The mind-body connection is a theme of the coming season, with new titles urging dieters to consider how they think, as well as how they eat and exercise. Swimming against the tide of a contentious election season, other books extol the virtues of compassion. Also, expect to see Denmark come up a lot.
Top 10
Ballerina Body: Dancing and Eating Your Way to a Leaner, Stronger, and More Graceful You
Misty Copeland. Grand Central Life & Style, Mar. 21
Ballerina Copeland shares tips from her own exercise regimen and entries from her journals in a fitness guide equally focused on grace and strength.
The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Contentment, Comfort, and Connection
Louisa Thomsen Brits. Plume, Feb. 7
Inspired by a study finding Denmark the world’s “happiest country,” this colorfully illustrated guide aims to help Americans discover the secret of the not-so-melancholy Danes.
A Colorful Way of Living: How to Be More, Create More, Do More the Vera Bradley Way
Barbara Bradley Baekgaard. St. Martin’s, Apr. 4
The founder of Vera Bradley shares the values to which she attributes her company’s runaway success.
Dare to Be Kind: How Extraordinary Compassion Can Transform Our World
Lizzie Velasquez, with Catherine Avril Morris. Hachette, June 6
Motivational speaker Velasquez, who as a teenager discovered a viral online video personally attacking her appearance, calls for Americans to embrace compassion over a prevailing culture of meanness.
The Fifth Trimester: The Working Mom’s Guide to Style, Sanity, and Big Success After Baby
Lauren Smith Brody. Doubleday, Apr. 4
Brody’s book leads a wave of parenting manuals aimed at helping parents—especially harried working moms—care for themselves, as well as their progeny.
How to Fall in Love with Anyone: Essays
Mandy Len Catron. Simon & Schuster, June 6
Catron expands on her popular New York Times essay, “To Fall in Love with Anyone, Do This.”
The Hungry Brain: Outsmarting the Instincts That Make Us Overeat
Stephan Guyenet. Flatiron, Feb. 7
Neuroscience researcher Guyenet ties together mind and body in a health guide aimed at changing habits of thought, as well as habits of fitness and diet.
The Longevity Plan: Seven Lessons from the World’s Happiest and Healthiest Village
John D. Day, Jane Ann Day, and Matthew LaPlante. Harper, July 4
Day, a cardiologist, describes a hotspot for healthy living, China’s so-called “longevity village.”
The Panic Fables: Mystic Teachings and Initiatory Tales
Alejandro Jodorowsky. Inner Traditions, Apr. 27
This collection presents a series of comics written by the legendary film director and tarot master early in his career.
Younger: A Breakthrough Program to Reset Your Genes, Reverse Aging, and Turn Back the Clock 10 Years
Sara Gottfried. HarperOne, Mar. 7
Gottfried brings impressive credentials as a Harvard- and MIT-trained physician to a perennial theme—preserving and regaining youth—as well as a bestselling track record.
Lifestyle Listings: Body, Mind & Spirit
The Experiment
The Foundations of Mindfulness: How to Cultivate Tranquility, Attention, and Good Judgment by Eric Harrison (Apr. 18, hardcover, $16.95, ISBN 978-1-61519-256-4). For people seriously interested in mindfulness, this is a step-by-step explanation of the Buddha’s original teachings on the subject, considered wholly (and paradoxically) from a secular, non-Buddhist perspective.
Flatiron
Real Love: The Art of Authentic Connection by Sharon Salzberg (June 6, hardcover, $24.99, ISBN 978-1-250-07650-2) is a creative toolkit of mindfulness exercises, meditation techniques, and interactive applications that will guide readers through the process of stripping away layers of habit to find a truer meaning of love.
Hay House
Clear Home, Clear Heart: Learn to Clear the Energy of People and Places by Jean Haner (Mar. 14, trade paper, $16.99, ISBN 978-1-4019-5154-2). In this simple guide, Haner offers easy-to-follow instructions on how to clear your own energy or that of any person, as well as how to bring harmony to the energy of the spaces you inhabit.
Inner Traditions
The Panic Fables: Mystic Teachings and Initiatory Tales by Alejandro Jodorowsky (Apr. 27, trade paper, $29.95, ISBN 978-1-62055-537-8) contains all 284 of the legendary filmmaker’s Panic Fables comics, published weekly from 1967 to 1973 in Mexico City’s El Heraldo newspaper. An introduction by Jodorowsky explains how the comics incorporate Zen teachings, initiatory wisdom, and sacred symbols.
