The Next Big Idea Club’s September 2024 Must-Read Books
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The Next Big Idea Club’s September 2024 Must-Read Books

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The Next Big Idea Club’s September 2024 Must-Read Books

I’m pleased to share what I consider the most promising, must-read nonfiction titles scheduled for release in September 2024. These titles make up our fourth group of nominees for Season 25 of the Next Big Idea Club (the first group was announced here, second here, and third here).

Our Next Big Idea Club curators—Susan Cain, Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, and Daniel Pink—will narrow the list down to a handful of finalists and, ultimately, two official season selections.

Authors will also be invited to create a “Book Bite”, a 15-minute audio self-recording that features five key insights from their book. Imagine chatting with a stranger on an airplane—only that person just happened to write a fascinating nonfiction book!

And now, the September 2024 titles are…

Lovely One: A Memoir

By Ketanji Brown Jackson
Publication Date: September 3, 2024

In her inspiring, intimate memoir, the first Black woman to ever be appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States chronicles her extraordinary life story. View on Amazon

The Atomic Human: What Makes Us Unique in the Age of AI

By Neil Lawrence
Publication Date: September 3, 2024

A renowned computer scientist seeks the unique human quality that will prevail against artificial intelligence. View on Amazon

Fierce Desires: A New History of Sex and Sexuality in America

By Rebecca Davis
Publication Date: September 3, 2024

From an esteemed scholar, a richly textured, authoritative history of sex and sexuality in America―the first major account in three decades. View on Amazon

Chernobyl Roulette: War in the Nuclear Disaster Zone

By Serhii Plokhy
Publication Date: September 3, 2024

A harrowing account of Russia’s occupation of the Chernobyl and Zaporizhia nuclear power plants, and the dangers of nuclear power colliding with warfare. View on Amazon

Dynamic Drive: The Purpose-Fueled Formula for Sustainable Success

By Molly Fletcher
Publication Date: September 3, 2024

In a world fixated on fleeting success, challenge the status quo and redefine your understanding of drive so that you can achieve greater fulfillment and purpose-driven success using this proven formula for engaging, sustaining, and maximizing high performance in all areas of your life. View on Amazon

Upworthy – Good People: Stories From the Best of Humanity

By Gabriel Reilich & Lucia Knell
Publication Date: September 3, 2024

Embrace—and share—the transformative power of kindness through stories of more than one hundred good people, brought to you by Upworthy, the beloved social media platform where millions find inspiration, joy, and daily affirmation. View on Amazon

Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness

By Jamil Zaki
Publication Date: September 3, 2024

Cynicism is making us sick. Stanford Psychologist Dr. Jamil Zaki imparts the secret for beating back cynicism: hopeful skepticismView on Amazon

Likeable Badass: How Women Get the Success They Deserve

By Alison Fragale
Publication Date: September 3, 2024

Behavioral scientist Alison Fragale offers powerful new insights and a practical playbook for women to advance in any workplace, full of tips, tricks, and strategies to help secure that elusive corner office. View on Amazon

How Economics Explains the World: A Short History of Humanity

By Andrew Leigh
Publication Date: September 3, 2024

A sweeping, engrossing history of how economic forces have shaped the world—all in under 200 pages. View on Amazon

Follow the Science: How Big Pharma Misleads, Obscures, and Prevails

By Sharyl Attkisson
Publication Date: September 3, 2024

Respected Emmy Award-winning investigative journalist exposes the corruption that has ruled the pharmaceutical industry and news media for decades. View on Amazon

Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

By Yuval Noah Harari
Publication Date: September 10, 2024

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Sapiens comes the groundbreaking story of how information networks have made, and unmade, our world. View on Amazon

Memento Mori: The Art of Contemplating Death to Live a Better Life

By Joanna Ebenstein
Publication Date: September 10, 2024

Whether you’re struggling with anxiety, grieving a loved one, or seeking a greater sense of purpose, Memento Mori is an invaluable guide to living a life of greater meaning and joy. View on Amazon

Einstein’s Tutor: The Story of Emmy Noether and the Invention of Modern Physics

By Lee Phillips
Publication Date: September 10, 2024

The revelatory story of an intellectual giant who made foundational contributions to science and mathematics and persevered in the face of discrimination against women in science. View on Amazon

Tías and Primas: On Knowing and Loving the Women Who Raise Us

By Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodriguez
Publication Date: September 10, 2024

