On My Radar:

Rewrite Man: The Life and Career of Screenwriter Warren Skaaren
by Alison Macor
University of Texas Press
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

In Rewrite Man, Alison Macor tells an engrossing story about the challenges faced by a top screenwriter at the crossroads of mixed and conflicting agendas in Hollywood. Whether writing love scenes for Tom Cruise on the set of Top Gun, running lines with Michael Keaton on Beetlejuice, or crafting Nietzschean dialogue for Jack Nicholson on Batman, Warren Skaaren collaborated with many of New Hollywood’s most powerful stars, producers, and directors. By the time of his premature death in 1990, Skaaren was one of Hollywood’s highest-paid writers, although he rarely left Austin, where he lived and worked. Yet he had to battle for shared screenwriting credit on these films, and his struggles yield a new understanding of the secretive screen credit arbitration process—a process that has only become more intense, more litigious, and more public for screenwriters and their union, the Writers Guild of America, since Skaaren’s time. His story, told through a wealth of archival material, illuminates crucial issues of film authorship that have seldom been explored.

On My Radar:

Al Franken: Giant of the Senate
by Al Franken
Twelve Books
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

This is a book about an unlikely campaign that had an even more improbable ending: the closest outcome in history and an unprecedented eight-month recount saga, which is pretty funny in retrospect.

It's a book about what happens when the nation's foremost progressive satirist gets a chance to serve in the United States Senate and, defying the low expectations of the pundit class, actually turns out to be good at it.

It's a book about our deeply polarized, frequently depressing, occasionally inspiring political culture, written from inside the belly of the beast.

In this candid personal memoir, the honorable gentleman from Minnesota takes his army of loyal fans along with him from Saturday Night Live to the campaign trail, inside the halls of Congress, and behind the scenes of some of the most dramatic and/or hilarious moments of his new career in politics.

Has Al Franken become a true Giant of the Senate? Franken asks readers to decide for themselves.

In My TBR Stack:

You Exhaust Me: A Clueless Guy's Guide to Marriage
by Bob Marsocci
RAM Publishing
Trade Paperback

From the publisher's website:

About 2 million guys get married every year in the United States alone, and many (perhaps most) have no clue about the world they will enter once they say, “I do.”

Does a guy know the 10 Fatal Words his wife will spring on him days before her birthday? Does a guy know why he should never throw away his wife’s “bag of bags”? Does he know why he should avoid watching romance movies with his wife once he’s been married for a couple of years? No, no, and most definitely no! Millions of men are clueless about what to expect from marriage and need practical advice from a guy who has been there and seen it all.

Candid and humorous, You Exhaust Me, A Clueless Guy’s Guide to Marriage, speaks directly to clueless men everywhere. With more than 20 years’ experience (and counting) as a husband, Bob Marsocci provides valuable insight on what guys should really expect after the wedding rings go on. Whether you are engaged, a newlywed or have been married for several years, Bob’s personal and often hilarious marital anecdotes and lessons (often learned the hard way) will enlighten any guy. If that’s you, take it from a formerly clueless guy: If you want to avoid hearing “You exhaust me!” from your wife, read this book. It’s got the secret sauce to keeping her (and you) happy.

In My TBR Stack:

Gumbo Love: Recipes for Gulf Coast Cooking, Entertaining, and Savoring the Good Life
by Lucy Buffett
Grand Central Life & Style

Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

Incorporating Caribbean, Cajun, Cuban, Mexican, Old Florida, and Creole influences, Lucy proves through her collection of recipes that the Gulf Coast has its own distinct flavors and traditions that make it a destination year after year. Surviving hurricanes, the Gulf Coast--beyond just New Orleans--has a vibrant food and culture that's gone largely unnoticed. Lucy wants to change that by sharing her food and stories with GUMBO LOVE readers.

Like her brother, Jimmy, Lucy celebrates freedom, relaxation, and seaside decadence in her own art--cooking, and has now written the cookbook her fans have been asking her for; one that offers the recipes she's famous for, along with Gulf Coast classics and stories of growing up in Mobile, Alabama, working in New Orleans, and her philosophy of relaxation, gratitude, and enjoyment. 

