playing at any nightclub or hotel bar that would have him, Black's path to success had more twists than the Texas two-step.
Once fame hit and the stakes got higher, Black didn't let the pressure of big crowds, big money, or big labels steer him off course. By writing from the heart and sticking to his guns, he built a legacy on his own terms. These values proved to be Black's north star navigating superstardom, including a difficult lawsuit against his ex-manager, Bill Ham; subsequently founding his own record label; recording with heroes such as Jimmy Buffett, Merle Haggard, and Eric Idle; his whirlwind romance and everlasting marriage with actress Lisa Hartman Black; and most recently, a critical issue with a cervical spine injury, which threatened the very thing that made him a star: his voice.
With vivid, deeply personal stories--all told with Black's signature charm--he recounts how his steadfast dedication to his beliefs and his passion for music led him to success after success, and through storm after storm. For longtime fans and newcomers alike, Killin' Time is a revelatory and rare glimpse of the iconic life and career of a once in a generation talent.
Killin' Time includes a 16-page color photo insert.
The Land and Its People: Essays
by David Sedaris
In this new collection, David Sedaris reflects on what it means to be a foreigner, a brother, a lifelong friend, in essays that are "among the best of his career" (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
"A welcome return to form for the much-awarded and much-loved humorist...Sedaris remains a national treasure." --Kirkus (starred review)
In The Land and Its People, Sedaris investigates what it means to be a traveler, a brother, a lifelong friend. Trying on the role of caretaker after his boyfriend Hugh's hip-replacement surgery, he both succeeds and fails. He covers ground with his friend Dawn and challenges her to eat a truck tire. A ambivalent Duolingo bot becomes his unlikely confidante as he attempts to describe his family in a foreign language. Ever adding to his list of "Countries I Have Been To," he rides a horse named Tequila in Guatemala, buys a bespoke priest's cassock in Vatican City, and goes on safari in Kenya without taking a single photo.
Time takes its toll: scrolling through his address book, he counts those he couldn't bear to outlive, and realizes how many are already gone. He is bitten by a dog and insulted by a wee train passenger. A woman on the street late at night either sexually harasses him or doesn't. It's easy to agree with the lady waving a sign that reads, "Enough Is Enough." And yet, life holds much to delight in: the massive testicles of a ram, a trip abroad with his sisters, a really excellent reptile video, a pair of well-made cotton underpants.
Throughout these essays--at once acerbic and tender, playful and profound--Sedaris shows how much there is to marvel at when you keep your head up and your eyes open, observing with warmth and curiosity our fascinating human species and the lands we inhabit.
True Crime: A Memoir
by Patricia Cornwell
#1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Cornwell finally tells the story that rivals all of the works that precede it: her own.
"Let's start, and end, with this: Patricia Cornwell's autobiography, TRUE CRIME, could be the best book she's ever written. And I've read them all!" --James Patterson
Patricia Cornwell is best known for her international bestselling thriller series about forensic pathologist Dr. Kay Scarpetta. Every story comes from somewhere, and Scarpetta's began when Patricia Cornwell embedded herself in a morgue.
In this achingly honest memoir, Cornwell excavates her own life, detailing her traumatic childhood being raised by neglectful parents, her father abandoning the young family on Christmas day, her mother being institutionalized twice, an abusive foster family, and developing a parental relationship with evangelist Billy Graham's wife Ruth. Cornwell depicts a harrowing hospitalization and near-death car accident. She unflinchingly shares overcoming obstacles that later gave her the ambition to become an award-winning police reporter. From there it was research in a medical examiner's office that would turn into a full-time job. She would become a forensic expert and worldwide publishing phenomenon.
Cornwell leaves no stone unturned in this deeply candid account of her life, offering inspiring insight into what made her into the international sensation she is today.
April Books:
Salt, Sweat & Steam: The Fiery Education of an Accidental Chef
by Brigid Washington
High pressure. Hot kitchens. A memoir of ambition, belonging, and coming-of-age in America's premiere culinary school.
