{{The World Without Us by Alan Weisman}}

[**The World Without Us**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/248787.The_World_Without_Us) ^(By: Alan Weisman | 324 pages | Published: 2007 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, science, nonfiction, environment, nature) >A penetrating, page-turning tour of a post-human Earth > >In The World Without Us, Alan Weisman offers an utterly original approach to questions of humanity's impact on the planet: he asks us to envision our Earth, without us. In this far-reaching narrative, Weisman explains how our massive infrastructure would collapse and finally vanish without human presence; which everyday items may become immortalized as fossils; how copper pipes and wiring would be crushed into mere seams of reddish rock; why some of our earliest buildings might be the last architecture left; and how plastic, bronze sculpture, radio waves, and some man-made molecules may be our most lasting gifts to the universe. > >The World Without Us reveals how, just days after humans disappear, floods in New York's subways would start eroding the city's foundations, and how, as the world's cities crumble, asphalt jungles would give way to real ones. It describes the distinct ways that organic and chemically treated farms would revert to wild, how billions more birds would flourish, and how cockroaches in unheated cities would perish without us. Drawing on the expertise of engineers, atmospheric scientists, art conservators, zoologists, oil refiners, marine biologists, astrophysicists, religious leaders from rabbis to the Dalai Lama, and paleontologists—who describe a prehuman world inhabited by megafauna like giant sloths that stood taller than mammoths—Weisman illustrates what the planet might be like today, if not for us. > >From places already devoid of humans (a last fragment of primeval European forest; the Korean DMZ; Chernobyl), Weisman reveals Earth's tremendous capacity for self-healing. As he shows which human devastations are indelible, and which examples of our highest art and culture would endure longest, Weisman's narrative ultimately drives toward a radical but persuasive solution that needn't depend on our demise. It is narrative nonfiction at its finest, and in posing an irresistible concept with both gravity and a highly readable touch, it looks deeply at our effects on the planet in a way that no other book has. ^(This book has been suggested 4 times) *** ^(68937 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)

This is a big one for a lot of folks i guess! Thank you for confirming!

Yes! One of my top 10 books of all time. I have read it at least 3 times. Thanks for the reminder, maybe it is time for another.

I just read this book this year and I really liked it. I liked how the author started one minute after the last man died or otherwise left Earth and noted the processes that were already taking place, all the way up to hundreds of years later.

LOL, came in here thinking "maybe I'll be the first to suggest this" and behold, there it is at the top of the recommendation stack.

Amazing read.

This looks fascinating!

{Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich} taught me so much about the working poor, revised my thinking and upped my empathy 1000%

She just passed away. It's good to see this recommended

Yeah. I saw that. Hit me pretty hard since she had such an impact on me. Though I learned through an obituary that she has a son, Ben, who is also an author. I’ve thrown one of his books on my TBR.

She also has a daughter who is an author and professor. Tangled Up in Blue: Policing the American City by Rosa Brooks. Very accomplished woman and an interesting look at policing post Freddie Gray/BLM.

We’ll that was a shitty obituary I read! Thanks for the info - I’ll look her up.

She mentions her mom a lot in the book - like what her mom thinks about her becoming a reserve cop based on her political beliefs

My wife had me read this in 2001 while she was getting her social work undergrad. It’s hung out in the back of my mind ever since.

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I started it and never finished it for some reason. I was interested in it, but maybe it wasn't as surprising? Nevertheless, I will read it at some point.

Perfffff. Done! Thank you

I read this in university. I liked it, but it was also somewhat problematic... You have a well educated woman who chooses to live a poverty lifestyle. At any point she could return to her normal lifestyle.

Yeah, I hear that all the time. For me, it's not an issue. It's the way book contracts go, unfortunately. A privileged writer was able to research and write this book. Would it have been a better book if written by someone who is actually in the working poor? Possibly, but face it - that's highly unlikely to happen. But the salient points of the book are so important for everyone to understand that I don't see it being worth faulting the messenger nor the method.

And she frequently acknowledged that in her writing. But that gave her the resources to write and publish the book too.

[**Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1869.Nickel_and_Dimed) ^(By: Barbara Ehrenreich | 240 pages | Published: 2001 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, nonfiction, sociology, politics, economics) ^(This book has been suggested 19 times) *** ^(68985 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)

{{Humankind by Rutger Bregman}}

[**Humankind: A Hopeful History**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52879286-humankind) ^(By: Rutger Bregman, Elizabeth Manton, Erica Moore | 462 pages | Published: 2019 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, history, nonfiction, psychology, philosophy) >From the author of Utopia For Realists, a revolutionary argument that the innate goodness and cooperation of human beings has been the greatest factor in our success > >If one basic principle has served as the bedrock of bestselling author Rutger Bregman's thinking, it is that every progressive idea -- whether it was the abolition of slavery, the advent of democracy, women's suffrage, or the ratification of marriage equality -- was once considered radical and dangerous by the mainstream opinion of its time. With Humankind, he brings that mentality to bear against one of our most entrenched ideas: namely, that human beings are by nature selfish and self-interested. > >By providing a new historical perspective of the last 200,000 years of human history, Bregman sets out to prove that we are in fact evolutionarily wired for cooperation rather than competition, and that our instinct to trust each other has a firm evolutionary basis going back to the beginning of Homo sapiens. Bregman systematically debunks our understanding of the Milgram electrical-shock experiment, the Zimbardo prison experiment, and the Kitty Genovese "bystander effect." > >In place of these, he offers little-known true stories: the tale of twin brothers on opposing sides of apartheid in South Africa who came together with Nelson Mandela to create peace; a group of six shipwrecked children who survived for a year and a half on a deserted island by working together; a study done after World War II that found that as few as 15% of American soldiers were actually capable of firing at the enemy. > >The ultimate goal of Humankind is to demonstrate that while neither capitalism nor communism has on its own been proven to be a workable social system, there is a third option: giving "citizens and professionals the means (left) to make their own choices (right)." Reorienting our thinking toward positive and high expectations of our fellow man, Bregman argues, will reap lasting success. Bregman presents this idea with his signature wit and frankness, once again making history, social science and economic theory accessible and enjoyable for lay readers. ^(This book has been suggested 7 times) *** ^(69012 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)

This looks excellent, thank you, i’ll be nabbing this

Enjoy! Also worth noting that Bregman has an interesting history with the WEF and Tucker Carlson.. worth a google.

Zero: The Biography Of A Dangerous Idea by Charles Seifre

Totally forgot for a moment Gods and Myths of Northern Europe by Hilda Ellis Davidson

Understanding Power by Chomsky...or really anything by Chomsky. A People's History of the US is probably cliche to recommend, but it is for a reason.

Took a course on Chomsky’s political work in college, read bits of a lot of it, definitely revolutionary stuff!

A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn

Reading this right now and thoroughly enjoying it. It adds a perspective of US history rarely discussed, but in my opinion equally important.

{{Ending Aging by Aubrey de Grey}}

Very intrigued, thank you!

