In a modest office overlooking the Charles River, Joshua Bennett is thinking about all 50 states at once. The MIT literature professor has spent months crafting a book-length poem that celebrates a remarkable person or invention from each corner of the country — a quietly radical act of attention in an era of division. His book, "We (the People of the United States)," arrived in January to mark the 250th anniversary of the nation's founding, weaving together the extraordinary ordinary of American life into a single, luminous work.
Bennett is one of more than a dozen MIT faculty and staff authors whose books fill the institute's newly released Summer 2026 reading list, a tradition that has become a kind of intellectual picnic for the Cambridge community. This year's selection moves from poetry to paleontology-adjacent science, offering something for every curious mind.
For those drawn to the natural world, Lorna J. Gibson's "Birds Up Close: An Engineer Explores Their Hidden Wonders" opens a window into flight itself. A lifelong birder and professor of materials science, Gibson dissects the microscopic structures that keep sparrows aloft and woodpeckers safely drilling their holes. Her up-close look at avian mysteries is designed for both the expert ornithologist and the curious observer — no expertise required, just wonder.
Meanwhile, Felice Frankel, a research scientist in chemical engineering, invites readers to literally become the scientist. Her book "Phenomenal Moments: Revealing the Hidden Science Around Us" uses vivid fine-art photography to reveal the chemical, natural, and physical processes hiding in plain sight — viscosity, venation, chlorophyll, capillary action. The world, Frankel suggests, is already performing miracles; we just need eyes to see them.
On the climate front, Howard J. Herzog and Niall Mac Dowell's "Carbon Renewal" offers a measured, hopeful exploration of carbon dioxide removal. The MIT Energy Initiative researchers map the technological pathways that could help humanity reach net-zero — from enhancing natural sinks to engineered removal methods — while honestly grappling with the barriers and ethical questions ahead.
And for younger readers or anyone craving adventure, Scott Austin Tirrell's "Jezelle: Thief of Forks" tells the story of a girl raised by the streets of Grafton Notch who discovers strange magic within her. It's a reminder that MIT's community extends beyond labs and lecture halls into the full range of human imagination.
The complete list spans 2025 back through 2021, inviting readers to browse years of literary and scientific output from one of the world's most creative campuses. The common thread? Each book begins with a question, follows it with rigor, and ends — hopefully — with more wonder than it started.