With the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, and the most troops overseas since Richard Nixon's presidency, President-elect Barack Obama will certainly have his work cut out for him. But at least Obama is a reader (and a writer), and there is no better antidote to the stress of the present than an hour or so lost in a good book. This article presents this year's selection of great reads--for President Obama as well as for everybody--which was created to help everybody better understand the past, the present, the brave new future.