Weekly Non-Fiction Reading List 4.10.23
This week, I finished three awesome books from some amazing authors. The first book on the list is how to deal with jerks at work. Then, there’s a book about how Black Americans are held back in the financial sector, and we also have a book about having impossible conversations.
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).
Jerks at Work: Toxic Coworkers and What to Do About Them by Tessa West
I was excited about this book when it first came out in 2022 because it was a few months after I left a terrible job. Then, I got this new job, and I have the most amazing co-workers and managers I could hope for, so I never came around to reading it. Fortunately, I was at the bookstore and saw it and decided to read it just so I can review it for all of you who work with terrible people.
Tessa West killed it with this book. I’ve worked so many terrible jobs where the only issues with where I worked were my awful coworkers. Whether it was when I was in sales and had people who stole clients and sales or when I worked at other places with managers who only pointed out your mistakes, I’ve dealt with it all. Tessa West’s book was giving me flashbacks and made me appreciate my current job even more.
West breaks down all of the different types of jerks we work with as well as how to deal with them. There are a ton of anecdotes in the book, but she also turns to a bunch of different studies (some of which, she conducted). I loved this book and highly recommend it.
My only concern is that the reader will think they’re dealing with a jerk at work when they aren’t, but Tessa West does a good job reminding the reader that they may be the jerk.
The White Wall: How Big Finance Bankrupts Black America by Emily Flitter
This is a must-read book. I regularly try to educate myself about the social and financial injustices that Black Americans face. There is a mountain of evidence that Black Americans are held back financially, and this then leads to other systemic issues. I grabbed this book because Emily Flitter took a different angle, which discusses Black Americans trying to work in the financial industry and on Wall Street.
Usually, I’m not a fan of books that tell a bunch of stories, but Flitter is an incredible writer, and I binged this book. She details so many stories of Black people trying to work their way up in big finance only to be held back due to racism. Black Americans often try to work in oppressive systems so they can change them from the inside, and this book shows just how difficult that actually is.
I also dislike history, but Flitter captured my attention with the history of how Black people have been held back financially in America and how it has ramifications today.
How to Have Impossible Conversations: A Very Practical Guide by Peter Boghossian and James Lindsay
This was one of my all-time favorite books, and I read it once a year, and I’ll explain why it was one of my favorites in a moment. This was the first book that taught me about epistemology and having conversations with people I disagree with in a mature way. There are so many incredible methods in this book that I think can benefit a lot of people.
Unfortunately, both of these authors fell off the deep end since the time this was written in 2019. Moreso Lindsay, but even Boghossian to an extent. While they both admit some of their faults in this book, it just seems hypocritical at this point. I fancy myself as being pretty damn good at separating the art from the artist, but I just can’t anymore with these two. I was distracted most of the time while reading this book this last time just due to how hypocritical the book comes off as now.
If you know nothing about the authors, this is still a fantastic book. But for someone like me who knows how these two are capitalizing on the culture wars, I think it’s the last time I give this book a read.
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