Weekly Non-Fiction Reading List 1.30.23
This week, I finished three books from some amazing authors. We start out with a book about how to read books analytically. Then, we have a book about mass incarceration as well as some solutions, and we also have a fantastic philosophy book that discusses the idea of the self. 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).
How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading by Mortimer Adler
This is a must-read book for any reader. By the title, I’m thinking, “What’re you going to teach me about reading?”, but it’s fantastic and definitely lives up to the hype. I read hundreds of non-fiction books each year, and I learned a ton from this book. This book teaches you how to properly read analytically and covers just about everything you can imagine. It starts by explaining that how we “learn” to read is basically up to a high school level and never goes beyond that. This book ensures that you understand the author’s intentions, how to fact check, when to have opinions and how to criticize a book properly. I can’t sing this book’s praises enough, and I promise you’ll be a better analytical reader if you read this book. I’ll definitely read it again.
Locked In: The True Causes of Mass Incarceration - and How to Achieve Real Reform by John Pfaff
This is a must-read if you want to learn about the true causes of mass incarceration and some realistic fixes. I was skeptical of this book and thought it was going to be a hardcore right wing book that basically said the prison problem isn’t that bad and we don’t really have any racial issues with policing, but I was wrong. While the author does debunk a lot of stats and common wisdom about prisons and arrests, I do think his chapter on the drug war was off a bit and he left quite a bit out. But overall, this is a great analysis of the prison problem as well as the policing issues and some rational solutions.
Losing Ourselves: Learning to Live Without a Self by Jay Garfield
I’m always fascinated by the philosophical discussions of the self, so I wanted to check out this book even though I saw a bad review of it. I really enjoyed most of this book and it had some great discussions, questions and opinions about the self. I learned a ton about how different philosophies view the self, and the author did a fantastic job breaking it down. At times, it got a bit boring, but that’s just the nature of the topic and why I don’t read these books all the time. Overall, it’s a great book and pretty short. So, if you’re interested in the topic, definitely give it a read.
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