longform.org's best of lists: 2013 (read overall top
ten, not any subcategories though), 2014, 2015, read through
2012 already
Magazines
Science News (current through Dec 2007), and also the features MathTrek
and Food
for Thought current through Nov 12 2005, plus 2007 through august (don't know about gap)
Gastronomica (James Beard winner for best food magazine) (the New Yorker for food)
Nautilus (looks like a good magazine; haven't read any issues)
Classic & Classic-Related Non-Fiction
The Council Of Animals by Nick McDonell (rec from NPR) (good for kids and adults)
Dear Fahrenheit 451 by Annie Spence (read selections, not whole book; follow advice from this NPR review)
How to Read Novels Like a Professor: A Jaunty Exploration of the World's Favorite Literary Form (sequel to How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines) by Thomas Foster
Facing Unpleasant Facts: Narrative Essays or All Art Is Propaganda: Critical Essays by George Orwell ? (On The Media)
Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell (more about being impoverished than working in the restaurant industry) ?
The Outline of History: being a plain history of life and mankind by H.G. Wells ?
The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A. J. Jacobs (partially done)
Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love by Dava Sobel ?
Crying: A Natural and Cultural History of Tears by Tom Lutz ?
If You Can Read This: The Philosophy of Bumper Stickers by Jack Bowen ?
The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared by Alice Ozma ?
Positively Fifth Street: Murderers, Cheetahs, and Binion's World Series of Poker by James McManus ?
Locked in the Cabinet by Robert Reich ?
Animal Underworld: Inside America's Black Market for Rare and Exotic Species by Alan Green ?
Giigle: How I Got Lucky Massaging Google by Bonnie Brown ?
On Rereading by Patricia Spacks (haven't read reviews) ??
A Short History of Progress by Ronald Wright (chapter on Easter Island; rec. by Edison) ?
Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway ?
Doubt is Their Product: How Industry's Assault on Science Threatens Your Health by David Michaels ?
Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error by Kathryn Schulz ? (rec from Hosken, Ted Talk)
The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt ?
In Manchuria: Life on a rice farm in China's northeast by Michael Meyer (heard segment on This American Life) or The Last Days of Old Beijing: Life in the Vanishing Backstreets of a City Transformed ?
Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients by Ben Goldacre (author of Bad Science)
Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud by Robert Park
Tevye the Dairyman and The Railroad Stories by Sholem Aleichem
The Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code by Margalit Fox
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson (possibly try the audiobook with Di Yin) (heard on science friday) ?
You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost): A Memoir by Felicia Day ? (because at the time of adding this it's not yet released)
Nature's Fortune: How Business and Society Thrive By Investing in Nature by Mark Tercek and Jonathan Adams (incredible book jacket endorsements)
The Weather Experiment: The Pioneers Who Sought to See the Future by Peter Moore
Wildlife Wars: The Life and Times of a Fish and Game Warden by Terry Grosz (collection of short, true stories) (heard a story read on This American Life)
The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story by Douglas Preston
History
Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost Its Edge in Computing by Marie Hicks ?
The Witch of Lime Street: Séance, Seduction, and Houdini inthe Spirit World by David Jaher
The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It . . . Every Time by Maria Konnikova ?
or maybe The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man by David Maurer (due to this On The Media report) ?
Old Masters, New World: America's Raid on Europe's Great Pictures by Cynthia Saltzman
King Hui: The Man Who Owned All the Opium in Hong Kong by Jonathan Chamberlain ?
Piracy: The Intellectual Property Wars from Gutenberg to Gates by Adrian Johns (heard on BBC Thinking Allowed) ?
The Napoleon of Crime: The Life and Times of Adam Worth, Master Thief or The Englishman's Daughter: A True Story of Love and Betrayal in World War I by Ben Macintyre
The Crimes of Paris: A True Story of Murder, Theft, and Detection by Dorothy Hoobler and Thomas Hoobler ?
Chasing Aphrodite: The Hunt for Looted Antiquities at the World's Richest Museum by Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino (also watch authors @ google talk)
The Rescue Artist: A True Story of Art, Thieves, and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece by Edward Dolnick ?
Smuggler Nation: How Illicit Trade Made America by Peter Andreas (after reading, pay attention to this amazon review about things that were left out)
Of Dice and Men: The Story of Dungeons & Dragons and The People Who Play It by David Ewalt ?
