Prime Numbers:  The Most Mysterious Figures in Math--D. Wells

A look at the math and mystique of prime numbers bringing to life the strange attraction of primes, from their current use in codes and cryptography to the Fermat and Fibonacci numbers, Goldbach's Conjecture, the Mersenne primes, and the number mysticism of old Pythagoras; from prime records and mathematicians' ingenious efforts to find primes (including a 2002 breakthrough algorithm), all the way to the unproven Riemann Hypothesis and the extraordinary zeta function.

Knotted Doughnuts and other mathematical entertainments--M. Gardner

Do you like Scientific American?  This book is a collection of Martin Gardner's Scientific American columns including mathematical games, problems, paradoxes, teasers, and tricks.

Rock, Paper, and Scissors:  Game Theory in Everyday Life--L. Fisher

Game theory reveals various aspects of social behavior, with an analysis of how social norms and peoples' sense of fair play can create cooperative--rather than competitive--solutions to problems, and shows how mathematics applies to daily dilemmas.

The Jasons:  The Secret History of Sciences' Postwar Elite--A. Finkbeiner

Reveals how a highly secretive team of scientists known as Jason have been working since 1960 to solve highly classified problems for the American government. 

The Math Book:  From Pythagoras to the 57th Dimension, 250 Milestones in the History of Mathematics--C. Pickover

If you want the big picture in short entries, check out this anthology of descriptions of 250 significant achievements in the history of mathematics, arranged chronologically from circa 150 million BC to 2007.  Now that's coverage!

A Beautiful Math:  John Nash, Game Theory, and the Modern Quest for a Code of Nature--T. Siegfried

This book examines Nobel Prize-winning mathematician John Nash's game theory and the ways it has shaped evolutionary biology, neuroscience, and quantum physics, linking the three sciences in a way that could lead to a science of human social behavior, or "Code of Nature."

Under the Black Flag:  The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates--D. Cordingly

Johnny Depp didn't really give us the whole story.  This book takes a closer look at the real lives of historical pirates.  

Gang Leader for a Day--S. Venkatesh

The author, when a first year graduate student in Sociology,  managed to work his way into one of Chicago's must brutal crack-dealing gangs.  This is the story of learning about gang life from the inside. 

Guevara's book documents his 1952 motorcycle road trip from Buenos Aires through South America.  This is the Che before he became a famous Cuban revolutionary.

American Mafia:  A History of its Rise to Power--T. Reppetto

A fascinating account of the rise of the American Mafia from the 1880s to the 1950s, discussing the political, governmental, bureaucratic, economic, and social conditions that facilitated the success of the crime syndicate.

On the Road--J. Kerouac

A fiftieth anniversary edition of Jack Kerouac's thinly fictionalized autobiography chronicling his cross-country adventure across North America on a quest for self-knowledge as experienced by his alter-ego, Sal Paradise and Sal's friend Dean Moriarty--Kerouac's real life friend Neal Cassady.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest--K. Kesey

Quite famously made into a film, this story is a classic.  Here's the official description:  The tale is chronicled by the seemingly mute Indian patient, Chief Bromden; its hero Randle Patrick McMurphy, the boisterous, brawling, fun-loving rebel who encourages gambling, drinking,and sex in the ward, and rallies the other patients around him by challenging the dictatorial role of Big Nurse. McMurphy's defiance which begins as a sport-develops into a grim struggle with the awesome power of the "Combine", concluding with shattering, tragic results. In its unforgettable portrait of a man teaching the value of self-reliance and laughter destroyed by forces of hatred and fear.

The Complete Persepolis--M. Satrapi

The author shares the story of her life in Tehran, Iran, where she lived from ages six to fourteen while the country came under control of the Islamic regime.

This is an Alan Moore classic, which Time magazine called "a masterpiece."  Two generations of superheroes, including Dr. Manhattan, who deals with the responsibility of his powers, and Nite Owl, who wrestles with letting go of the past, dissect their collective histories while trying to determine who is methodically killing them all off.

The Photographer--Guibert, Lefevre and Lemercier

This amazing books documents a visit into Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders.  If you are interested in current events, graphic novel-style storytelling, and or medicine, check it out.