Rating: Recommended
A Man Called Ove
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I very much enjoyed this grumpy old man coming to terms with people that actually want to talk to him and befriend him despite how grumpy he is. The ending is sweet and made me cry. There is a trigger warning regarding talk of suicide. Purchase on A Man Called Ove on Amazon
Fahrenheit 451
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I read the 60th Anniversary edition of the book and the biggest thing that stuck out to me is the relevance to today’s world. So many people are following the “screens” and not living life, only looking for something easy, just like much of society in this world. We need to do a better job
The Devils Curve – Arno Kopecky
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What does Canada do with it’s mining interests on the edge of the Amazon? Arno Kopecky brings us a well researched book showing that we’re willing to destroy the land somewhere that’s not our backyard if it brings us profit. We’re willing to collude with terrible government regimes that violently remove their citizens as long
The Data Detective – Tim Harford
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In The Data Detective, Tim Harford takes a good look at how statistics are presented to us in various mediums working to help readers develop the tools needed to evaluate the claims being put forward in society. If you’re going to follow one rule from the book, be curious. Don’t just take claims at face
The Skin We’re In – Desmond Cole
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Desmond Cole takes a look at a year of black activism in Toronto. He covers the colonial roots of Canada, how many of the institutions were built to remove rights from Indigenous peoples, and police black lives. He says that a central responsibility of policing is forcing black and Indigenous lives to conform to the
A Brief History of Misogyny – Jack Holland
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Well researched and written walk through misogyny. One of the big notes relating to recent history is that we often fear Communism more than misogyny. We allow countries (like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan) to be our allies, just like in generations past you’d be friends with someone that beat their wife. The abuse of women is
The Case Against Education – Bryan Caplan
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Bryan Caplan argues that education much past early high school is mainly to signal to employers that you’ll sit and listen like a good replaceable robot. Unless you’re going to teach, when was the last time that high school physics was useful (never for me)? So why do we require students learn all this stuff
Shorter – Alex Pang
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In Shorter, Alex Pang, takes a look at what it would mean to work a 4-day week. He uses real world examples, and hard numbers to evaluate if it’s possible, and comes to the conclusion that yes it is and no we wouldn’t loose a bunch of “productive” work time. We’d mostly drop the useless
Late Bloomers – Rich Karlgaard
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Early success is over hyped according to Karlgaard, especially by teachers and parents. This focus on early success and specialization leaves kids in a bad spot, where they think they’ve failed if they don’t know what they want to do by the time they’re 17. But the research here, and in Range, says different. Embrace
You Are Awesome – Neil Pasricha
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In You Are Awesome, Neil Pasricha works to encourage readers to believe in themselves while also highlighting how the lives we live today has caused us to loose the resilience of former generations. Not many of us have been through famines or wars or, let’s be honest, any form of true scarcity. We have it