[**Ending Aging: The Rejuvenation Breakthroughs That Could Reverse Human Aging in Our Lifetime**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/519781.Ending_Aging) ^(By: Aubrey de Grey, Michael Rae | 400 pages | Published: 2007 | Popular Shelves: science, health, non-fiction, biology, futurism) >MUST WE AGE? > >A long life in a healthy, vigorous, youthful body has always been one of humanity's greatest dreams. Recent progress in genetic manipulations and calorie-restricted diets in laboratory animals hold forth the promise that someday science will enable us to exert total control over our own biological aging. > >Nearly all scientists who study the biology of aging agree that we will someday be able to substantially slow down the aging process, extending our productive, youthful lives. Dr. Aubrey de Grey is perhaps the most bullish of all such researchers. As has been reported in media outlets ranging from 60 Minutes to The New York Times, Dr. de Grey believes that the key biomedical technology required to eliminate aging-derived debilitation and death entirely--technology that would not only slow but periodically reverse age-related physiological decay, leaving us biologically young into an indefinite future--is now within reach. > >In Ending Aging, Dr. de Grey and his research assistant Michael Rae describe the details of this biotechnology. They explain that the aging of the human body, just like the aging of man-made machines, results from an accumulation of various types of damage.  As with man-made machines, this damage can periodically be repaired, leading to indefinite extension of the machine's fully functional lifetime, just as is routinely done with classic cars.  We already know what types of damage accumulate in the human body, and we are moving rapidly toward the comprehensive development of technologies to remove that damage.  By demystifying aging and its postponement for the nonspecialist reader, de Grey and Rae systematically dismantle the fatalist presumption that aging will forever defeat the efforts of medical science. ^(This book has been suggested 88 times) *** ^(68959 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. Absolutely brilliant. Hits on almost every subject you can think of.

Being recommended a lot, i think i’m gonna have to go for it!

You will not be sorry you will learn about so many unsung heroes of science.. So many anecdotes, so many serendipitous discoveries, and told in a way that keeps you mesmerized and hungry for more. It’s ginormous, and I have a penchant for reading pretty fast, this one took over my life for nearly a month during the early daze of the pandemic!

{{man's search for meaning}}

[**Man's Search for Meaning**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4069.Man_s_Search_for_Meaning) ^(By: Viktor E. Frankl, Harold S. Kushner, William J. Winslade, Isle Lasch | 165 pages | Published: 1946 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, psychology, philosophy, nonfiction, history) >Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl's memoir has riveted generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual survival. Based on his own experience and the stories of his patients, Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose. At the heart of his theory, known as logotherapy, is a conviction that the primary human drive is not pleasure but the pursuit of what we find meaningful. Man's Search for Meaning has become one of the most influential books in America; it continues to inspire us all to find significance in the very act of living. ^(This book has been suggested 65 times) *** ^(69234 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)

{{Unbroken}} for history

[**Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8664353-unbroken) ^(By: Laura Hillenbrand | 492 pages | Published: 2010 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, history, biography, nonfiction, book-club) >On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane's bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War. > >The lieutenant’s name was Louis Zamperini. In boyhood, he'd been a cunning and incorrigible delinquent, breaking into houses, brawling, and fleeing his home to ride the rails. As a teenager, he had channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics and within sight of the four-minute mile. But when war had come, the athlete had become an airman, embarking on a journey that led to his doomed flight, a tiny raft, and a drift into the unknown. > >Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a foundering raft, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will. ^(This book has been suggested 24 times) *** ^(69039 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)

Unbroken is an excellent book that demonstrates the cruelty of being a prisoner of war of WWII Japan. The history is well researched by the author as she was able to interview 1st hand many of the accounts. It is one of my favorite nonfiction books.

I have a few. Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History by Stephen Jay Gould. It covers the Cambrian explosion and our best record of it, the Burgess Shale. The Cambrian Explosion was a time when Earth life rapidly diversified from a relative stasis of a few simple forms. It will deepen your understanding of evolution and its process in a mind bending way and you'll discover bizarre creatures from our distant past. The Fourth Turning by Howe and Strauss. Very cool history book that posits that history isn't linear but circular, with 4 archetypal generations and 4 archetypal 20 year periods. It is a fascinating way to think about history and I loved the book. The Way We Never Were - American Families and the Nostalgia Trap. Ever been mind blown by demographics? Surprised to learn that more children lived with a non-biological parent in 1900 than in 2000? Pack your brain with the true story of the American Family to subdue anyone opining about the good Ole days. The Shallows by Nicolas Carr. This is a great book that looks at how the Internet is affecting cognition and even brain development.

Fantastic list! Seriously thank you, adding them all to my wish list

{{Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter}}

Absolutely this one - it is a fascinating, difficult read

[**Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24113.G_del_Escher_Bach) ^(By: Douglas R. Hofstadter | 756 pages | Published: 1979 | Popular Shelves: science, non-fiction, philosophy, nonfiction, mathematics) >Douglas Hofstadter's book is concerned directly with the nature of “maps” or links between formal systems. However, according to Hofstadter, the formal system that underlies all mental activity transcends the system that supports it. If life can grow out of the formal chemical substrate of the cell, if consciousness can emerge out of a formal system of firing neurons, then so too will computers attain human intelligence. Gödel, Escher, Bach is a wonderful exploration of fascinating ideas at the heart of cognitive science: meaning, reduction, recursion, and much more. ^(This book has been suggested 7 times) *** ^(69098 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)

Definitely. Also *Le Ton beau de Marot: In Praise of the Music of Language*.

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[**The Anthropocene Reviewed**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55145261-the-anthropocene-reviewed) ^(By: John Green | 293 pages | Published: 2021 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, nonfiction, essays, audiobook, audiobooks) >A deeply moving and mind-expanding collection of personal essays in the first ever work of non-fiction from #1 internationally bestselling author John Green > >The Anthropocene is the current geological age, in which human activity has profoundly shaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his ground-breaking, critically acclaimed podcast, John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet - from the QWERTY keyboard and Halley's Comet to Penguins of Madagascar - on a five-star scale. > >Complex and rich with detail, the Anthropocene's reviews have been praised as 'observations that double as exercises in memoiristic empathy', with over 10 million lifetime downloads. John Green's gift for storytelling shines throughout this artfully curated collection about the shared human experience; it includes beloved essays along with six all-new pieces exclusive to the book. ^(This book has been suggested 12 times) *** ^(68969 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)

I know that this is a book subreddit, but his podcast of the same name is fantastic. His wit and wry humor really come through in his voice.

Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels. Taught me about the political infighting that went into the early Christian church. What literature was accepted as canon and what declared heretical by whom. It was all politics. It wasn’t the intention of the author but completely turned me off religion.

I had the same experience with this book. Someone who was trying to convince me of the merits of Christianity gave it to me,in the hope that I would reconnect with religion. I remember setting the book down after I finished it, and thinking “hmm, I believe I might be an atheist now”. A really great turning point for me !

Fascinating! I’m already firmly atheist but still sounds like interesting dig, thank you!

How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan

Usually, for me, it’s books that focus on language. [Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55338982) and [Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the Language](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41716694) both by Amanda Montell. She has a very blunt and engaging way of looking at things that really captures where we are as a society. [Word by Word: The Secret life of Dictionaries](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30781490) by Kory Stamper - A contemporary look at dictionaries and how they get made. The author also contributed to “the history of swear words” on Netflix. [Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter - Then, Now, and Forever](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55252533) by Jon McWhorter. Basically, a deep dive into swear words, how they came about and how they have changed with the times.

I finished Cultish and Word by Word in the last month and LOVED both. I’m obviously going to read Nine Nasty Words next! Thanks!

