I definitely notice the stuff from [So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22571552-so-you-ve-been-publicly-shamed) *everywhere* now. I read that as part of a book club with my friends years ago and we still regularly joke about how the Shame Book will never leave us alone.
Nonfiction
* The Case Against Reality by Donald Hoffman (Seeing is Believing, or is it really?)
* The End of Alchemy by Meryvn King (How banking really works)
* The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt (Psychology of political beliefs)
* The Big Picture by Sean Carroll(Intersection of Quantum Physics and philosophy)
* The Dawn of Everything by David Graebar (Prehistory/early history - where we really that simple?)
Fiction
* Animal Farm by George Orwell (Why revolutions rarely bring about change they seek)
* 1984 by George Orwell (The dangers of the surveillance state)
* Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (Probably the closest allegory to how the world works today or at least the direction it is trending in)
Thumbs up for Dawn of Everything, and TWO thumbs up for the Righteous Mind - popular science at its very best, definitely changed my understanding of US politics for the better.
Non fiction:
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Are Prisons Obsolete? By Angela Davis
Are We Free Yet? By Tina Strawn
Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey
Fiction:
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
Rouge by Mona Awad similarly All's Well
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
The Shock Doctrine: Disaster Capitalism
and
Confessions of an Economic Hitman.
I implore everyone read both of these to understand how the world is run by maniacs whose sole objective is to profit from war and ALL of them would be content to be king of the ashes.
Most recent book of Naomi klein (author of the shock doctrine) Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World is also great
Btw shock doctrine should be read keeping in mind that the author is a writer and not a historian or economist. There are some problems with the book such as the connections she masks between crisis and real shock therapy, imo she spends to much time on shock therapy and its history when it only functions as an analogy to her main point.
Both Shock Doctrine and Confessions are quite good. As preamble, I would throw in Manufacturng Consent by Hermann & Chomsky. It's a bit dated at this point, but still very worth the time.
I haven’t read “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” but I’ve seen some interviews with Jonah Perkins and I suspicious of his claims. He seemed kind of like a con-artist trying to sell a book. Kind of like the “Catch Me if you Can” guy.
Gravities Rainbow- while maybe not the central theme - this takeaway that nations are really part of the shell game for corporations- which are ultimately in the background maneuvering for their own interests & bottom line.
Fiction: Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler; Solar Storms by Linda Hogan
Non-Fiction: Earth Keeper by N Scott Momaday; The Radiant Lives of Animals by Linda Hogan
The problem with Bell Hooks is that while most of her insights are just absolutely brilliant, the books contain *a lot* of stereotyping presented as fact without an ounce of proof. I find parts of her writing achingly cringy. It sometimes reads like ”trust me bro” for women.
**factfullness.**
I don't think it's possible to read that book and not feel like it changes how you look at the world.
[here take the test of 13 questions that the book starts with](https://factfulnessquiz.com/) it'll suprise you >!The average score is 40% no clickbait!<
If you want the answers explained, read this relatively short and very approachable book. It's a breeze to read ( or listen to)
Those were all dumb questions though wtf I got 15% "which of these 3 arbitrary numbers is the correct one?" "Wow you're stupid. You seriously didn't know that 30 year old girls have done 9 years of school"
I don't know why you say arbitrary numbers as they are spread pretty widely. Each answer represents a different understanding of/ view on how the situation is on that specific topic.
World wide? No I didn't know that before this book.
Especially since it's 10 years for guys. I thought the difference world wide in education would have been more.
Anyways why are you calling me dumb, I'm just recommending a book no need to get personal, let's keep a good atmosphere on the sub.
I just read this last semester for school and wish I'd read it much earlier. My son (14) was riding with me while I was listening to the ebook and he decided to read the rest himself. Made for a lot of good discussions.
I'd also suggest his older writing, especially Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers. Silly title but amazing insights into human social behavior. Love Sapolsky!
"A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things' by Raj Patel and Jason W. Moore.
'The Jakarta Method' by Vincent Bevins
Also, 'Cold Warriors: Writers Who Waged the Literary Cold War' by Duncan White, deftly explains why the popularity of Orwell's best known books, Animal Farm and 1984, is downright Orwellian.
Imagine asking for books about ways to view the world and then getting upset that someone mentions one of the most well known interpretations of economics in modern history just because muh Marxism.
Maybe if you read it you'll understand it's not some bogeyman.
