Have you ever wondered what your life would be like if you made different decisions in your life? In his book, Dark Matter (Broadway Books), Blake Crouch introduces the reader to Jason Dessen, a college professor who sometimes wonders how his life would have turned out if he continued his scientific research instead of settling down and starting a family. One night, Jason is abducted while walking home and wakes up in an alternate reality. He has been transported into a world where Jason Dessen – single and without a family – continued his research and invented something remarkable. Dessen, when he realizes he’s not in a bad dream, needs to figure out how he can get back to his life and the family that he loves, a feat that is far more difficult than tapping a pair of ruby slippers. Crouch’s page-turning thriller seems far-fetched, but because his details are steeped in science and facts, the dark story takes on an extra eerie feel for readers.

Harper and Tabitha Frost – identical twins with opposite personalities – are the title characters in Elin Hilderbrand’s newest novel, The Identicals (Little, Brown and Company). Harper and Tabitha were inseparable until their parents’ divorce split them up Parent Trap-style. Harper moved with her easy-going, blue-collar father to Martha’s Vineyard, while Tabitha was forced to live with her controlling fashion designer mother in Nantucket. Though just 11 miles apart, over the next several years, the sisters managed to dig a deep chasm between them as they grew up and grew apart – Tabitha followed in her mother’s fashionable and classy footsteps while Harper’s questionable decisions made her an island outcast. Each sister spent years thinking the other had an easier and better life until a series of unfortunate events forces the women to trade lives, and locations, for the summer. Though sibling rivalry is at the heart of Hilderbrand’s story, it’s a solid lesson in compassion and understanding that the grass really isn’t greener on the other side.

If you’re like me and often wonder, “How the heck does that actually work?”, then James Kakalios’s latest book, The Physics of Everyday Things: The Extraordinary Science Behind an Ordinary Day (Crown), is a must-read. Kakalios, who is a physics professor, gives detailed explanations about the technology you encounter in everyday life, from alarm clocks and coffee makers to elevators and copy machines. He answers ultimate questions such as, “Do noise-cancelling headphones actually work?” (yes, and the technology as to how is mind-bending) and “How does my fitness tracker actually know my steps?” (because science and Newton’s second law). The explanations are very technical (you may have to read slowly and re-read some sentences), but understanding how things work is fascinating. And you’ll certainly gain a new appreciation for the basic physics that drive the technology you encounter on a daily basis after reading this one.

Kimberly Dunbar