--- description: These are the books President Obama packed to bring with him on his family vacation to Martha's Vineyard. title: Here's What President Obama Is Reading This Summer image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaaa4d3b4b5b1675a/69885f1fe53aba53514df10e/obama-smiling.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [White House](/tag/white-house/) ## White House Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Here's What President Obama Is Reading This Summer  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 13, 2015 5:03 PM CUT  President Barack Obama holds a joint news conference with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in Washington in June 2015. President Barack Obama holds a joint news conference with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in Washington in June 2015.Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 13, 2015 5:03 PM CUT Even the leader of the free world gets a break to do some summer reading. [According to ABC News](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-obamas-summer-reading-list/story?id=33062449 "undefined"), these are the books President Obama packed for his family vacation to Martha’s Vineyard: [_All That Is_](http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/160043/all-that-is-by-james-salter/ "undefined") _–_ James Salter This 2013 novel by one of the most critically acclaimed modern American authors follows the life of a young man, beginning with his work as a naval officer in World War II through his later work as a book editor in New York, detailing his friendships and romances along the way. [_All The Light We Cannot See_](http://books.simonandschuster.com/All-the-Light-We-Cannot-See/Anthony-Doerr/9781476746586 "undefined") _–_ Anthony Doerr This novel won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and it intertwines the stories of a young blind girl in Paris and an orphan boy in Germany as they grow up around the time of World War II. [_The Sixth Extinction_](https://www.oysterbooks.com/book/TPW7JAHZFDhfLDEnp9y37P/the-sixth-extinction "undefined") _–_ Elizabeth Kolbert This 2014 nonfiction book explores previous mass extinctions on Earth and makes the case that humans and other organisms are in the midst of the sixth extinction. [_The Lowland_](https://www.oysterbooks.com/book/RPYknD24TsyddkBh5Unsfb/the-lowland "undefined") _–_ Jhumpa Lahiri This 2013 novel follows two brothers growing up in Calcutta in the 1950s and 1960s, tracing each of their lives as one moves to the U.S. and the other stays behind. [_Between The World and Me_](http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/220290/between-the-world-and-me-by-ta-nehisi-coates/ "undefined") _–_ Ta-Nehisi Coates This 2015 book is written as a letter to the author’s son, exploring race and what it means to be black in the U.S. Coates often draws comparisons to James Baldwin. [_Washington: A Life_ ](http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/297691/washington-by-ron-chernow/ "undefined")_–_ Ron Chernow This book from 2010 is a biography of George Washington and won a Pulitzer Prize in 2011. ### See Photos of Barack Obama in College  Chance Encounter In 1980, when Obama was a freshman at Occidental College in Los Angeles, he was approached by an aspiring photographer named Lisa Jack, who asked him if he would be willing to pose for some black and white photographs that she could use in her portfolio. Lisa Jack  Handsome Of her first meeting (in a campus eatery) with Obama, Jack remembers only that "He was really cute. But what else does a 20-year-old girl remember?" Lisa Jack  Styled In the photos, Jack says, "You can see he is just posing, initially, but as the shoot goes on, he starts to come out. He was very charismatic even then." Lisa Jack  Prop Jack never realized her dream of becoming a photographer and is now a psychologist. Lisa Jack  Pose Jack and Obama would see each other only a few more times while students. But in 2005, while on a tour, she spotted Obama on Capitol Hill and yelled hello. "He knew exactly who I was after all this time," Jack says. "I was amazed." Lisa Jack  Doubt On a dare from a skeptical friend, Jack decided to track down her negatives from the shoot. Lisa Jack  Searcher Initially, before she dug the film out from her basement, Jack never thought her pictures would have much life beyond her own darkroom. Lisa Jack  Smile When she found them, the images of Obama "blew me away," she says. "I had no idea I'd taken a whole roll of film." Lisa Jack  Charm For a while, Jack put the negatives in a safety-deposit box, so that they could not be used until after the election, when there would be no chance they could be used for a political purpose.  Thoughtful Today, Jack says, she hopes the photos reveal a "spirit of fun and thoughtfulness." Lisa Jack  The Man Who Would Be President "I'm not political," Jack says, "(But) these are historic photos and they should be shared." Lisa Jack _Read next:_ [_35 Books Everyone Should Read in Their Lifetime_](http://time.com/3967783/lifetime-book-list/?iid=time%5Freadnext "undefined") [_Download TIME’s mobile app for iOS to have your world explained wherever you go_](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/time-mobile/id328218429 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3996531/barack-obama-summer-reading/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3996531/barack-obama-summer-reading/"},"headline":"Here's What President Obama Is Reading This Summer","datePublished":"2015-08-13T17:03:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:02:03.210Z","description":"From Pulitzer-winning fiction to a biography of George Washington","url":"https://time.com/3996531/barack-obama-summer-reading/","keywords":["White House","Barack Obama","Books","The White House"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaaa4d3b4b5b1675a/69885f1fe53aba53514df10e/obama-smiling.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaaa4d3b4b5b1675a/69885f1fe53aba53514df10e/obama-smiling.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Obama","caption":"President Obama","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3996531/barack-obama-summer-reading/","name":"Here's What President Obama Is Reading This Summer"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Bestselling Authors Recommend Summer Books","description":"TIME.com invites authors Gary Shteyngart, Alan Furst, Kate Moses, Teddy Wayne and Elif Batuman to share their summer reads","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/yKuidEwR/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2010-07-03T03:15:32.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/yKuidEwR.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3996531/barack-obama-summer-reading/","duration":"PT6M54S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3996531/barack-obama-summer-reading/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```