Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Pérez

Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Pérez
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Every now and then I read a book that changes the way I see the world. This is one of those.

Of course, I am aware of some of the things mentioned in the book because I am a woman. I am well aware of the relative danger I face while walking around at nighttime as opposed to a man, but there is so much more than those types of observations here. The author explores so much in the world of data that my entire perception of moving through the world has shifted.

Absolutely everything seems different. I'm even looking at the headrest in my car with wonder and confusion. I'd give this book 10 stars if I could.

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The Problem with Everything by Meghan Daum

The Problem with Everything: My Journey Through the New Culture Wars by Meghan Daum
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

She's a great writer, and though I definitely don't agree with everything she writes, I share many of the same frustrations. I am also a Generation X feminist, and I struggle with a lot of the changes that are taking place, both good and bad. When I was in my 20s, I was not yet familiar with serious feminist thought and writing, or for that matter, serious thought and writing about racism and economics which both inform my current understanding of feminism. I also hadn't experienced more of the snags women face as they grow older in our society so my experience was also only partially informative. But I also remember thinking what a dinosaur my fairly young mother could be at times, so I'm concerned about turning into a dinosaur as well.

This is the sort of book we should all be discussing at a book club. It presents a real challenge to both our ingrained and developing views.

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Funny, You Don't Look Autistic by Michael McCreary

Funny, You Don't Look Autistic: A Comedian's Guide to Life on the Spectrum by Michael McCreary
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was short and actually cute and funny. Great for the young or old. Highly recommend.

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Why We Can't Sleep by Ada Calhoun

Why We Can't Sleep: Women's New Midlife Crisis by Ada Calhoun
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a much better read than say Lean In, because the author has actually read books about feminism. I especially enjoyed the focus on Generation X because we are forever ignored. Seriously both Generation X and the Millenials have had a much tougher economy to deal with than Boomers, and the world seems almost completely dominated by the Silent Generation and Boomers.

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Sounder by William H. Armstrong

Sounder by William H. Armstrong
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is not a book about a boy and his dog. It ripped my heart out. The writing is excellent. It feels too heavy and possibly subtle for children, but maybe for high schoolers.

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Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow

Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators by Ronan Farrow
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I didn’t think I was interested in this book because I figured I knew the basics about the #metoo movement but this book blew my mind. It’s All the President’s Men + Bad Blood + pick your favorite true-crime thriller.

I honestly think I need to reread this because it covers so many important topics. 1) The importance of ethical and dedicated journalism, 2) the power and often evil of the good-old-boys network, 3) the inequality of a justice system that allows for SLAPP suits and countersuits to burden people with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their claims, 4) the deep shadiness of Non-Disclosure Agreements and the general harm they cause to our society, 5) how impossible it is to get people to believe women were sexually assaulted even when EVERYONE KNOWS they were sexually assaulted.

Also, I didn't think it was possible for me to hate Matt Lauer more than I already did, but, yeah, it's possible.

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Life and Times of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass

Life and Times of Frederick Douglass: His Early Life as a Slave, His Escape From Bondage and His Complete Life Story by Frederick Douglass
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wonderful autobiography. The only slightly silly reason I gave it 4 stars and not 5 stars, is because "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass," and "My Escape from Slavery" were compact power-punches of writing. By contrast, this one was long enough that it had time to meander, for example, into topics like Douglass's relation to the Freedman's Savings Bank that to a modern reader isn't as interesting.

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Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington

Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a complicated book to review. It's partly a memoir and partly an attempt to advertise the Tuskegee school he built and for which he fundraised. There's a line in here where Washington says not to say anything in the North that you wouldn't say in the South. Well, this entire book is things he would say in the South, and its effect is a possibly false positiveness. Nonetheless, Washington was a phenomenal person and his autobiography is well worth reading.

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Inferior by Angela Saini

Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong—and the New Research That's Rewriting the Story by Angela Saini
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is important and super interesting. Everyone should read this and especially women. I wish some of the research were more clear, but I suppose that’s the nature of research that is still in progress.

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Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit

Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities by Rebecca Solnit
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read an updated version. This was a pretty good pep talk to participate in and continue with social and political activism even when we are discouraged. There were some tips regarding activism and some history regarding the long-term success of activism. Overall, it felt kind of disjointed though, so I wasn't able to really sink my teeth in. But again, a happy, hopeful, and simultaneously realistic pep talk. We certainly need that right now.

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Freedom Is a Constant Struggle by Angela Y. Davis

Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement by Angela Y. Davis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Mind blown. This is a lot like stepping into an intermediate or advanced class on intersectionality which is tough for me because I'm still trying to get a beginners' foundation in feminism, race equality, and intersectionality. Nonetheless, wow. I can't believe that I managed to get a law degree without ever even hearing about the prison abolition movement.

There's so much in here, so much to process, that I can't tackle all my thoughts on it yet. It makes me feel like I need to do a lot more reading to fully wrap my mind around the concepts Davis introduced.

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1984 by George Orwell

1984 by George Orwell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For whatever reasons, I was assigned this book 3 times in high school and have read it at least 2 times since then, making this the book that I've read the most times in my life. I don't enjoy the novel enough for it to be my most read book- it's just a bad accident. Alternatively, maybe I read it for the same reasons that terrifying local news gets such high ratings.

