Five good reads for February

National Jeweler has chosen four books from Goodreads’ February list of new releases that could be beneficial to business owners and added an editor’s pick for reading pleasure.

HCHannah Connorton hannah.connorton@nationaljeweler.com

New York--Goodreads, an online book discussion website, has shared its list of new releases for the month of February, and National Jeweler has chosen four that could be beneficial to business owners.

Among February’s reads are Future Crimes, which explores the way criminals and corporations are using technology not only to steal identities and access bank accounts but allow drug cartels to build drones and 3D printers to produce AK-47s, and an autobiography of an investor’s adventures in Russia.

The following list includes a brief summary of each book and links to additional information on Goodreads.

1. Future Crimes: Everything is Connected, Everyone is Vulnerable, and What We Can Do About It
Marc Goodman

Goodman, a global strategist, shows readers the ways criminals, corporations and countries are using new and emerging technologies against a very vulnerable public. From activating baby monitors to spy on families to using social media activity to plan a home invasion, he questions the expanding role of technology in people’s lives and empowers readers to protect themselves against technological threats. This book is 464 pages.

2. The Marauders: A Novel
Tom Cooper

When the BP oil spill hit the Gulf Coast, the “oddballs and lowlifes” of the bayou town of Jeannette, who made a living shrimping, must enact whatever risky schemes they can to reverse their fortunes. This book is 320 pages.

3. Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man’s Fight for Justice
Bill Browder

Red Notice follows Browder’s rise and fall as an investor in post-Soviet Russia. The story begins on the South Side of Chicago and moves through Stanford business school to the world of hedge funds, which eventually lands Browder in Moscow. This book is 416 pages.

4. Eye on the Struggle: Ethel Payne, the First Lady of the Black Press
James McGrath Morris

Morris brings to light the story of Ethel Payne, a journalist who covered events including the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Little Rock school desegregation crisis and the service of black troops in Vietnam. Payne was the first female African-American radio and television commentator on a national network. This book is 480 pages.

5. Editor’s pick: The Wettest County in the World: A Novel Based on a True Story
Matt Bondurant

Bondurant takes readers through the adventures of his grandfather and two great-uncles, a notorious band of roughnecks and moonshiners who

Banner will be right here …

ran liquor through Virginia’s Franklin County during Prohibition and in the years following. Through forging a business, falling in love and watching the world crumble with the Great Depression and drought, this book brings these men, their dark deeds and “The Great Franklin County Moonshine Conspiracy” to life. This book is 307 pages.

Hannah Connorton