Below I’m highlighting some of the last nonfiction books coming out this year in December. All of the mentioned titles are available to put on hold in our catalog and will also be made available via the library’s Overdrive website on the day of publication in eBook and downloadable audiobook format (as available). For a more extensive list of new nonfiction books coming out this month, check our online catalog.
Top Picks
“The Lost Tomb: And Other Real-Life Stories of Bones, Burials, and Murder” by Douglas Preston (Dec 5)
What’s it like to be the first to enter an Egyptian burial chamber that’s been sealed for thousands of years? Where might a blocked doorway or newly excavated corridor lead? And what might this stupendous tomb reveal about the most powerful pharaoh in Egyptian history? From the jungles of Honduras to macabre archaeological sites in the American Southwest, Douglas Preston’s journalistic explorations have taken him across the globe. He broke the story of an extraordinary mass grave of animals killed by the asteroid impact that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, he explored what lay hidden in the booby-trapped Money Pit on Oak Island, and he roamed the haunted hills of Italy in search of the Monster of Florence. When he hasn’t been co-authoring bestselling thrillers featuring FBI Agent Pendergast, Preston has been writing about some of the world’s strangest and most dramatic mysteries. “The Lost Tomb” brings together an astonishing and compelling collection of true stories about buried treasure, enigmatic murders, lost tombs, bizarre crimes, and other fascinating tales of the past and present.
“Airplane Mode: An Irreverent History of Travel” by Shahnaz Hibib (Dec 5)
The color of one’s skin and passport have long dictated the conditions of travel. For Shahnaz Habib, travel and travel writing have always been complicated pleasures. Habib threads the history of travel with her personal story as a child on family vacations in India, an adult curious about the world, and an immigrant for whom roundtrips are an annual fact of life. Tracing the power dynamics that underlie tourism, this insightful debut parses who gets to travel, and who gets to write about the experience. Threaded through the book are inviting and playful analyses of obvious and not-so-obvious travel artifacts: passports, carousels, bougainvilleas, guidebooks, trains, the idea of wanderlust itself. Together, they tell a subversive history of travel as a Euro-American mode of consumerism — but as any traveler knows, travel is more than that. As an immigrant whose loved ones live across continents, Habib takes a deeply curious and joyful look at a troubled and beloved activity.
“ADHD For Smart Ass Women: How to Fall in Love with Your Neurodivergent Brain” by Tracy Otsuka (Dec 26)
ADHD is one of the most common neurological disorders in the United States — yet a staggering 75 percent of girls and women remain undiagnosed. Due to the gender gap in medical research, which does not account for symptoms manifesting differently in women — leading to increased problems with anxiety, depression, working memory, sleep, energy, and concentration — many ADHD women are left to navigate a society that fails to understand their struggles and gifts. But what if every woman had the resources and support to uncover the hidden wonders of her neurodivergent brain? Enter certified ADHD coach and podcast host Tracy Otsuka. Armed with her experience coaching thousands of women, cutting-edge medical research, and personal insights from her own diagnosis, she presents a revelatory guide tailored specifically for girls and women with ADHD. In it, Otsuka offers an entirely new set of tools, systems, and strategies to access a world of boundless productivity, focus, and confidence. With her signature wit and levity — in entertaining chapters designed for ADHD readers — Otsuka explores the unique challenges that ADHD women face and illuminates the extraordinary qualities that set them apart: overflowing creativity, laser-focused attention, deep empathy and fearless entrepreneurial spirit. Even without an official diagnosis, readers will be equipped with the tools to conquer any to-do list and to tap into their true purpose, personally or professionally. By dismantling the long-standing stereotypes and misinformation surrounding women with ADHD, Otsuka offers a beacon of hope for any woman looking to transform her symptoms into strengths. Comprehensive, lively, and long overdue, “ADHD for Smart Ass Women” is the key to unlocking unparalleled potential and to understanding your truly magnificent and brilliant brain.
More Notable Releases for December
- “Becoming Ella Fitzgerald: The Jazz Singer Who Transformed American Song” by Judith Tick (Dec 5)
- “The Palace: From the Tudors to the Windsors, 500 Years of British History at Hampton Court” by Gareth Russell (Dec 5)
- “A Republic of Scoundrels: The Schemers, Intriguers, and Adventurers Who Created a New American Nation” Edited by David Head and Timothy Hemmis (Dec 5)
- “Njuta (Enjoy, Delight In): The Swedish Art of Savoring the Moment” by Niki Brantmark (Dec 26)
