We’re entering unknown territory. The world is changing, and we need a new perspective to better understand what’s happening.

Amrith astutely examines how our society and our planet have been shaped by the effects of war, the pursuit of profit, the march of technology and the extraction and movement of natural resources. This book can help us think through these challenges and lead us to a brighter future.

Sheyder does a brilliant job of underscoring the tension between the global imperative of reducing climate risk and the complex local dynamics around mining the minerals central to the energy transition. It’s a great read about a fundamental political and economic friction point that will be with us for decades.

I love history, and this book shows how human knowledge expanded over hundreds of years despite institutional resistance to the truth. It’s a fun read, and it all starts with dinosaur fossils!

I was a history major in college, and I loved this fast-paced, detailed historical account of the period between Lincoln’s election and the battle of Fort Sumter, which marked the opening curtain of the Civil War. It’s hard to even remember a world where critical communication and decision-making could take days or weeks based on intermittent letters, telegraphs and thirdhand accounts.

We are all facing conflicts in our day-to-day lives, both in business and on a personal level. How we handle conflict shapes the kind of individual we are and the leader we become. This book helps readers to see the opportunity conflict presents, and offers tactics to navigate challenges and constructively engage and transform conflict.

A gripping, colorful and distinctly Chicago account of an unprecedented time in the city’s history when seemingly every inch of public policy was truly contested after decades of a tenuously held consensus. Through heavily sourced reporting and compelling prose, Pratt charts Mayor Lightfoot’s historic and meteoric rise to office and her ultimate defeat.

A serious but readable book on climate change, it explains how extreme heat is becoming more common and discusses the harrowing effects on human life. Goodell begins with compassionate stories of individual heat deaths, then delves into the science behind the tragedy.

This innovative book by a leading expert in AI defines “the containment problem”—the challenge of keeping powerful technologies under control—as a key issue of modern medicine.

Building on his bestseller, How Not to Die, Greger explores the science behind aging and how to potentially slow its effects through nutrition and lifestyle. He examines aging at the molecular level and presents an evidence-based approach to extending your healthspan.

I have young school-age kids, and I invest time reading to ensure that, as a parent, I am doing all I can to set my kids up for success as adults. While there is no single resource that can provide all the answers, this book provided some practical steps I can take to support their development.

As life ­expectancy increases, we all need to understand the consequences—and opportunities. I love to think what kind of innovations this will bring to business education, and this book has really given me a lot of ideas.

The Longevity Imperative reframes the important discussion on aging toward how to extend our healthy years—our 'healthspan’— rather than just prolonging our lifespan.

This is the definitive modern tome on understanding how and why we enjoy flavor, and it carries on the food chemistry mantle of the likes of Hervé This and Harold McGee. Flavorama deftly jumps between accessible anecdotes and everyday grounding, through to full-depth specificity, and manages to make this accommodating for novice and professional alike—beautifully supported by Arielle’s own illustrations.

The title is taken from Otsuka’s popular podcast, where she interviews psychologists, educators and all kinds of working people with ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder), sharing useful advice about topics including medications, cognitive behavioral therapy and how to run a business. As a physician, I am often skeptical of anything that sounds like a self-help book, but this one is full of practical advice and ideas for how to live a better life if you or somebody in your family has ADHD. It was a joy to listen to Otsuka’s enthusiastic voice on audiobook during my morning walks.

Applying analogies of sport to business has always been a passion of mine. The best sports teams have only A players delivering 100% value to the team. That’s how they win. The section on culture is probably the most inspiring, echoing my belief that culture supersedes strategy in workplace success.

This collection of essays connects what we know intrinsically with what is known scientifically, as it points us to how music and the arts play an essential role in our mental and physical health. For those on the supply side, this book informs us in preparing young artists for deeply impactful careers on multiple levels; and on the demand side, it shares examples and often surprising evidence of how engaging with the arts goes beyond enjoyment to well-being.

An extraordinary biography of Eugenio Torelli Viollier, founder of Corriere Della Sera, the visionary who, with only four colleagues and very little money, created what would become the largest Italian newspaper. I deeply admire his character. It’s a story of success built around Europe and in Milan, where the talents of the south come to seek luck and valorization.

This short history provides a unique perspective on how perception rather that fact shapes events that define our history. Relevant in ancient times, still relevant today.

It’s fascinating to take such a well-known character from a classic book [Jim, the enslaved man fleeing with the runaway boy in Huckleberry Finn] and tell an entirely new story. Everett makes you reevaluate what you thought you knew about Huck Finn.