"What truly makes Salt, Sweat & Steam exceptional is that it is told from the point of view of a young, female, Trinidadian student. It is a fascinating narrative that is a welcome addition to the list of coming-of-age tales."--Jessica B. Harris, Ph.D. Professor emeritus Queens College/CUNY, Lecturer, culinary historian, and author of High on the Hog
Rich with detail, Salt, Sweat & Steam takes readers inside America's top culinary school and shows what's really required to become a chef: from brutal unpaid internships and gruelling practical exams to late-night vending machine dorm-room dinners while trudging through the rarefied world of fine wine. As editor of the school's newspaper, "La Papillote" Washington, a Trinidadian, meets and interviews food-world luminaries such as Jerome Bocuse, Daniel Boulud and Thomas Keller and savors the joys of a life devoted to food. She puts us all in her kitchen clogs as she finally achieves the perfect mise-en-place both in and out of the dignified kitchen of The Culinary Institute of America.
Unwilling to accept a future that was anything but delicious, readers follow along Washington's high-octane journey through the rigors and rewards of the country's most elite cooking school.
Small Town Girls: A Writer's Memoir
by Jayne Anne Phillips
OPRAH'S #1 MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2026 - A luminous memoir in essays from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, who reflects on her origins and the mysteries of memory.
"Small Town Girls is a brilliant, wide-ranging book, nostalgic and tough-minded at the same time. Like Willa Cather and Stephen Crane, Jayne Anne Phillips writes prose that reads like plainspoken poetry, full of startling and vivid images that bring a vanished world back to life before our eyes." --Tom Perrotta, author of The Leftovers
"The painful thing about adolescence is that everything seems absolute, and the painful thing about adulthood is that nothing does."
Jayne Anne Phillips grew up in the small town of Buckhannon, West Virginia. The distinctly American landscape of Appalachia--dense with forests and small churches, rich in history and misunderstandings--has been the great setting for her fiction, even as she and her boundless imagination have traveled to other times and places. In these pieces, and in her singular first-person voice, at once intimate and wide-ranging, Phillips brings us into her childhood and family, most movingly her mother. She re-creates the place she calls home, its foundational truths and the densely woven ties between the women of the town. She traces her journeys across the country and her discovery of writing and reading as tools for both survival and revelation, offering insights into the fellow writers and touchstones that moved and influenced her. From the local beauty salon to the legendary Hatfield-McCoy feud, from Jean Shrimpton and Barbara Stanwyck to Stephen Crane and Breece D'J Pancake, Phillips ponders her relationship with inspiration, spirituality, culture, and the troubled annals of the last American centuries.
Tender, inviting, sparkling with wisdom and open-heartedness, Small Town Girls is part coming-of-age story, part social history, Jayne Anne Phillips's most personal, most accessible book yet--a love letter to the place and the people who have shaped her perceptions and her writing.
Dogs, Boys, and Other Things I've Cried about: A Memoir
by Isabel Klee
From the social media superstar behind @SimonSits, Isabel Klee--known for her heartwarming tales of dog rescue--comes an utterly winning memoir about a twentysomething woman's search for true love in New York City and the dogs who helped her find it.
A Jersey girl by birth, Isabel Klee had always wanted to live in New York City. At age 20, she got her chance, ditching her college upstate and moving into a grungy basement apartment in Manhattan. Dog-obsessed since childhood, her first post-grad job was becoming an assistant to a dog photographer, and something clicked into place: a career focused on helping dogs was the new dream.
Isabel quickly found a passion for rehabilitating rescue dogs and helping them get adopted. At the same time, she was caught up in a whirlwind of friendships, parties, fickle boyfriends and grand romances, which she recounts in honest, tender, and sometimes devastating chapters about the search for love and belonging.