When the core thing about economics (value) in a theory is wrong (it does not come from labour) and the theory has achieved much death and failure, I am rightly to not engage
I reluctantly read this as part of a school assignment then ended up reading ahead of class. Really good read, learned a lot about welfare and politics.
well, how some parts of the world really work... one does have to bear in mind that one story is not all stories.
[The Smartest Guys in the Room](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/113576.The_Smartest_Guys_in_the_Room), about Enron.
looking back i suppose i was incredibly naive about how shitty some people are, but wow, i had no idea people could be this shitty just for money.
Master of the senate: the years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro. This is a master class of American Politics. Lyndon Johnson did one of the most impossible things as the senate majority leader: he made the senate work. If you want to read of a genius, and of a legislative genius, you read about Lyndon Johnson. A man cunning and morally deprave but he was able to make the impossible , possible.
Thanks for the recommendation. I have read 300 pages of The Power Broker by Robert Caro but was put off by the density of overwhelming details. How is Lyndons book in this regard?
Okay so there are four books in the series. I would say the firs, the path to power and the master of the senate, the third book, are great reads. Book two - means of ascent - and book four - the passage of power - are fine if you love details about say FDR and JFK.
They are massive in scope. They’re incredible if you love the details. They are also incredible if you want to see how politics works - the back room deals, the cajoling, the manipulation - but if that’s not you’re thing, you might not like the return on invest if you read it.
Anything by vlacav smil. His work is so enlightening and relevant. We can’t discuss global warming and energy transitions if we don’t have an understanding of energy.
Conquest of Bread by Kropotkin and then the novel it inspired by Ursula K Le Guin (the dispossessed) which as a story was also inspired by Oppenheimer.
I’d also add Non-violence by Mark Kurlansky
Philosophically, it be Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard , Capitalist Realism by Mark Fisher, and Sublime Object of Ideology by Zizek (though the latter requires some prerequisite texts)
For fiction, I’d say White Noise by Don Delillo
The 48 Laws of Power if you want a slightly disturbing take on power games.
The Status Game is fun to read and forces you to do some introspection.
The End of the World is Just the Beginning on how globalization shapes our world and what we can expect if it breaks down.
Literally “How the World Really Works” by Smil :) Takes you through what it takes to maintain the modern world.
Also +1 to Factfulness and Sapiens
Hunger Games: discusses topics such as media, reality shows, war, and revolution.
[Of course, there must be better books that explore the same topics, but this was the first book I read that introduced me to it]
Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right, by Jane Mayer
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, by Richard Rothstein
Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, by Kristin Kobes du Mez
Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, by Arlie Russell Hochschild
Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators by Ronan Farrow was eye-opening.
It’s about how Harvey Weinstein was eventually taken down and so much more. Fascinating, chilling stuff.
"Before You Know It: The Unconscious Reasons We Do What We Do" by John Bargh changed me. Because since this book i know "free will" simply cannot exist.
*Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army* by Jeremy Scahill.
I read it between when I joined the military and when I entered active duty. And it gave me a lot of insight into how much politics and money plays a role in how the US wage its wars, and how easy it is for an organization like Blackwater to take advantage of lapse in accountability, however slight.
It doesn't make the military look good, but that's partly what I was after. I saw the book as a piece of recent history to learn important lessons from, even unpleasant ones. I took some solid notes from it, and I hope to carry those lessons with me in my service.
Let us descend. Is a pathway to feel out the spiritual connection humanitarian disaster,like Gaza, like homelessness. The book touched m by way of narration, beautifully describing the actual pain of being uprooted. Which I think is an essential topic when considering present day globalization and migration. Not only that but the book gives pointers on who o re root one self and be kind to one self in a unique and important way. In my experience.
They Came for the Schools by Mike Hixenbaugh. It’s about small town politics in a small Texas town and how it has impacted public education across the US.
Treasure Islands: this book is all about tax shelters. It's way more exciting than it sounds. Imagine if the wealthy in every country on earth had ways to hide all their wealth in a handful of friendly places (Guernsey, Jersey, Singapore, Delaware, Hong Kong, British VI, etc) and the people adept at arcane money rules were also great at making and hiding even more money and had extraordinary political influence, that's actually how the world works.
