tropical drinkLooking for some in-flight reading, or just something to shade your face from the blazing afternoon sun? Here’s Part 2 of our red-hot list of 25 hot fiction and nonfiction titles that everyone’s talking about, to help you get started on your summer reading. (See Part 1 of this list for our summer fiction reading picks.) Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page to see our selections on parade in the Carousel of Summer (just click one to go to Amazon and buy)!

Did we miss a 2013 must-read? Tell us in the comments!

Summer Reading List: Nonfiction

15. Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief, Lawrence Wright
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lawrence Wright returns with a riveting, comprehensive history of Scientology. Based on over 200 personal interviews with current and former Scientologists and years of archival research, Wright brings to light the inner workings of the Church of Scientology, focusing on its two central figures: the brilliant, troubled science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, whose restless, expansive mind invented a new religion, and his successor, David Miscavige, tasked with preserving the church after Hubbard’s death. Wright examines what fundamentally makes a religion a religion, and whether Scientology is deserving of this constitutional protection.

16. Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us, Michael Moss
Each year, the average American eats 33 pounds of cheese (triple what we ate in 1970) and 70 pounds of sugar (about 22 teaspoons a day). We ingest 8,500 milligrams of salt a day, double the recommended amount, and almost all of that comes from processed food. Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative reporter Michael Moss shows how food scientists use cutting-edge technology to calculate the “bliss point” of sugary beverages or enhance the “mouthfeel” of fat by manipulating its chemical structure. He talks to concerned snack-food executives who confess that they could never produce truly healthy alternatives to their products, even if serious regulation became a reality, because the industry could not exist without salt, sugar, and fat. When the processed food industry in the U.S. accounts for $1 trillion a year in sales, can we break our addiction to junk food before the looming obesity crisis reaches a tipping point? This eye-opening exposé may make you rethink your snacking habits.

17. The Summer of Beer and Whiskey: How Brewers, Barkeeps, Rowdies, Immigrants, and a Wild Pennant Fight Made Baseball America’s Game, Edward Achorn
Back in 1883, Chris von der Ahe knew almost nothing about baseball when he risked his life’s savings to create the franchise that would become the St. Louis Cardinals. Yet the German-born beer garden proprietor would become one of the most significant, and colorful, figures in the game’s history. Von der Ahe bought the team for one reason: to sell more beer. Then he put together a group of ragtag professional clubs to create a maverick new league, reinventing big-league baseball to attract Americans of all classes. Sneered at as “the Beer and Whiskey Circuit” because it was backed by brewers, distillers, and saloon owners, their American Association brought Americans back to enjoying baseball with Sunday games, beer at the ballpark, and a dirt-cheap 25-cent tickets. In The Summer of Beer and Whiskey, Edward Achorn brings to life a world of cunning, competition, and history in the making, set amidst a rapidly transforming America. It’s a classic American story of people with big dreams and love for the game they refused to let die.

18. Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal, Mary Roach
Best-selling and beloved science writer Mary Roach returns with a new adventure — our own digestive systems. It turns out our alimentary canals are pretty amazing, but they don’t often get the credit they deserve. From taste-testing pet food to reaching into a live cow stomach, Roach never shrinks from exploring the fascinating (and frequently off-putting) mysteries of human and animal digestion. Her tireless curiosity, and her love for terrible puns, make this a highly entertaining read, but take our advice and don’t read this one on your lunch hour.

19. Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, David Sedaris
Popular humorist David Sedaris returns with a new offering of personal essays and fiction, sprinkled (as always) with a heavy dose of black comedy. Sedaris has come a long way since his infamous days as a broke Macy’s Christmas elf, and it shows; his musings about the difficulties of maintaining a country house in France or a flat in London can be more eye-rolling than sidesplitting. Still, his wacky family is always good for a laugh, as are his self-deprecating anecdotes about life on the road during a book tour.

20. Scatter, Adapt, and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction, Annalee Newitz
In its 4.5 billion–year history, life on Earth has nearly been erased multiple times by asteroid impacts, ice ages, toxic methane, and megavolcanoes. We know another global disaster is eventually headed our way, but can our species survive it? This speculative popular science book focuses on humanity’s long history of survival, as well as new threats that we may face in years to come. Most importantly, it explores how today’s scientific breakthroughs will help us avoid tomorrow’s disasters. Learn why, although disastrous events are inevitable, our chances of long-term species survival are better than ever.

21. Full-Rip 9.0: The Next Big Earthquake in the Pacific Northwest, Sandi Doughton
Scientists have identified Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver as the urban centers of what will be the biggest earthquake, aka a “mega-quake,” in the continental United States. The Cascadia subduction zone is 750 miles long, running along the Pacific coast from Northern California up to southern British Columbia, and it’s overdue for a massive quake. In this just-released book, The Seattle Times’ science reporter Sandi Doughton introduces readers to the scientists who are dedicated to understanding where, when, and how big the mega-quake will be — and what we can do to protect ourselves.

22. Storm Kings: The Untold History of America’s First Tornado Chasers, Lee Sandlin
Storm Kings is a riveting tale of supercell tornadoes and the eccentric, weather-obsessed scientists whose discoveries created the science of modern meteorology and developed the National Weather Service. From Ben Franklin’s early experiments to homesteading life in the Midwest, Sandlin uses memoirs, letters, eyewitness testimonies, and archives to re-create some of the most devastating storms in America’s history. You can read our full review here.

23. Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think, by Viktor Mayer-Schonberger and Kenneth Cukier
“Big data” refers to our rapidly growing ability to crunch huge amounts of information, analyze it instantly, and draw profoundly surprising conclusions from it. This emerging science can translate all kinds of information into searchable formats and unearth new insights. Big data will change business, health, politics, education, and science in the coming years — but it also poses entirely new threats, from the end of privacy as we know it to the prospect of being penalized for things we haven’t even done yet, based on big data’s ability to predict our future behavior. Learn what big data is, how it will affect you, and what you can do to protect yourself — and your clients — against its dangers.

24. The Silver Star, Jeannette Walls
Memoirist Jeannette Walls (The Glass Castle) has written a heartfelt novel about a girl who challenges the abuse and injustice of the adult world.  In small-town California in 1970, “Bean” Holladay is 12 and her sister, Liz, is 15 when their artistic mother, Charlotte, abandons her daughters with enough money to last a month or two. When Bean returns from school one day and sees a police car outside the house, she and Liz decide to take the bus to Virginia, where their Uncle Tinsley lives in the decaying mansion that’s been in Charlotte’s family for generations. Soon, they’re adjusting to their new lives — until a shocking attack on Liz changes the whole family in unexpected ways.

25. The World’s Strongest Librarian: A Memoir of Tourette’s, Faith, Strength, and the Power of Family, Josh Hanargarne
It almost sounds like the set-up of a joke: a Mormon librarian with Tourette syndrome who becomes a weight-lifter. But this unique memoir is very real. Josh Hanagarne first developed symptoms as a young child, but wasn’t officially diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome until high school. At 20, the young Mormon had grown to a towering 6’7” and was serving on a religious mission when his Tourette’s tics became unbearable. Determined to be well, Hanagarne tried quack remedies, drug regimes, and Botox injections that paralyzed his vocal cords and left him mute for three years; meanwhile, he married and earned a degree in library science. Then an eccentric, autistic strongman taught Hanagarne how to master his tics through strength training. Today, Hanagarne is a librarian at Salt Lake City’s public library and writes a popular blog about books and weight lifting. With wit and honesty, this author recounts the challenges of his disability, and his struggles with faith, ultimately building a fulfilling life.

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Stephanie Perry
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