Weekly Non-Fiction Reading List 7.18.22
This week, I finished 5 books. There’s a fantastic book about how Big Money influences science and policies as well as a book about the broken education system. I also read a great book on atheism and one on the class war. Then, there’s the only book I’ve ever given a one-star rating. 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).
The Playbook: How to Deny Science, Sell Lies, and Make a Killing in the Corporate World by Jennifer Jacquet
I absolutely loved Jennifer’s previous book Is Shame Necessary?, so I was super excited when I saw she had a new book that just came out. This book is phenomenal, and I binged it in about a day. This book is short and direct, and it’s a great introduction to people who are unaware about how much big money influences science and our policies. There’s so much corruption going on and money flowing into scientific research and what the public is sold, but so many people are unaware.
Although I’m familiar with this topic, I definitely gained a ton of value from this book. For those of us who are aware of this type of manipulation. Jacquet takes an interesting angle that not only informs the reader, but it’s unique and kind of funny (in a scary way). After explaining the problems with how those in power are manipulating science and data, she gives you the playbook like you’re one of them. She tells you all of the dirty tricks to play to discredit actual scientists or how to be a corrupt researcher and pretend like you’ve done nothing wrong.
This is a much-needed book because this has been going on for decades, but it doesn’t get nearly enough attention.
The revolution that wasn’t did good with all the psychology - kinda sus he says the halting trading theories were conspiracies debunked but didn’t really give a great explanation aside from robinhood would go bankrupt (I may need to reread)
The Boy Crisis by Warren Farrell and John Gray
I rate 99.9% of the books I read 5 stars because I understand books are subjective and a topic or writings tyle that doesn’t interest me may interest others. When I don’t give a book 5 stars, I give it 3 or 4 instead. This book, I gave 1 star. Why? Because I think it’s dangerous, and I cannot believe how many people follow the work of these men religiously.
When I say dangerous, this isn’t hyperbole. I found this book because I was trying to learn more about what the hell is wrong with young men in light of all of the mass shootings. Someone said Warren Farrell is really popular for his work with young men, so I checked this out. Not only is this book filled with an insane amount of misinformation and pseudoscience, but this book furthers the idea that men have it terrible because of women.
Don’t get me wrong, young men are struggling, and they need help. The issue with the book is that it’s regularly putting the blame on women, and then it also lies about statistics that are extremely easy to fact check. It’s almost as though Farrell knows he’s full of shit because he mentions statistics when they’re false but dives into them deeper when they’re accurate or referencing a good study.
My main issue with this book is that with the fact that most mass shooters are incels, this book will most likely just radicalize them more. What’s crazy is that I usually get pissed about pseudoscience in these books, but that’s the least of the issues with it. But, when it does get into “healing” towards the end with John Gray, it says homeopathy is a legitimate science and goes as far to make claims that natural remedies can cure autism (not help, but cure autism).
Check this book out if you want or if you don’t believe me. But for the love of God, don’t use it as a book to help create better young men because it’s filled with misinformation. I’d love to think it’s ignorance, but these are two smart guys, so it really feels like they do this intentionally.
If you’re interested, I wrote a piece about some of the misinformation from the book early on when I noticed how often it was happening:
The Cult of Smart: How Our Broken Education System Perpetuates Social Injustice by Freddie deBoer
I’ve had educationism on the mind, so I gave this book another read. To date, it’s one of the best books on the broken education system, how we view education, and how it’s holding underprivileged kids back. If you know Freddie, he has no problem discussing harsh truths such as the fact that not all kids are created equal and some won’t be able to thrive in the current education system. More importantly, he discusses how we connect far too much of a person’s worth to how educated they are.
This is a must-read, so go get a copy if you haven’t yet.
The New Class War: Saving Democracy from the Managerial Elite by Michael Lind
I’m always curious why “class war” is such a scary word. My entire life, it’s seemed extremely obvious that the class divide is a major issue, but “class war” is something politians and people say to scare everyone. So, I grabbed this book to learn a bit more about the history of the class war and where we’re at today. Michael Lind did a great job breaking it down, and it was definitely interesting learning about the history. I’m not a major fan of history, so I enjoyed the book a lot more when it got to more recent decades.
This is definitely worth the read. Lind does a fantastic job showing how politicians are failing us and how the upper class as well as the billionaires do whatever they can to stay in power.
Seven Types of Atheism by John Gray
Note: this is a different John Gray than the one from The Boy Crisi
clI’ve bounced between atheism and agnositicism most of my life, but I’ve never been the least bit interested in reading an entire book about atheism. Sometimes, the atheist crowd gets just as bad as religious groups. Like, you’re really going to read entire books, watch atheist videos on YouTube non-stop and even travel to an atheist convention? That’s bonkers. But I digress.
With the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the public response, I’ve wanted to learn more about how atheism clashes with politics. So, I grabbed this book because John Gray writes some epic books like Feline Philosophy, and I figured this would be just as good. It was. Like the title suggests, Gray breaks down different forms of atheism, and he comes out the gate in the first two chapters going in on some of the modern atheism and how silly it can get. From there, he discusses some historical figures in atheism and ends with the awesome Spinoza.
Fantastic book to learn more about the history of atheism and the nuances of the topic.
I’m firing the YouTube channel back up. Check out the interview I did with the creators of a documentary following a spiritual guru and possible cult leader: