Scientists are now starting to talk about the possibility that there will be a new El Nino next year. Madeleine Nash says her book has many levels: "It's an adventure story, it's a scientific detective story, and it's an exploration of the eternally complicated relationship between humans and nature."

Among the topics the authors cover are drowsy driving, excessive daytime sleepiness, insomnia, jet lag, sleep and traveling, juvenile health issues, over-the-counter and home remedies, and recommended amounts of sleep for various age groups.

Robert Otterbourg, who decided in his mid-50s to switch from public relations to writing about what really interested him, is now a columnist for the Raleigh News & Observer on career-related topics and the author of three books. Among the career-changers he describes in his newest book is an abstract painter who became a physician, a newspaper editor who became a corporate lawyer, and a librarian who became a rabbi.

This is the story of the unsung visionary who not only helped develop the concept of personal computing, but who then set in motion the revolution that would change our lives. M. Mitchell Waldrop, author of the critically acclaimed Complexity and formerly a senior writer at Science magazine, brings to life the story of J.C.R. Licklider (or "Lick" as he was generally known) — a gifted MIT psychologist with a proficiency in subjects ranging from electrical engineering to mathematics.