Isabel's first true love, though, was Simon, a fluffy puppy who'd been saved from the meat trade. As the highs and lows of her twenties hit Isabel in wave after wave, it was Simon who kept her grounded. Together, Isabel and Simon created a community of dog-lovers and a tight-knit group of friends pursuing their dreams.
In this honest and moving memoir, Isabel weaves together the stories of her foster dogs--and the challenges she helped them overcome--with tales of complicated relationships, hard decisions, and great loves in New York City, all leading to a happy ending not only for the rescue pups, but for Isabel herself.
I Choose Me: Chasing Joy, Finding Purpose & Embracing Reinvention (Original)
by Jennie Garth
"An inspiring roadmap to navigating life's challenges with grace, grit, and a refusal to settle for anything less than your worth." -Chelsea Handler, comedian and #1 bestselling author
Beloved actress, designer, and entrepreneur Jennie Garth opens up in this fiercely honest book about pursuing happiness, aging with confidence, and learning to love and prioritize yourself.
Jennie Garth is best known for playing the iconic role of Kelly Taylor in the hit television series "Beverly Hills, 90210." Now in her 50s, she invites readers into the real story of growing up on screen, facing Hollywood's impossible beauty standards, and losing--and finding--herself through heartbreak, loss, and the challenge of motherhood. She shares the raw truths of the moments that broke her open and shows the resilience it takes to walk through grief and begin again.
Jennie writes with warmth and candor about learning to quiet the voice that says "not enough," rediscovering her strength after loss, and daring to take up space, speak her truth, and want more. She opens up about the unglamorous, deeply human moments and finally letting go of the need for perfection and other people's approval.
Through personal stories, practical advice, and the wisdom earned through her own hard lessons, Jennie lights a path back to self-love and clarity. I Choose Me is for anyone who's ever felt lost in their roles, struggling to give themselves permission to ask, "What do I want now?" It's an invitation to honor your own journey, embrace self-care, and believe with compassion that choosing yourself is the bravest, kindest thing you can do.
Boomtown: The True Story of the Wickedest Town in Texas
by Joe Pappalardo
The true story of the corrupt and violent town of Borger, Texas in 1927―and the legendary Texas Ranger tasked with taming it.
Just a year after the town of Borger, Texas was founded, the press already called it "the wickedest in the state." The town, sprung into existence overnight to support new oilfields, was a lawless haven for bootleggers, pimps and gamblers, run by a crooked city hall and corrupt police. The town also became a haven for those seeking second chances, including dance hall operators, storeowners, wrestlers, lawyers and freelance oil well firefighters.
But the raucous environment attracted some of the most unsavory characters in prohibition America, including a gang of murderous bank robbers who head into Borger to spend their money on booze, gambling and prostitutes. In the span of weeks, the robbers killed three law enforcement officers, bringing the worst heat imaginable: iconic Texas Ranger Captain Frank Hamer, just a few years before his takedown of Bonnie and Clyde. His arrival threatens to break the hardest boomtown in America―if it doesn't kill him first.
Thinky Thoughts: All Grown Up and Still Just as Confused
by Gwenna Laithland
Instant New York Times bestselling author Gwenna Laithland, aka Momma Cusses, is back with a collection of Thinky Thoughts (essays, memories, poems and more!) perfect for readers of Jenny Lawson, Samantha Irby and KC Davis.
Before I was a mom who cusses, I was a millennial. Before I was that, I was just a kid with a brain that moved too fast. I've spent more time than I'm proud of getting lost in my Thinky Thoughts. They go a little something like this:
How has my childhood shaped my motherhood? I might have lost my phone again. Is it that big a deal if the kids call me cringe? I haven't left the house today. Is it a problem that I don't leave the house for days? Why does my daughter hate rollercoasters but love adzuki beans? Cranberry bog spiders. What if they rearrange the grocery store again?
