Seeking non-fiction recommendations
I'm interested in reading more non-fiction! Read anything good lately? I'm mostly interested in books that are aimed at a non-academic audience but are info-dense, complex and 'crunchy' (i.e. not books that repeat the same 3 ideas for like 200 pages). Probably less interested in self-help/self-development style books?
Potential topics of interest (but I'm open to other topics)
-emotions, neuroscience, hormones, brain chemicals, 'processing'. Stuff about the connection between our physical bodies and our qualia, but probably from a more practical than a philosophical perspective. Good examples of the genre that I've read: The Body Keeps the Score, How Emotions Are Made, Unlocking the Emotional Brain
-stuff that gives me a better sense "how the world works" politically, economically, socially. Books that explain in a simple way some complex global system that lots of people don't understand. I'm most sympathetic to lefty perspectives, but also open to centrist/liberal or wacky/heterodox perspectives.
Example of the genre: Hickel's The Divide?
-history books focussing on: anarchism; sexuality; relationships; progressive social movements; people being queer/non-monogamous "before it was cool"
Good example of the genre: the podcast Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff
-work (history and sociology of); capitalism (critics and (semi-critical) defenders/explainers)
Good example of the genre: Bullshit Jobs
-social skills, charisma, interpersonal interaction. I'd tolerate more self-help-iness here, as probably most books about these things are self-help books.
Ok example of the genre: Non-violent Communication. This wasn't very info-dense, but I like that it shows you a way to approach social interaction in a structured, systematic way.
I might add more topics as comments when I think of them.
Thank you in advance!
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Ben Weinstein-Raun
in reply to Amber Dawn • •Here's a thing I posted to Facebook about a year ago:
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Ben Weinstein-Raun
in reply to Amber Dawn • •And if you want a longer list, I also wrote this:
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Nikki Bee
in reply to Amber Dawn • •Hello I exist here now! What I've been reading recently other than the (I agree very good) The Body Keeps the Score is a couple of fairly "canonical in their field" books about how stuff should be designed so it's easy to use correctly, but often isn't.
The first book I read on this is The Design of Everyday Things (Don Norman), an accessible and imo pretty charming book talking about familiar things from a product design perspective that cares about psychology and how people work.
The second is less a recommendation because it's fairly dry & academic, Normal Accidents by Charles Perrow, a sociologist writing after the Three Mile Island nuclear meltdown about what causes industrial accidents, and how the way companies think about safety processes often ends up screwing workers over. Not leftist by principle but a lot of the conclusions it comes to are. Interesting to me as someone who's done a bunch of work in lower-stakes computer-y ways about "how do we know when stuff breaks without constantly spamming ourselves with warnings", but there's definitely a lot of mo
... show moreHello I exist here now! What I've been reading recently other than the (I agree very good) The Body Keeps the Score is a couple of fairly "canonical in their field" books about how stuff should be designed so it's easy to use correctly, but often isn't.
The first book I read on this is The Design of Everyday Things (Don Norman), an accessible and imo pretty charming book talking about familiar things from a product design perspective that cares about psychology and how people work.
The second is less a recommendation because it's fairly dry & academic, Normal Accidents by Charles Perrow, a sociologist writing after the Three Mile Island nuclear meltdown about what causes industrial accidents, and how the way companies think about safety processes often ends up screwing workers over. Not leftist by principle but a lot of the conclusions it comes to are. Interesting to me as someone who's done a bunch of work in lower-stakes computer-y ways about "how do we know when stuff breaks without constantly spamming ourselves with warnings", but there's definitely a lot of more accessible writing about this.
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Amber Dawn
in reply to Nikki Bee • •Nikki Bee
in reply to Amber Dawn • •Ha, yes, I think "unusually philosophical about the mundane" is a tone of that book strikes neatly! A bunch of more academic stuff about the history of human-centred design and so on, but also him being a little poetic about keeping memories in the head or keeping them in the world around you.
It's a pretty well known book in the field I think, so likely libraries would have it.
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Megan Gorges
in reply to Amber Dawn • •For history, I loved Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan. It helped me think about history from a less Western-centric lens and it's very epic in scope and fun to read (imo).
Combining sociology of work, capitalism, and emotions (emotional labor), I recommend The Managed Heart by Arlie Hochschild.
Commitment and Community: Communes and Utopias in Sociological Perspective by Rosabeth Moss Kanter is an oldie but goodie. It explores the waves of cults and communes in the US in the 1800s and 1960s, so it also talks about progressive social movements and non-monogamy.
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Amber Dawn
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kip
in reply to Amber Dawn • •I'd recommend two memoirs -- not sure if they would be your thing or not. They don't clearly fit into what you've described.
1. In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado. Her writing is kind of surreal and very enjoyable to read IMO. It's about her experience in an abusive lesbian relationship. I think it's my favorite book.
2. Troubled by Rob Henderson. He's very smart but had a very rough childhood in foster care. He highlights how foster care is associated with very bad outcomes (even if you control for socioeconomic status). Near the end of the book he finds himself in a prestigious university and gets culture shock. He talks about his dislike of modern-day leftist views on privilege (they say he's privileged because he's a straight cis man, and he's un-privileged because he's a POC, but they don't acknowledge the massive impact of his childhood). Satisfying for me to read since I don't hear this perspective much and it matches my feelings in many ways.
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Daniel Filan
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Amber Dawn
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