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Notable Non-Fiction July 2025 |
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You Are More Than Your Body by Jennifer CaspariManaging the stresses of everyday life can be exhausting and overwhelming. Dr. Jennifer Caspari knows this struggle well—both through her work as a clinical psychologist and her lived experience as a disabled woman with cerebral palsy. You Are More Than Your Body weaves together clinical expertise, personal stories, and practical, evidence-based tools to help readers with chronic health conditions better cope with pain, fatigue, depression, and the emotional vulnerability that comes with living in a world not designed for our bodies. The methods in this book synthesize a wide range of emotional regulation skills and coping techniques drawn from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and mindfulness practices, all of which Dr. Caspari has successfully used with her own clients. In this book, you’ll learn over thirty practical coping skills to help you:- tune into internal experience and connect with your body;
- shift mental focus;
- cultivate self-compassion and radical acceptance;
- change your relationship with your thoughts;
- engage the power of the present to get unstuck;
- practice realistic goal-setting;
- tap into your deepest values as a resource;
- tolerate discomfort; and
- give yourselves permission to do things differently.
Each chapter includes a personal story or experience; a self-reflection exercise; associated coping skills; and practical guidance on how you can start using these tools in your own life.
Having a disability or chronic illness does not have to mean accepting a lower quality of life. While we can’t make our issues and challenges disappear, by practicing the exercises in this book, we can learn to better manage challenges that arise and learn how we can live a meaningful life now—whatever our bodies and abilities might be.
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Super Agersby Eric J. TopolDr. Topol’s unprecedented, evidenced-based guide is about how you and your family and friends can benefit from new treatments coming available at a faster rate than ever. From his unique position as a leader overseeing millions in research funding, Dr. Topol also explains the fundamental reasons—from semaglutides to AI—that we can be confident these breakthroughs will continue. Ninety-five percent of Americans over sixty have at least one chronic disease and almost as many have two. That is the essential problem this revolution is solving. He explains the power of the new approaches to the worst chronic killers—diabetes/obesity, heart disease, cancer, and neurodegeneration—and how treatments can begin long before middle age, and even long after. In thirty years, we will have five times as many people at least one hundred years old and they will be healthier than ever because of the breakthroughs Dr. Topol describes. The amazing discoveries Topol brings into sharp focus are deeply inspiring about our human potential. We can now realistically see how we can make considerable headway for preventing age-related diseases and may one day be able to slow the body-wide aging process itself.
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Beyond Anxietyby Martha Nibley BeckWe live in an epidemic of anxiety. Most of us assume that the key to overcoming it is to think our way out. And for a while it works. But there is always something that sends us back into the anxious spiral we’ve been trying to climb out of. In Beyond Anxiety, Dr. Martha Beck explains why anxiety is skyrocketing around you, and likely within you. She also tells you how to not only reduce your anxiety but use it to propel you into a life filled with peace, meaning, and joy. Using a combination of the latest neuroscience as well as her background in sociology and coaching, Beck explains how our brains tend to get stuck in an “anxiety spiral,” a feedback system that can increase anxiety indefinitely. To climb out, we must engage different parts of our nervous system—the parts involved in creativity. Beck provides instructions for engaging the “creativity spiral,” in a process that not only shuts down anxiety but leads to innovative problem solving, a sense of meaning and purpose, and joyful, intimate connection with others—and with the world. The opposite of anxiety, it turns out, is a wonderful new way of life—one that can calm and inspire us as individuals and help us become a source of healing for everything around us.
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Open When : A Companion for Life's Twists & Turns by Julie Smith In this essential guide, Dr. Julie teaches her millions of readers and clients how to navigate life’s toughest occurrences while they’re happening, rather than moments or years after the fact. What if we can learn to harness our emotions and stay present so we can process and choose how to respond to a situation? Picking up where Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? leaves off, Dr. Julie shares the research-backed concepts and powerful skills we can use to weather our most vulnerable moments. Learn how to move through any situation with grace, including: - When it’s hard to be with yourself: facing vulnerability alone, dealing with your inner critic, and handling imposter syndrome.
- When it’s hard to be with other people: dealing with betrayal and knowing what to do when you (or your parents) got it wrong.
- When it’s hard to be with your feelings: coping with loneliness, fear, and hopelessness
- When you’re healing from the past: getting out of a trauma response and learning how to stop ruminating about old events.
- When you’re looking to the future: preventing making the same mistakes, tackling uncertainty, and finding your path.
Open When teaches each of us to find and listen to the positive voice within when we need it most, and to care for our future selves and our mental health.
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Intuitive Eating for Diabetes by Janice Dada Are you one of the millions dealing with diabetes? If so, you’re probably all too familiar with the medical establishment badgering you to lose weight. But did you know evidence now shows that approaches focusing solely on weight loss are at best unhelpful and at worst, harmful? These popular weight-based strategies have been found to increase food and body obsession, weight-cycling, low self-esteem, and disordered eating, to name a few. If you’re tired of weight-focused methods that leave you feeling miserable, maybe it’s time for a new, revolutionary approach to whole-body health that’s rooted in self-compassion. This groundbreaking guide outlines the principles of Intuitive Eating—an effective, evidence-based, anti-diet approach to nutrition—to help you manage your blood sugar levels without restriction. You’ll learn about the root causes of diabetes, how to listen to your body for natural cues of hunger and fullness, and how to develop a more nourishing (and sustainable) relationship with food. You’ll also discover why dieting doesn’t work, and finally break free from the cycle of shame, self-blame, and more weight gain. If you’re ready to let go of the mainstream diet-culture idea that weight loss alone is essential to managing blood sugar, it’s time to embrace the science and effectiveness of intuitive eating.
