This month: An outstanding debut collection of unusual and original essays; an exploration of courage and curiosity from bestselling author Brené Brown; a deep-dive into the disaster that ended the era of supersonic air travel; and two books about books, including the latest from The Orchid Thief author Susan Orlean. 

If the Clash and the Sex Pistols were considered rebels for infusing rock with sharp political commentary, imagine the guts it took to do it under the eye of the Stasi. Tim Mohr talks about the East German secret police, psychological terror, and  Burning Down the Haus, his chronicle of punk rock and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

In her engaging new book, Hannah Fry demystifies algorithms and machine learning and explores the benefits and drawbacks to their ever-growing power over our daily lives.

How do you go from cute to cutest?

The Amazon Books Editors' selections for the best new biographies and memoirs of October include an informative look into the life and work of Frederick Douglass, an emotional (and uplifting?) story of a family that will "destroy each other... destroy themselves," and  The Greatest Love Story Ever Told, as told by two people who absolutely believe it. 

The bestselling author talks to the Amazon Book Review about his latest book and the centuries-old, symbiotic, and sometimes uneasy relationship between astrophysics and the military.

If you're afraid of heights, Free Solo—the new documentary about climbing superstar Alex Honnold and his ropeless ascent of Yosemite's El Capitan—might be impossible to watch. It's also impossible to look away. Check out the trailer, or if that's too much, read an excerpt from his newly updated autobiography, Alone on the Wall.

Part adventure, some history, and a little bit Studs Terkel,  Northland—Porter Fox's exploration of 4,000 miles of the U.S./Canadian divide—is filled with encounters with people as diverse as the landscape. Here are some of his can't-miss destinations along "America's Forgotten Border." 

Make history this month, or at least read some. 

September marks the advent of the high season for publishing, a cavalcade of noteworthy and much-anticipated books hitting the shelves, as well as our reading lists. Here are 14 of our favorite true tales of the month, including the latest from Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jill Lepore, and Noah Yuval Harari.

And  Bibliophile: An Illustrated Miscellany is all about books. Take a peek inside with samples from this "Illustrated Miscellany" by artist Jane Mount.

Yuval Noah Harari's  21 Lessons for the 21st Century addresses urgent, shape-shifting topics that will impact our present and near future—in other words, everything you're not supposed to talk about at Thanksgiving. Here are brief descriptions for five of his theses, and they're not reassuring. 

Keith O'Brien's remarkable work of narrative nonfiction tells the story of five trailblazing women who made aviation history. In this exclusive piece for Amazon Book Review readers, O'Brien tells us how a flight of his own led to the story...

From infamous gangsters and ghostly hitchhikers to something called  Giganticus Headicus, Michael Karl Witzel's Strange 66: Myth, Mystery, Mayhem, and Other Weirdness on Route 66 collects the weird, fun, and occasionally spooky tales and attractions spread across 2,448 miles of iconic American blacktop.

We talked to the author of our spotlight pick for the Best Books of August about her timely and important new book.