What If We Get It Right? is one of the best books I’ve read this year, and almost certainly the best audiobook specifically. I am going to be pushing this into people’s hands (or headphones) for years.

I always itch for a good book of nature nonfiction in October. This year, as it had been on my TBR forever, I downloaded the audiobook of Entangled Life. Unfortunately, I didn’t love it, but don’t let that stop you from picking it up!

All in all, a lovely little book that will scratch the itch anytime I want to reread Braiding Sweetgrass but don’t have the time. This would make a great holiday gift for the RWK fan in your life!

If you are expecting a baby, this book is required reading. Full stop. I’m currently pregnant with my first, and I went looking for science and evidence to inform my path forward with breastfeeding. That is exactly what I got here. Please read it.

This great book is part examination of current research and guidelines, but also part memoir. Garbes tells us about her experiences, and it’s clear that she’s framing things through that lens, so she never comes off preachy.

I will be talking the ear off of anyone willing to listen about this book, and it’s going to make my favorites of the year for sure. Read it!!

Up to Speed is a really interesting, important book. It started a little slow for me because I happened to already know some of the info presented, but that definitely wasn’t the case the whole way through.

Finding the Mother Tree wasn’t quite what I’d expected, but it was interesting and taught me something new and I’m glad I read it. I also recommend the audiobook!

All We Can Save is a moving, hopeful, and digestible collection of essays on climate activism. It made for an excellent book club discussion and inspired me to join/stay in the fight.

Braiding Sweetgrass was everything people told me it would be: warm, moving, eye-opening. I read a chapter a day and never wanted it to end.

Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain is a snack of a book, a conversational, fascinating, and revelatory bundle of great metaphors on how our brains work.

A slightly mathy but surprisingly useful book about how to think critically about the information and research we read about in the news.

You’re Not Listening is a well-written, readable, persuasive book that underscores the importance of true, unselfish listening and will inspire you to get better at it.

Successful Aging is a scientific but well-written and interesting look at current thinking about how the brain works and how you can protect it as you age.

WOW. Invisible Women is an unrelenting pop-pop-pop of bruising, important truth bombs. Caroline Criado-Pérez doesn’t hold back. Everyone should read this.

I was pleasantly surprised that this book did NOT feel like so many others that had come before it. Wendy Wood is an accomplished neuroscience researcher who also has a knack for translating her results into helpful, clear prose.

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to see the world through a poet’s eyes? The Crying Book is part memoir, part physical exploration, part societal observation, and 100% emotion.

Talking to Strangers is, without a doubt, Malcolm Gladwell at his finest. His skill at combining stories and examples with scientific study in order to keep you engaged and demonstrate complex psychological phenomena is unparalleled.

Rating: 4/5 | Anyone who reads a fair amount of nonfiction will tell you: Too many nonfiction books say pretty much nothing new. Refreshingly, When is not one of those books. I read it as part of my subscription to the Next Big Idea Club. It taught me new things about myself and about the world and gave me real-life takeaways that I can implement. I only wish that it had been longer! (Click the post to read more.)