📚 July 2025

In partnership with

It’s the first weekend in August, so we’re revisiting the books we featured last month.

In case you missed any (or want to revisit the big ideas), here’s your July 2025 recap:

These dazzling shows? They’re part of a human story stretching back millennia.

In A History of Fireworks, John Withington traces the dazzling evolution of pyrotechnics—from bamboo blasts in ancient China and royal spectacles in Europe to today’s global light shows. With meticulous detail and contagious enthusiasm, he reveals how fireworks have expressed power, celebration, and hope across cultures.

Think brushing and flossing are enough? Think again.

Dr. Steven Lin’s The Dental Diet makes one thing clear: if you want strong teeth and real health, you need more than just a great toothbrush (but that doesn’t hurt too); you also need to improve your eating habits.

Ever finish a book and realize you barely remember what you read?

Mortimer Adler’s How to Read a Book is the ultimate guide for anyone who wants to read not just more, but smarter. Adler argues that reading is an active, skillful art, and he lays out a roadmap for turning every book into a genuine learning experience. 

This book was recommended by our friend Alex & Books. He reads 2+ books a week, and summarizes his favorites in his weekly newsletter. Our smartest takeaways in the link below are an excerpt from his summary. For more, read Alex’s full summary of this book.

What if history’s truth is hazy?

In Human History on Drugs, historian Sam Kelly introduces us to the history we weren’t taught in school, offering up irreverent and hysterical commentary as he sheds light on some truly shocking aspects of the historical characters we only thought we knew.

Before social media, one music scene created a real-life following like no other.

In Sharing in the Groove, journalist Mike Ayers unpacks the jam band explosion—where bands improvised, fans built a culture from the ground up, and every night was different. It’s not just a story about music.

It’s about community, creativity, and a movement that quietly shaped how we experience live events today.

We also tested out a few different email formats:

• One Word Smarter: Palimpsest and Obfuscate

• Idea of the Day: Temporal Exhaustion

• 3 Books x 1 Topic: Rethinking Grit

Should we continue any of these? Let us know!