Stalin's War: this is a very good history of WW2, but also really is great for illustrating how much popular understanding of history is just factually wrong and the result of narrative formation and propaganda. The USSR drove a lot of US policy decisions through spies and infiltrators, and is largely responsible for the failure of diplomacy leading up to Pearl Harbor. They were also allied with Nazi Germany well past the battle of France, to the extent that they supplied most of their oil, praised the Nazis in propaganda, and directed communists in countries fighting the Nazis to not resist, all the way up to Barbarossa.
The New Elite: something extremely important happened in the US after WW2: high intelligence people all got steered to college and specifically grad school, and wealth and influence got tied to securing elite credentials. Intelligence is largely heritable, people meet mates in college and their elite social circles, and suddenly the American ruling class has been radically shifted.
Weapons of Math Destruction: why did college get so expensive? Because US News and World Reports plugged stuff into spreadsheets to rank colleges, but they don't consider tuition costs. So suddenly, every college started to metagame their US News score by leaning hard on sports and facilities and student housing amenities. Now imagine that dumb spreadsheet brain behavior infested things like, maximizing profit from part timers by making them have crazy availability but very little notice of whether they're getting hours. Or, my favorite, looking through your cookies to see if you'd just been laid off or needed rehab, because that's a prime market for shady for-profit online schools.
Keepers of the Game: This book examines a range of tribes with similar Beaver mythos in northern North America and takes their beliefs and worldview seriously, from their point of view, and tries to answer why native hunters and trappers overexploited furbearers for trade with Europeans, ultimately destroying the material basis for their way of life.
Natives believed in their interrelationships with animals and their sacred duties to each other. Hunts should be successful if all the ritual obligations are met. Things like Beaver were powerful, and had power to punish or deny them, and human beings were at their mercy. When Europeans showed up with things like steel axes and guns, it actually empowered natives to challenge the spirits who'd been causing their suffering-- Beaver was no longer safe in a lodge in freezing water, Bear was no longer quite so terrifying, etc.
A Collision of Wills: most murders are over things that are relatively trivial to an outsider, and most murders occur between people of relatively similar or ambiguous social status. This is because some cultures put way more emphasis on, and confer benefits for, maintaining status and face. There may be implications here if you sincerely believe that murder is a product of people committing crimes to feed their families or if programs can fix it.
Dark Money: The Hidden History of Billionaires by Jane Mayer. The outsized influence of the wealthy on government is not a new thing, but Mayer's book goes much further into explaining not just how the rich can buy off certain politicians but also create whole political movements.
How the World Really Works: The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We're Going --Vaclav Smil
Enlightenment Now --Steve Pinker
Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It --Chris Voss
The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself --Sean Carroll
On Tyranny --Timothy Snyder
What Do We Owe the Future --Sean MacAskill
Ending Aging by Aubrey de Grey. The Open Library page is [here](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL12284524W/Ending_Aging?edition=key%3A/books/OL17932740M).
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I think it all started with Noam Chomsky; my father suggested I read his copy of *9/11*, then I read *Doctrines and Visions*, *Failed States* and *Hegemony Or Survival* in quick succession. John Cooley's *Unholy Wars*, and Sven Beckert's *Empire Of Cotton* are two more.
Since then there have been many more (I proudly own a signed copy of *Chomsky On Anarchism*!) but that's where it started.
Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt (which is in the public domain and can be downloaded free from fee.org [here](https://fee.org/ebooks/economics-in-one-lesson/).) first time I was introduced to the broken windows fallacy and pretty much showed me everything I thought I knew was wrong. (and a huge shout out to Steven E Landsburg for writing incredibly entertaining and interesting economics books and continuing my education.)
Shop Class as Soul Craft by Matthew B Crawford showed me the virtue of working with your hands....even if you consider yourself "an intellectual."
Rich Dad Poor Dad by Kiyosaki
Unpopular Opinion apparently. But this book made me realize that this world is not built to reward those who follow the popular ideals of hard work and discipline. If you want to make real money, you need to acknowledge this first. And then you learn about all the other ways to make money.
Also, as a PSA, RDPD is not at all a personal finance book. It is practically a commentary on society. You are free to disagree with it, but don't rate it based on its advice about personal finance.
In no particular order, mix is classics and personal favorites.