Rodale
What the Dead Have Taught Me About Living Well by Rebecca Rosen (Feb. 14, hardcover, $25.99, ISBN 978-1-62336-781-7). A spiritual medium opens up about her personal life and answers the question she is asked most often: how does your connection to the “other side” help you navigate your day-to-day world?
Running Press
Zen Science: Stop and Smell the Universe by John Javna (June 6, hardcover, $13, ISBN 978-0-7624-6173-8) taps into the mindfulness trend by collecting an array of musings on the sheer wonder of nature and the universe, intended to lead the reader toward a sense of wonder.
Shambhala
The Alchemy of Freedom: The Philosophers’ Stone and the Secrets of Existence by A.H. Almaas (Mar. 28, trade paper, $18.95, ISBN 978-1-61180-446-1). Well-known spiritual teacher Almaas uses the metaphor of the mysterious “lapis philosophorum”—the philosopher’s stone—to discuss the concepts of liberating one’s consciousness and seeking enlightenment.
Health & Fitness
Bloomsbury Sport
The HIIT Bible: Supercharge Your Body and Brain by Steve Barrett (July 18, trade paper, $20, ISBN 978-1-4729-3219-8). With HIIT (high intensity interval training) attaining widespread acceptance as a method for improving cardiovascular performance, this book aims to consolidate and demystify the science while also highlighting some of HIIT’s lesser-known benefits.
Chelsea Green
Your Baby’s Microbiome: The Critical Role of Vaginal Birth and Breastfeeding for Lifelong Health by Toni Harman and Alex Wakeford (Feb. 20, trade paper, $19.95, ISBN 978-1-60358-695-5). Drawing on research done for their documentary film Microbirth, Harman and Wakeford show how the seeding of the infant’s microbiome during childbirth kick-starts the baby’s immune system.
Da Capo Lifelong
The Harvard Medical School Guide to Yoga: 8 Weeks to Strength, Awareness, and Flexibility by Marilyn Wei and James E. Groves (June 27, trade paper, $17.99, ISBN 978-0-7382-1936-3). Published in partnership with Harvard Health Publications, this book presents a streamlined eight-week program, illustrations, adaptable sequences, principles of yoga safety, and an unpacking of the “eight limbs” of yoga.
Whoa, Baby! A Guide for New Moms Who Feel Overwhelmed and Freaked Out (and Wonder What the #*$& Just Happened) by Kelly Rowland, Tristan Bickman, and Laura Moser (Mar. 28, hardcover, $25, ISBN 978-0-7382-1942-4) gives first-time mom Rowland’s and experienced obstetrician Bickman’s view of life after childbirth. 60,000-copy announced first printing.
Flatiron
The Hungry Brain: Outsmarting the Instincts That Make Us Overeat by Stephan Guyenet (Feb. 7, hardcover, $27.99, ISBN 978-1-250-08119-3). Neuroscience researcher Guyenet argues that the root cause of obesity is not a lack of willpower or an incorrect understanding of what to eat, but rather ancient, instinctive mental processes adapted to a survival game that no longer exists.
Grand Central Life & Style
Ballerina Body: Dancing and Eating Your Way to a Leaner, Stronger, and More Graceful You by Misty Copeland (Mar. 21, hardcover, $30, ISBN 978-1-4555-9630-0). The celebrated ballerina shares her views of how to reshape your body and achieve a lean, strong physique and glowing health. 100,000-copy announced first printing.
The Cut: Lose Up to 10 Pounds in 10 Days and Sculpt Your Best Body by Morris Chestnut and Obi Obadike (Apr. 11, hardcover, $27, ISBN 978-1-4555-6523-8). Hollywood star Chestnut and fitness trainer Obadike join up to present a health plan they say will help readers lose up to 40 pounds in 12 weeks. 150,000-copy announced first printing.
Harper
The Longevity Plan: Seven Lessons from the World’s Happiest and Healthiest Village by John D. Day, Jane Ann Day, and Matthew LaPlante (July 4, hardcover, $25.99, ISBN 978-0-06-231981-4). Cardiologist Day, who spent six months in China’s remote, mountainous “Longevity Village,” shares the program for healthy living he developed while there.
