Weekly Non-Fiction Reading List 11.7.22
This week, I finished three books. I read two fantastic new books and one that made me pretty angry. There’s a book in here about a Black man’s experience growing up in the South, and it made me finally love memoirs. Then, there’s a book about being skeptical of future technology. And the list starts with a mental health book that made me want to flip a table. 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).
Happy Not Perfect: Upgrade Your Mind, Challenge Your Thoughts, and Free Yourself from Anxiety by Poppy Jamie
Honestly, reading this book just made me angry throughout the entire read. If you’re an upper middle-class person who likes to conflate your problems, you’ll love this book. If you’ve been extremely privileged your entire life and had more than most people could ever dream of but believe your life is awful, get a copy of this book. If you’re a conventionally attractive white woman with blonde hair who can land a TV gig at a young age just by asking, can get a $1 million plus investment on your startup idea that’s been done before and have made millions co-opting mindfulness, you will absolutely love this book.
I’ve been struggling with my mental health lately and snatching up a ton of different books, but this one was brutal for people like myself. As mentioned, Poppy Jamie is the author of this book, and although she’s a best seller and pretty famous, I’d never heard of her. As I read this mental health book/memoir, my jaw was on the floor. All I kept thinking was, “Get some real problems.” Despite having it much better than 90% of the people on this planet, she struggles with a little self-doubt and decided to go all-in on mindfulness after a yoga class or something.
I will say that this book has a ton of beneficial information. A lot of the research she references is solid, and she talks to some amazing people like Dr. Judson Brewer and references some fantastic books. If you can get passed her privileged nonsense, you’ll definitely find value in this book. But, and I can’t emphasize this enough, she references Deepak Chopra (in a good way) numerous times in this book, and it’s well-known that he’s a spiritual guru hack who rips people off with his ridiculousness.
Read it if you want, but personally, it’s getting a little old watching privileged people like Poppy make millions off of mindfulness. Did I mention she has an app with the same name as the book where you can pay for premium to take mindfulness lessons?
Heavy by Kiese Laymon
I’m not a fan of memoirs, but this book was recommended, and I decided to check it out. After reading this book, I’m wondering what else I’m missing by not reading memoirs. First off, Kiese Laymon is one of the best writers I’ve ever come across, and I’m glad this book is so popular because the guy is amazing.
This book is about Kiese Laymon’s life as a young black man growing up in Mississippi, his complicated relationship with his academic mother, the traumas he endured, addiction, and so much more. I can’t even begin to dive into everything he discusses in this book, but it’s brutally honest, and I couldn’t set it down. I don’t know if I’ve ever read a book that’s made me feel the feelings this book made me experience.
Definitely get this book. I just realized he has more books, and I’m oging to check them out ASAP.
The Skeptics' Guide to the Future: What Yesterday's Science and Science Fiction Tell Us About the World of Tomorrow by Steven, Bob and Jay Novella
The Skeptic’s Guide to the Galaxy is one of my favorite books about how to be a skeptic. I’m not too much of a science and technology person, but I loved the last book so much that I wanted to see how this one was, and it’s fantastic. Steven, Bob and Jay are brothers, and they’ve been sci-fi fans since childhood, and they’ve loved all of the predictions about the future. Well, since they’re skeptics, they question where technology is going and what’s possible.
In this book, they cover all sorts of topics like time travel, when we’re getting hover cars, when we’ll teleport, where surgery and medicine is going and a ton of other topics. They break everything down and say where we’re at, how far we’ve come and what’s possible.
Despite not caring much about these topics, I loved this book. It helped me see what I should be skeptical about when you hear news reports or new startups with their ideas for the future. These guys do an excellent job breaking things down in layman’s terms, and I loved it.
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