The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind the World's Favorite Board Game by Mary Pilon ?
The Map Thief: The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps by Michael Blanding ?
Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation by Blake Harris ?
The Book: A Cover-to-Cover Exploration of the Most Powerful Object of Our Time by Keith Houston
How Our Days Became Numbered: Risk and the Rise of the Statistical Individual by Dan Bouk
Urban Planning
BART: The Dramatic History of the Bay Area Rapid Transit System by Michael Healy
Human Transit: How Clearer Thinking about Public Transit Can
Enrich Our Communities and Our Lives by Jarrett Walker
(already read introduction) (if like, read newer posts on
humantransit blog)
Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time by Jeff Speck
Shaping the City: Studies in History, Theory and Urban Design by Edward Robbins ?
Accidental City: The Transformation of Toronto by Robert Fulford ?
Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier by Edward Glaeser (neat facts but wandering argument) ?
Monument Wars: Washington, D.C., the National Mall, and the Transformation of the Memorial Landscape by Kirk Savage ?
A Burglar's Guide to the City by Geoff Manaugh (to be published in April 2016) ?
Everybody Lies: What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz (ex-googler) ?
You May Also Like: Taste in an Age of Endless Choice (or maybe (Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us) by Tom Vanderbilt
Drunk Tank Pink: And Other Unexpected Forces that Shape How We Think, Feel, and Behave by Adam Alter (see discussion on Science Friday)
(part of) Happiness: Lessons from a New Science by Richard Layard
Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
The Happiness Trip by Eduardo Punset ?
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg (esp. first section) ?
Economics
Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
Trekonomics by Manu Saadia (already ordered) (if like it, read this article)
Forging Capitalism: Rogues, Swindlers, Frauds, and the Rise of Modern Finance by Ian Klaus
When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management by Roger Lowenstein
The Black Swan by Nassim Taleb ?
The Gridlock Economy: How Too Much Ownership Wrecks Markets, Stops Innovation, and Costs Lives by Michael Heller ?
The Undercover Economist or other books by Tim Harford (host of More Or Less)
Naked Economics by Charles Wheelan
SuperFreakonomics or Think Like a Freak by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner ?
Armchair Economist by Steven Landsburg ?
Hidden Order by David Friedman ?
The Economic Naturalist by Robert Frank (? partially because heard much of the book discussed on Forum) (read through chapter two)
Mostly Harmless Econometrics by Angrist and
Pischke (rec by givewell for useful book) ?
Experimental Conversations by Ogden (rec by givewell
for "understanding different perspectives on the use of randomized
controlled trials in development") ?
A History of American Law (Third Edition) by Lawrence Friedman, then perhaps books on more specific subjects listed in the Recommended Reading section of his book Law in America: A Short Introduction
The Transformation of American Law by Morton Horwitz ?
The Partner Track: A Novel by Helen Wan ?
Language
Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries by Kory Stamper
That's Not English: Britishisms, Americanisms, and What Our English Says About Us by Erin Moore
Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages by Ammon Shea ?
The Pun Also Rises: How the Humble Pun Revolutionized Language, Changed History, and Made Wordplay More Than Some Antics by John Pollack (Stanford alumni; saw book in Stanford magazine)
Born to Kvetch by Michael Wex ?
Um. . .: Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders, and What They Mean by Michael Erard ?
The Secret Life of Words: How English Became English by Henry Hitchings
Do You Speak American (DVD: 3 hours)
Writing
Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen by Mary Norris
On Writing Well by William Zinsser (read through chapter 14 (bits & pieces))
When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It: The Parts of Speech, for Better And/Or Worse by Ben Yagoda
Word Court: Wherein Verbal Virtue Is Rewarded, Crimes Against the Language Are Punished, and Poetic Justice Is Done by Barbara Wallraff and Francine Prose ?
Food
(many of these authors have other books too)
Between Meals: An Appetite for Paris by A. J. Liebling (classic, memoir)
The Man Who Ate Everything by Jeffrey Steingarten (review says it's much better than I would guess based on the title)
Nomfiction (collection by various authors) (available on inkshares) ?
Rice, Noodle, Fish: Deep Travels Through Japan's Food Culture by Matt Goulding (food / history / culture travel book)
The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet by Nina Teicholz
Israeli Soul: Easy, Essential, Delicious by Michael Solomonov and Steven Cook (cookbook)
The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt (massive tome, science-heavy recipes, veers American) ?
