BOOKSHELF: Outstanding Nonfiction Books for Avid Readers

Compiled by Jamie H. Vaught

KySportsStyle.com Magazine

--Source Code: My Beginnings by Bill Gates (Alfred A. Knopf, $30) is a candid memoir of the legendary Microsoft founder's early years. The 323-page hardcover covers the human, personal story of how Gates became who he is today: his childhood, his early passions and pursuits. It’s the story of his principled grandmother and ambitious parents, his first deep friendships and the sudden death of his best friend; of his struggles to fit in and his discovery of a world of coding and computers in the dawn of a new era; of embarking in his early teens on a path that took him from midnight escapades at a nearby computer center to his college dorm room, where he sparked a revolution that would change the world. It's a remarkable portrait of an American pioneer who cofounded Microsoft with his childhood friend Paul Allen in 1975. Gates is currently chair of the Gates Foundation.

--Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter: Power and Human Rights, 1975-2020 by E. Stanly Godbold Jr. (Oxford University Press, $41.99) is the second of a two-volume biography of the powerful First Couple. The 889-page hardcover offers an inspiring account of the professional and personal lives of the couple who have worked together as reformers in Georgia, President and First Lady, and founders of the Carter Center to promote international health, conflict resolution, and democracy. President and Mrs. Carter's marriage of over 75 years is the longest of any American presidential couple and has been described by them as a "full partnership." President Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, a prize which he quickly said equally belonged to his wife and to the Carter Center. Godbold Jr. is professor emeritus of history at Mississippi State University and the author of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter: The Georgia Years, 1924-1974.

--On Leadership: Lessons for the 21st Century by Tony Blair (Crown, $32) is loaded with personal

insights and global examples that show aspiring leaders how to go from talking about change to making change. It is the leadership manual Blair, who was prime minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland between 1997 and 2007, wishes he had when he became PM. The 341-page hardcover is witten in brief chapters, packed with examples drawn from all forms of political systems from around the world.

--The Nvidia Way: Jensen Huang and the Making of a Tech Giant by Tae Kim (W.W. Norton & Company, $31.99) is a riveting story about a California-based chip designer which has emerged as one of the most valuable corporations in the world. Nvidia is the darling of the age of artificial intelligence: its chips are powering the generative-AI revolution, and demand is insatiable. The author draws on more than 100 interviews ― including CEO Jensen Huang (who spent his early days in Kentucky) and his cofounders, the two original venture capital investors, early former employees, and current senior executives ― to show how Nvidia played the longest of long games, repeatedly creating new markets and outmaneuvering competitors, including the original semiconductor giant, Intel, which now finds itself well behind the upstart.

--Den of Spies: Reagan, Carter, and the Secret History of the Treason That Stole the White House by Craig Unger (Mariner Books, $29.99) reveals the explosive story of the October Surprise, going inside his three-decade reporting odyssey, along with investigative journalist the late Robert Parry’s never-before-seen archives, and sharing startling truths about what really happened during Reagan's presidential campaign in 1980. The result is a real-life political thriller filled with double agents, CIA operatives, slippery politicians, KGB documents, wealthy Republicans, and dogged journalists. Unger is the New York Times bestselling author of several books.

--All the President's Money: Investigating the Secret Foreign Schemes That Made the Biden Family Rich by James Comer (Broadside Books, $29.99) takes readers on an investigative journey through the murky world of the President Biden family's business dealings. Written by Kentucky Congressman Comer, the 328-page hardcover, with deep research and insider access, uncovers the truth about the Biden family’s shady finances, from China to Ukraine, Russia to Hollywood, following the money trail every Democrat insists doesn’t exist. This new book is the result of monthslong investigation that the media and deep state tried to cover up.

--All or Nothing: How Trump Recaptured America  by Michael Wolff (Crown, $32) takes readers on a journey accompanying Donald Trump on his return to power. Trump dispatches his opponents, heaps fire and fury on the prosecutors and judges who are pursuing him, and mocks and belittles anyone in his way, including the president of the United States. The stakes could not be clearer: Either the establishment destroys Trump, or he destroys the establishment. Through personal access to Trump’s inner circle, the author details a behind-the-scenes, revealing landscape of Trumpworld and its unlikely cast of primary players as well as the candidate himself, the most successful figure in American politics since, arguably, Roosevelt, but who might easily seem to be raving mad. The author has written several bestselling books, including Fire and Fury. Wolff was a regular columnist for New York magazine and Vanity Fair.

--City Limits: Infrastructure, Inequality, and the Future of America's Highways by Megan Kimble (Crown, $30) exposes the enormous social and environmental costs wrought by our allegiance to a life of increasing speed and dispersion, and brings to light the people who are fighting for a more sustainable, connected future. Every major American city has a highway tearing through its center. Seventy years ago, planners sold these highways as progress, essential to our future prosperity. And the more highways we built, the worse traffic got. Nowhere is this more visible than in Texas. In Houston, Dallas, and Austin, residents and activists are fighting against massive, multi-billion-dollar highway expansions that will claim thousands of homes and businesses, entrenching segregation and sprawl. The 343-page hardcover weaves together the origins of urban highways with the stories of ordinary people impacted by our failed transportation system. For example, hundreds of families will lose child care in Austin if a preschool is demolished to expand Interstate 35. The Texas-based author is an investigative journalist.