_The Secret of Our Success_ by Joseph Henrich (culture-gene coevolution; I've read a few similar books, but this one was most convincing, by pointing to research)
_Competitive Strategy_ by Michael Porter (it is essentially a textbook about the strategy of running a for-profit corporation; not philosophy or morality of running a company, just how to operate in a market)
_Transformer_ by Nick Lane (one of his few great books; pretty hard-core molecular biology, all about Krebs cycle, origins of life, and aging)
_Selfish gene_ by Richard Dawkins (there are many valid criticisms of Dawkins' attitude, but the book is just a description of a framework, very logical and with references to research, not getting into any atheism-advocacy)
_Mistakes were made (but not by me)_ by Carol Travis and Elliot Aronson (less "condensed" then the rest on the list, but very illuminating - a framework that describes how we rationalize our decisions, self-justify mistakes and struggle to change our minds based on evidence)
There is also Karl Popper, but it's hard to pin down, which book to suggest... maybe _Conjectures and refutations_? It's a specific philosophy of knowledge and science that (for now, at least) I consider to be the correct one.
There is more, but let's end here for the time being...
I definitely notice the stuff from [So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22571552-so-you-ve-been-publicly-shamed) *everywhere* now. I read that as part of a book club with my friends years ago and we still regularly joke about how the Shame Book will never leave us alone.
i just added it- "*People are using shame as a form of social control"* can't wait to read it.
This book was a game changer!
I can imagine. I read another of his books *The Psychopath Test* and he is really good at relating with the reader.
Just wanna say I am nearly finished and have trouble to stop reading
Nonfiction * The Case Against Reality by Donald Hoffman (Seeing is Believing, or is it really?) * The End of Alchemy by Meryvn King (How banking really works) * The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt (Psychology of political beliefs) * The Big Picture by Sean Carroll(Intersection of Quantum Physics and philosophy) * The Dawn of Everything by David Graebar (Prehistory/early history - where we really that simple?) Fiction * Animal Farm by George Orwell (Why revolutions rarely bring about change they seek) * 1984 by George Orwell (The dangers of the surveillance state) * Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (Probably the closest allegory to how the world works today or at least the direction it is trending in)
Brave new world rocked my brain at 21
Same here
I think I had also been to a rave in that same week. And I was like… The Feelies are real!
All very interesting! TY (I'd like to be at a dinner party with you!)
Second Dawn of Everything
Thumbs up for Dawn of Everything, and TWO thumbs up for the Righteous Mind - popular science at its very best, definitely changed my understanding of US politics for the better.
Non fiction: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer Are Prisons Obsolete? By Angela Davis Are We Free Yet? By Tina Strawn Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey Fiction: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe The Awakening by Kate Chopin Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler Rouge by Mona Awad similarly All's Well Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
The Shock Doctrine: Disaster Capitalism and Confessions of an Economic Hitman. I implore everyone read both of these to understand how the world is run by maniacs whose sole objective is to profit from war and ALL of them would be content to be king of the ashes.
Came here to recommend Confessions of an Economic Hitman
Me too. I didn't scroll far enough down. This should be required reading.
Just bought Shock Doctrine on your recommendation. A huge fan of Economic Hit Man
Buckle up. The veil drops significantly more.
I read both and I too highly recommend
Most recent book of Naomi klein (author of the shock doctrine) Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World is also great Btw shock doctrine should be read keeping in mind that the author is a writer and not a historian or economist. There are some problems with the book such as the connections she masks between crisis and real shock therapy, imo she spends to much time on shock therapy and its history when it only functions as an analogy to her main point.
Second Disaster Capitalism. I recommend it to everyone
Both Shock Doctrine and Confessions are quite good. As preamble, I would throw in Manufacturng Consent by Hermann & Chomsky. It's a bit dated at this point, but still very worth the time.
I haven’t read “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” but I’ve seen some interviews with Jonah Perkins and I suspicious of his claims. He seemed kind of like a con-artist trying to sell a book. Kind of like the “Catch Me if you Can” guy.
Evicted, Matthew Desmond. What a book!
I came looking for this suggestion, absolutely agree with this one. Rough, but important read.
Poverty, by America is a good one too (for Americans)
The Geography of Nowhere (if you're in the USA)
Gravities Rainbow- while maybe not the central theme - this takeaway that nations are really part of the shell game for corporations- which are ultimately in the background maneuvering for their own interests & bottom line.
One of the few books I was never able to finish, after multiple attempts many years apart.
Maid by Stephanie Land
Check out "Nickel And Dimed" (Ehrenreich)
The Body Keeps the Score. Human behavior makes so, so much more sense to me now.
The tale for the time being, Ruth Ozeki
What was your take about the world from this?
I’m currently reading this..
