Books like Endurance by Scott Kelly

Andy Weir’s debut science‑fiction bestseller follows astronaut Mark Watney, stranded on Mars in 2035, as he uses ingenuity to survive.

Between the World and Me is a memoir‑essay in letter form, where Ta‑Nehisi Coates addresses his teenage son about the history, violence, and ongoing reality of being Black in America.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks follows the story of Henrietta Lacks, a poor black tobacco farmer whose cancer cells were taken in 1951 without her consent and later became the first immortal human cell line, HeLa, driving major scientific breakthroughs while raising questions of ethics, race, and medical exploitation.

Ibram X. Kendi’s *How to Be an Antiracist* explains racism as a powerful system that creates false hierarchies and offers a guide—drawing on ethics, history, law, and science—to help readers confront and dismantle racial injustice in society and themselves.

Explore Michelle Obama’s public voice through 200‑250 curated quotations, organized into 75 themes, spanning her early career as a Chicago corporate lawyer, her roles in the city government and University of Chicago, up to the 2008 presidential election.

A gripping true account of Ernest Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, in which the ship Endurance was trapped and crushed by ice, and 27 men survived over a year on the frozen Antarctic waters.

Hidden Figures tells the true story of four African‑American mathematicians—Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Christine Darden—who broke barriers at NASA’s Langley Research Center, proving that talent, not race or gender, powers scientific progress.

Carrie Fisher reflects on her teenage years, early fame, and the impact of her love for science‑fiction, captured in unpublished journals that reveal her humor, vulnerability, and personal struggles.

After a life‑altering romance, Elizabeth Gilbert confronts her fear of marriage by researching its history and meaning, turning a personal dilemma into a witty, reflective exploration of love and commitment.

Spinster is a reflective memoir by Kate Bolick that explores her personal journey as a single woman, examining the lives of preceding bold single dames and the evolving attitudes toward women in contemporary society.

Elizabeth Alexander, a celebrated African‑American poet, chronicles the profound grief and renewal she finds after her husband’s sudden death, offering a moving memoir of loss, family, and the search for meaning.

A former U.S. Border Patrol agent reflects on his service along the Mexican border, uncovering the politics, gatekeepers, and human stories that shaped his experience.

Spaceman is a biography of Mike Massimino, former NASA astronaut, covering his career in space flight and spacecraft maintenance.

Buzz Aldrin’s memoir recounts his historic Apollo 11 lunar landing, the personal battles with depression and alcoholism, and his eventual redemption as an advocate for future space exploration.

"On January 12, 1997, Jerry M. Linenger took off aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis, en route to an historic rendezvous with the Russian Space Station Mir. One of the few American astronauts to formally partner with Russian cosmonauts, he had been selected to spend five months aboard Mir, participating in a joint initiative to lay the groundwork for a new International Space Station.". "But when he finally boarded Mir and took his first tour around the dark, ramshackle, incredibly cluttered space station, reminiscent of "six school buses all hooked together," Linenger knew he was in for a rough ride." "A hair-raising tale of survival in the forbidding depths of space, Off the Planet tells, for the first time, the complete story of that illstarred mission."--BOOK JACKET.

"Carl Sagan was one of the most celebrated scientists of his time - the leading visionary of the Space Age. He was also a highly controversial figure who inspired wildly opposed opinions. His enthusiasm and eloquence about the wonders of space, the marvels of the human brain, and the mysteries of life captured the imagination of millions. Yet one scientist was so enraged by Sagan's scientific pronouncements that he compared him to the Black Plague, and William F. Buckley, Jr. likened him to circus huckster P. T. Barnum."--BOOK JACKET. "Sagan's life was both an intellectual feast and an emotional roller coaster. Whether he was searching for life on Mars or visiting Timothy Leary in prison, prophesying exciting scientific discoveries or getting arrested for protesting nuclear weapons, debating the existence of UFOs or advocating the creative benefits of smoking marijuana, Carl Sagan was a fascinating, charismatic, and complex man full of contradictions."--BOOK JACKET. "His TV series Cosmos awed hundreds of millions around the world, and his bestseller The Dragons of Eden won the Pulitzer Prize. Yet the value of his scientific work was often called into question. His Ph.D. dissertation narrowly escaped rejection, he was denied tenure at Harvard, and in the twilight of his life, he was denied membership in the prestigious National Academy of Sciences."--BOOK JACKET. "In this insightful and evenhanded biography, science journalist Keay Davidson reveals for the first time the man behind the famous image - the storm of contradictions and passions that animated this enigmatic and entrancing man who remained, at heart, the five-year-old Brooklyn boy who looked up at the stars and asked: What are they?"--BOOK JACKET.

Kate Betts chronicles her 1980s Parisian debut as a fashion journalist, blending memoir, travel, and insider fashion lore amid the era’s shifting creative landscape.

A gripping memoir that follows Dr. Damon Tweedy as he confronts racism, bias, and health disparities while navigating medical school and practice, revealing how race shapes both patient care and physicians’ experiences.