What makes puzzles --- jigsaws, mazes, riddles, sudokus --- so satisfying? A.J. Jacobs --- New York Times bestselling author, master of immersion journalism and nightly crossworder ---- set out to determine their myriad benefits. And maybe, in the process, solve the puzzle of our very existence. Well, almost. In THE PUZZLER, Jacobs meets the most zealous devotees, enters (sometimes with his family in tow) any puzzle competition that will have him, unpacks the history of the most popular puzzles, and aims to solve the most impossible head-scratchers, from a mutant Rubik’s Cube, to the hardest corn maze in America, to the most sadistic jigsaw.

In 1960, Carl Bernstein was just a 16-year-old at considerable risk of failing to graduate high school. Inquisitive, self-taught --- and, yes, truant --- Bernstein landed a job as a copyboy at the Evening Star, the afternoon paper in Washington. By 19, he was a reporter there. In CHASING HISTORY: A Kid in the Newsroom, Bernstein recalls the origins of his storied journalistic career as he chronicles the Kennedy era, the swelling civil rights movement, and a slew of grisly crimes. He spins a buoyant, frenetic account of educating himself in what Bob Woodward describes as “the genius of perpetual engagement.”

From Hannibal Lecktor in Manhunter to media magnate Logan Roy in HBO's “Succession,” Brian Cox has made his name as an actor of unparalleled distinction and versatility. We are familiar with him on screen, but few know of his extraordinary life story. Growing up in Dundee, Scotland, Cox lost his father when he was just eight years old and was brought up by his three elder sisters in the aftermath of his mother's nervous breakdowns and ultimate hospitalization. After joining the Dundee Repertory Theatre at the age of 15, you could say the rest is history --- but that is to overlook the enormous effort that has gone into the making of the legend we know today.

From his first year in Rookie ball, when Tommy Lasorda ordered him to send a letter to the Dodgers’ starting shortstop informing him that he should retire early to make way for the young phenom, to appearing in disguise in the Mets’ dugout following an ejection, Bobby Valentine was a lightning rod for mischievous controversy, grabbing headlines wherever he went. Mavericks are seldom welcomed to upset the status quo, and Major League Baseball was no exception. In astonishing detail, Bobby Valentine reflects on the many remarkable moments that comprised his playing and managerial careers.

October 2021 marks the 35th anniversary of the 86 Mets’ World Series win. ESPN recently aired a multi-part "30 for 30" documentary series on the subject, which was produced by ESPN Films, Jimmy Kimmel, Cousin Sal Iacono and Major League Baseball and directed by Nick Davis. The show features never-before-seen footage, as well as remembrances from almost all of the key players. This tie-in book is an oral history with new contributions from Keith Hernandez, Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden, Lenny Dykstra and many others. Also included are unique photographs of the team and the era. A foreword by Kimmel, discussing what the Mets and their triumph means to him, rounds out this fantastic package.

The New York Yankees are unprecedented. With more than twice as many World Series titles as their closest competitor, the most MVPs and the most Hall of Fame inductees, there's never been anything quite like the franchise's storied history. Then the 2020 season took place, and the greatest team in American sports found out what "unprecedented" really means. THE BRONX ZOOM provides an intimate and engaging look behind the scenes of a year unlike any other. Veteran reporter Bryan Hoch guides readers through dizzying twists and turns as the Yankees navigate a season amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, historic movements for equality and social justice, and a bitterly contested presidential election.

It's 1969, and the greatest basketball player of all time --- Bill Russell --- and his juggernaut Boston Celtics squeak through one more playoff run and land in the NBA Finals again. Russell’s opponent is the fearsome seven-foot, one-inch next-generation superstar, Wilt Chamberlain, recently traded to the Los Angeles Lakers to form the league’s first dream team. Covering this epic series is a wide-eyed young sportswriter named Leigh Montville, who would go on to become an award-winning legend himself at The Boston Globe and Sports Illustrated, and who is sent to L.A. (for the first time!) to write about his luminous heroes, the biggest of big men. What follows is a raucous, colorful, joyous account of one of the greatest seven-game series in NBA history.

As back-to-back No. 1 draft picks for the New York Yankees, Ron Blomberg and Thurman Munson made for an odd couple. One was a good-looking, gregarious kid from Atlanta who cheerfully talked anyone’s ear off at the slightest provocation; the other was a dumpy, grumpy dude from the Midwest rust belt who was about as fond of making idle chit-chat as he was of shaving. Despite the surface differences, the two men would form a close attachment as they ignited a youth movement with the 1970s Yankees. Now, over 40 years after Munson's shocking death in a plane crash at age 32, Blomberg opens up to author Dan Epstein about the beloved Yankees captain in an extraordinary memoir that reaches far beyond baseball. 

By the fall of 2019, most teams in Major League Baseball suspected that the Houston Astros, winners of the 2017 World Series, had been stealing signs for several years. Deconstructing exactly what happened in this explosive story, award-winning sports reporter and analyst Andy Martino reveals how otherwise good people like Astros manager A. J. Hinch, bench coach Alex Cora and veteran leader Carlos Beltrán found themselves on the wrong side of clear ethical lines. Along the way, Martino explores the colorful history of cheating in baseball, from notorious episodes like the 1919 “Black Sox” fiasco all the way to the modern steroid era. But as Martino deftly shows, the Astros scandal became one of the most significant that the game has ever seen.

In THE TWELVE LIVES OF ALFRED HITCHCOCK, Edward White explores the Hitchcock phenomenon --- what defines it, how it was invented, what it reveals about the man at its core, and how its legacy continues to shape our cultural world. The book’s 12 chapters illuminate different aspects of Hitchcock’s life and work: “The Boy Who Couldn’t Grow Up”; “The Murderer”; “The Auteur”; “The Womanizer”; “The Fat Man”; “The Dandy”; “The Family Man”; “The Voyeur”; “The Entertainer”; “The Pioneer”; “The Londoner”; “The Man of God.” Each of these angles reveals something fundamental about the man he was and the mythological creature he has become, presenting not just the life Hitchcock lived but also the various versions of himself that he projected, and those projected on his behalf.