Recommendations based on Dispatches From The Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survivalby Anderson Cooper

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son on Life, Love, and Loss

    by Anderson Cooper
    A candid conversation between a mother and son, exploring their past and present.

    A charming and intimate collection of correspondence between #1 New York Times bestselling author Anderson Cooper and his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, that offers timeless wisdom and a revealing ... (Barnes & Noble)

  2. Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster

    by Jon Krakauer
    A gripping narrative of the 1996 expedition on Mount Everest that resulted in tragedy.

    When Jon Krakauer reached the summit of Mt. Everest in the early afternoon of May 10, 1996, he hadn't slept in fifty-seven hours and was reeling from the brain-altering effects of oxygen depletion. ... (Goodreads)

  3. The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream

    by Barack Obama
    A political memoir that explores Obama's vision for America and his hopes for the future of the country.

    The Audacity of Hope is Barack Obama's call for a new kind of politics—a politics that builds upon those shared understandings that pull us together as Americans. Lucid in his vision of America's ... (Goodreads)

  4. Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance

    by Barack Obama
    An exploration of the Obama family history, tracing the threads of identity and race.

    In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a black African father and a white American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a black American. It begins in New ... (Goodreads)

  5. Running with Scissors

    by Augusten Burroughs
    An autobiographical story of a young boy's difficult upbringing and his unconventional family.

    Running with Scissors covers the period of Burroughs' adolescent years, beginning at age 12 after a brief overview of his life as a child. Burroughs spends his early childhood in a clean and orderly ... (Wikipedia)

  6. Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science

    by Atul Gawande
    Exploration of the human costs and consequences of medical care, highlighting our imperfections and vulnerabilities.

    In gripping accounts of true cases, surgeon Atul Gawande explores the power and the limits of medicine, offering an unflinching view from the scalpel's edge. Complications lays bare a science not in ... (Goodreads)

  7. Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time

    by Greg Mortenson
    A man's mission to build schools in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan to promote peace.

    The astonishing, uplifting story of a real-life Indiana Jones and his humanitarian campaign to use education to combat terrorism in the Taliban’s backyard Anyone who despairs of the individual’s ... (Goodreads)

  8. Obama: An Intimate Portrait: The Historic Presidency in Photographs

    by Pete Souza
    A photographic tribute to the 8-year presidency of Barack Obama.

    This is the definitive visual biography of Barack Obama's presidency, captured in intimate, unprecedented detail by his official White House photographer. Pete Souza began photographing President ... (Goodreads)

  9. sTORI Telling

    by Tori Spelling
    Memoir of Tori Spelling's life growing up in Hollywood, her rise to fame, and personal struggles.

    This title sees Tori set the record straight on her personal life and lets readers experience the truly unique life she's led - with its undeniable childhood privileges, tabloid misperceptions, ... (Goodreads)

  10. Half Broke Horses

    by Jeannette Walls
    A novel based on the life of the author's grandmother, Lily Casey Smith, a resilient and adventurous woman who overcomes numerous obstacles in the American West.

    Jeannette Walls's memoir The Glass Castle was "nothing short of spectacular" (Entertainment Weekly). Now, in Half Broke Horses, she brings us the story of her grandmother, told in a first-person ... (Goodreads)

  11. Same Kind of Different as Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together

    by Ron Hall
    A story of unlikely friendship and redemption, set in the backdrop of racial and economic divides.

    A dangerous, homeless drifter who grew up picking cotton in virtual slavery. An upscale art dealer accustomed to the world of Armani and Chanel. A gutsy woman with a stubborn dream. A story so ... (Goodreads)

  12. Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant

    by Daniel Tammet
    A memoir of an autistic savant who sees numbers as shapes, colors, and textures, and can learn languages in a week.

    A journey into one of the most fascinating minds alive today—guided by the owner himself. Bestselling author Daniel Tammet ( Thinking in Numbers ) is virtually unique among people who have severe ... (Barnes & Noble)

  13. The Greatest Generation

    by Tom Brokaw
    A narrative of the WWII generation and their struggles and triumphs in an uncertain world.

    "In the spring of 1984, I went to the northwest of France, to Normandy, to prepare an NBC documentary on the fortieth anniversary of D-Day, the massive and daring Allied invasion of Europe that ... (Goodreads)

  14. The Mind's Eye

    by Oliver Sacks
    An exploration of the mysteries of vision and perception, and the neurological basis of visual experience.

    In Musicophilia, Oliver Sacks explored music and the brain; now, in The Mind's Eye, he writes about the myriad ways in which we experience the visual world: how we see in three dimensions; how we ... (Goodreads)

  15. When You Are Engulfed in Flames

    by David Sedaris
    Humorous reflections on everyday life, navigating the absurdities of the human condition.