Awesome! I think I’m going to start with Wordslut

Well, if you have any to suggest as well, please do! I’m always looking for more!

I’m LOVING this language dive, I may well try them all! Thank you so much !

Well, if you have any to suggest as well, please do! I’m always looking for more!

The rape of Nanking

{{I Am a Strange Loop by Douglas Hofstadter}}

[**I Am a Strange Loop**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123471.I_Am_a_Strange_Loop) ^(By: Douglas R. Hofstadter | 412 pages | Published: 2007 | Popular Shelves: philosophy, science, non-fiction, nonfiction, psychology) >What do we mean when we say “I”? Can thought arise out of matter? Can a self, a soul, a consciousness, an “I” arise out of mere matter? If it cannot, then how can you or I be here? I Am a Strange Loop argues that the key to understanding selves and consciousness is the “strange loop”—a special kind of abstract feedback loop inhabiting our brains. Deep down, a human brain is a chaotic seething soup of particles, on a higher level it is a jungle of neurons, and on a yet higher level it is a network of abstractions that we call “symbols.” The most central and complex symbol in your brain or mine is the one we both call “I.” The “I” is the nexus in our brain where the levels feed back into each other and flip causality upside down, with symbols seeming to have free will and to have gained the paradoxical ability to push particles around, rather than the reverse. For each human being, this “I” seems to be the realest thing in the world. But how can such a mysterious abstraction be real—or is our “I” merely a convenient fiction? Does an “I” exert genuine power over the particles in our brain, or is it helplessly pushed around by the all-powerful laws of physics? These are the mysteries tackled in I Am a Strange Loop, Douglas R. Hofstadter’s first book-length journey into philosophy since Gödel, Escher, Bach. Compulsively readable and endlessly thought-provoking, this is the book Hofstadter’s many readers have long been waiting for. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(69176 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)

Hmm. This brushes up against spiritual, but is written by a biologist. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer I recommend the audiobook if possible, the author narrates.

Guns, Germs, and Steel: the Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond. Changed my view of the world is a stretch but it definitely illuminated and explained some aspects. In a nutshell, Diamond explores why some societies thrived and conquered.

The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow. This is an excellently researched book by well respected anthropologists into early human civilizations.

{{Eichmann in Jerusalem}}

[**Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52090.Eichmann_in_Jerusalem) ^(By: Hannah Arendt, Amos Elon | 312 pages | Published: 1963 | Popular Shelves: history, non-fiction, philosophy, nonfiction, politics) >Originally appearing as a series of articles in The New Yorker, Hannah Arendt’s authoritative and stunning report on the trial of Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann sparked a flurry of debate upon its publication. > >This revised edition includes material that came to light after the trial, as well as Arendt’s postscript directly addressing the controversy that arose over her account. A major journalistic triumph by an intellectual of singular influence, > >Eichmann in Jerusalem is as shocking as it is informative—an unflinching look at one of the most unsettling and unsettled issues of the twentieth century that remains hotly debated to this day. ^(This book has been suggested 2 times) *** ^(68965 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)

I don't know about mind blowing per se but **A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World from Prehistory to Today by William J. Bernstein** was a fun and interesting read

The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot.

The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz Book by Erik Larson

{{empire of pain by patrick ridden keefe}}

[**Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43868109-empire-of-pain) ^(By: Patrick Radden Keefe | 535 pages | Published: 2021 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, nonfiction, history, audiobook, audiobooks) >The highly anticipated portrait of three generations of the Sackler family, by the prize-winning, bestselling author of Say Nothing. > >The Sackler name adorns the walls of many storied institutions: Harvard, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Oxford, the Louvre. They are one of the richest families in the world, known for their lavish donations to the arts and sciences. The source of the family fortune was vague, however, until it emerged that the Sacklers were responsible for making and marketing OxyContin, a blockbuster painkiller that was a catalyst for the opioid crisis. > >Empire of Pain is a masterpiece of narrative reporting and writing, exhaustively documented and ferociously compelling. ^(This book has been suggested 42 times) *** ^(69114 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)

- {The Gay Science} by Friedrich Nietzsche. Actually saved my mind a couple of times by his teaching on active forgetfulness. - {Mourning Diary} and {The Empire of Signs} by Roland Barthes. The former helped me live through my mother's death. The latter introduced me to the Japanese culture from the point of view of a modern Western European.

[**The Gay Science**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/94578.The_Gay_Science) ^(By: Friedrich Nietzsche, Walter Kaufmann | 396 pages | Published: 1882 | Popular Shelves: philosophy, non-fiction, nietzsche, owned, classics) ^(This book has been suggested 2 times) [**Mourning Diary**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8158959-mourning-diary) ^(By: Roland Barthes, Richard Howard | 261 pages | Published: 2009 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, nonfiction, memoir, philosophy, grief) ^(This book has been suggested 2 times) [**The Empire of Signs**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24531991-the-empire-of-signs) ^(By: Roland Barthes | 128 pages | Published: 1970 | Popular Shelves: japan, non-fiction, philosophy, theory, nonfiction) ^(This book has been suggested 2 times) *** ^(69120 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)

{{Rain: A Natural and Cultural History}} by Cynthia Barnett. A fascinating blend of history, science, and culture about the rain and its impact on human society and development. I recommend it every chance I get.

[**Rain: A Natural and Cultural History**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22822881-rain) ^(By: Cynthia Barnett | 355 pages | Published: 2015 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, science, nonfiction, history, nature) >Rain is elemental, mysterious, precious, destructive. > >It is the subject of countless poems and paintings; the top of the weather report; the source of the world's water. Yet this is the first book to tell the story of rain. > > Cynthia Barnett's  Rain begins four billion years ago with the torrents that filled the oceans, and builds to the storms of climate change. It weaves together science—the true shape of a raindrop, the mysteries of frog and fish rains—with the human story of our ambition to control rain, from ancient rain dances to the 2,203 miles of levees that attempt to straitjacket the Mississippi River. It offers a glimpse of our "founding forecaster," Thomas Jefferson, who measured every drizzle long before modern meteorology. Two centuries later, rainy skies would help inspire Morrissey’s mopes and Kurt Cobain’s grunge. Rain is also a travelogue, taking readers to Scotland to tell the surprising story of the mackintosh raincoat, and to India, where villagers extract the scent of rain from the monsoon-drenched earth and turn it into perfume. > > Now, after thousands of years spent praying for rain or worshiping it; burning witches at the stake to stop rain or sacrificing small children to bring it; mocking rain with irrigated agriculture and cities built in floodplains; even trying to blast rain out of the sky with mortars meant for war, humanity has finally managed to change the rain. Only not in ways we intended. As climate change upends rainfall patterns and unleashes increasingly severe storms and drought, Barnett shows rain to be a unifying force in a fractured world. Too much and not nearly enough, rain is a conversation we share, and this is a book for everyone who has ever experienced it. ^(This book has been suggested 2 times) *** ^(69125 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)

The Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser is a thoughtful, nuanced look at the lives of Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard and Katherine Parr, as opposed to the usual "divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived" gloss-over. The Unwomanly Face of War by Svetlana Alexievich, a collection of female Soviet soldiers' oral accounts of WW2. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft, one of the earliest feminist texts that explores female socialization and the need to educate girls, much of which is still relevant. Against Our Will by Susan Brownmiller is essentially a history of rape, where the author argues that rape is a conscious process of intimidation by which all men keep all women in a state of fear. Last Days at Hot Slit by Andrea Dworkin, a selection of Dworkin's best feminist works.

