If read as widely as we hope they will be, this week's best nonfiction releases have the potential to help us come to terms with some uncomfortable current realities and reimagine our lives and work.

First up, one of our preeminent historians of culture and ideas, Thomas Frank, uncovers "the insidious effects of centering innovation and creativity in our rhetoric while, in practice, nurturing exactly the opposite." Next, the co-creator of TED Talks, June Cohen, explores how, "in our pursuit of progress, we dismantled" many of the sophisticated wisdom systems our ancestors developed over the course of centuries to meet our deepest, most fundamental needs, how science is now validating many of those practices, and how we can reincorporate them into our modern lives. Then, we turn to journalist and acclaimed podcast host Paris Marx who "exposes the deceptive, exploitative ways tech companies are siphoning energy and resources from vulnerable communities in their pursuit of digital power, abandoning the pretense of social responsibility," making "a powerful case for technology that promotes the social good over the bottom lines of tech billionaires." And finally, Harvard Business School faculty member Christina Wing examines "the costs of dodging the truth and what changes when we face it"—giving you the "knowledge and tools to start those conversations—and make workplaces and lives more open, honest, and resilient."

All four of this week's books opens our eyes to uncomfortable realities—and in the process offer opportunities to correct course. Each is arriving on local bookstore shelves and are available through online retailers today. 

Interested in buying multiple copies for your team, book club, or neighbors? Follow the links below, give us a call to purchase the books, or check out our services for bulk book buyers to learn more about how we can help.

Unless otherwise noted, all descriptions of the books below come from the publisher.

The Creativity Con: How Innovation Became America's Biggest Racket by Thomas Frank, published by Penguin Press

A bold indictment of America’s chronic obsession with creativity and innovation, tracing how these beloved ideas came to dominate our political and economic conversation while serving to mask inequality and protect elite interests.

“Innovation” and “creativity” have been the defining watchwords of American exceptionalism for decades. They’re deployed by business leaders, tech gurus, military strategists, educators, and urban planners to describe our unique standing in the world. While other countries supposedly suffer from regimentation and a fatal lack of imagination, the United States is often portrayed as an unmatched dynamo of new ideas and products. In The Creativity Con, Thomas Frank disabuses us of this notion, offering a provocative account of the way creativity and innovation have been used as a kind of ideological cover for policies that reinforce the class system.

Frank charts the construction of America’s glamorous self-image from Sputnik to Silicon Valley, Apple to Lockheed Martin, Madison Avenue to Main Street, Richard Florida to Donald Trump. He deconstructs the innovation agendas touted by politicians; reads pop psychology; tours SXSW, the mecca of creativity, where musicians mingle with Pentagon officials; and looks in on the cafés, sidewalk murals, and bike lanes that populate the neighborhoods built for the creative class. Along the way, Frank uncovers the insidious effects of centering innovation and creativity in our rhetoric while, in practice, nurturing exactly the opposite. He shows how, in the name of these noble goals, our leaders have reoriented the American economy around white-collar knowledge work, cut taxes for the wealthy, deregulated banks, offshored manufacturing, reoriented cities, and destroyed what is truly creative about this country.

Deeply original, marked by Frank’s signature brilliance and acerbic wit, The Creativity Con is a troubling X-ray of postwar American business and political culture—and a crushing indictment of the clichés that have undergirded its many failures.

The Great Remembering: Powerful Ancient Practices—and the New Science Bringing Them Back by June Cohen, published by Authors Equity

What if the most powerful solutions for the crises of modern life are actually found . . . in our past?

We see it in headlines, in trendlines, in our own lives: We’ve never been more anxious, more divided, or more lost.

The problem isn’t that we lack solutions. It’s that we abandoned the ones that actually worked.

For thousands of years, across every culture on earth, humans built sophisticated “wisdom systems” to meet our deepest needs—rooted in physical challenge, sensory immersion, communal ritual, and belonging. But in our pursuit of progress, we dismantled them.

In The Great Remembering, June Cohen—co-creator of TED Talks and Masters of Scale—time travels across cultures, continents, and centuries to investigate what we left behind: Wisdom systems for communal awe and communal grief. Practices like the sauna, the festival, the epic physical challenge.

What cutting-edge neuroscience, cell biology, and psychology are now confirming is as surprising as it is obvious: These practices weren’t primitive. They were sophisticated solutions to the oldest human problems. And the science is finally proving why they worked.

The mental health crisis. The climate crisis. The crisis of social division. The rise of AI challenging our way of life. At every rupture like this, humans have looked to the past to find their way forward.

The answers are already there. We just need to remember.

Hyperscale: The Ambition and Excess of Big Tech's Data Empires by Paris Marx, published by Riverhead Books

An eye-opening account of how the data center boom is pushing our planet past its breaking point.

Underlying our seamless access to AI, cryptocurrency, and unlimited cloud storage is a hulking, costly physical infrastructure. Massive data centers full of energy-hungry chips and processors power everything we do online. Scrambling to meet dubious market demand, the tech giants have leveraged our planet in pursuit of a market monopoly.

In Hyperscale, journalist Paris Marx uncovers the excesses of hyperscale data processing. He exposes the deceptive, exploitative ways tech companies are siphoning energy and resources from vulnerable communities in their pursuit of digital power, abandoning the pretense of social responsibility.

Amid energy shortages and tech-induced battles over drinking water, Marx makes a powerful case for technology that promotes the social good over the bottom lines of tech billionaires. He joins the incredible efforts of people and movements pushing back against the profit-driven interests of Big Tech, illuminating a path toward the sustainable future we all deserve.

The AI boom and its infrastructural demands have accelerated our many modern catastrophes. With razor-sharp reporting and incisive analysis, Marx shows us that the greatest threat is not the specter of AI overlords but a global environmental disaster already in the making.

Unspeakable: The Taboo Topics We Avoid and How to Talk About Them by Christina Wing, published by Harvard Business Review Press

We avoid sensitive yet crucial topics at our own peril. Harvard Business School's Christina Wing provides tools for communicating with clarity and compassion.

We live in a world where the list of off-limits topics keeps growing—at work, among friends, even at home. Age, retirement, succession, failure, money, politics: these subjects often feel too sensitive to touch. So we avoid them, sticking to small talk. But avoidance comes at a cost. When we can't address the realities shaping our lives and careers, trust erodes and relationships suffer. Is this really the new normal?

In Unspeakable, Christina Wing argues that it shouldn't be. Drawing on decades of experience working with family-run businesses and in boardrooms and classrooms, Wing reveals how fear and inhibition undermine performance—and how learning to address and talk about the "unspeakables" can improve our organizations and our lives. This is not a call for reckless candor; it's a practical guide to speaking and acting with clarity, empathy, and respect.

Through vivid stories—from family firms derailed by secrecy to global companies paralyzed by conversations that don't happen—Wing shows the costs of dodging the truth and what changes when we face it. Each chapter tackles a different topic, from estate planning and unemployment to race and religion, offering strategies and scripts to help readers navigate these issues with confidence.

Leaders, colleagues, and families need deeper relationships built on honest discussion, not small talk. Unspeakable gives you the knowledge and tools to start those conversations—and make workplaces and lives more open, honest, and resilient.