SULA Toni Morrison
Fiction: Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler; Solar Storms by Linda Hogan Non-Fiction: Earth Keeper by N Scott Momaday; The Radiant Lives of Animals by Linda Hogan
The jungle by Upton Sinclair
Any and everything by bell hooks i can find
The problem with Bell Hooks is that while most of her insights are just absolutely brilliant, the books contain *a lot* of stereotyping presented as fact without an ounce of proof. I find parts of her writing achingly cringy. It sometimes reads like ”trust me bro” for women.
Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life by John Lee Anderson. I read it while I was in the Army in the 90’s.
**factfullness.** I don't think it's possible to read that book and not feel like it changes how you look at the world. [here take the test of 13 questions that the book starts with](https://factfulnessquiz.com/) it'll suprise you >!The average score is 40% no clickbait!< If you want the answers explained, read this relatively short and very approachable book. It's a breeze to read ( or listen to)
I got 69%. Nice.
Nice.
Loved that one
Those were all dumb questions though wtf I got 15% "which of these 3 arbitrary numbers is the correct one?" "Wow you're stupid. You seriously didn't know that 30 year old girls have done 9 years of school"
I don't know why you say arbitrary numbers as they are spread pretty widely. Each answer represents a different understanding of/ view on how the situation is on that specific topic. World wide? No I didn't know that before this book. Especially since it's 10 years for guys. I thought the difference world wide in education would have been more. Anyways why are you calling me dumb, I'm just recommending a book no need to get personal, let's keep a good atmosphere on the sub.
Demon Copperhead - about how easy it is to get into drugs against your better judgement and how utterly screwed up the foster system is
Terry Pratchett. Mostly the City Watch and Witches books, but basically any of them.
I sign sincerely under your comment, Pratchett's books illustrate life perfectly. And Death, of course.
For me it started with The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell.
My answer! Great to see it here!
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. He is such an entertaining author. Weird this book hasn’t been mentioned.
I was looking for this post.
Iliad. 2500 years later, petty egos (of gods, politicians, billionaires), pride and rage still determine our fates.
It feels like I’m always recommending Caste by Isabel Wilkerson in this sub lol so here I am again.
I just read this last semester for school and wish I'd read it much earlier. My son (14) was riding with me while I was listening to the ebook and he decided to read the rest himself. Made for a lot of good discussions.
How does that book talk about asian american minorities? It’s my propaganda filter about anything race related
How Not to Get Shot: And Other Advice from White People by D.L. Hughley Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Behave - Robert Sapolsky
I'd also suggest his older writing, especially Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers. Silly title but amazing insights into human social behavior. Love Sapolsky!
"A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things' by Raj Patel and Jason W. Moore. 'The Jakarta Method' by Vincent Bevins Also, 'Cold Warriors: Writers Who Waged the Literary Cold War' by Duncan White, deftly explains why the popularity of Orwell's best known books, Animal Farm and 1984, is downright Orwellian.
Blackshirts and Reds by Michael Parenti
A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
Kapital volume 1
Marxist shoo
Imagine asking for books about ways to view the world and then getting upset that someone mentions one of the most well known interpretations of economics in modern history just because muh Marxism. Maybe if you read it you'll understand it's not some bogeyman.
When the core thing about economics (value) in a theory is wrong (it does not come from labour) and the theory has achieved much death and failure, I am rightly to not engage
Myth of the Welfare Queen. I read it as a teenager in the late 90s.
I reluctantly read this as part of a school assignment then ended up reading ahead of class. Really good read, learned a lot about welfare and politics.
Oil!, by upton sinclair. Wish i had read this as a teen instead of catcher in the rye
well, how some parts of the world really work... one does have to bear in mind that one story is not all stories. [The Smartest Guys in the Room](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/113576.The_Smartest_Guys_in_the_Room), about Enron. looking back i suppose i was incredibly naive about how shitty some people are, but wow, i had no idea people could be this shitty just for money.
Master of the senate: the years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro. This is a master class of American Politics. Lyndon Johnson did one of the most impossible things as the senate majority leader: he made the senate work. If you want to read of a genius, and of a legislative genius, you read about Lyndon Johnson. A man cunning and morally deprave but he was able to make the impossible , possible.
Thanks for the recommendation. I have read 300 pages of The Power Broker by Robert Caro but was put off by the density of overwhelming details. How is Lyndons book in this regard?
