Major League baseball takes the field again this week, and at the start of each new year it’s always fun to speculate on what the headlines of the of 2012 season might be. Here’s a list of our favorite stories of baseball’s almosts, could-have-beens, can-you-believe-its and oh-no-you-didn’t’s.

The Champions of Cheat
Before being immortalized in the cornfields of Iowa by Ray Liotta in Field of Dreams, Shoeless Joe Jackson was first notorious for being one of baseball’s biggest cheaters. He and seven of his teammates of the 1919 Chicago Black Sox got paid off by gamblers to intentionally lose the World Series, ultimately earning the guilty octet a lifetime ban from baseball. Eliot Asinof brilliantly brings to life “the most gigantic sporting swindle in the history of America!” in “Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series.”

The Worst Team of All Time
The league was still in its infancy when the Cleveland Spiders took the field for their 13th major league season in 1899, but it would be the team’s last —the club only won 20 of their 154 games, losing 40 of their last 41 games of the season (a cigar clerk was on the mound for the final game) and finishing an obscene 84 games behind the first place Brooklyn Superbas. ‘Bad-baseball’ fanatic J. Thomas Hetrick is not shy in calling them  ”Misfits! Baseball’s Worst Team Ever.”

Getting the Monkey Off Their Backs
Stephen King is a huge Red Sox fan, and in 2004, he and writer friend Stewart O’Nan decided to chronicle the upcoming season. Turns out it was the very year that Boston staged the most epic World Series comeback of all time on the way to breaking its 85-year “Curse of the Bambino.” The result is “Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season,” a decidedly less-horrific narrative than some of King’s other titles, though the chase for the championship isn’t lacking edge-of-your-seat suspense.

The Loveable Losers
Speaking of curses, the Chicago Cubs’ “Curse of the Billy Goat” (real or not? —we won’t speculate) represents baseball’s longest and most anguishing championship drought. Sadly, it doesn’t look like 2012 is going to be the year the Cubs win it, so why not dig into “Before the Curse: The Chicago Cubs’ Glory Years, 1870-1945,” and let author Carson Cunningham introduce you to the team that used to be known as a powerhouse before being labeled “loveable losers.”

If at First You Don’t Succeed, Write a Book
Some of sports’ best stories are the ones that never got told. Tormented by inconsistent play for many minor league teams, New York Times magazine stalwart Pat Jordan recounts his “I coulda been a contender” story of a once-promising pitching career and the dream he was forced to surrender. “A False Spring” is also a warts-and-all look at the business of baseball and life in the minor leagues.

Is it Over Yet?
On April 18, 1981, a modest crowd filled McCoy stadium in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, to watch a AAA-game between the hometown Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings; it took over eight hours and 33 innings later to crown a victor. (In fact, the got called at 4am before play resumed over two months later in front of a sellout crowd and even a Japanese film crew.) Author and New York Times journalist Dan Berry delves into this historic game in “Bottom of the 33rd: Hope, Redemption, and Baseball’s Longest Game,” painting a picture of Americana small-town lives, minor league dreams (Wade Boggs, Cal Ripken Jr., and other baseball greats played in this game), and all that went into making this game one of professional sport’s greatest.

Why We Need Baseball
1968 was a year rocked by national tragedies, race riots, and war, the effects of which could be felt as much on the baseball field as they were on Main Street. Detroit spent the summer of ’67 embattled in some of America’s worst riots; just a year later, the city took to the streets in support of their American League-leading Tigers. Tim Wendel’s “Summer of ’68: The Season That Changed Baseball–and America–Forever,” recounts a time when the country was captivated by the national pastime at the moment it needed the game most.

Once again, Chicago is living up to its nickname as the City of Broad Shoulders. Mayor Rahm Emanuel is announcing an ambitious funding proposal to give his city a facelift. The New York Times reports the $7 billion—yes, with a ‘b’—would be allocated to expand transit, water system, schools, community colleges, and parks, essentially renovating the entire city. It’s a big bet, and not a sure one, as these books about large-scale urban development and redevelopment show.

