Science often reflects society's concerns, and a number of the top books of 2009 address two of the biggest headline-grabbing topics--climate change and health-care reform. This article presents a list of 35 titles that address climate change and health-care reform. Some titles cover the entirety of the global-warming threat (James Lovelock's "The Vanishing Face of Gaia") while others touch on political and public policy issues (James Hansen's "Storms of My Grandchildren"). Public health discussions run the gamut from a global tour of health systems (T.R. Reid's "The Healing of America") to spiraling costs of medical technology (Daniel Callahan's "Taming the Beloved Beast"). These books are indispensable to the public dialog--and just plain good reads.