Reading list from the ISC Governing Board members

Martin Visbeck

The Boundless Sea: A human History of the Oceans 

By David Abulafia 

From the award-winning author of The Great Sea, a magnificent new global history of the oceans and of humankind’s relationship with the sea. 

Françoise Baylis

The Every 

by Dave Eggers 

From the award-winning, bestselling author of The Circle comes an exciting new follow-up. When the world’s largest search engine/social media company, the Circle, merges with the planet’s dominant ecommerce site, it creates the richest and most dangerous–and, oddly enough, most beloved–monopoly ever known: the Every.

Pamela Matson

Crossing to Safety  

By Wallace Stegner

Crossing to Safety has, since its publication in 1987, established itself as one of the greatest and most cherished American novels of the twentieth century. Tracing the lives, loves, and aspirations of two couples who move between Vermont and Wisconsin, it is a work of quiet majesty, deep compassion, and powerful insight into the alchemy of friendship and marriage. 

and

All the Light We Cannot See 

by Anthony Doerr   

Marie-Laure lives in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where her father works. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel. 

Melody Burkins 

Welp: Climate Change and Arctic Identities 

by Michaela Stith 

When author Michaela Stith left her home in Alaska to visit the Lower 48, she learned that many people think of the Arctic as an icy wasteland devoid of people and filled with polar bears. Welp: Climate Change and Arctic Identities challenges that misconception—by inviting you to witness a side of the Arctic few southerners ever get to see. 

Geoffrey Boulton 

The Sea is Not Made of Water: Life Between the Tides 

By Adam Nicholson  

In The sea is not made of water Adam Nicolson explores the multiple, interleaved layers of that world and the long human relationship with the shore. “Beautifully written, elegiac and deeply thoughtful science. A classic,” says Geoffrey! 

Karina Batthyany 

The Voyeur’s Motel / El Motel del Voyeur 

By Gay Talese 

The Voyeur’s Motel is an extraordinary work of narrative journalism, and one of the most talked about books of the year, about the voyeuristic desires of a hotel owner.  

and 

The Soul of a Woman / Mujeres del alma mía 

By Isabel Allende  

From the New York Times bestselling author of A Long Petal of the Sea comes a passionate and inspiring meditation on what it means to be a woman.