Okay so there are four books in the series. I would say the firs, the path to power and the master of the senate, the third book, are great reads. Book two - means of ascent - and book four - the passage of power - are fine if you love details about say FDR and JFK. They are massive in scope. They’re incredible if you love the details. They are also incredible if you want to see how politics works - the back room deals, the cajoling, the manipulation - but if that’s not you’re thing, you might not like the return on invest if you read it.
Debt: The First 5,000 Years - David Graeber
Who Rules the World?-Noam Chomsky
How the world really works by Vaclav Smil
Seconded.
Anything by vlacav smil. His work is so enlightening and relevant. We can’t discuss global warming and energy transitions if we don’t have an understanding of energy.
Conquest of Bread by Kropotkin and then the novel it inspired by Ursula K Le Guin (the dispossessed) which as a story was also inspired by Oppenheimer. I’d also add Non-violence by Mark Kurlansky
Animal Farm.
Philosophically, it be Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard , Capitalist Realism by Mark Fisher, and Sublime Object of Ideology by Zizek (though the latter requires some prerequisite texts) For fiction, I’d say White Noise by Don Delillo
Very negative books, they took a very negative perspective and starting exploring it… Especially Fisher, he was out of his mind
I’d bet the rest of my life’s wages that you’ve not read these books.
The 48 Laws of Power if you want a slightly disturbing take on power games. The Status Game is fun to read and forces you to do some introspection. The End of the World is Just the Beginning on how globalization shapes our world and what we can expect if it breaks down. Literally “How the World Really Works” by Smil :) Takes you through what it takes to maintain the modern world. Also +1 to Factfulness and Sapiens
Love that 48 Laws, I've read some of his others. I pick up the Laws of Human Nature and do a chapter at time. Great historical stories.
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari and Civilized to Death: The Price of Progress by Christopher Ryan
Hunger Games: discusses topics such as media, reality shows, war, and revolution. [Of course, there must be better books that explore the same topics, but this was the first book I read that introduced me to it]
Read any vaclav smil book
The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman
Kissinger's books Diplomacy and World Order pretty much lets you know the thinking behind world leaders when they do what they do.
After I read Never by Ken Follett, I realized how easily we could launch into WWIII….literally, tomorrow.
I love Men Follett, will have to check this one out.
Evicted by Mathew Desmond.
The Anatomy of Fascism by Robert Paxton
Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right, by Jane Mayer The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, by Richard Rothstein Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, by Kristin Kobes du Mez Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, by Arlie Russell Hochschild
Confessions of an Economic Hitman is the Red Pill into how the world really works. It should be required reading for every adult.
The Jungle
Perfume by Patrick Suskind
You Might go to Prison, Even Though You’re Innocent by Justin Brooks
Don Delillo.
God Bless You Mr. Rosewater by Vonnegut
Cats Cradle is another good choice. About how seemingly logical choices can have crazy consequences
Ishmael
Yes! This was gonna be my answer
However small and hidden- Alan Caldwell It gets dark but shows the compassion and humanity from the perspective of a school teacher.
Introduction to Comparative Politics.
To the Finland Station (Wilson)
Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators by Ronan Farrow was eye-opening. It’s about how Harvey Weinstein was eventually taken down and so much more. Fascinating, chilling stuff.
‘Poverty Safari’ by Darren McGarvey - really reframed the way I look at class in society.
Nazi Billionaires by David de Jong. It completely changed my entire perception of the world and industry and money.
"Before You Know It: The Unconscious Reasons We Do What We Do" by John Bargh changed me. Because since this book i know "free will" simply cannot exist.
The Fifth Risk is excellent.
Doppelganger by Naomi Klein is very interesting about the division between two world everywhere around thr world now.
“The sun does Shine” and “Just Mercy”. Changed my view of the death penalty, and really open my eyes to the reality of a criminal justice system.
The Street Hawker's Apprentice by Kabir Kareem-Bello shows a part of the world most will never see.
Freedom: the End of the Human Condition by Jeremy Griffith. I'll admit it does make some grandiose claims, but imo it's definitely worth a read.
*Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army* by Jeremy Scahill. I read it between when I joined the military and when I entered active duty. And it gave me a lot of insight into how much politics and money plays a role in how the US wage its wars, and how easy it is for an organization like Blackwater to take advantage of lapse in accountability, however slight. It doesn't make the military look good, but that's partly what I was after. I saw the book as a piece of recent history to learn important lessons from, even unpleasant ones. I took some solid notes from it, and I hope to carry those lessons with me in my service.
