Hot Type

Cheers to the dreamers, trailblazers, and outlaws. Like Somalian Hawa Abdi, who, against incredible odds, not only became a doctor but also opened a hospital and refugee camp on the outskirts of lawless Mogadishu, where she has, for more than 20 years, been Keeping Hope Alive (Grand Central). The Sultan of Smooth, Burt Bacharach, dishes with Robert Greenfield on the amorous dramas that inspired his hits in Anyone Who Had a Heart (Harper). Hardwood guru Phil Jackson, assisted by Hugh Delehanty, harnesses the power of Zen in Eleven Rings: lie Soul of Success (Penguin Press). While everyone heers a likable winner, the bad boys have more fun. Eric ischl, with Michael Stone, roars through the go-go, oke-fueled 70s and 80s New York art scene in Bad Boy: dy Life on and off the Canvas (Crown). From the 30s to the >0s, Greg Bautzer was one of L.A.'s most powerful lawers; now he stars in B. James Gladstone'sThe Man Who deduced Hollywood (Chicago Review Press). In The Upcycle North Point Press), eco-designers William McDonough nd Michael Braungart move beyond sustainability to aving the earth. Jimmy Connors grunts and bashes his /ay to the top of the tennis world in The Outsider (Harper), 'ombies are so passe. On the rise, hot new monsters oam in the Red Moon (Grand Central) in Benjamin •ercy's terrifically hairy werewolf novel.

Also this month: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie'sAmerianah (Knopf) is a transporting, continent-hopping love story. Big brains Douglas Hofstadter and Emmanuel Sander explode Surfaces and Essences: Analogy as the Fuel and Fire of Thinking (Basic Books). Adam Rapoport shows you how it's done in The Grilling Book: The Definitive Guide from Bon Appetit (Andrews McMeel), while Michael Pollan tells how it has been done in Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation (Penguin Press). A quartet of novel debuts: Multi-talented Sidney Poitier's marvelous Montciro Caine (Spiegel & Grau) turns on a mysterious coin. A time-traveling couple enter The River of No Return (Dutton) in Bee Ridgway's thrill ride. Brian Kimberling'sSnapper (Pantheon) tracks a birder into the wilds of southern Indiana. Natural and unnatural history dovetail in E. B. Hudspeth's illustrated novel, The Resurrectionist: The Lost Work of Dr. Spencer Black (Quirk). Finally, Eduardo Galeano's winningly eccentric Children of the Days: A Calendar of Human History (Nation Books) is packed with enough rogues and history changers to last a lifetime.

ELISSA SCHAPPELL