Lucy combines over one hundred new recipes with old favorites. Her fans will find recipes for their social occasions including gumbos, main dishes, deep fried favorites (with her easy frying tutorial), salads, seasonings, libations, and desserts. They will also learn how Lucy navigates the kitchen, her business, and her family and readers will come away with the basic ingredients of an inspiring life philosophy.

In My TBR Stack:

What Manner of Man is this? The Duke of Windsor's Years in the Bahamas

by Sir Orville Turnquest
Grant's Town Press
Trade Paperback

From the publisher's website:

     What Manner of Man Is This? is a unique and incisive look at an important yet largely ignored period of the life of the Prince of Wales who was heir to the throne and became King of England, Edward VIII, in 1936.  A mere ten months later he abdicated his throne to marry a twice-divorced American, Mrs. Wallis Simpson in what was at once the scandal of the century and the love story of the age.
         Many books have been written about the royal couple, The Duke and Duchess of Windsor, but this focuses exclusively on The Duke’s tenure as Royal Governor of The Bahamas in a tumultuous era during which major events and programs occurred:  The Project, The Contract, The Bay Street Fire, The Burma Road Riots and the murder of Sir Harry Oakes, the richest man in the British Empire at that time, all set against the backdrop of World War II raging in Europe.
          This book also stands apart from others because its author, Sir Orville Turnquest, speaks with the authority and credibility of  someone who has occupied the very same office as the Duke of Windsor, someone who has lived and worked in the same official residence, Government  House, where  just like the Duke,  he received visiting dignitaries from around the world who bowed and curtsied while he was seated in the official chair that resembles a throne.  Sir Orville did not come from a royal or aristocratic family but rather, in sharp contrast to his predecessor, he came from “Over the Hill,” an area of Nassau inhabited by the underprivileged black community and thus provides a perspective that could not be more different from those of a former king of England.          

         What Manner of Man Is This? is an insider’s look at a vital part of Bahamian history with the island nation’s emergence from slavery and the African diaspora to a prominent role in world history.

In My TBR Stack:

A Speck in the Sea: A Story of Survival and Rescue
by John Aldridge and Anthony Sosinski
Weinstein Books

Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

In the dead of night on July 24, 2013, John Aldridge was thrown off the back of the Anna Mary while his fishing partner, Anthony Sosinski, slept below. As desperate hours ticked by, Sosinski, the families, the local fishing community, and the U.S. Coast Guard in three states mobilized in an unprecedented search effort that culminated in a rare and exhilarating success.

A tale of survival, perseverance, and community, A Speck in the Sea tells of one man's struggle to survive as friends and strangers work separately, and together, to bring him home. Aldridge's wrenching first-person account intertwines with the narrative of the massive, constantly evolving rescue operation designed to save him.

In My TBR Stack:

The Marriage Bureau: The True Story of How Two Matchmakers Arranged Love in Wartime London
by Penrose Halson
William Morrow
Trade Paperback

From the publisher's website:

A riveting glimpse of life and love during and after World War II—a heart-warming, touching, and thoroughly absorbing true story of a world gone by.

In the spring of 1939, with the Second World War looming, two determined twenty-four-year-olds, Heather Jenner and Mary Oliver, decided to open a marriage bureau. They found a tiny office on London’s Bond Street and set about the delicate business of matchmaking. Drawing on the bureau’s extensive archives, Penrose Halson—who many years later found herself the proprietor of the bureau—tells their story, and those of their clients.

In My TBR Stack:

Plan, Commit, Win: 90 Days to Creating a Fundable Startup
by Patrick Henry
Quest Fusion
Trade Paperback

From the publisher's website:

In this eye-opening book, serial entrepreneur and former tech CEO, Patrick Henry explains how to build a fundable company. He reveals the truth about what investors are looking for and presents a three-part plan to smash through the typical business roadblocks, allowing you to move far beyond the bootstrapping stage. If you are serious about building a billion-dollar company, then PLAN COMMIT WIN is the book that will help get you there.

