Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language

by Gretchen McCulloch (2019). This is a fantastic book about the way the English language has changed in response to the internet. It avoids the usual gripes about “kids these days,” and instead explores modern language in a thoughtful and enthusiastic way. In the process, it explains countless odd details about how people type in text messages—quirks that I’ve noticed but never really understood.

by Alan Weisman (2007). This book explores the question of what would happen to the planet if humans abruptly vanished. How would the things we’ve built

by José de Acosta (1590). This book, translated into modern English by Frances Lopez-Morillas in 2002, was written by a Spanish priest in Peru as a guide to the Americas. It’s so interesting following him as he tries to explain the earthquakes, tides, and weather of his new home, working from a 16th-century European vantage point.