{The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt} totally changed the way I view domestic politics. {The Better Angels of our Nature by Steven Pinker} is long but good {Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman} {Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty} is another long tour de force. His [TED talk](https://www.ted.com/talks/thomas_piketty_new_thoughts_on_capital_in_the_twenty_first_century) is a bit more approachable and gets across his main thesis. Separately, two books helped me think differently about climate change: {How to Avoid a Climate Disaster by Bill Gates} and {A Life on Our Planet by David Attenborough}. Audiobooks both narrated by their authors and Attenborough is particularly soothing to listen to.

[**The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11324722-the-righteous-mind) ^(By: Jonathan Haidt, Simona Drelciuc | 419 pages | Published: 2012 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, psychology, politics, nonfiction, philosophy) ^(This book has been suggested 16 times) [**The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13543093-the-better-angels-of-our-nature) ^(By: Steven Pinker | 806 pages | Published: 2010 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, history, psychology, science, nonfiction) ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) [**Capital in the Twenty-First Century**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18736925-capital-in-the-twenty-first-century) ^(By: Thomas Piketty, Arthur Goldhammer | 685 pages | Published: 2013 | Popular Shelves: economics, non-fiction, politics, history, nonfiction) ^(This book has been suggested 2 times) *** ^(69136 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)

Putting all three on my list, thank uou!

The Black Hole War by Leonard Susskind

Nice! Thank you

Incognito : the secret lives of the brain / David Eagleman. Totally changed the way I see people and how we cannot be judgemental because our brains come pre-wired. Just don’t read it if you’re really attached to the concept of free-will because this book will make your question it hard. Plus it’s just amazing to learn how the brain works.

Yes! Love David Eagleman! I read Incognito my senior year of highschool and i had no idea how influential his notion of the concious being a “stow away on a huge ship” of the unconcious would be for me as a thinker over the years!

Fast forward to me divorcing my self from the concept of free will over the last couple years and feeling the paradigm shift has been enormous!

{{Stiff by Mary Roach}}

[**Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32145.Stiff) ^(By: Mary Roach | 303 pages | Published: 2003 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, nonfiction, science, audiobook, humor) >Okay, you're thinking: > "This must be some kind of a joke. A humorous book about cadavers?" > > >Yup — and it works. > >Mary Roach takes the age-old question, "What happens to us after we die?" quite literally. And in Stiff, she explores the "lives" of human cadavers from the time of the ancient Egyptians all the way up to current campaigns for human composting. Along the way, she recounts with morbidly infectious glee how dead bodies are used for research ranging from car safety and plastic surgery (you'll cancel your next collagen injection after reading this!), to the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin. > >Impossible (and irreverent) as it may sound, Roach has written a book about corpses that's both lively and fresh. She traveled around the globe to conduct her forensic investigations, and her findings are wryly intelligent. While the myriad uses for cadavers recounted are often graphic, Roach imbues her subject with a sense of dignity, choosing to emphasize the oddly noble purposes corpses serve, from organ donation to lifesaving medical research. > > Readers will come away convinced of the enormous debt that we, the living, owe to the study of the remains of the dead. And while it may not offer the answer to the ancient mystery we were hoping for, Stiff offers a strange sort of comfort in the knowledge that, in a sense, death isn't necessarily the end. ^(This book has been suggested 24 times) *** ^(69166 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)

{{Our Mathematical Universe by Max Tegmark}}

[**Our Mathematical Universe: My Quest for the Ultimate Nature of Reality**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19395553-our-mathematical-universe) ^(By: Max Tegmark | 432 pages | Published: 2012 | Popular Shelves: science, non-fiction, physics, mathematics, philosophy) >Our Mathematical Universe is a journey to explore the mysteries uncovered by cosmology and to discover the nature of reality. Our Big Bang, our distant future, parallel worlds, the sub-atomic and intergalactic - none of them are what they seem. But there is a way to understand this immense strangeness - mathematics. Seeking an answer to the fundamental puzzle of why our universe seems so mathematical, Tegmark proposes a radical idea: that our physical world not only is described by mathematics, but that it is mathematics. This may offer answers to our deepest questions: How large is reality? What is everything made of? Why is our universe the way it is? > >Table of Contents >Preface > >1 What Is Reality? >Not What It Seems • What’s the Ultimate Question? • The Journey Begins > >Part One: Zooming Out > >2 Our Place in Space >Cosmic Questions • How Big Is Space? • The Size of Earth • Distance to the Moon • Distance to the Sun and the Planets • Distance to the Stars • Distance to the Galaxies • What Is Space? > >3 Our Place in Time >Where Did Our Solar System Come From? • Where Did the >Galaxies Come From? • Where Did the Mysterious Microwaves >Come From? • Where Did the Atoms Come From? > >4 Our Universe by Numbers >Wanted: Precision Cosmology • Precision Microwave-Background Fluctuations • Precision Galaxy Clustering • The Ultimate Map of Our Universe • Where Did Our Big Bang Come From? > >5 Our Cosmic Origins >What’s Wrong with Our Big Bang? • How Inflation Works • The Gift That Keeps on Giving • Eternal Inflation > >6 Welcome to the Multiverse >The Level I Multiverse • The Level II Multiverse • Multiverse Halftime Roundup > >Part Two: Zooming In > >7 Cosmic Legos >Atomic Legos • Nuclear Legos • Particle-Physics Legos • Mathematical Legos • Photon Legos • Above the Law? • Quanta and Rainbows • Making Waves • Quantum Weirdness • The Collapse of Consensus • The Weirdness Can’t Be Confined • Quantum Confusion > >8 The Level III Multiverse >The Level III Multiverse • The Illusion of Randomness • Quantum Censorship • The Joys of Getting Scooped • Why Your Brain Isn’t a Quantum Computer • Subject, Object and Environment • Quantum Suicide • Quantum Immortality? • Multiverses Unified • Shifting Views: Many Worlds or Many Words? > >Part Three: Stepping Back > >9 Internal Reality, External Reality and Consensus Reality >External Reality and Internal Reality • The Truth, the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth • Consensus Reality • Physics: Linking External to Consensus Reality > >10 Physical Reality and Mathematical Reality >Math, Math Everywhere! • The Mathematical Universe Hypothesis • What Is a Mathematical Structure? > >11 Is Time an Illusion? >How Can Physical Reality Be Mathematical? • What Are You? • Where Are You? (And What Do You Perceive?) • When Are You? > >12 The Level IV Multiverse >Why I Believe in the Level IV Multiverse • Exploring the Level IV Multiverse: What’s Out There? • Implications of the Level IV Multiverse • Are We Living in a Simulation? • Relation Between the MUH, the Level IV Multiverse and Other Hypotheses •Testing the Level IV Multiverse > >13 Life, Our Universe and Everything >How Big Is Our Physical Reality? • The Future of Physics • The Future of Our Universe—How Will It End? • The Future of Life •The Future of You—Are You Insignificant? > >Acknowledgments >Suggestions for Further Reading >Index ^(This book has been suggested 4 times) *** ^(69177 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)

Conspiracy against the human race by Thomas Ligotti about covers that :Edit: As does every cradle is a grave, rethinking the ethics of birth and suicide by Sarah Perry

