Weekly Non-Fiction Reading List 3.25.24
We have five books this week, and they’re all pretty great. We have a book about quack doctors, a book about how the COVID pandemic affected kids, and a book about cancel culture. Today’s list starts out with a tough love self-help book that I turn to when things aren’t going great and ends with a new one I came across.
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Unfu*k Yourself: Get Out of Your Head and into Your Life by Gary John Bishop
Every now and then I get into a funk, and I need some tough love. I’ve had a really tough month, and when I need some tough love, I turn to this book. I don’t like his other books nearly as much as this one. If you’re someone who responds well to compassionate tough love, this is an excellent book. The author cares, but he’s also a straight shooter and can help you get out of self-pity and into action.
If It Sounds Like a Quack...: A Journey to the Fringes of American Medicine by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling
Where to begin with this book? I guess I’ll start by saying it’s a great book if you’re interested in learning about the BS medicine that grifters have pushed over the years. In this book, the author focuses on a handful of people who have pushed insane medicinal treatments like laser beams, potentially dangerous substances, leeches, and more as the “one true cure”.
Prior to picking up this book, I thought it’d be more about the people who fall for this stuff and allow these grifters to make millions, but it mainly focuses on the grifters. That’s less interesting to me, but the author did a good job keeping me engaged. It was pretty interesting learning about the actual people pushing their pseudoscientific medicines because they may not actually be grifters. You start to realize that many of these people have drunk their own Kool-Aid and actually believe they have the “one true cure”.
The book hits on some excellent points as well. First, the author discusses how the medical and pharmaceutical industry has corrupted our government, and so it’s understandable why people don’t trust medicine and turn to these quacks. Then, the book ends on an excellent note explaining why this stuff matters and how scary it is. He discusses the legitimate real-world consequences of people not only falling for this fake medicine but also the conspiracies that come along with it, such as people literally believing people are being turned into flesh-eating zombies.
The Stolen Year: How COVID Changed Children's Lives, and Where We Go Now by Anya Kamenetz
I’ll start this review by saying that I’m a massive skeptic when it comes to how much the pandemic affected children. With that said, this was an excellent book. I thought Anya was going to overly catastrophize how the COVID pandemic affected children, but she utilized a lot of real stories and interviews to discuss some important topics in this book.
This book discusses how we completely mishandled the pandemic and how that affected children and families. She touches on many topics that a lot of us don’t think about. She has a chapter on how COVID affected children with special needs, how it affected mothers, how it affected the mental health of children, how it affected low-income children, and much more.
I was fairly aware of these things, but Kamenetz did a great job opening my eyes even more to what children and families had to deal with during the pandemic. I was extremely fortunate that I was able to work from home during the pandemic and my son was 12 when the pandemic began. I highly recommend checking out this book to learn more about the experiences of others during that difficult chapter in all of our lives.
No Apologies: How to Find and Free Your Voice in the Age of Outrage—Lessons for the Silenced Majority by Katherine Brodsky
As per usual, I’m sure this book has generated some controversy, and in my opinion, it has it’s pros and cons. I was canceled in 2019, but I also understand that the term “cancel culture” has been diluted due to its overuse. In this book, Katherine Brodsky splits the books into chapters that focus on different people who have been victims of online mob mentality. If this is a topic you follow like I do, you’re probably already familiar with a lot of these stories.
I will say this is a good book, and I did learn some additional details about different people in this book. The book discusses important topics like free speech as well as how some social justice movements have gone a little too far. I’m pretty far left, and a major advocate for social justice, but I do believe that some people go too far, and due to mob mentality, they’re pushing liberals to the right. This book even discusses quite a few instances of people who were leftists who moved to the right after they were the victims of online mobs.
I don’t think many people can read this book and not realize that we have a problem with some of these dog piles and accusations going a little too far. One story I was completely unfamiliar with was a gay male author being anonymously accused of raping women during the height of the Me Too movement. Although my personal situation wasn’t nearly as bad, I could relate the most. It was insane reading how not only was the allegation crazy because the man is gay and has never been with a woman, but people turned against him with zero evidence. He even ended up winning a defamation lawsuit, but his life is still ruined.
So, what didn’t I like? This book intertwines legitimate stories of how people were wronged along with others where some details are left out. I think the best example is Brett Weinstein. What originally happened to Brett was a little ridiculous, but since then, the man and his wife have become well-known conspiracy theorists. I don’t know if I’d call them grifters because they might actually believe their own nonsense. Brodsky does cover her butt a bit by mentioning a few times that she may not agree with him or he may be wrong, but she does leave out some of the crazier things Brett and his wife have said over the last few years.
Overall, it’s a great book that I think a lot of people should read. I would just suggest researching some of the stories a bit more to learn more details. While I wouldn’t wish canceling on my worst enemy, some of the people from this book are making a lot of money and doing quite well by parlaying their canceling into right-wing outrage.
When Things Don't Go Your Way: Zen Wisdom for Difficult Times by Haemin Sunim
This is a super short read, and I was kind of blown away with the fact that it’s jam-packed with wisdom. I was unfamiliar with Haemin, but I’m now a fan. He’s a Buddhist monk from South Korea, but he speaks pretty straight forward. While I love Buddhist philosophy and wisdom that comes from mindfulness meditation, sometimes it’s a little too philosophical. This is a book that anyone can connect with. Things haven’t been going my way recently, and this book taught me some valuable things and reminded me of others.
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