On My Radar:

Otis Redding: An Unfinished Life
by Jonathan Gould
Crown Archetype
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

Otis Redding remains an immortal presence in the canon of American music on the strength of such classic hits as “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay,” “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long,” “Try a Little Tenderness,” and “Respect,” a song he wrote and recorded before Aretha Franklin made it her own. As the architect of the distinctly southern, gospel-inflected style of rhythm & blues associated with Stax Records in Memphis, Redding made music that has long served as the gold standard of 1960s soul. Yet an aura of myth and mystery has always surrounded his life, which was tragically cut short at the height of his career by a plane crash in December 1967.
 
In Otis Redding: An Unfinished Life, Jonathan Gould finally does justice to Redding’s incomparable musical artistry, drawing on exhaustive research, the cooperation of the Redding family, and previously unavailable sources of information to present the first comprehensive portrait of the singer’s background, his upbringing, and his professional career.

In chronicling the story of Redding’s life and music, Gould also presents a social history of the time and place from which they emerged.  His book never lets us forget that the boundaries between black and white in popular music were becoming porous during the years when racial tensions were reaching a height throughout the United States. His indelible portrait of Redding and the mass acceptance of soul music in the 1960s is both a revealing look at a brilliant artist and a provocative exploration of the tangled history of race  and music in America that resonates strongly with the present day.

In My TBR Stack:

Are You Anybody? A Memoir
by Jeffrey Tambor
Crown Archetype
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

You know him from his breakout role as Hank Kingsley on The Larry Sanders Show, his outrageous turn as George and Oscar Bluth on Arrested Development, and his Emmy Award-winning performance as Maura Pfefferman on Transparent.  A Broadway star, a television legend, an accomplished screen actor whose singular wit and heartrending performances have been entertaining audiences for more than four decades, but the question remains: Who the hell is Jeffrey Tambor?

In his illuminating, often hilarious, and always honest memoir, Tambor looks back at the key moments in his life that taught him about creativity and play and pain and fear. The son of what you might call “eccentric” Russian and Hungarian Jewish parents, Tambor grew up in San Francisco a husy kid with a lisp, who suffered in his “otherness” and found salvation in the theater.

While he learned his art from the best of the best—Al Pacino, George C. Scott, Garry Shandling, Mitch Hurwitz, Jill Soloway—he also introduces his many unexpected teachers, from the nameless man in a Detroit bookstore who gave him the love of reading, to his young children who (at this ridiculously late stage in his life) have reintroduced him to play, bravery, and the simple joy of not giving a shit.

Tambor shares the triumph of landing his first Broadway role, but not before experiencing the humbling that is commercial work (and how even saying “my socks don’t cling” can prove a challenge). He invites you behind the scenes of his wildly successful television shows, but he doesn’t leave out the pit stops he made at addiction, Scientology, and what it feels like to get fourth billing after Sylvia the Seal on The Love Boat.

At last, Tambor answers the question, "Are You Anybody? with a promise that success doesn't mean perfection and failure most definitely is an option.

In My TBR Stack:

The Mighty Franks: A Memoir
by Michael Frank
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

“My feeling for Mike is something out of the ordi - nary,” Michael Frank overhears his aunt telling his mother when he is a boy of eight. “It’s stronger than I am. I cannot explain it . . . I love him beyond life itself.” With this indelible bit of eavesdropping, we fall into the spellbinding world of The Mighty Franks. 

The family is uncommonly close: Michael’s childless Auntie Hankie and Uncle Irving, glamorous Hollywood screenwriters, are doubly related— Hankie is his father’s sister, and Irving is his mother’s brother. The two families live near each other in Laurel Canyon. In this strangely intertwined world, even the author’s grandmothers—who dislike each other—share a nearby apartment. 

Strangest of all is the way Auntie Hankie, with her extravagant personality, comes to bend the wider family to her will. Talented, mercurial, and lavish with her love, she divides Michael from his parents and his two younger brothers as she takes charge of his education, guiding him to the right books to read (Proust, not Zola), the right painters to admire (Matisse, not Pollock), the right architectural styles to embrace (period, not modern—or mo-derne, as she pronounces the word, with palpable disdain). She trains his mind and his eye—until that eye begins to see on its own. When this “son” Hankie longs for grows up and begins to turn away from her, her moods darken, and a series of shattering scenes compel Michael to reconstruct both himself and his family narrative as he tries to reconcile the woman he once adored with the troubled figure he discovers her to be. 