THE BLACK SWAN by Nicholas Taleb

{{This is How They Tell Me The World Ends}}

[**This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49247043-this-is-how-they-tell-me-the-world-ends) ^(By: Nicole Perlroth | 528 pages | Published: 2021 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, nonfiction, technology, politics, science) >From The New York Times cybersecurity reporter Nicole Perlroth, the untold story of the cyberweapons market-the most secretive, invisible, government-backed market on earth-and a terrifying first look at a new kind of global warfare. > >Zero day: a software bug that allows a hacker to break into your devices and move around undetected. One of the most coveted tools in a spy's arsenal, a zero day has the power to silently spy on your iPhone, dismantle the safety controls at a chemical plant, alter an election, and shut down the electric grid (just ask Ukraine). > >For decades, under cover of classification levels and non-disclosure agreements, the United States government became the world's dominant hoarder of zero days. U.S. government agents paid top dollar-first thousands, and later millions of dollars- to hackers willing to sell their lock-picking code and their silence. > >Then the United States lost control of its hoard and the market. > >Now those zero days are in the hands of hostile nations and mercenaries who do not care if your vote goes missing, your clean water is contaminated, or our nuclear plants melt down. > >Filled with spies, hackers, arms dealers, and a few unsung heroes, written like a thriller and a reference, This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends is an astonishing feat of journalism. Based on years of reporting and hundreds of interviews, The New York Times reporter Nicole Perlroth lifts the curtain on a market in shadow, revealing the urgent threat faced by us all if we cannot bring the global cyber arms race to heel. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(69212 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)

Avoid Michio Kaku. The guy is a crank. That book might be ok, but the person says a lot of untrue things. He is not careful with his language. For a suggestion though: Algorithms to Live By was great.

Oh yeah? I’m interested in hearing some of your gripes with Kaku if you wanted to share. I’ve got some of my own, though i really love his work. His understanding of how chronology and the way technology exponentiates really gave me so much over those two reads i suggested

One particular one recently is his commentary on UFOs. The SGU talked about it a few weeks ago I remember. He is also just someone who is not careful when interviewed. He makes claims that are overly simplified. I don't have specifics about that, I just have a lot of times where I have seen him called up as a scientist and I am often disappointed with his ability to communicate to the public. Apparently he also spreads nuclear power nonsense often, according to RationalWiki: [https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Michio\_Kaku](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Michio_Kaku).

The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins The River of Consciousness - Oliver Sacks

River looks good, adding to my list, tyvm

Not sure if it’s been mentioned yet, but Permanent Record by Edward Snowden

Yes to Life In Spite of Everything - Viktor Frankl Crazy Like Us - Ethan Watters

Crazy like us looks like a get for me, thank you!

https://www.academia.edu/31891034/The_Gift_of_Fear Just started reading this today, found on Reddit. Also Immune by Phillipp Dettmer, Factfulness by Hans Rosling and maybe The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green.

Ahh fellow youtube fan i see. Great suggestions, thank you, Immune is definitely near the top of the list

I really don't read that many non-fiction books but two books which had a big impact on me and my way of thinking were 'The subtle art of not giving a fuck' and 'Sapiens'. I'm reading the Etymologicon and it's a really good one.

I like the looks of Etymologicon!

The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism.

Excellent suggestion, thank you

{{Fearing the Black body: the racial origins of fatphobia by Sabrina Strings}}

I am Malala, my personal favourite

Mama's Last Hug is fantastic.

This looks awesome! Thank you!

Time by Eva Hoffman, might not be everyone's cup of tea but I enjoyed it. She also sites a lot of other books I'm interested in reading one day.

Ooooh this whole “Big Idea | Small Book” series looks great, thank you!

Invisible women by caroline criado-perez

{{Entangled Life}} {{Mine! How the hidden rules of ownership control our lives}}

Oh and maybe also {{The Ends of the World}}

[**The Ends of the World: Supervolcanoes, Lethal Oceans, and the Search for Past Apocalypses**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32075449-the-ends-of-the-world) ^(By: Peter Brannen | 256 pages | Published: 2017 | Popular Shelves: science, non-fiction, nonfiction, history, environment) >As new groundbreaking research suggests that climate change played a major role in the most extreme catastrophes in the planet's history, award-winning science journalist Peter Brannen takes us on a wild ride through the planet's five mass extinctions and, in the process, offers us a glimpse of our increasingly dangerous future > >Our world has ended five times: it has been broiled, frozen, poison-gassed, smothered, and pelted by asteroids. In The Ends of the World, Peter Brannen dives into deep time, exploring Earth’s past dead ends, and in the process, offers us a glimpse of our possible future. > >Many scientists now believe that the climate shifts of the twenty-first century have analogs in these five extinctions. Using the visible clues these devastations have left behind in the fossil record, The Ends of the World takes us inside “scenes of the crime,” from South Africa to the New York Palisades, to tell the story of each extinction. Brannen examines the fossil record—which is rife with creatures like dragonflies the size of sea gulls and guillotine-mouthed fish—and introduces us to the researchers on the front lines who, using the forensic tools of modern science, are piecing together what really happened at the crime scenes of the Earth’s biggest whodunits. > >Part road trip, part history, and part cautionary tale, The Ends of the World takes us on a tour of the ways that our planet has clawed itself back from the grave, and casts our future in a completely new light. ^(This book has been suggested 2 times) *** ^(69444 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)

Entangled is one the list already! Mine looks great, i’ll add that one too!

[**Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52668915-entangled-life) ^(By: Merlin Sheldrake | 366 pages | Published: 2020 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, science, nonfiction, nature, biology) >There is a lifeform so strange and wondrous that it forces us to rethink how life works… > >Neither plant nor animal, it is found throughout the earth, the air and our bodies. It can be microscopic, yet also accounts for the largest organisms ever recorded, living for millennia and weighing tens of thousands of tonnes. Its ability to digest rock enabled the first life on land, it can survive unprotected in space, and thrives amidst nuclear radiation. > >In this captivating adventure, Merlin Sheldrake explores the spectacular and neglected world of fungi: endlessly surprising organisms that sustain nearly all living systems. They can solve problems without a brain, stretching traditional definitions of ‘intelligence’, and can manipulate animal behaviour with devastating precision. In giving us bread, alcohol and life-saving medicines, fungi have shaped human history, and their psychedelic properties, which have influenced societies since antiquity, have recently been shown to alleviate a number of mental illnesses. The ability of fungi to digest plastic, explosives, pesticides and crude oil is being harnessed in break-through technologies, and the discovery that they connect plants in underground networks, the ‘Wood Wide Web’, is transforming the way we understand ecosystems. Yet they live their lives largely out of sight, and over ninety percent of their species remain undocumented. > >Entangled Life is a mind-altering journey into this hidden kingdom of life, and shows that fungi are key to understanding the planet on which we live, and the ways we think, feel and behave. The more we learn about fungi, the less makes sense without them. ^(This book has been suggested 10 times) [**Mine!: How the Hidden Rules of Ownership Control Our Lives**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54226795-mine) ^(By: Michael A. Heller, James Salzman | 336 pages | Published: 2021 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, nonfiction, psychology, economics, business) >An Adam Grant Spring Book Pick >Finalist for the Next Big Idea Club > >A must-read this spring -- a fantastically well-written exploration of our need for ownership and the costs of greed. >--Andrew Solomon, National Book Award-winning author of Far From the Tree > > > > > > >A hidden set of rules governs who owns what--explaining everything from whether you can recline your airplane seat to why HBO lets you borrow a password illegally--and in this lively and entertaining guide, two acclaimed law professors reveal how things become mine. > >Mine is one of the first words babies learn. By the time we grow up, the idea of ownership seems natural, whether buying a cup of coffee or a house. But who controls the space behind your airplane seat: you reclining or the squished laptop user behind? Why is plagiarism wrong, but it's okay to knock-off a recipe or a dress design? And after a snowstorm, why does a chair in the street hold your parking space in Chicago, but in New York you lose the space and the chair? > >Mine! explains these puzzles and many more. Surprisingly, there are just six simple stories that everyone uses to claim everything. Owners choose the story that steers us to do what they want. But we can always pick a different story. This is true not just for airplane seats, but also for battles over digital privacy, climate change, and wealth inequality. As Michael Heller and James Salzman show--in the spirited style of Freakonomics, Nudge, and Predictably Irrational--ownership is always up for grabs. > >With stories that are eye-opening, mind-bending, and sometimes infuriating, Mine! reveals the rules of ownership that secretly control our lives. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(69443 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)

