The Most Interesting [Non-Fiction] Books I Read This Year — 2019
by Nicole Barbaro
This year has been filled with many wonderful books. Below are my top five most interesting books I read this year. These five books are diverse, each covering a different knowledge area, which I think is reflective of my effort to branch out (I even read a novel this year — a first in many, many years). Everyone’s “to read” list is too long, but hopefully at least one of these will snag a spot on your 2020 reading list. Happy reading.
1. The Second Kind of Impossible: The Extraordinary Quest for a New Form of Matter by Paul J. Steinhardt
The Second Kind of Impossiblewas an experience from start to finish. For the last year I had been searching for history of science books (my current favorite genre) and I stumbled upon this book on a display table at my local Barnes and Noble on a Saturday night book run. The reason I bought it? It was on sale. I had never heard of the book, despite it just being published a few months prior. It sounded interesting enough, and physics is my second favorite science subject next to evolution. The book sat on my “to read” pile until July when I cracked it open over the holiday weekend.
This book is the embodiment of a scientific journey. Pual Steinhardt recounts his 35-year journey to discover a new form of matter, “quasicrystals”. Through improbable set backs, inspiring insights, and far-flung journeys to the tundra, this is a journey that you just can’t wait to see how it ends. Part of what made this book so fascinating and exhilarating to read was that I had no prior knowledge of any aspect of the book. I didn’t know what a quasicrystal was, I did not know who Paul Steinhardt was, and I hadn’t read even a word about the final discovery. I have yet to read another science discovery book that was as enveloping as this one. Even if physics is not your topic of choice, the book is focused on the journey rather than dense scientific details, and is absolutely worth a spot on your “to read” pile.
Buy it here.
2. The Case Against Education: Why the Education System Is a Waste of Time and Money by Bryan Caplan
As someone that has spent more than a decade as a college student, with the mountain of loans to show for it, The Case Against Educationwas a refreshing take on the higher education system today. I hold competing views of higher education. On the one hand I am an idealist who believes in the value of education, of learning, of pushing one’s intellectual capacities. On the other hand, I am pointedly aware of the business that modern universities unambiguously are, and the misleading claims of many, if not most, higher education institutions.
Bryan Caplan makes a compelling case that from a macro perspective, higher education is largely a waste. Some of the most obvious signs of this are that a bachelor’s degree in art history, social sciences, or other non-applied disciplines, will qualify you for most entry-level office positions despite the content knowledge you spent years acquiring is nearly useless on the job; and, that your education is not “worth” much unless you actually graduate and receive your very expensive piece of paper. On the other hand, for you — the individual — a college degree is obviously beneficial (as long as you finish) because, well, the job market rewards you for having one. Of course, the typical caveats apply, including the big one: Yes, your major absolutely matters.
The Case Against Education showcases the flaws of our current higher education system, and demonstrates that we need better models of education in the US. When two-thirds of high school grads move on to college, but only one-half to two-thirds of students at public state universities graduate with a bachelor’s degree after six (not four!) years, there is a big problem with how we’re advising and educating students. This book is a must read for every parent, high school student and college student.
Buy it here.
3. Innate: How the Wiring of Our Brains Shapes Who We Are by Kevin J. Mitchell
If there is one book that I learned the most from this year, Innate is that book. Kevin Mitchell explains with precise and unapologetic clarity that genes play a much more significant role in who we become than what many social scientists are willing to accept. Despite being one of the highest powered and robust areas of psychological science, behavior genetics has taken heat in the last few years because of negative implications, largely based on misunderstandings of what the research says, and how to properly interpret the findings.
Innate unpacks key ideas of behavior genetics, including what the non-shared environment can be (hint: it may not be environmental at all), and emergent systems both of which culminate on the idea that “you can’t bake the same cake twice” — just because two people’s DNA is identical, random non-systematic processes can explain many differences between them. Taking a developmental approach, Innate introduced (to me, at least) fascinating insights to neurodevelopmental disorders. It was here that I learned about schizophrenia as a neurodevelopmental disorder — something I was not introduced to during my decade-long educational journey in psychology. This book is a go-to recommendation of mine to anyone interested in human genetics and human development.
Buy it here.
4. More From Less: The Surprising Story of How We Learned to Prosper Using Fewer Resources — and What Happens Next by Andrew McAfee
My undergraduate self would likely have found this book infuriating in many ways, which is precisely why this book was so fascinating. If there is an arena of ideas that I have most obviously changed my mind about as I have considered the evidence more closely and in greater depth, this book is a collection of all of these ideas. More capitalism, more technology, more urbanization, more GMOs (genetically modified organisms), more nuclear energy, and — obviously — less socialism. In other words, more of what we’ve been doing is the best path forward for our planet.
More From Less has a little bit of something for everyone to disagree with. Andrew McAfee elegantly combines economics, data, and logical reasoning to hit on many of today’s hot-button political-environmental issues. His answer to today’s problems — capitalism, technological progress, public awareness, and responsive government — however, are not what many might think. If you’re looking for a nuanced take on today’s most pressing environmental issues (that doesn’t outright denounce capitalism as the cause of all that is evil), as McAfee’s argument unfolds, you’re sure to find yourself inevitably convinced of something you thought you disagreed with.
Buy it here.
5. The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect by Judea Pearl & Dana Mackenzie
Ask any student in my classes, and they’ll probably tell you how much I love box-and-arrow models. I find them incredibly effective to learn new information, clarify your own thinking, and share ideas with others. And, if there is a case to be made for why they are incredibly important for the social sciences, this book is it. For a researcher, being explicit about how each of your variables are related to one another — which variable is presumed to be causing the other; which variable is the outcome of which other variables — can make the difference between correctly and incorrectly “controlling” for a presumed confounder. Until reading this book, I honestly had no idea how easily one could wrongly “control” for variables, yet Judea Pearl outlines a series of rules across the book for how to properly specify your model. The best tool for the job is to draw your model and be explicit about your assumptions.
I use as a general rule in my own work that if I can’t draw it, I don’t know what I’m saying. I think that social scientist take for granted basic model drawing in favor of cumbersome, non-specific verbal “theories” that pervade the social sciences. And, as a bonus — no, randomized controlled trials are not the only way to demonstrate causal relations between variables. But if you’re not going to use one, you better have a darn good model to specify which variables you need to actually control for. The Book of Why should be required reading for any social scientist, and especially graduate students.
Buy it here.
