When it first hit the diet scene in 1995, Sugar Busters! rocketed to the number-one spot on the New York Times' best-seller list. Written by a former CEO and three physicians-a cardiovascular surgeon, a gastroenterologist, and an endocrinologist-the book has an "eat like your ancestors" philosophy that caught on quickly: zero refined sugar, whole grains, unprocessed foods. Fast-forward eight years to The New Sugar Busters! Cut Sugar to Trim Fat (Ballantine Books, 2002). The basics (and the authors) are the same, but there's new advice on current issues such as childhood obesity and the growing diabetes epidemic, as well as a whole bunch of new recipes.

Written by Josh Richman and Anish Sheth, M.D. (the power poo couple who brought you the adult poo reference version — “What’s Your Poo Telling You”), this book is actually remarkably fascinating and useful.

  The Cosmo Bikini Diet is a weight-loss plan designed to get you slim and sexy all over without leaving you feeling unsatisfied, moody, and hungry. It makes eating well and working out actually feel enjoyable. This 12-week program gives you the tools you need to drop pounds and get toned without cramping your lifestyle:

• Monthly real-world eating plans
• Hot and healthy workouts that you can fit into a busy schedule
• Ideas to up the feel-good moments in your day

Author Phillip Norman, whose previous bestseller, John Lennon: The Life, was praised as a “haunting, mammoth, terrific piece of work” (New York Times Book Review) and whose classic Shout! is widely considered to be the definitive biography of the Beatles, now turns his attention to the iconic front man of the Rolling Stones, “the greatest rock ’n’ roll band in the world.” Norman’s Mick Jagger is an extraordinarily detailed and vibrantly written in-depth account of the life and half-century-long career of one of the most fascinating and complex superstars of rock music—the most comprehensive biography to date of the famously enigmatic musician. Keith Richards had his say in Life. Now it’s time to get to know intimately the other half of the duo responsible for such enduring hits as “Paint It Black,” “Sympathy for the Devil,” “Gimme Shelter,” and “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” Mick Jagger is a must read for Stones fans, and everyone who can’t get enough of the serious memoirs and biographies of popular musicians, like Patti Smith’s Just Kids, Does the Noise in My Head Bother You? by Steven Tyler, and the Warren Zevon story, I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead.

When singer Amy Winehouse was found dead at her London home in 2011, the press inducted her into what Kurt Cobain’s mother named the 27 Club. "Now he’s gone and joined that stupid club,” she said in 1994, after being told that her son, the front man of Nirvana, had committed suicide. "I told him not to….” Kurt’s mom was referring to the extraordinary roll call of iconic stars who died at the same young age. The Big Six are Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison of the Doors, Kurt Cobain and, now, Amy Winehouse. All were talented. All were dissipated. All were 27. Journalists write about the curse of the 27 Club as if there is a supernatural reason for this series of deaths. Others invoke astrology, numerology, and conspiracy theories to explain what has become a modern mystery. In this haunting book, author Howard Sounes conducts the definitive forensic investigation into the lives and deaths of the six most iconic members of the Club, plus another forty-four music industry figures who died at 27, to discover what, apart from coincidence, this phenomenon signifies. In a grimly fascinating journey through the dark side of the music business over six decades, Sounes uncovers a common story of excess, madness, and self-destruction. The fantasies, half-truths, and mythologies that have become associated with Jones, Hendrix, Joplin, Morrison, Cobain, and Winehouse are debunked. Instead a clear and compelling narrative emerges, one based on hard facts, that unites these lost souls in both life and death.

We all know expectations matter—in school, in sports, in the stock market. From a healing placebo to a run on the bank, hints of their self-fulfilling potential have been observed for years. But we’ve never fully understood why. Journalist Chris Berdik offers a captivating look at the frontiers of expectations research, revealing how our assumptions bend reality. We learn how placebo calories can fill us up, how fake surgery can sometimes work better than real surgery, and how imaginary power can be corrupting. Mind Over Mind is a journey into the most exciting area of brain research today.