In its portrayal of this fascinating, singularly polarizing figure, the boy in her thrall, and the man that boy becomes, The Mighty Franks will speak to any reader who has ever struggled to find an inde - pendent voice amid the turbulence of family life.

In My TBR Stack:

The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir
by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich
Flatiron Books
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

Before Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich begins a summer job at a law firm in Louisiana, working to help defend men accused of murder, she thinks her position is clear. The child of two lawyers, she is staunchly anti-death penalty. But the moment convicted murderer Ricky Langley’s face flashes on the screen as she reviews old tapes—the moment she hears him speak of his crimes -- she is overcome with the feeling of wanting him to die. Shocked by her reaction, she digs deeper and deeper into the case. Despite their vastly different circumstances, something in his story is unsettlingly, uncannily familiar.

Crime, even the darkest and most unsayable acts, can happen to any one of us. As Alexandria pores over the facts of the murder, she finds herself thrust into the complicated narrative of Ricky’s childhood. And by examining the details of Ricky’s case, she is forced to face her own story, to unearth long-buried family secrets, and reckon with a past that colors her view of Ricky's crime.

But another surprise awaits: She wasn’t the only one who saw her life in Ricky’s.

An intellectual and emotional thriller that is also a different kind of murder mystery, THE FACT OF A BODY is a book not only about how the story of one crime was constructed -- but about how we grapple with our own personal histories. Along the way it tackles questions about the nature of forgiveness, and if a single narrative can ever really contain something as definitive as the truth. This groundbreaking, heart-stopping work, ten years in the making, shows how the law is more personal than we would like to believe -- and the truth more complicated, and powerful, than we could ever imagine.

In My TBR Stack:

Beyond Bedlam's Door: True Tales from the Couch and Courtroom
by Mark Rubinstein
Thunder Lake Press
Trade Paperback

From the publisher's website:

What drove a psychiatrist to enlist a patient in a plot to murder six people?

What was the secret bargain struck that allowed a 104-year-old woman to live such a long and productive life?

Why would a woman refuse to emerge from the confines of her bedroom? And after treatment liberated her, why did she suddenly take a turn for the worse?

In Beyond Bedlam’s Door, former practicing psychiatrist Mark Rubinstein takes you outside the hospital and into his world of private patients, nursing home residents, and the challenging legal system in which he worked as a forensic expert. As in Bedlam’s Door, great lengths were taken to preserve people’s anonymity, but the raw truth of each story remains intact. The resiliency of some individuals and the venality of others are laid bare in these pages.

Beyond Bedlam’s Door invites you to meet twenty-one unforgettable people. Some stories will disturb you, others will make you smile, but all will give you a deeper appreciation of what it means to be human.

In My TBR Stack:

Branded: Tell Your Story, Build Relationships, and Empower Learning
by Eric Sheninger and Trish Rubin
Jossey-Bass
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

BrandED shows school leaders how to move beyond mascots and clever taglines to showcase their school's assets—and enhance communication with students, parents and all stakeholders. Through smart conversations about the genuine power of branding in education, this book shows how a "BrandED" mindset can improve schools by strengthening relationships, improving communication, telling your story, and increasing resources. Ideas borrowed from the world of business are adjusted for the unique needs of education. Practical tools, templates, and resources allow you to implement the strategies presented quickly and easily, while stories of real-world schools illustrate what BrandED thinking can do for your students, teachers, and community.

Today's school leaders cannot remain in the ivory tower. This book will help you drive positive transformation as you craft and share the powerful story of your unique school brand.

• Leverage digital tools to become the storyteller-in-chief and build better community relationships
• Strengthen internal and external communications among students, teachers, parents, and other stakeholders
• Increase resources by establishing strategic partnerships and strengthening ties to key stakeholders
• Promote connectivity, transparency, and community to build a positive culture that extends beyond the schoolhouse door

Authors Eric Sheninger and Trish Rubin, experts on school branding and change leadership, show you how BrandED thinking captures the focused spirit of the outstanding work taking place in schools every day; work that can be easily recognized, talked about, and valued. Get the word out, and invite the community in to build the positive relationships that benefit everyone.

