• Apple now allows you to personalize your AirPods case with an engraved emoji.
• But you can only choose from a selection of 31 emojis, which include several animals among other popular symbols like a fist bump, a heart, and a robot.
• Apple has offered the ability to add a text engraving to your AirPods case for a while, but the option to do so with emoji appears to be new.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. 

Apple's AirPods only come in one color, but the company does offer another way to personalize your wireless earbuds — by adding an engraving to their charging case.

Now, Apple is expanding this customization option with the ability to engrave an emoji into the case, as blogs such as 9to5Mac and MacRumors first noticed. Previously, Apple only allowed text inscriptions. 

However, there are a limited number of emojis available to choose from. Options include the standard smiley face, thumbs up, fist bump, heart, and animals such as the unicorn, cat, dog, and bear among other symbols. Like the text engravings, the emoji options are available for free across all of Apple's AirPods offerings, including the $250 AirPods Pro, $160 AirPods, and $200 AirPods with the wireless charging case.

AirPods have been hugely successful for Apple since the product debuted in 2016. The product has boosted the company's growth in the wearables industry, helping to offset declining iPhone revenue. As they've grown in popularity, accessory makers have released dozens of different types of cases, covers, and other add-ons for Apple's cord-free earbuds. Some retailers like Nordstrom, for example, have even started selling straps to prevent you from losing a single AirPod — which Apple charges $69 to replace for a standard AirPod and $89 for the Pro.

If you're purchasing a pair of AirPods and want to add an emoji to the charging case, here's how to do it:

SEE ALSO: I swapped out the newest Apple Watch for a cheaper model that's more than 2 years old — and there's only one thing I missed about it

Navigate to the AirPods product page on Apple's website.

From Apple's product page, choose the model you want to purchase. 

Then press the "Personalize it for free" option.

You'll see this button just above the "Add to bag" option on Apple's website. 

Choose the emoji you want to add to your AirPods case and hit "Save."

There are 31 different emojis to choose from (yes, even including the poop emoji).

• Former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn is believed to be residing in a blush Beirut mansion. A Nissan internal investigation found that Ghosn purchased and renovated the property for $15 million using misappropriated company funds.
• On Monday, Ghosn reportedly fled to Beirut from Japan, where he was awaiting trial on charges of financial misconduct.
• The residence is located in Achrafieh, one of Beirut's oldest and most expensive districts.
• Achrafieh is a predominantly Christian district with a buzzy art scene, shopping mall, and varied dining options that make it a popular tourist destination.
• Follow Business Insider's full coverage of Carlos Ghosn here.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

On Monday, former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn reportedly escaped to Lebanon from Japan, where he was awaiting trial on charges of financial misconduct.

Ghosn, who grew up in Beirut, has citizenship in three countries: Lebanon, Brazil, and France, and was permitted to carry a spare French passport while out on bail in Japan, Al Jazeera reported. The passport was locked in a case, and Ghosn's lawyers are in possession of the key, Al Jazeera added, noting that foreigners in Japan are required to carry identification.

Theories about how Ghosn made his escape include hiring private security operatives and fleeing in a musical instrument case. On January 2, Interpol issued a notice for his arrest.

Ghosn is now reportedly residing in the wealthy, tourist-favored Beirut district of Achrafieh in a blush-colored mansion that he purchased and renovated for $15 million using misappropriated Nissan corporate funds. Here's a closer look at the affluent district:

SEE ALSO: Here are all the bizarre theories surrounding Carlos Ghosn's international bail-jumping escapade

NOW READ: Carlos Ghosn reportedly fled prosecution in Japan by hiding in a box on a private jet. Meet Nissan's disgraced former chairman, who was charged in 2018 with underreporting his compensation.

Achrafieh is a residential and commercial district located in eastern Beirut, the capital city of Lebanon.

Source:Google Maps

On Monday, former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn reportedly fled to a residence in Achrafieh from Japan, where he was facing trial on charges of financial misconduct.

Ghosn joined Nissan in 1999 as COO and became CEO in 2001, serving in that post until he resigned in January 2019. In 2018, Japanese prosecutors alleged that Ghosn had underreported his compensation of 10 million yen ($92.6 million USD) earned between 2010 and 2015 by about half.

A Nissan internal investigation also uncovered evidence that Ghosn was misappropriating Nissan funds for personal purposes. He was arrested by authorities in Tokyo on November 19, 2018, on charges of financial misconduct and spent 129 days in the Tokyo Detention House before being released on bail.

Source:Business Insider; Business Insider; Reuters; Reuters

Ghosn purchased and renovated the Achrafieh residence, a blush mansion with robin's-egg blue windows, for $15 million using misappropriated Nissan corporate funds, a Nissan internal investigation found.

Ghosn purchased the Beirut residence in 2012 for $8.75 million through a Nissan subsidiary company and invested $6 million in renovations, the New York Times reported. Through Nissan, he also reportedly purchased properties in Amsterdam, Tokyo, Paris, New York, and Rio de Janeiro.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the house, which Ghosn bought with his second wife, is adorned with his portraits and antiquities. "Two ancient sarcophagi, unearthed during the remodeling, were visible through a glass floor leading to a wine cellar,"  Sean McLain, Phred Dvorak, Sam Schechner, and Patricia Kowsmann wrote for the Journal.

Source:New York Times; Wall Street Journal; Bloomberg

Achrafieh is a Christian enclave and one of Beirut's oldest districts, known for its winding, tree-lined streets.

Source:Property Finder; Lebanese Arabic Institute; Living Lebanon

It features a mix of new builds and historic French and Ottoman properties ...

Source:Property Finder; Living Lebanon

... and is one of the city's most expensive districts to live in. Apartments in the district sell for as much as $8 million, according to Property Finder, a real-estate website for select countries in the Middle East and Africa.

One of the district's newest luxury residential complexes, Abdel Wahab 618, has a swimming pool and health club. 

Source:Property Finder; Global Property Guide

A handful of luxury boutique hotels and rental apartments catering to tourists grace the district as well.

Short-term rental options include a Sofitel hotel and hilltop terrace apartment.

Source:Hotels Beirut

Achrafieh is primarily known as an artistic hub, filled with galleries, colorful outdoor murals ...

Source:Property Finder; Living Lebanon

... and painted stairs.

Source: Achrafieh Stairs

Among Beirut cultural institutions, Achrafieh's Sursock Museum is a crown jewel. Housed in an early 20th-century aristocratic mansion, its collection features modern and contemporary works predominantly by Lebanese artists.

Source:The Guardian; Sursock Museum

As far as central spots go, the 200-store ABC Mall is a top location for shopping and socializing. Its stores include major international brands such as Dior and Lego as well as a movie theater and restaurants.

Source:Property Finder; ABC Mall

Dining brings locals and visitors together. Achrafieh has everything from casual cafes and sandwich shops to upscale restaurants serving local and international cuisine.

Source:Zomato

By night, the place to be is Monot Street. Regarded as one of Beirut's best nightlife scenes, the one-way, cobblestone street is lined with trendy bars and clubs.

Source:My Guide Beirut;Beirut

While tourism in Lebanon has been on the rise, the US Department of State has issued a Level 3 "reconsider travel" advisory.

Lebanon received a record two million visitors in 2018, CNN Travel's Stephanie d'Arc Taylor reported. Taylor attributed this surge in tourism in part to the country's natural beauty as well as Beirut's nightlife and "quirky museums."

However, the US Department of State recommends that visitors exercise caution when considering travel to the country. Read their full Lebanon travel advisory, last updated on October 21, 2019, here.

Source:CNN Travel; U.S. Department of State

• Whether you're a newbie in the kitchen, looking to expand your repertoire of cooking techniques, or just desirous of more recipe options, a good cookbook that spells out the steps involved in preparing the dish is a must-have.
• There are a lot of books geared toward new cooks, but our favorite is "How to Cook Everything: The Basics" by Mark Bittman.

There are some cooks — my mother is one of them — who don't need a cookbook to come up with a delicious recipe because they have the talent and skill to create their own. And then there are cooks like me: easily able to follow a recipe in a cookbook and turn out tasty results, but not so good at thinking up new recipe ideas on my own.

As a result, I own a lot of cookbooks, and when it comes to those books, my preference is the simpler, the better. I don't want to spend too much time figuring out complicated techniques, hunting down exotic ingredients, or hovering over the stove. If you share that kitchen philosophy, you'll enjoy the following five cookbooks, all of which make it easy to turn out delicious results even if you don't possess the skills of a contestant on "Top Chef."

Here are the best cookbooks for beginners:

• Best cookbook for beginners overall: "How to Cook Everything: The Basics"
• Best cookbook for a Mediterranean diet: "The Complete Mediterranean Cookbook"
• Best cookbook for quick meals: "Cooking Light Fresh Food Fast"
• Best for vegetarians: "The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook"
• Best one-pot cookbook: "One Pot: 120+ Easy Meals"

Updated on 1/3/2020 by Jen Gushue: Updated pricing, links, and formatting.

The best overall

You'll learn everything you need to know in the kitchen from "How to Cook Everything: The Basics" including kitchen equipment, basic to advanced techniques, how to design a complete meal, and plenty of tasty recipes.

Wondering what must-have equipment you need for your kitchen? Want to learn how to peel, trim, or dice? Not sure how to poach an egg, roast a chicken, or tell if the meat is done? With "How to Cook Everything: The Basics" you'll learn all of the above, along with much, much more.

Reading this nearly 500-page hardback cookbook by acclaimed food journalist Mark Bittman is like taking a class with a helpful cooking instructor. It's filled with photographs that clearly illustrate basic techniques; detailed notes telling you what to do and look for while cooking; helpful tips on how to buy, store, and cook food groups such as grains, seafood, and vegetables; and of course, 185 recipes for everything from side dishes to main courses and desserts.

Publishers Weekly says, "A wonderful book of perfectly simple recipes that every neophyte and experienced cook should have in their kitchen." The Oregonian says, "His five golden rules should be embraced by anyone who spends time in the kitchen."

Pros: Very thorough coverage of basic cooking techniques, photos clearly illustrate cooking techniques, helpful tips on shopping and storing

Cons: A few customers complained that the book's binding didn't hold up well

The best for a Mediterranean diet

"The Complete Mediterranean Cookbook" teaches you all you need to know about this heart-healthy, weight-busting, delicious, and good-for-you style of eating and cooking.

The Mediterranean diet — just named the best diet for 2020 but US News & World Report — is a cooking philosophy, method, and group of recipes that center mostly around plants — whole grains, vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans, and olive oil — with just a little bit of fish or meat to add flavor and protein. The benefits of a Mediterranean diet are well-documented: weight loss, a lowered risk of diabetes and heart disease, stronger bones, better moods, and even reduced risk of cancer.

"The Complete Mediterranean Cookbook" from America's Test Kitchen briefly covers everything you need to know about the Mediterranean diet, including its history and benefits, the staple foods that make up the diet, its particular food pyramid, how to design a well-balanced meal, and pantry basics to keep on hand. It then dives into the heart of the 440-page hardback book (paperback and Kindle versions are also available): 500 recipes with color photos and clear explanations. You'll find chapters on cooking vegetables, grains, soups and salads, seafood and meat, beans, eggs, fruits, and desserts.

Fans of the America's Test Kitchen cooking show on public television (as well as the magazines and books) know the recipes are extensively developed and tested by its team of chefs and food experts, and you'll find that meticulousness in this cookbook. While there are many fad diets you can follow, the Mediterranean diet is one that's recommended by many nutritionists and health experts.

The "dishes can easily be integrated into readers' existing menus," Publishers Weekly says, like the "Moroccan-style chicken and lentil soup, tagliatelle with artichokes and Parmesan, and garlicky roasted shrimp with parsley and anise." 

Pros: A thorough introduction to the Mediterranean diet, plenty of color photos, a wide variety of delicious recipes including some that are vegetarian and gluten-free

Cons: The font in the cookbook may be too small for some, some recipes require harder to find ingredients

The best for quick meals

If you want to cook fresh, delicious food, but don't have much time to spare, you'll love the many fast, easy, and simple recipes in "Cooking Light Fresh Food Fast."

Need dinner on the table in a hurry? Don't want to be bothered with recipes that have a dozen or more ingredients? Prefer dishes that are delicious, yet reasonably easy to make? Then you'll definitely want to add "Fresh Food Fast" from Cooking Light magazine to your cookbook collection. This paperback cookbook has more than 250 recipes — many requiring only five ingredients — that go from cupboard to table in 15 minutes or so, meaning you can prepare a healthy and tasty meal at home faster than you can drive through a fast-food joint.

"Cooking Light Fresh Food Fast" gives clear directions and offers plenty of kitchen shortcuts to help you make the most of your time. Recipes cover all the basics: soups and salads, sandwiches, poultry, meat, and seafood, as well as a full chapter on meatless main dishes. There are color photos of every recipe and suggested substitutions for ingredients that might not be easy to find.

Pros: Reasonably easy and fast recipes, few ingredients required for many recipes

Cons: Some recipes take longer and require more ingredients, many recipes call for precut produce or canned produce or similar "convenience" items

The best for vegetarians

There's no need for meat when you have the nutritious and delicious recipes in "The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook."

Whether you're a new vegetarian, have been living a meat-free lifestyle for decades, or just want to incorporate more meat-free dishes into your diet, it's always nice to have some recipes at hand.

"The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook" from America's Test Kitchen, contains recipes that are clearly explained, delicious, and easy to make. Out of the 700 recipes, 250 are vegan, 500 are gluten-free, and more than 300 take less than 45 minutes from start to serve. Color photos are used to demonstrate cooking techniques, as well as show off the finished dishes.

The beginning of the book covers the basics of cooking vegetarian: equipment you'll need, how to chop and dice vegetables, pantry staples, and even a glossary of veggies both familiar and exotic. Then, you move on to the recipes, which are divided into chapters covering main dishes, soups and stews, pasta, rice and grains, beans, salads, breads, vegetarian side dishes, sandwiches, eggs, and snacks.

The Spruce also picked this cookbook as its favorite for easy vegetarian recipes.

Pros: Huge range of vegetarian and vegan recipes with tips and suggestions for preparation and serving

Cons: Some customers complained that the book's binding didn't hold up well

The best one-pot cookbook

Forget about a kitchen sink loaded with dirty pots and pans; with "One Pot," you'll cook up a meal that leaves only one pot or pan to wash.

Why dirty multiple pots and pans when you only need one? That's the philosophy (and popular cooking trend) behind "One Pot" from Martha Stewart Living. This paperback cookbook has more than 120 recipes that are easy to make, clearly explained, delicious to eat, and healthy. Each chapter focuses on the one pot or pan you'll need for the recipe, including Dutch oven, slow cooker, skillet, roasting pan, pressure cooker, and stockpot.

Many of the recipes provide shortcut and substitution ideas, as well as sides that best complement the dish. Color photos bring the mouthwatering recipes to life and help clarify the preparation process. There's a nice mix of family favorites, such as beef stew with noodles, and more adventurous dishes, like short ribs with potato-carrot mash. You'll also find a complete chapter on desserts — no more store-bought goodies when it's so easy to make your own.

The Kitchn says the book is "simply written and full of great ideas, 'One Pot' gets my vote of confidence for its practicality and creative concept," and many recipes are "well-suited to fall and winter dinners."

Pros: Only one pot or pan to clean, a wide range of recipes that appeal to kids as well as adults, clear instructions and mostly easy-to-find ingredients

Cons: As with any cookbook, some buyers weren't thrilled with all of the recipes

Check out our other guides to getting started in the kitchen

The best meal kits

If you want to cook your own meals but take the guesswork out of your ingredients, check out our guide to the best meal kit services. With the right meal kit, you'll be able to (re)discover your inner chef and save yourself from getting the same takeout meal for the fifth night in a row.

The best kitchen gadgets for eating healthy

Eating healthy can be a challenge, but it doesn't have to be if you have the right kitchen tools to help you prep good meals. From a spiralizer to a pair of herb scissors, we've rounded up a few essentials that everyone should have in their kitchen. These are the best kitchen gadgets for eating healthy.

The best slow cookers

If you'd prefer your comfort foods to be homemade, a slow cooker is the answer for a busy household. This kitchen appliance allows you to combine the ingredients in the morning before work, set the cooking time and temperature, and return home hours later to a great-tasting, fully-completed meal. These are the best slow cookers.

The best healthy pre-made meal delivery services

If you just don't have time or energy to cook your own meals, you might like to try a meal delivery service that sends pre-made meals to your door. These are the best healthy pre-made meal delivery services we tried.

