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David Remnick has a nearly impossible task in his new biography of Barack Obama: writing "the most complete account yet" of the most famous man on the planet. The well-written and well-researched book may be ahead of its time; the events in it are so familiar right now that its scholarship may resonate better in 20 years.

Once upon a time, it was fashionable to adore all things French. Those days are gone — remember "freedom fries"? — but author Danielle Trussoni is convinced that there are plenty of Americans who still love French culture, fashion and food. Trussoni recommends three books about France — all with a certain je ne sais quoi.

The first two books in Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy are megahits, and the third, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, comes out in May. But some American readers don't want to wait that long — they're importing the book from England, where it was released last year.

In his book Lost States, Michael J. Trinklein reimagines the U.S. with the many states that never made it into the republic: Transylvania, Forgottonia, and Texlahoma, to name a few.

How do Hollywood studios make money? Journalist Edward Jay Epstein goes looking for answers in The Hollywood Economist, explaining the complicated relationship between distributors and studios — and revealing why the humble cup holder may be the greatest technological advancement in the history of Hollywood.

Daily Beast Editor-in-Chief Tina Brown shares with Renee Montagne the best things she's been reading lately: on the growing pains of ambitious companies, working in your PJs and how losing your job can mean finding your life.

India has an exam for virtually every government job — no matter how small. The Railway Exams, given to aspiring guards, ticket collectors and drivers, ask a surprising variety of questions — difficult questions. Competition for jobs on the railway is extreme — by one account there are 20,000 applicants for one ticket collector job.

Writer Judith Shulevitz started observing Shabbat because of her own ambivalence about the traditional weekly day of rest. Her own experiences with the ritual — as well as its larger historical context — are examined in her new book, The Sabbath World: Glimpses of a Different Order of Time.

At the massive central Florida retirement community of 80,000 residents, the lines blur between public and private, civic and commercial, real and fictional. There are no residents under age 19, everything is golf-cart accessible — and it's all owned by one developer. But the residents like it — it allows them to retire to a life free of irritation.

Mosab Hassan Yousef's father helped found Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist organization. But Yousef chose a different path — working with the Israeli intelligence group Shin Bet.