On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee
The Language of Food: A Linguist Reads the Menu by Dan Jurafsky
Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods by Sandor Katz (semi-cookbook)
Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food or A Cook's Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines or maybe No Reservations: Around the World on an Empty Stomach or ... by Anthony Bourdain
Keep the Change: A Clueless Tipper's Quest to Become the Guru of the Gratuity (related to Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip--Confessions of a Cynical Waiter) by Steve Dublanica
Waiting: The True Confessions of a Waitress by Debra Ginsberg
The Tummy Trilogy by Calvin Trillin
The Soul of a Chef: The Journey Toward Perfection (sequel to The Making of a Chef) or Grocery: The Buying and Selling of Food in America) by Michael Ruhlman)
Beaten, Seared, and Sauced: On Becoming a Chef at the Culinary Institute of America by Jonathan Dixon ?
Spice: The History of a Temptation by Jack Turner
Consuming Passions: A Food-Obsessed Life by Michael Lee West
Blue Trout and Black Truffles: The Peregrinations of an Epicure by Joseph Wechsberg
Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin (read through p. 110 (hardcover) / finished end of "Nursery Food" chapter)
Washoku, Recipes From the Japanese Home Kitchen by Elizabeth Andoh (best Japanese cookbook in English according to this review)
Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China by Fuchsia Dunlop (also wrote well-regarded cookbooks such as "Land of Fish and Rice" (Shanghai and neighboring regions) and "Land of Plenty" (Sichuan))
In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan
Food in Chinese Culture: Antropological and Historical Perspectives edited by K. C. Chang
Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think by Brian Wansink ?
Stendhal: The Red and the Black (partially done, on
book two, chapter four, The Hotel de la Mole, about 2/3rds the way through
the chapter) (book
salon)
stories by Chekhov (esp. translations by Larissa Volokhonsky and Richard Pevear)
Homer's Iliad (best translation for my purposes is by Fagles; Di Yin has a copy) (rec by How to Read Literature Like a Professor)
Circe by Madeline Miller (sounds like fun, though longer than I'd want: 400 pages) ?
other stories besides The Marquise of O and Michael Kohlhass by Heinrich von Kleist
Memorandum (an essay) by E. B. White (don't know what book it is published in)
something by Lu Xun, perhaps The True Story of Ah Q or Diary of a Madman ?
Water Margin (a.k.a. Outlaws of the Marsh) by Shi Nai'An ?
Journey to the West (or simply: Monkey) by Wu Cheng'en (maybe translation by W.J.F. Jenner) ?
Legend of the Condor Heroes by Jin Yong (first and only English translation by Anna Holmwood) (extremely popular in China; endorsed by Di Yin and her dad)
Colonialism Is Terrible, But Pho is Delicious by Dustin Chinn ? (heard about at the Bay Area Playwrights Festival)
Rapture, Blister, Burn by Gina Giongriddo
more plays by Moliere: The School for Wives Criticized, The Impromptu at Versailles, The Misanthrope, The Clever Women
read (or see performed) Othello (partially
done), King Henry IV, Part II (already saw part one), The Two
Gentlemen of Verona, Timon of Athens, Richard II,
Love's Labour's Lost ("astonishing" yet "demanding" due to
"linguistic density" and "pedantic humor") or other plays by
Shakespeare
The Book of Will by Lauren Gunderson (saw announced at OSF)
The African Company Presents Richard III by Carlyle Brown (play, spotted at Oregon Shakespeare Festival) ?
The Language Archive by Julia Cho (play, spotted at Oregon Shakespeare Festival) ?
Underneath The Lintel by Glen Berger
Peerless by Jiehae Park (premiered at Yale Repertory Theatre)
Fiction
The Midnight Library: A Novel by Matt Haig (bestseller; nice premise; may be predictable) ?
The Netanyahus: An Account of A Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of A Very Famous Family by Joshua Cohen ?
Years of Red Dust: Stories of Shanghai by Qin Xiaolong (rec by Julian S.; Di Yin has a copy)
Black Chalk by Christopher Yates ?
Small World by David Lodge (sequel to Changing Places)
Moo by Jane Smiley (academic comedy like David Lodge) ?
something by Carl Hiaasen
something (fiction or non-) by David Foster Wallace (perhaps the other articles in A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, some of which can be found online (in shorter forms) (consider pieces on state fair, television, and tennis)?
