More Books
A reading list to challenge your thinking
One of the best things about reading is that it can open your eyes to new ways of thinking. A book can change your views on life and expose you to a different way of seeing the world.
It’s a cliche, but most of us have a book or two which has changed our view of the world. Once we’ve put the book down, our outlook has changed. It will never be the same again.
I don’t claim these books will cause you to drop all your prior beliefs and become a new person. But, they will cause to step back and think. To reconsider what you believed and question whether you’re right and what you’ve read has merit.
The beauty of books is they are windows onto a new world. They shine a light onto parts of the world, or aspects of our existence we might not have considered. They open doors that were closed, or we didn’t know even existed.
Expanding your horizons and reading books that challenge your thinking is critical if you want to become a well-rounded individual. The world is a fascinating place, if you don’t stop and look around, you might miss the aspects which make it a wondrous place.
These six books will provide you with a reading list which will challenge your beliefs and make you think about what it means to be human, our place in the universe and much more.
Feral by George Monbiot
Have you heard of the term, rewilding? If you haven’t, I’m not surprised. It’s a new concept that refers to restoring environments and natural processes, and wilderness areas.
This might sound fanciful, given the state of many places across the globe in the 21st century, but the case laid out in Feral by George Monbiot is convincing.
His book states that not only should we consider rewilding, but it’s also feasible too. This would see large swathes of land returned to woodland, rainforest and other natural landscapes.
Rewilding would allow us to mitigate the effects of climate change by restoring trees, animals and plant life to areas that have been used for commercial or landscape grazing.
The concept of rewilding outlined in Feral won’t be for everyone. The book itself details conversations with people who are sceptical about rewilding. But if we want to head off the worst effects of climate change, rewilding might be a useful tool in our arsenal.
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
Physics is one of the hardest subjects to understand. Quantum mechanics, quarks and protons aren’t easy to understand if you don’t have a background in the subject.
A Brief of History of Time is arguably Stephen Hawking’s most famous work. For a man who is regarded by many as one of the cleverest humans to ever live, his book is accessible and easy to follow. He does a remarkable job of taking a complicated topic and making it understandable for the layperson.
While we all think we know about reality and the observable world, it’s more complicated than we think. Black holes, neutron stars, and even gravity are all phenomenons that are fascinating and mind-bending in equal measure.
The beauty of Hawking’s book is that these concepts become much easier to understand. He shows how theories of general relativity and quantum mechanics and the push to find a unified which explains how our universe functions.
The mysteries of the universe may remain, but what we do understand is beautifully explained by Hawking in this excellent book.
The Rules of Contagion by Adam Kucharski
Given we’ve spent the majority of 2020 and 2021 living during a pandemic, The Rules of Contagion is a timely book to read. It’s a fascinating look at how viruses and ideas spread.
The author, Adam Kucharski, sets out to explain how things spread. We’ve all become familiar with the terms R number and herd immunity, but they can feel alien at times. What Kucharski effortlessly does is explain what they mean and how that affects us.
I left with a greater understanding of what causes viruses to spread and the terms related to a pandemic. The chapters on how ideas spread, and the potential for fake news to spread via social media were illuminating too.
The Rules of Contagion is a brilliant book and it does a great job of removing the jargon surrounding contagion. Helping you to understand how things spread and the implications this has for all of us.
Why We’re Polarized by Ezra Klein
We’re living through one of the most tumultuous times in recent history. Politics is riven with division and this has translated over into society. We now identify more deeply with political causes than we did 20 or 30 years ago.
Why We’re Polarized attempts to explain why. It looks at American history and seeks to discover why the country has become more polarized in recent years. It’s a process which predates the election of Trump and could be traced back to the American Civil War.
One of the core arguments of the book is that today’s parties represent distinct identities. As supporters have coalesced around the party which represents them best, a clash becomes inevitable as the two sides fundamentally disagree on many issues.
Why We’re Polarized is an important book to read. More polarization and division will only lead to more conflict. To solve the issues of today and tomorrow, understanding one another is paramount. Otherwise, we’re doomed to repeat the failures of the past.
Straw Dogs by John Gray
Straw Dogs is one of the most sobering books I’ve read in a long time. Written by the philosopher John Gray, it’s a scathing attack on humanism and challenges our assumptions on what it means to be human.
Gray states that humanity is out of step with how we’ve evolved. Instead of seeing ourselves as the animals we are, we’ve persisted with a belief that we are above the natural world. A species apart from all others.
The dangers of this belief are starting to manifest according to Gray. The effects of pumping massive amounts of fossil fuels into the atmosphere are starting to show, with temperatures rising across the globe.
Nor does Gray see technology as humanity’s saviour. He believes it could lead to even greater tragedies. He argues that the core problem with humanity is our willingness to destroy the planet and each other in the belief we are a special species.
Straw Dogs isn’t an easy read. It assaults you and causes you to challenge beliefs you hold dear. For this reason, it’s an important book to read and even more important to ponder the points raised.
On Living and Dying Well by Cicero
Cicero isn’t as well known as famous figures such as Seneca or Marcus Aurelius, but he just as many important insights as the two stalwarts of stoic philosophy.
On Living and Dying Well is one of his most famous texts and one which offers many valuable insights for the reader. The title gives a clue to what the book is about. It looks at how we can live a good life and die with dignity.
In today’s discourse, death is seen as an abomination. But, the way Cicero presents it is much different. Far from the evil our society deems it, Cicero sees death as an inevitability and one we should face with dignity.
The best part of Cicero’s words is how relevant they are today. Despite all the time that’s passed, his words still hold. The human condition isn’t much different today from what Cicero experienced two thousand years ago.
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