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A life-or-death competition between two young magicians plays out in Erin Morgenstern's debut novel. Layers of trickery and masterful sleight of hand make it hard to know what's real and what's fake. "My magic is sort of real-world magic," Morgenstern says.

In his new book, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and energy expert looks at how the need for energy is shaping the world. He joins NPR's David Greene to discuss the global implications of natural gas production in the U.S.

As it turns out, Raymond Chandler isn't the only writer who can channel the dark charisma of deceptively sunny California. Author Hector Tobar recommends John Fante's Ask the Dust, a novel that captures the grit and glamor of Los Angeles' past.

The retired NASA astronaut, who has written the new book Gabby: A Story Of Courage and Hope, goes into detail about his wife Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' recovery since she was shot in the head on Jan. 8. His constant refrain is that she's "improving all of the time."

Technologies like GPS and social media are posing new challenges to interpreting the Constitution's guarantees of privacy and free speech. Law professor and journalist Jeffrey Rosen says we're now in an era the Founding Fathers could never have imagined, in which private companies are determining the rules for what can be shared.

Christopher Paul Curtis tells the story of a Michigan family traveling south to Alabama during the height of the civil rights movement. Curtis composed the novel in his head while working on automobile assembly lines in Flint, Mich.

Is 60 the new 40? In her new book, Patricia Cohen (age 51!) explores the origin and evolution of middle age. "I like to say that middle age is something of a 'Never Never Land,'" she says. "Younger people never want to enter it, and older people never want to leave it once they get there."

In Intel Wars, historian Matthew Aid details how bureaucratic policies and a glut of raw data have weakened the intelligence community in its war against would-be terrorists.

The author says he knows his readers think of him as cozy and genteel. So he's decided to shake them up a bit with a new book of two short stories.

Fans of Agatha Christie will find much to enjoy in Robert Barnard's latest cozy mystery that brims with sparkling repartee, wicked wit and some (mild) chills.