"Why Is the World Enchanted by K-Culture?" (written by Kim Dong-wan and Lee Seo, Cloud Nine) — K-culture's global success is often attributed to sharp production instincts, polished visuals and powerful performances, yet those explanations alone struggle to account for the deep emotional pull the phenomenon exerts on audiences worldwide. The authors, who have long researched the I Ching and the Korean fortune-telling system known as saju, trace K-culture's appeal to indigenous Korean spiritual traditions — shamanism, the I Ching, han and sinmyeong. They argue that sensibilities such as han (a collective sorrow) and sinmyeong (an ecstatic vitality), accumulated over centuries within Korean culture, are being translated into entirely new forms through contemporary genres and technology. Ghosts and the afterlife become narrative and cinema — as in the drama series "Guardian: The Lonely and Great God" and the film Exhuma — while the body language and rhythms of the shamanistic gut ritual are becoming a new vocabulary for performance. K-pop concerts in particular, the authors contend, closely resemble a shaman's gut ceremony: just as a shaman dons ritual garments and draws out the pain of the crowd through music, dance, rhythm and incantation to help them find a way forward, K-pop singers take the stage in elaborate costumes and use music and choreography to draw audiences into a state of intense collective immersion. "Joseon History You Won't Believe" (written by Noh Si-hun, Eomunhaksa) — The Joseon dynasty tends to conjure images of rigid Confucian hierarchy: the subordination of women, the strict social order of scholar-farmer-artisan-merchant, absolute royal authority and bitter factional strife. In fact, the reality was far more surprising. The author, who has spent more than a decade conducting historical and cultural field research, has decided to share with the public the notes he kept each time he stumbled upon a remarkable historical discovery. The book is packed with stories that shatter common assumptions about the era. The royal court placed great rhetorical weight on the principle that the throne must pass to the legitimate firstborn son — yet of Joseon's 27 kings, only seven actually were legitimate firstborns, meaning just one in four rulers lived up to the dynasty's own stated ideal. Changdeokgung Palace, meanwhile, owes its distinctive character less to royal decree than to an architect named Bak Ja-cheong, who poured his artistic soul into the project even at the risk of disciplinary punishment. The book also reveals that Joseon had maternity leave and parental leave systems in place some 600 years ago — a welfare regime remarkably ahead of its time. Each encounter with the figures and episodes the author recounts in his characteristically lively style serves as a reminder that preconceptions have no place in the study of history. "Sick People in a Sick World" (written by Joanna Cheek, translated by Je Hyo-young, Simsim) — The world is an unforgiving place. Daily life has long been commandeered by an endless tide of demands, and any attempt to catch one's breath is quickly undone by a news cycle that only deepens an already anxious mind. The growing number of people seeking psychiatric help today may simply be the natural consequence of a disordered and broken world. The author, a Canadian psychiatrist and psychotherapist, argues that individual mental illness and the problems of the broader community are inextricably linked. The discomfort, despair, anger and fear we feel, she writes, are like fire alarms going off because the world is burning. Drawing on her own experience living with panic disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder, as well as the shame she internalized as a member of the LGBTQ community, she traces the social roots of mental health struggles. At the same time, she insists that because mental illness is never purely a personal matter, healing must be pursued together with the community. "Healing comes only when we build a better world by doing things that help address the problems making the world sick," she writes.