5 new books to read in January

January 1, 2022, 12:00 PM UTC

An empathetic guide to nurturing your mental health, the inside story about the extraordinary rescue of a dozen young boys and their soccer coach from a cave in northern Thailand, and a skewering look about who really goes to Davos each year.

Here is a selection of new books being published this month.

Courtesy of Pegasus Books

Aquanaut: The Inside Story of the Thai Cave Rescue by Rick Stanton with Karen Dealy

Available January 4

Diver and retired British firefighter Rick Stanton shares his story about the harrowing Thai cave rescue in the summer of 2018 as he, along with partner John Volanthen and their assembled team, raced against time to save 12 members of a junior soccer team and their coach trapped by monsoon rains. The unprecedented mission involved a number of complex hurdles, including the specially sealed masks they had to use, the way they positioned scuba tanks on the front to assist with the distribution of weight during the tight squeeze through the cave, and having to inject the boys with sedatives during the rescue.

Courtesy of HarperOne

Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? by Julie Smith

Available January 11

Drawing on years of experience as a clinical psychologist in her debut book, Dr. Julie Smith aims to provide readers with the skills they need to fortify and maintain their mental health. This includes addressing how to manage anxiety, coping with depression, building self-confidence, finding motivation, and learning to forgive oneself.

Courtesy of Amistad Press

You Don’t Know Us Negroes and Other Essays by Zora Neale Hurston and Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Available January 18

Drawn from three decades of her work, this anthology traces Zora Neale Hurston’s development as a writer as she covered topics such as race, gender, and politics as well as African American art and culture from the height of the Harlem Renaissance to the early years of the Civil Rights movement. Celebrated literary critic, filmmaker, and professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. provides the introduction to the essay collection by one of America’s most legendary playwrights and essayists.

Courtesy of Simon & Schuster

Just Pursuit: A Black Prosecutor’s Fight for Fairness in an Unfair System by Laura Coates

Available January 18

Recounting her time as a Black female prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice, CNN senior legal analyst Laura Coates investigates the bias in the justice system. Just Pursuit also serves as a memoir of a woman repeatedly torn between upholding her oath as a public servant and her lived experience as a Black woman and mother in the United States.

Courtesy of Custom House

Davos Man: How the Billionaires Devoured the World by Peter S. Goodman

Available January 18

Just in time for the next occurrence of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, comes an exposé about how billionaires have destabilized democracy all while doubling their own wealth during the pandemic at the expense of the global population. New York Times global economics correspondent Peter S. Goodman profiles five “Davos men” in particular, analyzing how they have used chaos to secure power, strengthening their places in the global economic food chain.

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