• Furnishing your place is probably the only fun thing about moving. But after paying the security deposit and first month's rent, buying furniture can seem like a nightmare.
• When my fiancé and I were moving into a new apartment, we were looking for inexpensive but durable pieces of furniture that would last a few years and still allow us to eat like normal human beings.
• We didn't want to spend our weekends browsing stores, so we spent our nights browsing Amazon instead and stumbled upon the brand Zinus.
• To date, we've bought a bed frame with a headboard and three tables, and we are so satisfied.

There are two types of furniture — nice investment pieces that start in the high hundreds, or inexpensive throwaway pieces that won't last your next move. When my fiancé and I were moving into a new apartment in New York City a few years ago, we wanted items that were somewhere in the middle. Unsurprisingly, as with everything else we own, we found them on Amazon and they were all from new-to-us brand Zinus.

To date, we have four items from the brand — a king-sized bed frame with headboard, coffee table, media table, and hallway table— and they've all survived two moves. I've written about the bed frame previously for its inexpensive price tag and expensive-looking appearance. After we had the bed frame for a little while and were impressed with the quality and customer service, we decided to see what else Zinus had to offer, which is how we wound up with the three tables.

From what we saw initially, the brand had glowing reviews on Amazon for its mattresses and, of course, the bed frame. Reviews on Consumer Affairs were admittedly pretty awful, but most were also about the brand's mattresses. I've never used its beds before and we weren't in the market for one at the time, but if you're going to buy a product based on reviews (which is why you're reading this, right?), it's fair to say that you might want to look elsewhere for a good night's sleep. I also have to point out that when we were shopping a few years ago, the brand's website was not as well-designed and modern as it is now. In fact, I don't think it even had a website, which is why we relied on reviews so much.

As far as non-bedroom furniture, we were intrigued by the Modern Studio collection for its low-profile styles and neutral dark brown colorway. They had mostly positive reviews with the expected sprinkling of negative experiences. They were also all under $100 and returns were free, so there wasn't anything to lose if the quality was truly awful. The brand also has another line of tables that incorporates lighter-colored wood called Farmhouse; they weren't available when we were shopping.

Read more: This $100 bed frame is one of the best purchases I've made for my apartment — and it only took 15 minutes to assemble

Our tables arrived flat-packed and with all the screws and tools needed to assemble, which brought back IKEA-induced PTSD but were thankfully a lot easier to set up.

Amazon and Zinus don't state how much the tables can hold, but based on how much we load them with, they can probably hold at least 20 pounds each. We have a large decorative mirror that's easily 10 pounds, a felt letter board, books, and miscellaneous items like hats and gloves that we'd otherwise forget to stuff into our jackets on the hallway console. Our media table holds several succulents, photo frames, and a video game console with tons of games, and the coffee table holds more books, board games, and our occasional feet when we're watching Netflix.

In my experience, all the pieces from Zinus have held up nicely despite the low-price tags.

The bed frame is sturdy and the tables haven't bent out of frame or bowed from excessive weight. The pieces don't look cheap either, which surprised us given how inexpensive they are. Overall, I'd recommend this brand to renters who want decent furniture at a reasonable price and don't want live off instant ramen for a month.

Join the conversation about this story »

• The best kitchen scales feature easy-to-read displays, accurate measurements, readings in an array of units, and are easy to clean.
• The Etekcity Digital Kitchen Scale Multifunction Food Scale tops our list because it has all of the above features along with a helpful measuring bowl, a timer, and user-friendly buttons.

A reliable scale is an indispensable kitchen tool. Since recipes call for many different measurements, a kitchen scale should be able to give readouts in ounces, grams, pounds, and kilograms. And, for those following certain diets, accurate kitchen scales are a must for portioning out meals. 

Each of the scales that made our list has a track record for accuracy, reliability, and durability. But, whether a specific model is right for you will depend on how you plan to use it. For instance, if you plan on measuring ingredients for baking, you will want a scale that gives you instant measurement readings. Otherwise, you will get exasperated as you pause for readings while pouring your ingredients onto the scale.

Also, keep in mind that small weighing platforms are not ideal for large mixing bowls or other bigger items. Large items may make it hard to read the display, or the scale might return inaccurate weights due to awkward weight distributions.

We researched a wide range of kitchen scales looking at the experiences and ratings of hundreds of users and several experts. We decided on our top picks based on consistent, reliable performance, accurate measurements, and affordability.

Here are the best kitchen scales you can buy:

• Best kitchen scale overall: Etekcity Digital Kitchen Scale Multifunction Food Scale
• Best kitchen scale for matching your decor: Ozeri Pronto Digital Kitchen Scale
• Best budget kitchen scale: AmazonBasics Digital Kitchen Scale
• Best kitchen scale for heavy things: OXO Good Grips Food Scale
• Best kitchen scale for bakers: MyWeight KD8000 Kitchen Scale

Updated by Caitlin Petreycik on 1/3/2020. Updated prices, links, and formatting. 

The best kitchen scale overall

The Etekcity Digital Kitchen Scale combines reliability and precision with a neat design and an easy-to-clean bowl.

Aside from weighing ingredients up to 11 pounds (5 kilograms) within a tenth of an ounce (or one gram), the Etekcity Digital Kitchen Scale gets the "multifunction" part of its title from its alarm timer and temperature sensor. One of the best features of this scale is the 2.1-liter dishwasher-safe bowl. It's detachable so you can choose to use the Etekcity as a traditional flat scale, too. To store the scale, you just flip over the bowl and place it on top of the base.

The scale uses two AAA batteries, which come with the unit. The Etekcity scale is backed by a one-year warranty as well as lifetime support from the manufacturer. Another great thing about the scale is that it has actual buttons, as opposed to the flat "membrane" buttons commonly found on other models.

Several expert review sites included the Etekcity Digital Kitchen Scale in their lists of the top kitchen scales. BuyTheBest10 likes the scale because of its sleek, sturdy construction that doesn't require an inordinate amount of counter space. Heavy rated the scale highly because it has a built-in timer and includes a surrounding temperature sensor. However, the writer didn't like that the reset beep is so loud. TBPR Reviews found that this scale provided both precise and reliable measurements. The reviewer thought the vivid blue backlit display was easy to read.

Another bonus: when you're baking, you can add ingredients to the bowl, zero-out the weight, and add more ingredients. It's a lot faster than measuring each item individually. We did come across a few customer reviews complaining that the on-off button is a bit sensitive, though. 

Pros: Stainless steel, dishwasher-safe bowl, built-in timer, surrounding temperature sensor

Cons: Sensitive buttons, loud beeping

The best kitchen scale for matching your decor

The Ozeri Pronto Digital Kitchen Scale comes in a variety of colors and provides a great balance of accurate measurement and a sleek design.

The Ozeri Pronto scale measures loads up to 11.24 pounds (5.1 kilograms) within .05 ounces (or 1 gram) of accuracy. It runs on two AAA batteries that come with the unit, and the scale saves on battery life by shutting down after two minutes of inactivity. None of the scale's elements are dishwasher safe, but the chrome finish for the weight platform is easy to wipe down. The scale only weighs twelve ounces and is relatively small at 8.2 by 1.8 by 6 inches.

Of all the scales on our list, the Ozeri Pronto comes in the most colors, including Black, Silver, Red, and Lime Green.

The Wirecutter named the Ozeri Pronto scale as the top budget kitchen scale because of its consistent measurements, lightweight design, and low price. The scale lost points because it automatically turns off after two minutes (a relatively short time), and it's slow to display weights. Consumer Search awarded the Ozeri Pronto the "best cheap kitchen scale" award, adding that it is accurate and can weigh in ounces, pounds, and grams. Lastly, BuyTheBest10 has this Ozeri scale as one of its top picks because of the accuracy, large measuring platform, and durable design. Like our top pick, you can put bowls or small plates on the scale and zero out the weight before you measure out portions. 

Pros: Accurate, small, consistent, comes in seven colors

Cons: Slow measurement, fast auto-off

The best budget kitchen scale

Whether you are a hobby baker or on a diet, you will be hard-pressed to find a scale as accurate as the AmazonBasics Digital Kitchen Scale at this price point.

The AmazonBasics Stainless Steel Digital Kitchen Scale has a 7-inch diameter weighing platform that can measure items up to 11 pound/5 kilograms in weight. Like the other units on this list, this scale measures ounces, pounds, grams, and kilograms. However, it also can measure liquid volume. The device runs on two AAA batteries, which are included.

This was another scale on our list that appears on Heavy's list of the top 20 best kitchen scales. The main benefits of the AmazonBasics kitchen scale are that it seamlessly switches between units of measurement, has a large weighing platform, and features a wide LCD screen. Reviewed.com recommended the scale to dieters and bakers, though the reviewers found the tare button sometimes required a couple tries.

Pros: Large weighing platform, wide screen, fast display

Cons: Inaccurate at extremely low weights, fast auto shut-off

The best kitchen scale for heavy things

If making dinner is more like cooking for an army in your home, the OXO Good Grips Food Scale will make it easier to measure out lots of ingredients.

The standard OXO Good Grips scale has the usual 11-pound/5-kilogram capacity, which it measures with precision to the nearest gram or 1/8 of an ounce. However, you may consider spending the extra $8 or so for the 22-pound capacity version if you do a lot of heavier measuring. This model is also ideal for bigger tasks because of the pull-out display. 

Another benefit of the OXO scale is the large removable stainless steel platform that you can wash by hand. The Good Grips scale does require four AAA batteries, which is twice what all of the other models on this list need.

Many expert sites have reviewed the OXO Good Grips scale. The Wirecutter liked the unique pull-out display of this model, but the reviewers felt that the price didn't justify the perks. Also, they found it was the slowest at reading measurements. Cook's Illustrated and Consumer Search list this scale as their top pick. Top Ten Reviews gave it high marks because of the convenient pull-out display, which the writer said comes in handy when preparing large meals. However, the writer didn't like that weights were presented as fractions.

Some buyers have complained that the scale has trouble registering small loads. Also, since there is a bit of a delay in getting the reading, this scale is not the best for pouring ingredients until you get to the weight you want.

Pros: One of a kind pull-out display, large sturdy design

Cons: Delayed measurement readings, weights are presented as fractions

The best kitchen scale for bakers

The MyWeigh KD8000 Kitchen Scale is the best for serious bakers who work with grams and percentages.

If you like to bake bread at home, you can't do better than the MyWeigh KD8000 Bakers Math Kitchen Scale. It has a high weighing capacity of 17 pounds and 6 ounces, a big easy-to-read screen, and the ability to work with baker's percentages when you need to adjust your recipe. You can also do measurements in grams, which is what many recipes call for.

The scale is sturdy and versatile enough to handle all the ingredients you need for large batches of dough. You can disable the automatic-off setting for the scale so that you can always see the measurement without worrying that it's going to flick off too fast. The large, backlit screen is easy to read, and the controls are simple. You can also turn off the backlight if it annoys you.

The scale runs on three AA batteries, but you can also get an AC adapter to plug it into the wall. It's very easy to clean this scale, and there's a removable plastic cover that protects the screen from dripping ingredients or globs of dough. The scale even comes with a 30-year warranty, so if something goes wrong, you will get a replacement.

Guides editor Malarie Gokey has had this scale for more than a year and can confirm that it's an excellent scale for baking. Once you've graduated to grams and percentages in bread recipes, this is the scale you need. 

Pros: Great for bakers, easy to clean, baker's percentages, readable display, long warranty

Cons: Larger and pricier than others

• Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, was recently spotted shopping at warehouse chain store Costco with wife Priscilla Chan.
• TMZ recently published the photo, which appears to show the married couple looking at TVs, possibly to buy, in December before the winter holidays.
• Costco is known for its low prices and bulk products, making it a curious choice of shopping venues for Zuckerberg, whose net worth has been estimated to be $77.5 billion.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Mark Zuckerberg may be the eight-richest person in the world, but he's just like any other dad: He loves and appreciates a good bargain.

Ahead of the winter holiday season, the Facebook CEO was spotted perusing the aisles of Costco, TMZ reported Friday. The photo appears to show Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan — who have two children, ages 2 and 4 — browsing the selection of TVs on offer at a Mountain View, California Costco. 

TMZ also reports that the couple shopped at Ross Dress for Less, a discount department store, during their shopping trip.

You might not expect to see Zuckerberg at Costco, a warehouse retail chain known for selling products in bulk and at lower prices than other stores. Zuckerberg's net worth currently stands at an estimated $77.5 billion, according to Forbes. And the 35-year-old Facebook founder owns a collection of expensive homes, includinga $22 million estate in California's Lake Tahoe and a $100 million property in Hawaii.

Yet Zuckerberg and Chan have been noted for living frugally in certain aspects of their life. The couple was spotted eating at McDonald's in Rome just days after their secret wedding in May 2012. Zuckerberg's uniform of choice for work is typically a gray t-shirt under a dark hoodie, and a pair of jeans.

Facebook and the Chan-Zuckerberg initiative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

SEE ALSO: You can now buy WeWork exec Miguel McKelvey's luxury townhouse for $21 million — but the erotic, rainbow-print art in the dining room isn't included

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• Jared Kushner, a 38-year-old senior adviser to President Donald Trump, is, on the face of it, an unlikely pick for the man who's recently been ordered to get the US-Mexico border wall back on track.
• After studying at Harvard (where he may have gotten into due to a $2.5 million donation), Kushner made a name for himself as the publisher of the New York Observer, and as a young real estate mogul, purchasing a building on Fifth Avenue for $1.8 billion.
• In 2007, he became even more well known when he married Ivanka Trump.
• In 2016, he helped Trump become president, managing his online campaign. Since Trump's been in office, Kushner has played an important role in a number of areas, although his tenure has been rocky.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Jared Kushner is tougher than he looks.

The 38-year-old is part of Trump's closest circle of White House aides, and an integral part of the Trump family through his marriage to the president's daughter Ivanka.

Kushner's family background in Democratic politics might suggest he's an unlikely figure for a position in the current administration. But just like Trump, he comes from a wealthy and influential New York family that made its money in real estate.

After studying at Harvard and New York University, Kushner made a name for himself as young real estate magnate and a publisher of the New York Observer. He played a crucial role in the ascendancy of his father-in-law, and became a national figure in the process — even if he doesn't speak much.

According to Politico's David Freedlander, "beneath the unflappable golden exterior is someone unafraid to bungee jump or to counterpunch when he feels slighted."

Here's how Kushner rose to the top of American politics.

SEE ALSO: Jared Kushner's business received multimillion-dollar loans from 2 companies whose executives met with him at the White House

DON'T MISS: It's been a brutal day for Jared Kushner

Jared Kushner was born on January 10, 1981, in Livingston, New Jersey, to Seryl and Charles Kushner. Kushner's father was the son of Joseph Kushner, a Jewish Holocaust survivor from Novogrudok, Belarus. He has three siblings, Joshua, Dara, and Nicole.

Sources: New York Magazine, US News, Esquire

Kushner's father Charles is a powerful real-estate developer and major Democratic donor who founded Kushner Companies, a New York real-estate firm, in 1985. He's played an important role in Kushner's life.

Sources: Biography.com, Forbes

For instance, when Kushner was 19, then Vice President Al Gore visited Livingston to give a speech. Charles chose Kushner to introduce him. According to Pat Sebold, who was there, he handled himself impressively for someone so young. It was not the last time Kushner would act older than his age.

Although Kushner had have some normal hobbies— he was on the high school basketball team, liked Billy Joel's music, and participated in quizzes. 

After finishing high school in New Jersey, Kushner attended Harvard University, graduating in 2003 with a degree in government. There were reports that Kushner's father donated $2.5 million to boost his son's chances, but his family denied these claims. They had also donated to Cornell and Princeton.

ProPoblica's Daniel Golden published a book about wealthy people using donations to get their children into elite universities.

He spoke to a former official at Kushner's high school, who told him, "There was no way anybody in the administrative office of the school thought he would on the merits get into Harvard. His GPA did not warrant it, his SAT scores did not warrant it. We thought for sure, there was no way this was going to happen. Then, lo and behold, Jared was accepted."

Sources: ProPublica, Biography.com, The Guardian, Vanity Fair, Esquire

During his time in Harvard, Nitin Saigal, a friend who lived with Kushner, said after class Kushner would disappear for the day. "You'd say, 'Where have you been?' And he'd say he was in Somerville talking to a contractor because the doors on one of his buildings weren't working," Saigal told The New York Times.

