Weekly Non-Fiction Reading List 8.29.22
This week, I finished five amazing books. I started with child star Jenette McCurdy’s memoir and also reread some of my fav books about optimism bias and the real cause of rising rates of depression, suicides, and overdoses. I also read my first Freidrich Engels book as well as one of my new favorite books about “bullshit jobs”. 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).
I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jenette McCurdy
This was a really great book, and it’s amazing how open and honest Jennette was from start to finish. I don’t read memoirs, and I never watched anything Jenette was in. As a mental health advocate and content creator, I’ve had people recommend I check out Jenette’s podcast as she’s become more vocal about mental health.
As you can tell, I’m not the target audience for this book. The book is Jenette’s story of growing up as a child actress with a mom who psychologically and physically abused her. Jenette didn’t realize this while growing up, but she describes the confused feeling she felt throughout her life, and it’s relatable for anyone who had a childhood like this.
I think the fans will enjoy the first 3/4 of the book a lot more than me. What I loved about the book was the mental health aspect, and when it got into the last quarter of the book as Jenette describes going to therapy and trying to beat her eating disorder, that’s when the book got really phenomenal for me.
If she writes another book, it’d be awesome if it was more focused on mental health, her experiences with therapy and all that good stuff. This is a fantastic book, and I’m glad it’s getting so much attention and hope it helps some people.
Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism by Angus Deaton and Anne Case
Once again, I was growing increasingly tired, annoyed, and frustrated seeing articles and news stories blaming social media for depression and anxiety. So, I revisited the best book written with actual data about the reason for deaths of despair. Deaths of despair are deaths from suicide, overdoses, and alcohol-related health issues. Deaton and Case are economists (one is a Nobel prize winner), and they’ve found that good ol’ capitalism is the reason for all of these preventable deaths.
I can’t recommend this book enough. By reading this, you’ll understand the true causes of why so many people are miserable and losing hope. It’s not social media ruining our children, it’s overworked, underpaid parents who are too busy and stressed to properly parent these kids. This book will show you the actual root of the problem, and you need to go get it now if you haven’t read it yet.
Bullshit Jobs: A Theory by David Graeber
This is by far one of my new favorite books, and I have no clue why I slept on it so long. David Graeber wrote an essay a while back about “bullshit jobs”, which are jobs people do and get paid for that have no real purpose. He categorizes them in the book, and he also provides a lot of nuance to the topic. So many people have jobs that are absolutely pointless, and they are sucking the souls out of people and making them miserable.
Aside from BS jobs, Graeber discusses such important topics like organizations that are incentivized to create bullshit jobs just to stay in business. Throughout this book, you realize how much of a mess our capitalist system has become, which is nuts because capitalism prides itself on efficiency.
My main takeaway from this book is that it strengthens my belief that those who argue that social programs will make people lazy. If this were true, people wouldn’t care that they had bullshit jobs. This book is filled with interviews with people who are absolutely miserable while making a lot of money doing meaningless work. We evolved to want to work and find purpose in our work, but our current system doesn’t allow for that.
I could write about this book all day, but the ending is absolutely amazing. Graeber gets really philosophical and gets us to ask some important questions while also having the humility to know he doesn’t have all the answers. So, go get this book ASAP.
The Optimism Bias: A Tour of the Irrationally Positive Brain by Tali Sharot
I think about this book all the damn time and finally found the time to give it another read. This book is so good and helps us understand human behavior so much more. Tali Sharot is one of the leading psychological researchers on our irrational optimistic outlook. Although depression and pessimism of the future are at all-time highs, people are also insanely optimistic. With all of the grifters on social media scamming people out of their money, it’s difficult to understand, but the optimism bias helps make some sense of it. Sharot explains why we’re so optimistic about our future based on decisions we haven’t even made yet as well as why we trust people or don’t have a healthy amount of fear or skepticism.
Everyone should definitely read this book to better understand themselves as well as others. I’ll probably read this one again in the next year or two.
Socialism: Utopian and Scientific by Freidrich Engels
The first part of the book was a bit boring and didn’t really seem to fit, but overall, this is a fantastic book. This was the first Engels book I’ve read, and I loved it. Usually, older philosophers go way over my head, but I was surprised at how well Engels writes for the average person.
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