James Clear’s Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones is a guide to adopting good behaviors through incremental changes to your everyday routines. Avery first published the book in 2018, and this guide refers to the ebook edition. The book has unique pagination, with the page numbers beginning again at the start of each new chapter. Clear likely numbered his book this way because of his emphasis... Read Atomic Habits Summary

Published in 1994, Autobiography of a Face is award-winning poet Lucy Grealy’s prose debut, a widely-celebrated memoir concerning the author’s struggles with cancer and disfigurement.At the age of 9, Lucy collides with a classmate during a game of dodgeball. The subsequent toothache leads her to seek medical assistance and doctors discover that she has Ewing’s sarcoma, a form of cancer with a 5% survival rate. She undergoes an operation to remove half of her jaw... Read Autobiography Of A Face Summary

Balto and the Great Race is a middle-grade historical nonfiction novel written by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel and illustrated by Nora Köerber. It was originally published in 1999 after an animated film was released in 1995. The novel centers around the Serum Crisis in Nome, Alaska, in 1925 and how a team of sled dogs, led by Balto the Siberian husky, saved the lives of many affected by transporting serum a great distance through dangerous terrain... Read Balto and the Great Race Summary

Becoming Supernatural: How Common People Are Doing the Uncommon is a nonfiction book by Joe Dispenza. In this guide, Dispenza, a chiropractor, lecturer, and researcher, weaves philosophical and spiritual exploration with scientific studies in neuroscience, epigenetics, neurocardiology, and quantum physics to examine the mind-body connection and body’s capacity for both physical and mental healing through the power of the mind. Through his research efforts, self-help books, and spiritual retreats, Joe Dispenza provides a guide for... Read Becoming Supernatural Summary

Robert Sapolsky’s Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst was published by Penguin Books in 2018. Roughly 700 pages excluding references, the work offers an extensive coverage of the science of human behavior from varied disciplinary lenses including evolutionary psychology, genetics and epigenetics, neurobiology and endocrinology, primatology, as well as several other subfields.Upon publication, the book was hailed as an invaluable contribution to the field of public scholarship on human behavior, due... Read Behave Summary

Being Mortal, Atul Gawande's New York Times best seller, was published in 2014. Gawande, an American surgeon and public health researcher, has written a series of articles, essays, and books that probe the US health care industry. His first book, Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science, was a finalist for the National Book Award, and he followed it in 2007 with Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance. Throughout his work, Gawande offers his... Read Being Mortal: Illness, Medicine and what Matters in the End Summary

Harvard-educated Dr. Atul Gawande is a staff writer for The New Yorker, a surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and founder of two nonprofits aimed at innovating surgical practices around the world. He wrote Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance to explore the attributes that make a good doctor. Published in 2007 as a follow-up to his 2002 National Book Award Finalist Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science, Better explores “how situations of... Read Better Summary

Between Two Kingdoms: Memoir of a Life Interrupted (2021) is a memoir by Suleika Jaouad detailing her experience with acute myeloid leukemia and how her illness led her on a path to self-discovery. Jaouad is a writer who speaks multiple languages and was raised in several countries including the United States. At age 22 she was diagnosed with leukemia. Her memoir begins as the narrator first notices symptoms of the illness. The book follows Jaouad’s... Read Between Two Kingdoms Summary

Beyond Anxiety: Curiosity, Creativity, and Finding Your Life’s Purpose by Martha Beck, published in 2025, is a self-help guide that integrates neuroscience, psychology, and contemplative practices to address what has become the world’s most common mental health challenge. Beck, a life coach and sociologist, draws on research in neuroplasticity, polyvagal theory, and Internal Family Systems therapy to offer readers practical methods for transforming chronic anxiety into creative engagement. The book targets individuals struggling with persistent... Read Beyond Anxiety Summary

In Birth Vibes: Stories and Strategies for an Empowered Birth (2026), labor and delivery nurse Jen Hamilton offers a practical guide to navigating pregnancy and childbirth within the hospital system. This book combines childbirth education, patient advocacy, and personal narrative with a focus on informed decision-making, communication, and emotional preparation for birth. Hamilton argues that a positive birth experience is defined not by adhering to a rigid plan but by feeling heard, respected, and in... Read Birth Vibes Summary