According to "Kushner Inc.", an investigative book by Vicky Ward, Charles had a business associate regularly take Kushner out to dinner, and then report back to him to make sure Jared wasn't doing drugs, or dating people who weren't Jewish, The New York Times reported.

In 2005, Charles Kushner was sentenced to a year in prison for 18 counts of tax evasion, illegal campaign contributions, and witness tampering. The most memorable crime was Charles' retaliation against his sister, a government witness. He hired a prostitute for her husband and videotaped the ensuing encounter, then sent it to her.

Sources: US News, Biography.com, The New York Times

Jared, who had already been managing real estate in college, took over his father's duties at Kushner Companies while he was in jail in Montgomery, Alabama. He was a devoted son — he flew to Alabama to visit his father almost every weekend.

Source: The New York Times

Future New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who was then a US attorney, was the one who prosecuted Charles Kushner. Kushner wouldn't forget Christie.

Sources: Biography.com, US News

At the time of his father's arrest, Kushner was interning for New York prosecutor Robert Morgenthau. His father's public trial convinced Jared to abandon his dream of becoming a prosecutor, and he threw himself into the family business.

Sources: US News. Time

But the trial had another effect on Kushner. He saw how the media fed on the scandal. According to The New York Times, he said in an interview, "I quickly learned that there really wasn't much benefit to being out there."

But according to Vanity Fair, the media's coverage did more than just that.

Emily Jane Fox wrote for the magazine, "Charlie Kushner's humiliation appears to have given Kushner perspective. Oftentimes, in the face of bad news or conflict, he remains supernaturally calm and collected. Part of that is because he was hardened by misfortune, even as every blow was softened by the availability of his massive fortune."

In 2006, Kushner purchased the New York Observer for $10 million. He bought the paper, known for its coverage of New York elites, because of the "great brand." But he also said, "I'd be lying if I said it didn't have an impact. When I bought the paper I had no idea the level of power and influence it had."

Source: The New York Times

Peter Kaplan was the editor when Kushner first bought the paper. He tried to show Kushner the ropes and publicly cited the film "Citizen Kane," as an example of his hope for Kushner — that every young man who owned a newspaper should find it fun.

But, according to New York Magazine, in private Kaplan referred to The Count of Monte Christo, a classic tale where the main character uses his wealth to extract revenge against his enemies years after he was wronged, once his enemies were no longer suspecting.

Kaplan was referring to what happened to his father. Kushner's family blamed the media for what happened to Charles.

Despite owning the paper, there were things he didn't understand about the business, Kyle Pope, one of his later editors, told The New York Times.

Pope told The New York Times, "The thing that he never got his head around is that you can write a negative story on someone and still be powerful in those circles. The paper can run a negative story, and it's not going to diminish his power. In fact, it would probably increase his power. He thought you had to write nice stories about people you might run into."

Over the 10 years Kushner was the publisher, the newspaper had five editors.

Politico reported that he also used the paper for his own purposes. Editor Elizabeth Spiers said he had her hunt for dirt on real estate developer Richard Mack after he refused to help Kushner when he was having cash flow difficulties.

Spiers said Kushner had three different reporters look for the story, after he continued insisting it was there, but it wasn't.

Kushner made some powerful friends as owner of the Observer. One of the most prominent was media mogul Rupert Murdoch. The pair now speak nearly every day, according to The New Yorker. Kushner assures him the White House is still functioning and Murdoch provides advice.

Along with Murdoch, Kushner has a network of older mentors, and this showed at his 35th birthday party, according to Esquire, where the median age was near 70. 

Not too long afterwards, in 2006, Kushner bought 666 Fifth Avenue, a 41-story building for $1.8 billion — the most ever paid for a New York building.

It was also more than three times what the previous owner had paid for the building, six years before that.

According to The New Yorker, it was a Trump-like purchase. Just as Trump had done in the late 1980s, Kushner "overpaid for a trophy property, borrowing heavily, and subsequently encountered serious financial challenges that became public."

This was all before he graduated from New York University with a dual MBA and law degree in 2007.

Source: The New York Times

In 2007, the Kushner Companies sold all of its apartments, about 17,000, in New Jersey, for about the same amount it paid for 666 on Fifth Avenue. It signaled the Kushner's had arrived in New York. Or according to Politico, "the Kushners were no longer bit players from the Jersey swamps."

Sources: New York Magazine, Politico, The New York Times and ProPublica

In 2007, Kushner and Ivanka Trump started dating. Their outings were covered by the paparazzi, and according to Esquire, their relationship was, in a way, perfect.

They were perfect because they shared a deep knowledge of real estate, and were both "children of controversial fathers to whom they were unwaveringly, sometimes blindly, loyal."

They could also be mistaken for a political marriage, according to Time— "a merger of two family empires."

They had met a few years earlier in 2005, introduced by a real-estate broker who thought they could work together, according to The New Yorker.

They broke up in 2008, reportedly because Trump wasn't Jewish. But things were rekindled when Wendy Deng, Rupert Murdoch's third wife, invited Kushner and Ivanka onto Murdoch's family boat, without letting on that the other party was invited.

They got back together, and Ivanka later converted to Judaism.

In 2008, Kushner became the CEO of Kushner Companies. It was a difficult time. The 2008 recession hit hard. But the company survived thanks to management refinancing loans and figuring out rental deals for its retail spaces.

Sources: New York Magazine

In 2009, Kushner married Ivanka Trump. The couple wed at Trump's National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

Source: Esquire

They also appeared on the teen drama "Gossip Girl" as themselves at a fictional Observer party. Josh Schwartz, one of the show's writers, said his one regret about their appearance was that Kushner didn't speak.

Source: Time

In 2011, to keep control of 666 Fifth Avenue, Kushner made a deal that saw 49.5% of the building go to an investment fund called Vornado. Kushner kept control, but the building that cost $1.8 billion had fallen to a value of $820 million.

Source: Esquire

From 2010 to 2017, Kushner Companies grew rapidly, taking part in more than $7 billion worth of real estate acquisitions. These included 17 buildings in Manhattan's East Village in 2013 worth $130 million, and multiple buildings in Brooklyn's Dumbo in 2016 worth $715 million.

Sources: Politico, ProPublica and The New York Times

Along with plush real estate in New York, the company also bought thousands of apartment complexes in struggling Rust Belt cities like Baltimore, Ohio, and Pittsburgh. By 2017, the company owned about 20,000 apartments in these cities.

Sources: Politico, ProPublica and The New York Times

A ProPublica investigation found that Kushner's company had been ruthlessly evicting people who failed to pay rent, as well as chasing late fees for years afterwards in some cases. In 2012, Kushner said it took "a lot of construction and a lot of evictions" but the outcome was "phenomenal."

Source: Politico

Kushner and Trump have three kids: Arabella (born in 2011), Joseph (born in 2013), and Theo (born in 2016).

Source: Business Insider

As his father-in-law ran for president, Kushner's focus turned to politics. He played a prominent role in Trump's 2016 presidential campaign running Trump's digital, online, and social-media efforts with help from Silicon Valley's elite.

According to the Washington Post, "By quietly building a successful online fundraising and targeting operation far beyond his candidate's comprehension, Kushner gave Trump a fighting chance to keep the 2016 presidential race close."

Before working with Trump, he had been a born-and-raised Democrat. But he did endorse Republican Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential race in the Observer, because he had been disappointed in former President Barack Obama, particularly his relations with Israel.

Source: The New York Times

People were surprised by Kushner's enthusiasm for his father-in-law's political ambitions. But he explained that his perceptions around politics had changed as he toured the country with Trump.

According to New York Magazine, he told a private audience of more than 400 that the "bubble" he lived in on the Upper East Side burst during the country-wide tour.

"I thought about immigration in terms of Silicon Valley's needs, about education the way Robin Hood Foundation philanthropists did, about climate change in terms of carbon emissions, not mining jobs," he said.

But that wasn't reflective of the country he saw on tour. As Time put it, he found "a country roiled by grievance and frustration, looking for the champion Trump was eager to become."

As Trump campaigned, Kushner was in the background. He prepped Trump before he spoke to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and when Trump fought with Fox News' Megyn Kelly, Kushner helped smooth out the relationship.

According to Esquire, he also defended Trump in a column in the Observer, after the candidate tweeted an image of Hilary Clinton with a Star of David. He wrote that Trump wasn't anti-Semitic or racist, and backed this up by talking about his grandparents' Holocaust experiences.

"It's important to me that people understand where I'm coming from. I know the difference between actual, dangerous intolerance versus these labels that get tossed around in an effort to score political points," Kushner wrote.

In July 2016, Kushner, Donald Trump Jr., and then-campaign manager Paul Manafort met Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya in Trump Tower. Trump Jr. later said he was promised "dirt" on former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton before the meeting.

Kushner said he had his assistant get him out of the meeting after he determined it wasn't worth his time.

"I quickly determined that my time was not well-spent at this meeting, and that the meeting was a waste of our time," Kushner wrote in a statement. Searching for "a polite way to leave and get back to my work," Kushner said, he wrote his assistant an email roughly 10 minutes into the meeting: "Can u pls call me on my cell? Need excuse to get out of meeting."

In December 2016, Kushner reportedly told the Russian ambassador to the US, Sergei Kislyak, that he was interested in setting up a communications back channel between Trump and Russia. Kislyak said he was taken aback by the suggestion.

Source: Washington Post

When Trump became president, Kushner assumed his role in the White House on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2017.

Sources: The Daily Beast, ProPublica and The New York Times

He stepped down as CEO from the family company, but remained a stakeholder. He also divested from some of the assets, including 666 Fifth Avenue, but retained investments worth up to $761 million.

The divesting were also largely sales to his brother or to a trust owned by his mother.

He stepped into the nation's spotlight as one of Trump's closest advisers, despite no political background. He told a congressional committee in July 2017, "My experience was in business, not politics, and it was not my initial intent to play a large role in my father-in-law's campaign."

Source: The New Yorker

His office is one of the best rooms in the White House, steps from the Oval Office, beside the president's dining room. Before Kushner, it was occupied by some of Obama's favored strategists.

Source: Time

And he quickly made his presence felt. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who had been helping Trump transition into the White House, accused Kushner of carrying out a political "hit job," having him fired as payback for what happened to his father when Christie prosecuted him.

Source: The Guardian

As Kushner took a "crash course in diplomacy," according to The New York Times, he headed up Middle East peace talks. Trump said of Kushner, despite him having no diplomatic background, "If you can't produce peace in the Middle East, nobody can."

Sources: The Daily Beast, The New York Times

In a rare interview with the Washington Post in November 2017, Kushner said, "When I got to D.C., I came with an understanding that the problems here are so complex — and if they were easy problems, they would have been fixed before — and so I became more like the hedgehog, where it was more taking issues you care deeply about, going deep and devoting the time, energy and resources to trying to drive change."

Source: Washington Post

But in a leaked off-the-record summer lecture, Kushner told congressional interns he'd had enough of people telling him to understand the problems in the Middle East. "We don't want a history lesson. We've read enough books. Let's focus on, 'How do you come up with a conclusion to the situation?'" he told the interns.

Source: Wired

Kushner's load has been heavy — along with the Middle East peace deal expectations, he was meant to be establishing trade deals, pushing criminal justice reform, modernizing the government, fighting opioid addiction, and reforming veteran care.

Sources: The Washington Post, The Washington Post

Yet for all the work he had been doing, and all of the photos he'd been in the background of, much of the nation hadn't heard him speak until June 2017.

According to the Washington Post, Twitter had expected something resembling James Earl Jones, but instead heard Michael Cera.

In 2018, things became more complicated for Kushner — the special counsel Robert Mueller was investigating his efforts to get foreign backing for his family business during the presidential transition.

Source: Business Insider

In addition, as a scandal around former White House staff secretary Rob Porter's alleged domestic abuse mounted, it was revealed that Kushner, like Porter, was working under a temporary security clearance.

Source: Business Insider

In February 2018, Kushner lost his "top secret" clearance, and political commentators began to question his future in the White House. It was later disclosed to Congress that he didn't get clearance because of concerns about his business interests and the possibility of "foreign influence." It was later granted, after the Trump administration intervened.

Sources: Business Insider, The Guardian, The New Yorker

That same day, several other disastrous news stories broke. Four different countries were apparently seeking to manipulate Kushner, and his company reportedly received massive loans from firms he had met with in the White House.

Sources: Business Insider, The New York Times

He carried on with his job. In May 2018, he was in Jerusalem for the opening of the newly moved American embassy, a controversial decision. In his speech, he said, while presidents had backed down from moving the embassy, "this president delivered, because when President Trump makes a promise, he keeps it."

Source: ABC News

Despite the declarations, within the White House, there were struggles between Trump's aides, particularly between Kushner and former chief of staff John Kelly. Kelly was the one who downgraded his security clearance. Trump also reportedly asked Kelly to get Kushner and his daughter out of the White House and "back to New York."

Source: Vanity Fair

But in December 2018, Trump announced it was Kelly that was stepping down. The New York Times called it a "coup" for Ivanka and Kushner. One of the president's allies told the newspaper the couple were now "running the building."

Source: The New York Times

That same month Kushner was largely responsible for getting Trump to support an extensive prison and sentencing overhaul that got through the Senate. The New York Times called it a "rare success" for Kushner, who had been weathering his most difficult period in the White House.

Sources: The New York Times, The New York Times, CNN

In March 2019, Kushner was in hot water again when late Democrat Elijah Cummings said in a letter that he was using WhatsApp, an online messaging service, to communicate in his official capacity. Kushner's lawyer Abbe Lowell said the letter was not "completely accurate."

Sources: The Guardian, Reuters

In June 2019, Kushner announced a vision for what peace could look like in the Middle East, including $50 billion in regional investment projects. But Palestinian officials rejected it, especially after the US recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Source: Washington Post

That same month, The Guardian published an investigation that found a company Kushner part-owns, called Cadre, had received $90 million from unknown foreign investors. Since Kushner works as an international envoy for the US, the discovery raised concerns about improper influence.

Source: The Guardian

But things carried on in the White House, and in October as impeachment proceedings began against Trump, it was Kushner, alongside White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, who was put in charge of the president's impeachment strategy.

Source: CNN

In November 2019, Trump made Kushner the "de facto project manager" for his long-awaited border wall between Mexico and the US. Trump was frustrated with its slow progress. Kushner had some ideas about moving it forward, like installing cameras to live-stream the construction process.

Source: Washington Post

Looking forward, Kushner is in a strong position. He's kept himself close the president, and will help advise him through the 2020 presidential campaign.

Source: Washington Post 

His political survival owes a lot to the fact that compared to many of Trump's other advisers, Kushner has proved himself competent. It undoubtedly helps that Trump puts family first.

Sources: Vanity Fair, Time

• I'm participating in my third Dry January, the equally beloved and derided cultural phenomenon that involves giving up booze for the first month of the new year.
• Alcoholism runs on both sides of my family, and after I almost lost a loved one to liver failure in 2017, I decided to reassess my relationship with alcohol through participating in Dry January in 2018.
• Beyond its many health and financial benefits, Dry January has helped me gain important perspective on the role of alcohol in my life and society. This is what I've learned.
• Sign up for Business Insider's retail newsletter, The Drive-Thru.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

I completed my first Dry January in 2018, four months after a loved one was rushed into emergency surgery for a liver transplant that would ultimately save her life.

Before that moment, I had mostly scoffed at Dry January, the cultural phenomenon that involves swearing off alcoholic beverages in the first month of the new year. It seemed like a silly manifestation of wellness culture, an excuse to post pictures of green juice on Instagram alongside hashtags like #healthyliving and cliché captions like "New year, new me!"

However, in December 2017, my sentiments toward Dry January shifted. Alcoholism runs on both sides of my family, and I began to have my own reckoning with the countless nights spent sloshed with friends, slinking out of dive bars at 3 a.m. and waking up at noon with hangovers that felt like taking a screwdriver to the skull.

I had spent so long ascribing excessive alcohol consumption to youth and societal messaging that equates drinking and fun. Yet after witnessing someone dear to me nearly die at the hands of drinking, I couldn't shake the thoughts that clouded my head in the hazy aftermath of a night out: If you're not more careful, this might kill you.

So I decided to do Dry January in earnest, in quiet solidarity and in hopes of better understanding my relationship with alcohol. Here's why I have vowed to do it every year since.

'The harm doesn't end with the individual'

Since Dry January became part of the zeitgeist, it has evoked everything from praise to ridicule, including on this website. Though variations of the movement have existed for the past decade, it rose in popularity in 2014 when the nonprofit Alcohol Change UK launched its sober-month challenge. The campaign was designed to curb heavy drinking in the United Kingdom, where one person dies every hour as a result of alcohol, according to Alcohol Change UK.

