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To understand many of the triumphs, tragedies and conflicts in the world, geopolitical analyst Robert Kaplan says to look no further than a map. In his book The Revenge of Geography, Kaplan argues that geography is central to understanding the history and future of world affairs.

Have you thought about switching to barefoot running? New York Times exercise columnist Gretchen Reynolds did — and promptly injured herself. She details what she did wrong — and how to keep your own feet healthy — in her new book, The First 20 Minutes.

The James Beard award-winning chef was the youngest ever to receive a three-star review from The New York Times. His new memoir, Yes, Chef, explains what it takes to be a master chef — and describes his journey from Ethiopia to Sweden to some of America's finest restaurants.

In Joseph Kanon's new spy thriller, Istanbul Passage, former intelligence aide Leon Bauer is caught in the complexities of post-World War II life, in a story of moral compromise and shifting loyalties.

Parents should be paying very close attention to the digital media their children are using, says child advocate James Steyer. "Young people in particular often self-reveal before they self-reflect," he says. "There is no eraser button today for youthful indiscretion."

In Barack Obama: The Story, journalist David Maraniss chronicles the president's "classic search for home." Maraniss says Obama's young life was defined by his experience of being an outsider — a feeling that stayed with him well into early adulthood.

In We Need New Names, NoViolet Bulawayo tells the story of Darling and her friends, desperate children who live in a shantytown called Paradise. Although the early chapters are told in a child's voice, there is no whimsy in this novel of a turbulent Zimbabwe.

When 18th century Jewish peddler Jacob Cerf reappears in the 21st century, he finds he can read minds and will people to do his bidding — but he's also a common housefly. Rebecca Miller's Jacob's Folly traces Jacob's mission to get back at God.

The volatile world of New York's art scene is the setting for the newest novel by Rachel Kushner. A young woman, Reno, has come to the city to turn a love of motorcycles into a career in art, but she winds up involved in a radical political movement in Italy.

Fawzia Koofi almost died on the day she was born, but survived against all odds and became the first female deputy speaker of Afghanistan's parliament. Koofi plans to run for president in two years, and in a new memoir, describes her hopes for the country's future.