Weekly Non-Fiction Reading List 10.17.22
This week, I finished eight books by some amazing authors. On the list, you’ll find some interesting books about how platforms like Amazon, Spotify, YouTube and others are creating monopolies and ruining content creation as well as books on ethics and some self-help. Enjoy!
Each of the links to the books are affiliate links, so if you use my link to purchase any of these books, some comes back to support what I do (and it also helps fund my reading habit).
Chokepoint Capitalism: How Big Tech and Big Content Captured Creative Labor Markets and How We'll Win Them Back by Cory Doctorow and Rebecca Giblin
I’ve been creating content on YouTube as well as self-publishing books for years now, and this is a must-read book for anyone who is a creative entrepreneur. Doctorow and Giblin did such an amazing job with this book taking the reader behind the curtain to show how all of the major platforms like Amazon, Spotify, Audible, YouTube and others create a “chokepoint” that screws over creators. I knew about a lot of what the book discussed, but I had no clue about a lot of it.
This is also an important book for those who are consumers of content. If you want to support the creatives you love, whether they’re YouTubers, writers or musicians, you need to understand how they’re being taken advantage of. This world doesn’t have nearly as many creators as there could be due to the fact that these platforms are screwing them. There are also other chokepoints like DRM that make the experience terrible for consumers as well by locking them into platforms.
Giblin and Doctorow also offer a ton of great solutions in this book. If I was forced to have a criticism of this book, I think it would have done better by discussing more stories about how this affects individual creatives. For example, the story about Audible’s return policy was great, but I really don’t care about multi-billion dollar companies like Epic Games losing money from Apple. Sections like would have been better if it had stories from small app developers.
But again, in this age where there are so many middlemen between consumers and creators, this is a must-read for everyone.
Wise as Fu*k: Simple Truths to Guide You Through the Sh*tstorms of Life by Gary John Bishop
I hit a depressive funk this morning and was sitting in self-pity, so I decided I needed Gary John Bishop to yell at me for a bit in his lovely Scottish accent. I realized I hadn’t read this one, so I grabbed the audiobook and finished it in a sitting. It’s on par with his others. The issue I’ve noticed with Bishop’s books is that he’s unable to capture the lightning in a bottle like he did with his first book because there are just so many different topics to cover. So, in this one, there were some topics that didn’t relate to anything I’m going through like the chapter on love or the chapter on loss. But, they’ll be there if I ever need them.
It’s worth the read if you’re like me and need some tough love now and then.
Everyone You Hate Is Going to Die: And Other Comforting Thoughts on Family, Friends, Sex, Love, and More Things That Ruin Your Life by Daniel Sloss
I was in a funk and needed a laugh along with some real talk, so I gave this other book a read. This is a great book, and Sloss has a good head on his shoulders. I just forgot how much of this book is directed toward single people. If you don’t know Daniel Sloss, he’s well known for his standup and how he’s got many people to leave their crappy relationships (and rightfully so). Other than that, it was fun to read again and also a good reminder to balance selfishness while being there for others and not to take everything so damn seriously.
Branding That Means Business: Economist Edge: Books That Give You the Edge by Matt Johnson and Tessa Misiaszek
This is a fantastic book that’s a must-read for any business, and it definitely has some great advice for individual entrepreneurs as well. Johnson and Misiaszek do a fantastic job explaining the importance of branding and how you build a loyal customer base by doing branding the right way. This book doesn’t have as much neuroscience and psychology as Johnson’s previous book Blindsight, but I enjoyed it just the same because it provided so much value and some great reminders about how to do branding the right way.
I think the best chapter on this book was about activism and brands taking a stance. This is a topic that nobody wants to talk about, but the authors actually had the guts to do it. These days, people are looking for brands to align with them morally and ethically, and this book teaches you the do’s and don’ts of how to do this the right way without it just seeming like PR.
Troll Hunting by Ginger Gorman
There are a ton of books about the rise of trolling on the internet, but none of them are like this incredible book. A lot of books just tell the history of 4chan, incels, the alt-right pipeline and trolling as a whole, but Giner Gorman got in it to write this book. After a personal experience she had with an online hate campaign from trolls, she wanted to understand what happened and why.
I’ve been waiting for a book to dive into the psychology of online trolls, and this book did that. While I still have a lot of questions, Gorman interviewed some psychologists who have some ideas and theories as to why trolls are the way they are. Ginger was able to ask psychologists the right questions because, throughout this journey, she was interviewing trolls along the way, and her conversations with them were really interesting and pretty nerve-wracking as well.
If you want to get into the mind of trolls and learn more about how social media platforms are doing basically nothing to stop them, check out this book.
The Persuaders: At the Front Lines of the Fight for Hearts, Minds, and Democracy by Anand Giridharadas
This book bored me out of my mind, which sucks because I absolutely loved Anand’s last book. I was so excited when I found out he had a new book coming out, but this book just fell flat. Anand travels the country interviewing people who do activism and trying to persuade others on political issues. There are definitely some interesting things that come up in the book, and if you’re into a ton of interviews and not much analysis, you might enjoy it.
I think what really made me salty about this book was his interviews with Alexandria Ocasio Cortez. I initially loved AOC like so many other progressives, but she’s fallen off hard. In this book, Anand paints her as a victim who can do no wrong, and it’s really strange. He’s usually not afraid to hold people accountable for places where they slipped up, but he was incapable of doing that with AOC, and I’m not sure why.
I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times by Mónica Guzmán
First off Monica is an amazing person. I’ve been extremely frustrated with talking to people with different political opinions for a while, so I decided to give this book another read. But upon reading it again almost a year later, I can honestly say I’ve had no luck with any of the strategies in this book. The problem is that regardless of how much you try to understand, it’s a complete waste of time if the person on the other side isn’t trying to do the same, nor are they trying to act in good faith.
Nothing against Monica and what Braver Angels is doing, but this really sees the world from this sort of naive, rose-colored lenses sort of way. What I’ve come to realize is that there’s a major sampling bias with what Braver Angels is doing. People who show up to their events want to change, learn or take some sort of action. That’s a very small portion of the population as a whole who has been divided into tribal sides and are unwilling to have any sort of good-faith conversations.
Lastly, someone needs to research and/or write a book about having these conversations online. It’s not really realistic to simply say, “Don’t have these conversations online,” where most of these conversations are taking place.
I recommend the book if (big if) you actually want to work on this stuff. For someone who wants to work on this, it’s the perfect book.
The Little Book of Big Ethical Questions by Susan Liautaud
This is a great book if you’re interested in thinking more deeply about ethical questions. I read Susan’s other book not long ago and had to grab this one because she’s now one of my favs when it comes to this topic. The book keeps chapters short and presents great questions as well as a framework to think about them. Aside from big questions that make us think about the environment and human rights, there are everyday questions that apply to our relationships with friends, family members and coworkers.
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