Be Useful
2023
by Arnold Schwarzenegger
Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life, by Arnold Schwarzenegger, is an inspirational guide that outlines the seven key rules for discovering and realizing one's true purpose in life. Schwarzenegger shares the tools he developed on his journey to becoming the world's greatest bodybuilder, highest-paid movie star, and a prominent political leader.
Arnold's father instilled in him the profound lesson to always be useful, a principle that Arnold has carried throughout his varied and successful career. In this book, Schwarzenegger speaks with a voice that is both earnest and powerful as he recounts personal stories of success and failure, some of which are being shared for the first time.
This book is not just about Arnold's achievements, but also about the mental tools he created to escape the confines of his rural Austrian upbringing. He emphasizes the importance of self-reliance and shares his wisdom, encouraging readers to apply these tools in pursuit of their own dreams and purposes. Arnold's message is clear: nobody will come to your rescue, but the good news is that you have all you need within yourself.
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Unearthing
2023
by Kyo Maclear
An unforgettable memoir about a family secret revealed by a DNA test, the lessons learned in its aftermath, and the indelible power of love.
Three months after Kyo Maclear’s father dies in December 2018, she gets the results of a DNA test showing that she and the father who raised her are not biologically related. Suddenly Maclear becomes a detective in her own life, unravelling a family mystery piece by piece, and assembling the story of her biological father. Along the way, larger questions arise: what exactly is kinship? And what does it mean to be a family? Thoughtful in its reflections on race and lineage, unflinching in its insights on grief and loyalty, Unearthing is a captivating and propulsive story of inheritance that goes beyond heredity. What gets planted, and what gets buried? What role does storytelling play in unearthing the past and making sense of a life? Can the humble act of tending a garden provide common ground for an inquisitive daughter and her complicated mother? As it seeks to answer these questions, Unearthing bursts with the very love it seeks to understand.
SOLO
2022
by Jenny Tough
Jenny Tough is an endurance athlete renowned for her feats in running and cycling through some of the world's most demanding events. In SOLO, she shares a narrative that is as much about personal growth as it is about physical endurance.
Her journey begins with a quest to confront the feelings and emotions that were limiting her. Running, a therapeutic and empowering practice for Jenny, becomes the foundation for an extraordinary goal: to traverse mountain ranges on six continents, alone and unaided, starting in the isolated terrains of Kyrgystan.
This book is a vivid account of her expeditions across the Tien Shan (Asia), the High Atlas (Africa), the Cordillera Oriental (South America), the Southern Alps (Oceania), the Canadian Rockies (North America), and the Transylvanian Alps (Europe). Along the way, Jenny discovers invaluable lessons in self-esteem, resilience, and courage.
The essence of SOLO is the affirmation that embarking on solo endeavors, whether grand or modest, can be exhilarating and uplifting. Jenny's call to action, urging us to find inner strength, confidence, and self-belief, serves as a powerful source of motivation for readers seeking to overcome their own barriers.
Ten Steps to Nanette
2022
by Hannah Gadsby
Ten Steps to Nanette continues Gadsby’s tradition of confounding expectations and norms, properly introducing us to one of the most explosive, formative voices of our time. Gadsby grew up as the youngest of five children in an isolated town in Tasmania, where homosexuality was illegal until 1997. She perceived her childhood as safe and “normal,” but as she gained an awareness of her burgeoning queerness, the outside world began to undermine the “vulnerably thin veneer” of her existence. After moving to mainland Australia and receiving a degree in art history, Gadsby found herself adrift, working itinerant jobs and enduring years of isolation punctuated by homophobic and sexual violence. At age twenty-seven, without a home or the ability to imagine her own future, she was urged by a friend to enter a stand-up competition. She won, and so began her career in comedy. Gadsby became well known for her self-deprecating, autobiographical humor that made her the butt of her own jokes. But in 2015, as Australia debated the legality of same-sex marriage, Gadsby started to question this mode of storytelling, beginning work on a show that would become “the most-talked-about, written-about, shared-about comedy act in years” (The New York Times).
