"SUNDAY: A HISTORY OF THE FIRST DAY FROM BABYLONIA TO THE SUPER BOWL" BY CRAIG HARLINE; DOUBLEDAY, $26

The origins of the calendar and Super Bowl Sunday would seem to have little in common, but they're connected in Craig Harline's conversational and well-researched cultural history about the first day of the week. Harline, a Brigham Young University historian, ranges from religion to baseball. The book is stuffed with forgotten history. When baseball's National League began in 1877, it banned Sunday games to appear respectable to the middle class.

— Bob Minzesheimer, USA Today

— BOB MINZESHEIMER, USA TODAY

"THE CALL OF THE WEIRD: TRAVELS IN AMERICAN SUBCULTURES" BY LOUIS THEROUX; DA CAPO, $24

Louis Theroux, son of travel writer and Island resident Paul Theroux, worked on Michael Moore's "TV Nation" and went on to TV documentaries about the outer fringes of American society. His debut book is a first-person account of his "reunion tour" in search of UFO believers, neo-Nazis, porn stars, prostitutes, pimps and other "dreamers, schemers and outlaws" he had put on TV. He describes himself as a "semi-serious journalist" and "professional manipulator." At times, he's as much of the story as his subjects.

— Bob Minzesheimer

— BOB MINZESHEIMER

"THE ART OF AGING" BY SHERWIN NULAND; RANDOM HOUSE, $24.95

Sherwin Nuland's "How We Die" was one of the most memorable nonfiction books I've ever read. But "The Art of Aging" offers pointless personal anecdotes and all the platitudes and insights of a retirement-home brochure.

— Deirdre Donahue, USA Today