Hello friends!
This email is a little later than I planned as I wanted to finish one of the books so I could include it here. I’ve done well this month in reading five books.
Though I do wonder how much of that is due to being in lockdown. With restrictions easing here in the UK in the next week or so, it’ll be interesting to see how much reading I get done in the next few months.
Especially as I still have a pile of books to get through!
Here’s this month’s selection of books!
Fake Law - One thing I’ve noticed about the law is that most of us think we know our rights, what we can and can’t do, but the reality is often different. Reading Fake Law, this hit home.
The book looks at the British legal system through a variety of cases and topics, such as immigration, health and human rights. The title of the book is a clue as to what it entails. The way the law is presented in the media isn’t always factual. Stories are shorn of crucial details to make them more sensationalist and to whip up resentment.
This is true in the UK, where the daily newspapers print such stories with abandon. The sad thing is, this would be preventable if the public was more broadly educated about the law. Yet, that doesn’t appear likely anytime soon.
If you live in the UK, I recommend you read this book. You’ll come away with a greater appreciation and understanding of the law afterwards. Even if you don’t live in the UK, it’s an interesting insight into how the country works and, by extension, its culture.
Bullshit Jobs - I just finished reading this book and was blown away by it. This is one of the most thought-provoking books I’ve read. The idea of bullshit jobs is one that fascinates me and David Graeber makes a convincing case for the phenomenon.
The book is based around his essay in Strike magazine which went viral. He then followed up by asking people from around the globe to share their experiences of working in bullshit jobs. It’s these testimonials which inform the book and upon which Graeber expounds his theory.
We live in a strange time, even stranger with the pandemic. I remember working in an office, doing one of the jobs (PPI) Graeber mentions in the book. One thing I’ll never forget is the mundanity of the work and the feeling of sheer pointlessness. All of this work creating spreadsheets and following checklists just created a mass of bureaucracy. Add on top of that our manager whose job consisted of sending emails, going to meetings and ‘managing’ us. It was all a charade.
This isn’t supposed to happen in a capitalist society. Yet, there has been a proliferation of these jobs since the 1980s. What’s going on? Graeber may or may not have the answer, but Bullshit Jobs is an interesting book nonetheless.
Age of Anger - Pankaja Mishra’s book looks at the rise of figures such as Trump, Modi in India and the Brexit vote in the UK as he tries to understand what is fuelling this Age of Anger as he calls it.
Mishra is a brilliant writer and he tries to explain our current state of affairs by going back to the past and looking at the influential figures from the 18th and 19th century to explain the present day.
This is one of the best books I’ve read for explaining what we’re living through and the surreal nature of our world. If you’re interested in politics it’s well worth a read, because it explains how much of the present is related to the past, even if that past is over 200 years old.
Clear, Bright Future - Paul Mason’s book is an interesting polemic on today’s world. It’s written in a similar vein to Age of Anger but focuses on the role of the human.
One of the biggest challenges we’ll face in the coming years is automation and the rise of machines. Technological change is increasing on a scale our primitive brains can’t keep up with. The world could look very different in the next 30 years.
Mason presents his book as a radical defence of the human being and a plea to stand up for our freedoms, in case they’re taken away from us. Clear, Bright Future is an enlightening read, not one that will be everyone’s cup of tea, but one that makes you think regardless.
The Midnight Library - I loved this book! It’s one of the best novels I’ve read in a while and one of the best I’ve ever read. I’ve heard a lot about it on Twitter and upon seeing it in the supermarket a few weeks ago, I bought it on a whim.
I wasn’t disappointed.
I don’t want to spoil the plot, so I’ll try and keep the description brief. But the book looks at the life of a lady called Nora. She’s wracked with regret and wonders what her life would look like if she’d taken different paths. Would it be better? Would it be worse?
These are questions we’ve all asked ourselves. It’s easy to imagine how life would turn out if we’d made different choices, but the reality may be different from our expectations. I found The Midnight Library to be inspiring and especially during a pandemic it provided such much-needed clarity and light upon the dark time we’re living in!
I hope you get around to reading a few of these selections. Whether you read them in the next month or year, I’m not bothered. The idea of my reading lists is to encourage you, the reader, to read more.
If more of us read, and read books outside of our comfort zone, the world would be a better place. You don’t know what you don’t know. Reading is one of the best ways to fill in those gaps in your knowledge.
If you have any comments about the books, maybe you’ve read one before. Or if you have some recommendations for me, I’m all ears. I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Until next time,
Tom