Pre-order these anticipated 2021 nonfiction books

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After 2020, perhaps we could all use some fiction in our lives. Novels that take us to a different world, a fantasyland, a different dystopia, but for those of us who are propelled by the nonfiction genre, 2021 has us covered. 

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Some of the most anticipated nonfiction books include Bill Gates’  How to Avoid a Climate Disaster , James Comey’s  Saving Justice  and Jenny Lawson’s  Broken. 

This year’s nonfiction list also includes topics like creating a culture of learning, clinically-proven stress management techniques, and learning about the 400-year history of African Americans. Pre-order these books to give your future self a fun mailbox surprise(ish). 

James Comey is likely best known for his time as FBI director, and even more so when he was fired from that position in 2017. This is the much-anticipated follow-up to Comey’s  A Higher Loyalty. Comey’s new release draws on anecdotes and lessons from his career to illustrate how the federal justice system works.

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Tom Vanderbilt is the best-selling author who wrote  Traffic. In this new book, Vanderbilt explores why so many adults stop learning new skills. His inspiration comes from the dichotomy of his daughter’s insatiable thirst for knowledge vs. his own mid-career competencies. Vanderbilt tackles the new skills of chess, singing, surfing, drawing and juggling to ultimately convey his overall learning about profound happiness and deeper connections. 

George Saunders, New York Times bestselling and Booker Prize-winning author of  Lincoln in the Bardo  and  Tenth of December,  has a new book that covers what makes great stories work. For the last 20 years, Saunders has been teaching a class on the Russian short story. This book offers a version of that class and iconic short stories by Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy and Gogol. This book is great for those interested in how fiction works and why it’s important in these turbulent times.

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Four Hundred Souls is a one-volume history of African Americans. The book is written by 90 authors who each cover five years of history. The writers use historical essays, short stories, personal vignettes and energized polemics to capture their span of African American history. Editors, Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain lace the writings together to create a chorus of voices that cover a 400-year history.

Made in China is written by investigative journalist Amelia Pang who uncovers the conditions of labour camps in China. In 2012, a woman in Oregon opened up new Halloween decorations and found an SOS letter written by the prisoner who made and packaged the item. Pang follows the life of Sun Yi, the man who wrote that note, to pull back the curtain on the inhumane conditions at Kmart, H&M and other fast-product factories.

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Think Again is written by best-selling author Adam Grant. In Grant’s upcoming book, he looks at the concept of rethinking and unlearning. Because our world is in constant change, Grant challenges current comfort and convictions to discuss growth and change.

And it doesn’t hurt to have this quote by Bill and Melinda Gates, “Think Again is a must-read for anyone who wants to create a culture of learning and exploration, whether at home, at work, or at school… In an increasingly divided world, the lessons in this book are more important than ever.”

Jedidiah Jenkins, New York Times bestselling author of  To Shake the Sleeping Self, offers a new book that covers some of the most difficult topics we have to consider when discussing an authentic life. Jenkins looks at ego, love, family and work, and asks some of those existential questions like “Who am I?” and “What am I made of?”

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Bill Gates has spent ten years researching the causes and effects of climate change. Gates calls in experts from the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science and finance to create this authoritative book on how to stop the planet’s trajectory of certain environmental disasters. Seems like a must-read/act. 

Isabel Allende, New York Times bestselling author of  A Long Petal of the Sea, has a new book coming our way about what it means to be a woman. Allende talks about her mother who was abandoned by her husband while raising three small children without “resources or voice.” 

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A Long Petal of the Sea is one of Heather’s Picks (CEO of Indigo Books). This is a portion of her review of Allende’s previous work: “A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende—Chile’s most famous novelist—is at once an intimate story and a grand drama…What’s most remarkable about this book is Allende’s ability to create fully realized characters, who demonstrate incredible resilience amidst chaos, darkness, and death, while also depicting sweeping historical events, the changes in both Spanish and Chilean culture over the 20th century, and the clashing ideologies of fascism and socialism. This epic novel—inspired by real people, historic events, and the poetry and life of Pablo Neruda—is one that will both entertain you and stay with you long after you’ve closed the book. I nurtured the last few pages and didn’t want it to end.”

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Dr. Judson Brewer provides a clinically-proven step-by-step plan on how to break the cycle of worry and fear. Dr. Brewer uncovers the cause and effects of anxiety and teaches us how to map our brains to understand our triggers and defuse them with simple but powerful practices. Unwinding Anxiety is based on more than 20 years of research and hands-on work.

Sharon Stone tells her own journey from being one of the most renowned actresses to life after a stroke. In this intimate work, Stone talks about her pivotal roles, her friendships, her disappointments and her accomplishments. 

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Jenny Lawson, #1 New York Times bestselling author, shares her most personal book yet. As Lawson’s hundreds of thousands of fans know, she struggles with depression. In Broken, she discusses her experimental treatment of transcranial magnetic stimulation, but of course, does so with classic Lawson humour.

You can check out other anticipated nonfiction and fiction books on  Indigo’s 2021 pre-order list.

rmann@postmedia.com

twitter.com/randimann

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