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The former poet laureate reflects on his brother's passing in the new poem "August Notebook: A Death." The elegy is included in Hass' new collection, The Apple Trees at Olema, which includes material from his first five works — as well as new poems on the art of storytelling and personal relations in a violent world.

Ideas that writer Jeff Goodell used to regard as bad science fiction — like launching particles into the stratosphere to reflect sunlight — are now being taken seriously because of global warming concerns. Goodell examines the science behind tinkering with the Earth's climate in his new book, How to Cool the Planet.

Librarian Nancy Pearl shares the work of a few of her best-loved poets. They include a former nun who wrote about Marilyn Monroe, a man who was left paralyzed after a bicycle accident, and writers who — despite the sometimes rigid requirements of their chosen form — find surprising, inventive ways to use words.

Author Yoko Ogawa's Hotel Iris, published in Japanese in 1996, is the latest of her books to be translated into English. Critic Maureen Corrigan says the story, about a 17-year-old girl who begins an intense, sometimes violent affair with a tenant of her mother's rundown hotel, is decadent and profoundly sad.

In middle age, most of us get forgetful and easily distracted. But new research finds that our minds improve in some ways as we age: We're better at seeing the big picture and comprehending complexity. Writer Barbara Strauch details how the middle-aged brain grows and changes in The Secret Life of the Grown-Up Brain.

In India's capital New Delhi, many impoverished people spend their days picking through garbage — looking for anything that can be recycled and sold. But now there is competition. A battle between rag pickers and new corporate "waste managers" is raging over the trash of the affluent.

Japan's reki-jo, or "history girls," love learning about shoguns' castles and samurai battles, and they idolize historical figures like rock stars. Some observers believe this is more than just a trend: The reki-jo subculture signals a kind of empowerment.

In 1937, frustrated by a conservative Supreme Court that struck down a series of his New Deal programs, President Franklin Roosevelt set about to reform the court — by expanding it and adding as many as six liberal justices. The controversial proposition is examined in writer Jeff Shesol's new book, Supreme Power: Franklin Roosevelt vs. the Supreme Court.

The prolific and perennially controversial celebrity biographer takes a look at the life of a talk show host who doesn't much like to be talked about. Not surprisingly, Kelley's latest bio is entirely unauthorized.

For too long, Jacob Lentz thinks, certain animals have gotten by on good looks and charm, while more impressive species are ignored by children and stuffed-animal manufacturers. Lentz intends to right this wrong in The Animal Review. See what grades he gave other species.