HarperOne
Hashimoto’s Protocol: A 90-Day Plan for Reversing Thyroid Symptoms and Getting Your Life Back by Izabella Wentz (Mar. 28, hardcover, $28.99, ISBN 978-0-06-257129-8) recounts procedures developed by pharmacist Wentz for reversing the symptions of Hashimoto’s, an autoimmune disease that affects the thyroid gland and currently afflicts more than 35 million Americans. 100,000-copy announced first printing.
Younger: A Breakthrough Program to Reset Your Genes, Reverse Aging, and Turn Back the Clock 10 Years by Sara Gottfried (Mar. 7, hardcover, $27.99, ISBN 978-0-06-231627-1). Harvard/MIT-trained physician Gottfried outlines a program she believes can change the way people age, enabling them to feel and look good longer. 100,000-copy announced first printing.
HarperWave
Head Strong: The Bulletproof Plan to Boost Brainpower, Increase Focus, and Maximize Performance—in Just Two Weeks by Dave Asprey (Apr. 4, hardcover, $27.99, ISBN 978-0-06-265241-6). The Silicon Valley entrepreneur applies the “biohacking” process related in his first book, The Bulletproof Diet, to brain function. 100,000-copy announced first printing.
Little, Brown
Mind Over Meds: Know When Drugs Are Necessary, When Alternatives Are Better, and When to Let Your Body Heal on Its Own by Andrew Weil (Apr. 25, hardcover, $29, ISBN 978-0-316-35297-0) explores the dangers of overmedication and outlines lifestyle changes and alternative treatments for common ailments. 100,000-copy announced first printing.
Penguin/TarcherPerigee
The Reducetarian Solution: How the Surprisingly Simple Act of Reducing the Amount of Meat in Your Diet Can Transform Your Health and the Planet by Brian Kateman (Apr. 18, trade paper, $16, ISBN 978-0-14-312971-4) presents 60 original essays from different authors on the effect of cutting 10% or more of the meat from one’s diet.
Reader’s Digest
Run Your Fat Off: Running Smarter for a Leaner and Fitter You by Jason R. Karp (Mar. 14, trade paper, $19.99, ISBN 978-1-62145-335-2). Running burns more calories than any other physical activity, making it a highly effective weight-loss strategy. Karp, a researcher, running coach, and lifelong runner, describes plans for a wide spectrum of fitness levels.
Robert Rose
The Low-FODMAP Solution: Put an End to IBS Symptoms and Abdominal Pain by Cinzia Cuneo (Mar. 22, trade paper, $24.95, ISBN 978-0-7788-0569-4) presents a plan for alleviating Irritable Bowel Syndrome—which millions of Americans suffer from—through a diet low in FODMAPs (fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols), carbohydrates that are poorly digested in the intestine.
Yale Univ.
The Mystery of Sleep: Why a Good Night’s Rest Is Vital to a Better, Healthier Life by Meir Kryger (Mar. 21, hardcover, $28, ISBN 978-0-300-22408-5) is a much-needed bedside resource for insomniacs, those who can’t stay awake, and those who simply want to know about what happens when we go to sleep.
Home & Hobbies
Abrams
The Exquisite Book of Paper Flower Transformations: Playing with Size, Shape, and Color to Create Spectacular Paper Arrangements by Livia Cetti (Apr. 4, trade paper, $24.95, ISBN 978-1-4197-2412-1). Artist Cetti (The Exquisite Book of Paper Flowers) teaches readers how to create 25 single stems in a variety of natural shapes—globes, spikes, bells, saucers, rectangles, cones, and arcs.
Better Homes & Gardens
Better Homes and Gardens Flea Market Style: Fresh Ideas for Your Vintage Finds by Better Homes and Gardens (Mar. 7, trade paper, $21.99, ISBN 978-0-544-93187-9) shows homeowners how to use flea market treasures to transform a home, and discusses how to seamlessly combine pieces to reflect different styles, including Cottage, Bohemian, and Midcentury Modern.
Counterpoint
The Round of a Country Year: A Farmer’s Day Book by David Kline (May 16, trade paper, $16.95, ISBN 978-1-61902-924-8) immerses readers in the rhythms of farm life, discusses the hazards of modern agribusiness, and illuminates the pleasures of daily work and stewardship. Wendell Berry contributes an introduction.
Firefly
Big Ideas for Small Spaces: Creative Ideas and 30 Projects for Balconies, Roof Gardens, Windowsills and Terraces by Kay Maguire and Tony Woods (Feb. 2, trade paper, $19.95, ISBN 978-1-77085-869-5) is pitched to urbanites seeking the soothing effects of gardens. Thirty projects are provided for transforming balconies, windowsills, rooftops, pocket-sized patios, and even walls, into settings for lush greenery.
