Books: May Update
Here is the latest update on the books I have read. I am doing this book post a bit sooner because there are a lot of books I want to discuss:
Strength in What Remains:
An amazing story (non-fiction) about a man who escapes genocide in Burundi, moves to the US with virtually nothing, and ends up with a career in the medical field. My previous awareness of the history of the genocide in Burundi and Rwanda came mostly from watching Hotel Rwanda a few years ago. This book greatly expanded my awareness of that relatively recent conflict. On the US side of the story, it was illuminating to see how a few random acts of kindness and an incredible amount of determination can change someone's life in a very positive way.
Little Women:
I think that I am not the intended demographic for this book (male, 23 years old at the time I read it). Needless to say, it was not my favorite of the young-adult books I have read here. On the plus side, less than a week after finishing Little Women there was a reference to the book on the Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! bluff the listener game. I can't say that the hours I spent reading the book were "worth it" to get the reference, but it was a silver lining at least.
Factfulness:
Probably the most important book that I will read while I am in Senegal. I thought that I was relatively "informed" about the current state of the world before reading this book (because of my travels and my current job), but I was wrong. The basis of the book is that the world is progressing toward better standards of living much faster than we think it is. In the 1960's, it would have been correct to describe the world in terms of "developed/Westernized" and "developing" countries, but these terms are no longer valid. Differences in ways of living (transportation, cooking, water availability, etc.) are almost always attributable to income rather than culture or history. Things can be "both bad and better"--yes, extreme poverty currently exists in the world, but its prevalence has been declining for many decades. Living standards and access to resources can be much more accurately described by splitting populations into four income levels (Level 1 is extreme poverty and Level 4 is how the majority of residents in the US live). In Factfulness, Rosling describes ten instincts we have that lead our world views to be skewed subconsciously. He describes why these instincts exist and persist, how they tend to cloud our world view, and how a fact-based approach to analyzing the world can neutralize these subconscious. After reading Factfulness, I have a much better idea of the current state of the world. Some things are bad, but almost everything is getting better.
In case this was not clear from my review, Factfulness should jump to the top of your non-fiction reading list. To answer the question for my blog readers that have read Factfulness, the majority of people in my village have a Level 2 income. A special thanks to a friend at the Gates Foundation and another long-time friend from Seattle for recommending this book to me.
Night:
This was one that many of my friends in high school read for class but that my teachers never assigned. The intro to the book I found especially powerful--Wiesel discusses his reasons for writing the book and his understanding that even a powerful book will have a limited impact in the big picture. A short read that I recommend if you are looking for a heartbreaking personal account of the Holocaust.
52 Loaves:
A memoir about a man who spends one year trying to make the perfect loaf of bread, one loaf a week (hence the 52 loaves). His journey takes him to many bakeries in the US and abroad, culminating in a trip to France where he gives a monastery his levain (starter) and teaches a couple of the monks how to make bread, renewing a monastic tradition that had long since been lost in that location. Along the way, Alexander ponders the deeper meaning of bread's relationship to human life and the purpose of his quest to bake the perfect loaf. Reading this really made me want to bake bread again. Recommended especially for bakers.
Green Hills of Africa:
While it has Hemingway's lovely signature style (simple, direct writing), this work of non-fiction has unfortunately not aged well. Hemingway describes his various escapades during a hunting trip to East Africa during which he shoots now-illegal animals for sport and is often rude to members of native populations. Highlights include a few long dialogues on writing, love, and life, but pick up one of Hemingway's novels (A Farewell to Arms is great) before you read Green Hills.
The World As It Is:
Ben Rhodes' memoir of the Obama White House. Rhodes was a speechwriter for Obama who also wore many additional hats during his work for the President. He presents deep insights into Obama's public and private personality by way of describing a wide variety of both intimate and casual situations: Obama making a big speech on an international stage, playing spades in a room on Air Force One, and making sure everyone in the Situation Room gets a chance to voice their opinion at moments where critical decisions must be made. I learned a lot about events that I had heard of during Obama's campaign and election; for example, Rhodes describes in great detail the arrangements made for negotiations with Cuba, in which he took a leading role. I also learned about a lot of decisions and speeches he made that I was not previously aware of. Highly recommended if you want a deeper look into Obama's personality and/or want to catch up on the White House's perspective on current events from the years leading up to and during Obama's presidency.
The Glass Palace:
A great novel set in Burma (Myanmar), India, and Malaya (now part of Malaysia) during the first half of the 20th century. The story follows the life of an Indian boy, Rajkumar, as he grows up in Burma and ends up making a fortune in the teak business. The book spans many generations, interweaving story lines from Rajkumar's family and other families he meets along the way. Omnipresent in the novel is the British colonization of Burma and India; the characters fall on various sides of the fighting for Indian and/or Burmese independence. As it lies between Japan and Burma, Malaya also gets caught up in the war between the Japanese and British armies during WWII. As both a novel and a history lesson about this area of the world, this is a highly recommended read.
