Book Recommendations

Last Updated August 28th, 2021

Asimov's Chronology of Science and Discovery

This is a book I read because of a recommendation from a great little site called Raptitude that was actually the inspiration for me to begin writing a blog here. Specifically, I found it in this article and felt it call out to me. I don't think I can describe the book better here than it was there, so instead of trying I am going to shamelessly quote it.

"Starting with fire and cave art, Asimov gives you a layman’s description of every single significant discovery since human beings left the forest. The effect on the reader is incredible — you begin to see exactly how everything led to everything else. It shows you exactly how we got from rubbing sticks together to smashing atoms, and not one bit of it is hard to follow. Technology isn’t magical or baffling, it’s just thousands of layers of fairly simple ideas. Reading this was an incredible experience."

-- David Cain

It's a really great read if it's your thing. I would recommend reading it slowly, though. Asimov's storytelling experience certainly makes the prose engaging and enjoyable, but his narrative and rhetorical skill can't entirely diminish the sheer amount of information being put forth. Which is the appeal of the book, mind you, so if that sounds interesting you will definitely love it.

Regretfully, I could not find a download link for this work. However, I do own a physical copy- If someone knows of software that would allow me to scan it into raw text so I can put it on Library Genesis please message me. Asimov is dead and I am quite sure the book is out of print, and I would hate nothing more than to see access to it become so limited.

The Myth of Sisyphus

Albert Camus' most significant non-fiction work, The Myth of Sisyphus (and Other Essays), is the book that gave me my entire current interest in nonfiction literature. Before this, I had just been reading on economical topics with less personal significance. Don't get me wrong- Reading The Ecology of Freedom, Manufacturing Consent, and Capital has been an enriching experience no doubt, but this book answered- or, rather, gave me- a much more fundamental question about why I should care. About why I should believe in anything. About why everything meant anything to me.

And I think that that's the most important thing a book has done for me. It's difficult to describe the content, and that's mostly a moot point anyway, but I can tell you what it taught me. t taught me to not ignore or deny emotions and desires that I don't understand, such as the meaning I see in continuing forward, but to seek to understand them until I feel that I have a satisfying answer. It is something I admittedly do a pretty piss-poor job at at times, but it's given me an ideal to aspire to above all else.

My idealization of asking 'why' and its importance, the idea that it's better to be curious and never satisfied than to never seek answers at all, the entire concept that emotions are far broader than what we feel, see, and interact with in a given moment- reading The Myth of Sisyphus is directly responsible for all of these things.

This book has left me with the problem that I don't know when to just allow things to remain unsolved, sure. But I believe flaws are just echoes of our best bits, and if the book had a profound enough impact on me that I can correlate flaws with my reading of it? Well, I wouldn't have things any other way.

If any of the lessons I described resonate with you, you can download The Myth of Sisyphus Here (EPUB).

My Bondage and My Freedom

Frederick Douglass' prose in his second autobiography is chillingly beautiful yet so easy to understand. He covers complicated and intersectional topics with the sort of effortless precision that makes his statements timeless. Sure, it's complicated and old, but once you get the hang of reading it, you'll be pulled in like nothing else. (Though, if you aren't a historian, though, I would recommend keeping a new google tab handy.)

This one is a bit more difficult to write about because I haven't taken as much direct inspiration from this as I have the other items on this list in my own writing. However, I'm giving it its own spot because I believe that reading this and seeing where we've come from and how far we have left to go pushed me toward my current understanding of my values and how I ought to express them.

Every single section has a different appeal to it and an endless well of lessons to take. It does the job of a biography perfectly; it strings you along the author's life and imparts wisdom and observations that could only come with such context. The regrets in the story are especially poignant in a way that only a man with a purpose left unfinished could. I would like to say it feels as though Douglass is passing a torch on to the next generations to keep fighting against what he experienced, in line with its status as a central work toward American abolition. I only hope that anything I end up a part of honors his values.

You can read My Bondage and My Freedom Here (No Download Required)

I Am The Messenger

I told myself I'd get one childish fantasy pick and it was between this and Cornelia Funke's Dragon Rider. I would be lying if I said the deciding factor wasn't the fact that this one makes me feel slightly more sophisticated.

First let's get why I hesitate to recommend fiction. Generally, I don't see fiction as having a place in less focused book recommendation lists as a rule. By general, I mean lists of this sort, where I'm not looking for the best examples of a given genre. If someone's looking for fiction to read, they'll find an article that suits their mood and taste. But I believe everyone can get something from a good nonfiction book.

That being said, Markus Zusak's I Am The Messenger has had a profound effect on me as a person and what I aspire to as a writer. It has sentimental value to me as well- Suitably melodramatic while remaining unflappably hopeful, and those things were exactly what I needed at my worst in middle school. And I truly believe it's the special sort of book that's simply universal, whether you see it as a thrill ride or a love letter.

It follows local hero and potentially dead man Ed Kennedy on his frantic life as a taxi driver somewhere in Australia. The franticness, of course, doesn't come from being a taxi driver. After the alluded to heroic act, he's sent playing cards with various 'clues' on them and, being the protagonist, he can't stop himself from trying to solve everything. He's heralded a hero, but he really isn't. He's a normal person doing his best. Which is why he's called to this in the first place, the reason he can do things that any puppetmaster who may or may not be behind the scenes can't.

I think that the person who recommended it to me, my English teacher that year, knew that I needed to hear that too. Claiming I was the only one who would 'get it' even in spite of the misanthropic attitude that I really wanted to believe I bought into. And, in some ways, I think I may have. Rather than in spite of, I would say that it was exactly because of the character I wished to embody that something so raw, genuine, and emotional could get through to me in such a meaningful way.

If you've read anything that I've written, it isn't difficult to tell that that deftness of emotional storytelling and raw humanity is exactly what I hope to create in writing. Hope, of course, being the key word there, but we don't need to talk about that.

It's also funny to think that the only reason I gave it a chance was because the pretext was appealing to a part of me it ended up helping me grow past.

If you feel lost or numb, this story will bring you so much deeper into it that you'll actually start giving your all to clawing your way out.

You can download I Am The Messenger Here (EPUB)