Here's one thing Orwell didn't anticipate, in the modern world everyone wants to be constantly surveilled on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Goodreads, and YouTube. (Me too.) In the modern world, The Ministry of Truth still resides in Russia but pumps in their "truths" via these same social media channels. (Are they on Goodreads? Are they giving 1984 bad reviews on account of poor characterization?) There's no time to read anyway because everyone is watching reality television. The Real Housewives of Doublethink. In the modern world, the government doesn't care if everyone hates the government because they don't need your vote just your money. In the modern world, we hardly have time for thought crimes because we're constantly fighting incorrect bills and insurance companies.

Winston's job is especially quaint. In the modern world, there's no need to falsify history or the news. Not enough people care about the ample evidence of the actual truth. Anyone can just wave away the truth, claim any unsubstantiated nonsense, and enough Congressmen and civilians will follow in step. The rest of us can just scream into our social media. It's so much simpler really.

Yes, I know I'm being dramatic.

On the other hand: “She did not feel the abyss opening beneath her feet at the thought of lies becoming truths.” - Orwell

I do, Orwell! I feel the abyss. This abyss needs to be updated though because it’s gotten much bigger: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...

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Holy Bible: New International Version

Holy Bible: New International Version by Anonymous


I started at the beginning of the year and it took about an hour a day for 8 months. Sometimes I'd skip a few days, but then sometimes I would do 2 hours to make up for falling behind. The Old Testament is much longer obviously and I think I made it feel even longer by reading The New Testament's Gospels, The Old Testament, and then the rest of the New Testament. I spent 6 of the 8 months on the Old Testament and only 2 months on the New Testament.

A few thoughts on the Old Testament, it's very long, and I think there's a lot of merit in the Jewish tradition of focusing on the first five books (the Torah). Genesis and Exodus are particularly interesting. [Repeat from my Tanakh review:] Much of the rest of the Old Testament is wars and God getting angry for his worshippers breaking rules, especially marrying those of other religions. A few notable exceptions: Song of Songs is very romantic, Jonah is the stuff of great adventure books, and the locusts are as scary as a Steven King novel.

As for the New Testament, the Gospels are really interesting, in particular, the Gospel of Matthew. Not to be outdone by the locusts in the Old Testament, Revelation is some scary stuff.

Since I finished the Bible in less than a year, I'm going to try to read nonfiction books about the Bible for the rest of the year.


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The Oregon Trail by Francis Parkman

The Oregon Trail by Francis Parkman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I don't care that he didn't finish the Oregon Trail because I was sufficiently bored that I was glad he just called it quits and went home already. My interest in this book was of the silly childhood variety from playing the computer game of the same name. For that reason, my favorite parts were the parts where they pursued and killed buffalo. I know! I'm ridiculous. The various different Native American (First Nations?) tribes were in themselves super interesting and I think Parkman did try to differentiate between their traditions and culture, but I think he was significantly handicapped in this by his old-timey bias.

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The End of Poverty by Jeffrey D. Sachs

The End of Poverty by Jeffrey D. Sachs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a good book and it shares with us Sach's wealth of experience in international economics. The problem for me is that I read Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty first, and that book changed the whole way I look at politics and international development- it was mind-blowing. Sachs suffers from the comparison with kind of run-of-the-mill recommendations.

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The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book has great characters you can love. Despite the main character being a teen and struggling with how she is viewed by the outside world, the book itself still manages to handle the very important and sadly all too frequent topic of police shootings with great maturity. This novel is a clear young adult winner.

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Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay

Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Starts out a little slowly with some personal essays about Gay's work life and personal life. However, her later essays on privacy, autonomy, sexism, and racism are powerful. I particularly noticed when I didn't necessarily agree with her that her arguments were sufficiently persuasive that they made me reconsider. This is one of the top things I look for in nonfiction and essays in particular. I'm not looking for information that merely champions what I already believe but writing that challenges the way I think and see the world and changes or broadens my perspective.

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Bright-Sided by Barbara Ehrenreich

Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America by Barbara Ehrenreich
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I appreciated her critique of the positive-thinking culture in culture and business. I find the former irritating and the latter oppressive. The research shows that pessimists make the best attorneys. I've always suspected that would be true in a number of other fields where anticipating and averting disaster would be beneficial to a cheery facade. But the demands on sick people to be positive and even to pray are exhausting. What are we to make of how we've treated both the most positive and religious people who die from cancer- not to mention the grumps and atheists we tortured with this advice right to the grave? I agree with the premise that there is a sinister intersect of religion, magic and the corporate world in all this victim-blaming.

That said, I think Ehrenreich wasn't very fair to the scientific study of happiness and positive psychology. (Says the person who is obsessed with Jonathan Haidt and his books.)

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My Own Words by Ruth Bader Ginsburg

My Own Words by Ruth Bader Ginsburg
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I love The Honourable Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I think she's one of the most brilliant Americans alive today. This collection of speeches is a mess though. For example, one of them is a brief introduction for Gloria Steinem at an event for her, but we learn nothing about either Ginsburg or Steinem for the inclusion of the introduction. There are two speeches that are actually her husband's, and he has the same opening joke in them. There is an entire cut-and-paste of the opera, Scalia/Ginsburg, which was just the worst. This book could have been really great, and it does have some great feminist writing in it, but you'll have to wade through a lot of poorly edited content to get to it.

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A Call to Action by Jimmy Carter

A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power by Jimmy Carter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

How wonderful is it that former President Jimmy Carter wrote a book about feminism? He's the best, and I love him.

The book is sometimes difficult to read because terrible things are happening to women on a daily basis in both in the US and abroad, and Carter isn't shy about going into great detail in his anecdotes (with statistics to back up the larger points he is making).

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