Chicago: The Second City’s Second Chance
Mayor Emanuel’s plan won’t be Chicago’s first big makeover. Daniel Burnham’s 1909 “Plan of Chicago” was (and is) arguably the most influential text on urban development ever produced, and turned Chicago’s waterfront from crude shipping ports to gorgeous green space (with the cunning use of landfill). Carl Smith’s concise narrative “The Plan of Chicago: Daniel Burnham and the Remaking of the American City” describes Chicago’s rise from frontier village to America’s Second City, and Burnham’s indefatigable belief that cities can and must be remade for the better.

Beijing: The New Chinese Empire
China’s rapid urbanization has left some of its history, well, in the past. Beijing’s oldest enclaves are vanishing in the face of its relentless modernization, as Michael Meyer’s “The Last Days of Old Beijing” intimately illustrates. “Soon we will be able to say about old Beijing that what emperors, warlords, Japanese invaders, and Communist planners couldn’t eradicate, the market economy has,” Meyer writes.

Baltimore: Built on Bigotry
In some circumstances, “progress” is fueled more by what cities don’t want than by what they do. In “Not in My Neighborhood How Bigotry Shaped a Great American City,” former Baltimore Sun reporter Antero Pietila offers a lively, informative portrayal chronicling links between racism, real estate practices, and urban politics. The author offers his city as a prism through which to view the racism and class warfare that has influenced development in all American cities.

Detroit: Renaissance in the Waiting
Detroit has been the poster child for urban decay in our modern age—job loss, real estate foreclosure, crime, and abandonment have rocked the once-thriving industrial capital. But John Gallagher is looking forward in his book “Reimagining Detroit: Opportunities for Redefining an American City,” presenting a host of emerging innovations that may offer potential solutions for reviving Detroit’s shrinking economy. His TED talk on the issue is also pretty progressive stuff.

Berlin: Salvaging a Post-War Capital
After being bombed beyond recognition, Berlin was faced with the onerous task of rebuilding from scratch even as Germany was struggling to reimagine its national identity. Like a phoenix from the ashes, Berlin’s dramatic resurgence, as Brian Ladd chornicles in “The Ghosts of Berlin: Confronting German History in the Urban Landscape,” hinged on a culture shift and an ambitious architectural vision.

Karachi: Coping with Rapid Cosmopolitanism
Once a colonial port town of 350,000 residents, Karachi, Pakistan is now a sprawling metropolis of more than 13 million permanent residents. Steve Inskeep, host of NPR’s Morning Edition, cites Karachi as an example of what he’s coined an “instant city”—the result of rapid urbanization. In “Instant City: Life and Death in Karachi,” Inskeep profiles the racial divisions, military unrest, and social innovations that have manifested in a city struggling to understand the size of its own bootstraps.

New York City: Endless Reinvention
As any New York resident will attest, it’s often comical to watch the interminable building up and tearing down that seems to be happening across the city. Change is endemic to the Big Apple, as David M. Scobey points out in “Empire City: The Making and Meaning of the New York City Landscape.” The book tells the story of the dreams that inspired New York City’s icons—Central Park, the Empire State Building, the Brooklyn Bridge— and the impossible feats of engineering required to complete them in a city that rose from marshland.

Anyone who has read George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series knows that “When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die.” These words, as spoken by Cersei Lannister on the HBO adaptation “A Game of Thrones” (premiering its second season on April 1), serve as a warning to Ned Stark, a man of honor who chooses to challenge a king’s succession. Cersei’s words ring true not just for Ned, but also for the many other players in Martin’s world of Westeros and beyond.

Plenty of powerful figures played their own game of thrones in Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire and England. In fact, we noticed some parallels between these power players and Martin’s characters. And while we don’t yet know the fates of all of those Lannisters and Targaryen, we might be able to pick up some hints from history.