BookSpin Excerpt:

Excerpt from:

Never Going Home: A Novel
by Brian Barton
T-F-C
Trade Paperback



  "You'd definitely know their name, but they wouldn't have had the same success. U2's career was made that one day in London, and it's all because Bono saved the girl," Matt says.

  "What do you mean, 'Bono saved the girl?'

  "You know, he saved her," Matt says.

  "Saved her how? Physically? Spiritually?" I ask. The JFK ground crew is wrapping up and the tug driver has attached the claw to the nose wheel. "You know what? Forget it."

  "Why are your panties in a bunch, sir?"

  "You know why."

  "No, I don't, sir. Why?"

  "No more monologues. Not now, Matt. Please," I say.

  "Sir, seventy thousand people showed up on that one day in London -- that's enough people to fill 140 triple-sevens. Live Aid was the most ambitious musical event in history and it was broadcast to over two billion people around the globe."

  "Matt, contact the ramp for pushback."

  "Let me paint the picture. It's a warm July afternoon and the crowd has been baking in the sun all day. And, sir, these people want to rock."

  "Ramp control," I say.

  "Right away, sir. So this four-piece combo takes the stage a little before 5:00 P.M. The front man is this scrawny little thing in a Bolero jacket, and a mullet lies taxidermied on his head. Frankly, sir, Bono looks like a bellboy from Hotel Nowhere. But you have to understand the moment, sir.  It's Wembley Stadium, the Carnegie Hall of rock and roll."

  "We're not doing this. Not today. They closed the cargo door and we're ready to push. Parking brake released at 17:22 to mark departure. Call the ramp for clearance," I say.

  "Right away, sir. So Bono steps up to the mic and says, 'We're an Irish band. We come from Dublin City, Ireland. Like all cities, it has its good. It has its bad. This is a song called 'Bad.'"

  I scowl, so Matt clicks his mic and sighs, then runs a hand through his hair and switches to COMM 1.

  "Ground control, RASH three-five-eight, ready to push gate one-five," Matt says. The radio squawks  with static and ground control is in our ears.

  "RASH three-five-eight, clear to push gate one-five."

  "Clear gate one-five. RASH three-five-eight," Matt says, and looks at me. "Happy?"

  "Overjoyed."

  "U2 launch into 'Bad' and it's like this invisible force surges into the band from the crowd. The audience is showing their love for the lads and the band is buoyed by the spirit. Sir, the hearts of the audience are now beating outside their bodies and it's a palpable feeling that wasn't there even a moment before. Musical history is about to be written, but nobody knows it. Not the crowd and definitely not the band."

  "But this was one of U2's early shows," I say.

  "Nothing will ever be the same in rock and roll after this night -- and it's all because Bono saved the girl."

  Matt navigates through a stack on his screen as his hair bristles in the air vent overhead. Sunlight streams through the cockpit windows, illuminating him in silhouette like a rock star on stage.

  "Reach out to the tug on the comms to coordinate the push," I say.

  "The Edge's Stratocaster has only one sound, sir: truth. His soundscape echoes through the stadium like a melodic call to arms. Meanwhile, Larry and Adam are tight in the backbeat driving the locomotion with Adam on stage left. Each cymbal crash is like an exclamation point on the melody while the bass lines stir the soul."

  "We want an on-time departure, Matt." I shoot him another look.

  "This will only take another minute, sir. You've never seen an audience so electrified." He returns to his cockpit screen but seems lost in thought. "And that's when Bono saves the girl."

  "Stop saying that! What do you mean, 'Bono saves the girl?'" I say.

  "Everything starts off OK. Bono's belting out the lyrics as a few Irish flags and banners stir the sky down in front. But halfway through the song, he drops the mic and bolts from the stage like a prison escapee. He jumps down to the press platform below -- the crowd erupts. He's waving his arms in the air like a man on a sinking ship. Maybe he's waving to some girls to come and join him, right? Meanwhile, these security dudes in yellow windbreakers are trying to defend the stage from the crush of the crowd."

  "Frankly, sir, stadium security is clueless and they don't know what the fuck Bono's doing. Their job is to make sure seventy thousand screaming fans don't overrun the stage, but then they figure it out. He wants them to pull a girl standing a few hundred feet away out of the crowd. Security does their best to reach her, but it's like that arcade game with the claw and the plastic cube full of toys. You use the claw like a pair of forceps to extract the best toy, but you never get what you want."