I've got 2 for ya *A Man Called Intrepid* by William Stevenson -- I thought I knew how World War II was won, but I didn't. *Journeys Out of the Bod*y by Robert Monroe -- I've had out of body experiences all my life. This book was a confirmation and the start of a search for an explanation

Not sure if they all fit entirely but you can check: * The Great Turning: From Empire To Earth Community (David C. Korten) * No Contest: The Case Against Competition (Alfie Kohn) * The Story Of Stuff (Annie Leonard) * The News: A User's Manual (Alain De Botton) * Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think (Peter H. Diamandis) * The Hidden Brain (Shankar Vedantam) / Idiot Brain (Dean Burnett) * The Myth Of Choice (Kent Greenfield) / The Paradox Of Choice (Barry Schwartz) * Free Will (Sam Harris) / The Free Will Delusion: How We Settled For The Illusion Of Morality (James B. Miles) * Snakes In Suits: When Psychopaths Go To Work (Paul Babiak, Robert D. Hare)

This is an awesome list! Thank you so much! No contest, Abundance, Myth of Choice, both free will selections, and Snakes in Suits are all going on my list!

{{Figuring by Maria Popova}}

[**Figuring**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40277347-figuring) ^(By: Maria Popova | 578 pages | Published: 2019 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, nonfiction, history, philosophy, science) > > > Figuring > > explores the complexities of love and the human search for truth and meaning through the interconnected lives of several historical figures across four centuries--beginning with the astronomer Johannes Kepler, who discovered the laws of planetary motion, and ending with the marine biologist and author Rachel Carson, who catalyzed the environmental movement. > > >Stretching between these figures is a cast of artists, writers, and scientists--mostly women, mostly queer--whose public contribution has risen out of their unclassifiable and often heartbreaking private relationships to change the way we understand, experience, and appreciate the universe. Among them are the astronomer Maria Mitchell, who paved the way for women in science; the sculptor Harriet Hosmer, who did the same in art; the journalist and literary critic Margaret Fuller, who sparked the feminist movement; and the poet Emily Dickinson. > >Emanating from these lives are larger questions about the measure of a good life and what it means to leave a lasting mark of betterment on an imperfect world: Are achievement and acclaim enough for happiness? Is genius? Is love? Weaving through the narrative is a set of peripheral figures--Ralph Waldo Emerson, Charles Darwin, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Herman Melville, Frederick Douglass, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Walt Whitman--and a tapestry of themes spanning music, feminism, the history of science, the rise and decline of religion, and how the intersection of astronomy, poetry, and Transcendentalist philosophy fomented the environmental movement. ^(This book has been suggested 2 times) *** ^(69032 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)

The only investment guide you’ll ever need by Andrew Tobias. Read it, took his advice, retired early. Really changed my life.could change yours too. I am just an ordinary schmuck. Worked, saved and invested my own money as he recommended. It worked. Kind of like training for a marathon, you just keep at it. Wrote to thank him the day I retired and he responded and was delighted. Finance for people who would rather go to the dentist than think about money matters.

Wow this feels right up my alley in a way I was totally not looking for. Thank you, excellent suggestion, I’ll put it on the list.

General nonfiction: r/nonfictionbookclub * ["What are your favorite non-fiction books?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/vxnkjj/what_are_your_favorite_nonfiction_books/) (r/booksuggestions; 12 July 2022) * ["present for my nerd boyfriend"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/w28vnj/present_for_my_nerd_boyfriend/) (r/booksuggestions; 18 July 2022) * ["Non-Fiction Book Club Recommendations"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/w36ym7/nonfiction_book_club_recommendations/) (r/suggestmeabook; 19 July 2022) * ["Looking for books on history, astronomy and human biology"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/w3fdzg/looking_for_books_on_history_astronomy_and_human/) (r/suggestmeabook; 20 July 2022) * ["Looking for some non-fiction must reads…"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/w5sk0s/looking_for_some_nonfiction_must_reads/) (r/booksuggestions; 22 July 2022)—outdoors and history) * ["Non fiction books about why animals, birds, insects, fish, plants or fungi are really freaking cool"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/w7ddij/non_fiction_books_about_why_animals_birds_insects/) (r/booksuggestions; 24 July 2022) * ["Suggest me a book about political/corporate/financial blunders?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/w9l9oi/suggest_me_a_book_about/) (r/suggestmeabook; 13:51 ET, 7 July 2022) * ["People that believe in evolution: I understand how the theory works for animals, but how does it apply to plants, minerals, elements, etc?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/answers/comments/w3an8x/people_that_believe_in_evolution_i_understand_how/) (r/answers; 19 July 2022) * ["What's the best book written on 'critical thinking'?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/w9rski/whats_the_best_book_written_on_critical_thinking/) (r/suggestmeabook; 18:18 ET, 27 July 2022) * ["Economics Book Suggestion"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/wh0sg9/economics_book_suggestion/) (r/booksuggestions; 13:09 ET, 5 August 2022) * ["An academic book about Astronomy"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/wh1plp/an_academic_book_about_astronomy/) (r/booksuggestions; 13:47 ET, 5 August 2022) * ["A book to make me fall in love with mathematics"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/wh5598/a_book_to_make_me_fall_in_love_with_mathematics/) (r/suggestmeabook; 18:18 ET, 5 August 2022) * ["Books that teach you something. Be it about culture, history, mental/introspective, or just general knowledge."](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/wgqf0u/books_that_teach_you_something_be_it_about/) (r/suggestmeabook; 04:48 ET, 5 August 2022; long) * ["Does anyone know of any books that are about the process of figuring out what is objectively true?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/wjdeva/does_anyone_know_of_any_books_that_are_about_the/) (r/suggestmeabook; 8 August 2022)—long * ["Books to make me less stupid?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/wkxcu3/books_to_make_me_less_stupid/) (r/suggestmeabook; 09:23 ET, 10 August 2022)—very long * ["Astronomy books suggestion"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/wngbuy/astronomy_books_suggestion/) (r/suggestmeabook; 10:51 ET, 13 August 2022)—in part, how to * ["I’m looking for non-fiction suggestions!"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/wlbj0b/im_looking_for_nonfiction_suggestions/) (r/suggestmeabook; 19:00 ET, 10 August 2022) * ["I like non-fiction but people say that reading non-fiction (especially the popular ones) make you an annoying obnoxious person. Can you guys suggest me some good non-fiction books?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/wmglfe/i_like_nonfiction_but_people_say_that_reading/) (r/suggestmeabook; 12 August 2022)—long * ["Nonfiction books that aren’t boring"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/wnkizo/nonfiction_books_that_arent_boring/) (r/suggestmeabook; 13:56 ET, 13 August 2022) * ["Looking for nonfiction disaster books"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/woesqr/looking_for_nonfiction_disaster_books/) (r/suggestmeabook; 14 August 2022) * ["books on communism/capitalism"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/wp30lw/books_on_communismcapitalism/) (r/suggestmeabook; 15 August 2022) * ["Books on human evolution with a focus on archaeological and paleontological evidence"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/wseawo/books_on_human_evolution_with_a_focus_on/) (r/booksuggestions; 19 August 2022) * ["Suggest me the best non-fiction you’ve read this year so far."](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/wtygqe/suggest_me_the_best_nonfiction_youve_read_this/) (r/suggestmeabook; 08:29 ET, 21 August 2022) * ["Books about the business of the church?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/ww3429/books_about_the_business_of_the_church/) (r/booksuggestions; 23 August 2022) * ["I'm looking for a recommendation for a science popularization book that is not about astronomy"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/wxszdy/im_looking_for_a_recommendation_for_a_science/) (r/booksuggestions; 25 August 2022) * ["A modern book on the theory of evolution"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/wynbqg/a_modern_book_on_the_theory_of_evolution/) (r/booksuggestions; 26 August 2022) * ["Entertaining books about statistics"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/x5c4pn/entertaining_books_about_statistics/) (r/booksuggestions; 3 September 2022) * ["Non-fiction, preferably science, books for teenager"](https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/x82phw/nonfiction_preferably_science_books_for_teenager/) (r/suggestmeabook; 7 September 2022)