Alexander the Great
Game of Thrones Counterpart: Daenerys Targaryen
There’s a reason historians look back on Alexander as one of the greatest military commanders and imperialists that ever lived. Born a Macedonian prince, Alexander learned philosophy and classics from his tutor, Aristotle. The prince later ascended to power in Greece, and eventually conquered Syria, Egypt and Persia. In “Alexander the Great,” Philip Freeman describes how the conqueror lived most of his life far from his homeland, and faced many threats to his throne.
Won or Died? It’s pretty clear that Alexander won multiple thrones. But at what cost? There is still mystery surrounding his death (some claim he was poisoned, others say it was natural causes).

Thomas Cromwell
Game of Thrones Counterpart: Littlefinger (aka Petyr Baelish)
One of Henry VIII’s close advisors, Cromwell is basically the guy who pushed forward the entire English Reformation. Robert Hutchison examines how Cromwell, the son of a brewer, rose to become the right hand of the king in “Thomas Cromwell: The Rise and Fall of Henry VII’s Most Notorious Minister.” Turns out, the minister wasn’t as nice as he looked. He made a lot of bribes… and enemies.
Won or Died? After he arranged the failed marriage between the king and Anne of Cleves, Cromwell’s relationship with Henry VIII soured. Eventually, the king had him imprisoned and decapitated, and put his head on a pike for public display.

Elizabeth I
Game of Thrones Counterpart: Cersei Lannister
Henry VIII often worried about his line of succession, and rightfully so. Though he had six wives, only one, Jane Seymour, delivered a son that lived past infancy, Edward VI. Edward reigned for six years until his death at age 15. He named his cousin Lady Jane Grey his successor, but thanks to the intervention of his half-sister, Mary, Jane ruled a short five days after Edward’s death (and then was executed). Mary reigned for five years, working to restore Catholicism in England, killing more than 250 Protestants and imprisoning her sister Elizabeth in the process. When Mary died, Elizabeth claimed the throne, and ruled for more than 40 years. She famously refused to marry, although Alison Weir, author of “The Life of Elizabeth I” speculates she had multiple affairs.
Won or Died? Elizabeth was a winner, hands down.

Julius Caesar
Game of Thrones Counterpart: Robert Baratheon
Starting his career as a military leader, Caesar worked his way up through the Roman ranks until he ended up leading the whole empire. Adrian Goldsworthy investigates the life of the emperor in “Caesar: Life of a Colossus,” including his lesser-known early gigs: pirate and cult leader.
Won or Died? Caesar was assassinated by the Roman senate on March 15 in 44 BC, adding a bad omen surrounding the Ides of March to his legacy along with a type of birth, a men’s haircut and a salad.

Cesare Borgia
Game of Thrones Counterpart: Joffrey Baratheon
The Borgias were often accused of nepotism, which is hard to argue when the men of one family are ruling Rome. The son of the pope and the brother of an army leader, Cesare Borgia became Cardinal at age 18. The powerful family was not without its internal family drama, however. In “The Borgias and Their Enemies: 1431-1519,” Christopher Hibbert explains that Cesare was a jealous murderer who killed his sister Lucrezia’s husband, and might possibly have been responsible for the death of his brother. He was ruthless, and often turned to crime in order to maintain and exploit his power.
Won or Died? While Cesare had some success, he was quickly challenged after his father’s death. It’s rumored that Niccolò Machiavelli used Cesare Borgia’s life as inspiration for “The Prince.” Sadly, Cesare served as an example of what not to do when trying to get ahead in life—considering he lost his lands and ending up dying in exile.

Richard III
Game of Thrones Counterpart: Stannis Baratheon
You can thank Shakespeare for the false image of King Richard III as a humpback out for blood. Paul Murray Kendall sets out to dispel the myth set forth by the Bard in his book “Richard the Third.” There is no evidence that Richard III was deformed, and there is still debate as to whether he had his two nephews killed so he could claim the throne. It is true that he challenged the legitimacy of the princes’ birth, however, and suspected conspiracy among his advisors—including William Hastings, a nobleman who was eventually executed for treason.
Won or Died? If you’ve read or seen the Shakespeare play, you know the tables turned on Richard III, and he was defeated and killed in battle at Bosworth field, thus ending the Wars of the Roses.