From the author of For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts, a celebration of the women at the heart of Latine families. View on Amazon

To Overthrow the World: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Communism

By Sean McMeekin
Publication Date: September 10, 2024

From an award-winning historian, a new global history of Communism. View on Amazon

Is Earth Exceptional?: The Quest for Cosmic Life

By Mario Livio & Jack Szostak
Publication Date: September 10, 2024

A New York Times–bestselling astrophysicist and a Nobel laureate describe the quest to discover how and where the universe breathed life into matter. View on Amazon

The Art of the Interesting: What We Miss in Our Pursuit of the Good Life and How to Cultivate It

By Lorraine Besser
Publication Date: September 10, 2024

Interesting experiences captivate our minds, engage our thoughts and emotions, and often change our perspective. What’s interesting is different for everyone, and everyone can obtain and strengthen the skills necessary to access the interesting for living a good life of psychological richness. View on Amazon

I Once Was Lost: My Search for God in America

By Don Lemon
Publication Date: September 10, 2024

In a deeply personal follow-up to his #1 bestseller This is the Fire: What I Say to My Friends about Racism, a modern media iconoclast faces a test of his own faith and examines the rise and fall of Evangelicals in America. View on Amazon

By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land

By Rebecca Nagle
Publication Date: September 10, 2024

A powerful work of reportage and American history that braids the story of the forced removal of Native Americans onto treaty lands in the nation’s earliest days, and a small-town murder in the ‘90s that led to a Supreme Court ruling reaffirming Native rights to that land over a century later. View on Amazon

Strive: 8 Steps to Find Your Awesome

By Venus Williams
Publication Date: September 10, 2024

An inspiring and innovative guide towards living your best life–made easy–from Venus Williams, one of the greatest tennis players of all time. View on Amazon

Magically Black and Other Essays

By Jerald Walker
Publication Date: September 10, 2024

In this engaging follow up to How to Make a Slave and Other Essays, the recipient of PEN New England Award for nonfiction and finalist for the National Book Award sharply examines and explains Black life and culture with equal parts candor and humor. View on Amazon

‘Til Stress Do Us Part: How to Heal the #1 Issue in Our Relationships

By Elizabeth Earnshaw
Publication Date: September 10, 2024

What if the problem isn’t your partner―it’s stress? This relatable and empowering guide offers indispensable tools to stress-proof your relationship. View on Amazon

Supremacy: AI, ChatGPT, and the Race that Will Change the World

By Parmy Olson
Publication Date: September 10, 2024

A tech writer at Bloomberg tells the astonishing story of the battle between these two AI firms, their struggles to use their tech for good, and the hazardous direction they could go as they serve two tech monopolies whose power is unprecedented in history. View on Amazon

Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future

By Jason Stanley
Publication Date: September 10, 2024

A Yale professor offers a searing confrontation with the authoritarian right’s attacks to undo a century of work to advance social justice action on race, gender, sexuality, and class. View on Amazon

The Highest Calling: Conversations on the American Presidency

By David Rubenstein
Publication Date: September 10, 2024

Rubenstein interviews living American presidents and top historians and journalists who reflect on the US presidency, including Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Maggie Haberman, Ron Chernow, and more. View on Amazon

Everybody Needs an Editor: The Essential Guide to Clear and Effective Writing

By Melissa Harris & Jenn Bane
Publication Date: September 10, 2024

Wedding toasts, website copy, social media posts, even holiday cards—you’ll become a sharper everyday writer with this witty and comprehensive guide to clearer, better communication. View on Amazon

Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism

By Sebastian Smee
Publication Date: September 10, 2024

The Pulitzer Prize–winning art critic’s gripping account of the “Terrible Year” in Paris and its monumental impact on the rise of Impressionism. View on Amazon

Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right

By Arlie Russell Hochschild
Publication Date: September 10, 2024

The National Book Award finalist and bestselling author Arlie Russell Hochschild now ventures to Appalachia, uncovering the “pride paradox” that has given the right’s appeals such resonance. View on Amazon

The Second Fifty: Answers to the 7 Big Questions of Midlife and Beyond

By Debra Whitman
Publication Date: September 10, 2024

Expert guidance for living a longer, healthier, more meaningful second half of life. View on Amazon

The Journey of Leadership: How CEOs Learn to Lead from the Inside Out

By Dana Maor, Hans-Werner Kaas, Kurt Strovink & Ramesh Srinivasan
Publication Date: September 10, 2024