The nonprofit asserts that it is not anti-alcohol but rather focused on reducing harm from alcohol, both for people seeking a healthier relationship with it and for those indirectly affected by drinking.

"The harm doesn't end with the individual; each of us who drinks too much is part of a family and a community who feel the effects too, whether through frequent use of emergency services, drink driving, violence or neglect," its website says.

Six years later, some have surmised that the phenomenon is losing steam amid the rise of "sober curious" culture and a continued shift toward healthier lifestyles that helped propel the success of lower-calorie and lower-ABV beverages like hard seltzer. In a recent YouGov survey of more than 22,000 adults, 14% indicated an interest in partaking in Dry January this year, compared with 23% the year before. Thirty-three percent said they "don't ever" drink, up from 24% in December 2018.

Still, I've found significant value in a more regimented abstention from imbibing, even if it's temporary. My first year of Dry January had less to do with a desire to follow a social movement and more with proving to myself I didn't need to drink.

My semi-flawed logic told myself that if I could make it through January 2018 without drinking, then I'd be free from the grips of alcoholism. This is, of course, not how genetically predisposed diseases work, and while I'm grateful not to have manifested any addictive tendencies yet in my 28 years of life, I knew that my relationship with alcohol was fraught at best.

Testing my limits

The first time I got drunk I was 18, an age I'd later learn made me a relatively late bloomer compared with many of my peers, who had already been slamming Mike's Hard Lemonade and shotgunning Natty Lights in unchaperoned suburban basements.

While attending a family wedding, my similarly underage and inexperienced cousin and I sensed an opportunity to catch up. We ordered "Grey Goose on the rocks," trying our best to emulate sophisticated adults we had seen in movies, before quickly discovering we did not like the taste of straight vodka. Switching to Champagne, we kept refilling our flutes until the fizzing bubbles left us in fits of giggles as the ground beneath us started spinning.

What a feeling, I remember thinking, marveling at the light-headed sense of euphoria I felt as I whirled around the dance floor.

Over the next few months, I waded tepidly into the party scene, before diving in headfirst to repeatedly try and fail to test my limits. I had my fair share of shameful moments at the mercy of alcohol, and while I'm thankful I managed to stay safe in these situations, I have regrets.

Perhaps most troublingly, I began to love how drinking seemed to help me escape my overly anxious, self-conscious mind. I felt like an enhanced version of myself, someone who could dance and socialize freely. It would take a long time and a lot of therapy to learn that drinking wasn't the only way to attain that, and even today I am constantly working on it.

It's not a perfect process, but giving up alcohol for the month helps me to reflect on why I drink and to try to understand what I'm gaining from doing it. It gives me pause when I consider cracking open a beer on a boring Wednesday night in February, a moment to remember that the liquid inside has the power to destroy.

And so I put it back.

Reaping the benefits of a sober lifestyle

Despite my conviction to get through my first Dry January in 2018, I had my doubts. So much of my social life was enmeshed in drinking, and what about Friday-night happy hour with my colleagues? What would I do at a bar without a drink in my hand?

Turns out it is, in fact, possible to enjoy yourself without drinking, and when an urge ensues (usually around the end of week two for me) there is a bevy of apps and resources to help motivate. Try Dry, an app developed by Alcohol Change UK that includes a calendar tracker, tips, and motivational quotes, has been especially helpful in seeing my progress and staying inspired. I also keep my fridge stocked with La Croix and find that the carbonated water emulates some of the enjoyment of opening a cold beer at the end of a long day.

In past years, I have also reaped the well-documented benefits of Dry January, including improved sleep quality, higher energy levels, clearer skin, weight loss, and a fatter wallet from saving money. A 2018 study from the University of Sussex found that one month of sobriety could lower levels of drinking throughout the year.

"The simple act of taking a month off alcohol helps people drink less in the long term: by August people are reporting one extra dry day per week," Richard de Visser, the researcher who led the study, said in a statement. "There are also considerable immediate benefits: nine in ten people save money, seven in ten sleep better and three in five lose weight."

Ultimately, I still enjoy drinking. I like a crisp IPA, a tart rosé, and the occasional celebratory tequila shot. It's taken the better part of the past decade, but I've gotten better at understanding my limits and the enjoyment of having one or two — and only one or two — glasses of wine with dinner.

I still overindulge sometimes, but when that happens I try to be kind to myself. (Another resolution for 2020!) The goal is no longer to unwind so much that I unfurl completely, but to try to find a happy medium, however challenging that might be.

Do I feel profoundly changed by Dry January? Not exactly. However, I do complete the month with a sense of satisfaction and a firmer grasp on my relationship with alcohol. To me, that's worth it.

SEE ALSO: Apply here to attend IGNITION: Retail, an event focused on the future of retail, in New York City on January 14

ALSO READ: Taking part in 'dry January' helps you save money, sleep better, and lose weight, new research says

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• The Times reported on Thursday some of the ultrarich living in London are now hiring ex-military personnel to act as nannies for their kids.
• This latest hiring trend follows the rising crime rate in some of the most exclusive neighborhoods in England's capital.
• It's just the latest example of how the role of an elite nanny to the rich has evolved.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Being a "supernanny" for the superrich has always been supertaxing.

Business Insider's Taylor Nicole Rogers previously reported that many nannies for the rich and powerful find their jobs as demanding as they are daunting, with one nanny telling Rogers that she had to "manually clear out a toddler's bowels," and another saying she had to clean out a rat's nest for the family employing her.

And though the benefits and work perks have been noted — elite nannies can make nearly $150,000 a year— it often comes at the expense of the nannies' personal lives, with late working nights and extensive travel requirements resulting in a lack of time with their own families. The role of a nanny is as complicated as ever. In addition to watching the kids, many are expected to be housekeepers, personal chefs, and now even bodyguards. 

Les Militaires meets La Maison

The Times reported on Thursday that some families in London are hiring ex-military personnel to act as nannies for their children. This is to combat the rising crime rates in London, as well as the threat of child abduction for ransom. The more experienced "close protection guards" among this group are paid as much as £150,000 a year ($196,000), according to what Sam Martin — the cofounder of 19 London, an international staffing agency that finds staff for ultrawealthy clients' homes, offices, yachts, and private aircraft — told The Times. 

"People wanting this sort of protection come from places where the criminal model includes kidnapping and ransom, and in the 1990s in Russia, this was the way they operated," Sergei Migdal, a former security expert and head bodyguard for a Russian oligarch, told The Times.

The Times also reported that the crime rates in two of London's most affluent neighborhoods — Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea — have risen by 25 and 15%, respectively. Magoo Giles, a former Coldstream Guard who is now the principal and founder of a £20,000-a-year ($26,252-a-year) private school, told The Times that many families both at his school and at other schools in the area have arrangements to have their children dropped off and picked up by these private security guards.

"All of the bodyguards that we recruit are ex-military," Martin told The Times. "However, when it comes to close protection for children, clients tend to demand more high-level staff, someone who is trained in emergency first aid and possibly from special forces like the SAS."

The role of an elite nanny has evolved

Nannies have long been a fixture in the households of the rich and powerful. Business Insider's Katie Warren previously reported many families have more than one nanny — often one for each child. Chrissy Teigen, for example, personally confirmed that she has a rotating staff of four nannies for her two kids. And many nannies seen today are expected to have post-high-school education, with some even holding master's degrees, according to Seth Norman Greenberg, the vice president of the domestic staffing firm Pavillion Agency, which pairs wealthy families with household staff. 

"There's never been wealth like there is now," Greenberg told Business Insider. "Leading up to the '60s, maybe even the '70s, most wealthy families had a primary property. They possibly had a second home. But now, I'm seeing families that have four, five homes, a yacht, a plane. I mean, the wealth is growing, and people are living a life not tied to one property as in years past."

But while the idea of a nanny has remained consistent, the role itself and its requirements have been ever changing, constantly adapting to the evolving wants and the needs of modern-day society.

For example, The New York Times' Nellie Bowles reported in October 2018 that wealthy families in Silicon Valley were drawing up contracts with their nannies to guarantee no screen time for their kids. Bowles also reported that these parents have even been secretly snapping photos of nannies who were using cellphones near the kids in their charge, then posting the images to parenting message boards to shame the rule breakers.

"Most parents come home, and they're still glued to their phones, and they're not listening to a word these kids are saying," one nanny told The New York Times. "Now I'm the nanny ripping out the cords from the PlayStations."

SEE ALSO: 7 nannies who work for the rich and powerful share one thing they wish their bosses knew — but would never tell them

DON'T MISS: The rich are richer than they've ever been — and it's reflected in the private help they hire for their families, from stewards for their yachts to separate nannies for each kid

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NOW WATCH: Wall Street heavyweights set the record straight on the proposed 70% super-rich tax they say is wildly misunderstood

• The NordicTrack Commercial S22i Studio Cycle is a top-of-the-line stationary bike that offers plenty of features for at-home exercisers through iFit.
• Its rotating 22-inch HD screen streams on-demand, trainer-led workouts that take place both in-studio and in stunning locales around the world.
• The bike automatically adjusts your resistance according to the ride you've chosen, which sets it apart from the competition.
• It can occasionally be wobbly and the studio workouts aren't live or interactive like competitor bikes, which may seem like drawbacks but didn't bother me. 

This time of year, we could all use a break from gray, dreary, and chilly weather. What if you could instantly transport to a sunny, tropical locale, where you'll feel the warmth and beads of sweat dripping down your neck — right in the comfort of your own home?

No, this isn't a cheesy, too-good-to-be-true infomercial. It's a reality when you invest in a NordicTrack Commercial S22i Studio Cycle for your house. And when I say "invest," I mean it — this exercise bike isn't cheap, setting you back $1,999 via Amazon or the NordicTrack website. But I think it's well worth the price. Here's why. 

The details

The bike arrives at your door ready to be assembled and you can either assemble it yourself or have an expert do the work for you for an extra $89. The instructions were fairly easy to understand, and the assembly should only take roughly an hour or two. It's doable with one person, although two does make it easier — especially since the bike itself weighs about 200 pounds. 

What sets this NordicTrack bike apart is that it comes with a complimentary one-year subscription to iFit, a fitness streaming service that offers more than 1,500 on-demand workouts to choose from. After the first year, there's a $15-per-month subscription fee. If you find yourself using it often, it's well worth the expenditure.

The iFit streaming service is impressive, too, for several reasons. First, if you find the thought of cycling to nowhere in a small room with a bunch of sweaty people torturous, iFit's global workouts will be a breath of fresh air — literally. There's an extensive library of workouts filmed all around the world, from Austria to Australia. 

Don't worry about them looking like Google Maps-style workouts, either (although iFit does have those, too). The global workouts are incredibly high-quality, filmed by iFit staffers whose sole job is to travel the world following both professional athletes and certified trainers with a camera — talk about a dream job. 

What this means is that iFit lets you trail world-class athletes as they ride on the famous Slick Rock trails of Moab, Utah, or through the winding streets of San Francisco. They also go international, with rides in the Swiss Alps, along the beaches in Thailand, and through the streets of Rome. The levels vary from beginner rides to more intense trails for experienced cyclists. Plus, iFit regularly adds new videos to their library, so there's always something new.

The trainers are also friendly and motivating, offering technical tips, encouraging words, and even snippets about their personal lives as you ride. On one ride I did, the trainer shared sage advice about the importance of rest in between workouts, explaining that stress plus rest equals growth. I also appreciated that they tell you exactly where your cadence should be, so there's no guesswork as to whether you're pacing properly. 

Your bike even automatically adjusts the resistance according to the trainer's cues and the actual terrain, so there's no need to mess with the knob yourself. Of course, if you don't want to go as hard as they suggest (or want to go harder) you can make adjustments yourself by overriding the trainer's instructions. 

While you'll get plenty of cardio on the bike, iFit also makes it easy to achieve a full-body workout with cross-training sessions such as yoga classes and total-body strength training. Some classes even take you on and off the bike for a HIIT-style workout. The 22-inch screen swivels 360 degrees, allowing you to still see the trainer from your mat. 

The extra perks

The NordicTrack bike provides lots of easy-to-view tracking metrics, including heart rate, elevation, intensity and more. There's also a new leaderboard option you can toggle on or off which shows how your ride stacks up against other riders. 

The bike also comes with two three-pound weights, a fully adjustable seat and handlebars, an ergonomic saddle, and a built-in fan. Each of the add-ons improves its overall value and helps make it a well-rounded at-home workout option that's more than just a stationary bike. 

The drawbacks

I did experience a bit of wobbling from the screen but it wasn't that I found to be too bothersome. Some people may miss the interactive nature of competitors like Peloton but I prefer not to be yelled at by an instructor and go at my own pace. Plus, iFit has recently released a leaderboard element, so you can see how your stats stack up against others who have ridden the same trail. 

Finally, it's a bit of a bummer you can't change the background music. You can, however, adjust the volume on the music and the trainer's voice separately, so you could turn it down if you hated it. 

The bottom line

Overall, this is a top-of-the-line bike for your home. It may not be as interactive or personalized as what Peloton offers, but it's incredibly well made and brilliantly designed. The iFit subscription brings a ton of interesting workouts, both in-studio and around the world, ensuring you'll never get bored cycling solo. Finally, the top-notch trainers and automatic adjustments make it a pleasant riding experience.

• Should you buy it? Yes. If you can afford the initial investment (and recurring iFit subscription after the free trial), then NordicTrack's Commercial S22i Studio Cycle is a great at-home workout option. The diversity of its workouts mixed with the deep well of content offered by iFit give it plenty of reusability, making it an attractive option as your go-to daily workout routine. 
• What are your alternatives? Any conversation about at-home stationary bikes has to include Peloton and for good reason. Peloton's bike costs slightly more money than NordicTrack's Commercial S22i Studio Cycle and also has a slightly different approach to its workouts. Instead of iFit's location-based rides, Peloton offers a wide range of instructor-led workouts conducted in one of its workout studios. 

Pros: Bike automatically adjusts resistance based on terrain and instructor cues, iFit library offers a deep well of diverse riding content, 22-inch HD screen swivels to allow for workouts off the bike, and the package comes with two three-pound weights

Cons: Expensive at $1,999 and the screen can be wobbly at times

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• Finding jewelry that's both unique and affordable has become increasingly difficult in an era of mass production. Add eco-friendly and socially responsible to that list, and it only gets harder. 
• Soko is a jewelry startup that empowers artisans and jewelry makers in Kenya by bringing their craft to a global audience and paying them an average of five times more than most workshops.
• Most items are under $100, and Soko's collection includes earrings, bracelets, rings, and necklaces.
• I've been wearing two pieces from the brand — the Capped Quill Dangle Earrings ($54) and the Delicate Dash Cuff Bracelet ($68)— and love the way they look and feel. Read on to learn more about the brand and the jewelry itself. 

In a world where fast fashion is the norm, finding truly unique jewelry can be a tough feat. That's why, when I come across a brand with standout pieces I've never seen before, I'm interested. When they also have great prices and a great mission? Well, then I start verging on obsessed. 

Soko is a jewelry brand I was introduced to this past fall that checks all of those boxes and then some.

While working in Nairobi, Soko's founders, Gwendolyn Floyd, Catherine Mahugu, and Ella Peinovich, saw an opportunity to empower local artisans who made beautiful, unique jewelry, but lacked the resources to scale their business or connect with a broader base of customers. 

In order to do this, the founders created what is essentially a virtual factory. Artisans can opt into the Soko network through its app, and when they do, they're given the tools to produce Soko's jewelry designs more efficiently, while still using and preserving heritage techniques. Artisans are then able to use those same tools and techniques to scale their own personal jewelry businesses in local markets.

Soko designs its jewelry in San Francisco, where the company is headquartered, but everything is produced in Kenya. This model is a win-win for both makers and shoppers. The some-2,300 artisans working with Soko are paid, on average, five times more than they would be in a regular workshop. For the consumers, the products remain affordable.

But the certified B-corp isn't just committed to creating more ethically made baubles, it's also doing its best to be eco-friendly. Soko uses local, ethically sourced materials whenever possible. And, when it can't, the brand finds innovative solutions. Brass, cow horn, and wood may not seem like conventional materials for making jewelry, but they're the predominant bases for almost every piece from Soko. These are used because they're more sustainable and easier for artisans to acquire.