Fierce Pajamas (New Yorker fiction) (partially done)
Lifemanship or One-Upmanship by Stephen Potter
The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles ?
The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber ?
something by William Boyd ?
Black Swan Green by David Mitchell (author of Cloud Atlas) (rec by Bryson "coming of age", or maybe the also recommended The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, or just maybe Bone Clocks)
The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead ?
Time's Arrow by Martin Amis ?
Letting Loose the Hounds (short stories) or The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint (novel) by Brady Udall
Cosmicomics (partially done) or The Baron in the Trees (or maybe The Nonexistent Knight and The Cloven Viscount) by Italo Calvino
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen ?
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky ?
Supreme Courtship by Christopher Buckley (heard on KQED interview)?
Blue Angel: A Novel by Francine Prose ?
When Red Is Black by Qiu Xiaolong ?
something by Mavis Gallant ?
The Bus Driver Who Wanted To Be God by Etgar Keret ?
Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransom (nominally a children's book) (rec by John Lamping and wife)
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (nominally a children's book) ?
Historical Fiction
Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian (first in a losely-tied-together historical fiction series--all books have same two protagonists--set on a Royal Navy ship in the early 19th century) (some other books in the series may be better but this is still considered a favorite by some) ?
An Officer and a Spy: A novel by Robert Harris (mostly non-fiction; about Dreyfus Affair in France)
Sci-Fi / Fantasy
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr (strong rec by Catherine and Bryson: "truly one of the best books I have ever read")
The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye by A. S. Byatt
(mentioned by Di Yin as inspired for a Gaiman short story)
Klara and the Sun: A novel by Kazuo Ishiguro (narrated by an AI) (perhaps the best book by ths nobel laureate)
something by Charles Stross ?
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (who wrote The Martian)
Leviathan Wakes (first book in The Expanse series) by James S. A. Corey (also later made into a well-reviewed TV show) (rec by Gregory; tv show rec by various people too including him) ?
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (young adult; netflix made a series set in this world) ?
Cryptozoology for Beginners by Matt Harry (sequel to Sorcery for Beginners)
The Dark Elf trilogy by R. A. Salvatore (already read and own The Icewind Dale Trilogy) ?
other books or short story collections, perhaps in the Newford setting, by Charles de Lint ?
Magician by Raymond E. Feist (more popular than Eddings or Brooks, though I recall not wanting to try his books at the time; not sure why) ?
Deryni Rising by Katherine Kurtz (mentioned in article of authors who followed Terry Brooks exploding the fantasy genre)
Recursion: A Novel by Blake Crouch
All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells
(novella with great characterization that won hugo, nebula, etc.; heard
about on NPR)
?
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (sequel to The Hunger Games)
The End of Eternity: A Novel by Isaac Asimiov (supposed his best)
per NPR advice, start with
Kindred or Parable of the
Sower; also worthwhile: Bloodchild
(novelette, Hugo and Nebula winner) or Parable
of the Talents (Hugo and Nebula winner) by Octavia Butler
Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas by John Scalzi
All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai (interesting premise)?
Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire (novella; multiple award winner)
Skavenger's Hunt by Mike Rich (lookup reviews after inkshares publishes it)
something by Sofia Samatar (lyrical writing, meandering stories) ?
Bookburners by Max Gladstone, Margaret Dunlap, and more ?
Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang (short story collection; named story recommended by Di Yin (!) and Bryson and basis for movie Arrival) (some complaints about quality of endings) or Exhalation (another short story collection, positively reviewed in detail on NPR)
The Lathe of Heaven, The Left Hand of Darkness ("classic"), or The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas (short story) by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Forgetting by Sharon Cameron (technically "young adult" but according to the MPR review I heard, "I would recommend this to any science fiction customers who come in.")
The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin (first book in trilogy; apparently best book/series by an award-winning writer) (Hugo winner)
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore: A Novel by Robin Sloan (neat ideas but poor characterization and possibly a bad ending) (saw the author at a SPUR talk) ?
The Last Unicorn or other books by Peter Beagle ?
Super Extra Grande by Yoss (first translated novel by major Cuban sci-fi writer) ?
The Bloody Chamber: And Other Stories by Angela Carter (beautiful styleist) (reworks five familiar fairy tales) ?