When the pressure is on, many of the world’s top CEOs turn to McKinsey & Company to reinvent themselves and their organizations. The Journey of Leadership brings the experience of one of the world’s most influential consulting firms right to your fingertips. View on Amazon

Lead Bigger: The Transformative Power of Inclusion

By Anne Chow
Publication Date: September 10, 2024

Drawing from over three decades of experience, former CEO of AT&T Business Anne Chow shares how to lead bigger by leveraging inclusion beyond DEI, to elevate your work, workforce, and workplace. View on Amazon

The Joy You Make: Find the Silver Linings–Even on Your Darkest Days

By Steven Petrow
Publication Date: September 10, 2024

From award-winning Washington Post columnist Steven Petrow, a guide to finding joy even during life’s most difficult times. View on Amazon

Shame on You: How to Be a Woman in the Age of Mortification

By Melissa Petro
Publication Date: September 10, 2024

A courageous, in-depth investigation into the modern epidemic of shame in our society—what it is, why women are uniquely susceptible, and how we can shift the shame off our plates and live our best lives in an over-exposed, image-obsessed world. View on Amazon

Nature, Culture, and Inequality: A Comparative and Historical Perspective

By Thomas Piketty
Publication Date: September 10, 2024

A bestselling economist’s history of inequality and guide to a more just, sustainable world, distilled into an engaging and accessible pocket-sized text. View on Amazon

Irreplaceable: The Art of Standing Out in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

By Pascal Bornet
Publication Date: September 11, 2024

Pascal Bornet, an award-winning AI expert, former McKinsey executive, and Top Voice in Technology with over 1 million LinkedIn followers, unveils the ultimate guide for working, living, and leading organizations in a rapidly changing, AI-driven world. View on Amazon

Digital Dharma: How AI Can Elevate Spiritual Intelligence and Personal Well-Being

By Deepak Chopra
Publication Date: September 17, 2024

A visionary and unprecedented exploration of how artificial intelligence can revolutionize well-being and open new horizons for personal development. View on Amazon

On Freedom

By Timothy Snyder
Publication Date: September 17, 2024

A brilliant exploration of freedom—what it is, how it’s been misunderstood, and why it’s our only chance for survival—by the acclaimed Yale historian and author of the #1 New York Times bestseller On Tyranny. View on Amazon

The Unseen Truth: When Race Changed Sight in America

By Sarah Lewis
Publication Date: September 17, 2024

The award-winning art historian and founder of Vision & Justice uncovers a pivotal era in the story of race in the United States when Americans came to ignore the truth about the false foundations of the nation’s racial regime. View on Amazon

The Genetic Book of the Dead: A Darwinian Reverie

By Richard Dawkins
Publication Date: September 17, 2024

From a renowned biologist and best-selling author, a whole new way of looking at living organisms: reading them as documents describing ancient worlds. View on Amazon

The Road to Wisdom: On Truth, Science, Faith, and Trust

By Francis Collins
Publication Date: September 17, 2024

From the former director of the National Institutes of Health, a deeply thoughtful guidebook to get us beyond societal divisions and back to the sources of wisdom. View on Amazon

Say It Well: Find Your Voice, Speak Your Mind, Inspire Any Audience

By Terry Szuplat
Publication Date: September 17, 2024

One of Barack Obama’s longest-serving speechwriters reveals the public speaking lessons that will help you become a more confident and compelling communicator and leader. View on Amazon

The Power of Words: How to Speak, Listen and Think Better

By Mariano Sigman
Publication Date: September 17, 2024

Discover the transformative power of words and conversations in The Power of Words, the profound and inspiring international bestseller by renowned neuroscientist Mariano Sigman. View on Amazon

The Money Trap: Lost Illusions Inside the Tech Bubble

By Alok Sama
Publication Date: September 17, 2024

A gripping and entertaining memoir that shines a rare light on an industry that is disrupting our lives. View on Amazon

Over Work: Transforming the Daily Grind in the Quest for a Better Life

By Brigid Schulte
Publication Date: September 17, 2024

From the New York Times bestselling author of Overwhelmed, a deeply reported exploration of why American work isn’t working and how our lives can be made more meaningful. View on Amazon

She-Wolves: The Untold History of Women on Wall Street

By Paulina Bren
Publication Date: September 17, 2024

The propulsive story of the women who sought, and gained, a piece of the action on Wall Street. View on Amazon

