How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need
by Bill Gates

While climate change gets a lot of press, very few people realize how catastrophic the impacts and, therefore, the necessity for us to deal with it. This book does a good job of explaining the challenge but also dealing with what realistically can and should be done to address it (hint: carbon sequestration needs to be a big part of the solution).

The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz
by Erik Larson

Winston Churchill is one of my heroes, and I’ve read hundreds of books on World War II. So to find a book that had new insights into who Churchill really was as a human being was a great find to start my summer.

Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness
by Cass R. Sunstein and Richard H. Thaler

I love behavioral economics because it explains how humans actually make decisions instead of how we think they should make decisions—and those are two very different things.

The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race
by Walter Isaacson

Years from now, people will probably look back at CRISPR [gene-editing technology] as one of the most game-changing technologies to emerge from our generation. The book deals with the history but also the ethics and future of this powerful technology.

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