If your summer reading list has been filled with forgettable paperback fiction, you may be ready for something a little more thought provoking.

The following six books are thoroughly engaging and will leave you thinking long after you finish. They cover a range of important global-development issues and, despite what you might think, are surprisingly absorbing.

Be careful though, reading one of these books could change how you look at the world.

28 Stories of AIDS in Africa
by Stephanie Nolen
Knopf Canada
$34.95
When über AIDS activist Stephen Lewis extols a book as "the best book ever written about AIDS," you have to sit up and take notice. Penned by The Globe and Mail's Africa correspondent, 28 Stories offers powerfully emotive accounts of individuals dealing with the virus that has changed an entire continent. Given the weight of the topic, it's nice to be able to tackle it in satisfying portions you can digest at your own pace.

The Bottom Billion
by Paul Collier
Oxford University Press
$33.95
The author may be an economics professor at Oxford, but this book is no dry academic tome. In surprisingly accessible language, Collier points out that while poverty is decreasing around the world, there are one billion people living in ever-worsening conditions. Aside from identifying problems with the traditional approaches to alleviating poverty, the author suggests compelling new strategies that G8 nations must adopt to bring about real change.

The End Of Poverty
by Jeffrey Sachs
Penguin
$19.00
Sachs is considered one of the brightest minds in pioneering solutions to global poverty. Director of Columbia University's Earth Institute, his book offers sound research and analysis combined with real stories taken from stints advising countries such as Bolivia, India and China. The End of Poverty proposes solutions to lift developing countries out of the quagmire of poverty. This book is a refreshing challenge to develop constructive opinions for ending global poverty.

The Fate of Africa
by Martin Meredith
Public Affairs
$26.50
A respected journalist based in Africa, Meredith has written a book that captures both the incredible hope felt at the dawn of post-colonial Africa and the crushing desecration of that hope, often at the hands of corrupt national leaders. This book traces the tragic stories of many African countries over the last half century and will leave you stunned at the resilience of the African people. Be ready for heavy content, Meredith doesn't shirk from the truth, no matter how unsavoury.

A Long Way Gone
by Ishmael Beah
Douglas & McIntyre
$26.95
In a riveting first-person account, Beah tells the story of how he became a child soldier. At the age of 13, he was captured and forced to endure three years as an AK-47-toting, cocaine-sniffing adolescent soldier in Sierra Leone. Beah is a gifted writer and beyond the shock of his tale lies an ultimately uplifting story of rehabilitation, healing and redemption.

Race Against Time
by Stephen Lewis
Anansi Press
$18.95
A former UN special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, Lewis spent the last four years traveling the continent, spending time with brave people who are fighting but mostly losing the battle with AIDS. Lewis refuses to give up on these people and his writing is emotive, stirring and angry. He does not shy away from pointing the finger at guilty parties for not doing their part in the fight against this devastating disease.