While this is definitely not a read-before-bed book (it's fascinating, but the content requires a more alert mind), The Swerve is well worth the read. And that's not just my opinion — it is a National Book Winner, and won the Pulitzer Prize!
Read MoreReads For The Road: Beyond Belief—My Secret Life Inside Scientology by Jenna Miscavige Hill
If you read one book this year, make it this one.
Published in 2013, Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape is an absolutely fascinating first-hand account of what life inside the little-known world of Scientology is really like.
Read MoreReads For The Road: Gang Leader For A Day by Sudhir Venkatesh
Hoping to write a compelling thesis on urban poverty, first-year graduate student Sudhir Venkatesh walked boldly into the middle of Chicago’s most notorious housing projects one afternoon determined to gain some insight.
His boldness — meant to impress his professors — instead impressed a gang leader named JT who, attracted to the idea of being written about, befriended Venkatesh giving him unprecedented access into the gang’s world.
For almost a decade, JT allowed him to observe as the gang operated their crack-selling business, evaded the law, made peace (or war) with the neighbors, and rose or fell in the gang’s complex hierarchy.
Gang Leader For A Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to The Streets gives an eye-opening view of an “outsider looking at life from the inside” (pg xvi), and tells the story of the complicated friendship that developed between two men who — though they have ambition in common — are from completely different worlds.
Reads For The Road: The World Without Us by Alan Weisman
Written by award-winning journalist Alan Weisman, The World Without Us is a fascinating book that examines all aspects of a simple question:
What would happen to the planet if human beings just disappeared?
Now, Weisman is quick to clarify that this disappearance would not be because of something violent like a natural disaster or nuclear war. No, he is examining what the result would be if all of us just suddenly vanished into thin air.
What would happen to the land, the cities, the ocean, the climate, our garbage, our art? How long — if ever — would it take for all human traces to disappear?
Weisman’s does a great job of approaching these questions from all angles and taking readers through his journey of discovery and research.
The New York Times Book Review called it “A fascinating eco-thriller…” and I couldn’t agree more — I couldn't put it down or stop talking about it with my friends and family (sorry guys).