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Lululemon and the Future of Technical Apparel by Chip WilsonThis is a book about ordinary people who took an opportunity to be creative, to be innovative, and to maximize their potential. Chip Wilson’s part in this story comes from the learning of thousands of mistakes. He set the culture, business model, quality platform, and people development program and then got out of the way. Lululemon’s exponential growth, culture, and brand strength have few peers, and it is because of those employees who choose to be great. This book is also about missed opportunity - five years of missed opportunity. Chip was playing to win while the directors of the company he founded were playing not to lose.
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Close to Homeby Thor HansonWe all live on nature’s doorstep, but we often overlook it. From backyards to local parks, the natural places we see the most may well be the ones we know the least. In Close to Home, biologist Thor Hanson shows how retraining our eyes reveals hidden wonders just waiting to be discovered. In Kansas City, migrating monarch butterflies flock to the local zoo. In the Pacific Northwest, fierce yellowjackets placidly sip honeydew, unseen in the treetops. In New England, a lawn gone slightly wild hosts a naturalist's life's work. And in the soil beneath our feet, remedies for everything from breast cancer to the stench of skunks lie waiting for someone’s searching shovel. Close to Home is a hands-on natural history for any local patch of Earth. It shows that we each can contribute to science and improve the health of our planet. And even more, it proves that the wonders of nature don’t lie in some far-off land: they await us, close to home.
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The Birth of the Anglo-Saxonsby Max AdamsFor too long, the eighth century has been a neglected era in British history: a shadow land between the death of Saint Bede and the triumphs of King Ælfred and the eventual unification of England.But before the victories of King Ælfred against the Viking invaders, the kingdom of Mercia—spread across a broad swathe of central England—was the reigning power that exercised central political authority for the first time since the Roman Empire. This authority was used to construct trading networks and markets; to develop strong economic, cultural, and political links with the Continent; and to lay the foundations for a system of defense that would be invigorated and reinvented by Ælfred at the end of the ninth century. Two kings, Æthelbald (716–757) and Offa (757–796), dominated the political landscape of the rising power of Mercia. During their reigns, monasteries became powerhouses of royal patronage, economic enterprise, and trade. Offa constructed his grandiose dyke along the borders of the warlike Welsh Kingdoms and, more subtly, spread his message of political superiority through coinage bearing his image. But Æthelbald and Offa between them built something with an even more substantial legacy—a geography of medieval England. And these two kings engineered a set of tensions between kingship, landholding, and the church that were to play out dramatically at the dawn of the Viking Age. In this illuminating history of Early Medieval Britain, Max Adams reconnects the worlds of the three kings—Æthelbald, Offa, and Ælfred—in an absorbing study of the landscape, society, and politics of a fascinating century of change.
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Eat Your Ageby Ian K Smith Whether we like it or not, lots of things change as we age: our joints start to creak, our muscles weaken, and we lose coordination. Our bodies simply don’t look or perform the same each decade of life, and our risks for various diseases and medical conditions also increase as the years do. Getting old may be inevitable, but feeling old is not: we can age well and maximize each decade of life if we do the right things at the right time. In Eat Your Age, acclaimed doctor and bestselling author Ian K. Smith shows readers the steps they need to take in their 30s, 40s, 50s, and beyond to increase longevity and stave off future illnesses and ailments. By eating the right foods, keeping tabs on the right numbers, moving the right way, and sleeping better, we can slow the hands on the proverbial clock. Since food is medicine, this book will teach you what to eat at every age to prevent life-threatening diseases. For example: - 30s—vitamin B6 (milk, ricotta cheese, tuna, eggs, sweet potato, bananas), magnesium (dark leafy greens, black beans, lentils, pumpkin seeds), Brussel sprouts, cauliflower
- 40s—probiotic, plant-based milk, avocado, spinach, chickpeas
- 50s—bromelain (pineapple, papaya, kiwifruit, asparagus, yogurt, sauerkraut), turmeric, berries, tomatoes, squash, carrots
- 60s+—Omega-3 (fatty fish like salmon and mackerel as well as chia, flaxseed, edamame), vitamin B12 (clams, beef, fortified cereal, tuna, milk and dairy products, fortified nondairy products), probiotic, high fiber foods (pinto beans, acorn squash, collard greens, guava, strawberries, broccoli)
With specific lifestyle and diet advice including fitness tests for each decade of life, this book proves that it’s never too late to start battling the aging process. With Dr. Smith’s sage plan, readers have the opportunity to function their best and find greater joy in life at any age.
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Treekeepersby Lauren OakesIn recent years, planting a tree has become a catchall to represent “doing something good for the planet.” Many companies commit to planting a tree with every purchase. But who plants those trees and where? Will they flourish and offer the benefits that people expect? Can all the individual efforts around the world help remedy the ever-looming climate crisis? In Treekeepers, Lauren E. Oakes takes us on a poetic and practical journey from the Scottish Highlands to the Panamanian jungle to meet the scientists, innovators, and local citizens who each offer part of the answer. Their work isn’t just about planting lots of trees, but also about understanding what it takes to grow or regrow a forest and to protect what remains. Throughout, Oakes shows the complex roles of forests in the fight against climate change, and of the people who are giving trees a chance with hope for our mutual survival. Timely, meticulously reported, and ultimately optimistic, Treekeepers teaches us how to live with a sense of urgency in our warming world, to find beauty in the present for ourselves and our children, and to take action big or small.
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