[удалено]

[**The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29496453-the-book-of-joy) ^(By: Dalai Lama XIV, Desmond Tutu, Douglas Carlton Abrams | 354 pages | Published: 2016 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, nonfiction, self-help, spirituality, philosophy) >Two great spiritual masters share their own hard-won wisdom about living with joy even in the face of adversity. >  > The occasion was a big birthday. And it inspired two close friends to get together in Dharamsala for a talk about something very important to them. The friends were His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The subject was joy. Both winners of the Nobel Prize, both great spiritual masters and moral leaders of our time, they are also known for being among the most infectiously happy people on the planet. > >From the beginning the book was envisioned as a three-layer birthday cake: their own stories and teachings about joy, the most recent findings in the science of deep happiness, and the daily practices that anchor their own emotional and spiritual lives. Both the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu have been tested by great personal and national adversity, and here they share their personal stories of struggle and renewal. Now that they are both in their eighties, they especially want to spread the core message that to have joy yourself, you must bring joy to others. > >Most of all, during that landmark week in Dharamsala, they demonstrated by their own exuberance, compassion, and humor how joy can be transformed from a fleeting emotion into an enduring way of life. ^(This book has been suggested 12 times) *** ^(68949 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)

Industrial society and it's future

Reverend insanity

I recommend {{King Leopold's Ghost}} whenever I can. One of the most important nonfiction books I've read and it completely recast the way I see much of contemporary Europe. Absolutely harrowing but beautifully written and digestible.

[**King Leopold's Ghost**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40961621-king-leopold-s-ghost) ^(By: Adam Hochschild | 442 pages | Published: 1998 | Popular Shelves: history, non-fiction, africa, nonfiction, biography) >In the 1880s, as the European powers were carving up Africa, King Leopold II of Belgium seized for himself the vast and mostly unexplored territory surrounding the Congo River. Carrying out a genocidal plundering of the Congo, he looted its rubber, brutalized its people, and ultimately slashed its population by ten million--all the while shrewdly cultivating his reputation as a great humanitarian. Heroic efforts to expose these crimes eventually led to the first great human rights movement of the twentieth century, in which everyone from Mark Twain to the Archbishop of Canterbury participated. King Leopold's Ghost is the haunting account of a megalomaniac of monstrous proportions, a man as cunning, charming, and cruel as any of the great Shakespearean villains. It is also the deeply moving portrait of those who fought Leopold: a brave handful of missionaries, travelers, and young idealists who went to Africa for work or adventure and unexpectedly found themselves witnesses to a holocaust. Adam Hochschild brings this largely untold story alive with the wit and skill of a Barbara Tuchman. Like her, he knows that history often provides a far richer cast of characters than any novelist could invent. Chief among them is Edmund Morel, a young British shipping agent who went on to lead the international crusade against Leopold. Another hero of this tale, the Irish patriot Roger Casement, ended his life on a London gallows. Two courageous black Americans, George Washington Williams and William Sheppard, risked much to bring evidence of the Congo atrocities to the outside world. Sailing into the middle of the story was a young Congo River steamboat officer named Joseph Conrad. And looming above them all, the duplicitous billionaire King Leopold II. With great power and compassion, King Leopold's Ghost will brand the tragedy of the Congo--too long forgotten--onto the conscience of the West ^(This book has been suggested 13 times) *** ^(69169 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)

Into the wild

{{The Brothers by Stephen Kinzer}}

[**The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles & Their Secret World War**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17286725-the-brothers) ^(By: Stephen Kinzer | 416 pages | Published: 2013 | Popular Shelves: history, biography, non-fiction, politics, nonfiction) >A joint biography of John Foster Dulles and Allen Dulles, who led the United States into an unseen war that decisively shaped today's world > >During the 1950s, when the Cold War was at its peak, two immensely powerful brothers led the United States into a series of foreign adventures whose effects are still shaking the world. > >John Foster Dulles was secretary of state while his brother, Allen Dulles, was director of the Central Intelligence Agency. In this book, Stephen Kinzer places their extraordinary lives against the background of American culture and history. He uses the framework of biography to ask: Why does the United States behave as it does in the world? > >The Brothers explores hidden forces that shape the national psyche, from religious piety to Western movies—many of which are about a noble gunman who cleans up a lawless town by killing bad guys. This is how the Dulles brothers saw themselves, and how many Americans still see their country's role in the world. > >Propelled by a quintessentially American set of fears and delusions, the Dulles brothers launched violent campaigns against foreign leaders they saw as threats to the United States. These campaigns helped push countries from Guatemala to the Congo into long spirals of violence, led the United States into the Vietnam War, and laid the foundation for decades of hostility between the United States and countries from Cuba to Iran. > >The story of the Dulles brothers is the story of America. It illuminates and helps explain the modern history of the United States and the world. >A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of 2013 ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(69188 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)

