John Ringling

Art of the Deal by Donald J. Trump with Tony Schwartz

This 1987 “autobiographical” account of President Trump’s business prowess is filled with hyperbole, salesmanship and showmanship—qualities Ringling employed (although instead of insisting on more sequins, Ringling might want to switch to gold).

Marie Selby

The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan

Philanthropist and gardener Selby, who donated her Sarasota bayfront property to create The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, would have appreciated Pollan’s 2001 book, since he poses a radical idea: Plants may be using us as much as we
use them.

Emma E. Booker

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Influential Sarasota Black educator Booker (three Sarasota County schools are named after her) would smile while reading the 2022 satirical novel about a brilliant female chemist in the 1960s who was dismissed by men and locked out of the lab, only to begin teaching other women chemistry through a wildly popular cooking show.

Leonard Reid

The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

Black civic leader Reid, who arrived in Sarasota around 1900, might have thought, “Finally!” after reading Wilkerson’s 2010 book, which chronicles the Great Migration, when more than 6 million Black Americans moved from the southern U.S. to the North and West between 1915 and 1970.

Paul Rudolph

Billionaires’ Row by Katherine Clarke

Modernist architect and Sarasota School of Architecture pioneer Rudolph would likely think of Sarasota in Clarke’s 2023 nonfiction book detailing the ambition, profit motive and wealth accumulation behind New York City’s ultra-luxury skyscrapers.

Eugenie Clark

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby van Pelt

Marine biologist, “Shark Lady” and Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium founder Clark never liked the film Jaws for portraying sharks as man-eating machines, so maybe she would have enjoyed this 2022 novel about a widowed woman’s friendship with a clever Pacific octopus in a public aquarium.