  "Anyway, security can't reach the girl and Bono isn't having it. Meanwhile, the band plays on in hopes their lead singer will return. That's when he moves to the edge of the stage and dangles off the side. He drops down to crowd level and the stadium erupts. I'm talking bananas, sir. Dozens of press and security rush him. Now he's deep in the melee. What the fuck, right? Meanwhile, his antics are being shown live to everyone at the stadium on a giant video screen, as well as being broadcast to billions of people around the globe," Matt says.

  "Shit."

  "Right? So security finally gets to the girl and they hoist her over the barricade. Her legs and arms are in the air, she lands on the performers' side of the barrier, and rushes into Bono's arms. The two of them slow dance to 'Bad' and the crowd loses its shit. I'm talking double bananas," Matt says.

  "But--"

 

- - - - - - - - - -

About NEVER GOING HOME:

  CLAY SONNERLING KNOWS WHAT HE WANTS

  He's a commercial airline pilot at a busy international carrier who enjoys the pilot's lifestyle -- including the sexual interludes that go along with the career.
  Sonnerling's life is on an upswing until an incident lands him in career crisis and he wanders into the crosshairs of a group who want him out of the picture. But Sonnerling can't stop thinking about his career - and sex - until a series of events turn him from a pleasure seeker into a man of dramatic action. NEVER GOING HOME is about one man's search for truth.


BRIAN BARTON is the author of Brooklyn Girls Don't Cuddle and Words with Steve Jobs. His work has been featured in USA Today, The London Times, and Esquire. Barton is originally from Los Angeles but now calls New York City home.

On My Radar:

Spies in the Family: An American Spymaster, His Russian Crown Jewel, and the Friendship That Helped End the Cold War
by Eva Dillon
Harper Books
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

A riveting true-life thriller and revealing memoir from the daughter of an American intelligence officer—the astonishing true story of two spies and their families on opposite sides of the Cold War.

In the summer of 1975, seventeen-year-old Eva Dillon's family was living in New Delhi when her father was exposed as a CIA spy. Eva had long believed that her father was a U.S. State Department employee. She had no idea that he was handling the CIA’s highest-ranking double agent—Dmitri Fedorovich Polyakov—a Soviet general whose code name was TOPHAT. Dillon’s father and Polyakov had a close friendship that went back years, to their first meeting in Burma in the mid-1960s. At the height of the Cold War, the Russian offered the CIA an unfiltered view into the vault of Soviet intelligence. His collaboration helped ensure that tensions between the two nuclear superpowers did not escalate into a shooting war. 

Spanning fifty years and three continents, Spies in the Family is a deeply researched account of two families on opposite sides of the lethal espionage campaigns of the Cold War, and two men whose devoted friendship lasted a lifetime, until the devastating final days of their lives. With impeccable insider access to both families as well as knowledgeable CIA and FBI officers, Dillon goes beyond the fog of secrecy to craft an unforgettable story of friendship and betrayal, double agents and clandestine lives, that challenges our notions of patriotism, exposing the commonality between peoples of opposing political economic systems. 

Both a gripping tale of spy craft and a moving personal story, Spies in the Family is an invaluable and heart-rending work.

On My Radar:

Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are
by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
Dey Street Books
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

Blending the informed analysis of The Signal and the Noise with the instructive iconoclasm of Think Like a Freak, a fascinating, illuminating, and witty look at what the vast amounts of information now instantly available to us reveals about ourselves and our world—provided we ask the right questions.

By the end of an average day in the early twenty-first century, human beings searching the internet will amass eight trillion gigabytes of data. This staggering amount of information—unprecedented in history—can tell us a great deal about who we are—the fears, desires, and behaviors that drive us, and the conscious and unconscious decisions we make. From the profound to the mundane, we can gain astonishing knowledge about the human psyche that less than twenty years ago, seemed unfathomable. 

