The Penguin Press

Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation

by Michael Pollan

In Cooked, Michael Pollan explores the previously uncharted territory of his own kitchen. Here, he discovers the enduring power of the four classical elements-fire, water, air, and earth-to transform the stuff...

The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail-but Some Don't

by Nate Silver

"Nate Silver's The Signal and the Noise is The Soul of a New Machine for the 21st century."

—Rachel Maddow, author of Drift

Nate Silver built an innovative system for predicting baseball performance, predicted...

Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength

by Roy F. Baumeister & John Tierney

Pioneering research psychologist Roy F. Baumeister collaborates with New York Times science writer John Tierney to revolutionize our understanding of the most coveted human virtue: self-control. Drawing on cutting-edge...

The Way of the Knife: The CIA, a Secret Army, and a War at the Ends of the Earth

by Mark Mazzetti

A Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter's riveting account of the transformation of the CIA and America's special operations forces into man-hunting and killing machines in the world's dark spaces: the new American...

Detroit: An American Autopsy

by Charlie LeDuff

New York Times Bestseller

"A book full of both literary grace and hard-won world-weariness... Iggy Pop meets Jim Carroll and Charles Bukowski" -Kirkus, STARRED REVIEW

Back in his broken hometown, Pulitzer Prize-winning...

There Was A Country: A Personal History of Biafra

by Chinua Achebe

From the legendary author of Things Fall Apart comes a longawaited memoir about coming of age with a fragile new nation, then watching it torn asunder in a tragic civil war

The defining experience of Chinua...

Bringing Up Bebe: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting

by Pamela Druckerman

The secret behind France's astonishingly well-behaved children.

When American journalist Pamela Druckerman has a baby in Paris, she doesn't aspire to become a "French parent." French parenting isn't a known...

Civilization: The West and the Rest

by Niall Ferguson

Western civilization’s rise to global dominance is the single most important historical phenomenon of the past five centuries

How did the West overtake its Eastern rivals? And has the zenith of Western power...

The Making of Victorian Values: Decency and Dissent in Britain: 1789-1837

by Ben Wilson

Ben Wilson's The Making of Victorian Values is the history of an era rather like our own-a time when dissenters and rebels were hemmed in by conformists and hardheaded authoritarians, a time when a nation on...

Chasing the Flame

by Samantha Power

From Pulitzer Prize winner Samantha Power, an epic tale-part thriller, part tragedy-for our age, the political career and tragic death of the incomparable humanitarian Sergio Vieira de Mello If there is a single...

Geek Abroad

Geek High #2

by Piper Banks

Wild Ones: A Sometimes Dismaying, Weirdly Reassuring Story About Looking at People Lookingat Animals in America

by Jon Mooallem

Journalist Jon Mooallem has watched his little daughter's world overflow with animals butterfly pajamas, appliquéd owls-while the actual world she's inheriting slides into a great storm of extinction. Half...

Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success

by Phil Jackson & Hugh Delehanty

During his storied career as head coach of the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers, Phil Jackson won more championships than any coach in the history of professional sports. Even more important, he succeeded...

She Left Me the Gun: My Mother's Life Before Me

by Emma Brockes

"Quite simply an extraordinary book... it's basically the perfect memoir: a riveting, authentic tale elegantly told." --Sunday Telegraph (UK)

A chilling work of psychological suspense and forensic memoir, She...

The Third Coast: When Chicago Built the American Dream

by Thomas Dyja

Though today it can seem as if all American culture comes out of New York and Los Angeles, much of what defined the nation as it grew into a superpower was produced in Chicago. Before air travel overtook trains,...

My Animals and Other Family

by Clare Balding

"I had spent most of my childhood thinking I was a dog, and suspect I had aged in dog years. By the time I was ten I had discovered the pain of unbearable loss. I had felt joy and jealousy. Most important of...

The Alchemists: Three Central Bankers and a World on Fire

by Neil Irwin

When the first fissures became visible to the naked eye in August 2007, suddenly the most powerful men in the world were three men who were never elected to public office. They were the leaders of the world's...

Drunk Tank Pink: And Other Unexpected Forces that Shape How We Think, Feel, and Behave

by Adam Alter

An illuminating look at the way the thoughts we have and the decisions we make are influenced by forces that aren't always in our control

Why are people named Kim, Kelly, and Ken more likely to donate to Hurricane...

Merchant, Soldier, Sage: A History of the World in Three Castes

by David Priestland

A bold new interpretation of modern history as a continual struggle among three prevailing power groups: merchant, soldier, and sage

Noted Oxford historian David Priestland argues history is, at base, a conflict...

The Still Point of the Turning World: A Mother's Story

by Emily Rapp

Like all mothers, Emily Rapp had ambitious plans for her first and only child, Ronan.  He would be smart, loyal, physically fearless, and level-headed, but fun.  He would be good at crossword puzzles like...