Marie Antoinette
Game of Thrones Counterpart: Sansa Stark
Born the fifteenth child of the Holy Roman Emperor and Empress, Marie Antoinette was raised in a casual court, where she was allowed to play with non-royal children. Her family negotiated her marriage to the Dauphin of France, and she arrived in France a few months before her wedding. Antonia Fraser’s “Marie Antoinette: The Journey” explains that the young woman who would be queen experienced some culture shock at French court. Though she was no stranger to privilege, she was not used to the frivolity of the French. She eventually embraced the culture of excess in order to compensate for her loveless (and for seven years, sexless) marriage.
Won or Died? Seen as an example of all things wrong with the French monarchy, Marie Antoinette was famously beheaded during the French Revolution.

Here’s some happy news: With the Dow up about 20 percent since October, and the unemployment rate down, the economy is slowly climbing out of its doldrums. Even so, many of us aren’t ready to resurrect our big spending ways. We’re being more mindful of money than we’ve been in the past. How can we use money more consciously as a tool to build a happy life for ourselves and the people we care about? That’s a question I explore in my new book, “All the Money in the World: What the Happiest People Know About Getting and Spending.” Contrary to much conventional wisdom, I believe that money can buy happiness, if we spend it right.

One way to buy happiness? Take the time to create an incredible weekend—one you’ll look back on fondly, savoring the memory for weeks to come. Here are seven steps for making that happen, for less money than you might imagine.

Step 1: Choose 3 to 5 activities you enjoy most
I like to keep a running list of all the things I want to do or have in life. Some are grand dreams (like having a private dinner catered in the Louvre) but others are more everyday fonts of joy: going for a long run in a beautiful park; visiting the Philadelphia Museum of Art when it’s open late on Friday nights. Try brainstorming your own list when you’re bored on a conference call. Then choose some of those activities—just three to five—that you could do in the near future. These can be anything you like, but happiness research gives a few guidelines: One study of Texas working women, published in Science in 2004, found that, beyond obviously pleasurable activities like eating and sex, people are happiest when they are socializing, engaging in spiritual activities, and exercising. (Really!) So a great weekend could include at least one activity from each category: dinner with friends, volunteering at a soup kitchen, and a long bike ride in the woods.

Step 2: Consider cheap alternatives
Maybe your dream activities are free, but if not, it’s often possible to do things you love at multiple price points. If you want to get together with friends for a meal, you could host a potluck rather than go to a restaurant. Love to shop? Set up a clothing swap with your friends and “shop” in each other’s closets. If your favorite part of a vacation is the hotel, stay in a fabulous one in your town, spend the whole day in the spa and order room service—but skip the airfare.

Step 3: Plan, plan, plan
Having specific things on your calendar to look forward to massively increases your enjoyment of them by extending the experience, says Cassie Mogilner, a professor of marketing at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, who specializes in happiness research. “The whole time you’re looking forward to it and anticipating it, you’re getting some of the benefits of the experience itself,” she explains. So enjoy working through the logistics of your weekend. Do you need to buy tickets for that Friday night concert? Do you need to find a bar that has karaoke on Saturday at noon? Ironing out all these details takes time, but you’re building anticipation for a fun break—and besides, nothing spoils a great weekend like realizing, in the parking lot, that the restaurant you wanted to visit for Sunday brunch doesn’t open until dinner.

Step 4: Beat the Sunday-night blues
Be sure that something special is on the schedule for Sunday night. Even people who like their jobs occasionally succumb to end-of-weekend malaise. When you’ve got something on your calendar for the Sunday p.m. hours, you’ll spend that afternoon looking forward to the evening, rather than dreading Monday morning. Some low-key Sunday options? Have another family over for a casual dinner, or maybe use this slot for a relaxing long walk or an evening worship service.