De Hennezel’s most recent book, The Art of Growing Old, synthesizes many decades working with the elderly, both those who’ve aged well and those who have not. She presents a revelatory new look at age, viewing it through a philosophical and spiritual prism that redefines many of our entrenched fears and prejudices. It is, in essence, an ode to the imperatives of loving and living deeply, laced with evocative gems of wisdom from thinkers in various walks of life, including Hermann Hesse. “The task of being old,” he wrote, “is as beautiful and sacred as that of being young.”

Borg and McEnroe may have enjoyed breathtaking rallies in late ‘70s and early ‘80s tennis, but Tignor, Executive Editor of Tennis magazine, largely shanks his shot at capturing the era's excitement. Tignor offers extended looks at Borg and McEnroe, but also Jimmy Connors, who had epic clashes of his own with both the "Angelic Assassin" and the "Brat." Indeed, Tignor covers many players, including Vitas Gerulaitis, Ivan Lendl, and Ilie Nastase, or "Mr. Nasty" as the Romanian was known (in profiling him Rignor finds his sweet spot). The author also lobs in doubles tennis, the women's game, Renee Richards, and a smattering of off-the-court shenanigans (Borg was superstitions; Borg slept with lots of women) but fails to argue convincingly why this epic match-up signaled the end of an era. True, when Borg retired, McEnroe began to slide. But Connors staged a remarkable comeback in his later years, and while Lendl failed to spark much interest, newcomer Andre Agassi certainly did. Fans of today's superstars—Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic–enjoy fierce rivalries almost every year. In the end, Tignor is unable to suggest that anything was truly at stake in the Borg-McEnroe rivalry beyond the money and egos involved.

Tindle urges readers to give positive psychology a chance for the sake of a longer, healthier, happier life, in this powerful call to action. The assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine begins by presenting sobering evidence for the detrimental physiological effects of negative emotional states—a correlation has been shown between feelings of anger and hostility and heart disease, and tests indicate that individuals with “high levels of emotional distress” are more likely to suffer from dementia. In order to avoid these and other pitfalls, Tindle elucidates her “7 Steps of Attitudinal Change,” beginning with a self-assessment to help readers achieve the first goal: “Determine your current attitude latitude.” From there, she guides readers along a proactive path intended to redirect their gaze upward and onward. Practical activities along the way include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy techniques and guided meditation, and Tindle provides several successful case studies to demonstrate the real-world effects of her prescriptions. Anyone looking to make an attitude adjustment for his or her physical or mental health will find something of value in Tindle’s advice, and her final chapter on applying her ideas to the betterment of a larger community is inspiring.

A renowned authority on the secret world of opium recounts his descent into ruinous obsession with one of the world’s oldest and most seductive drugs, in this harrowing memoir of addiction and recovery. A natural-born collector with a nose for exotic adventure, San Diego–born Steven Martin followed his bliss to Southeast Asia, where he found work as a freelance journalist. While researching an article about the vanishing culture of opium smoking, he was inspired to begin collecting rare nineteenth-century opium-smoking equipment. Over time, he amassed a valuable assortment of exquisite pipes, antique lamps, and other opium-related accessories—and began putting it all to use by smoking an extremely potent form of the drug called chandu. But what started out as recreational use grew into a thirty-pipe-a-day habit that consumed Martin’s every waking hour, left him incapable of work, and exacted a frightful physical and financial toll. In passages that will send a chill up the spine of anyone who has ever lived in the shadow of substance abuse, Martin chronicles his efforts to control and then conquer his addiction—from quitting cold turkey to taking “the cure” at a Buddhist monastery in the Thai countryside. At once a powerful personal story and a fascinating historical survey, Opium Fiend brims with anecdotes and lore surrounding the drug that some have called the methamphetamine of the nineteenth-century. It recalls the heyday of opium smoking in the United States and Europe and takes us inside the befogged opium dens of China, Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos. The drug’s beguiling effects are described in vivid detail—as are the excruciating pains of withdrawal—and there are intoxicating tales of pipes shared with an eclectic collection of opium aficionados, from Dutch dilettantes to hard-core addicts to world-weary foreign correspondents. A compelling tale of one man’s transformation from respected scholar to hapless drug slave, Opium Fiend puts us under opium’s spell alongside its protagonist, allowing contemporary readers to experience anew the insidious allure of a diabolical vice that the world has all but forgotten.