Everybody Lies offers fascinating, surprising, and sometimes laugh-out-loud insights into everything from economics to ethics to sports to race to sex, gender and more, all drawn from the world of big data. What percentage of white voters didn’t vote for Barack Obama because he’s black? Does where you go to school effect how successful you are in life? Do parents secretly favor boy children over girls? Do violent films affect the crime rate? Can you beat the stock market? How regularly do we lie about our sex lives and who’s more self-conscious about sex, men or women? 

Investigating these questions and a host of others, Seth Stephens-Davidowitz offers revelations that can help us understand ourselves and our lives better. Drawing on studies and experiments on how we really live and think, he demonstrates in fascinating and often funny ways the extent to which all the world is indeed a lab. With conclusions ranging from strange-but-true to thought-provoking to disturbing, he explores the power of this digital truth serum and its deeper potential—revealing biases deeply embedded within us, information we can use to change our culture, and the questions we’re afraid to ask that might be essential to our health—both emotional and physical. All of us are touched by big data everyday, and its influence is multiplying. Everybody Lies challenges us to think differently about how we see it and the world.

In My TBR Stack:

Dinner with DiMaggio: Memories of An American Hero
by Dr. Rock Positano and John Positano
Simon & Schuster
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

The real Joe DiMaggio, remembered by one of the few who really knew the man behind the legend—candid and little-known stories about baseball icons from Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig, and his Yankees teammates on the field to Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, and others off the field. As told by Dr. Rock Positano, DiMaggio’s closest confidante in New York during the final years of his life, Dinner with DiMaggio is an intimate portrait of one of America’s most enduring heroes.

This memoir of a decade-long friendship reveals the very private DiMaggio as he really was—sometimes demanding, sometimes big-hearted, always impeccable, loyal, and a true stand-up guy—while serving up illuminating stories and rare insights about the people in his life, including his teammates, Muhammad Ali, Sandy Koufax, Woody Allen, and more.

In 1990, Dr. Rock Positano, the thirty-two-year-old foot and ankle specialist, was introduced to DiMaggio, the pair brought together by a career-ending heal spur injury. Though Dr. Positano was forty years younger, an unlikely friendship developed after the doctor successfully treated the baseball champ’s heel. At the start, Joe mentored Rock but came to rely on his young friend to show him a good time in New York, the town that made him a legend. In time, the famously reserved DiMaggio opened up to Dr. Positano and talked about his joys, his disappointments, and his sorrows as he reflected on his extraordinary life. The stories and experiences shared with Dr. Positano comprise an intimate portrait of one of the great stars of baseball and icon of the twentieth century.

On My Radar:

Man of the Year: A Memoir
by Lou Cove
Flatiron Books
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

In 1978 Jimmy Carter mediates the Camp David Accords, Fleetwood Mac tops charts with Rumours, Starsky fights crime with Hutch, and twelve-year-old Lou Cove is uprooted from the Upper West Side of Manhattan to Salem, Massachusetts– a backwater town of witches, Puritans, and sea-captain wannabes. After his eighth move in a dozen years, Lou figures he should just resign himself to a teenage purgatory of tedious paper routes, school bullies, and unrequited lust for every girl he likes.

Then one October morning an old friend of Lou’s father, free-wheeling (and free-loving) Howie Gordon arrives at the Cove doorstep from California with his beautiful wife Carly. Howie is everything Lou wants to be: handsome as a movie star, built like a god and in possession of an unstoppable confidence.

Then, over Thanksgiving dinner, Howie drops a bombshell. Holding up an issue of Playgirl Magazine, he flips to the center and there he is, Mr. November in all his natural glory. Howie has his eye on becoming the next Burt Reynolds, and a wild idea for how to do it: win Playgirl’s Man of the Year. And he knows just who should manage his campaign. As Lou and Howie canvas Salem for every vote in town – little old ladies at bridge club, the local town witch, construction workers on break and everyone in between – Lou is forced to juggle the perils of adolescence with the pursuit of Hollywood stardom. 

Man of the Year is the improbable true story of Lou’s thirteenth year, one very unusual campaign, and the unexpected guest who changes everything.

In My TBR Stack:

All Over the Place: Adventures in Travel, True Love, and Petty Theft
by Geraldine DeRuiter
Public Affairs
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

Some people are meant to travel the globe, to unwrap its secrets and share them with the world. And some people have no sense of direction, are terrified of pigeons, and get motion sickness from tying their shoes. These people are meant to stay home and eat nachos.

