Make me smarter/wiser/aware

[Anonymous]

What books have you read of any field and by well respected personalities that elevate your value as a human being?

Currently diving in quantum metaphysical phenomena but anything will do from time management, health, money and finances, survival, psychology, corruption of elites, living off-grid, prohibited ancient knowledges, you name it.

[Anonymous]

I don’t know if this elevated my “value,” but Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma was fairly impactful for me. I was already a vegetarian but it kind of cemented my belief in that choice, as well as changed how I view food. It’s also just a fascinating history of food.

[Anonymous]

Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance

[Anonymous]

I knew basically everything in just mercy before my book club read it but I was surprised to hear it was all news to one of my fellow book club members before she read the book.

I really loved atomic habits if you haven’t read it. I use it a lot since reading it.

[Anonymous]

The Rediscovery of America

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know if this elevated my “value,” but Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma was fairly impactful for me. I was already a vegetarian but it kind of cemented my belief in that choice, as well as changed how I view food. It’s also just a fascinating history of food.

If you like Pollan's book, I recommend Ultra Processed People by Chris Van Tulleken.

Before I read the book, I had come to the conclusion to give up UPFs because they made me feel awful, like I swear that I was getting a food hangover every time I ate cheetos. The book goes into great detail explaining just how bad these ultraprocessed foods are, how they are just a bunch of chemicals masquerading as food and indeed, have an addictive component that food companies exploit to further their profits at the expense of people's health. Literally draws a line between the rise in UPF and obesity worldwide. It was pretty shocking and affirming to me to read it, although the book does get a little long-winded at times.

[Anonymous]

Debbie Does Dallas

[Anonymous]

How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell. Outstanding, and hard to describe. Weaves together philosophy, literature, art, psychology, and so much more, all in a meditation on preserving your own mind and soul in a noisy society.

A Divine Language by Alec Wilkinson. Ostensibly a book about trying to learn calculus at age 65, it’s really an exploration of what math is, and by extension the universe, and also how we learn (or don’t).

Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman. Someone else on here recommended this book in a different thread and I seconded. It gets pitched as time management but it’s really about purposeful living.

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
and also The Hidden Life of Trees by Pete Wohlleben. Both will give you new eyes to see the natural world that is all around you,

Any book by Carlo Rovelli, though his first — Brief Lessons in Physics — is my favorite.

If you haven’t read Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, it really is worthwhile. I think about it all the time.

[Anonymous]

Wisdom of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives From The Michael Newton Institute

I love this book. the first two are also good, but this one really brought parts of me more fully into my life. It also helped me better appreciate the journey other souls are here on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell. Outstanding, and hard to describe. Weaves together philosophy, literature, art, psychology, and so much more, all in a meditation on preserving your own mind and soul in a noisy society.

A Divine Language by Alec Wilkinson. Ostensibly a book about trying to learn calculus at age 65, it’s really an exploration of what math is, and by extension the universe, and also how we learn (or don’t).

Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman. Someone else on here recommended this book in a different thread and I seconded. It gets pitched as time management but it’s really about purposeful living.

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
and also The Hidden Life of Trees by Pete Wohlleben. Both will give you new eyes to see the natural world that is all around you,

Any book by Carlo Rovelli, though his first — Brief Lessons in Physics — is my favorite.

If you haven’t read Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, it really is worthwhile. I think about it all the time.

I think it was me who mentioned Four Thousand Weeks in another thread. I just added Braiding Sweetgrass to my To Read list - thx.

[Anonymous]

Contemporary social justice:
Ta-Nehisi Coates. Both Between the World and Me and The Message.
Roxanne Gay. Bad Feminist
Michelle Alexander: The New Jim Crow
Claudia Rankine: Citizen: An American Lyric (a must read if you like poetry, skip is you don't)

Religion/Metaphysics:
William James. The Varieties of Religious Experience (it's over 100 yrs old, but one of the best books I've ever read)
CS Lewis: Mere Christianity

Other:
Michael Pollan. The Omnivore's Dilemma
Richard P Feynman: The Feynman Lectures on Physics
Alan Weisman: The World Without Us
Dale Carnegie: How to Win Friends and Influence People (it is quite old, and sounds a bit Machiavellian and ridiculous, but it is actually a great read about how to become a better person)

[Anonymous]

I’ve tried to read Hawking’s “A Brief History of Time” and it loses me by chapter 3. It’s truly fascinating but you really have to invest in it. I wish I had read it in a class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know if this elevated my “value,” but Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma was fairly impactful for me. I was already a vegetarian but it kind of cemented my belief in that choice, as well as changed how I view food. It’s also just a fascinating history of food.

If you like Pollan's book, I recommend Ultra Processed People by Chris Van Tulleken.

Before I read the book, I had come to the conclusion to give up UPFs because they made me feel awful, like I swear that I was getting a food hangover every time I ate cheetos. The book goes into great detail explaining just how bad these ultraprocessed foods are, how they are just a bunch of chemicals masquerading as food and indeed, have an addictive component that food companies exploit to further their profits at the expense of people's health. Literally draws a line between the rise in UPF and obesity worldwide. It was pretty shocking and affirming to me to read it, although the book does get a little long-winded at times.

Thank you! This is something I’ve been personally interested in since I first read Pollan’s book ~20 years ago. I see that popular culture has started to catch on about UPF but don’t know much about them, other than the sections in Pollan’s book where he advises to “Eat Food”— but eating real “food” is disturbingly tricky nowadays!

[Anonymous]

I have heard of otherwise uneducated prisoners reading extensively to improve themselves. I think it is something you have investigate and do yourself OP.

[Anonymous]

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is still very relevant to today.