Soko jewelry review

Of course, a great mission is only part of Soko's success. The other half are the products, and if you love jewelry, you'll likely be impressed. Soko's pieces are unlike anything I've come across when jewelry shopping online. They're simple with bold accents and architectural shapes. The materials stand out but still look timeless. With prices starting at $48, the pieces are affordable, especially considering their quality. 

Soko sent me the Capped Quill Dangle Earrings ($54) and the Delicate Dash Cuff Bracelet ($68) to check out. I was unsure about both pieces from the get-go, as they didn't really seem like they'd fit my style, but after wearing them for a while, I was sold on the quality and style.

The cuff has an open-ended shape that loosely dangles around your wrist. I have pretty small wrists, so I usually shy away from bracelets that can't be adjusted. While it fits like a bangle, the bracelet actually stays put and hasn't fallen off. It's made of recycled brass, but has a shiny yellow-gold look that looks great stacked with other gold bracelets I own. The earrings are sleek and sophisticated, but still simple enough to wear for just about any occasion. They're made of ethically sourced horn capped with brass and are very lightweight, which always is a plus for a dangly earring.

The bottom line

If you want jewelry pieces that boast a unique, structural style, you'll love Soko's selection. If you're looking for jewelry made of more sustainable materials, you'll be equally pleased with Soko's use of local, replenishable resources. And if you want to put your money where your values are and support a brand with an empowering social mission, you know what to do.

Shop all jewelry at Soko

Shop Soko jewelry at Madewell

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• I love cappuccinos, but they cost a lot of money to buy at my local coffee shops, and I'm nothing if not frugal.
• After testing a bunch of electronic and battery-powered milk frothers, I found HIC's $20 manual milk frother at a coffee supply store and decided to try it out.
• The stainless steel manual frother is as easy to clean as it is to use, and it makes perfect foamy milk in a matter of minutes.
• I've been using HIC's milk frother every day for the past six years to make milk for my cappuccinos, and I can confidently say it's the best frother you can buy.
• I use a 6-cup Bialetti Stovetop Espresso Maker to brew my espresso (it's the best stovetop espresso maker by far) and a 2-cup Pyrex measuring cup to heat up the milk after frothing so that it develops a rich, creamy texture.

I don't particularly like regular coffee, but I love a good cappuccino. The only problem is cappuccinos cost $4 to $6 and I'm notoriously frugal.

I decided to learn how to make my own cappuccinos at home after watching a cooking show where the host made cappuccinos with a Bialetti Stovetop Espresso Maker and a glass mason jar full of milk.

I did try the mason jar shaking method, and it worked, kind of, but to get that truly rich, creamy, foamy milk texture cappuccinos require, you need a milk frother.

It turns out that milk frothers are finicky. I tried battery-operated ones and electric ones, ranging in price from $50 to $100, and none of them really worked the way I wanted them to. They usually broke after about a week or two of use, were incredibly frustrating to clean, or were simply too expensive for me to justify the price. I must have returned at least five milk frothers during my quest.

Then I stumbled upon HIC's $25 manual milk frother at a coffee supply store and decided to try it. After a good bit of trial and error and YouTube videos, I figured out how to use it to make the perfect foamy milk for cappuccinos. Six years later, I'm still using the same milk frother to make cappuccinos every single day.

A simple two-part design

HIC's milk frother is deceptively simple. It's just a simple stainless steel pitcher with a lid and a mesh plunger. It sort of looks like a small French Press coffee maker.

Because it only has two parts, it's very easy to clean. I just wash the stainless steel pitcher and the mesh plunger with soap and water after each use. Occasionally, you may want to unscrew the top of the mesh plunger and separate the parts so you can clean every nook and cranny in the lid.

The frother is super easy to use — you just put milk in, pop the lid on, and move the mesh plunger up and down to aerate the milk — but making the perfect foamy milk texture is all about the technique.

Here's how to use a manual milk frother:

1. Pour cold milk into the frother — fill it about halfway so the milk has room to grow as it aerates.
2. Froth it for 1 to 2 minutes by moving the mesh plunger up and down.
3. Let it sit for a minute to thicken up.
4. Pour it into a Pyrex measuring cup, mug, or ceramic pitcher and heat it in the microwave for 45 to 60 seconds.
5. That's it! Pour into your mug and enjoy.

The milk foam grows creamier and frothier as it heats until it's perfect for cappuccinos, chai tea lattes, and hot chocolate. You can use the foamy milk in just about any hot drink that typically calls for milk.

When the milk is heated for a hot drink, the foam maintains its integrity longer, but you can use it for cold drinks if you don't heat it up. I use my milk frother to make Thai iced tea and iced coffee occasionally, but the foam does gradually disappear as the air bubbles inside the milk dissipate. 

The bottom line

The low upfront cost of HIC's milk frother convinced me to give it a try, and I'm so glad I did. It's amazing how much money I've saved by making my own cappuccinos at home over the past six years. It paid for itself in about a week.

Of course, not everyone is as crazy about foamy milk as I am, but if you want to make cappuccinos, chai lattes, and creamy hot chocolate at home regularly, it's a no-brainer.

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• The best way to raise successful children is to expose them to hard work and encourage their interests, Elon Musk's mom, Maye, wrote in an essay for CNBC Make It. 
• Much of Maye's parenting style — from implementing hard work to avoiding luxury experiences — was inspired by her own upbringing. 
• Elon, Maye's oldest child, went on to build a $23.6 billion fortune after cofounding PayPal, Tesla, and SpaceX.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Workaholism runs in the Musk family.

Hard work was a guiding principle of Elon Musk's childhood, his mother Maye Musk wrote in an essay for CNBC Make It, and it's one of her favorite parenting tips. 

"People often ask me how I raised such successful kids," Maye wrote for CNBC Make It. "I tell them I did it by teaching them about hard work and letting them follow their interests."

In addition to Elon, the single mother also raised two younger children — restaurateur Kimbal Musk and filmmaker Tosca Musk. Emphasizing hard work was a principle she picked up from her own parents, Maye wrote for CNBC. Maye's father paid her and her twin sister to fold and mail promotional bulletins for his chiropractic practice when she was a child. Starting at the age of 12, she also worked as the office's receptionist. Maye later did the same when she became a parent, putting her three kids to work at the nutrition practice and modeling school she ran.

"Children don't need to be protected from the reality of responsibility," Maye wrote for CNBC. "My kids benefited because they saw me work hard just to put a roof over our heads, put food in our stomachs, and purchase secondhand clothes."

Maye also made her children take responsibility for their own career paths, requiring them to select their own colleges and complete admission and student application forms without her help, she wrote for CNBC. But pushing responsibility alone isn't enough to guarantee that kids will turn into successful adults, according to her. The registered dietitian and model also discouraged other parents from spoiling their children by giving them lives of luxury. Musk wrote that she allowed her children to live in poor conditions during college including a "mattress on the floor, six roommates, or a dilapidated house," only intervening to make sure they were physically safe.

Elon has taken a different approach with his own kids, raising them in a Bel Air mansion and sending them to the invitation-only private school he founded, Business Insider previously reported. The automotive executive did design the school's curriculum to make sure the children could focus on topics they're interested in, according to Entrepreneur.

Other parents of billionaires have echoed similar sentiments about working hard

Elon Musk isn't the only billionaire whose family emphasizes the importance of hard work.

Bill Gates said his parents pushed him to persevere at activities he didn't naturally excel in, like swimming, soccer, football, and playing the trombone, Thrive Global's Elizabeth Yuko reported. The elder Bill Gates also pushed his future billionaire son to pursue his own interests even when they didn't agree — including Bill Jr.'s eventual decision to drop out of Harvard to found Microsoft, told The Wall Street Journal's Robert Guth in 2009.

"[Bill Jr.'s mother] Mary and I were both concerned about it — I think she a bit more than I," Bill Gates Sr. told The Journal. "Her expectations and mine were very ordinary expectations of people who have kids in college — that they get a degree."

SEE ALSO: Carlos Ghosn reportedly fled prosecution in Japan by hiding in a box on a private jet. Meet Nissan's disgraced former chairman, who was charged in 2018 with underreporting his compensation.

DON'T MISS: 16 must-read books that Bill Gates recommended this year

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NOW WATCH: Traditional Japanese swords can take over 18 months to create — here's what makes them so special

• The best cocktail shakers are comfortable in your hands, do not make a mess, and are easy to clean.
• Developed by a veteran bartender, the Top Shelf Bar Supply Stainless Steel Boston Shaker Set meets all our criteria, making it the best cocktail shaker you can buy.
• See more: The best wine glasses you can buy

When you want a delicious cold mixed drink during the holidays, after work, or when entertaining, an indispensable part of a good home bar is a top-quality cocktail shaker.

There are two popular styles of cocktail shakers: the Boston shaker and the cobbler shaker. The Boston shaker consists of two mixing tins or glasses of different sizes (usually 28 ounces and 18 ounces). The liquids you are mixing naturally create a seal between the two containers to avoid dripping.

When using a Boston shaker, you need a separate Julep or Hawthorne strainer depending on the drink you are making. A Hawthorne strainer utilizes a spring that fits inside the rim of the shaker tin to filter out ice, while a Julep strainer is bowl-shaped and fits into the tin at a certain angle, allowing your drink to filter through holes while holding back the ice.

The cobbler shaker has three parts: a tapered top with a built-in strainer, a bottom shaking tin, and a cap that can also work for measuring liquids. The biggest complaint about the cobbler is that the top either leaks or is difficult to remove once the ice chills the shaker.

Two of the shakers in our guide are Boston shakers. These are preferred by professional bartenders because of their simplicity, the amount of control they afford, and their fast performance. The other models we include are new takes on the classic cobbler. They are excellent for beginners who are just getting the hang of making mixed drinks.

Our picks for the best cocktail shakers are based on hours of research into reviews from first-time cocktail makers, amateur home mixologists, professional bartenders, and people of all levels in between. We picked our best cocktail shakers based on their ease of use, durability, security (do they leak?), and comfort.

Here are the best cocktail shakers:

• Best cocktail shaker overall: Top Shelf Bar Supply Stainless Steel Boston Shaker Set
• Best cocktail shakers for beginners: OXO Steel Press & Pour Insulated Cocktail Shaker
• Best stylish cocktail shaker: Metrokane Bullet Cocktail Shaker
• Best cocktail shaker with measurements: WMF Loft Boston Shaker

Updated 1/3/2020 by Jen Gushue: Updated prices, formatting, and links.

SEE ALSO: The best wine glasses you can buy

The best cocktail shaker overall

If you're looking for a basic cocktail shaker to mix drinks without making a mess, the Top Shelf Bar Supply Stainless Steel Boston Shaker Set creates a tight seal that still breaks apart easily. 

Top Shelf's Boston Shaker Set comes with two shaker tins: a 28-ounce weighted tin and an 18-ounce unweighted tin. Both are made of food-grade 304 stainless steel and are safe for both commercial and home dishwashers.

Designed by a bartender of over ten years who was tired of using sub-par equipment behind the bar, Top Shelf promises that you'll get "a perfect watertight seal every time," and our research backs the claim up. 

Wiki.ezvid.com calls it the best cocktail shaker you can buy and says it provides a clean pour with no drips and won't warp over time. WarmReviews included this shaker in its top ten list, too, because of how well it tested with professional bartenders. The reviewer also praised its durability.

Removing the top tin is effortless compared to taking the lid off a cobbler-style shaker which tend to get stuck or freeze shut. You simply break the seal of the tins by squeezing close to where they meet.

Pros: Durable, offers water-tight seal

Cons: A bit of a learning curve for those used to cobbler shakers, doesn't come with accessories

The best cocktail shaker for beginners

The OXO SteeL Press & Pour Insulated Cocktail Shaker is ideal for novice bartenders because it's easy to use and has a built-in strainer.

The OXO SteeL Press & Pour Insulated Cocktail Shaker has a brushed stainless steel exterior with a second interior wall that keeps beverages cool, your hands warm, and keeps condensation from forming on the outside and making the shaker slippery. The container holds 18 ounces. The lid screws on and features three silicone seals to prevent spills.

You can pour your drink through the self-straining top with the press of a button. Press the button again, and the lid closes. The lid can be disassembled and washed in the dishwasher, but the main tin must be hand-washed.

The Inventory liked that the Press & Pour shaker is self-straining, insulated, and that you can use it with one hand. The reviewer also said it's a better option for novices than a Boston shaker, which can cause a mess for beginners. Wiki.ezvid.com gave this model high ratings because it has three strong silicone seals and can be used with both cold and hot drinks. However, the reviewer found that the built-in strainer clogs easily.

Top Ten Select also loved this shaker because the insulation keeps your hands from getting too cold, but they do not recommend it for advanced bartenders.

There were a few complaints about pulpy juices, herbs, fruit, and even small slivers of ice getting stuck in the strainer and making it hard to pour. Also, make sure that the top is depressed before you start shaking, or you will end up with a mess.

Pros: Built-in strainer, insulated, great for beginners

Cons: Expensive, strainer clogs easily

The best stylish cocktail shaker

The Metrokane Bullet Cocktail Shaker is ideal for amateur bartenders interested in creating a speakeasy aesthetic for their home bar.

The Metrokane Bullet Cocktail Shaker is made of polished 18/8 stainless steel and features four parts: the main shaker tin, a strainer, a lid, and the top that gives the product it's "bullet" look. You load up the ingredients, insert the strainer, add the lid, and then you start shaking it. To prevent leaks, you should hold the lid on firmly while shaking the Bullet. All of the parts are dishwasher safe

HiConsumption rated this shaker highly because it is easy to handle and has a minimalist, art deco look. The reviewer also found that it fits well in your hand for smooth stirring and shaking action. However, the reviewer did note that the Bullet is hard to open.

For instance, the purely decorative "bullet" top of the shaker can get stuck and may require you running hot water over it to loosen it up. Also, the parts have been known to rust, so you need to be sure to dry everything off completely when you are done. Despite these negatives, buyers still find this model serves their needs well.

Pros: Attractive art deco design, built-in strainer

Cons: The lid gets stuck, susceptible to rusting and leaking

The best cocktail shaker with measurements

When you want to keep your barware to a minimum, the WMF Loft Boston Shaker allows you to make approximate measurements without the use of other tools.

The WMF Loft Boston Shaker consists of a tapered 18/10 stainless steel shaking tin along with a heavy glass that is calibrated in centiliters and ounces. The German firm Fiedeler and Raasch designed this cocktail shaker for WMF.

As with other Boston shakers, the two components create a seal when pressed together with the help of a little liquid. With a squeeze or a sharp turn, you can break the seal. Both pieces are dishwasher safe.

Cook's Illustrated recommends the WMF Loft Boston Shaker because its testers liked that the glass's wide mouth made it simple to clean, muddle, and stir. They also appreciated the heavy-duty construction. The downsides were that it is hard to get the shakers to seal, and the testers would have preferred half-ounce demarcations on the mixing glass.

HiConsumption found that the WMF cocktail shaker sealed easily, and the reviewer also recommended using a jigger for measuring fractions of ounces. The OXO SteeL Double Jigger is excellent if you want to add one to your bar setup.

Unfortunately, glass does have a tendency to break, especially if you're entertaining or have had a couple cocktails prior to mixing up another. A standard pint glass should fill in just fine if your mixing glass does take a fall, but then you lose the measurements you bought the shaker for in the first place. WMF does sell a replacement glass to ensure your cocktail ingredients always stay well-proportioned.

Pros: Mixing glass features measurements, designed for a good seal

Cons: The measurement demarcations are in full ounces (you may still want a jigger), mixing glass could break

• The right backpack can make or break a backpacking trip, often spelling the difference between a comfortable or pain-inducing trek
• Since women's bodies are different, so are the backpacks that work best for them. Thankfully, many brands have understood this and designed backs to specifically fit women
• Some of the most significant differences are with the shape and contour of a pack's shoulder straps and hip belt, along with a harness designed to fit shorter torsos
• We tested several packs across various backpacking and hiking trips to find the best from brands like Mammut, Mystery Ranch, and Osprey 

Not all bodies are created equal and furthermore, women are not small men. Thankfully, backpack manufacturers get that. The days of brands deciding to just "shrink it and pink it" is over. Today, women's backpacking packs are designed specifically to fit a female body — and they're a game-changer. 

There are a few key differences between the design of a men's pack compared to that of a women's. The shoulder straps and hip belt are shaped and contoured differently to accommodate a woman's structure and anatomy while its harness is built to fit shorter torsos.

Though some gear categories see women's products made from lower-quality materials and technical innovations compared to the men's, the design and quality of women's backpacks are top-notch. So, whether you're on the trail for a quick overnighter or heading out on a multi-day expedition, here are a few of our favorite women's hiking backpacks. 

