Great thread. Thank you for starting.
I love Catherine Newman's books. Her autofiction book about her best friend dying in hospice will make you weep. "We all want Impossible Things"

"When Breath Becomes Air" has stayed with me a decade after I read it. It made me really grapple with the fragility of life and seeming randomness of bad luck.

Historical Fiction - The American Queen by Vanessa Miller

I had never heard of Louella Montgomery, an African American woman born into slavery in Mississippi, in the 1850s, and freed once slavery was abolished in 1865. The American Queen is a fictionalized story, based on what is known of Louella. Louella and her husband, Reverend William Montgomery have to leave Mississippi, as tensions grow following the recession and recovery of the Southern states after the Civil War. Together, they travel with other freed people through Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and finally to the South Carolina/North Carolina border, where they find a place to settle. During their journey their group grows from almost 40 to over 200 people. They name their settlement, The Happy Land. Louella is a force to be reckoned with. She faces hardship from the time she is born, to the time she passes, but with each tragedy, she continues to fight for human rights and women's rights.

I really hope this will be made into a mini series.

Natalie Angier’s The Canon is like a miniature survey course in basic scientific concepts. Very readable.

Anonymous wrote:A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn

Absolutely this!

A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn

My fight, is in german

Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. It’s a philosophical discussion about humanity’s place in the world.

The Power of your subconscious mind by Dr. Joseph Murphy - alter your reality and break the matrix

“Evicted” by Matthew Desmond.

Anonymous wrote:

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!

No it isn't.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree with Carlo Rovelli! So glad to see his name.

The noonday daemon or far from the tree, Andrew Solomon

How to cook a wolf, mfk fisher

Being mortal, atul gawande

The Second Coming by Yeats (it’s only two stanzas)

Far From the Tree, by Andrew Solomon is one of the most extraordinary books I’ve ever read. Deepened my empathy in ways I did not expect. I still think about that book 10+ years later.

Me too! Do you have any other recommendations like that?

Anonymous wrote:Agree with Carlo Rovelli! So glad to see his name.

The noonday daemon or far from the tree, Andrew Solomon

How to cook a wolf, mfk fisher

Being mortal, atul gawande

The Second Coming by Yeats (it’s only two stanzas)

Far From the Tree, by Andrew Solomon is one of the most extraordinary books I’ve ever read. Deepened my empathy in ways I did not expect. I still think about that book 10+ years later.

Anonymous wrote:Agree with Carlo Rovelli! So glad to see his name.

The noonday daemon or far from the tree, Andrew Solomon

How to cook a wolf, mfk fisher

Being mortal, atul gawande

The Second Coming by Yeats (it’s only two stanzas)

These are very good.

Agree with Carlo Rovelli! So glad to see his name.

The noonday daemon or far from the tree, Andrew Solomon

How to cook a wolf, mfk fisher

Being mortal, atul gawande

The Second Coming by Yeats (it’s only two stanzas)

A sort history of nearly everything by bill bryson is lots of fun and if you bring it up you will find a lot of people will speak up and say "wow i loved that book!" it's a great conversation starter.