Thinky Thoughts walks the line between memoir, storytelling, guided meditation, and self-help. It's a little bit of explanation, a lot a bit of exploration, and a tiny bit of still not knowing what's I'm supposed to be doing as an adult. It's also being okay with not knowing. Thinky Thoughts won't answer life's great questions. But it will make you feel a little better knowing you're not alone in asking them.
march picks:
Judy Blume: A Life
by Mark Oppenheimer
The highly anticipated biography of one of the world's most treasured literary voices, showcasing a life as triumphant and inspiring as the stories she crafted.
To know the name Judy Blume is to know and love literature. Her influential novels turned classics--including Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret; Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing; Deenie; and Summer Sisters--touched the lives of tens of millions of readers. For more than fifty-five years her work has done something revolutionary: it rewired the world's expectations of what literature for young people can be--frank, candid, earthy, and unafraid to show the messier sides of humanity. But little is known about the real woman behind the iconic persona, and the unlikely journey of her literary ascension, until now.
In Judy Blume, journalist, historian, and longtime Blume aficionado Mark Oppenheimer pens a beautiful, multidimensional portrait of the acclaimed author through extensive interviews with Blume herself, invaluable access to her papers and correspondence, and thoughtful analysis of Blume's beloved novels, including early, unpublished works that shed light on the pathbreaking writer she would become. Oppenheimer goes deep, exploring Blume's middle-class 1950s upbringing, complicated childhood, varied relationships and marriages, unabashed sexual experiences, bouts of heartache and loss, and enduring legacy as a champion of free speech and contemporary literature. Oppenheimer peels back the curtain to reveal the woman behind the literary empire in all her complex, multifaceted glory--a true gift for anyone who grew up reading and loving these extraordinary books.
North of Ordinary: How One Woman Left It All Behind for Wilderness and Wonder in Alaska's Frozen Frontier
by Sue Aikens - Michael Vlessides
When the wild strips everything away, what's left is who you are.
In the raw, untamed wilds of Alaska--where the wind howls, predators hunt, and the sun disappears for months--only a rare few figure out how to survive. Sue Aikens, the breakout star of National Geographic's long-running TV show Life Below Zero, is one of them. At her remote outpost 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle, she weathers more than just brutal winters and hungry bears. Sue battles isolation, injury, and the ghosts of a turbulent past, forging a life in a place most people wouldn't last a day.
Left to fend for herself as a child, Sue's fight to survive began long before she ever set foot in Alaska. In North of Ordinary, she tells the unforgettable story of abandonment, grit, and fierce independence--from navigating deadly storms and surviving a horrific bear attack to learning how to build a life, a home, and a sense of self where most would see only desolation. With her trademark wit, fearless honesty, and an indomitable spirit, Sue proves that the toughest terrain isn't always on the map. It's the one we conquer inside.
Unflinching and inspiring, North of Ordinary is a memoir of resilience, reinvention, and the extraordinary power of choosing your own way through the world.
Emergence: A Memoir of Boyhood, Computation, and the Mysteries of Mind
by David Sussillo
For fans of Educated and Invisible Child, David Sussillo combines memoir and cutting-edge neuroscience to tell the story of his unlikely journey from group homes and drug-addicted parents to the scientific elite--exploring why, and how, he managed to succeed against all odds.
David Sussillo has made a career at the cutting edge of neuroscience and technology--yet his path there was anything but a straight line. Born to drug-addicted parents in New Mexico, he navigated a childhood marked by violence and neglect. But a seed was planted at the unlikeliest of places--the local arcade.
What follows is a remarkable journey of resilience and transformation, from the chaotic corridors of group homes to the halls of Columbia and Stanford. Along the way, Sussillo takes readers on an illuminating tour of the century-long dance between neuroscience, physics, and computation that has laid the groundwork for neural networks--the technology that drives modern artificial intelligence. As he advances in the field, working to demystify these networks, he also begins to pursue an answer to a more personal question: why, and how, did he succeed against all odds?
