Of the books listed below, the one that seems to have been the most helpful for Lynn and me is Lisa Genova's "Remember". It is about the human memory and it really helps quiet worries about poor memory and a deteriorating mind.
I enjoyed what I read of "Eve: How the female body drove 200 million years of evolution" by Cat Bohannon.
You may get intellectual payoffs from "This Explains Everything", a John Brockman book. Brockman runs the website "Edge". That's not the Microsoft browser also called Edge. He tries to foster deep thinking and exploration of all kinds of intellectual exploration.
"You can't make this stuff up" by Laura Katz. There are quite a few books about not being able to make up stuff. This book is a summary of decades of work as a woman gynecologist and her cases.
I would not have thought I would enjoy "Eighty Days" by Matthew Goodman as much as I did. It is about two New York City newspapers sponsoring two women who compete to see who wins in a trip around the world. This true contest took place in 1889, when the world and human ideas were not what they are today.
"Brief Answers to the Big Questions" by Stephen Hawking, the very famous British cosmologist, told he had developed Lou Geherig's disease, related to Parkinson's nerve disease. He was told at age 20 that he would live five more years. He died recently at age 76. He said that he had spent his life traveling through the universe, amid black holes, he is a clear, helpful, upbeat writer.
Children's books have been in the news lately. Reading and being read to were among the best experiences of my childhood. Whether you once read you once read "Charlotte's Web" by E.B. White or not, it is time to read it again, maybe with a grandchild beside you. School and children's librarians can help find the oldest greatest and the most recent greatest of kids' books. Don't kid yourself: you are still pretty much a kid.
Two more: Any of Dan Buettner's books. Try "The Blue Zones American Kitchen" but any of his will be helpful. He is an explorer of places in the world that have consistently harbored groups of people who live longer, healthier lives than average, places he calls "Blue Zones". More recognition is focusing on physical hydration as a major factor in good living at older age. On that subject, try "Quench" by Cohen, MD and Bria. Our bodies bug us less about thirst but it is very important to health to get the right amounts of water.