Globe Pequot/Lyons
Welcome to the Farm: How-to Wisdom from the Elliott Homestead by Shaye Elliott (Apr. 1, trade paper, $21.95, ISBN 978-1-4930-2601-2). With the homesteading movement continuing to grow, this illustrated guide covers such topics as harvesting organic produce, milking dairy cows, planting homestead orchards, canning jams and jellies, and even raising chickens and bees.
Norton
Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism by Fumio Sasaki (Apr. 11, hardcover, $21.95, ISBN 978-0-393-60903-5). A bestseller in Japan, this book makes the case for minimalism as a path to happiness. Sasaki shares his personal story, offers tips on the minimizing process, and reveals how he has changed since he got rid of everything he didn’t need.
Rizzoli
The Art of Elegance: Classic Interiors by Marshall Watson (Mar. 14, hardcover, $55, ISBN 978-0-8478-5871-2). In his debut book, the designer shares examples of his work for various homeowners, as shown in lush photographs. He also explains the guiding principles of his approach: warmth, light, peace, comfort, balance, proportion, livability, and last but not least, appropriateness.
Rutgers Univ.
My City Highrise Garden by Susan Brownmiller (Mar. 1, hardcover, $25, ISBN 978-0-8135-8889-6). Nearly four decades ago, bestselling author Brownmiller first planted her garden 20 stories above street level in the borderland between Manhattan’s Greenwich Village and the meatpacking district. She tells the story of carving out a little sanctuary of green amid a seemingly inhospitable big city.
Relationships & Self-Help
Algonquin
The Totally Unscientific Study of the Search for Human Happiness by Paula Poundstone (May 9, hardcover, $25.95, ISBN 978-1-61620-416-7). Popular comedian Poundstone conducts a series of “thoroughly scientific” experiments to discover the secret of happiness, offering herself up as a guinea pig and recording her data for the benefit of all humankind.
Berrett-Koehler
How You Learn Is How You Live: Using Nine Ways of Learning to Transform Your Life by Kay Peterson and David A. Kolb (Apr. 17, trade paper, $24.95, ISBN 978-1-62656-870-9). Kolb originated Experiential Learning Theory—a systematic approach to learning—and he and coauthor Peterson offer what previously has been a professional development tool to a popular audience.
Bibliomotion
Parenting as Partners: How to Raise Your Kids Without Ejecting Your Spouse by Vicki Hoefle (Apr. 18, trade paper, $18.95, ISBN 978-1-62956-175-2). Parenting educator Hoefle helps parents form clear expectations for how they plan on raising their kids, exploring their own upbringings and beliefs, preferences, and values.
Chicken Soup for the Soul
Chicken Soup for the Soul: Military Families by Amy Newmark (May 9, trade paper, $14.95, ISBN 978-1-61159-967-1). Life for our service members and their families is full of sacrifice, and the 101 stories in this entry in the long-running series pay tribute to these two forms of heroism.
Conari
Caring for the Dying: The Doula Approach to a Meaningful Death by Henry Fersko-Weiss (Mar. 1, hardcover, $24.95, ISBN 978-1-57324-696-5) describes the end-of-life doula model, adapted from the work of birth doulas, as intended to help the dying and their families find deep meaning and comfort.
Doubleday
The Fifth Trimester: The Working Mom’s Guide to Style, Sanity, and Big Success After Baby by Lauren Smith Brody (Apr. 4, hardcover, $24.95, ISBN 978-0-385-54141-1). Identifying the “fifth trimester” as when the working mother is born, this guide includes tips, to-do lists, and take-charge strategies based on interviews with over 700 moms.
The Experiment
The Happiest Kids in the World: A Stress-Free Approach to Parenting—the Dutch Way by Rina Mae Acosta and Michele Hutchison (Apr. 4, trade paper, $15.95, ISBN 978-1-61519-390-5). Expats Acosta and Hutchison—both married to Dutchmen and raising their kids in the Netherlands—posits that, yes, Dutch parents also do it best.
Green Leaf
My Sugar Free Baby and Me by Sarah Schenker (May 16, hardcover, $25, ISBN 978-1-4729-3900-5) advises on how and when to start weaning, what your baby needs to grow and develop, what foods to avoid in the first year, and the dangers of sugar and how to avoid it so you can bring up your healthy, sugar-free baby.