    It's early autumn 1964. Two straight-A students head off to school, and when only one of them returns home Chesney Yelverton is coaxed from retirement and assigned to what proves to be the most ... (Goodreads)

  16. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

    by Ishmael Beah
    A gripping tale of a child soldier's journey to survive and reclaim his humanity.

    My new friends have begun to suspect I haven't told them the full story of my life.,"Why did you leave Sierra Leone?","Because there is a war.","You mean, you saw people running around with guns and ... (Barnes & Noble)

  17. Between a Rock and a Hard Place

    by Aron Ralston
    A harrowing true story of one man's fight for survival after being trapped in a canyon.

    A brilliantly written, funny, honest, inspiring, and downright astonishing report from the line where death meets life which will surely take its place in the annals of classic adventure stories. One ... (Goodreads)

  18. My Life

    by Bill Clinton
    Memoir of a former President of the United States, chronicling his life and career.

    An exhaustive, soul-searching memoir, Bill Clinton's My Life is a refreshingly candid look at the former president as a son, brother, teacher, father, husband, and public figure. Clinton ... (Goodreads)

  19. The Wordy Shipmates

    by Sarah Vowell
    A humorous and insightful look at the Puritan settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and their impact on American history.

    The Wordy Shipmates is an exploration of the Puritans and their journey to America to become the people of John Winthrop's "city upon a hill"—a shining example, a "city that cannot be hid." To this ... (Goodreads)

  20. Teacher Man

    by Frank McCourt
    A memoir of the author's 30-year career as an English teacher in New York City.

    McCourt's long-awaited book about how his thirty-year teaching career shaped his second act as a writer. Nearly a decade ago Frank McCourt became an unlikely star when, at the age of sixty-six, he ... (Goodreads)

  21. 1776

    by David McCullough
    A riveting account of the events leading up to and during the American Revolution.

    In this masterful book, David McCullough tells the intensely human story of those who marched with General George Washington in the year of the Declaration of Independence - when the whole American ... (Goodreads)

  22. Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance

    by Atul Gawande
    A surgeon's exploration of medical excellence, uncovering the highest standards of care.

    The struggle to perform well is universal: each one of us faces fatigue, limited resources, and imperfect abilities in whatever we do. But nowhere is this drive to do better more important than in ... (Goodreads)

  23. The Liars' Club

    by Mary Karr
    Memoir of a turbulent childhood in East Texas, exploring the power of love and family.

    The book tells the story of Karr's troubled childhood in a small Texas town in the early 1960s. Using a non-linear story line, Karr describes the troubles of growing up in a family and town where ... (Wikipedia)

  24. A Man Without a Country

    by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
    A collection of essays and speeches by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. that reflect on his life, politics, and the state of the world.

    In a volume that is penetrating, introspective, incisive, and laugh-out-loud funny, one of the great men of letters of this era—or any era—holds forth on life, art, sex, politics, and the state of ... (Goodreads)

  25. Have a Little Faith: a True Story

    by Mitch Albom
    A journey through faith, exploring the power of belief and the strength of community.

    In, Have a Little Faith, Mitch Albom offers a beautifully written story of a remarkable eight-year journey between two worlds–two men, two faiths, two communities--that will inspire readers ... (Goodreads)

  26. Decision Points

    by George W. Bush
    Autobiography of former US President, chronicling the pivotal decisions of his life.

    In this candid and gripping account, President George W. Bush describes the critical decisions that shaped his presidency and personal life. George W. Bush served as president of the United States ... (Goodreads)

  27. The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town

    by John Grisham
    True crime story of an innocent man convicted of a crime he didn't commit.

    Ron Williamson has returned to his hometown of Ada, Oklahoma, after multiple failed attempts to play for various minor league baseball teams, including the Fort Lauderdale Yankees and two affiliate ... (Wikipedia)

  28. Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life, and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt

    by David McCullough
    Biography of Theodore Roosevelt, tracing his humble beginnings to his rise to power.

    Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life, and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt is the brilliant biography of the young Theodore Roosevelt. ... (Goodreads)

  29. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

    by John Perkins
    A former economic hit man exposes the dark secrets of how the US government and corporations manipulate developing countries for profit.

    From the author of the phenomenal New York Times bestseller, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man , comes an exposé of international corruption, and an inspired plan to turn the tide for future ... (Goodreads)

  30. Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10

    by Marcus Luttrell
    A riveting account of a heroic mission gone wrong, and the courage and strength of the Navy SEALS who faced impossible odds.

    On a clear night in late June 2005, four U.S. Navy SEALs left their base in northern Afghanistan for the mountainous Pakistani border. Their mission was to capture or kill a notorious al Qaeda leader ... (Goodreads)