Strength in What Remains:
An amazing story (non-fiction) about a man who escapes genocide in Burundi, moves to the US with virtually nothing, and ends up with a career in the medical field. My previous awareness of the history of the genocide in Burundi and Rwanda came mostly from watching Hotel Rwanda a few years ago. This book greatly expanded my awareness of that relatively recent conflict. On the US side of the story, it was illuminating to see how a few random acts of kindness and an incredible amount of determination can change someone's life in a very positive way.
Little Women:
I think that I am not the intended demographic for this book (male, 23 years old at the time I read it). Needless to say, it was not my favorite of the young-adult books I have read here. On the plus side, less than a week after finishing Little Women there was a reference to the book on the Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! bluff the listener game. I can't say that the hours I spent reading the book were "worth it" to get the reference, but it was a silver lining at least.
Factfulness:
Probably the most important book that I will read while I am in Senegal. I thought that I was relatively "informed" about the current state of the world before reading this book (because of my travels and my current job), but I was wrong. The basis of the book is that the world is progressing toward better standards of living much faster than we think it is. In the 1960's, it would have been correct to describe the world in terms of "developed/Westernized" and "developing" countries, but these terms are no longer valid. Differences in ways of living (transportation, cooking, water availability, etc.) are almost always attributable to income rather than culture or history. Things can be "both bad and better"--yes, extreme poverty currently exists in the world, but its prevalence has been declining for many decades. Living standards and access to resources can be much more accurately described by splitting populations into four income levels (Level 1 is extreme poverty and Level 4 is how the majority of residents in the US live). In Factfulness, Rosling describes ten instincts we have that lead our world views to be skewed subconsciously. He describes why these instincts exist and persist, how they tend to cloud our world view, and how a fact-based approach to analyzing the world can neutralize these subconscious. After reading Factfulness, I have a much better idea of the current state of the world. Some things are bad, but almost everything is getting better.
In case this was not clear from my review, Factfulness should jump to the top of your non-fiction reading list. To answer the question for my blog readers that have read Factfulness, the majority of people in my village have a Level 2 income. A special thanks to a friend at the Gates Foundation and another long-time friend from Seattle for recommending this book to me.
Night:
This was one that many of my friends in high school read for class but that my teachers never assigned. The intro to the book I found especially powerful--Wiesel discusses his reasons for writing the book and his understanding that even a powerful book will have a limited impact in the big picture. A short read that I recommend if you are looking for a heartbreaking personal account of the Holocaust.
52 Loaves:
A memoir about a man who spends one year trying to make the perfect loaf of bread, one loaf a week (hence the 52 loaves). His journey takes him to many bakeries in the US and abroad, culminating in a trip to France where he gives a monastery his levain (starter) and teaches a couple of the monks how to make bread, renewing a monastic tradition that had long since been lost in that location. Along the way, Alexander ponders the deeper meaning of bread's relationship to human life and the purpose of his quest to bake the perfect loaf. Reading this really made me want to bake bread again. Recommended especially for bakers.
Green Hills of Africa:
While it has Hemingway's lovely signature style (simple, direct writing), this work of non-fiction has unfortunately not aged well. Hemingway describes his various escapades during a hunting trip to East Africa during which he shoots now-illegal animals for sport and is often rude to members of native populations. Highlights include a few long dialogues on writing, love, and life, but pick up one of Hemingway's novels (A Farewell to Arms is great) before you read Green Hills.
The World As It Is:
Ben Rhodes' memoir of the Obama White House. Rhodes was a speechwriter for Obama who also wore many additional hats during his work for the President. He presents deep insights into Obama's public and private personality by way of describing a wide variety of both intimate and casual situations: Obama making a big speech on an international stage, playing spades in a room on Air Force One, and making sure everyone in the Situation Room gets a chance to voice their opinion at moments where critical decisions must be made. I learned a lot about events that I had heard of during Obama's campaign and election; for example, Rhodes describes in great detail the arrangements made for negotiations with Cuba, in which he took a leading role. I also learned about a lot of decisions and speeches he made that I was not previously aware of. Highly recommended if you want a deeper look into Obama's personality and/or want to catch up on the White House's perspective on current events from the years leading up to and during Obama's presidency.
The Glass Palace:
A great novel set in Burma (Myanmar), India, and Malaya (now part of Malaysia) during the first half of the 20th century. The story follows the life of an Indian boy, Rajkumar, as he grows up in Burma and ends up making a fortune in the teak business. The book spans many generations, interweaving story lines from Rajkumar's family and other families he meets along the way. Omnipresent in the novel is the British colonization of Burma and India; the characters fall on various sides of the fighting for Indian and/or Burmese independence. As it lies between Japan and Burma, Malaya also gets caught up in the war between the Japanese and British armies during WWII. As both a novel and a history lesson about this area of the world, this is a highly recommended read.
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