The Library Book
A 1986 fire destroyed 400,000 books at the Los Angeles Central Library. Who set it and why? Susan Orlean investigates the unsolved mystery while celebrating libraries and the people who run them.
Money: The True Story of a Made-Up Thing
NPR's Planet Money host reveals how a useful fiction shaped civilizations from ancient Greece to bitcoin, and why what we call money depends on shared belief.
Meditations
A Roman emperor's private journal written 2,000 years ago reveals timeless Stoic wisdom on virtue, mortality, and inner peace that still resonates today.
American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road
The true story of how a libertarian programmer built a billion-dollar Dark Web drug empire from his bedroom and the federal agents racing to unmask him.
The Wealth of Nations
Adam Smith's 1776 treatise reveals how division of labor, capital accumulation, and free markets create prosperity without central direction or government control.
Capital in the Twenty-First Century
When returns on capital exceed economic growth, inherited wealth dominates earned income. Can democracy survive extreme inequality? A data-driven analysis.
Ernest Hemingway: A Biography
The first woman to write a major Hemingway biography reveals the Nobel Prize winner's genius and demons through never before used material and new research.
Salt: A World History
The only rock we eat once financed wars, secured empires, and sparked revolutions. How did this humble mineral shape civilizations from ancient China to modern times?
The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life
How the Oracle of Omaha built his fortune from a childhood business at age six, revealing the personal toll behind unprecedented wealth and his radical vision for philanthropy.
The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst
How media mogul William Randolph Hearst built America's largest publishing empire, wielded unprecedented political power, and inspired Citizen Kane.