Harrowing and hilarious, Ten Steps to Nanette traces Gadsby’s growth as a queer person, to her ever-evolving relationship with comedy, and her struggle with late-in-life diagnoses of autism and ADHD, finally arriving at the backbone of Nanette: the renouncement of self-deprecation, the rejection of misogyny, and the moral significance of truth-telling.
Harrowing and hilarious, Ten Steps to Nanette traces Gadsby’s growth as a queer person, to her ever-evolving relationship with comedy, and her struggle with late-in-life diagnoses of autism and ADHD, finally arriving at the backbone of Nanette: the renouncement of self-deprecation, the rejection of misogyny, and the moral significance of truth-telling.
The Anthropocene Reviewed
2021
by John Green
The Anthropocene is the current geologic age, in which humans have profoundly reshaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his groundbreaking podcast, bestselling author John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet on a five-star scale—from the QWERTY keyboard and sunsets to Canada geese and Penguins of Madagascar.
Funny, complex, and rich with detail, the reviews chart the contradictions of contemporary humanity. As a species, we are both far too powerful and not nearly powerful enough, a paradox that came into sharp focus as we faced a global pandemic that both separated us and bound us together. John Green’s gift for storytelling shines throughout this masterful collection.
The Anthropocene Reviewed is a open-hearted exploration of the paths we forge and an unironic celebration of falling in love with the world.
Funny, complex, and rich with detail, the reviews chart the contradictions of contemporary humanity. As a species, we are both far too powerful and not nearly powerful enough, a paradox that came into sharp focus as we faced a global pandemic that both separated us and bound us together. John Green’s gift for storytelling shines throughout this masterful collection.
The Anthropocene Reviewed is a open-hearted exploration of the paths we forge and an unironic celebration of falling in love with the world.
Negative Space
2021
by Lilly Dancyger
Despite her parents’ struggles with addiction, Lilly Dancyger always thought of her childhood as a happy one. But what happens when a journalist interrogates her own rosy memories to reveal the instability around the edges?
Dancyger’s father, Joe Schactman, was part of the iconic 1980s East Village art scene. He created provocative sculptures out of found materials like animal bones, human hair, and broken glass, and brought his young daughter into his gritty, iconoclastic world. She idolized him—despite the escalating heroin addiction that sometimes overshadowed his creative passion. When Schactman died suddenly, just as Dancyger was entering adolescence, she went into her own self-destructive spiral, raging against a world that had taken her father away. As an adult, Dancyger began to question the mythology she’d created about her father—the brilliant artist, struck down in his prime. Using his sculptures, paintings, and prints as a guide, Dancyger sought out the characters from his world who could help her decode the language of her father’s work to find the truth of who he really was.
Dancyger’s father, Joe Schactman, was part of the iconic 1980s East Village art scene. He created provocative sculptures out of found materials like animal bones, human hair, and broken glass, and brought his young daughter into his gritty, iconoclastic world. She idolized him—despite the escalating heroin addiction that sometimes overshadowed his creative passion. When Schactman died suddenly, just as Dancyger was entering adolescence, she went into her own self-destructive spiral, raging against a world that had taken her father away. As an adult, Dancyger began to question the mythology she’d created about her father—the brilliant artist, struck down in his prime. Using his sculptures, paintings, and prints as a guide, Dancyger sought out the characters from his world who could help her decode the language of her father’s work to find the truth of who he really was.
Crying in H Mart
2021
by Michelle Zauner
Crying in H Mart is an exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance. Michelle Zauner, known as the indie rock sensation Japanese Breakfast, proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humor and heart, she tells of growing up as one of the few Asian American kids at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother’s particular, high expectations of her; and of a painful adolescence.