Here are our top picks for best women's hiking backpacks:

• Best durable backpack: Mammut Trea Spine 50
• Best backpack for overnighters: Deuter Futura Pro 38 SL
• Best load hauler backpack: Mystery Ranch EX Glacier
• Best for travel backpacking: Osprey Fairview Trek 50
• Best affordable backpack: Kelty Redwing 50
• Best backpack for big trips: Granite Gear Blaze 60
• Best backpack for fast and light adventures: Salomon Out Night 28+5 W
• Best versatile backpack: The North Face Women's Griffin 65
• Best backpack for your money: Gregory Maven 65
• Best everyday pack suitable for backpacking: Mountainsmith Mayhem 45

The best durable backpack

If you scramble or squeeze through tight trees and rocks while hiking, there's nothing better suited to resist wear and tear than Mammut's Trea Spine 50L. Its weather-resistant, water-shedding fabric is coated Cordura that showed no signs of damage even after I scrambled through slot canyons in Utah and bushwhacked down a ravine in New York's Adirondacks. It's also one of the most comfortable packs I've worn. The shoulder straps and hip harness move independently — a welcome feature for when you want your movement to be unrestricted. Regardless of how awkwardly I was hiking up a hillside or rock slab, my load always felt stable, and I never felt pulled off balance.

I used the Trea Spine for summer backpacking, though it didn't sit just in my closet for the rest of the year. Ski-carry straps and ice axe fasteners also make it winter adventure-ready, allowing me to use it on a ski touring trip while loaded with axes and crampons for a day of ice climbing. I loved the flexible loading options, too. Its contents are accessible via the top collar or a full-length side zipper, and I felt there were just enough pack pockets to keep me organized, including an oversized hip pocket. There's even a gear-racking harness loop on the right hip that proved handy on a rappel — it was also a great place to attach a dog leash. 

Weight: 4 lb, 10.4 oz

The best backpack for overnighters

Escape for a night or two with Deuter's Futura Pro. At 38 liters, it's best suited for warm-weather backpacking but it's plenty big to fit all the gear for a weekend in the woods. Deuter's signature hammock back keeps the pack away from your body, allowing sweat to evaporate and creating an overall more comfortable fit.

It's a top loader with long, tubular side-zippered side pockets, and a stuff pocket that I used to carry lunch, a jacket, and a dog leash, to name a few. If you only need a bag for a quick overnighter, the Future Pro is your best choice. 

Weight: 3 lbs, 8 oz.

The best load hauler backpack

When you need maximum capacity for carrying the heaviest and biggest loads, Mystery Ranch's EX Glacier manages it better than any pack we've tested. The company makes packs specifically for hunters and military personnel who use their gear harder than anyone else, and they've used that experience in designing the EX Glacier.

The pack is relatively heavy at more than 5.5 lbs. but with that extra weight comes an abundance of space. The top-loading design makes it easy to stuff all your gear, though we do recommend using packing cubes or stuff sacks to organize it all. The winged sleeping bag compartment at the bottom also has a divider to help separate part of the load, too. There's even a full side zipper to allow easy access to what's packed. 

Its vertical torpedo pockets on the front are larger than they look, and front daisy chains let you clip on more gear. Water bottle pockets keep hydration handy, while side compression straps cinch in your load as it gets smaller. The hip belt doesn't have side pockets but molle attachments allow compatible pouches to be added. Its hip belt and shoulder straps are a bit overbuilt, though that's to be expected with something designed for the military and hunting crowd.

Weight: 5 lbs, 9.6 oz

The best for travel backpacking

Not every backpacking trip takes you through mossy forests and through babbling brooks. Sometimes it's from plane to train to rickshaw, with stops at a hostel or two before even hitting the trail. Osprey added features to its Fairview pack that make it as good for peak-bagging as for priority boarding.

Inside the top lid in a pocket marked "Aircover," there's a duffel bag style cover that fully encases the pack when you need to check it, store it at a hotel, or stash it under a bus. It not only protects the pack from wear and tear but it's also a theft deterrent of sorts. Plus, if you overshop at a local market, the cover doubles as an extra duffel.

This panel loading pack also has built-in compression in the main compartment to keep your gear from shifting. When that main compartment is full, the pack stands up thanks to an extra frame built into the bottom. The sturdy waistbelt, articulated shoulder straps, and venting are comparable to what Osprey specs on its most core backpacking packs. As is the harness adjustment system, which lets you change the bag's torso length with a simple pull of a tab. Hip pockets, oversized stretch side pockets, and a hydration sleeve complete this travel-ready pack.

Weight: 4 lbs, 1 oz.

The best affordable backpack

Not every backpacker needs all the bells, whistles, or brand name fabrics but the downside to shopping cheap is sacrificing the quality necessary for successful backpacking trips. Kelty's Redwing pack not only sports an inexpensive price tag, but it's got the comfort, durability, and space of a pack that's typically much more expensive.

The bucket-style main compartment peels back to allow for hybrid top and panel loader packing, opening up halfway with a long zipper that makes the main compartment easy to access. Four large external pockets organize everything from food and cookware to toiletries and camp shoes. Oversized daisy chains down the pack double as haul straps while its mesh side pockets are big enough to hold a sleeping pad and a lite Nalgene-style water bottle. The shoulders and back are comfortably padded and the back is vented, for comfortable carrying. A universal Velcro torso adjustment system means one-size-fits-all.

Weight: 3 lbs, 11 oz.

The best backpack for big trips

Vermont's Long Trail is a two-week, 273-mile trek with nearly 70,000 feet of climbing. A trip like this requires a unique setup and Granite Gear's Blaze 60L was the bag that allowed me to set out on the trail with confidence. Getting the pack fit perfectly to my body was a little complicated but after toying with the plastic pack frame and its tethered clips, I was able to just set it and forget it.

When properly adjusted, it's one of the most comfortable and functional packs available. I packed it with a little over 30 pounds of gear and it rested comfortably on the articulated, well-padded hip belt and shoulder straps. Granite Gear says it's even able to carry up to 50 pounds and still maintain its high level of comfort. 

The pack's custom nylon pack fabric is also extremely durable. I threw it, sat on it, and even scraped it and it survived. When I took a side excursion and didn't want to bring the whole bag, I appreciated its fully removable lid. The pack's organization was simple and practical, too. A big lid pocket held my headlamp, extra snacks, sunscreen, and wallet while a tip to tail front stuff pocket held extra layers. Side pockets accommodated a tent and sleeping pad, leaving plenty of space in the main compartment for kitchen and clothing. The main compartment closes with a rolltop to ward off weather and when I accidentally packed my map at the bottom of the bag, I appreciated its hidden side zip access.

Weight: 3 lbs

The best backpack for fast and light adventures

Sometimes less is more, even when you're backpacking. Minimalists will appreciate Salomon's frame-free, fast and light, and streamlined Out Night pack. Its most notable and unique feature is the way the pack attaches to its harness. It's fixed, not adjustable, so it's important to figure out your exact size before buying. The harness is sewn to the pack bag but it's not sewn to the edges. This means that when the pack is stuffed to capacity, it doesn't feel like you're carrying something torquing on your shoulders or hurting your back.

Despite its minimum weight, it's able to carry everything you'd need for an overnight summer trip. It can also be used for day trips when you need more pack space than what a hydration or day pack provides — or technical features, like the ability to carry an ice axe or trekking poles.

Weight: 1 lb, 10 oz.

The best versatile backpack

Loading your pack is an art, and experienced backpackers often have strong opinions about whether a panel loader (a pack with a front that fully unzips) or a top loader (a pack you load like an open-top barrel) is preferable. With the The North Face Griffin, those on the fence about which is best will be happy because it offers both options.

A curving zipper gives full access to the main compartment for panel-style loading, or you can load the pack through its weather-resistant, cinching collar. Another thing I love about the Griffin is that instead of a removable lid that awkwardly converts to a hip pack, it has a quick-release "flying squirrel" daypack that clips off in seconds.

The pack also has an oversized four-pocket lid, big stretchy hip pockets, and on-the-fly harness adjustments that let you tweak your load carrying without removing the pack. The hip belt and shoulders pivot independently for unhindered movement, too and the back panel foam has a breezy channel that was particularly welcome on hot and humid summer hikes.

Weight: Not provided.

The best backpack for your money

It's hard to pigeonhole this top-loading, side-access pack because it does so many things right. It's light considering all it offers, from a stable and supportive frame to a sturdy, well-padded and easily adjustable harness. But most of all, this pack just feels great when worn, regardless of how heavy or light I packed it.

Where many backpacking packs have a few standout features, this pack's specs read like a wishlist of features like its spacious side pockets, its sunglasses holder and multi-pocket lid. One of its most clever features is a hydration reservoir that converts to a fast and light daypack with a shoulder harness and accessory pocket. Another is how easy it is to adjust to find the perfect fit.

If you want to lighten the pack and leave the floating lid behind, the sleeping bag divider toggles in and turns into a lightweight top flap. Six pockets help organize gear, while a hidden rain cover helps protect against unwanted precipitation. Gregory engineers designed this pack to have plenty of harness ventilation, too, and they did it without cutting into its capacity. The trekking pole loop worked just as well for a mountaineering axe and the pack itself has enough space to be used year-round. Thankfully, Gregory even made the zipper pulls and straps glove-friendly.

Weight: 3.37 pounds.

The best everyday pack also good for backpacking

Campus pack, crag pack, weekend bad, and backpacking bag, Mountainsmith's Mayhem 45 does it all. This zip-top pack has plenty of space for the gear you'll need for an overnighter and clever features that let you overstuff it, including stretchy side pockets, an expanding front pocket, and sturdy lash points.

Side compression straps secure your gear in each of the side pockets, as well as a tent or sleeping bag you might have strapped to the outside. The Mayhem's Spectra pack fabric is unbelievably tough, too. Drag it, scrape it, and use it hard for weeks, months, and years — it'll hold up to almost anything.

But nothing about this pack, from fabric to subtly integrated ice axe holders, looks too tech-centric to use it as your daily driver. The main compartment held books and a jacket as well as a sleeping bag and pots. The harness is fixed, so measure your torso before you buy to make sure you get the right size. 

Weight: 3 lbs, 8 oz.

• There are two types of millennials, says a generational expert: "me-llennials" and "mega-llennials."
• The two parts of the generation are defined, respectively, by two different life paths. One group is moving forward professionally and financially, while the other feels their life has stagnated.
• Me-llennials feel behind in their career and finances as they struggle with student-loan debt and the fallout of the recession.
• Mega-llennials are more ahead, and don't identify with the negative stereotypes associated with their generation.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Do you feel like a typical millennial who's overwhelmed by financial struggles? Or conversely, do you feel like you don't fit the stereotypical millennial mold at all?

Either way, you're not alone.

Jason Dorsey, a consultant, researcher of millennials, and president of the Center for Generational Kinetics, told Business Insider that there are two types of American millennials. This generational split, he said, has nothing to do with age (millennials will turn ages 24 to 39 in 2020). Rather, it's associated with life paths and stages.

He coined two terms to describe each of these cohorts: "me-llennials" are floundering financially and might feel lost in life, whereas "mega-llennials" are ahead of the game.

"While mega-llennials and me-llennials come from the same schools and towns, as they get older they see themselves further apart from one another as one group moves forward with their career and aspirations, while the other group feels like they're not making the progress they imagined they would at this point in their life," he said. 

Me-llennials feel behind financially and professionally

"Me-llennials are still struggling to find their place in their career, finances, and life direction," Dorsey said. He likened them to late bloomers.

The culprit in how long it's taking them to get on their feet is the affordability crisis many millennials are facing, which was triggered by the ongoing fallout of the recession, rising living costs, and increasing student debt.

Many millennials entered a tough job market post-recession: They had difficulty finding jobs and those who did experienced stagnant wages. Initial income loss early on in a career ultimately laid the foundation for a slow path to wealth building. 

While millennials overall have benefited from a 67% rise in wages since 1970, according to Student Loan Hero, that increase isn't enough to keep up with inflating living costs. Multiple studies show that millennials have less purchasing power than previous generations did at the same age. 

As evidence of millenials' dire financial situation, look no further than skyrocketing college tuition, which has more than doubled since the 1980s. The average student-loan debt per graduating student in 2018 who took out loans neared $30,000. Such debt makes it hard to save money for things like retirement and housing, the cost of which has also climbed.

It's a combination of factors that have left many millennials financially behind. Dorsey noted that many of the millennials he and his team interviewed said they haven't yet found a path or feel they're not in control of their finances and life direction.

"They really feel like they are spinning their wheels, yet getting older," he said. Dorsey anticipates they'll be "just fine," but that it's just taking them longer to feel like they're progressing in their jobs, career, and personal finances. 

Because mega-llennials are more ahead, they don't identify as millennials

Then there's the group of millennials who don't feel they quite fit this story. Dorsey dubbed this group with the "mega" prefix for the "outsized advantage" they have over me-llennials.

"It's almost like they got a head start," he said of mega-llennials. "They've been working and doing normal work-related stuff, but often are not getting attention for it."

A recent survey by Insider and Morning Consult found that millennials overall think they're doing better than their peers, indicating that the situation on the ground for some may be better than we believe.

According to the survey, 46% of millennials think their finances are somewhat or much better off than others in their generation; meanwhile, only 36% think they are somewhat or much worse off.

And only 35% of millennials think they have more debt than their peers, while 48% think they have less debt.

When asked how they would rate their financial health, only 37% said not very good or not good at all. This all goes to show that though things may be rough for the generation, the reality may not be quite as bad as the story they're told.

Research has also found that, despite their reputation for being difficult, entitled, and spoiled, millennials are actually optimistic and resilient hard workers, Business Insider's Libby Kane previously reported. Perhaps that's why this part of the generation doesn't identify with the term "millennial." According to Dorsey, "they feel they [don't] match the negative stereotypes, such as the often-touted sense of entitlement."

Dorsey said the distance mega-llennials feel from these stereotypes is the most talked-about part of his sub-generations concept simply because so many millennials relate to it. "They feel someone has finally recognized them and that they don't fit the typical millennial meme," he said.

SEE ALSO: The Great Recession split the millennial generation down the middle, creating 2 groups with very different financial habits

DON'T MISS: Brokest, loneliest, and richest: Here's how the world sees American millennials in 2019

Join the conversation about this story »

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• From the California coast to the forests of Maine, American authors have drawn inspiration from every corner of the United States.
• Based on staff recommendations and internet research, Business Insider compiled a list of the most famous books set in each state.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Do you need a new book to read for the New Year? Did you just move to a new state, or are you looking to armchair travel? Business Insider has you covered.

After scouring the internet and surveying our colleagues on their picks, we rounded up the most famous book set in every state in America. Here we've presented them, listed by state, in alphabetical order.

If you want to see every book in an organized chart, scroll to the end to see our map.

Melissa Stanger contributed reporting on a previous version of this post.

SEE ALSO: 22 books that will expand your mind and change your life, according to a productivity expert

NOW READ: Here's the income you need to live comfortably in every state in the US

ALABAMA: "To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee

When a local attorney is asked to defend an African American man accused of rape, he has to decide between doing what's right and doing what society expects of him, launching his children right in the middle of the conflict.

This Pulitzer Prize winner is set in Maycomb, a community divided by racism and inspired by Lee's hometown of Monroeville. 

Buy the book here »

ALASKA: "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer

A young man from a family of money donates all of his savings to charity and abandons his possessions before hitchhiking into the Alaskan wilderness to reinvent himself.

This true story survival-drama was made into a movie of the same name in 2007, directed by Sean Penn and starring Emile Hirsch, shedding light on McCandless' idealism of a life unburdened by material possessions and the harsh realities of the Alaskan wild.

Buy the book here »

ARIZONA: "The Bean Trees" by Barbara Kingsolver

Taylor is well on her way to escaping small-town life. But shortly into her journey to Tucson, Arizona, where she hopes to start over, a stranger leaves her with a Native American toddler with a traumatic past.

Kingsolver's story of finding salvation in a barren situation is packed with real places and events.

Buy the book here »

ARKANSAS: "A Painted House" by John Grisham

Luke Chandler lives on a cotton farm with his parents and grandparents and suddenly finds himself keeping the deadly secrets of harvest workers. The legal-thriller follows the seven-year-old as he grows up and loses his innocence in the 1950s.

The narrator's upbringing in rural Arkansas inspired this coming-of-age tale.

