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The author visited Afghanistan's Korengal Valley five times in 2007 and 2008 as a reporter embedded with part of the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade as it attempted to thwart the Taliban in rough mountain terrain.

Just what is a summer book, anyway? Does it have to be a big, fat, juicy page turner to earn the right to be packed away in the luggage (or downloaded on the e-reader)? We put that question to several book reviewers to find out what they like to take along on summer getaways.

When Paul Greenberg started fishing as a kid in the '70s, he didn't have to think twice about dwindling wild fish populations. That was before the world nearly doubled its fish consumption. Four Fish is Greenberg's investigation into the future of the last wild food.

When it was published in 1960, Harper Lee's modest novel helped Americans think differently about race. Now, 50 years later, To Kill a Mockingbird still resonates in a much-changed America. NPR's Lynn Neary examines the lasting impact of Scout Finch and her father, Atticus — a lawyer who defends a black man unjustly accused of rape.

Will Grozier, who drives a taxi in London, is no ordinary cabbie. NPR's Scott Simon calls him "the best-read man that I have ever encountered in my life" — which is why NPR occasionally calls Grozier up for reading recommendations. Here are Grozier's latest picks, five books that are equally suitable for diving into on the beach or sampling on a short taxi ride.

Founding Father Robert Morris was a laissez-faire capitalist and subject of perhaps the first American congressional inquiry. In Robert Morris: Financier of the American Revolution, author Charles Rappleye argues that the war couldn't have been won without him.

He was a juvenile delinquent, then a world-class miler; a World War II airman, then a POW grotesquely mistreated by the Japanese. Seabiscuit author Laura Hillenbrand's new book tells the remarkable tale of Louis Zamperini.

Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times correspondent David Rohde was captured by the Taliban in 2008. Seven months later, he mounted a daring escape. Now Rohde and his wife, Kristen Mulvihill, have written about their separate experiences dealing with his capture in the new book A Rope and a Prayer.

Owners of aging dogs often struggle with their pets' dementia and incontinence — as well as navigating through end-of-life decisions. Veterinary behaviorist Nicholas Dodman talks about the best ways to care for your aging dog.

Science writer Susan Freinkel chronicles the rise of plastic in consumer culture — and its effects on the environment and our health — in Plastic: A Toxic Love Story. Freinkel says plastics leach potentially harmful chemicals into our bloodstream — and that scientists are now figuring out what that does to our bodies.