Leading Through: Activating the Soul, Heart, and Mind of Leadership

By Kim Clark, Jonathan Clark & Erin Clark
Publication Date: September 17, 2024

Generative AI and the remote-work revolution show us every day that we are in a new era. The rules and norms have changed—and so must leadership. View on Amazon

Hyperefficient: Optimize Your Brain to Transform the Way You Work

By Mithu Storoni
Publication Date: September 17, 2024

Neuroscience researcher Dr. Mithu Storoni reveals how to maximize your mental resources to get your mind working at peak efficiency throughout your day. View on Amazon

It’s A Gas: The Sublime and Elusive Elements That Expand Our World

By Mark Miodownik
Publication Date: September 17, 2024

A fascinating guided tour of the secret life of gases: the strange, elusive, and fascinating substances that shape our world. View on Amazon

Taming Silicon Valley: How We Can Ensure That AI Works for Us

By Gary Marcus
Publication Date: September 17, 2024

How Big Tech is taking advantage of us, how AI is making it worse, and how we can create a thriving, AI-positive world. View on Amazon

Something Lost, Something Gained: Reflections on Life, Love, and Liberty

By Hillary Rodham Clinton
Publication Date: September 17, 2024

Hillary offers her candid views on life and love, politics, liberty, democracy, the threats we face, and the future within our reach. View on Amazon

Breaking Bias: Where Stereotypes and Prejudices Come From–and the Science-Backed Method to Unravel Them

By Anu Gupta
Publication Date: September 17, 2024

A page-turning deep-dive into how bias is learned—plus a strikingly original and highly effective set of tools to un-learn it. View on Amazon

Blind Spots: When Medicine Gets It Wrong, and What It Means for Our Health

By Marty Makary
Publication Date: September 17, 2024

From Johns Hopkins medical expert Dr. Marty Makary, an eye-opening look at the medical groupthink that has led to public harm, and what you need to know about your health. View on Amazon

The Inner Clock: Living in Sync with Our Circadian Rhythms

By Lynne Peeples
Publication Date: September 24, 2024

How the groundbreaking science of circadian rhythms can help you sleep better, feel happier, and improve your overall health. View on Amazon

The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, From the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement

By Sharon McMahon
Publication Date: September 24, 2024

From America’s favorite government teacher, a heartfelt, inspiring portrait of twelve ordinary Americans whose courage formed the character of our country. View on Amazon

The Happy High Achiever: 8 Essentials to Overcome Anxiety, Manage Stress, and Energize Yourself for Success―Without Losing Your Edge

By Mary Anderson
Publication Date: September 24, 2024

A game-changing road map for ambitious people to transform chronic stress and anxiety into sustainable happiness and success. View on Amazon

Directional Living: A Transformational Guide to Fulfillment in Work and Life

By Megan Hellerer
Publication Date: September 24, 2024

A guide for creating a life of maximum fulfillment and purpose, by the career coach whose approach has helped hundreds re-orient their careers and lives. View on Amazon

The Burning Earth: A History

By Sunil Amrith
Publication Date: September 24, 2024

A brilliant, paradigm-shifting global history of how humanity has reshaped the planet, and the planet has shaped human history, over the last 500 years. View on Amazon

Earthly Bodies: Embracing Animal Nature

By Vanessa Chakour
Publication Date: September 24, 2024

Examining the cultural belief that our animal instincts are to be corrected or corralled, nature advocate and rewilding facilitator Vanessa Chakour explores our inner and outer landscapes through the lens of wild animals. View on Amazon

The Darwinian Trap: The Hidden Evolutionary Forces That Explain Our World (and Threaten Our Future)

By Kristian Rönn
Publication Date: September 24, 2024

A provocative exploration of how humans are wired to seek short-term success at the expense of long-term survival—an evolutionary “glitch” that explains everything from toxic workplaces to climate change. View on Amazon

The Tech Coup: How to Save Democracy from Silicon Valley

By Marietje Schaake
Publication Date: September 24, 2024

A behind-the-scenes account of how technology companies crept into nearly every corner of our lives and our governments. View on Amazon

AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can’t, and How to Tell the Difference

By Arvind Narayanan & Sayash Kapoor
Publication Date: September 24, 2024

From two of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in AI, what you need to know about AI—and how to defend yourself against bogus AI claims and products. View on Amazon

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