Buy the book here »

CALIFORNIA: "Play It As It Lays" by Joan Didion

Joan Didion's 1970 novel established her as a master fiction writer in addition to an already-acclaimed nonfiction one. Set in Nevada, New York, and Hollywood, it's "an indictment of Hollywood culture" in the 1960s and utterly gripping in its intensity. Didion and her husband, John Gregory Dunne, adapted the book into a movie in 1972.

Buy the book here »

COLORADO: "The Shining" by Stephen King

A recovering alcoholic writer accepts a position as winter caretaker of the isolated Overlook Hotel, which sits in the Colorado Rockies. He moves in with his family, including five-year-old son Danny, who has psychic abilities and begins to witness aspects of the hotel's horrific past.

The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, which inspired the fictional Overlook, offers a Ghost Adventure Package for guests.

Buy the book here »

CONNECTICUT: "Revolutionary Road" by Richard Yates

Considered the original anti-suburban novel, "Revolutionary Road" follows a young, bright couple marooned in Connecticut and trying to escape pressure to conform in the 1950s. Their failed attempts to be different lead to self-destructive affairs and a psychotic breakdown.

In 2008, the book was adapted into a movie of the same name starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.

Buy the book here »

DELAWARE: "The Saint of Lost Things" by Christopher Castellani

Seven years after settling in Wilmington, an Italian couple is still in pursuit of the American Dream. Maddalena sews at a factory, but desperately wants to be a mother, while her husband's nighttime escapades threaten to unravel all their hard work.

Castellani wove bits of his own family history into the book. His Italian father, who emigrated to Wilmington after World War II, dreamed of opening a restaurant in Wilmington's Little Italy neighborhood just like Maddalena's husband did.

Buy the book here »

FLORIDA: "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston

A classic work of African-American literature, "Their Eyes Were Watching God" is about Janie Crawford, a woman living in the town of Eaton, Florida. Hurston was one of the most prominent writers of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s and 1930s, publishing the novel in 1937. But she slipped into obscurity in the later years of her life, and "Eyes" went out of print until Alice Walker championed her in the 1970s. Now, the book is taught in classrooms around the country.

Buy the book here »

GEORGIA: "Gone with the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell

Mitchell's 1936 classic love story, set in the South during the Civil War and its aftermath, introduced the world to Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler. O'Hara, the young spoiled daughter of a plantation owner, and her rogue star-crossed lover are torn apart and reunited through the tragedies and comedies of the human existence.

Mitchell spent nine years writing her manuscript, and the ensuing, unwanted fame led her to vow she would never write again.

Buy the book here »

HAWAII: "Hawaii" by James Michener

The first of Michener's mammoth sagas, "Hawaii" tells the islands' history, from its creation by volcanic activity to its evolving identity as the most recent of the 50 US states.

Michener sought to show how Hawaii harmonizes different cultures and races, as a template that would benefit the rest of the country. However, he and his wife, the daughter of Japanese immigrants, faced harsh discrimination while living there.

Buy the book here »

IDAHO: "Housekeeping" by Marilynne Robinson

Little to do with housekeeping, Robinson's poetic story follows two orphaned girls who are cared for by eccentric female relatives in the fictional town of Fingerbone.

Robinson describes the town as "chastened by an outsized landscape and extravagant weather." This, and many other details in "Housekeeping," conjure images of her own Idaho hometown of Sandpoint.

Buy the book here »

ILLINOIS: "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair

The story of a Lithuanian immigrant employed in Chicago's stockyards, where Sinclair worked undercover to research for the book, revealed the poverty, hopelessness, unpleasant living and working conditions experienced by meatpacking laborers in the early 20th century.

The book's graphic depictions of the slaughterhouse work caused a public uproar that contributed to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act six months after "The Jungle" was published.

Buy the book here »

INDIANA: "The Magnificent Ambersons" by Booth Tarkington

Written by a native Hoosier, the novel centers on characters struggling to preserve their status during the rapid industrialization between the Civil War and 20th century. The aristocratic Amberson family loses its prestige and wealth as "new money" tycoons take over.

Woodruff Place, Indianapolis' earliest suburb, was the setting for Tarkington's "The Magnificent Ambersons," which Orson Welles later adapted as a movie.

Buy the book here »

IOWA: "A Thousand Acres" by Jane Smiley

When an Iowa farmer decides to retire, he plans to divide his thousand acres of land among his three daughters. The youngest objects, setting off a chain of events that unleashes long-suppressed emotions and secrets. It's a modern-day "King Lear."

Smiley's narrator describes the farm in Zebulon County as "paid for, no encumbrances, as flat and fertile, black, friable and exposed as any piece of land on the face of the earth," like a lot of land in Iowa.

Buy the book here »

KANSAS: "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum

There's no place like the Great Kansas Plains.

Baum's imaginative tale of Dorothy Gale from Kansas and her Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion friends was the best-selling children's story of the 1900 Christmas season and spawned the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz."

Buy the book here »

KENTUCKY: "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Uncle Tom, a long-suffering black slave, is sold by the Shelby family and begins a journey that, for 19th-century readers, depicted the realities of slavery and endorsed the power of Christian love to overcome all obstacles.

Stowe based the abolitionist novel on the first-hand stories of former enslaved peoples in Kentucky, a slave state, while she lived across the Ohio River in Cincinnati. Its powerful condemnation of slavery fueled the human rights debate in the mid-19th century.

Buy the book here »

LOUISIANA: "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole

"A Confederacy of Dunces" is one of the funniest American novels ever published. It's hard to describe, but it's basically about a 30-year-old man named Ignatius J. Reilly who lives with his mother in New Orleans. Reilly is educated and philosophically opposed to having a job, but has to confront reality when his mom makes him get one.

The story behind the novel is as famous as the novel itself. It was Toole's first published novel, published 11 years after his death after being championed by his mother and the writer Walker Percy. It was released to instant acclaim, winning a rare posthumous Pulitzer Prize.

Buy the book here »

MAINE: "Carrie" by Stephen King

Carrie, a shy high school girl raised by an unstable, Christian fundamentalist mother, discovers she has telekinetic powers. When her classmates falsely crown her prom queen in an elaborate effort to humiliate her, she enacts her supernatural revenge.

Stephen King is Maine's biggest champion in literature, and "Carrie" takes place in the fictional town of Chamberlain.

Buy the book here »

MARYLAND: "Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant" by Anne Tyler

Another Baltimore-based novel by Tyler, "Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant" tells how three siblings remember growing up with their perfectionist mother as she lies on her deathbed. The Pulitzer Prize-nominated novel examines how the siblings' recollections vary drastically.

Tyler's characters live in Charles Village, near her long-time residence.

Buy the book here »

MASSACHUSETTS: "Walden" by Henry David Thoreau

"Walden" is the product of transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau's two-year retreat into the woods, an experiment in isolation, simple living, and self-reliance. By immersing himself in nature, he hoped to understand society more objectively.

Encompassing 61 acres, Walden Pond is the crown jewel of the greater Walden Woods ecosystem in Concord.

Buy the book here »

MICHIGAN: "The Virgin Suicides" by Jeffrey Eugenides

"The Virgin Suicides" is a gripping tale of five beautiful yet eccentric sisters who commit suicide all in the same year in Gross Pointe, Michigan. It is written from the perspective of an anonymous group of boys who are observant, infatuated, and endlessly struggling to explain the tragedy.

Eugenides said he was inspired by the deterioration of the state's auto industry and the "feeling of growing up in Detroit, in a city losing population, and in perpetual crisis."

Buy the book here »

MINNESOTA: "Main Street" by Sinclair Lewis

"Main Street" reveals two sides of Minnesota: the thriving metropolis of Saint Paul, where the heroine is from, and the dried-up small town she moves to after much convincing from her new husband. The young woman falls victim to the narrow-mindedness and unimaginative nature of the townspeople.

The author used his birthplace of Sauk Centre as a mold for the fictionalized Gopher Prairie setting.

Buy the book here »

MISSISSIPPI: "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner

"The Sound and the Fury" encapsulates the decline of the American South through the dysfunctional Compson family, who face financial ruin during the Roaring Twenties and lose the respect of the townspeople in Jefferson, Mississippi.

Many readers complained that the book's stream of consciousness style was hard to follow. Faulkner's advice was to "read it four times," he told the Paris Review.

Buy the book here »

MISSOURI: "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain

This classic coming-of-age story set alongside the Mississippi River follows Tom Sawyer, a young boy who preoccupies himself with pulling pranks and impressing a girl—until he witnesses a murder. Tom and his companions run away to an island, but eventually return to take up treasure hunting.

Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which which inspired the setting of "Tom Sawyer" and "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."

Buy the book here »

MONTANA: "A River Runs Through It" by Norman Maclean

"A River Runs Through It" is the semi-autobiographical tale of everyday life in the west for two brothers who are the sons of a local pastor.

Set amidst the beautiful, wondrous landscape of Montana, the two boys — one dutiful and one rebellious — each grow up and discover themselves, turning, at times, to dark places, but always under the footfalls of their father.

Buy the book here »

NEBRASKA: "My Ántonia" by Willa Cather

The reader meets Ántonia Shimerda through a written account from the narrator, Jim Burden, a young man who moves to the fictional town of Black Hawk, Nebraska, to live with his grandparents.

Through Jim's lens of love and infatuation, Ántonia is brought to life as a young Bohemian girl with many trials and triumphs. The reader grows to know her and, simultaneously, the author as well, who wrote the novel from details of her own life in Nebraska.

Buy the book here »

NEVADA: "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" by Hunter S. Thompson

"Fear and Loathing" follows a journalist, Raoul Duke, and his attorney, Dr. Gonzo, on a trip to Las Vegas to cover an event taking place there.

However, the two are preoccupied and saddened by what they perceive as the decline of 1960s American pop culture and begin experimenting with drugs. Much of the book is seen through their hallucinations and twisted realities, which are only fueled by the hyperreal surroundings of Sin City.

Buy the book here »

NEW HAMPSHIRE: "The Hotel New Hampshire" by John Irving

Containing all the classic John Irving tropes — a bear, rape, body-building, and social privilege — "The Hotel New Hampshire" follows a peculiar family as they open hotels in New Hampshire, Vienna, and Maine.

The book evokes Irving's upbringing in the back woods of New Hampshire.

Buy the book here »

NEW JERSEY: "Drown" by Junot Díaz

Based on Díaz's own experiences as a Dominican immigrant who moved to New Jersey, the 10 short stories in "Drown" perfectly tell of the struggles the New Jersey immigrant community faces, from poverty to homesickness to the language barrier.

The outlook is often grim, but thanks to Díaz's riveting and intoxicating narrative, we manage to see the characters' unsentimental determination for a better life.

Buy the book here »

NEW MEXICO: "Cities of the Plain" by Cormac McCarthy

The final book in McCarthy's Border Trilogy, "Cities of the Plain" is about a doomed romance in the American frontier between a man and a prostitute who runs afoul of a pimp.

The novel is set in New Mexico on the border of the United States and Mexico.

Buy the book here »

NEW YORK: "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

"The Great Gatsby" tells the story of Jay Gatsby, a young, lovesick millionaire, through the eyes of his friend and next-door neighbor, Nick Carraway. The novel progresses as Gatsby tries to rekindle his love with Daisy Buchanan, Nick's cousin.

Through Gatsby's shady business dealings and his extravagant wealthy lifestyle on Long Island, Fitzgerald reveals a world in New York that is both terribly beautiful and terribly corrupt.

Buy the book here »

NORTH CAROLINA: "A Walk to Remember" by Nicholas Sparks

This Sparks romance novel, made famous by its film adaptation starring Mandy Moore, shows the unlikely, blossoming love between two high school students from Beaufort: Landon Carter, a popular rebel, and Jamie Sullivan, a quiet bookworm.

While Landon tries to get closer to Jamie, she pushes him away, fearing that a secret will end things between them before it begins.

Buy the book here »

NORTH DAKOTA: "The Round House" by Louise Erdrich

A woman living on a North Dakota Indian reservation is attacked, but police have a hard time investigating the case when she is unwilling to discuss what transpired.

Her son takes matters into his own hands, recruiting his friends to find out what happened and bring justice to his family and tribe.

Buy the book here »

OHIO: "The Broom of the System" by David Foster Wallace

In Foster Wallace's slightly altered view of Ohio in 1990, we follow our heroine, Lenore Stonecipher Beadsman, a telephone operator and secretary who juggles a job with barely any purpose, a relationship with her much-older boss, and the task of finding her decrepit grandmother.

The grandmother, along with 25 other residents of the Shaker Heights Nursing Home, has managed to disappear without a trace.

Buy the book here »

OKLAHOMA: "Paradise" by Toni Morrison

"Paradise" chronicles tensions between the patriarchal, all-black town of Ruby, which was founded by the descendants of free slaves intent on isolating themselves from the outside world, and a nearby community of five women, each seeking refuge from the past.

Morrison conceived the idea for "Paradise" after researching the all-black towns in Oklahoma that formed when newly freed men left plantations under duress.

Buy the book here »

OREGON: "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" by Ken Kesey

Randle McMurphy barges into an Oregon mental institution one day and decides to rally the patients against the tyranny of Nurse Ratched. McMurphy stirs more trouble as he smuggles in women, alcohol, and other contraband, leading to an all-out war between him and the institution.

Told through the eyes of one of the patients, Kesey reveals bits of his own background. He previously worked as an orderly in a mental health ward.

Buy the book here »

PENNSYLVANIA: "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold

"The Lovely Bones" is a dark, gripping tale about Susie Salmon, a young girl who was brutally raped and murdered in the cornfields of Norristown. It's told from her point of view after her death.

Looking down on her family from heaven, Susie watches as they come to terms with what happened to her and try to solve a case that, to police, seems to lead nowhere.

Buy the book here »

RHODE ISLAND: "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult

Anna has always been her older sister Kate's lifesaver. She's undergone countless surgeries, transplants, and donations to help save her sick sister, but when doctors discover that Anna is now a match to be Kate's bone marrow donor, Anna decides to sue for the right to control her own body.

Picoult shows the heartbreaking pull between freedom and family in this Rhode Island-set novel.

Buy the book here »

SOUTH CAROLINA: "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd

Lily Owens is a young girl growing up in 1960s South Carolina with an abusive father and an African American nanny who serves as a surrogate mother. When her nanny lands herself in jail for insulting some white men, Lily breaks her out and the two run away — seeking refuge among three eccentric bee-keeping sisters.

Monk Kidd injects some of her own southern upbringing into this contemporary heartwarming novel.

Buy the book here »

SOUTH DAKOTA: "A Long Way From Home" by Tom Brokaw

"A Long Way From Home" details Brokaw's own "American pilgrimage," from boyhood on the Missouri River into a career in broadcast journalism in the 60s.

In Brokaw's honest narrative, we see how much his life has been shaped by growing up in South Dakota and the historic events he lived through as a child and young adult.

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TENNESSEE: "A Death in the Family" by James Agee

"A Death in the Family" is the only novel by the polymath writer James Agee. It's a semiautobiographical book about the emotional reverberations in a family after a father dies in a car accident. Set in Knoxville, it lyrically captures the feelings of every character, from the inner mind of a child to the tragedy of a widow.

The novel was published posthumously, after Agee died of a heart attack at 45, and won the Pulitzer Prize. He was also an acclaimed screenwriter, critic, and journalist.

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TEXAS: "No Country for Old Men" by Cormac McCarthy

Made famous by the film of the same name starring Javier Bardem, "No Country for Old Men" is Cormac McCarthy's masterpiece about a drug deal-gone-wrong on the Texas-Mexico border. The event left a group of men dead and $2 million in an abandoned truck.

Llewellyn Moss, who discovered the scene, takes the money and gets swept up in the illicit drug business.

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UTAH: "The 19th Wife" by David Ebershoff

Ebershoff weaves a novel based on the life of Ann Eliza Young, one of the wives of Mormon leader Brigham Young, who escapes her oppressive husband and embarks on a mission to end polygamy. The tale is juxtaposed against a modern-day story, following a young Mormon man who was cast out of the church and is trying to re-enter to solve his father's murder.

In this work of historical fiction, Ebershoff takes a critical look at polygamy through his side-by-side narratives.

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VERMONT: "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt

Tartt's debut novel tells the story of six classics students at a fictional Vermont college and was a sensation when it was released in 1992. It's narrated by Richard Papen, one of the students, who recounts the story of a murder that happened among them.