Shafak takes the simplest and most innocuous matter, a single drop of water that transcends time, geographies and two powerful rivers (the Tigris and the Thames), to tell an epic tale about grief, hope and love. It’s a powerful and lyrical reflection on humanity’s capacity to create unimaginable beauty and progress, as well as our unbelievable cruelty to “the other”—and our environment. This book is a timely reminder that we must be kind.

A profound story about life and the inevitable passage of time through the story of one single house in New England. It changed my life just by reading it.

I had been waiting for this graphic novel [which follows a young girl as she investigates the murder of her neighbor in 1960s Chicago] to come out for five years. I read it very slowly to enjoy every single page and line. It’s all hand-drawn with a Biro pen! The references to art by Goya and Géricault mixed with the rough street vibe is so well done, and the story is a great lesson about how to cope with feeling different and making this a strength.

In yet another outstanding book by this great German author (which, like his others, will certainly be published in English soon), Lichtspiel is a deep dive into the life of artists and expatriates during the Nazi era. He especially focuses on the life of the extraordinary filmmaker G.W. Pabst and his path of ambition, tragedy and compromise. The result is an enormously engaging, moving and disturbing book about art, aspiration, power, neglect, complicity and defiance.

The novel opens in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, where construction unearths a skeleton at the bottom of a well. The real story, which takes place in the 1920s and ’30s mostly Black and Jewish neighborhood of Chicken Hill, explores the ties that bind us, from childhood friendship, to work, to ancestry, religion and ambition. With just brief glances into the future, it beautifully links human nature across generations.

A deeply inspiring and beautifully written memoir that captures the resilience, determination and grace of a young girl growing up in the segregated South. Simmons, the first Black president of an Ivy League institution (Brown University), shares intimate stories of her childhood in East Texas, offering readers an authentic and heartfelt look at her challenges and triumphs. Her reflections on family, community and the pursuit of education are both uplifting and thought-provoking—a testament to the power of perseverance and a must-read for anyone seeking motivation and hope.

How does a single negative event or choice impact a person and their family? It’s a question I considered frequently in my former life as a federal prosecutor. In this novel, when a father of three is kidnapped from his driveway and then safely returned, it might seem like a happy ending. But the consequences of the kidnapping ripple through the lives of his family for decades. This is not the beach read I thought it would be.

From a child in the Philippines to a supermodel in New York City to a world-renowned human rights leader, Geena Rocero [whose memoir came out in paperback this year] takes you on her unforgettably witty, heartbreaking and vivid ride to self-acceptance. Her ability to humanize transgender women and show the common love and dreams that we all strive for is inspiring and greatly needed today.

I was drawn to this book [about the turbulent 1960s and ’70s and the Army Nurse Corps] because of my love of the author’s previous work, The Nightingale. I read a lot of military history and have a keen interest in all things Vietnam. Also, my sister is a trauma nurse.

A page-turning thriller [newly out in paperback] from a great new young author from Big Sky, Montana. It depicts the current geopolitical situation in scarily realistic detail with a cast of characters that includes high-level operatives from countries throughout the Middle East and many parts of the US and Western intelligence community. It’s an international crime thriller that seems eerily plausible.

From the beginning, I just had to find out what was going to happen between feminist journalist Ola and fiancé Michael [after his name turns up on an online list of alleged abusers], and the closer it got to their wedding, I couldn’t put it down. What made the book even more compelling was how brilliantly it captured the power of the internet—how it can determine someone’s rise or fall and how quickly social media can turn on you.

The third volume in the Stoic Virtues series focuses on how fear shouldn’t govern our life or decisions. Given that the pace of change and disruption continues to accelerate, keeping oneself grounded in the learnings of stoicism is beneficial for the mind, body and spirit. Adapting to change and versatility are key, and the stoics knew this in ancient times.

The amount of change that we have seen in our daily lives and how that change affects everything else is only going to increase exponentially because of AI. This is a great resource on AI’s impact on business and provides practical examples of how the evolving technology and capabilities will continue to disrupt the traditional business model, focusing on where the greatest benefits may be.

It’s a really compelling and research-backed look at what qualities make CEOs most successful, potential pitfalls to avoid and the high degree of self-awareness leaders need to cultivate to have staying power and drive impact. The best leaders are open to growth and evolution, and this book offers a blueprint for that journey.

Via history and personal stories of the writer’s own experiences, the book highlights in simple language the timeless human behavior patterns that reflect on financial decisions and life in general. The core message: In an ever-changing world, start by understanding what never changes, and instead of trying to predict the future, try to understand human behavior. Housel believes history never repeats itself. Man always does.

The world is constantly evolving with advancements in tech, AI and global uncertainty, but many fundamentals remain. In Same as Ever, the author shares 24 short stories about business and behavior, and asks the reader to focus on their “universal truths”—knowledge of the things that will always remain is more important than what could lie ahead. Nassim Taleb is quoted by the author and hits the nail on the head: “Invest in preparedness, not prediction.”

