Book Recommendations

From beach reads to thought provokers, these summer reading recommendations from the Harvard community will help you choose your next great book.

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For a unique read

Members of the Harvard community recommend books that expand the notion of what literature can be.

An illustration of a person with a magnifying glass looking at footsteps in an open book.

Calling all detectives

Mysteries are responsible for an estimated 30% of annual fiction sales in the U.S., and tend to be mainstays of summer beach-read recommendations.

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Figure out your finances

Money can be a source of frustration and confusion, but these Harvard economists have reading recommendations that can help you better understand money and the economy.

Read and recommended

Members of the Harvard community share books they have read and loved.

鈥楤eloved鈥� is at its heart a love story鈥攖he love of a mother and a daughter plunging in and out of the darkest of hours.鈥�

“Beloved” by Toni Morrison

Recommended by Trisha Pasricha, Harvard Medical School

鈥楴orth Woods鈥� is a fascinating novel … tracing the evolution of a home in Western Massachusetts over four centuries.鈥�

“North Woods” by Daniel Mason

Recommended by Karen Dynan, Harvard Kennedy School

By Karen Romano Young

“Topics of social justice, homelessness, friendship, community action, individual power to effect change, and the many gifts of imagination are all investigated through the endearing antics of the characters.”

-Peter Girguis, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences

By David Hepworth

“Hepworth is this amazing, amazing music historian and journalist, and reading this book is like [listening] to a friend go in deep about the year 1971, where he argues that rock became fully self-aware.”

-Colin Lukens, Harvard Library

By Alice Walker

“I always am struck by how those women in the story come together and survive so much, but through it all, they鈥檙e bonded to each other.”

-Evelynn Hammonds, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Beyond the book

Audiobooks

According to experts at the Graduate School of Education, not only does the brain operate the same when reading print books or listening to audiobooks, but the learning process is also the same.

Films

Faculty recommend their favorite books that have been adapted into movies.

Writing

Harvard experts talk about their writing process, and offer tips for other writers to hone their own craft.

Poetry

Harvard alum and poetry editor Kevin Young shares tips on how to better enjoy poetry.

Ebooks

Digital books, or ebooks, may not be ideal for children who can be easily distracted.

Ventures

From adapting literature for individual learners to expanding kids鈥� vocabulary with popular music, these Harvard Innovation Labs ventures may revolutionize reading.

Harvard authors

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Jill Lepore

In the Pulitzer Prize-winning 鈥淲e the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution,鈥� Professor Jill Lepore explores how the framers of the Constitution expected Americans to tinker with and renew the document.

Jeffrey Marlow

“The Dark Frontier: Unlocking the Secrets of the Deep Sea” details life in one of Earth鈥檚 harshest environments.

Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman

“The Double Tax,” written while pursuing her Ph.D, discusses the expense of being a woman and a person of color in our society.

Chloe Chapin

“Suitable: The Sartorial Revolution and the Fashioning of Modern Men” examines the shift in men鈥檚 suits from colorful and ornate to plain and dark.

Ranjay Gulati

“How to be Bold” explores how people can see themselves as strong, capable, and in control of their destinies.

Megan Kate Nelson

“The Westerners” is an interwoven saga that challenges myths of the American frontier.

Even more to read

From oddball goats to evolution, these are the books HLS faculty are reading this season.

HGSD faculty and alumni recommend books that span continents, disciplines, and generations of practice.

This reading list offers stories and ideas to deepen your understanding of equity, expand your empathy, and inspire action.

Gutman Library staff share 10 books that help tell the story of education in America.

The Fellowships & Writing Center created a list of books their team has read and enjoyed, and books that they are eagerly anticipating.

This reading list from HBS faculty includes many books on AI, but also some lighter options.

In honor of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, HUP suggests these books focused on the American Revolution.

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