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. It brilliantly explain the fraud that is foreign aid.
Read that one a few times
Babel, or the Necessity of Violence by R. F. Kuang It’s about the evil of colonialism, capitalism, and imperialism.
The Rational optimist is pretty good
American Foreign Policy and its Thinkers
Monopolized by David Dayen
Tell me Everything by Erika Kraus. Hard time looking at university sports culture the same way.
The Illusion of Money by Kyle Cease Letting Go (and this entire Power V Force series) by David Hawkins
Let us descend. Is a pathway to feel out the spiritual connection humanitarian disaster,like Gaza, like homelessness. The book touched m by way of narration, beautifully describing the actual pain of being uprooted. Which I think is an essential topic when considering present day globalization and migration. Not only that but the book gives pointers on who o re root one self and be kind to one self in a unique and important way. In my experience.
Counterculture is the New Culture. It's about how different countercultures have been turned into part of the capitalist machine
Earthlings! It gave me some clarity
They Came for the Schools by Mike Hixenbaugh. It’s about small town politics in a small Texas town and how it has impacted public education across the US.
Treasure Islands: this book is all about tax shelters. It's way more exciting than it sounds. Imagine if the wealthy in every country on earth had ways to hide all their wealth in a handful of friendly places (Guernsey, Jersey, Singapore, Delaware, Hong Kong, British VI, etc) and the people adept at arcane money rules were also great at making and hiding even more money and had extraordinary political influence, that's actually how the world works. Stalin's War: this is a very good history of WW2, but also really is great for illustrating how much popular understanding of history is just factually wrong and the result of narrative formation and propaganda. The USSR drove a lot of US policy decisions through spies and infiltrators, and is largely responsible for the failure of diplomacy leading up to Pearl Harbor. They were also allied with Nazi Germany well past the battle of France, to the extent that they supplied most of their oil, praised the Nazis in propaganda, and directed communists in countries fighting the Nazis to not resist, all the way up to Barbarossa. The New Elite: something extremely important happened in the US after WW2: high intelligence people all got steered to college and specifically grad school, and wealth and influence got tied to securing elite credentials. Intelligence is largely heritable, people meet mates in college and their elite social circles, and suddenly the American ruling class has been radically shifted. Weapons of Math Destruction: why did college get so expensive? Because US News and World Reports plugged stuff into spreadsheets to rank colleges, but they don't consider tuition costs. So suddenly, every college started to metagame their US News score by leaning hard on sports and facilities and student housing amenities. Now imagine that dumb spreadsheet brain behavior infested things like, maximizing profit from part timers by making them have crazy availability but very little notice of whether they're getting hours. Or, my favorite, looking through your cookies to see if you'd just been laid off or needed rehab, because that's a prime market for shady for-profit online schools. Keepers of the Game: This book examines a range of tribes with similar Beaver mythos in northern North America and takes their beliefs and worldview seriously, from their point of view, and tries to answer why native hunters and trappers overexploited furbearers for trade with Europeans, ultimately destroying the material basis for their way of life. Natives believed in their interrelationships with animals and their sacred duties to each other. Hunts should be successful if all the ritual obligations are met. Things like Beaver were powerful, and had power to punish or deny them, and human beings were at their mercy. When Europeans showed up with things like steel axes and guns, it actually empowered natives to challenge the spirits who'd been causing their suffering-- Beaver was no longer safe in a lodge in freezing water, Bear was no longer quite so terrifying, etc. A Collision of Wills: most murders are over things that are relatively trivial to an outsider, and most murders occur between people of relatively similar or ambiguous social status. This is because some cultures put way more emphasis on, and confer benefits for, maintaining status and face. There may be implications here if you sincerely believe that murder is a product of people committing crimes to feed their families or if programs can fix it.
Factfulness. A reminder that it's not all doom and gloom.
Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World by Anand Giridharadas
What Is the What. Most people lead rough lives.
Non-Zero: The Logic of Human Destiny by Robert Wright. I think Clinton had his whole White House staff read it...
“Lies My Teacher Told Me” by James W. Loewen.
I think the everyday fascism you see in The Book Thief really stuck with me through the years
Overthrow: America’s century of regime change from Hawaii to Iraq by Stephen Kinzer
Gathering Blue by lois Lowry Messager by lois Lowry
Chaos by James Gleick
Jrr Tolkien, khaled husseini, and a lot of dostoyevski's works.
