Decades from now, when books exist only in the form of inhalable pheromones, people will wonder how Jeffrey Toobin could manage to write The Nine, a best-selling page-turner about the secret culture of the Supreme Court. The answer, if any of you future-people are snorting this blurb right now, is bulletproof journalism and brilliant writing. The Oath: The Obama White House and the Supreme Court maintains those impeccable standards while exploring what is perhaps the weirdest, most contentious relationship between the executive and judicial branches of government in modern history. (Benaroya Hall, 200 University St, www.lectures.org, 7:30 pm, $5–$70)