Cork Dork, by Bianca Bosker
Journalist, wine rube, and obsessive personality Bianca Bosker embarks on a madcap 18-month journey into the booze-soaked belly of the wine industry to uncover the answer to the casual drinker’s perennial question: What is the deal with wine? Bosker interviews some of the world’s finest top connoisseurs, scent scientists, wine economists, snobs, and anti-snobs from Napa to Virginia Beach. Her gleeful approach to the subject is as informative as it is, well, intoxicating. —Rachel Sugar
Buyers beware: A wine’s price matters for quality up to $60, one expert says. After that, it’s mostly branding.
Megatech, edited by Daniel Franklin
The technology of the future feels close in this shrewd and delightfully prognosticatory essay series, edited by The Economist’s Daniel Franklin. Quantum supercomputers? On the way. “Cowborgs”? That’s cyborg cows—comin’ right up. But doubts linger: Humanity could bask in the magnificence of its coming megatech, or it could be annihilated if everything spins out of control. Too soon to tell which. —Robert Hackett
Cocktail-party fodder: Tech’s biggest threat isn’t an AI uprising; it’s nuclear advances—think “suicide bombers with kiloton yields.”
Option B, by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant
Though it’s inspired by grief, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s latest book is as much about living a better life as it is about dealing with death. Co-written with Wharton professor Adam Grant, Option B is part memoir and part research-based exploration of overcoming adversity. Despite its heavy subject matter, the book is surprisingly light, thoroughly educational, and a widely applicable read. —Valentina Zarya
What to say: Instead of asking someone who has just suffered a personal tragedy, “How are you?” try, “How are you today?”
Climate of Hope, by Michael Bloomberg and Carl Pope
This book of climate-change solutions from Mike Bloomberg and environmentalist Carl Pope is nothing if not blunt. In his first three sentences, Bloomberg comes out in favor of the Keystone pipeline, fracking, and nuclear power (but against Birkenstocks). The pair makes a compelling economic case for piecemeal short-term action from cities and companies—but it still leaves you wishing for federal action too. —Anne VanderMey
Trial and error: Drivers foiled Mexico City’s antismog plan to ban cars with odd-numbered plates certain days by just buying an extra car.
A version of this article appears in the April 1, 2017 issue of Fortune with the headline “What You Should Read This Spring.” We’ve included affiliate links in this article. Click here to learn what those are.
