Book Reviews

4.8

Published by Ten Speed Press in July 2016, Rachel Ignotofsky's Women in Science is a New York Times bestselling illustrated collection profiling fifty trailblazing women in STEM — from ancient philosopher and mathematician Hypatia to primatologist Jane Goodall and NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson — paired with infographics and a scientific glossary. Critics called it a "wittily illustrated [and] accessible volume," and InStyle named it "the must-read, girl-power STEM book." It is a well-received educational gift book designed for readers from upper elementary through high school, and it stands as a landmark title in the wave of illustrated non-fiction celebrating women's contributions to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Feb 28, 2026

Charlotte's Web: A Newbery Honor Award Winner by E. B. White

4.8

First published by Harper & Brothers on October 15, 1952, Charlotte's Web is a Newbery Honor children's novel by E. B. White, illustrated by Garth Williams, that has become one of the best-selling children's books of all time — following a pig named Wilbur and the spider Charlotte, whose ingenious loyalty transforms both their fates.

No-Drama Discipline: The Whole-Brain Way to Calm the Chaos and Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind by Daniel J. Siegel, Tina Payne Bryson

4.7

No-Drama Discipline is a New York Times bestseller from the co-authors of The Whole-Brain Child that uses neuroscience to help parents move beyond punishment toward connection-first strategies — making it a substantive, research-grounded resource for families navigating the daily chaos of raising children.

Feb 27, 2026

The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing by Mel Lindauer, Taylor Larimore, Michael LeBoeuf

4.7

The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing is a practical, DIY personal-finance handbook built on the low-cost, passive-investing philosophy of Vanguard founder John C. Bogle. Co-authored by three community leaders — Taylor Larimore, Mel Lindauer, and Michael LeBoeuf — the second edition (published by Wiley in November 2021) updates foundational Boglehead principles with coverage of backdoor Roth IRAs, ETFs as buy-and-hold vehicles, estate taxes, gifting, and recent changes to retirement-plan law. This review is based on published sources and the book's documented contents, not hands-on application.

Letters from a Stoic by Lucius Annaeus Seneca

4.7

This Penguin Classics edition of Seneca's Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium — selected and translated by Robin Campbell — presents 124 letters written by the Roman philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca during his retirement after more than a decade serving Emperor Nero, offering one of antiquity's most enduring and personal meditations on how to live with virtue, courage, and equanimity.

Feb 25, 2026

Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty

4.5

Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century is a landmark work of economic nonfiction that draws on data from twenty countries spanning the eighteenth century to the present to argue that when the rate of return on capital outpaces economic growth, wealth concentrates among a shrinking minority — and proposes a global progressive wealth tax as the remedy. Originally published in French in 2013, translated into English by Arthur Goldhammer in 2014, and reissued in paperback by Belknap Press/Harvard University Press, the book reached number one on the New York Times Best Seller list for hardcover nonfiction and went on to sell over 2.5 million copies worldwide by the end of 2017, becoming the greatest sales success in Harvard University Press history. It is an essential, if demanding, text for anyone serious about understanding economic inequality.

Raising Resilient Children: Fostering Strength, Hope, and Optimism in Your Child by Robert Brooks and Sam Goldstein

4.5

Robert Brooks and Sam Goldstein's Raising Resilient Children: Fostering Strength, Hope, and Optimism in Your Child (McGraw Hill, 2002) is a parenting guide structured around scientifically grounded principles for building resilience in children, offering parents a chapter-by-chapter framework covering empathy, communication, realistic expectations, and the cultivation of what the authors call "islands of competence."

Feb 25, 2026

Looking for Alaska by John Green

4.4

Looking for Alaska, John Green's debut novel and winner of the 2006 Michael L. Printz Award, follows Miles "Pudge" Halter to a boarding school where his friendship with the magnetic Alaska Young, Chip "The Colonel" Martin, and Takumi Hikohito is defined and then devastated by Alaska's sudden death — a structural and emotional design that established Green as a major voice in contemporary young adult fiction and earned the novel a place on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists, TIME magazine's 100 Best Young Adult Novels of All Time, and Critics Best-Ever Teen Novels.

Feb 28, 2026

Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson

4.4

Walter Isaacson's Einstein: His Life and Universe, originally published by Simon & Schuster in 2007, stands as a landmark biography that draws on newly available primary sources to show how Albert Einstein's rebellious, inquisitive personality was inseparable from his scientific genius — a portrait that earned generally positive critical reception from outlets including The Guardian and Physics Today.

Feb 27, 2026

Klara and the Sun: A GMA Book Club Pick: A novel (Vintage International) by Kazuo Ishiguro

4.2

Kazuo Ishiguro's eighth novel is a dystopian science fiction story narrated by Klara, a solar-powered Artificial Friend whose luminous innocence illuminates the deepest questions about love, loneliness, and what it means to be human — a number one Sunday Times bestseller that debuted at number six on the New York Times fiction best-seller list and earned a Booker Prize longlisting.

SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard

Mary Beard's SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome is a critically acclaimed work of popular history published in 2015, a New York Times bestseller and finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award (Nonfiction), that interrogates Rome's origins, power structures, and multicultural world through close reading of fragmentary evidence rather than a smooth, triumphalist narrative.

Feb 28, 2026

Ultimate Video Game Trivia Challenge: 600 Multiple Choice Questions on Classic & Modern Games, RPGs, Music, Characters, and Gaming History by Lillian Jacobs

Lillian Jacobs's Ultimate Video Game Trivia Challenge delivers 600 multiple-choice questions spanning classic and modern games, RPGs, music, characters, and gaming history — a purpose-built reference and quiz companion for enthusiasts who want to test the full breadth of their gaming knowledge.