FROM CUPCAKES TO SUPERFOODS, an engaging look at how consumers, chefs, corporations, media shape food trends. B PLUS

CHATTY TOUR OF WORLDWIDE industrial hemp production points to future opportunities for US farmers, factories. SOLID B

THOUGHTFUL, ELOQUENT MEMOIR of a writer’s day jobs in sex work and in human services work. Stunning, raw! B PLUS

RAW, BRILLIANT ESSAYS by Kiese Laymon (with notes from family and friends) unfold a black American experience. B PLUS

A SAVVY AND SLY memoir of life in the trenches at a big-city fast food restaurant. Not always appetizing!  SOLID B

SEXUAL POLITICS IN the Arab world, presented in depth (via years of interviews), with compassion, with wit. B PLUS

SEX AND THE CITADEL
Pantheon
2013

INSIDE THE SHIPPING INDUSTRY, from midocean boredom to pirate watch to shipwreck. Great, engaging reporting! B PLUS

NINETY PERCENT OF EVERYTHING
Metropolitan Books
2013

A FARMER’S MEMOIR AND MANIFESTO: a nice mix of common sense, family history, and heritage farming techniques.

SEEKING A “PROMISED LAND” in Israel, Africa, and the US South, a writer looks compellingly at race and faith.