Lucille Clifton’s short poem “blessing the boats” is one of her most well-known works. It was originally published in her book Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988–2000, from Boa Editions. Emblematic of Clifton’s writing style and themes it displays elements of the Black Arts Movement, the Post-Confessional Movement, and speaks to Clifton’s extreme faith and resilience in the face of adversity. Although the poem does not state it directly, it likely was inspired... Read Blessing the Boats Summary

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex (2008) is a work of narrative nonfiction by American science writer Mary Roach, whose previous bestsellers (Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers and Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife) tackle similarly sensitive topics. Known for blending humor, curiosity, and meticulous research, Roach approaches the science of sex with both intellectual seriousness and comedic irreverence. Bonk sits within the genre of popular science writing and examines the evolution... Read Bonk Summary

Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen is a 2009 work of nonfiction by journalist and author Christopher McDougall. The book tells the story of an underground ultramarathon involving the Tarahumara tribe of the Copper Canyons in Northwestern Mexico. The Tarahumara are renowned for their remarkable injury-free endurance running ability. McDougall was tasked with trekking into the canyons to discover the running and health secrets of... Read Born to Run Summary

Bottle of Lies: The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom (2019) is a work of nonfiction by investigative journalist Katherine Eban. Eban discusses some of the deceit and fraud within generic drug manufacturing with a special focus on Ranbaxy, a prominent Indian pharmaceutical company. Eban explores the consequences of compromised drug quality and regulatory shortcomings, including the challenges of ensuring the safety of generic medications. Throughout the work, Eban discusses The Consequences of Cost-Cutting... Read Bottle of Lies Summary

Peggy Orenstein authored Boys & Sex: Young Men on Hookups, Love, Porn, Consent, and Navigating the New Masculinity in 2020. Orenstein is a New York Times bestselling author and journalist who has spent most of her career covering gender issues, particularly about girls. This book is based on Orenstein’s numerous interviews with young men of varied backgrounds who illuminate the complicated landscape of modern masculinity and its relationship to sexuality. Orenstein identifies key trends about... Read Boys & Sex Summary

Brain on Fire (2012) is a memoir by New York Post writer Susannah Cahalan that details her struggle with a rare autoimmune disease, anti-NMDA-receptor autoimmune encephalitis. Cahalan recollects the journey through illness that took her from a normal, 24-year-old journalist to a misdiagnosed psychotic patient, and back again. In 2018, Netflix released a film based on Cahalan’s story, produced by Cahalan and Charlize Theron.Plot SummaryCahalan wakes in a hospital with no understanding of how she... Read Brain On Fire Summary

Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself: How to Lose Your Mind and Create a New One (2012) is a self-help book by Joe Dispenza, a chiropractor and motivational speaker and author. Throughout the work, Dispenza integrates neuroscience, quantum physics, and mindfulness to guide readers toward personal transformation. With a focus on the brain’s ability to rewire itself through neuroplasticity and the influence of epigenetics on behavior, the book provides actionable techniques for reprogramming limiting beliefs... Read Breaking The Habit Of Being Yourself Summary

Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, by James Nestor, is a comprehensive treatise on breathing. It combines a journalistic approach with studies in anthropology, biochemistry, human physiology, psychology, and pulmonology to unpack the different techniques of inhaling and exhaling throughout human history and in different societies. With its first publication in 2020, Breath was a bestseller in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, and Sunday London Times and will... Read Breath Summary

Coauthored by Arthur C. Brooks and Oprah Winfrey, Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier challenges conventional notions about happiness and provides readers with practical tools for constructing a fulfilling life. A well-known happiness researcher, Brooks teams up with media sensation Oprah Winfrey to invite readers on a journey toward greater happiness, emphasizing that this pursuit is within reach regardless of external circumstances.Published in 2023, this self-help guide sits at... Read Build the Life You Want Summary

Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle, by Emily and Amelia Nagoski, is a science-based self-help book that examines burnout through the lenses of physiology, psychology, and social context. Written for readers, particularly women, who feel chronically exhausted, overextended, or trapped by impossible expectations, the book reframes burnout as a predictable response to structural pressures and uncompleted stress cycles. Blending research with storytelling, the authors offer readers a practical framework for regulating their stress... Read Burnout Summary