Zauner shares treasured months spent in her grandmother’s tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food. As she grew up, moving to the East Coast for college, finding work in the restaurant industry, and performing gigs with her fledgling band—and meeting the man who would become her husband—her Koreanness began to feel ever more distant, even as she found the life she wanted to live.
It was her mother’s diagnosis of terminal cancer, when Michelle was twenty-five, that forced a reckoning with her identity and brought her to reclaim the gifts of taste, language, and history her mother had given her. Vivacious and plainspoken, lyrical and honest, Zauner’s voice is as radiantly alive on the page as it is onstage. Rich with intimate anecdotes that will resonate widely, Crying in H Mart is a book to cherish, share, and reread.
A Promised Land
2020
by Barack Obama
A Promised Land is an intimate and powerful account of history in the making, from the president who inspired us to believe in democracy. Barack Obama narrates his journey from a young man searching for his identity to becoming the leader of the free world, offering personal insights into both his political education and the significant moments of his first presidential term.
From his earliest political aspirations to the pivotal Iowa caucus victory, and the historic election night on November 4, 2008, Obama's memoir is a deeply personal exploration of the reach and limits of presidential power, U.S. partisan politics, and international diplomacy. He takes readers inside the Oval Office, the White House Situation Room, and across the globe, sharing his thoughts on assembling his cabinet, handling the global financial crisis, confronting Vladimir Putin, and authorizing the mission that led to the death of Osama bin Laden.
With candor, Obama discusses the challenges of running for office as a Black American, the impact of the presidency on his family, and never loses faith in the progress possible within the American experiment. A Promised Land is a testament to democracy, founded on empathy and common understanding, built together day by day.
Why Fish Don't Exist
2020
by Lulu Miller
Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life is a dark and astonishing tale of love, chaos, scientific obsession, and—possibly—even murder, woven together in a wondrous debut by NPR reporter Lulu Miller.
David Starr Jordan, a taxonomist driven to bring order to the natural world, was on the verge of discovering nearly a fifth of the fish known to humans in his day. However, the universe seemed determined to challenge him, as his specimen collections were destroyed by a series of calamities, culminating in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. His life's work in ruins, Jordan stood amidst the wreckage and, spotting the first fish he recognized, began the arduous task of rebuilding his collection. This time, he introduced an innovation to protect his work from chaos.
Lulu Miller's encounter with Jordan's story led her to question her own understanding of history, morality, and the world beneath her feet. Why Fish Don't Exist is not only a biography and a memoir but also a scientific adventure that reads like a fable, offering an inspiring reflection on how to persevere in a world where chaos always seems to prevail.
Becoming
2018
by Michelle Obama
An intimate, powerful, and inspiring memoir by the former First Lady of the United States.
In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms.
Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same.
Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same.
Billion Dollar Whale
2018
by Tom Wright, Bradley Hope
Billion Dollar Whale reveals the epic story of how a young social climber from Malaysia, Jho Low, pulled off one of the biggest financial heists in history. In 2009, Low set in motion a fraud that would symbolize the next great threat to the global financial system.
With the aid of Goldman Sachs and others, Low siphoned billions of dollars from an investment fund, all under the watchful eyes of global financial industry watchdogs. His elaborate schemes financed elections, luxury real estate, extravagant parties, and even Hollywood films like The Wolf of Wall Street.
This harrowing parable of hubris and greed in the financial world is a classic tale of a 'modern Gatsby', who emerged from obscurity to orchestrate a heist that shook the financial industry, and how this industry let it happen.
Small Fry
2018
by Lisa Brennan-Jobs
A frank, smart and captivating memoir by the daughter of Apple founder Steve Jobs.
Born on a farm and named in a field by her parents -- artist Chrisann Brennan and Steve Jobs -- Lisa Brennan-Jobs's childhood unfolded in a rapidly changing Silicon Valley. When she was young, Lisa's father was a mythical figure who was rarely present in her life. As she grew older, her father took an interest in her, ushering her into a new world of mansions, vacations, and private schools. His attention was thrilling, but he could also be cold, critical and unpredictable. When her relationship with her mother grew strained in high school, Lisa decided to move in with her father, hoping he'd become the parent she'd always wanted him to be.
