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Blink, Malcolm Gladwell

In his landmark bestseller The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell redefined how we understand the world

around us. Now, in Blink, he revolutionizes the way we understand the world within. Blink is a book about

how we think without thinking, about choices that seem to be made in an instant-in the blink of an eye-

that actually aren't as simple as they seem. Why are some people brilliant decision makers, while others

are consistently inept? Why do some people follow their instincts and win, while others end up stumbling

into error? How do our brains really work-in the office, in the classroom, in the kitchen, and in the

bedroom? And why are the best decisions often those that are impossible to explain to others? Blink

reveals that great decision makers aren't those who process the most information or spend the most time

deliberating, but those who have perfected the art of "thin-slicing"-filtering the very few factors that

matter from an overwhelming number of variables.

Brain Rules, John Medina

See how the brain works while using it in the process of reading this book! Most of us have no idea what's

really going on inside our heads. Yet brain scientists have uncovered details every business leader, parent,

and teacher should know - like that physical activity boosts your brain power. How do we learn? What

exactly do sleep and stress do to our brains? Why is multi-tasking a myth? Why is it so easy to forget -

and so important to repeat new information? Is it true that men and women have different brains? In

Brain Rules, Dr. John Medina, a molecular biologist, shares his lifelong interest in how the brain sciences

might influence the way we teach our children and the way we work. In each chapter, he describes a brain

rule - what scientists know for sure about how our brains work - and then offers transformative ideas for

our daily lives. Medina's fascinating stories and sense of humour breathe life into brain science. You'll

learn why Michael Jordan was no good at baseball. You'll peer over a surgeon's shoulder as he proves that

we have a Jennifer Aniston neuron. You'll meet a boy who has an amazing memory for music but can't tie

his own shoes.

Freakonomics, Steven D. Levitt

Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in

common? How much do parents really matter? These may not sound like typical questions for an economist

to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He studies the riddles of everyday life—from

cheating and crime to parenting and sports—and reaches conclusions that turn conventional wisdom on its

head. Freakonomics is a groundbreaking collaboration between Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, an award-

winning author and journalist. They set out to explore the inner workings of a crack gang, the truth about

real estate agents, the secrets of the Ku Klux Klan, and much more. Through forceful storytelling and wry

insight, they show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives—how people get what they want or

need, especially when other people want or need the same thing.

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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Sloot

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer

who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became

one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are

still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever

grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons—as much as a hundred Empire State

Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and

the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene

mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. Intimate in feeling, astonishing in scope, and

impossible to put down, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks captures the beauty and drama of scientific

discovery, as well as its human consequences.

One L: The Turbulent True Story of a First Year at Harvard Law School

It was a year of terrors and triumphs, of depressions and elations, of compulsive work, pitiless competition,

and, finally, mass hysteria. It was Scott Turow's first year at the oldest, biggest, most esteemed center of

legal education in the United States. Turow's experiences at Harvard Law School, where freshmen are

dubbed One Ls, parallel those of first-year law students everywhere. His gripping account of this critical,

formative year in the life of a lawyer is as suspenseful, said The New York Times, as "the most absorbing of

thrillers…A wonderful book...it should be read by anyone who has ever contemplated going to law school. Or

anyone who has ever worried about being human." -The New York Times

Near the beginning of The Autobiography of an Execution, David Dow lays his cards on the table. "People think

that because I am against the death penalty and don't think people should be executed, that I forgive those

people for what they did. Well, it isn't my place to forgive people.” It this spellbinding true crime narrative, Dow

takes us inside of prisons, inside the complicated minds of judges, inside execution-administration chambers,

into the lives of death row inmates (some shown to be innocent, others not) and even into his own home. He

sheds insight onto unexpected phenomena-- how even religious lawyer and justices can evince deep rooted

support for putting criminals to death-- and makes palpable the suspense that clings to every word and action

when human lives hang in the balance.

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An illuminating study of the intertwined lives of the founders of the American republic--John Adams, Aaron Burr,

Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington.

During the 1790s, which Ellis calls the most decisive decade in our nation's history, the greatest statesmen of

their generation--and perhaps any--came together to define the new republic and direct its course for the coming

centuries. Ellis focuses on six discrete moments that exemplify the most crucial issues facing the fragile new

nation: Burr and Hamilton's deadly duel, and what may have really happened; Hamilton, Jefferson, and Madison's

secret dinner, during which the seat of the permanent capital was determined in exchange for passage of

Hamilton's financial plan; Franklin's petition to end the "peculiar institution" of slavery--his last public act--and

Madison's efforts to quash it; Washington's precedent-setting Farewell Address, announcing his retirement from

public office and offering his country some final advice; Adams's difficult term as Washington's successor and his

alleged scheme to pass the presidency on to his son; and finally, Adams and Jefferson's renewed correspondence

at the end of their lives, in which they compared their different views of the Revolution and its legacy. Ellis

argues that the checks and balances that permitted the infant American republic to endure were not primarily

legal, constitutional, or institutional, but intensely personal, rooted in the dynamic interaction of leaders with

quite different visions and values. Revisiting the old-fashioned idea that character matters, Founding Brothers

informs our understanding of American politics--then and now--and gives us a new perspective on the

unpredictable forces that shape history.