Here are 23 books that Turning to Stone fans have personally recommended if you like Turning to Stone. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA

Esther M. Sternberg Author Of Well at Work: Creating Wellbeing in any Workspace

From Esther's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Physician Researcher Biography buff Swimmer History buff

Esther's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Esther M. Sternberg Why Esther loves this book

As a woman physician/scientist coming up through the ranks of a male-dominated profession and working for the federal government in the 1970's, 80's and 90's, just as the "sisterhood" characters did, I identified deeply with many of the characters' experiences, and was surprised to learn that what they experienced in the intelligence community was very similar to what I had experienced in my own field in the federal government. Learning these stories of female spies explained a lot about the ways that my own career was directed, and it made me feel a sisterhood with the women described in the book, whose courage and lives are brought to light after having been hidden so many decades. Quite apart from that, it is a great read - exciting, disturbing in parts, uplifting in that these women soldiered on to the point that they made enormous contributions despite having been shunted to…

By Liza Mundy ,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Sisterhood as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A “rip-roaring” (Steve Coll), “staggeringly well-researched” (The New York Times) history of three generations at the CIA, “electric with revelations” (Booklist) about the women who fought to become operatives, transformed spycraft, and tracked down Osama bin Laden, from the bestselling author of Code Girls

A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS’ CHOICE • A FOREIGN POLICY AND SMITHSONIAN BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

In development as a series from Lionsgate Television, executive produced by Scott Delman (Station Eleven)

Created in the aftermath of World War II, the Central Intelligence Agency relied on women even as it attempted to channel their…


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Book cover of Aggressor

Aggressor by FX Holden,

It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.

The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…

Book cover of Our Moon: How Earth's Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are

Esther M. Sternberg Author Of Well at Work: Creating Wellbeing in any Workspace

From Esther's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Physician Researcher Biography buff Swimmer History buff

Esther's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Esther M. Sternberg Why Esther loves this book

The book made me think completely differently about "our moon" and how deeply it has influenced us earthlings, and indeed all living things, since we appeared on earth. The writing is almost poetic and the pace draws you in, learning about geology, the cosmos, history, and so much more. i came to feel a kinship with our moon, just as I believe the author feels about it.

By Rebecca Boyle ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Our Moon as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “A riveting feat of science writing that recasts that most familiar of celestial objects into something eerily extraordinary, pivotal to our history, and awesome in the original sense of the word.”—Ed Yong, New York Times bestselling author of An Immense World

A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice

Many of us know that the Moon pulls on our oceans, driving the tides, but did you know that it smells like gunpowder? Or that it was essential to the development of science and religion? Acclaimed journalist Rebecca Boyle takes readers…


Book cover of Timefulness: How Thinking Like a Geologist Can Help Save the World

Jeffrey Bennett Author Of A Global Warming Primer: Pathway to a Post-Global Warming Future

From my list on the science, consequences, and solutions to global warming.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an astronomer and educator (Ph.D. Astrophysics, University of Colorado), and I’ve now been teaching about global warming for more than 40 years (in courses on astronomy, astrobiology, and mathematics). While it’s frustrating to see how little progress we’ve made in combatting the ongoing warming during this time, my background as an astronomer gives me a “cosmic perspective” that reminds me that decades are not really so long, and that we still have time to act and to build a “post-global warming future.” I hope my work can help inspire all of us to act while we still can for the benefit of all.

Jeffrey's book list on the science, consequences, and solutions to global warming

Jeffrey Bennett Why Jeffrey loves this book

I love the way this book brings perspective to modern issues by emphasizing the idea of “deep time” – that we are part of a long history that makes our current existence possible.

By thinking in this way, we also realize that our current predicament is one that we have the tools to address, and that by doing so, we would be honoring the miracles of nature that lie behind everything we are and do. Along the way, this book also helped me understand – and teach about – a variety of important geological processes.

By Marcia Bjornerud ,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked Timefulness as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Why an awareness of Earth's temporal rhythms is critical to our planetary survival

Few of us have any conception of the enormous timescales of our planet's long history, and this narrow perspective underlies many of the environmental problems we are creating. The lifespan of Earth can seem unfathomable compared to the brevity of human existence, but this view of time denies our deep roots in Earth's history-and the magnitude of our effects on the planet. Timefulness reveals how knowing the rhythms of Earth's deep past and conceiving of time as a geologist does can give us the perspective we need…


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Book cover of Trusting Her Duke

Trusting Her Duke by Arietta Richmond,

A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.

Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother had…

Book cover of Through the Time Barrier: Precognition and Modern Physics

Livia Kohn Author Of Taming Time: Daoist Ways of Working with Multiple Temporalities

From my list on the nature of time.

