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Yesterday I wanted to change the world. Today I just want to lose weight. Why are some changes so hard to realize? Am I lazy, unfocused, undisciplined? According to brothers, Chip and Dan Heath, some significant changes are hard because the process to make such changes is exhausting. We are just too tired to follow through.

Many of us know what it feels like to be out of step socially, to misread others and to be misread ourselves. Luckily most of us have only a fleeting awareness of that sensation. In his book, Look Me in the Eye, John Elder Robison describes a life in which social misunderstanding and cluelessness is the norm. 

A book about conjoined twins born to an Indian Carmelite nun living in Ehtiopia, Cutting for Stone was published to great acclaim in 2009. A starred review from Publishers Weekly, author interviews on all the radio and TV talk shows, and reviews in every magazine and newspaper I picked up told me that this was a book to watch. But: Conjoined twins. Born to a nun. Raised in a hospital in Ethiopia. Stop me when I get to something that makes you want to read this book.

On our trip to Egypt, we've found lovely, friendly people, but something keeps us on edge out in the streets: mostly the stories our guides tell us about what to watch for.

"It's in our nature to seek purpose. But that nature is now being revealed and expressed on a scale that is demographically unprecedented and, until recently, scarcely imaginable. The consequences could rejuvenate our businesses and remake our world."

In Daniel H. Pink's second best seller, DRIVE, the purpose driven life comes front and center.

Peter Hessler's grandfather, a Benedictine monk who grew up in Arkansas, was sent to Rome in 1929. He wanted to go to China so much that when the church refused to send him, he left the order, returned to the U.S.

Summer is generally a time when many movies are released. This year, I’ve put together a short list of movies that sound intriguing from what I’ve seen in the previews.

In Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, Ms. Kingsolver chronicles a year in which her family decided to eat locally produced foods, homegrown when possible, with few exceptions. Each family member got to pick one item that is not local to continue to consume.

With five simple, everyday products, you can have your home and all its contents gleaming. In his book, Clean: The Humble Art of Zen-Cleansing, Michael De Jong makes a compelling case for tossing out all those expensive, caustic cleaners you have under the sink.