Hachette
Dare to Be Kind: How Extraordinary Compassion Can Transform Our World by Lizzie Velasquez, with Catherine Avril Morris (June 6, hardcover, $22, ISBN 978-0-16-27243-8). YouTube sensation and motivational speaker Velasquez, born with a genetic condition that prevents her from gaining weight, relates overcoming bullying and shares her plan for a “culture of kindness.” 45,000-copy announced first printing.
Memory’s Last Breath: Field Notes on My Dementia by Gerda Saunders (June 6, hardcover, $27, ISBN 978-0-316-50262-7) is the former literature professor’s unsparing memoir, which details a fiercely intellectual person living with awareness of her irreversible cognitive decline. 50,000-copy announced first printing.
HarperOne
The Compassionate Achiever: How Helping Others Fuels Success by Christopher L. Kukk (Mar. 7, hardcover, $26.99, ISBN 978-0-06-245789-9) takes off from studies tying compassion to lasting success. Kukk shares a four-step program for cultivating this quality, showing that it isn’t about being a martyr or a paragon of virtue, but a thoughtful, caring problem-solver.
Hay House
High Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard (Apr. 11, hardcover, $26.99, ISBN 978-1-4019-5285-3). A high-performance coach whose clients include Oprah, Usher, and Fortune 500 executives describes the mindset and daily habits of the world’s most successful people. 100,000-copy announced first printing.
Little, Brown
U Thrive: How to Succeed in College (and Life) by Dan Lerner and Alan Schlechter (Apr. 18, trade paper, $16.99, ISBN 978-0-316-31161-8). From the professors who teach NYU’s most popular nonrequired class, “Science of Happiness,” a light yet comprehensive guide to surviving and thriving in college and beyond. 35,000-copy announced first printing.
National Geographic
Amazing Dads: Love and Lessons from the Animal Kingdom by Bridget E. Hamilton (May 2, hardcover, $9.99, ISBN 978-1-4262-1808-8). Colorful animal photography and emotional stories of fatherhood in the animal kingdom show that the bond between dads and their loved ones transcends species.
Penguin/TarcherPerigee
Being There: Why Prioritizing Motherhood in the First Three Years Matters by Erica Komisar (Apr. 11, hardcover, $26, ISBN 978-0-14-310929-7). Pitched as “Lean In” for early motherhood, this books makes the case for the importance of the mother’s presence in the first three years of life.
Plume
The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Contentment, Comfort, and Connection by Louisa Thomsen Brits (Feb. 7, hardcover, $22, ISBN 978-0-7352-1409-5) is a four-color lifestyle guide to the Danish art of hygge, the quality of coziness, togetherness, and contentment that has helped to make Danes (according to studies) the happiest people in the world.
Random House
If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face? Relating to and Communicating with Others, from the Boardroom to the Bedroom by Alan Alda (June 6, hardcover, $27, ISBN 978-0-8129-8914-4). The famed actor shares techniques for communicating difficult concepts he developed during his many years interviewing scientists on PBS’s Scientific American Frontiers.
Simon & Schuster
How to Fall in Love with Anyone: Essays by Mandy Len Catron (June 6, hardcover, $26, ISBN 978-1-5011-3744-0) is a memoir from the author of the popular New York Times essay, “To Fall in Love with Anyone, Do This,” and an exploration of the limiting nature of our shared romantic myths.
Seal
Scattered Seeds: In Search of Family and Identity in the Sperm Donor Generation by Jacqueline Mroz (June 6, trade paper, $16.99, ISBN 978-1-58005-616-8) explores the personal, social, and psychological changes and consequences of living in the sperm donor generation, at a time when at least a million such children live in the U.S. alone.
Sounds True
The Empath’s Survival Guide: Life Strategies for Sensitive People by Judith Orloff (Apr. 4, hardcover, $22.95, ISBN 978-1-62203-657-8) is a resource designed to help sensitive people develop healthy coping mechanisms in a high-stimulus world—while fully embracing the empath’s gifts of intuition, creativity, and spiritual connection.
St. Martin’s
A Colorful Way of Living: How to Be More, Create More, Do More the Vera Bradley Way by Barbara Bradley Baekgaard (Apr. 4, hardcover, $24.99, ISBN 978-1-250-12191-2). The founder of the half-a-billion-dollar Vera Bradley empire shows women how to reinvent their lives.