Step 5: Off-load the not-fun stuff
Unfortunately, your best weekend ever will still feature some “have-to-dos,” even if it’s just filling the car with gas or stopping by an ATM. Designating a two- to three-hour block of time for these musts will allow you to be present for the fun times without worrying about all the tasks on your list. You can tell yourself there’s a time for those things—and now is not that time.

Step 6: Write down how you’re feeling
Keep notes in a journal during your weekend. What boosted your spirits most? What exactly did that cost? Many times we spend money trying to make ourselves happy. But hitting the mall just because you’re restless or bored is a sure recipe for mindless spending. Setting your sights on the deeper joys your money can buy is a good preventative measure: If you know that spending $50 on treating your sister to lunch and enjoying an afternoon together at the art museum will make you happy, then the next time you’re about to buy a sweater that’s $50 on sale, you’ll ponder whether that’s the best use of cash. Documented evidence of that event—in the form of your journal, photographs, or even your Facebook posts—will remind you precisely what buys happiness (and what does not).

Step 7: Repeat and share
Some experiences are once in a lifetime (like that private dinner in the Louvre). But the good news about this kind of weekend is that you can live through it multiple times. And you should! Creating a special weekend every few months can give you a lot to look forward to. If you really want to multiply the magic, start helping your friends and loved ones plan their best weekends ever. Chances are you’ll be going to a lot of parties—and getting great ideas that you can try out as well.

The book twitterverse is aflutter today with discussion of the New York Times debate around the merits of young adult fiction. Author Joel Stein argues that adults should read books written for adults, and stay away from any book marketed to children and teens, while Lev Grossman offers a defense of the genre, praising its rich storytelling, descriptive clarity and more. “It’s a different experience from reading, for example, literary fiction,” Grossman writes. “Not better or worse, just different.” Five others chime in with their take on the YA explosion, its causes and consequences. Our take: Why not read for yourself and decide? One of these five titles—teen-targeted takes on classic adult narratives—is a great place to start.

“Family,” by Micol Ostow
Think: A novelized “Helter Skelter.”
Micol Ostow’s “Family” is a loose retelling of the Manson family murders through the fresh and impressionable eyes of 17-year-old Melinda. When she flees to San Francisco to escape her sexually abusive stepfather and unsympathetic mother, Melinda quickly falls into the company of Henry, a charismatic musician who seems to be her saving grace, whisking her away to his communal ranch and giving her what she’s never had before—a family. Told in beautiful, arresting verse, “Family” captures readers in Melissa’s hopelessly devoted world—while effortlessly exploring cult dynamics and showing just how far a young girl will go to belong.

“Delirium,” by Lauren Oliver
Think: “Romeo and Juliet” in dystopian Maine.
Forbidden love reaches new heights in Lauren Oliver’s “Delirium,” a story of a world where romance is literally outlawed. The novel follows Lena, a girl just weeks from her eighteenth birthday, and the mandatory surgery that will prevent her from contracting the feared “deliria nervosa”—otherwise known as love. Lena, who lost her mother to the disease as a child, is content with her loveless, “Pleasantville”-esque existence until she meets Alex, her own sandy-haired rebellious Romeo who challenges everything she’s ever known to be true. A fast-paced tale that promises to satiate even the most hopeless romantics, “Delirium” depicts the head-over-heels feelings of first love with an honesty and tenderness that will leave readers with butterflies.

“Trapped,” by Michael Northrop
Think: “The Breakfast Club” set in J.G. Ballard’s “Concrete Jungle.”
Michael Northrop sets this thriller, his second novel, in a rural high school. When six students from wildly different areas of the lunchroom wind up trapped in their school during the worst nor’easter in U.S. history they must get over their differences and learn to work together to have a shot at escape. Scotty Weems, a typical sophomore jock, lets readers know off the bat that his is ultimately no light tale: “I’ll be sort of like your guide through all of this. Some of the others might’ve seen things differently, and some of them might’ve told it better, but you don’t get to pick. You don’t because, for one thing, not all of us made it.” Chilling and captivating, “Trapped” evokes friendship, fear and the powerful desire not only to survive—but to fit in.