Geraldine DeRuiter is the latter. But she won't let that stop her.

Hilarious, irreverent, and heartfelt, All Over the Place chronicles the years Geraldine spent traveling the world after getting laid off from a job she loved. Those years taught her a great number of things, though the ability to read a map was not one of them. She has only a vague idea of where Russia is, but she now understands her Russian father better than ever before. She learned that what she thought was her mother's functional insanity was actually an equally incurable condition called "being Italian." She learned what it's like to travel the world with someone you already know and love--how that person can help you make sense of things and make far-off places feel like home. She learned about unemployment and brain tumors, lost luggage and lost opportunities, and just getting lost in countless terminals and cabs and hotel lobbies across the globe. And she learned that sometimes you can find yourself exactly where you need to be--even if you aren't quite sure where you are.

In My TBR Stack:

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
by Neil DeGrasse Tyson
W.W. Norton
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

The essential universe, from our most celebrated and beloved astrophysicist.

What is the nature of space and time? How do we fit within the universe? How does the universe fit within us? There’s no better guide through these mind-expanding questions than acclaimed astrophysicist and best-selling author Neil deGrasse Tyson.

But today, few of us have time to contemplate the cosmos. So Tyson brings the universe down to Earth succinctly and clearly, with sparkling wit, in tasty chapters consumable anytime and anywhere in your busy day.

While you wait for your morning coffee to brew, for the bus, the train, or a plane to arrive, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry will reveal just what you need to be fluent and ready for the next cosmic headlines: from the Big Bang to black holes, from quarks to quantum mechanics, and from the search for planets to the search for life in the universe.

In My TBR Stack:

One Minute Mentoring: How to Find and Work With a Mentor - and Why You'll Benefit from Being One
by Ken Blanchard and Claire Diaz-Ortiz
William Morrow
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

The bestselling co-author of the legendary The One Minute Manager® and a former Twitter executive join forces to create the ultimate guide to creating powerful mentoring relationships.

While most people agree that having a mentor is a good thing, they don’t know how to find one or use one. And despite widespread approval for the idea of being a mentor, most people don’t think they have the time or skills to do so.

Positive mentoring relationships can change the way we lead and help us succeed. In One Minute Mentoring, legendary management guru Ken Blanchard and Claire Diaz-Ortiz, a former Twitter executive and early employee, combine their knowledge to provide a systematic approach to intergenerational mentoring, giving readers great insight into the power and influence of mentoring and encouraging them to pursue their own mentoring relationships. 

Using his classic parable format, Blanchard explains why developing effective communication and relationships across generations can be a tremendous opportunity for companies and individuals alike. One Minute Mentoring is the go-to source for learning why mentoring is the secret ingredient to professional and personal success.

On My Radar:

My Life with Bob: Flawed Heroine Keeps Book of Books, Plot Ensues
by Pamela Paul
Henry Holt
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

Imagine keeping a record of every book you’ve ever read. What would this reading trajectory say about you? With passion, humor, and insight, the editor of The New York Times Book Review shares the stories that have shaped her life.

Pamela Paul has kept a single book by her side for twenty-eight years – carried throughout high school and college, hauled from Paris to London to Thailand, from job to job, safely packed away and then carefully removed from apartment to house to its current perch on a shelf over her desk – reliable if frayed, anonymous-looking yet deeply personal. This book has a name: Bob.

Bob is Paul’s Book of Books, a journal that records every book she’s ever read, from Sweet Valley High to Anna Karenina, from Catch-22 to Swimming to Cambodia, a journey in reading that reflects her inner life – her fantasies and hopes, her mistakes and missteps, her dreams and her ideas, both half-baked and wholehearted. Her life, in turn, influences the books she chooses, whether for solace or escape, information or sheer entertainment. 

But My Life with Bob isn’t really about those books. It’s about the deep and powerful relationship between book and reader. It’s about the way books provide each of us the perspective, courage, companionship, and imperfect self-knowledge to forge our own path. It’s about why we read what we read and how those choices make us who we are. It’s about how we make our own stories.