I’ve always admired Brooks’ style of writing and thinking in his New York Times columns, and this conversational treatise about finding genuine connection with other humans captures that perspective across life. While it may seem like a book based on connections at home, the applications across investing, politics, leadership and life have pushed me to think better.

This is a highly readable nonfiction account of two great subjects: Shakespeare and the mathematics of his day. Shakespeare’s surprising yet unsurprising mathematical sophistication (like the concept of zero) led to some of his most creative feats of problem-solving and can inspire us all to learn from different fields.

Artificial intelligence is a transformative technology reshaping so many aspects of modern life. AI Snake Oil offers a comprehensive overview of how AI works and the important distinctions between different kinds of AI, including generative and predictive AI. While AI is driving innovation and enhancing efficiency across many industries, it can also fail, sometimes with serious consequences. This book delves into when and why AI sometimes falls short, to help you make informed choices about how to best apply it.

This book provides a critical perspective on the wine industry, highlighting how it’s often rooted in marketing narratives rather than facts. Therefore, [Fino] focuses on the truth and nothing else [in urging consumers to enjoy wine without the fads or legends].

I appreciate the way Rubenstein has always approached his interviews of key figures in politics, global leadership and business. This new book provides different insights on leadership at unique moments in US history from those at the highest level.

I’ve always been fascinated by lifelong learning. The minute we stop learning, we start going backward. It’s true for everybody in whatever phase and stage of their lives. It had some really inspiring stories in there for me about people who reinvented themselves and made a big impact later in their lives.

As a lifelong infrastructure geek, I was enthralled by Silverstein’s retelling of the yearslong battle he faced rebuilding the World Trade Center. The Rising demonstrates the strength and resilience of New Yorkers and the power of infrastructure to transform cities. Just like real-world infrastructure projects, the book was captivating—plenty of drama and suspense, and if you do it right, ultimately an ending to be proud of.

This is a thought-provoking and anecdote-packed narrative of a 1,000-year period when India exported luxury trade goods, religion and mathematics to the north, east and west. It spans the Roman Empire’s fiscal policy—tariffs on trade with Asia funded one-third of the imperial budget—Xuanzang’s journey to the west and Wu Zetian’s legitimization via Buddhism, and the economics of Angkor Wat as capital of a hydrological and trading power, as well as the evolution of zero as a number and much more.

It’s a subtle narrative of a highly personal and inspiring journey into a world of polarization, disinformation and conspiracy theories. It made me rethink many aspects of our modern existence.

Age of Revolutions brilliantly examines the historical impact of political, technological and social disruptions on the modern world. We are living in a very complex time, and the ability to explore how past events are shaping current trends is invaluable.

Coming at a time when quantitative easing has resulted in the significant debasement of money, increasing wealth inequality and leading to potential asset bubbles, there should be a lot of soul-searching about our current monetary system. Broken Money is a thought-provoking book that questions the social benefits of our fiat currencies and the implications of prolonged policy mismanagement. Alden is always brilliant, breaking down conventional assumptions and prompting you to challenge the beliefs that you consider to be truths.  

If you want to know what an ecosystem is, read this marvelous book on the little town of Jena in the 1790s. [It was originally published in English in 2022 as Magnificent Rebels: The First Romantics and the Invention of the Self.] There lived Goethe, Schiller, Fichte, Schelling, the Schlegel brothers, the adventurer Von Humboldt and remarkable women like Caroline Böhmer. These were the magnificent rebels. Seeing each other every day—that was the recipe for a contagion of disruption.

My worst-kept secret is that I mostly read mindless thrillers and rom-com novels, but this year, my sister-in-law gave me Hidden Potential, and it is both entertaining and eye-opening. It has great real-life stories that have helped me think about unlocking my own true potential. The book made me question some of my long-held assumptions about talent, hard work and habits, and left me feeling that everyone has endless potential that they can tap into if they have the right mindset.

I'm a big fan of Edmondson, and this is my favorite recent business book, because it challenges the old belief that failure should be feared and instead shows how valuable it can be when we learn from our mistakes. I love how it encourages leaders to “fail fast, fail often” while teaching us how to differentiate between productive and harmful failures, ultimately driving growth and innovation.

This book offers valuable insights into managing large-scale projects effectively and avoiding costly mistakes. Using famous case studies like the Pentagon and Hoover Dam to illustrate key lessons, the authors highlight the risks of hasty decisions and the benefits of considering purpose and exploring alternatives. The book will resonate with anyone looking to make change at a complex, dynamic organization.