Style: Non-fiction
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
Range – David Epstein
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Is early specialization better, or should you have some range in your experience before you hone in on the thing you end up doing? That’s the question that Epstein explores in Range. I read this in 2019 and continue to come back to the ideas found here, specifically that early specialization seems to get you
The Revenge of Analog – David Sax
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The Revenge of Analog looks at how analogue content is having a strong resurgence. From vinyl records (and in 2024/2025 it would include CDs) to books to writing by hand, Sax looks at the appeal of analogue in an increasingly digital first world. Read my longer review of The Revenge of Analog
The Fish That Ate the Whale – Rich Cohen
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Samuel Zemurray was a bold businessman. When he wasn’t allowed to build a bridge to ship his banana’s he built two long piers and would install floating sections to cross the river. He also helped install friendly governments, presided over the massacre of indigenous people to get his bananas produced and bought a warship that
Rest – Alex Pang
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Many of us are interested in how to work better, but we don’t think very much about how to rest better. Productivity books offer life hacks, advice about how to get more done, or stories about what CEOs or famous writers do. But they say almost nothing about the role of rest in the lives