Part portrait of a complex family, part love letter to California in the seventies and eighties, Small Fry is the poignant story of a childhood spent between two imperfect but extraordinary homes.
Born on a farm and named in a field by her parents -- artist Chrisann Brennan and Steve Jobs -- Lisa Brennan-Jobs's childhood unfolded in a rapidly changing Silicon Valley. When she was young, Lisa's father was a mythical figure who was rarely present in her life. As she grew older, her father took an interest in her, ushering her into a new world of mansions, vacations, and private schools. His attention was thrilling, but he could also be cold, critical and unpredictable. When her relationship with her mother grew strained in high school, Lisa decided to move in with her father, hoping he'd become the parent she'd always wanted him to be.
Part portrait of a complex family, part love letter to California in the seventies and eighties, Small Fry is the poignant story of a childhood spent between two imperfect but extraordinary homes.
Educated
2018
by Tara Westover
Educated is an account of the struggle for self-invention.
Tara Westover was 17 the first time she set foot in a classroom. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches and sleeping with her "head-for-the-hills bag". In the summer she stewed herbs for her mother, a midwife and healer, and in the winter she salvaged in her father's junkyard.
Her father forbade hospitals, so Tara never saw a doctor or nurse. Gashes and concussions, even burns from explosions, were all treated at home with herbalism. The family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education and no one to intervene when one of Tara's older brothers became violent.
Then, lacking any formal education, Tara began to educate herself. She taught herself enough mathematics and grammar to be admitted to Brigham Young University, where she studied history, learning for the first time about important world events like the Holocaust and the civil rights movement. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge. Only then would she wonder if she'd traveled too far, if there was still a way home.
Tara Westover was 17 the first time she set foot in a classroom. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches and sleeping with her "head-for-the-hills bag". In the summer she stewed herbs for her mother, a midwife and healer, and in the winter she salvaged in her father's junkyard.
Her father forbade hospitals, so Tara never saw a doctor or nurse. Gashes and concussions, even burns from explosions, were all treated at home with herbalism. The family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education and no one to intervene when one of Tara's older brothers became violent.
Then, lacking any formal education, Tara began to educate herself. She taught herself enough mathematics and grammar to be admitted to Brigham Young University, where she studied history, learning for the first time about important world events like the Holocaust and the civil rights movement. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge. Only then would she wonder if she'd traveled too far, if there was still a way home.
Unbound
2017
by Steph Jagger
A young woman follows winter across five continents on a physical and spiritual journey that tests her body and soul, in this transformative memoir, full of heart and courage, that speaks to the adventurousness in all of us.
Steph Jagger had always been a force of nature. Dissatisfied with the passive, limited roles she saw for women growing up, she emulated the men in her life—chasing success, climbing the corporate ladder, ticking the boxes, playing by the rules of a masculine ideal. She was accomplished. She was living The Dream. But it wasn't her dream.
Then the universe caught her attention with a sign: Raise Restraining Device. Steph had seen this ski lift sign on countless occasions in the past, but the familiar words suddenly became a personal call to shake off the life she had built in a search for something different, something more.
Steph soon decided to walk away from the success and security she had worked long and hard to obtain. She quit her job, took a second mortgage on her house, sold everything except her ski equipment and her laptop, and bought a bundle of plane tickets. For the next year, she followed winter across North and South America, Asia, Europe, and New Zealand—and up and down the mountains of nine countries—on a mission to ski four million vertical feet in a year.
What hiking was for Cheryl Strayed, skiing became for Steph: a crucible in which to crack open her life and get to the very center of herself. But she would have to break herself down—first physically, then emotionally—before she could start to rebuild. And it was through this journey that she came to understand how to be a woman, how to love, and how to live authentically.