Why am I passionate about this?

Livia Kohn, Ph.D., is Professor Emerita of Religion and East Asian Studies at Boston University. The author, or editor, of close to sixty books (including the annual Journal of Daoist Studies), she spent ten years in Kyoto doing research. She now serves as the executive editor of Three Pines Press, runs international conferences and workshops, and guides study tours to Japan.

Livia's book list on the nature of time

Livia Kohn Why Livia loves this book

A powerful melding of psi powers and physics, this proves just how certain phenomena usually thought supernatural or extraordinary fit within the framework of the natural sciences. The book focuses particularly on the functions of quantum reality, a cosmic order that is independent of human will, perceptual categories, and laws of causation. If finds expression in synchronicity and allows for nonlocal coincidences, holographic effects, and meaningful flow, which in turn make things like telepathy, clairvoyance, and other paranormal phenomena possible.

By Danah Zohar ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Through the Time Barrier as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Examines the supposed ability of people to foretell future events and discusses precognition from the point of view of quantum physics


Book cover of Some Science Adventures with Real Magic

Livia Kohn Author Of Taming Time: Daoist Ways of Working with Multiple Temporalities

From my list on the nature of time.

Why am I passionate about this?

Livia Kohn, Ph.D., is Professor Emerita of Religion and East Asian Studies at Boston University. The author, or editor, of close to sixty books (including the annual Journal of Daoist Studies), she spent ten years in Kyoto doing research. She now serves as the executive editor of Three Pines Press, runs international conferences and workshops, and guides study tours to Japan.

Livia's book list on the nature of time

Livia Kohn Why Livia loves this book

This reports on a physics experiment that shows how people in a state of deep concentration can focus their intention and create changes in their environment. In a special unitary symmetry state energy is exchanged via both photons (light) and phonons (sound), moving faster than light. Fine, information-wave generated patterns then activate all sorts of particles and modulate substances in a measurable and meaningful way. Any moment we are concentrating our intention, we therefore have tremendous power not only over ourselves but also over our environment and our future.

By William A. Tiller , Walter Dibble , J. Gregory Fandel

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Some Science Adventures with Real Magic as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This book provides the reader with an encapsulation of all the key experimental psychoenergetics observations made by Professor Tiller ande his group over the past 35 years. It reveals the true nature of the human acupuncture meridian/chakra system and how "sacred" spaces are created. It shows that the physical vacuum is not really empty and that, under the proper conditions, our digital measurement instruments can reveal a sum of contributions from two unique levels of physical reality. The book describes a new energy in nature that produces a very long range information entanglement and appears to be related to movement…


Book cover of Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives

Derek Sivers Author Of How to Live: 27 Conflicting Answers and One Weird Conclusion

From my list on to change how you understand the world.

Why am I passionate about this?

The greatest thrill is seeing something a new way. Remember the end of the movie The Sixth Sense, when you learn he was dead the whole time? It blows your mind and makes you re-think everything you saw. That's how it feels to learn another philosophy or a new distinction in understanding the world. I'm always seeking more of those moments, and these five books (plus mine) do that more than any I've found so far.

Derek's book list on to change how you understand the world

Derek Sivers Why Derek loves this book

Awesomely creative think-piece. 40 very short fictional stories about what happens when you die. The framework is inspiring for anyone: coming up with 40 different answers to any one question. But they’re also just brilliant ideas and powerful little fables.

By David Eagleman ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Sum as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In the afterlife you may find that God is the size of a microbe and unaware of your existence. Or you may find the afterlife contains only those people whom you remember. In some afterlives you are split into all your different ages; in some you are recreated based on your credit-card records; and in others you are forced to live with annoying versions of yourself that represent what you could have been.

In these wonderfully imagined tales - at once funny, wistful and unsettling - Eagleman kicks over the chessboard of traditional notions and offers us a dazzling lens…


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Book cover of The Duke's Christmas Redemption

The Duke's Christmas Redemption by Arietta Richmond,

A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.

Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…

Book cover of Momo

Lory Widmer Hess Author Of When Fragments Make a Whole

From Lory's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Why am I passionate about this?

Lory's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Unknown Author Why Lory loves this book

I've read Momo before in English, but it's been a while. As I read through it this time in German -- slowly! -- I thought how timely it remains. And while at one time I thought Momo's gift of listening was a bit dull, I now realize ever more how important it really is. Listening is more than merely hearing, more than letting sensations wash over us. It turns the act of giving attention into a doorway of creation. It's what I started to grasp through the spiritual direction training I recently completed, and what I want to continue to practice in as many ways as possible.