Version Control: A Novel by Dexter Palmer
Magic for Beginners: Stories by Kelly Link (strange supernatural stories) ?
Some Kind of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce
Wool by Hugh Howey (rec by interview candidate)
All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders
Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds (hard sci-fi) ?
Dark Orbit by Carolyn Ives Gilman (compared with Ursula K. Le Guin; includes touchy-feely sciences; unique world) ?
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins (setting compared with Gaiman's American Gods) (? because of the violence / cruelty) ?
The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu and Ken Liu (translated from Chinese; first non-English book to win Hugo award)
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu (and other items by him, such as the "Dandelion Dynasty" epic if it gets finished)
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (part of the set of Thursday Next novels) (rec by Di Yin)
Pandora's Star by Peter Hamilton (first a pair of novels) (rec by Kevin S for high-quality space opera)
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman (Bryson says not as good as American Gods or Stardust)
Dragonflight (The Dragonriders of Pern series) by Anne McCaffrey (rec by Mary, among others)
Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson (rec by Josh) (also rec by Deb, by only for their series by the author, not other ones)
The Golden Compass (a.k.a. Northern Lights) by Philip Pullman (rec by Melanie)
His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik (rec by Sarah, Joseph's wife)
something by Lois McMaster Bujold (multiple Hugo and Nebula award winner)
something by Bruce Sterling (also a Hugo winer, among other awards) ?
World's End or The Summer Queen by Joan Vinge (Summer Queen rec by Christopher from work)
Mercury Rises by Robert Kroesse (sequel to Mercury Falls)
Fool Moon (Dresden Files series) or Furies of Calderon (Codex Alera series) by Jim Butcher
Liquid Fire by Anthony Francis
Arena (Magic - The Gathering, No. 1) by William Forstchen (yes, it actually has good reviews)
more books (Marooned in Realtime rec by Steven) by Vernor Vinge
A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire series a.k.a. Game of Thrones) by George R. R. Martin
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree Jr.
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (supposedly not as good as American Gods)
more books by Stanislaw Lem (rec by many critics), perhaps Solaris (the only good translation of it is only available in e-book form) or Fiasco (rec by Science Friday)
something by James Branch Cabell (rec. by Gaiman)
something by Roger Zelazny (rec. by Gaiman)
something (especially Deathbird Stories) by Harlan Ellison
(rec. by Gaiman)
Startide Rising (The Uplift Saga, Book 2) (and, later, other books) by David Brin (yes, it's okay to start with this book)
Fire Watch (rec from Bryson), Lincoln's Dreams, or Impossible Things (or maybe Inside Job) or Blackout (followed by All Clear) (rec by Bryson) by Connie Willis
other books by Robert Heinlein (perhaps Double Star or The Door into Summer) (Bryson anti-recs The Number of the Beast)?
Consider Phlebas by Iain Banks (part of the Culture series; I read another book in the series: The Player of Games) (rec by Bryson for the whole series) ?
Spin by Robert Wilson ?
Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny ?
Permutation City by Greg Egan ?
Perdido Street Station (long and also supposedly overly descriptive, yet I read an excerpt and it didn't bother me) or Embassytown by China Mieville ??
On the Oceans of Eternity (series finale: Island in the Sea of Time) by S. M. Stirling
Into the Storm: Destroyermen by Taylor Anderson (rec by Edison) ?
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (found on my own, then rec by Bryson I think and rec by Rob from Montreal and then rec by Ojan)
We by Eugene Zamiatin (rec by Margaret Atwood) (inspiration for 1984 and Brave New World)
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (rec by Kevin S for its style; don't read it as straight fantasy) ?
The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks ??
The Listeners by James Gunn (inspiration for SETI) ??
Floating Worlds by Cecelia Holland (rec by Kim Stanley Robinson) ?
Dark Universe by Daniel Galouye (rec by Richard Dawkins) ?
other books by Tad Williams in the To The Green Angle Tower
world. (Note: I tried a different series by him, Otherworld, and didn't
like it.) ?
final books in Robert Jordan's series (completed by Brandon Sanderson)
In the Beginning...was the Command Line by Neal Stephenson (technically non-fiction) (possibly out-dated)
other books such as The Lions of al-Rassan, Under Heaven (rec by Kevin S: great), The Summer Tree, Ysabel (rec by Kevin S: good), or River of Stars (similar setting to Under Heaven) by Guy Gavriel Kay, and perhaps the essays and speeches on his web site
more books by Harry Turtledove ?