Emergence radiates heartbreak, humor, and scientific wonder, inviting readers on an unforgettable journey that bridges the personal and the profound, revealing how intricate complexities arise from simple beginnings.
The Voice in My Head Is God
by 2 Chainz 2 Chainz - Derrick Harriell
In his most personal work yet, Grammy Award-winning rapper 2 Chainz shares the spiritual journey behind his success, offering a raw, reflective, and deeply motivational meditation on the inner voice that's guided him his whole life: God.
Before he was 2 Chainz, he was Tauheed Epps--an only child growing up in College Park, Georgia, raised by a single mother while his father served time in prison. Though he excelled in school and earned a basketball scholarship, the streets were never far behind, and by fifteen, he had been arrested and was hustling to survive. He faced doubt and self-destruction, but even then, something told him there had to be more.
In THE VOICE IN MY HEAD IS GOD, 2 Chainz tells the story of how he walked away from the trap and found his purpose: not by fame or fear, but by faith. With his unmistakable voice and unflinching honesty, he reflects on the hardest moments of his life and the quiet revelations that shaped him. From the spiritual alarms he couldn't ignore to the mentors who showed up at the right time, he explores how his music and verses poured out when he finally listened to the voice that had been there all along.
From hanging with Lil Wayne to getting early help from Ludacris, 2 Chainz brings us into the defining moments of his life and career while delivering a powerful message about discipline, divine timing, and self-belief. Along the way, he offers more than a memoir. He shares a way of thinking, of trusting yourself, and of listening to the voice that never steers you wrong.
Lyrical, grounded, and fiercely motivational THE VOICE IN MY HEAD IS GOD is part blueprint and all heart.
Who Needs Friends: An Unscientific Examination of Male Friendship Across America
by Andrew McCarthy
A moving and provocative exploration of male friendship and loneliness, from New York Times bestselling author, filmmaker, and actor Andrew McCarthy as he crisscrosses the country to reconnect with his friends.
"You don't really have any friends, do you, Dad?"
A seemingly innocuous, if direct, question from Andrew McCarthy's son left him reeling. McCarthy did have friends, but like so many other men, the necessities of modern adult life had forced his friendships to the background. At one point his friends had been instrumental in broadening his horizons, bolstering his courage, providing safe harbor. Now, McCarthy found himself questioning what had happened to those friendships, whether he needed them, what he valued, and what he had to offer. A simple question had become a moment that demanded a reckoning.
Who Needs Friends charts McCarthy's journey over nearly ten thousand miles behind the wheel, following him on often-unexpected travels through Appalachia, the Mississippi Delta, the Chihuahuan Desert, the Rocky Mountains with one driving purpose: to reconnect. Along the way he talks to countless men about their male friendships, from cowboys and blues musicians to preachers and rootless teens. What began as a simple desire to catch up with a few friends turned into a deep exploration of the challenges and rewards that men experience in forming bonds with each other.
In McCarthy's own words, "It turns out that guys have a difficult time with friendship." But that's not the way it needs to be.
Delusions: Of Grandeur, of Romance, of Progress
by Cazzie David
In this sharp and darkly funny new essay collection from the New York Times bestselling author, Cazzie David explores the irony and existential crises of leaving youth behind.
With her thirtieth birthday fast approaching, Cazzie reflects on the delusions that laid waste to her twenties and reckons with their consequences now that the specter of a new decade is looming. Touching on everything from the pressure to find the "right" partner, dealing with the relentless grip of social media, and navigating body dysmorphic spirals, Delusions cuts through the noise, offering personal anecdotes, sharp cultural criticism, and witty, honest contemplations on the chaos of contemporary adulthood. Cazzie brings her trademark voice--blunt, self-aware, and blisteringly funny--to essays that are as vulnerable as they are biting.
An attempt to mature in the span of one year
Related: Still wondering what to read next? Check out more nonfiction book recommendations in our curated lists of new releases for Self-Starters and The Hobbyist.