Ian Stewart, Why Beauty Is Truth (Basic Books, 2007)
A distinguished mathematician explains the fundamental concept of symmetry by tracing the history of mathematical thought through the lives of key theorists from Babylonian to modern times. Some difficult equations, but Stewart makes the story lively and he does not expect much background knowledge. A surprisingly good read.
Amartya Sen, The Idea of Justice (Harvard University Press, 2009)
Building on John Rawls enormously influential explanation of justice, the Nobel prize-winning economist undertakes to remove justice from the realm of the ideal and to place it in the real life of societies trying to develop and to provide better lives for millions of people. Challenging and brilliant.
Yann Martel, Beatrice and Virgil (Alfred A. Knopf, 2010)
A taxidermist is writing a play about human attacks on animal biodiversity, using the Holocaust as an allegory. Can any author, no matter how gifted, deal creatively with the hardest and cruelest moments of twentieth-century history? One thing is certain: Martel is courageous.