THE PROBLEM WITH BEING RIGHT de Matt Kaplan

Science correspondent for The Economist for over a decade, Matt Kaplan asks: How broken is science? How much innovation are we losing every year, how much more could there be? And is science more or less broken today than it has been in the past?

THE PROBLEM WITH BEING RIGHT
by Matt Kaplan
St. Martin’s Press, 2026)
(via Levine Greenberg Rostan)

What follows is a delightfully surprising trip through history. Kaplan centers this book on the story of Hungarian physician Ignaz Semmelweiss, one of the first to propose handwashing in the 1850s—a breakthrough that would ruin his life. Excoriated by his colleagues, Semmelweis was placed by them into a mental institution and died there after being beaten by guards. In order to tell this story, Kaplan looks to other Victorian contemporaries as counterexamples – Lister, Pasteur, Darwin. These figures, so celebrated by science, had many traits that Semmelweis lacked: powerful friends, wealthy families and donors—and in some cases, a willingness to cheat, lie, and commit fraud.

Kaplan takes us on a journey through not only the Victorian era, but into contemporary paleontology conferences with scientists screaming at one another, into esteemed academic circles, and shows why reporting on the Covid-19 vaccine upended everything he thought he knew about what was possible for scientific advancement.

Matt Kaplan is a science correspondent with The Economist. He has also contributed to National Geographic, New Scientist, Nature, and The New York Times. He is the author of the book The Science of Monsters. In 2014, Kaplan was awarded a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship which he used to study the sciences at MIT and folklore at Harvard.

THE BARN de Wright Thompson

A shocking and revelatory account of the murder of Emmett Till that lays bare how forces from around the world converged on the Mississippi Delta in the long lead-up to the crime, and how the truth was erased for so long.

THE BARN
The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi
by Wright Thompson
Penguin Press, September 2024
(via David Black Literary Agency)

Wright Thompson’s family farm in Mississippi is 23 miles from the site of one of the most notorious and consequential killings in American history, yet he had to leave the state for college before he learned the first thing about it. To this day, fundamental truths about the crime are widely unknown, including where it took place and how many people were involved. This is no accident: the cover-up began at once, and it is ongoing.

In August 1955, two men, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, were charged with the torture and murder of the 14-year-old Emmett Till in Money, Mississippi. After their inevitable acquittal in a mockery of justice, they gave a false confession to a journalist, which was misleading about where the long night of hell took place and who was involved. In fact, Wright Thompson reveals, at least eight people can be placed at the scene, which was inside the barn of one of the killers, on a plot of land within the six-square-mile grid whose official name is Township 22 North, Range 4 West, Section 2, West Half, fabled in the Delta of myth as the birthplace of the blues on nearby Dockery Plantation.

Even in the context of the racist caste regime of the time, the four-hour torture and murder of a Black boy barely in his teens for whistling at a young white woman was acutely depraved; Till’s mother Mamie Till-Mobley’s decision to keep the casket open seared the crime indelibly into American consciousness. Wright Thompson has a deep understanding of this story—the world of the families of both Emmett Till and his killers, and all the forces that aligned to place them together on that spot on the map. As he shows, the full horror of the crime was its inevitability, and how much about it we still need to understand. Ultimately this is a story about property, and money, and power, about white supremacy. It implicates all of us. In THE BARN, Thompson meets the few people who have been engaged in the hard, fearful business of bringing the truth to light, people like Wheeler Parker, Emmett Till’s friend, who came down from Chicago with him that summer, and is the last person alive to know him well. Wheeler Parker’s journey to put the killing floor of the barn on the map of Township 22 North, Range 4 West, Section 2, West Half, and the Delta, and America, is a journey we all need to go on if this country is to heal from its oldest, deepest wound.

Wright Thompson is a senior writer for ESPN and the bestselling author of Pappyland and The Cost of These Dreams. He lives in Oxford, Mississippi with his family.

BLUE HOTEL de Dann McDorman

BLUE HOTEL’s puzzle-like structure, in which each new section of the novel alters the reader’s understanding of what came before, accompanies a deeply felt meditation on death, the nature of reality, and our reasons for being and non-being.

BLUE HOTEL
by Dann McDorman
Knopf, Spring 2025
(via David Black Literary)

A man wakes up in a room with no idea where he is or how he got there. The room has no door nor windows. He has no way to tell the time. He has nothing to eat except for the endless cartons of Cup O’ Noodles (Original flavor) with which he is tormented by his captors. The stubble on his chin doesn’t grow. He loses his mind; he gets his back. Then one day, one hour, one minute, a vintage black typewriter appears on the desk, gleaming like a beetle. He warily taps out his name: J-O-H-N T-H-O-M-A-S. He sits down and begins to write…
Thus begins BLUE HOTEL, during which readers follow John Thomas as he tries to solve the mystery of his imprisonment. His surprising escape, and the discovery of what lies outside his room, launches an exploration during which readers will encounter a strange menagerie of characters: doomsday cultists, a Reality Studies professor, a Big Tech billionaire, an immortal chatbot, a woman who thought she could fly, and two sisters who speak to the dead — plus a few other, rather more surprising personalities…
BLUE HOTEL, Dann McDorman’s follow-up to West Heart Kill, features his trademark mixture of plot twists and philosophical inquiry. It’s a novel filled with bizarre facts and heretical histories, ranging from the origins of artificial intelligence to 19th century revolutionary politics in Canada. BLUE HOTEL’s puzzle-like structure, in which each new section of the novel alters the reader’s understanding of what came before, accompanies a deeply felt meditation on death, the nature of reality, and our reasons for being and non-being.

Dann McDorman is an Emmy-nominated TV news producer, who has also worked as a newspaper reporter, book reviewer, and cabinet maker. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two children.

MY HAPPY MOMENTS JOURNAL de Jamie Leigh Bassos

Encourage kids to record their favorite moments with this guided journal.

MY HAPPY MOMENTS JOURNAL
Fun Prompts to Record Your Favorite Memories
by Jamie Leigh Bassos
Callisto Publishing/Sourcebooks, June 2024

When kids write about their experiences, they can look back and remember everything that makes them happy! MY HAPPY MOMENTS JOURNAL lets them create a keepsake of meaningful moments, with fun and creative kids’ activities like writing down 3 things they’re thankful for, drawing an « emotion ocean », and challenging themselves to try something new.

Jamie Leigh Bassos is a board certified behavior analyst who has worked with infants, toddlers, children, and families for over 20 vears. She holds a master of science degree in applied behavior analysis from Northeaster University and a bachelor of science in psychology from The George Washington University.

LIFE SKILLS BOOK FOR TEENS de Maureen Stiles

A practical guide to everyday life skills for teens.

LIFE SKILLS BOOK FOR TEENS
Everything You Need to Know to Be More Independent
by Maureen Stiles
Callisto Publishing/Sourcebooks, April 2024

Set yourself up for success as an adult—tips and advice for ages 16+.

How do you create a budget? Clean a bathroom? Make a doctor’s  appointment? If you’re feeling a little overwhelmed by the responsibilities of growing up, you’re not alone—and the Life Skills Book for Teens is here to help! It includes straightforward advice for handling your money, health, home, relationships, and more so you can take on adulthood with confidence.

Maureen Stiles is a freelance writer and editor with a focus on parenting topics and general humor. She has been quoted in The New York Times and Washington Post regarding parenting strategies, and her writing is featured on TODAY Parents, in the book Grown and Flown: How to Support Your Teen, Stay Close as a Family, and Raise Independent Adults, as well as many others.