Recommended Reads, 18th in a Quarterly Series

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

No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process (Beavan).  A sometimes hilarious but always thought-provoking account of how hard it is to truly drive your environmental footprint down to zero.

The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World Paperback (Johnson).  You know I love Stephen Johnson, but this book blew me away.  It had it all - intrigue, calamity, science, and maps!

The Plundered Planet: Why We Must--and How We Can--Manage Nature for Global Prosperity (Collier).  A very thoughtful exploration into the intersection between economics and the environment.

Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The Secret History of the Early Game (Thorn).  Turns out baseball's genesis wasn't idyllic and instantaneous but rather urban, gritty, and incremental.

Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream (Bissinger).  Bissinger's narrative skills shine.  All the emotions, I felt them.

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln (Goodwin).  A fascinating look at a great man through the lens of his working relationships with his greatest rivals.

Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World (Lewis).  Lewis at his best - insightful, informative, and witty.