Recommended Reads, 14th in a Quarterly Series

Stuff I've read lately that I'd recommend:

Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash (Royte).  Who knew waste was so wonderfully interesting?

The Other Barack: The Bold and Reckless Life of President Obama’s Father (Jacobs).  Not having read either of President Obama's biographies, I wasn't ready for all the drama about his dad.  Man, what a life!

The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal (Diamond).  Fantastically interesting. 

The Perfection Point: Sport Science Predicts the Fastest Man, the Highest Jump, and the Limits of Athletic Performance (Brenkus).  A really cool look at how fast/high/strong humans can possibly get.

Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World (Kurlansky).  Who knew cod were so central to Western history?

Ed Bacon: Planning, Politics, and the Building of Modern Philadelphia (Heller).  It was fun to read this and watch Sam Katz's documentary around the same time.