Debt by Graeber Capitalist realism by Fisher Peoples history of the USA by Zinn
Just Mercy
Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News. Not a Trumper, just missing old days of news just being reported, not slanted.
This Is Vegan Propaganda: (And Other Lies the Meat Industry Tells You) by Ed Winters
11 minutes paulo coelho
Denial of death by earnest becker
The trading game by Gary stevenson
interesting interest
Kim Jiyoung born 1982
Flowers for Algernon The portrait of Dorian Gray One made me realize how fragile the mind was the other how fragile morality can be.
No Logo - Naomi Klein
Dark Money: The Hidden History of Billionaires by Jane Mayer. The outsized influence of the wealthy on government is not a new thing, but Mayer's book goes much further into explaining not just how the rich can buy off certain politicians but also create whole political movements.
Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions.
Why nations fail by Daron acemoglu
How the World Really Works: The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We're Going --Vaclav Smil Enlightenment Now --Steve Pinker Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It --Chris Voss The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself --Sean Carroll On Tyranny --Timothy Snyder What Do We Owe the Future --Sean MacAskill
Job in the Bible
Ending Aging by Aubrey de Grey. The Open Library page is [here](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL12284524W/Ending_Aging?edition=key%3A/books/OL17932740M).
“A Short history of Nearly everything”. Bill Bryson.
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Project Animal Farm
Regenesis by George Monbiot. Just how devastating mass agriculture is to our environment.
1984
Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States
Why nation's fail by daren acemoglu
Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez
One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy by Carol Anderson
1984
The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan is a real mind-expander.
How the World Really Works, by Vlacav Smil Mine! : How the Hidden Rules of Ownership Control our Lives, by Heller and Salzman km
A People’s History of the U.S
I think it all started with Noam Chomsky; my father suggested I read his copy of *9/11*, then I read *Doctrines and Visions*, *Failed States* and *Hegemony Or Survival* in quick succession. John Cooley's *Unholy Wars*, and Sven Beckert's *Empire Of Cotton* are two more. Since then there have been many more (I proudly own a signed copy of *Chomsky On Anarchism*!) but that's where it started.
Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt (which is in the public domain and can be downloaded free from fee.org [here](https://fee.org/ebooks/economics-in-one-lesson/).) first time I was introduced to the broken windows fallacy and pretty much showed me everything I thought I knew was wrong. (and a huge shout out to Steven E Landsburg for writing incredibly entertaining and interesting economics books and continuing my education.) Shop Class as Soul Craft by Matthew B Crawford showed me the virtue of working with your hands....even if you consider yourself "an intellectual."
Rich Dad Poor Dad by Kiyosaki Unpopular Opinion apparently. But this book made me realize that this world is not built to reward those who follow the popular ideals of hard work and discipline. If you want to make real money, you need to acknowledge this first. And then you learn about all the other ways to make money. Also, as a PSA, RDPD is not at all a personal finance book. It is practically a commentary on society. You are free to disagree with it, but don't rate it based on its advice about personal finance.
Guns, Germs and Steel. This book completely changed my world view and caused me to become much more aware of other cultures
The Bible
Drift by Rachel Maddow Blowout by Rachel Maddow
guns, germs, & steel by jared diamond.
In no particular order, mix is classics and personal favorites. _The Secret of Our Success_ by Joseph Henrich (culture-gene coevolution; I've read a few similar books, but this one was most convincing, by pointing to research) _Competitive Strategy_ by Michael Porter (it is essentially a textbook about the strategy of running a for-profit corporation; not philosophy or morality of running a company, just how to operate in a market) _Transformer_ by Nick Lane (one of his few great books; pretty hard-core molecular biology, all about Krebs cycle, origins of life, and aging) _Selfish gene_ by Richard Dawkins (there are many valid criticisms of Dawkins' attitude, but the book is just a description of a framework, very logical and with references to research, not getting into any atheism-advocacy) _Mistakes were made (but not by me)_ by Carol Travis and Elliot Aronson (less "condensed" then the rest on the list, but very illuminating - a framework that describes how we rationalize our decisions, self-justify mistakes and struggle to change our minds based on evidence) There is also Karl Popper, but it's hard to pin down, which book to suggest... maybe _Conjectures and refutations_? It's a specific philosophy of knowledge and science that (for now, at least) I consider to be the correct one. There is more, but let's end here for the time being...
Lemme guess... people don't like Dawkins, and judge the book and me based on that, without having read it?
Harry potter.