Electrifying, heartfelt, and full of humor, Unbound is Steph's story—an odyssey of courage and self-discovery that, like Wild and Eat, Pray, Love, will inspire readers to remove their own restraining devices and pursue the life they are meant to lead.
The Carter Family: Don't Forget This Song
2012
by Frank M. Young, David Lasky
The Carter Family: Don’t Forget This Song is a rich and compelling original graphic novel that tells the story of the Carter Family—the first superstar group of country music—who made hundreds of recordings and sold millions of records. Many of their hit songs, such as “Wildwood Flower” and “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” have influenced countless musicians and remain timeless country standards.
The Carter Family: Don’t Forget This Song is not only a unique illustrated biography, but a moving account that reveals the family’s rise to success, their struggles along the way, and their impact on contemporary music. Illustrated with exacting detail and written in the Southern dialect of the time, its dynamic narrative is pure Americana. It is also a story of success and failure, of poverty and wealth, of racism and tolerance, of creativity and business, and of the power of music and love.
No, Really, Where Are You From?
2012
by Nancy Ng
No, Really, Where Are You From? by Nancy Ng offers an insightful glimpse into the lives of eight Chinese individuals who navigate the complexities of being a visible minority in Canada. Through vivid storytelling, Ng explores the experiences of these individuals with their Chinese culture from childhood to adulthood, painting a portrait of the diverse ways in which they connect with their heritage.
The book delves into the broader themes of global migration and its significant impact on ethnic identity. It presents the nuanced and often challenging journey of ethnic identity retention and loss, which is not a matter of absolutes but is in a constant state of evolution and redefinition. Nancy Ng's work is a testament to the resilience and adaptability of the human spirit in the face of cultural shifts and societal pressures.
The Year of Magical Thinking
2005
by Joan Didion
An autobiographical portrait of marriage and motherhood by the acclaimed author details her struggle to come to terms with life and death, illness, sanity, personal upheaval, and grief.
"In this dramatic adaptation of her award-winning, bestselling memoir (which Michiko Kakutani in The New York Times called "an indelible portrait of loss and grief . . . a haunting portrait of a four-decade-long marriage), Joan Didion transforms the story of the sudden and unexpected loss of her husband and their only daughter into a stunning and powerful one-woman play. The first theatrical production of The Year of Magical Thinking opened at the Booth Theatre on March 29, 2007, starring Vanessa Redgrave and directed by David Hare.
"In this dramatic adaptation of her award-winning, bestselling memoir (which Michiko Kakutani in The New York Times called "an indelible portrait of loss and grief . . . a haunting portrait of a four-decade-long marriage), Joan Didion transforms the story of the sudden and unexpected loss of her husband and their only daughter into a stunning and powerful one-woman play. The first theatrical production of The Year of Magical Thinking opened at the Booth Theatre on March 29, 2007, starring Vanessa Redgrave and directed by David Hare.
The Complete Maus
1996
by Art Spiegelman
The Complete Maus, a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel by Art Spiegelman, is a profound narrative that recounts the chilling experiences of the author's father, Vladek Spiegelman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe. This volume includes both Maus I: A Survivor's Tale and Maus II, presenting the complete story.
Through the unique medium of cartoons—with Nazis depicted as cats and Jews as mice—Spiegelman captures the everyday reality of fear and survival during the Holocaust. This artistic choice not only shocks readers out of any sense of familiarity but also draws them closer to the harrowing heart of the Holocaust.
More than just a tale of survival, Maus is also an exploration of the author's complex relationship with his father. The narrative weaves together Vladek's harrowing story with the author's own struggles, framing a life of small arguments and unhappy visits against the backdrop of a larger historical atrocity. It is a story that extends beyond Vladek to all the children who bear the legacy of their parents' traumas.
Maus is not only a personal account of survival but also a broader examination of the impact of history on subsequent generations. It is an essential work that studies the traces of history and its enduring significance.