5 books high performers should read this month

The Gist: Sushi and soybeans, step aside. Co-authors Héctor Garcia and Francesc Miralles head to Okinawa, home to some of the world’s longest-living people, to research their longevity secrets. Their most surprising discovery is the Japanese concept of ikigai, “the happiness of always being busy.” But it’s not just any sort of busy; the authors give practical tips for how everyone can foster the kind of meaningful, purpose-driven activity that forms the basis of an ikigai-filled life.

The Gist: With their belief that most cookbooks are mere collections of recipes that “tell you what to put together, but not why,” Michelin two-star chef Daniel Patterson and Mandy Aftel, the world’s foremost all-natural perfumer, take an altogether different approach. They offer rules for creating flavor and tips for fine-tuning dishes, all with the goal of turning any home cook into “someone who does not even need a recipe.”

The Gist: Revisit your favorite children’s books, with a Vanity Fair contributing editor as guide. Bruce Handy pens this spirited romp through some of the iconic titles of childhood, weaving in author biographies and back stories for a new, revelatory appreciation of classics from Where the Wild Things Are to Charlotte’s Web.

The Gist: Joe DiMaggio called the 1947 World Series “the most exciting ever,” and some of its icons, Joltin’ Joe included, as well as Jackie Robinson, who broke baseball’s color line earlier that year, are still household names. But according to Kevin Cook, a former Sports Illustrated editor, the Series hinged on six unknowns (Snuffy Stirnweiss, anyone?). Cook tells their stories, and examines how a fleeting moment of fame altered their lives forever.

The Gist: Scaling the Seven Summits—the highest point on each continent, from Mt. Everest in Nepal to Mt. Vinson in Antartica—is a bucket list challenge achieved by a relative few. Mountain climbing guide Vern Tejas, remarkably, has scaled all seven peaks ten times each, and takes readers through his adventures in this riveting book.