By Michael Ende ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Momo as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Brand New. Ship worldwide


Book cover of The Fifth Season

Deborah Fletcher Mello Author Of Playing with Danger

From Deborah's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Reader Orange juice enthusiast Devoted grandmother Armchair detective

Deborah's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Deborah Fletcher Mello Why Deborah loves this book

I loved EVERYTHING about this book.

By N. K. Jemisin ,

Why should I read it?

30 authors picked The Fifth Season as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

At the end of the world, a woman must hide her secret power and find her kidnapped daughter in this "intricate and extraordinary" Hugo Award winning novel of power, oppression, and revolution. (The New York Times)

This is the way the world ends. . .for the last time.

It starts with the great red rift across the heart of the world's sole continent, spewing ash that blots out the sun. It starts with death, with a murdered son and a missing daughter. It starts with betrayal, and long dormant wounds rising up to fester.

This is the Stillness, a land…


Book cover of Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Climate Change

Clifton Crais Author Of The Killing Age

From my list on capitalism and how our world really works from a historian's point of view.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a historian by training and have spent my career of nearly forty years studying human violence, and economic change and development. This has brought me to many dark places, to the human capacity to destroy. But all this work has also brought me to the study of those who resisted, all the people who envisioned different ways of being in the world, different futures. I have written many books on these topics. My latest, The Killing Age, is in many respects the summation of work I have been doing since the early 1980s.

Clifton's book list on capitalism and how our world really works from a historian's point of view

Clifton Crais Why Clifton loves this book

I love this clear-eyed exposé of the rise of climate denialism and the harms of tobacco smoke.

At a time when these issues are at the forefront of public attention and public health is under threat, I loved the way the authors coolly exposed the making and marketing of fake science.

By Naomi Oreskes , Erik M. Conway ,

Why should I read it?

15 authors picked Merchants of Doubt as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The U.S. scientific community has long led the world in research on such areas as public health, environmental science, and issues affecting quality of life. Our scientists have produced landmark studies on the dangers of DDT, tobacco smoke, acid rain, and global warming. But at the same time, a small yet potent subset of this community leads the world in vehement denial of these dangers. Merchants of Doubt tells the story of how a loose-knit group of high-level scientists and scientific advisers, with deep connections in politics and industry, ran effective campaigns to mislead the public and deny well-established scientific…


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Book cover of Old Man Country

Old Man Country by Thomas R. Cole,

This book follows the journey of a writer in search of wisdom as he narrates encounters with 12 distinguished American men over 80, including Paul Volcker, the former head of the Federal Reserve, and Denton Cooley, the world’s most famous heart surgeon.

In these and other intimate conversations, the book…

Book cover of Restless Earth

Frederick Lin Sutherland Author Of The Volcanic Earth: Volcanoes and Plate Tectonics : Past, Present & Future

From my list on the glories of global geology.

Why am I passionate about this?

My final high school year in Tasmania added a new topic, geology. I and my school friends knew little about it but signed up. In the first lesson, the teacher pointed at the adjacent sunlit river gorge saying “There is your laboratory.” We were hooked and most of us became professional geologists. I started off in museums where mineral, rock, and fossil collections were a font of knowledge and generated field collecting, research, and educational activities. This led to MSc and PhD degrees from universities at both ends of Australia. A base at the Australian Museum led to travel around Australia and visits to many overseas institutions and meetings.

Frederick's book list on the glories of global geology

Frederick Lin Sutherland Why Frederick loves this book

This book is an awareness alarm for readers to comprehend the ubiquitous array of dynamic natural forces that impact the Earth. In local, regional, or global sweeping events, they need study to predict such happenings in advance and to learn from the aftermath for better future protection. The book shows a selection of events from historical to time of writing and provides gripping reading in seeing nature’s wayward effects in action.

A panel of seven expert writers well versed in these events documents and explains the forces unleashed in the visitations. Dramatic ground, aerial and satellite photography and explanatory diagrams give readers graphic grounding in the vagaries of storms, fires, floods, tsunamis, erosion, landslips, avalanches, volcanic outbursts, earthquakes, impacts from space matter, and even climate changes. 

By Carolinda E. Hill (editor) , John G. Agnone (editor) , Bonnie S. Lawrence (editor)

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Restless Earth as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Featuring more than two hundred color and black-and-white archival photographs, a large-format volume for adult and young adult readers explains the forces behind earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, and geological and meteorological activity. 15,000 first printing.


Book cover of The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA
Book cover of Our Moon: How Earth's Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are
Book cover of Timefulness: How Thinking Like a Geologist Can Help Save the World

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