(Sorry about the formatting issues. I tried to correct it a couple times, yet kept reverting)
A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains by Max S. Bennett
An interesting take on how we got from primitive thinking to AI. I found parts of the book interesting and helpful, and felt like other parts went over my head. This probably would be a better book to read in print form than to listen to as an audiobook (?).
The Fifth Risk: Undoing Democracy by Michael Lewis
This book examines how Donald Trump’s first administration was not prepared to lead our nation. It dives into how the administration had little knowledge of what many governmental departments even did (e.g. the man selected to lead the Department of Energy, which includes nuclear weapons, had said a few years before he wanted to eliminate the department completely). Even as the previous administration was trying to prepare them for the difficulties to come, they ignored the warnings as Trump handed positions to his political donors.
Who is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service (Edited by Michael Lewis)
A collection of essays about unsung heroes in the United States government. The individuals profiled have spent years, or decades, improving the quality of life of citizens, and yet I was unaware of what many of their positions even did. A decent book on how the government helps its people.
Becoming Dr. Seuss: Theodor Geisel and the Making of an American Imagination by Brian Jay Jones
A biography of how a mediocre college student became one of America’s most beloved authors. The book had me smiling and crying at times. Seuss was a complicated man, who has left a lasting legacy.
The Name of This Band is R.E.M.: A Biography by Peter Ames Carlin
It sounded interesting when I read the preview. The book was OK. It covered how the band met, and very slowly progressed through their career. Not a book I see myself returning to.
Becoming the Pastor’s Wife: How Marriage Replaced Ordination as a Woman’s Path to Ministry by Beth Allison Barr
As a historian and a pastor's wife, Barr talks about the state of white evangelicalism and how they treat pastors’ wives. As a medieval historian, Barr shows that much of what we think is “biblical” is quite modern. A good read, even if you don’t come to all the same conclusions she does.
All My Knotted Up Life: A Memoir by Beth Moore
A moving biography. From being a survivor of abuse as a young girl, to becoming a well-known speaker, to losing support for speaking out against Trump’s sexual braggadocio. The story is personal and is relatable in many ways.
Abundance by Ezra Klein and Kerek Thompson
This book looks at how the United States used to be full of visionaries, but has lost its focus. It’s a call to not abandon innovation or allow politics to be the weeds that hinder growth.
The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate by John H. Walton
Walton, an Old Testament scholar, looks at how a “literal” interpretation of Genesis 1 may be causing us to miss the point of the text. Walton argues that the creation account, viewed through the context of the ancient near middle east, is less about origin (the creation of things) than about function (finding meaning in things).
Warp Speed: Inside the Operation That Beat COVID, The Critics, and the Odds by Paul Mango
An insider's account of how the Trump Administration was able to get multiple COVID vaccines created, tested and on the market in record-setting times—without cutting corners on the science. The book was interesting and answered many of the questions I’ve heard posed over the years. Downsides: The book is dripping with partisan politics (basically anything GOP is great, all others are bad), and the author comes off quite sexist against women on the “Operation Warp Speed” team.
The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket by Benjamin Lorr
The book was a fascinating look at the dark side of how we shop for food, and all of those trampled by the lower prices we pay. One of the best books I’ve read this year.
Make Sense of Your Story: Why Engaging Your Past with Kindness Changes Everything by Adam Young
Wow. Loved this book. It is a book I should either listen to when I can take notes, or read a physical book where I can highlight/underline. So many nuggets I need to apply in my daily life. In a nutshell, until we come to grips with our past, we cannot effectively move forward.
The Deep-Rooted Marriage: Cultivating Intimacy, Healing, and Delight by Dan Allender and Steve Call
A marriage book that encourages people to get to the roots of why they are the way they are in efforts to not continue to make the same mistakes.
Becoming by Michelle Obama
A memoir by the former First Lady. This book covers her life from childhood until they left the White House in 2016. Predictable at times, and yet personable at other times. If nothing else, it shows the human side of someone in the political spotlight.
Vaccinated: From Cowpox to mRNA, the Remarkable Story of Vaccines by Paul A. Offit M.D. An interesting history of vaccinations, how they were developed, how they saved hundreds of millions of lives, and even how there has been some pushback in recent years. This book is almost a biography of Maurice Hilleman, one of the most prolific vaccine creators, and how personal tragedy in his life led him to dedicate his life to the creation of vaccines that saved millions of people. Land: How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World by Simon Winchester Winchester gives a relatively brief history of how humans have treated land, at least its ownership, over the past several centuries. He details how our mindset towards stewardship land has drastically changed, and the consequences of the change. Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from Distant, Rejecting, or Self-Involved Parents by Lindsay C Gibson PsyD This book seeks to help people overcome the negative traits that come from having parents who, in one way or another, are or were emotionally abusive. It outlines different personality types that are abusive, and how to overcome ongoing abuse and gain independence and self-confidence. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omer El Akkad Akkad seeks to lay out how the horrors of the attacks by Hammas in 2023 have allowed Israel to carry out atrocities of their own, on a ramped up level, against the people of Palestine. The genocide that Israel is directly contradictory to the so called values held by the West, and yet most in the West have turned a blind eye to the actions of the state of Israel. I saw more of the teachings of Jesus laid out in the book, written by a Muslim, than I see from many who claim to follow Jesus. The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind by Mark A. Noll “The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind.” Noll’s book, written in 1995, lays out how the evangelical community has abandoned serious intellectual thought, and how forfeiting serious scholarship to non-Christians has hurt both Christians and non-Christians alike. Christian Slavery: Conversion and Race in the Protestant Atlantic World by Katharine Gerbner A look at how the evangelization of slaves in the West divided communities. Some viewed the "Christianizing” of the slaves to be at the root of both rebellions and calls for emancipation, while others argued that Christianity would make the slaves more compliant. In the end, the tension between the two groups, as well as the slaves themselves, transformed Protestantism in the Western world.