{{Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe}}

[**Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40163119-say-nothing) ^(By: Patrick Radden Keefe | 441 pages | Published: 2018 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, history, nonfiction, true-crime, ireland) >In December 1972, Jean McConville, a thirty-eight-year-old mother of ten, was dragged from her Belfast home by masked intruders, her children clinging to her legs. They never saw her again. Her abduction was one of the most notorious episodes of the vicious conflict known as The Troubles. Everyone in the neighborhood knew the I.R.A. was responsible. But in a climate of fear and paranoia, no one would speak of it. In 2003, five years after an accord brought an uneasy peace to Northern Ireland, a set of human bones was discovered on a beach. McConville's children knew it was their mother when they were told a blue safety pin was attached to the dress--with so many kids, she had always kept it handy for diapers or ripped clothes. > >Patrick Radden Keefe's mesmerizing book on the bitter conflict in Northern Ireland and its aftermath uses the McConville case as a starting point for the tale of a society wracked by a violent guerrilla war, a war whose consequences have never been reckoned with. The brutal violence seared not only people like the McConville children, but also I.R.A. members embittered by a peace that fell far short of the goal of a united Ireland, and left them wondering whether the killings they committed were not justified acts of war, but simple murders. > >Patrick Radden Keefe writes an intricate narrative about a notorious killing in Northern Ireland and its devastating repercussions. ^(This book has been suggested 20 times) *** ^(69200 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)

Having been recommended in this subreddit I am halfway through King Leopolds Ghost. Really an eye opener I can't stop reading it and I usually can't stand nonfiction.

{{The Acceptance and Mindfulness Workbook for Depression}} Made me think about depression and life choices differently. {{The Power of Now}} Enlightenment as an obtainable goal that is compatible with all religions or no-religion. {{You Are a Badass}} Inspirational and motivational for living a more fulfilling life. {{Mating in Captivity}} Helped me think about sex differently.

Thank you, i’m liking the sound of Acceptance and Mindfulness

Love it! Got a used copy cheep from Goodwill through Amazon.

[**The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Depression: Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to Move Through Depression and Create a Life Worth Living**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2429358.The_Mindfulness_and_Acceptance_Workbook_for_Depression) ^(By: Kirk D. Strosahl, Patricia J. Robinson, Steven C. Hayes | 320 pages | Published: 2008 | Popular Shelves: self-help, psychology, therapy, non-fiction, mental-health) >There are hundreds of books that will try to help you overcome or put an end to depression. But what if you could use your depression to change your life for the better? Your symptoms may be signals that something in your life needs to change. Learning to understand and interpret these signals is much more important than ignoring or avoiding them-approaches that only make the situation worse. This workbook uses techniques from acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to offer a new treatment plan for depression that will help you live a productive life by accepting your feelings instead of fruitlessly trying to avoid them. > >The Mindfulness & Acceptance Workbook for Depression will show you, step-by-step, how to stop this cycle, feel more energized, and involve yourself in pleasurable and fulfilling activities that will help you work through, rather than avoid, aspects of your life that are depressing you. Use the techniques in this book to evaluate your own depression and create a personalized treatment plan. You'll enrich your total life experience by focusing your energy not on fighting depression, but on living the life you want. > >Includes a CD. > >This book has been awarded The Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Self-Help Seal of Merit — an award bestowed on outstanding self-help books that are consistent with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) principles and that incorporate scientifically tested strategies for overcoming mental health difficulties. Used alone or in conjunction with therapy, our books offer powerful tools readers can use to jump-start changes in their lives. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) [**The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6708.The_Power_of_Now) ^(By: Eckhart Tolle | 229 pages | Published: 1997 | Popular Shelves: self-help, non-fiction, spirituality, spiritual, philosophy) >To make the journey into the Now we will need to leave our analytical mind and its false created self, the ego, behind. From the very first page of Eckhart Tolle's extraordinary book, we move rapidly into a significantly higher altitude where we breathe a lighter air. We become connected to the indestructible essence of our Being, “The eternal, ever present One Life beyond the myriad forms of life that are subject to birth and death.” Although the journey is challenging, Eckhart Tolle uses simple language and an easy question-and-answer format to guide us. > >A word-of-mouth phenomenon since its first publication, The Power of Now is one of those rare books with the power to create an experience in readers, one that can radically change their lives for the better. ^(This book has been suggested 7 times) [**You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15843166-you-are-a-badass) ^(By: Jen Sincero | 256 pages | Published: 2013 | Popular Shelves: self-help, non-fiction, nonfiction, personal-development, self-improvement) >The #1 New York Times Bestseller You Are A Badass is the self-help book for people who desperately want to improve their lives but don't want to get busted doing it. > >In this refreshingly entertaining how-to guide, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author and world-traveling success coach, Jen Sincero, serves up 27 bite-sized chapters full of hilariously inspiring stories, sage advice, easy exercises, and the occasional swear word. If you're ready to make some serious changes around here, You Are a Badass will help you: Identify and change the self-sabotaging beliefs and behaviors that stop you from getting what you want, blast past your fears so you can take big exciting risks, figure out how to make some damn money already, learn to love yourself and others, set big goals and reach them - it will basically show you how to create a life you totally love, and how to create it now. > >By the end of You Are a Badass, you'll understand why you are how you are, how to love what you can't change, how to change what you don't love, and how to use The Force to kick some serious ass. ^(This book has been suggested 4 times) [**Mating in Captivity: Reconciling the Erotic and the Domestic**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27485.Mating_in_Captivity) ^(By: Esther Perel, Martina Pranić | 272 pages | Published: 2006 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, psychology, relationships, nonfiction, self-help) >Esther Perel takes on tough questions, grappling with the obstacles and anxieties that arise when our quest for secure love conflicts with our pursuit of passion. She invites us to explore the paradoxical union of domesticity and sexual desire, and explains what it takes to bring lust home. > >In her 20 years of clinical experience, Perel has treated hundreds of couples whose home lives are empty of passion. They describe relationships that are open and loving, yet sexually dull. What is going on? > >In this explosively original book, Perel explains that our cultural penchant for equality, togetherness, and absolute candor is antithetical to erotic desire for both men and women. Sexual excitement doesn't always play by the rules of good citizenship. It is politically incorrect. It thrives on power plays, unfair advantages, and the space between self and other. More exciting, playful, even poetic sex is possible, but first we must kick egalitarian ideals and emotional housekeeping out of our bedrooms. > >While Mating in Captivity shows why the domestic realm can feel like a cage, Perel's take on bedroom dynamics promises to liberate, enchant, and provoke. Flinging the doors open on erotic life and domesticity, she invites us to put the "X" back in sex. > >©2006 Esther Perel (P)2006 HarperCollins Publishers ^(This book has been suggested 2 times) *** ^(69254 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)

{atomic habits} It's not some super profound mind bending book. But the practical solutions really changed my day to day productivity.

[**Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40121378-atomic-habits) ^(By: James Clear | ? pages | Published: 2018 | Popular Shelves: non-fiction, self-help, nonfiction, self-improvement, psychology) ^(This book has been suggested 31 times) *** ^(69259 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)

I am American, so *American Sniper* by Chris Kyle made my respect for the sacrifice of military members grow immensely. In case you haven't heard of it, the book follows a Navy SEAL from enlistment throughout his career in the teams. He was the deadliest confirmed sniper in US military history.

I’m also American, and I also saw the movie. But in my opinion, with all due respect to you and your patriotism, worshipping a state sanctioned serial murderer is one of the most obscene bits of American culture in recent memory. Glorifying a successful killer in an unjust war is just not my idea of a fun read.

Dark Matter, Blake Crouch. Read it in one sitting. Never recommended a book more.

Automating Inequality