Bookseller Jonah Zimiles recommends a business-minded book that can teach readers to be better at predicting the future.

Robert Stephens is a creative guy. He founded the tech support company Geek Squad while still in college, and he hasn't stopped expanding and innovating since. When it comes to reading and learning, Stephens is just as driven. He told Kerri Miller that when he starts to learn about a topic - whether it's the pyramids or Moby Dick - it's hard for him to stop. He wants to be able to see where characters and historical figures lived and worked, and how they tell their stories. The book he chose was Walter Isaacson's 'Benjamin Franklin: An American Life,' because he found himself fascinated by Franklin's entrepreneurial spirit.

You may not recognize Bobak Ferdowsi's name, but you probably recognize his hair. He was the mohawked scientist who helped land the Curiosity rover on Mars in 2012. And when he's not working his day job at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, he's reading science fiction. One of his favorite books is Arthur C. Clarke's sci-fi masterpiece, 'Rendezvous with Rama,' which Bobak says inspires him to think about what might exist out in the university for us to discover.

Scott Frank has been writing movie scripts for decades, including big titles like Minority Report and Marley and Me. But when he sat down to write his first novel, he suddenly felt like a beginner - having to relearn how to write dialogue and set scenes to make it work on the page instead of the screen. He told Kerri Miller that the detective novel 'Red Harvest,' by Dashiell Hammett, taught him more about writing than any other book.

Activist and writer Kevin Powell has spent a lot of time examining his own life. His new memoir, 'The Education of Kevin Powell,' explores his childhood with the single mother who raised him and talks about what it means to be a man in today's society. But Kevin wasn't always so self-aware. In fact, he told Kerri Miller that it took the writing of strong, feminist women, specifically Zora Neale Hurston's book, "Their Eyes Were Watching God," to teach him how to be a man.

Public Radio veteran Luke Burbank is the first to admit he isn't a big reader. But if you meet him at a party - cocktail in hand - you might hear a different, slightly less true, story. The author Luke chose to talk with Kerri Miller about - Hunter S. Thompson - also knew that a little exaggeration can go a long way. Luke spoke with Kerri about 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,' and why he's embarking on a 'radical honesty' campaign.

Lea Thau knows how to get people to share their secrets. She created The Moth Radio Hour and Podcast and she currently hosts the podcast 'Strangers,' where she excels at having deeply personal conversations about everything from infidelity to organ donation. But her biggest challenge may have come in trying to be honest and open with herself. She spoke with Kerri Miller about Larissa MacFarquhar's book, 'Strangers Drowning,' and how hard it can be to allow ourselves to explore altruism and self-scrutiny.

Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen knows what it's like to be invisible in a crowded room. His family came to America as refugees from Vietnam and his work - including his novel, The Sympathizer - explores the way immigrants are often ignored in this country in daily life, only to find themselves subjected to intense scrutiny in moments of crisis. He spoke with Kerri Miller about Ralph Ellison's novel, Invisible Man, a book he said inspired him to become the writer he is today.

Author and television host Steven Johnson is an incredible original thinker, who is capable of connecting dots in ways most of us could never imagine. But when he sat down with Kerri Miller, he had a bit of a confession. Johnson has only recently discovered that he owes Michael Pollan's best-selling book, 'The Botany of Desire,' a great debt for shaping him into the writer he is today.

Aparna Nancherla has made a career out of telling jokes on stage and writing for comedians like Seth Meyers. But when it comes to literature, Aparna says her taste run toward the serious. She spoke with Kerri Miller about Hanya Yanagihara's novel, "A Little Life," and the fact that spending all day crafting witty one liners leaves her looking for escape in the kind of literature that many other readers view as hard work.