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Linguist Amanda Montell is the creator of the podcast "Sounds Like a Cult" and the author of "Cultish" and "Wordslut." Her new book, "The Age of Magical Overthinking," explores the cognitive biases running rampant in today's information age.
'Stiff' by Mary Roach (2003)
I fell in love with Mary Roach's witty, hypercurious, totally singular science writing thanks to this macabre (but not grotesque) nonfiction exploration of dead bodies. I owe so much of my voice as a writer — including the silly footnotes in my books — to Roach, whose delightful diction has breathed life into topics from space travel to digestion. Buy it here.
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'Word by Word' by Kory Stamper (2017)
Written by a career lexicographer with an infectious love of the English language, this ode to the dictionary is full of fun facts for linguistics lovers, as well as intimate stories that nerds of all stripes can enjoy. It's a cozy book that will make you appreciate dictionary entries with newfound wonder. Buy it here.
'Noise' by Daniel Kahneman et al. (2021)
Kahneman's books belong in any skeptic's starter pack, including this one. The Nobel-winning psychologist just passed away at 90 after devoting his life to studying human decision-making, and his work on our irrationality is more urgent than ever. Though we humans aren't very good at changing other people's minds, we have much better luck changing our own. Buy it here.
'Everything/Nothing/Someone' by Alice Carrière (2023)
Carrière is the daughter of an illustrious but aloof New York painter and a movie star with such boundary issues that you wonder, "Was this child abuse, or is he just European?" Carrière's memoir describes her romantic but isolated West Village childhood, and a 15-year roller coaster of psychiatric hospitalization, overprescription, drug abuse, and self-destruction, in prose that's gorgeous, timeless, and wise. Buy it here.
'Grief Is for People' by Sloane Crosley (2024)
Crosley is the writer who made me feel like I could write books one day. What a gift to read her intimate elegy to her best friend, who died by suicide. Crosley is well-known for her humor, which I appreciate even more in the context of such vulnerable solemnity. Buy it here.
'All Fours' by Miranda July (2024)
I am in awe of Miranda July's mind. Her forthcoming novel deals with aging and desire while chronicling the auto-fictional story of a 45-year-old semi-famous artist who embarks on a cross-country road trip that's quickly derailed. It's peculiar, gripping, saucy, heartbreaking...everything July does best. Buy it here.
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Margaret Atwood’s memoir, intergenerational trauma and the fight to make spousal rape a crime: Welcome to November booksThe Week Recommends This month's new releases include ‘Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts’ by Margaret Atwood, ‘Cursed Daughters’ by Oyinkan Braithwaite and 'Without Consent' by Sarah Weinman
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‘Tariffs are making daily life less affordable now’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
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Out of office: microretirement is trending in the workplaceThe explainer Long vacations are the new way to beat burnout
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Middleland: Rory Stewart’s essay collection is a ‘triumph’The Week Recommends The Rest is Politics co-host compiles his fortnightly columns written during his time as an MP
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‘Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America’ and ‘Unabridged: The Thrill of (and Threat to) the Modern Dictionary’feature The culture divide in small-town Ohio and how the internet usurped dictionaries
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6 homes with fall foliagefeature An autumnal orange Craftsman, a renovated Greek Revival church and an estate with an orchard
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Bugonia: ‘deranged, extreme and explosively enjoyable’Talking Point Yorgos Lanthimos’ film stars Emma Stone as a CEO who is kidnapped and accused of being an alien
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The Revolutionists: a ‘superb and monumental’ bookThe Week Recommends Jason Burke ‘epic’ account of the plane hijackings and kidnappings carried out by extremists in the 1970s
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Film reviews: ‘Bugonia,’ ‘The Mastermind’ and ‘Nouvelle Vague’feature A kidnapped CEO might only appear to be human, an amateurish art heist goes sideways, and Jean-Luc Godard’s ‘Breathless’ gets a lively homage
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Book reviews: ‘Against the Machine: On the Unmaking of Humanity’ and ‘Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice’feature An examination of humanity in the face of “the Machine” and a posthumous memoir from one of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, who recently died by suicide
