The most interesting people I know, or have known, generally are those who are widely read on many different topics, and who enjoy many genres.  I know this to be true of our own community.   We are readers.  If you are looking for a good read, here is a look at some opinions from those whose business it is to know, judge, and recommend good books.

The New York Times    The year’s 10 “best”  books: 5 fiction and 5 non fiction

100 Notable Books of 2011.  The New York Times.    A little wider variety.

Amazon  100 Best books of 2011 

Chicago Tribune Thoughts on Year’s Best Reads    list by Tribune staff Julia Keller and Elizabeth Taylor

The Librarians’ Picks for 2011 at The Los Angeles Public LIbrary 

The Boston Globe Picks the Year’s Best Science Books     

My own pick for favorite book in 2011:  David McCullough’s The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris.    In the early decades of the American experiment in democracy, the nation had yet to develop its own great institutions for art, education, and science. Americans were drawn to Europe to complete their educations, to experience culture, to expand their minds beyond the parochial limits of a young and poor nation.  Paris was a shining beacon of all the best the world had to offer, and Americans fell in love with Paris.  David McCullouogh’s book explores the experiences of these pilgrims and how they in turn changed America.  In the 1830′s Paris was a world center of medical knowledge and treatment.  I was particularly impressed with the author’s descriptions of this subject.  The early days of medicine were fascinating, exciting, and gruesome, but here are some of the roots of what we do at Rockefeller.    – Carol Feltes