• The Wager by David Grann
• Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
• The Possibility of Life by Jaime Green

In 1742, a British ship named The Wager wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of southern South America. One group of survivors made their way to Brazil, where they were treated as heroes for overcoming extreme hardship. Another group eventually made their way to Britain, where they told a very different story about the first group. Los Angeles Times: "A testament to the depths of human depravity and the heights of human endurance, and you can't ask for better than that from a story ... The Wager will keep you in its grip to its head-scratching, improbable end." The Guardian: "He fixes his spyglass on the ravages of empire, of racism, of bureaucratic indifference and raw greed ... one of the finest nonfiction books I've ever read." Washington Post: "Glorious, steely ... a tightly written, relentless, blow-by-blow account that is hard to put down."

Several reviews of the book.

Here are the Wikipedia articles on the author and the book, which in turn have links to the articles on the Wager Mutiny and the HMS Wager

The author's website.

A five-minute video interview with the author at a Barnes and Noble store.

An interview with the author by a representive of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard.

A diagram of the main parts of a British man-of-war.

On page 113, the author mentions the Minnesota starvation experiment.

The book mentions indiginous people called the Kawesqar and the Chono.

The author's web site.

Several reviews of the book.

Thornton Wilder's play "Our Town" on YouTube, which helps to fully understand the novel.

A short (8-minute) interview and a long (90-minute) interview with the author about this book. At the end of the shorter interview, there is a brief clip of traffic on the main street in Peterboro, New Hampshire, the inspiration for Grover's Corners in "Our Town".

According to this interview, the cherry orchard in the novel is near Traverse City, Michigan.

On page 184, the Stage Manager's understudy refuses to perform, saying "I would prefer not to." The three sisters recognize the reference to Herman Melville's short story "Bartleby the Scrivener".

Written by a science journalist, this work of non-fiction combines insights from scientists and science fiction writers to explore the question of whether there is life elsewhere in the universe and what that would mean for us if such life was discovered.

The author's website.

Several reviews of the book.

A seven-minute video interview with the author about her work as a science writer.

A fifty-minute video interview with the author about this book. The interview begins at the six-minute mark.

Beginning on page 21, the author describes a Star Trek episode that explains why the three main Galactic species look so much alike. Here is a short clip of that scene.

Adam Frank, a professor at the University of Rochester, is mentioned several times in the book, the first time on page 173. Here is his website and the Wikipedia article about him. If you want more, here is a one-hour one-hour talk by him called "Light of the Stars: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth."

Carl Sagan introduces the photo named "The Pale Blue Dot," mentioned on page 65, in this short video from 1990.

The photo named "Earthrise," mentioned on page 66, has its own Wikipedia article.

On page 85, the author recommends watching the short video simulation of the violent creation of our moon.