Weekly Non-Fiction Reading List 11.14.22
This week I finished 7 books from some amazing authors. I found some of my new favorite books on philosophy, status, and more. I also reread the latest Paul Bloom book and read a pretty disturbing book yelling about white women. 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).
Status and Culture: How Our Desire for Social Rank Creates Taste, Identity, Art, Fashion, and Constant Change by W. David Marx
Surprisingly, this is by far one of my new favorite books on status. Learning about status is one of my favorite topics, but I was hesitant to read this book for a while because I assumed it was more about trends than the sociological aspect. W. David Marx did an incredible job balancing the two, which blew me away and made it one of my new favorites. In this book, you’ll learn about status as well as class struggles and how different trends separate the wealthy from the rest of us. You’ll also learn about the randomness of what gets trendy, and why it’s so strange that we put such an emphasis on following the tastemakers and what they do.
I can’t recommend this book enough if you’re interested in this topic.
The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight Bias by Dolly Chugh
This is definitely one of the better books I’ve read on biases. While there are a ton of books about the topic, Dolly Chugh actually wrote a book for the reader who wants to do something about it. None of us want to acknowledge we have biases, but Dolly sharing some of her own personal experiences and acceptance of her own biases makes it easier for the reader to want to put in the work. Chugh backs her ideas up with a ton of research she’s conducted as well as research from others.
If you want to help reduce your own sexism, racism and other biases, get this book ASAP.
Men Without Work: America's Invisible Crisis by Nicholas Eberstadt
This book was great, but it felt like it could have been a long article somewhere. Fortunately, it was a short read, and it’s about what the title suggests. Nicholas Eberstadt studies the growing issue with men not working and dives into some of the causes and how bad the problem has become. I enjoy learning about this topic because so many men are suffering and taking out their frustration on others. Eberstadt packs this book with a ton of statistics, which bored me at certain points, but it’s still a really interesting book and worth the read.
Ritual: How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living by Dimitris Xygalatas
This book was probably the biggest surprise of 2022 for me. I’ve read over 200 books so far this year, and I didn’t expect much from this book, but it quickly became one of my favs. I’ve had this book for a couple of months but didn’t know if it’d be all that interesting, but I absolutely loved it. Dimitris has had a fascination with rituals since he was a child, and his curiosity about the topic drew me in because I’m equally as curious about human nature.
Dimitris has traveled the world observing various rituals and interviewing people to understand why they do it. What’s interesting is that a ton of people can’t explain why they do them. But in addition to these topics, Dimitris covers research that explains how we evolved for rituals and why we do them even if we can’t explain it.
The Sweet Spot: The Pleasures of Suffering and the Search for Meaning by Paul Bloom
I sped through this book when I read it for the first time because Paul Bloom was coming on the podcast. I loved it then, but I wanted to read it again now that I had more time to read it and soak it in a bit more. This is a phenomenal book, and Paul remains one of my favorite psych writers. This book covers so many topics that not only help us learn how to live more fulfilling lives while accepting some suffering, but it also helps us understand other human behaviors where people inflict their own suffering.
Nasty, Brutish, and Short: Adventures in Philosophy with My Kids by Scott Hershovitz
This is easily one of my new favorite pop philosophy books. Scott is an amazing writer, and this book is just so damn good. The author is a philosopher and talks philosophy with his kids, and I love it because I’ve been teaching my son philosophy lately. Scott also argues that kids are natural philosophers (which they are), and while telling stories of philosophical conversations with his kids, he also does a great job explaining philosophy and philosophers to the reader. It’s written in a way anyone can understand, and it’s hilarious as well.
I loved this book so much, and it’s one I’m going to be reading with my son soon.
White Women: Everything You Already Know About Your Own Racism and How to Do Better by Regina Jackson and Saira Rao
I’m going to preface this by saying that I’m extremely progressive and am a leftist. So much so that many have called me “woke”, and I write and make quite a bit of content about racism. With that said, this book is just too much. The authors are the founders of “Race2Dinner”, which is where they are invited to dinner with white women and explain to the white women how they’re racist and enable racism.
What these women write about is spot on, and I don’t disagree with it. But much like Robin DiAngelo, I disagree with their method. In the same way Robin DiAngelo puts people in a lose/lose situation, these women do the same. When they don’t get good results, rather than asking if they could tweak they’re process, they just think people are unsalvagable racists. While I’m sure many are, their approach is just brutal.
I’m curious what their success rate is because based on this book, it sounds like it’s not that high. And you can only go so long before realizing that it’s highly improbably that everyone else is the problem.
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