- Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach
- The Longest Race: A Lifelong Runner, an Iconic Ultramarathon, and the Case for Human Endurance by Ed Ayres
- The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis
- Necessary Evil by Ian Tregillis
- Invisible Armies: An Epic History of Guerrilla Warfare from Ancient Times to the Present by Max Boot
- The Oath: The Obama White House and The Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin
- The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin
- Dirty Wars: The World Is A Battlefield by Jeremy Scahill
- I War the Black Hat: Grappling with Villians (Real and Imagined) by Chuck Klosterman
- The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind by Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson
A good number of these books I heard about from either Fresh Air with Terry Gross, The Colbert Report, or The Daily Show. Reading the last two books of Tregillis Bitter Seeds trilogy was a highlight of the summer. Ayres's book was an nice meditation on running, though I thought it got preachy with some of the environmental stuff. The Toobin books were ones that I have been meaning to read for quite some time. One thing I learned from Toobin was that one can park an RV at any Wal-mart parking lot with no questions asked (RVing is something Justice Thomas enjoys a lot).
I admit that Dirty Wars was fairly riveting and disturbing. I've never heard the term "vanillia" special operation forces before and Scahill is one brave man. Boot's book about guerrilla warfare was fascinating and a surprisingly fast read.
I think I don't enjoy reading Klosterman. The villian book was funny, I think.