The Singularity is Near by Ray Kurzweil (2005)

This book will change how you think about the future, and is almost as fresh today as it was when written. Ray Kurzweil, a relentless optimist and notably successful entrepreneur, is a polymath who exhaustively catalogues the best new research and development in virtually every area—including health and medicine. Even if you don't read the entire book, and even if you are skeptical of what he concludes, simply reading the first two chapters will radically impact your views.

Final Jeopardy by Stephen Baker (2011)

This is the story of the IBM team that built the computer—famously named Watson—that beat the best-of-the-best Jeopardy champions. The book is a gripping read even though we know the outcome, but more in fundamentally, it gives us an inkling of how artificial intelligence works and how profoundly it will change our lives going forward.

Acting in Film by Michael Caine (1990)

This pearl of a book is a quick read, yet will reward any true movie buff. Caine, of course, is one of the best and most durable actors in film, and his instruction and insights will deepen your understanding of acting, movie-making, and human nature—and add to your viewing pleasure.

Judy Garland: The Other Side of the Rainbow by Michael Freedland (2010)

Once upon a time, Americans lived in picket-fenced small towns, any problem could be solved if we just put on a backyard musical, and bluebirds flew over the rainbow. Judy Garland's small town Minnesota truth, however, was a mixture of the dark, shameful secrets of her father and the iron will of her obsessive mother—and this book about the torments that elevated and destroyed her.  Garland is the archetype of the American tragedy—she reached a level of superstardom rarely seen since, and yet died gaunt and broken at the age of forty-seven. Would I betray a confidence if I said that Garland was my mother's favorite—and thus has always also been mine too?

At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson (2011)

Bill Bryson is a wonder. From science to Shakespeare, the variety and scope of his books is astounding, and there has not been a book he has written that I wouldn't recommend. At Home takes the reader from ancient homes traced in ruins to countryside estates and London's Crystal Palace—and we learn not only the reasons for the rooms and homes we have today—but about private lives, wealth, poverty, family, deceit, sex and countless other things along the way.

Don't Shoot by David M. Kennedy (2011)

The surging murder rate in poor black neighborhoods contrasts sharply with the decline in murder rates nationwide. Each increase brings a rush of pundits—with conservatives calling for tougher police tactics and jail sentences, and liberals calling for greater investments in education and welfare. Kennedy, with twenty-five years of direct experience on the subject, moves past both liberal and conservative prescriptions to solutions that are less expensive, more civilized, faster, and demonstrably more effective. He starts from the belief that all communities, regardless of how broken, want peace and safety, that people are good and decent—and that the trouble comes largely from a tiny number of a broken community's inhabitants who can readily be identified and dealt with. Don't Shoot is the most persuasive and hopeful book we have read on crime in years.

The Big Short by Michael Lewis (2010)

If you believe that markets are rational, and that the people leading our largest financial institutions and regulatory bodies are competent, this book might shake your confidence. If you instead believe that there is big money to be made because markets are irrational and regulators and bankers are prone to merely follow the crowd, this book will inspire you and leave you scouring the landscape for the market's next big blunder. Michael Lewis is, of course, a master storyteller—and the blindness of the people-in-charge will once again astound you. But the real story of this book is the extraordinary difficulty it takes to go against the crowd—the enormous energy, persistence and fortitude required.

The Holy Grail of Macroeconomics by Richard C. Koo (2009)

I am an economic conservative and have great respect for Ronald Reagan and the theories of Milton Friedman (that bête noire of Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine)—so you might find my inclusion of a book by a Keynesian economist unusual. I include it because my sense is that no economic camp has a full hold on the truth, and anyone serious about understanding the Great Depression, Japan's lost decade, and our current fiscal calamity should explore the better articulations of each major economic theory. And that is what this is—a very clear and well-argued book that attempts a new explanation of the Great Depression, the so-called "Holy Grail" of economic theory. Koo does that by introducing an important new idea to Keynesian economics—the balance sheet recession—which itself further explains why cutting rates to zero and flooding the market with liquidity has not resulted in the expected rebound from today's crisis.

23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism by Ha-Joon Chang (2011)

Capitalism is the most successful economic system yet devised and I am an ardent capitalist—yet I'm not blind to the excesses and recurring blunders that occur within largely capitalist economies. It is therefore incumbent upon those of us who would defend capitalism to thoughtfully examine the arguments of those not in our camp. To that end, I found Chang's book clearly written and highly useful, revealing and thought-provoking. For example, Western economies have been built on the limited liability corporation first widely used by the Dutch centuries ago (know then as a joint stock company). It was one of civilization's most consequential inventions—but the excesses that often result because of that limited liability were understood clearly from the very beginning.

Last Call by Daniel Okrent (2010)

Last Call is a primer on how American politics really works, and is perhaps the most relevant and revealing book on government I have ever read. Today's political landscape is dominated by single or narrow issue special interest groups—anti-abortion groups, oil interests, the green movement and more. But as with the abolition, suffrage, and temperance movements of our past (to name just a few)—it has always been so. Prohibition was a law eighty years in the making, and the religiously-based political machine that made it happen was formidable—finding common cause with other special interest groups as diverse as the women's suffrage movement and the Ku Klux Klan to gain passage.

Polk by Walter R. Borneman (2008)

Here are two good cocktail party questions for you—especially if you're a history geek like me. First, under which president did America's greatest geographic expansion occur? Second, which U.S. president made a campaign promise not to seek a second term? In both cases, the answer is James Polk of Tennessee, heir to the legacy of Andrew Jackson. During his presidency, all of the Southwest including California, and all of the Northwest including Washington state became part of our country. (And Texas entered as a state during his presidency too.) Polk's story will give you a flavor of life at the rough western edge of America in its earliest years. This book is an easy read that will deepen your understanding of our country.

The Dominion of War by Fred Anderson and Andrew Cayton (2005)

Both the American Revolution and the American Civil War started roughly twelve years after the acquisition of vast amounts of new land through war. The American Revolution took place just a few years after England had secured possession of the vast lands immediately west of the colonies in the French and Indian War. The Civil War started just a few years after America took possession of more vast lands—including modern day New Mexico, Arizona, and California—as part of the treaty concluding the Mexican American War. Anderson and Cayton argue that the Revolutionary and Civil Wars happened in large part because of the acquisition of those lands. Whether you agree or disagree with the theories of this book, it is an important articulation of America's involvement in war that will leave you with a much more comprehensive view.

The Imperial Cruise by James Bradley (2009)

Bradley is best known for Flags of our Fathers, and this adds to his well regarded output. What I don't like about this book is how often Bradley's rhetoric slips from a historical to a righteous tone—because the book would have been more powerful it. What I do like about it is how well it covers an important part of our history rarely covered elsewhere, and how deftly he counters the normally worshipful treatment of Theodore Roosevelt. Immensely readable, with unforgettable characters, and we forgive any book that gives us a full dose of that very first White House social superstar—Alice Roosevelt Longworth.