Weekly Non-Fiction Reading List 7.1.24
This week, we have two books by two incredible Black women. The first book on the list argues that we need to rest more, but it misses the mark with some arguments. Then, we have an incredible book that’s much more than the title suggests. Enjoy!
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Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey
This book has its pros and cons, but at the end of the day, I’ll give it a solid 3 out of 5 stars and recommend it. This book by Tricia Hersey is all about how our capitalist culture has molded us and even brainwashed us into thinking we always need to be productive. She not only discusses these negative aspects of capitalism, but she also discusses how it relates to white supremacy and the patriarchy.
Where this book shines is that it empowers readers to get some rest. I appreciate that because for most of my life, I’ve been the epitome of hustle culture. I have multiple side gigs, and if I’m not doing something productive to make some extra money, I feel like I’m wasting my time. Some of us really need permission to just rest and chill out for a bit. Too often, we’re also taking time away from the people we care about, and we can never get that time back.
My biggest problem with this book is toward the beginning, Tricia said that people always ask her, “But I have bills to pay. How will I make money?” She promises to answer that question and never really does. And yes, that’s enough to rate this book 3 stars for me. It’s easy to tell everyone that they need to rest more and work less, but we don’t get paid to rest. Meanwhile, the cost of living is getting higher and higher while our wages stagnate.
I’m a great example. I still have multiple side hustles, but I put far less effort into them than I used to. By not hustling as much as I could, I’m probably losing tens of thousands of dollars each year. For now, I’ve decided it’s worth it and I have “enough” money. But as I look toward my financial goals like buying a house someday, having enough to retire on, and traveling, I know that resting more isn’t going to cut it.
Don’t get me wrong, the author makes compelling arguments that we need to band together and rest more while working less. If we do this together, we might be able to “disrupt capitalism” and get them to pay us more for a reasonable amount of work. The problem is that I live in the world we actually live in and not the one I wish we’d live in. I could “push back” on capitalism my whole life, but there’s a high probability I’m only harming myself and barely making a dent in the system.
What do you think happens at a job when you work less than other people? You either get replaced by someone who will work harder than you, or you miss the opportunities to make more money.
It may sound like I disagree with this book a lot more than I actually do, but I just get offended by the suggestion that we all can and should work less. Again, I think this book does a great job of giving the reader permission to rest more. But in my opinion, we need to find the balance so we can still meet our basic needs and hopefully reach some of our financial goals. This is a short read, and I definitely recommend it, but just remember that we have to find the balance.
Negotiating While Black: Be Who You Are to Get What You Want by Damali Peterman
This book was surprisingly good. It wasn’t surprisingly good based on what you may think, either. While I wouldn’t necessarily say the title is misleading, this book is so much more than just a book for Black people. As Damali states in the intro to this book, we all face different biases when it comes to our race, gender, sexuality, and even how we look. This book teaches you how to recognize that these biases exist and how to work with them when negotiating.
And when I say this book is much more than the title suggests, you may also think this book is about just “negotiating good deals” or “negotiating a larger salary”. While both of these topics are absolutely in this book, Damali understands that our everyday lives are filled with negotiations. For example, when we’re in a dispute with someone we know or even a stranger, it’s a negotiation. Basically, negotiating is whenever we’re trying to get our needs met.
I can’t sing this book’s praises enough. My hope for this book is that the title doesn’t turn people away from it because just about everyone can benefit from it. Books that are filled with anecdotal evidence rather than hard science typically turn me off. But this is one of the rare books that doesn’t need science because the author has such great suggestions that it’s hard to argue with them.
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