The story takes a classic whodunnit premise and situates it in an coming-of-age story as well as the intellectual world of classic literature. "Forceful, cerebral and impeccably controlled, 'The Secret History' achieves just what Ms. Tartt seems to have set out to do: It marches with cool, classical inevitability toward its terrible conclusion," Michiko Kakutani wrote in the New York Times in her review of the novel.

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VIRGINIA: "Bridge to Terabithia" by Katherine Patterson

Jesse Aarons wants to be the fastest runner in his rural Virginia elementary school and almost realizes his dream until a new girl shows up and outruns everyone. This leads to an unlikely friendship between Jesse and the girl, Leslie, who together invent a magic wooded kingdom they call Terabithia.

The book is loosely based on events from Patterson's own childhood, which she spent in the greater DC area.

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WASHINGTON: "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer

The small town of Forks, Washington, became famous as the setting for Meyer's best-selling vampire book series.

Bella Swan moves from her mom's house to live with her dad in Forks where she meets Edward Cullen, a quiet, handsome young man at her new high school. Edward usually keeps to himself, but he is drawn to Bella and can't seem to stay away from her — for a shocking reason.

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WASHINGTON, DC: "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown

In this story of espionage, conspiracies, and buried American secrets, "The Da Vinci Code" author Dan Brown has done it again.

Brown's beloved character Robert Langdon returns in his latest thriller, this time chasing down his mentor's kidnapper in DC while trying to decode five puzzling symbols linked to the Free Masons that could be the key to rescuing his mentor.

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WEST VIRGINIA: "Shiloh" by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

In Friendly, a young boy finds a puppy he names Shiloh in the hills behind his home. But Shiloh belongs to Judd, a scary town-drunk who beats the dog.

Now the boy, who's made a friend in Shiloh, will do anything to save him.

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WISCONSIN: "Little House in the Big Woods" by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The classic characters Laura, Mary, and their family struggle to make a home for themselves in Ingalls Wilder's beloved "Little House" children's book series.

Based in part on Ingalls Wilder's own journey around the Midwest, young Laura and Mary, along with their parents and baby sister Carrie, learn to survive the long winter, fend for themselves, and take care of each other in this true-to-life work.

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WYOMING: "The Laramie Project" by Moises Kaufman

Kaufman wrote "The Laramie Project" as a play to recount the murder of Matthew Shepard, a young gay man who became the victim of an extreme hate crime in a quiet Wyoming town.

Shepard is remembered and honored from the perspective of family and friends as Kaufman takes a lens to the stubborn intolerance in society.

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• Giovanni Ferrero is the richest man in Italy and the secretive billionaire behind the Ferrero Group.
• The Ferrero Group is the world's second-largest chocolatier and the maker of Nutella, Ferrero Rocher, and Tic Tacs.
• Ferrero is also a part-time novelist.
• Ferrero made $9.63 billion in 2019, bringing his current net worth to $32 billion.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Nutella has a devoted fan base that supports Nutella cafes and even a Nutella-themed hotel in Napa Valley. But no one might love it more than Giovanni Ferrero, the Italian billionaire who built a multibillion-dollar fortune from the chocolatey spread.

Ferrero's father invented Nutella in 1964, and its immense popularity in Italy helped grow the family chocolate shop into a multibillion-dollar business that now also produces Ferrero Rocher, Tic Tac mints, Kinder chocolate, and Butterfinger bars, Forbes reported. Despite the ubiquity of its products, both Ferrero himself and the company have maintained an extremely low profile, to the point where their security measures have been compared to those of NASA.

A representative of the Ferrero Group did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment on Ferrero's net worth, career, or personal life.

Keep reading to see what we know about the secretive billionaire at the helm of one of the world's largest confectionery empires.

SEE ALSO: White Claw billionaire Anthony von Mandl got his start selling wine out of his car. Here's how he built a $3.4 billion fortune off the hard seltzers and lemonades that have redefined booze for bros.

DON'T MISS: Meet Zhang Yiming, the secretive, 35-year-old Chinese billionaire behind TikTok who made over $12 billion in 2018

Giovanni Ferrero, 55, is the youngest son of Nutella inventor Michele Ferrero.

Giovanni Ferrero was born in Italy in April 1964, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Ferrero attended the European School, a Belgian boarding school, according to the National Italian American Foundation.

Ferrero went on to study marketing at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pennsylvania, according to NIAF.

Ferrero joined his father and brother in the family business after graduating.

Ferrero's first job at the family company was for the Tic Tac brand in Belgium, according to Forbes.

The Ferrero Group originated when Ferrero's grandfather, Pietro Ferrero, opened a chocolate shop in Alba, Italy, in 1946, Forbes reported. The store's main product was Supercrema, a hazelnut spread born from wartime chocolate shortages; it was the precursor to Nutella.

Over 70 years later, the Ferrero Group is the world's second-largest confectionery company. The company sold $11.9 billion worth of sweets in the fiscal year ending in August 2018, Bloomberg reported.

Thanks to various product additions and company acquisitions, the Ferrero Group's products now include Tic Tac mints; Kinder chocolates; Baby Ruth, Butterfinger, and Crunch candy bars; and Keebler, Famous Amos, and Little Brownie Bakers cookies; in addition to Nutella and Ferrero Rocher, according to a July press release.

Giovanni and his brother Pietro became the company's co-CEOs in 1997.

Pietro managed the day to day logistics of the business and product development, while Giovanni focused on the creative aspect, Forbes reported. However, their arrangement ended abruptly when Pietro died in of a heart attack during a 2011 bicycling accident in South Africa, according to Forbes. Giovanni then became the Ferrero Group's sole CEO, while his father Michele stayed on as executive chairman.

Michele Ferrero died in 2015, leaving the company solely in Giovanni's hands.

Ferrero subsequently took over the role of executive chairman in 2015, Forbes reported. Ferrero held both the titles of CEO and executive chairman for two years until he hired Lapo Civiletti to take over as the company's CEO in 2017.

Ferrero doesn't have the personality you'd necessarily expect of a billionaire businessman.

Giovanni was the "more introverted" of Ferrero brothers, according to The Wall Street Journal. Forbes' Noah Kirsch described Ferrero as "thin, well-dressed, and with a disarming giggle," with "more the air of a game-show host than a billionaire factory owner," after interviewing him in June 2018.

However, Kirsch did note that Ferrero "speaks in streams of corporate jargon ('dimensional thresholds,' 'growth momentum,' 'focalization') inflected with arcane data."

Since becoming the company's sole leader, Ferrero bucked some of its decades-long traditions.

Since taking over as executive chairman, Ferrero made the first acquisitions in the chocolatier's history and hired its first CEO who was not a family member, Forbes reported.

The Ferrero Group bought British chocolatier Thorntons for $170 million in 2015, Butterfinger and BabyRuth maker Nestlé's US candy business for $2.8 billion in 2018, and Kellogg's cookie businesses in 2019, according to a Forbes report and a press release. The acquisitions are in stark contrast to Ferrero's father's business plan, which focused on building in-house brands.

"Tradition is like a bow," Ferrero wrote in an email to The Wall Street Journal's Manuela Mesco in 2016. "The more we stretch the bowstring, the farther we can throw the arrows of modernity and innovation."

Ferrero's innovations seem to paying off. The billionaire added $9.63 billion to his net worth in 2019.

Ferrero is now worth $32 billion, Bloomberg estimates, up 43.1% from the start of 2019. That makes him the 27th richest person on Earth, worth more than both Elon Musk and Michael Dell, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Ferrero and his family are the sole owners of the Ferrero Group, according to Bloomberg. Giovanni Ferrero's stake alone is worth over $23 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Ferrero doesn't spend all his time working. He also writes novels on the side.

Ferrero has written eight novels, several of which are set in Africa, according to Forbes.

His most recent book, a novel entitled "Il cacciatore di luce" ("The Light Hunter") that follows a African painter who is diagnosed with leukemia, was published in 2016 according to its Amazon page.

Ferrero is married to European Commission official Paola Rossi.

The size of the couple's family is unclear, however. Forbes' Billionaires List and Reuters each say the couple has two children, while the Bloomberg Billionaires Index indicates they have none.

The family lives in Brussels, Belgium.

Ferrero runs the company from Luxembourg however, Forbes reported.

Ferrero's father Michele lived in Monte Carlo and worked in Italy, commuting between the two locations via helicopter, according to The Washington Post, so it's possible Ferrero has a similar arrangement.

Both Ferrero himself and his eponymous company are extremely private.

The Ferrero Group is "one of the world's most secretive firms," The Guardian's John Hooper wrote in 2010.

The chocolate maker allowed journalists to tour its plant in Alba, Italy,for the first time in the company's 65-year history in 2011 and its chairman did his first-ever interview with an American media outlet in 2018.

The Ferrero Group previously banned tours of its factories for fear of "industrial espionage," as the designs of its equipment and Nutella recipe are closely guarded secrets, the Washington Post's Sarah Kaplan reported. One anonymous executive compared the company's security measures to those of NASA, according to The Guardian.

Ferrero's father behaved similarly, hiding the details of his life from the press and wearing dark glasses whenever he appeared in public, the Washington Post reported.

• More 30-something women are having babies than ever before.
• However, fertility declines with age, making it more difficult to get pregnant and increasing the risk of medical complications.
• Getting pregnant at an older age may also increase mental health risks, but experts are unsure about the exact relationship between the two.
• There are also benefits to having a baby later in life, like being more financially and emotionally prepared.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The US birthrate is the lowest it's been in 32 years— and that's not the only change in birthing patterns happening right now.

For the first time, more 30-something women are having babies than women in their 20s, a difference that grew in 2018, according to a 2019 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But what about that infamous biological clock? As Dr. Sherry A. Ross, women's health expert and author of "she-ology," told Business Insider, it's "alive and well."

So what does that mean, physically and mentally, for the increasing number of women who are having kids later in life? Business Insider talked to three experts to find out.

The physical risks

The whole basis of the biological clock is that, as a woman ages, so do her eggs and thus her fertility. 

The ideal age to get pregnant is when fertility peaks, Dr. Ross said: between ages 20 and 24, when genetic abnormality risks and maternal and fetal complications are at an all-time low. According to Ross, women ages 20 to 34 have an 84% of getting pregnant. That's compared to those ages 35 to 40, who have a 75% chance of getting pregnant.

A woman's ability to have a baby begins declining "gradually but significantly around age 32," according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. After age 35, fertility declines quickly and the risk of miscarriage and difficulties conceiving rise, the experts said.

"After 37, fertility declines at an [increasing] pace, so that by the time a woman is between 40 and 45, her fertility has decreased by as much as 95%," Dr. Ross said. "The ticking of the biological clock becomes louder at 40, and by 45, it can be deafening along with pregnancy complications."

In fact, women over age 35 are at 20% to 30% more risk for genetic abnormalities, high blood pressure, diabetes, pre-term labor, and cesarean sections; this increases to over 50% at age 40, according to Dr. Ross. There's also a higher likelihood of miscarriage or stillbirth, whether due to genetic or health problems, or unexplained reasons, Dr. Dorothy Fink, deputy assistant secretary for women's health and director of the office on women's health at the US Department of Health and Human Services, told Business Insider.

The mental effect

The increased physical risks that come with having kids later in life are clear, but what about mental health risks? Patients and physicians commonly misperceive mental illness, and it's still not taken as seriously as other medical conditions during pregnancy, according to Dr. Ross.

While mental illness is often diagnosed in women of all ages during and after pregnancy, more than half (52%) of women over age 40 suffer from depression and anxiety during pregnancy, Dr. Ross said, citing data from the National Center for Biotechnology Information. Mothers over age 40 are three times more likely to suffer from depression when compared to women ages 30 to 35.

But Dr. Alyssa Dweck, a gynecologist in New York City, said she's unsure whether the risk of depression and anxiety is elevated due to pregnancy, age, or both.

"With age might come other life stresses such as illness, aging parents, and work-related stress and responsibilities," she said, adding that potential assisted reproductive efforts — such as IVF or donor eggs — and the pregnancy risks that come with trying to conceive at a more advanced age may increase mental health risks. "[It's] hard to tease these issues apart."

And while some studies show older mothers have a higher risk of mental health concerns, others show no link, Dr. Fink said. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, there's a higher risk of mental health concerns in women giving birth for the first time, women with health complications, women who undergo fertility treatments, and mothers of children with health problems.

A mother's depression is also associated with lower than average birthweight and pre-term deliveries, as well as problems in children such as impaired cognitive development, according to Ricardo F. Muñoz, a professor of clinical psychology, in an article for Nature.

"Since those risks tend to affect older women at higher rates, it is hard to say if age has a strong effect," Dr. Fink said. "All women giving birth are at risk for mental health concerns, particularly depression and anxiety, and older women may experience them at higher rates for various reasons."

The benefits of having children later in life

But giving birth in your 30s isn't full of only downsides. While women in their 20s might have less chance of medical ailments, women in their 30s might be better off financially and experientially, Dr. Dweck said.

Research also shows that moms who first gave birth in their early 30s report higher energy, better fitness, and fewer aches and pains compared to moms who first gave birth in their early 20s, Andrea Schmitz and Benji Jones previously reported for Business Insider.

And, according to Jenn Sinrich for Parents, studies show that older moms are more likely to be emotionally prepared and more likely to live longer. Studies also indicate benefits for the child, she wrote, such as decreased risk of accidental injuries and a higher likelihood of being better educated.

Many women are able to have kids in both their 20s and 30s, according to Dr. Fink. "Have a conversation with your healthcare provider about your medical history and your personal risk factors for complications in conceiving or carrying a pregnancy to term," she said, especially if you're a woman with conditions such as endometriosis and/or fibroids.

She added: "Also, stress can impact infertility ... identifying stress and de-stressing is not easy, but something that all women should think about!"

SEE ALSO: 7 ways millennials are changing marriage, from signing prenups to staying together longer than past generations

DON'T MISS: The US birthrate is the lowest it's been in 32 years, and it's partly because millennials can't afford having kids

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• Samsung just unveiled a new TV called the Sero that can rotate between vertical and horizontal orientations, a feature that allows your TV to resemble your smartphone.
• When synced with a Samsung Galaxy phone, the TV will be able to automatically rotate to match the orientation of your mobile device.
• It's just one of several unconventional TVs that we're expecting to see at CES, the annual technology conference in Las Vegas.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. 

Samsung just unveiled a new 4K TV called the Sero, which rotates between vertical and horizontal orientations to simulate the experience of using a smartphone.

The technology giant made the announcement ahead of CES, the annual tech conference in Las Vegas that's known for flashy product launches in the TV and smart home industry. The Sero TV will automatically rotate to match the orientation of the user's smartphone when synced with a Samsung Galaxy device, the company says, and it will be available in a 43-inch size.

Why would you want your big screen to resemble the small screen you carry around in your pocket? If you watch a lot of internet-delivered streams on your TV, going vertical could provide a better experience scrolling through long feeds such as selections of YouTube videos. And of course, a lot of the videos on YouTube and other services these days are shot on smartphones in portrait mode.

Samsung has not said when the Sero TV would launch or how much it will cost, and it's one of several TV-related announcements the company made just before CES. The tech giant also announced a new TV with an 8K borderless screen, which leaked before the announcement, and new screen sizes for The Frame TV.

It's not unusual for unconventional TVs in new form factors to arrive at CES or just before it. LG has flaunted its "rollable" TV screens at CES over the past two years, which roll up like a poster when not in use. This year, the company will be showing a rollable TV that can be concealed in a ceiling and pulled down like a projector when needed. 

But it's also worth considering that much of what is shown at CES ends up being vaporware: that is, products that never actually make it to market. The rollable TV that LG showcased last year, for example, still hasn't been released. CES, however, isn't really about exhibiting the products that the general public will actually be able to buy. Rather, it's typically a reflection of the high-level trends that will shape the industry in the years ahead, which is why many tech firms debut new experimental ideas.

"It's a great place to spot trends and see which ecosystems are growing," Avi Greengart, founder and lead analyst at technology research firm Techsponential, said in a previous interview with Business Insider.

It remains to be seen whether a TV like the Sero will actually catch on with shoppers. But it's likely an effort by Samsung to appeal to younger audiences that are largely used to consuming entertainment on their phones.

It also comes as households in the US are increasingly choosing to watch TV through streaming apps that are available across phones, TVs, and other devices rather than traditional cable offerings. More respondents in Deloitte's survey from March 2019 said that they subscribe to a streaming TV service than a cable bundle for the first time, for example. 

SEE ALSO: This little-known Android phone is one of the most exciting smartphones of 2019 — and it costs only $500

Join the conversation about this story »

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