Just because you vowed never to write another term paper again does not mean you are done learning. This back-to-school season, try picking up a new hobby rather than a new textbook. Some of our well-rounded librarians are here to give you ideas!

Will

I bike and these two slim volumes are all I need.

Just Ride by Grant Petersen
Grant Petersen is a legendary figure in the bike world. He's designed iconic bicycles for Bridgestone and, later, his own company, Rivendell, and is the guiding philosophical/aesthetic light for non-spandex-wearing riders the world over ("unracers" as he describes us). He's kind of a daydream maker.

The Ultimate Bicycle Owner's Manual by Eben Weiss, aka Bike Snob
Eben Weiss is the Louis C.K. to Grant Petersen's Henry David Thoreau, but his commentary is fueled by love. Bike love.

I bird (watch)!

And you should, too. Since you will spend the rest of your life seeing birds, learning to identify them will make you want to follow them, and this will force you to go outside, walk, and plan future days of outdoor walking, adding months, maybe years, to your life.

Birding requires you make a few purchases: good binoculars, good walking shoes, and a good field guide. And there are so many, so just avoid the rabbit hole and get this (for East Coast purposes):

The Sibley Field Guide To Birds Of Eastern North America written and illustrated by David Allen Sibley
(Check it out first to see if you like it. You'll like it.)

Your most necessary online resource for birds comes courtesy of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, whose suite of websites (including basics, species lists, birdsong databases, etc.) will make you smarter and better than you were before.