“Tighter,” by Adele Griffin
Think: A contemporary “The Turn of The Screw.”
Adele Griffin’s “Tighter” follows Jamie, a pill-popping 17-year-old battling heartbreak and depression after her married teacher ends their illicit affair. To heal her daughter’s mopey spirits, Jamie’s mother finds her a summer job caring for the precocious Isa on the idyllic island of Little Bly. But Jamie’s New England getaway takes a dark turn when she learns that Isa’s last nanny was killed with her boyfriend in a tragic accident. Plagued by unexplained occurrences and visions of the deceased couple, Jamie struggles to get her bearings as the line between fact and fiction and this world and the next becomes undeniably blurred. “Tighter” goes beyond the typical ghost story by mixing in some staples of the young adult genre—heartbreak, terror and the will to move on with truth and grace.

“Beauty Queens,” by Libba Bray
Think: A feminist “Lord of the Flies.”
Libba Bray breaks the mold of the teen beach read with this satirical take on America’s wildly consumerist culture. The Miss Teen Dream pageant hits rough waters when a plane full of contestants crashes on a desert island, leaving the 13 survivors far from their flat irons and completely on their own. At first the girls continue to prep for the pageant and practice their routines under the leadership of the impeccable Miss Texas. But as the days drag on without rescue, the contestants (which include an undercover teen journalist and a transgendered teen in transition) begin to view their prized pageant world with emancipated girl-power eyes. And when they discover that their so-called island is actually the hub of an illegal government weapons trade, they use what they’ve got (e.g. stiletto catapults and jewelry arrowheads) to survive. With her outlandish concept and quick-witted prose, Bray takes steady aim the pageant world—and upends our ideas of traditional femininity.

Chocolate lovers, rejoice! A new study conducted by The University of California, San Diego suggests that eating chocolate could actually help you lose weight. Beatrice Golomb, M.D., Ph.D. and her team surveyed women between the ages of 25 and 80 and found a direct correlation between regular chocolate consumption and lower body mass index (BMI). “The metabolic benefits of chocolate,” Golomb writes in the study, “offset the calories consumed.” Turns out, a number of items formerly pilloried as indulgent, excessive, or just plain unhealthy are back on our healthy-lifestyle radar. From red wine to marijuana, here are seven “bad” things that, in moderation, can be surprisingly good for you.

Chocolate
Not only does chocolate help you lose weight, but it can also fight allergies, supplant vitamin deficiencies, and work as a remedy for over 60 ailments. In “The Chocolate Therapist: A User’s Guide to the Extraordinary Health Benefits of Chocolate,” Julie Pech enumerates chocolate’s advantages, provides a narrative of its rich history and gives readers an in-depth look at how it’s made.

Red wine
Drinking a glass of red wine daily could lead to a longer, healthier life, says author Roger Corder in “The Red Wine Diet.” He reveals how an ingredient present in red wines—a compound called a procyanidin, not to be confused with resveratrol—contributes to the health of blood vessels, and reduces the risk of heart disease, diabetes and dementia. Procyanidin levels vary among wines, of course—the benefits of a south of France Syrah, for instance, far outweigh those of a California Cabernet—and Corder helps readers choose the healthiest.

Fat
Among all those constantly fluctuating dietary suggestions, avoiding fat can seem like the only safe bet. But not all fats are created equal, and in “Good Fats, Bad Fats,” Rosemary Stanton asserts that some fats are not only harmless, but vital to a healthy diet. These include omega-3s, omega-6s and vegetable oils, among others. Of course, there’s a host of fats that any health-minded eater will want to stay far, far away from—Stanton’s guide helps you separate the beneficial kinds from their artery-congesting counterparts.

