Weekly Non-Fiction Reading List 8.1.22
This week, I finished 5 books from some incredible authors. I read a book about the Trump administration’s incompetence during the COVID pandemic, and how they blew billions in taxpayer dollars on scammers. I also read about being a hater, flawed scientific research, helping low-income kids, and the models who are used as a sign of status. 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).
Pandemic, Inc.: Chasing the Capitalists and Thieves Who Got Rich While We Got Sick by J. David McSwane
I honestly think everyone should read this book. Aside from J. David McSwane being an incredible writer and an extremely brave journalist, I couldn’t put this book down as I learned more about all of the shady things that happened during the pandemic. This book highlights stories of the thieves and con artists who made tremendous amounts of money while taking advantage of an incompetent Trump administration. The anger I felt throughout the book can’t even be put into words.
First, I can’t believe the amount of work J. David McSwane put into investigating the fraud and follies throughout the pandemic. He legitimately gave me a new respect for journalism. This guy was doing interviews while putting himself at risk of getting COVID, and at one point, you think he’s going to get punched in the face by a scammer selling bogus COVID tests. He pressed people during his interviews and even went as far as to travel around the country to see these mythical mask supplies when he was 90% sure it was going to be a waste of time.
In this book, you’ll learn about the billions of wasted dollars from an incompetent Trump administration. McSwane describes how we could have had millions of masks early on, but Trump's team prioritized giving contracts to people who would help Trump or the republican party. Then, due to terrible planning and oversight, countless scammers created LLCs, and days later would get multi-million dollar contracts for masks with no evidence that they actually had them. Many of the scammers either had been or were currently being investigated for fraud, but nobody did the due diligence.
I could write about this book all day long, but please just don’t get it. I honestly don’t know how anyone could even consider re-electing this man. Countless lives were lost because he was terrible and had just as bad people working for him. Republicans scream about government spending, and they literally gave away billions to scammers who knew that the early pandemic was an easy way to make millions.
Go get this book, and try meditating in between chapters so your blood pressure doesn’t skyrocket due to pure rage.
Science Fictions: How Fraud, Bias, Negligence, and Hype Undermine the Search for Truth by Stuart Ritchie
I read this book when it first came out in 2020, and Stuart was actually the first guest on my podcast. I learned about issues with what’s presented to us as science from Last Week Tonight, and I wanted to learn more, so Stuart’s book enlightened me to all of the issues happening within the scientific community. Two years later, this book holds up, and now that I know more about the topic, a lot of what he discusses in the book makes much more sense. I really think this should be read by the general public because we blindly trust most of the research that comes our way, and we should be much more skeptical.
Conspiracies have become much worse since this book was first published, and at the end of the book, Ritchie discusses how people questioned whether or not he should be writing this book. Their concern was that this would give people like conspiracy theorists a way to further discredit science, but I think Stuart does a fantastic job explaining why that should be the least of our concerns. So, go get this book if you haven’t yet, and start teaching others how to be better at spotting bogus studies.
The Parent Trap: How to Stop Overloading Parents and Fix Our Inequality Crisis by Nate Hilger
This was a really interesting book, and I’m glad I came across it. I’ve been wanting to learn more about what’s going on with kids and what we can do about it. I’ve read quite a few books on the topic, but Nate Hilger brought a fresh perspective along with new ideas based on a ton of research he did for the book. Nate argues that we need to do a better job helping kids build skills and that parents are put in an impossible situation, and this is especially true in low-income communities.
I loved the book and highly recommend it, and Nate has some great ideas for solutions. He explains how kids don’t get to vote, which is why they often aren’t thought about when it comes to policy change, and that’s definitely a big obstacle. I think my only concern that wasn’t addressed too much is the immense amount of pressure that’s put on teachers. The debate has always been between the responsibilities of parents vs the responsibilities of teachers. Teachers are underpaid and overworked. Although it wasn’t addressed much, Nate’s solutions don’t put all of the responsibility on teachers.
Hater: On the Virtues of Utter Disagreeability by John Semley
I serendipitously stumbled across an article John Semley wrote the other day about Nathan Fielder’s new show The Rehearsal. I’m usually not a fan of movie and TV commentary, but John seemed to have some interesting insights, so I decided to grab this book. Once I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down, and I binged 90% of the book in one sitting. John Semley is a fantastic writer and has a unique way of seeing the world that offers something fresh to the conversation.
As you can tell by the title, this is about being a hater, but it’s much more. This book dives into the culture of fandom as well as critics, trolls, and society as a whole. John makes fantastic arguments about why we need people who criticize all forms of art, and he even explains why he respects certain commentators who take the piss out of what’s popular. Semley also does a great job explaining how to criticize in a productive way that ads something to the discussion rather than just being a jerk.
I guess what I really love about this book is the fact that I often don’t understand why certain things get so popular when they seem mediocre at best. When I criticize them or just bring up the fact that this thing is good but not that good, I feel bad like I’m just being a contrarian. Semley’s book helped me realize that criticism is needed, and I’m not crazy for some of my cultural commentary. So, this book gets all the love from me, and I encourage more people to read this book. Now, I just need more books from John.
Very Important People: Status and Beauty in the Global Party Circuit by Ashley Mears
I’m torn on this book. I’ve been really interested in sociological research in the realm of the wealthy and elite. This book is really interesting, but I think I didn’t like it as much because it was a lot of conversations and storytelling with minimal sociology. Don’t get me wrong, Ashley Mears is an awesome writer, but I was looking for something with more ties to social theory. There’s quite a bit in here, but you’ll go pages and pages and pages before touching on it in between stories, conversations, and regular commentary from the author.
What’s fascinating about this book is how beautiful women are used as a sign of status in the world of the wealthy. And when I say beautiful women, I mean models. It’s not my personal taste but it’s what’s seen as the pinnacle of beauty. Mears spends time with club promotors whose job it is to find the most beautiful women and just bring them to clubs and on trips to party so rich men can look cool.
Where the book is interesting is just seeing how these women are treated by the promotors as well as by the wealthy men. They’re treated like things, and they aren’t treated well. Meanwhile, the promotors almost act like pimps, and they have the personalities you’d expect, but they don’t seem to understand that they’ll never be the wealthy people they think they’ll be.
Overall, aside from being torn on the book, I’m still torn on how bad we’re supposed to feel for the women. On a human level, I feel terrible for them. Nobody should be treated this way. But in a world where so many are suffering and so many women are used and abused and don’t have the privilege these women have, it’s hard to put this on my priority list. Pretty privilege is a thing, and although the women aren’t treated well, they also seem extremely aware of the transactional nature of their position.
Based on something completely outside of their control (their genetics and how they look), they get to travel the world and party. They get experiences that 90% of people can only dream of. So, although I do have sympathy for them, I don’t think we need to start a non-profit organization and use resources when there are so many people suffering in the world.
Anywho, I can go on about this forever. But, if you’re interested in the topic and don’t mind a sociological book with like 70-80% storytelling compared to social theory, check it out. It’ll give you insight into the lives of the wealthy and how they signal status by using other human beings.
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