Usually, we hear what book Lewis is working on next, but this one — about the lack of preparation by the Trump administration for assuming power — seemingly came out of nowhere. We first learned what the poet laureate of Wall Street was working on when this book was excerpted by The Guardian in September. It reads like a hurricane, and I expect to devour it over holiday vacation.

No. 4. “Valley of Genius: The Uncensored History of Silicon Valley (As Told by the Hackers, Founders, and Freaks Who Made It Boom),” by Adam Fisher.

We take for granted the growth engines that are technological innovations generally and Silicon Valley specifically. But the current turmoil shaking big tech (as foreshadowed by Scott Galloway in “The Four”) is confusing without context. Fisher’s deeply researched history of the past 60 years of technology provides that framework.

No. 5. “The Gulf: The Making of An American Sea,” by Jack E. Davis.

The winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for History, this is a timely look at the “political and economic relationship with the environment from the age of the conquistadors to the present.” The Gulf of Mexico’s ecosystems helped to drive U.S. growth, and this book promises to explain just that. Edward O. Wilson called this “a unique and illuminating history of the American Southern coast and sea as it should be written.” Shorter version: The Gulf of Mexico has not fared especially well in the age of petrochemicals.

No. 6. “The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World,” by Simon Winchester.

Of all the things that drove the industrial revolution and the modern era, I never considered “precision” a crucial component. That oversight is corrected in this book. The author makes the case that manufacturing, technology, even the Digital Age wouldn’t have been possible without a level of precision previously unimaginable. I am intrigued by what some have called a gimmick — each chapter is succeeded by the next in increasing degrees of precision.

No. 7. “Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America,” by Beth Macy.

Most of what I know about America’s opioid crisis is via a “60 Minutes” episode. I hope this book will change that. It looks at regulatory capture by the pharmaceutical industry and regulatory failure by three U.S. administrations. “Dopesick” points out that opioid drug abuse may be the only thing that all Americans across geographic and class lines have in common.

No. 8. “Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams,” by Matthew Walker.