Salt
There’s been a slew of anti-salt sentiment in recent years, with countless low- and no-sodium cookbooks cramming the shelves of diet literature. But in the James Beard Cookbook Award-winning “Salted: A Manifesto on the World’s Most Essential Mineral, With Recipes,” Mark Bitterman maintains the nutritional importance of the age-old flavor-enhancer. Sodium helps regulate fluid levels and aids muscle contraction, and deficiency of the mineral can lead to diarrhea, vomiting and low blood pressure. Salt also has a fascinating history, reaching back to antiquity, as both a culinary touchstone and a prized currency.

Caffeine
Probably no amount of dire health warnings could have curbed our national caffeine addiction, but coffee drinkers can now pride themselves on java’s surprising health benefits. Recent studies show that drinking coffee can reduce the risk of prostate cancer in men, breast cancer in women and heart attacks in all, and can also activate sex hormones. Robert J. Davis’s “Coffee is Good for You: From Vitamin C and Organic Foods to Low-Carb and Detox Diets, the Truth about Diet and Nutrition Claims” gives readers the straight story on caffeine and more.

Bread
Thanks to low-carb mania and a battery of anti-dough manifestoes, bread—once a kitchen staple—has been vilified (literally, as in the new diet book “Bread Is the Devil”). But in “Bread Matters,” Andrew Whitley says that to dismiss bread as a whole is to miss out on its many nutritious and flavorful variations. By choosing and baking the right kinds of bread—such as yeast- and gluten-free—we can take advantage of its rich grain nutrients and sidestep less palatable effects, such as lethargy and weight gain.

Marijuana
Potheads—as well fed and well rested as they are—aren’t known to be the healthiest bunch. But advocates have championed the drug’s health benefits as grounds for its decriminalization. Cannabis has been shown to relieve migraines, mitigate seizures, slow cancer tumor growth, and even fight the neurological effects of multiple sclerosis. “Understanding Marijuana” by Mitch Earleywine takes a cold-hard-facts look at the benefits and drawbacks of the drug.

According to many critics, the new documentary film “Bully” is a powerful, sad record of what happens when school bullying goes unchecked. Its creators, the people behind The Bully Project, hoped that the film would receive a PG or PG-13 rating in the United States, presumably so that both its message and its profits might be maximized. But the Motion Picture Association of America, led by former senator Chris Dodd, gave the film an R rating, thereby ensuring that most of its target audience will not be able to view the film without being accompanied by a parent or guardian. In response, the Weinstein Company, the film’s distributor, has announced plans to release the film without a rating. All the controversy about the film is shedding an even brighter light on the problem of bullying—with more and more parents, teachers, and teens wanting to understand why kids resort to bullying, and how to stop it.

It’s not just a face-to-face problem.
In former juvenile court judge Thomas A. Jacobs’s opinion, cyberbullying has the potential to be just as damaging as in-person bullying—if not more so. “Teen Cyberbullying Investigated” examines the different ways in which teenagers harass one other via electronic methods—texting, IMing, Facebooking, tweeting, leaving malicious voicemails, sending harmful emails, even creating websites to humiliate or terrify a specific target.

Mean girls can be as aggressive as bad boys.
Girls will be girls—and sometimes that means being terribly cruel. In “Girls Against Girls: Why We Are Mean to Each Other and How We Can Change,” author Bonnie Burton takes on the peculiar art—and science—of girl-on-girl bullying. She discusses studies that may give clues as to why girls engage in certain negative, competitive behaviors, and offers practical wisdom from professional athletes, entertainers and other stars on how to stop bullying, whether the reader is a victim or a perpetrator.

The emotional scars can last for years.
For adults, one of the most distasteful aspects of attending a high school reunion is the prospect of running into a former bully. Turns out many popular authors share this archetypal social nightmare. In “Dear Bully: Seventy Authors Tell Their Stories,” writers from R.L. Stine to Lauren Oliver talk about their childhood tormentors—some of whom, it turns out, inspired some pretty great novels.

