"I See Rude People," Amy Alkon

Hard-bound lessons from our own advice goddess

"GenBuY," Kit Yarrow and Jayne O’Donnell

What's the first sign of being an old fart?

"The Original of Laura," Vladimir Nabokov

The great Russian master's long, lost unfinished novel surfaces

"Eating Animals," Jonathan Safran Foer

"Boilerplate: History’s Mechanical Marvel," Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett

How dare the powers that be airbrush Boilerplate out of our collective history

Spoon: Robert Greer

In Robert Greer's Western, the bad guys are tough, the good guys are insightful, the hosses are smart, and the ladies are purty.

"The Trump Card," Ivanka Trump

A much more enlightening read than anything Paris Hilton ever wrote

"The Book of Basketball," Bill Simmons

"Dissection," John Harley Warner and James M. Edmonson

Not for the faint of heart, but a fascinating look at our grisly medical history

The Best American Travel Writing 2008

Raiders, rulers, pirates and falconers. This year's best travel writing reflected a dark and conflicted world.