EN 82: "Books about the current reality"
These past weeks, I’ve been reading books related to our current reality. Having a library near me helps and, luckily, most books I want to read are available there or via a reservation. Besides, there’s no room in my narrow bookcase any more.
Regarding libraries, I'll shamefully admit that this is my first time actively using their services. As a kid, I seldom went to one, and mostly to meet friends who were studying. Though I had a card, I don't remember loaning any books, and I studied better alone. In any case, I’ve decided to check the library before thinking of buying any book. Moreover, libraries are wonderful, they’re not only a way to get access to books—ultimately to knowledge— regardless of income, they also serve as a space for the community.
“On Tyranny”, “How Democracies Die” and “The Anatomy of Fascism” are a few of the books lying around on my desk. I also have a dozen more on my library wishlist, that I’d like to read during the year—also, as part of an effort to read more and reduce screen time—mainly centred around the same topics: democracy, tyranny and the history of the World Wars.
Let me throw a few more titles out, in case you’re interested in the same topics.
Democracy and tyranny:
How Fascism Works, Jason Stanley.
Twilight of Democracy, Anne Applebaum.
First World War:
The War That Ended Peace, Margaret MacMillan
The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914, Christopher Clark
Through German Eyes: The British & The Somme 1916, Christopher Duffy
Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front, 1914-1918, Richard Holmes
There are tons of books about this, covering topics such as causes and origins, military operations, economics, etc. For more ideas, I found this wiki a good inspiration.
World War II:
The Coming of the Third Reich, Richard J Evans. This is the first volume of “The Third Reich Trilogy”.
Fatherland, Robert Harries. Not a history book like the previous one, it’s an alternative history detective novel in a world where the Axis won the war.
Interesting links
Stepping out of the silo (“Change, Technically” podcast). Awesome episode about silos and working interdisciplinary.
Design For Real Life (Eric Meyers and Sara Wachter-Boettcher). “You'll gain the practical knowledge to test where your designs might fail (before you ship!), vet new features or interactions against more realistic scenarios, and build a business case for making decisions through a lens of kindness. You can't know every user, but you can develop inclusive practices that support a wider range of people”.
Possibly a serious possibility (Adam Kucharski). Fascinating post about our language when talking about probability. Surprisingly, there’s a lot of inconsistency in the words we used to express probability, and that has a certain impact on decisions.