(Simon & Schuster)

The author examines the life of Michelle Obama ’85, from her roots on Chicago’s south side and her experience at Princeton to her career in community-oriented jobs. Mundy also analyzes Obama’s marriage to Barack Obama and her senior thesis about the attitudes of black Princeton alumni and their views toward assimilation and race relations. Mundy is a staff writer at The Washington Post.

(Viking)

The author explores attempts to harness the power of the sun as a possible source of cheap energy. He explains what nuclear fission and fusion are and traces the failure of scientists and governments in their quest for fusion energy, including an incident in 1989 when several researchers announced that they had produced fusion in a laboratory at room temperature (later, it was revealed that they had fudged data). Seife is an associate professor of journalism at New York University.

(Copper Canyon Press)

In his latest collection of poetry, which Publishers Weekly called “his best book in a decade — and one of the best outright,” Merwin looks back to his past. He writes about memories of Pennsylvania miners, a conversation with a boyhood teacher, the qualities of autumnal light, and traveling to Europe by boat. Merwin’s collection Migration (2005) won the National Book Award.