Weekly Non-Fiction Reading List 9.11.23
This is one of the best weeks of reading I’ve had in a while. I read three books, and each one was absolutely phenomenal. First, we have a book on how trust works, and then we have an incredible new book from Fredrik deBoer. Lastly, we have a philosophy book with 100 thought experiments to get your wheels turning. Enjoy!
We also passed over 100 books for the year! Feel free to follow me on Goodreads as well.
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).
How Trust Works: The Science of How Relationships Are Built, Broken, and Repaired by Peter Kim
I absolutely love books on trust. It’s such an interesting topic to me. The fact that we trust so many random people is mind-blowing to me, but we need trust in order to function. With that said, although I had no clue who Peter Kim was, I was super excited to come across his new book. And let me tell you, this book didn’t disappoint at all. Like me, Kim is fascinated by trust, but he’s actually been researching it for 20 years, and this book is a culmination of his work as well as a lot of extremely valuable lessons.
Not only does this book have a ton of interesting studies from Kim as well as other researchers, but it starts diving into what happens when we break a person’s trust. I was flabbergasted reading the experiments Kim has done on trust and how we do or don’t forgive. Kim makes it abundantly clear that as a whole, we’re terrible at giving people second chances, and our value systems and ideas of morality play a key role in this.
I’m one of the most skeptical people who doesn’t trust people easily, but I’m all about second chances. This book makes strong cases for why we need to offer people paths toward redemption or else we incentivize very poor behavior.
This is an amazing read, and I can’t wait to read it again in the future.
How Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement by Fredrik deBoer
My only issue with this book is that
doesn’t write more books. When I learned he was writing a new book a couple of months ago, I was counting down the days. Freddie is one of my favorite writers on Substack, and his previous amazing book The Cult of Smart completely changed how I think of the education system and how we gauge intelligence.This new book instantly became one of my new favorites, and I binged it in a day. Freddie is a passionate leftist, and this book is a critique of elite liberals screwing everything up. Roughly 99.9% of all other books that are like this are basically anti-woke “why I left the left” books by grifters, but that’s not Freddie. He has sound arguments for criticizing the left as well as thoughtful suggestions for how the left can get their act together and make a more fair and equal society for all.
His book comes off as anti-woke, and I’m sure there are social justice leftists out there coming after him with the pitchforks already, but that’s just what they do. Freddie argues that we need to come together, put class struggles first, and make this country better for everyone. He also explains why so many activist movements fail and what we can do about it.
I love this book and wish I could give everyone a copy.
The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten: 100 Experiments for the Armchair Philosopher by Julian Baggini
I love philosophy, and I love thought experiments. This book was on sale, so I grabbed a copy, and it’s everything I hoped for. It’s 100 short chapters with different philosophical thought experiments, but Baggini introduces each one with a fictional story. Then, he dives into where the thought experiment comes from and why it matters in our daily lives. I loved this book, and it’s going on my list of books to read with my son. You can sit down, read one a day or whatever you want just as a way to get your wheels turning and strengthen your critical thinking muscle.
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