Adults can help—if they know the right techniques.
When it comes time to advise a bullied kid, grown-ups often resort to two stale pieces of advice: “Just ignore it” or “Stand up for yourself!” The actual social machinations at play in the bullying relationship can make either option untenable. In “The Bully, the Bullied and the Bystander: From PreSchool to High School—How Parents and Teachers Can Help Break the Cycle,” author Barbara Coloroso offers practical solutions so that adults can help, not hinder, bullied children.

Some bullies never really grow up.
And as for that aforementioned school reunion-related fear, it may actually be pretty rational. According to “Mean Girls Grown Up: Adult Women Who Are Still Queen Bees, Middle Bees, and Afraid-to-Bees,” plenty of bullies never quite lose their taste for inflicting terror on their peers. They just take their nasty hobby to a new setting—the workplace, holiday gatherings, or, worst of all, the home. Author Cheyrl Dellasega, Ph.d has strong advice for women who engage in this kind of aggressive behavior.

Mad Men star January Jones and Alicia Silverstone of Clueless fame have joined the pack of celebrity parents who practice startlingly alternative parenting techniques.

Jones told People.com that she ate vitamin pills made from her own placenta after giving birth to her son, because of its rumored health benefits. “Your placenta gets dehydrated and made into vitamins,” she said. “It’s something I was very hesitant about, but we’re the only mammals who don’t ingest our own placentas.” The practice eases post-partum depression.

In a video posted to her blog, The Kind Life, this morning, Silverstone can be seen pre-chewing her baby’s food and spitting it directly into his mouth. “I fed Bear the mochi and a tiny bit of veggies from the soup,” she writes. “He literally crawls across the room to attack my mouth if I’m eating.” Pre-chewing and mouth-to-mouth feeding isn’t an unheard-of practice, but doctors advise against it, warning germs and infections can spread easily.

Where do eccentric parents get their ideas? These books about offbeat parenting will bewilder you with their practices they reveal, and perhaps have you reconsidering conventional parenting wisdom.

Parenting Globally
In “How Do Eskimos Keep Their Babies Warm,” a first-time mom from Michigan trots the globe to learn how parents raise their children in other cultures and finds that foreign parents could have a lot to teach us. Chinese parents sometimes fully potty-train babies within six months; French parents are far more adept at teaching their children to try all kinds of food; and Argentinian parents see no problem with letting their kids stay up all night.

Going Commando
A baby without a diaper can seem like a disaster waiting to happen, but in “The Diaper-Free Baby,” Christine Gross-Loh suggests ditching the nappy far sooner than conventional wisdom prescribes—even as early as 15 months. According to Gross-Loh, infants do communicate when it’s “time to go”—it’s just a matter of learning to tune into their natural cues. This one may sound like more of a mess than it’s worth, but Gross-Loh points out that going diaper-free can help parents save thousands of dollars and bypass complications like rash and infection.

Attachment Parenting
In recent years, attachment parenting, a philosophy that places importance on building security through emotional sensitivity, has gained traction as well as stirred controversy. In “Beyond the Sling: A Real Life Guide to Raise Confident, Loving Children the Attachment Parenting Way,” Mayim Bialik, star of Blossom and Big Bang Theory, shares her experience of raising two children according to the philosophy. Tenets include: sleeping together as a family, breastfeeding according to the baby’s needs (and not an arbitrary rigid schedule), carrying a baby in a sling instead of a stroller, and disciplining without shouting or time-outs. Though the practice has known drawbacks—the increased strain it puts on parents and the lack of empirical conclusions about its effectiveness—Bialik presents her happy children as proof of its success.

No More “Here Comes the Airplane”
As it turns out, Alicia Silverstone’s bird-like feeding ritual isn’t without expert backing. Gill Rapley’s “Baby-Led Weaning: The Essential Guide to Introducing Solid Foods—and Helping Your Baby to Grow Up a Happy and Confident Eater” challenges the notion that babies must be fed with a spoon and argues that weaning should begin as early as possible. And one of the suggested methods is none other than the Silverstone Way: pre-chewing.