The Signal and the Noise By Nate Silver (Penguin, $27.95)

The political forecaster’s ambitious new book is a practical handbook
and a philosophical manifesto in one.

God Like Us: On Movie Stardom and Modern Fame
By Ty Burr (Pantheon, $28.95)

Burr examines fame in and out of Hollywood.

The Life of Objects By Susanna Moore (Knopf, $25)

The Nazi Germany tale has a mysterious narrator at its center.