Books are there to help color in knowledge gaps with history, stories, and well-written prose. Reality is an amalgamation of old stories, new stories, surreal fairy tales, and historical artifacts. A rich, diverse supplement of books acts both as a scaffold to living and a sharper pair of glasses to discern reality.
Five non-fiction books and two fiction novels this month, with publications ranging from 1759–2019; let’s get into it.
Candide by Voltaire (1759)
Candide is a satire of Leibniz’s philosophy — Leibniz claimed that this world necessarily is the best, most balanced world because it was created by an omnipotent God, who would never create an imperfect world.
Voltaire, a French Enlightenment philosopher, posits that individuals should and must strive against obstacles in life, rather than merely accepting everything without objection with the belief that everything works out for the best or according to plan.
Voltaire’s rebuttal is subtle yet practical: “…we must cultivate our garden” — or, we must take responsibility for our own being rather than let things run their course.
East of Eden by John Steinbeck (1952)
A grand epic of two families at the turn of the 20th century that is at once a California story spanning multiple generations and a modern retelling of the Biblical story of Genesis.
“I believe that there is one story in the world, and only one. . . . Humans are caught — in their lives, in their thoughts, in their hungers and ambitions, in their avarice and cruelty, and in their kindness and generosity too — in a net of good and evil. . . . There is no other story. A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard, clean questions: Was it good or was it evil? Have I done well — or ill?”
Both implicit and explicit Biblical allusions make the characters and story feel timeless, as if we’ve heard it thousands of times before.
My favorite book I read this month, and the most recent addition to my recommended reading list.
Alger Hiss and the Battle for History by Susan Jacoby (2009)
Susan Jacoby intelligently and fairly dissects the mid-20th century trial of Alger Hiss, a US State Department rising star who was accused of Communist espionage (and eventually convicted of perjury) by Whittaker Chambers.
Jacoby further explores how modern politics of the Right and Left remain influenced today by the divide created during this trial as well as the overarching milieu of McCarthyism.
Jacoby shows how the Right and the Left have each used the Alger Hiss case to back their ideologies throughout World War II, the Cold War, and contemporary politics. Her ability to paint both sides of the story with an unbiased brush was refreshing, incisive, and illuminating.
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed (2012)
In her memoir Wild, Cheryl Strayed recounts her journey of self-discovery along the Pacific Crest Trail, where she hiked over 1,000 miles as a solo backpacker.
In 1995, coming off a brutal string of life events — the passing of her mother, a divorce, drug abuse — Strayed opts to radically change her course and redefine her life.
She lays out how she found inner strength, peace, and confidence after being broken down to her lowest point. Poignant stories interwoven with anecdotes from her months in the wild, Strayed’s story is inspiring and well-articulated (the movie with Reese Witherspoon is good too).
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond (2016)
I’m glad I read this book shortly after reading Andrew Yang’s The War on Normal People because both document the struggles of lower-class America and the pervasiveness of poverty, eviction, and a struggling America.
Desmond’s ability to intertwine the stories of multiple families in the poorest neighborhoods of Milwaukee, Wisconsin creates an intimate familiarity between the reader and the hardships of the book. He depicted the tribulations of both landlord and renter, and how both parties seem caught in a broken, forgotten system.
Evicted is an important read, as it describes a slice of America that is echoed and acted out across the country far more pervasively than we may assume.
Permanent Record by Edward Snowden (2019)
Edward Snowden: American whistle-blower, computer genius, and former intelligence officer. Snowden is responsible for leaking highly classified documents in 2013 revealing a mass-surveillance system that was — and still is — in existence and in use in America.
He explains how and why he decided to give documents to American journalists in Hong Kong, ultimately condemning the actions of the United States intelligence community before a global audience.
Snowden details his entire story, from childhood to being an American exile in Russia. His tale is rife with intricacies and nuances that explain the vague, often-damning, headlines that have surrounded him since 2013.
A fast-paced, exciting and, often, jaw-dropping true story told by one of the most (in)famous whistle-blowers in history.
Civilized to Death: The Price of Progress by Christopher Ryan (2019)
Christopher Ryan — who has a PhD in psychology — claims that a fast-progressing civilization is comparable to a fast-progressing disease, one that targets and diminishes personal meaning, happiness, and overall lifestyle.
The technology we continue to create and implement, claims Ryan, is badly perverting the way we eat, sleep, interact and mate. In contrast, hunter-gatherers of bygone centuries had a happier, more fulfilled lifestyle. Ryan writes sarcastically and disparagingly, and sometimes seems to cherry-pick anthropological evidence to support his thesis that “things are worse now than ever.”
Ryan offers a passionate polemic against modernity, but ultimately delivered an unconvincing conclusion that we should aim for the uncivilized lifestyle of old.
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