Great Reads: Learn Something New
Great Reads is a series of posts featuring recent books that are highly recommended by Toronto Public Library staff.
These are some of our favourite non-fiction titles. Pick one up and see what you learn!
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Curious: The Desire to Know and Why Your Future Depends on it by Ian Leslie Throughout history when curiosity has been encouraged, it has led to new ideas and scientific advances. We are now in a lull. The challenge is to find ways of making more people hungry to learn, question and create. Find out what feeds curiosity and what starves it. |
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Dr. Mütter’s Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine by Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz Thomas Dent Mütter was a 19th century pioneer of surgical reconstruction and a charismatic, compassionate teacher. He was ahead of his time in advocating for patients’ rights, the use of anesthesia and sterile procedures long before germ theory had been developed. Regular Print |
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The Empathy Exams: Essays by Leslie Jamison For Jamison, “empathy is a choice we make: to pay attention, to extend ourselves.” She explores our capacity for empathy in a series of thoughtful essays on a wide range of topics, including violence, reality TV, imprisonment, the death of a child and illness. Regular Print |
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Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt by Michael Lewis A small group on Wall Street discover that the US stock market has been rigged for the benefit of insiders and that, post-financial crisis, the markets have become less free and more controlled by the big Wall Street banks. Working at different firms, they band together and set out to reform the financial markets. Regular Print |
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Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach Roach’s book explores the human alimentary canal from nose to tail. Warning: this might be too much information for those with more delicate sensibilities. It is even better in its Earphone award-winning audiobook form! Regular Print |
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How to Be a Victorian by Ruth Goodman Goodman combines her knowledge of Victorian education, work, leisure, food and sexuality with her first-hand experiences living on a Victorian farm. Discover the origin of “knock you up in the morning” and the secret ingredient in Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup! |
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Into the Blizzard: Walking the Fields of the Newfoundland Dead by Michael Winter Novelist Winter retraces the steps of soldiers from the Newfoundland Regiment, focussing on their participation in the Battle of Beaumont-Hamel on July 1, 1916. Not a military chronicle, but an examination of how we remember war and whether historical distance really gives us more perspective. Regular Print |
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League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions and the Battle for the Truth by Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru In spite of mounting scientific evidence of brain injuries among football players, the National Football League used its considerable resources to deny the claims, attack the evidence and fund its own deeply-flawed research into the problem. Regular Print |
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The Novel Cure: An A-Z of Literary Remedies by Ella Berthoud and Susan Elderkin An entertaining guide to what to read next, written somewhat tongue-in-cheek. Need a cure for long-windedness? Read Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. Are you too arrogant or anally retentive? Pride and Prejudice and The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy may provide the cure. |
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Plutocrats: The Rise of the Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else by Chrystia Freeland Freeland, a journalist and now a Canadian MP, spent time with the top one percent to produce this inside look at how the plutocracy lives, thinks, educates, invests and controls the legislative agenda worldwide. |
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Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain A compelling and insightful look at the value of introverts in a society that traditionally praises the extroverted. Regular Print |
Other Posts in the Great Reads series:
2 thoughts on “Great Reads: Learn Something New”
Hey, Book Buzz, I’m liking these.
Thank you, Great Reader. The books on these lists were suggested by staff members from all over the city. We hope everyone can find something of interest here.