Far Future edited by Gregory Benford ?
Mystery
Kingfisher Hill by Sophie Hannah (one of several new authorized Poirot novels; this one sounds interesting) ?
Magpie Murders: A Novel, The Sentence Is Death (or other books) by Anthony Horowitz
books by Jasper Fforde in the Thursday Next series such as The Eyre Affair or Something Rotten (rec by Di Yin) (for "fans of Douglas Adams and P. G. Wodehouse" according to amazon) (counts as Sci-Fi too)
Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (such as Hound of the Baskervilles)
other books such as The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte (author of The Flanders Panel)
Veronica Mars: An Original Mystery by Rob Thomas: The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham (if the movie is good; this follows events there) ?
Puzzles, Math, and Statistics
Causal Inference for Statistics, Social, and Biomedical Sciences: An Introduction by Guide Imbens and Donald Rubin (second-hand rec via Jon)
Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman (rec by Bryson) (for when kids are older; "reading age: 9-14")
How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking by Jordan Ellenberg
Martin Gardner's Mathematical Games or The Colossal Book of Short Puzzles and Problems or similar
Puzzlecraft: The Ultimate Guide on How to Construct Every Kind of Puzzle by Mike Selinker and Thomas Snyder
Adventures in Puzzling: Multi-Puzzle Extravaganzas for the Brave, Bold & Bright by Patrick Berry (rec by Larry H)
The Simple Book of Not-So-Simple Puzzles by Serhiy Grabarchuk (and others) (rec by Will Shortz)
Meanwhile: Pick Any Path. 3,856 Story Possibilities by Jason Shiga (rec by Larry H) (also, see thread at work) (also online, but not as "fun as the physical, color version")
Masquerade by Kit Williams (book with puzzles) ?
A Treasure's Trove or Secrets of the Alchemist Dar by Michael Stadther (book with puzzles)?
The Puzzling World of Winston Breen by Eric Berlin (novel with puzzles) (a la The Westing Game)
Picture Titles: How and Why Western Paintings Acquired Their Names by Ruth Yeazell
What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions or How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems by Randall Munroe (xkcd guy)
a Peanuts compendium by Charles Sculz
latest Piled Higher & Deeper (PhD) books by Jorge Cham
Scenes from an Impending Marriage by Adrian Tomine (rec by Hosken)
Zits (Sketchbook 1-6)
Jon Stewart's America
a coffee-table book on Chihuly (e.g., de Young catalog)
What It Is by Lynda Barry
Humor
Sexually, I'm More of a Switzerland: More Personal Ads from the London Review of Books (sequel to They Call Me Naughty Lola: Personal Ads from the London Review of Books) by David Rose
Fart Proudly: Writings of Benjamin Franklin You Never Read in School by Benjamin Franklin (but don't read prologue or closing piece by Japiske)
maybe Give War a Chance or All the Trouble in the World: The Lighter Side of Overpopulation, Famine, Ecological Disaster, Ethnic Hatred, Plague, and Poverty by P. J. O'Rourke ?
Parenting
The ABC of It: Why Children's Books Matter by Leonard
Marcus and Lisa Von Drasek
What Great Parents Do: 75 Simple Strategies for Raising Kids Who
Thrive by Erica Reischer (basic)
Caring for Your Baby and Young Child, 6th Edition: Birth to Age 5 by American Academy Of Pediatrics
The New Father: A Dad's Guide to the First Year by Armin Brott (similar to The Joy of Fatherhood) (not at local library; try reading it using amazon's look inside feature) ?
Baby-Led Weaning by Tracey Murkett and Gill Rapley (red by Deb)
How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish
The Parenthood Decision by Beverly Engel
The Journey to Parenthood: Myths, Reality and What Really Matters by Diana Barnes, Leigh Balber, and Roberta Michnick
Two Is Enough: A Couple's Guide to Living Childless by Choice by Laura Scott
Baby Not on Board: A Celebration of Life without Kids by Jennifer Shawne ?
Your Baby and Child by Penelope Leach (rec by parents)
With/For Kids
The Red Ear Blows Its Nose by Robert Schechter (poems) (heard about in Harvard magazine)