Volume 1, Issue 3: Memoirs and Free Books

If you’re a sports fan, it is a great time of year. The Masters, NHL & NBA playoffs, Champions League, and MLB are all back in business. So for those book fans out there, we think it should feel a little special, too. This newsletter we will be giving away 3 books — yes THREE FREE BOOKS — to the reader who forwards this link to as many people as possible and nets us the most new subscribers.

We live in a competitive age, so this is winner takes all contest. And you’ll have all three books delivered to your door. The three books will be a part of our next month’s reviews so you can read alongside us and even throw in a review for one if you’d like. To clarify, whoever gets us the most new subscribers will be the deserved winner, just make sure that you do it by clicking the link!

We have some good ones for you today. Send us an email with how you think we are doing so far.

Subscribe to the monthly recommendations here

Until the next page turn,
Max and John

EDUCATED

Tara Westover, Memoir, 335 pages

Max’s Rating: 4.0/5

I waited a while to read this book. It was on every top list of 2018, including personal recommendations from Bill Gates and the Obamas. Being a contrarian and stubborn, I feared it would fall short, as many do when accompanied by hype. Regardless of my hesitations, when I did read Educated, I was astounded. Tara Westover tells this story of her life, which centers around her upbringing in Idaho by a bipolar, doomsdayer father who abhorred modern civilization. The father and complicit mother, kept Tara and her six siblings ‘homeschooled’ and working precarious jobs on their growing farm (due to her mother’s success in midwifery and even more so in homeopathic medicine).

Tara has unique relationships with each family member but the story has a more thorough account of her relationship with her emotionally and physically abusive brother Sean and her intolerant and repressive father. Her adolescence is branded with violence, lack of education, manual labor, and great insecurities brought on by her environment. After mercurial childhood years, she begins her personal journey when she is accepted to college (BYU) by teaching herself to take the ACTs but without any proper education (homeschooling was not actually occurring in their household). At college she slowly opens up to the outside world, to the power of education and community, and finds in herself a magnetic, intelligent, and successful woman, receiving the Gates Scholarship and earning her PhD from the University of Cambridge.

We experience her childhood as a result of Tara’s copious childhood journals. There are plenty of accounts that bring the veracity of some events into question. While that is very well possible, and likely, I don’t find that it should detract from the specific narrative that Tara holds. What is so striking about this story is how easy it is for children like Tara to never see the world, to never be heard, and to live in their own parallel world, removed from wider society. Tara just tells it how it was and provides the honesty of her feelings that you would find hard pressed to get out of even your closest loved one.

Even though she doesn’t make this book a commentary on society, you cannot ignore the importance of her story and the relevance to our social vortex: the impact of misogyny and the male ego and the damaging effects it has on a girl (or any child); the importance of accepting emotional vulnerability; and the value of education to liberating the mind. Fundamentally, education is Tara’s form of Plato’s allegory of the cave. Your truth, in a repressed and forced construct, is your concept of reality. For Tara that meant not knowing the Holocaust occurred and that morality exists in direct relationship with the Mormon doctrines. But when you are exposed to education, to free thought, to the power of diverse and varied perspectives — this is the beginning of enlightenment, of walking out of the cave and forming your own concept of reality. I couldn’t agree more — education is our greatest weapon, our greatest liberator.

It is a quick read, but it is not an easy read. It holds nothing back and you may shift in your seat with discomfort frequently. But that’s ok, that is the point. And when certain points are repetitive, that’s because you are getting the insight into the human experience of trauma and the repetitive nature of the mind’s psyche, before it can break free. By the way- don’t compare this to Hillbilly Elegy. It stands alone.

- Max

DESTINY OF THE REPUBLIC

A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President

Candice Millard, Historical Non-Fiction, 432 pages

John’s Rating: 4.5/5

Historical non-fiction doesn’t make it on my reading list nearly enough. I should really make more of an effort, because this was one of my favorite reads of 2019. I loved this biography of the little-known President James Garfield, a remarkably well-accomplished man who faced a grisly, tragic death. Such a thoroughly good book and suspenseful Fact Crime.

Destiny of the Republic traces President James Garfield’s life, starting with his humble beginnings growing up in a log cabin in Ohio, taking us through his assassination in July of 1888, less than four months into his first term. Millard’s a fantastic writer, and here she crafted a masterful story that’s so chock full with drama and personality it almost reads like fiction. Also it helps she had an amazing cast of characters to do some of the telling. To name a few: 1) The charismatic and honorable James Garfield. 2) The deranged and murderous Charles J. Guiteau (Garfield’s assassin). 3) The brilliant workaholic, inventor, and scientist, Alexander Graham Bell, who tried tirelessly to help save the president’s life. And 4) the stubborn and arrogant medical community that likely cost Garfield his life.

I don’t recall learning much about Garfield or his assassination — so I’m grateful that Millard gave our 20th president his proper due. Garfield was a man of honor whose qualities of courage, respect, liberty — and incredible patience and fortitude (even in the face of death) — set the bar for future presidents.

Loved this book and am eager to dive into another Candice Millard book soon.

- John

HOMAGE TO CATALONIA

George Orwell, Memoir/Non-Fiction, 232 pages

Max’s Rating: 4.3/5

1984… Animal Farm…

Classics. Books we have all read or will read, by the highly esteemed George Orwell. But a lesser known book by Orwell that I picked up this past month was absolutely incredible, if not only because of the rarity of its perspective. It is hard enough to find a first hand account from a war. It’s even rarer to find one from the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). And it is virtually unheard of to have one of the most respected writers of all time participate in said war and to write a detailed account of the experience. But that’s what Orwell did.

A British citizen, and a strong believer in socialism (but unawarely served with a Communist faction of the Republican cause), Orwell was drawn to the cause of the socialist government in Spain and joined forces with one of the Barcelona-based military outfits that were fighting against Franco’s fascist military coup. The memoir takes the reader from his day of enlistment through to his return to England. He covers the mundanity and ironies of being a soldier at war, the specificities of fighting on the front line, the sensation of being shot, and his opinions on the downfall of the socialist party.

The reason I picked this relatively obscure book was in reaction to completing the fictional series by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (reviewed one of them here), which was based in pre and post Spanish Civil War Barcelona. I was fascinated by the reverberating effect of this civil war, and was equally stunned by how little I had ever learned about it during my education. I stumbled upon Orwell’s Catalonia and feel fortunate that I did. I’ll be completely honest — it’s really not for everyone. This may not appeal to everyone but for those that love Orwell, war history, or political history, I highly recommend it. You won’t walk away with a sensationalized view of civil war, but you’ll get a refreshingly raw and rigorous perspective of many aspects of ‘war-making’. I loved the rawness and candor. A good example is the following excerpt:

‘When I came to Spain, and for some time afterwards, I was not only uninterested in the political situation but unaware of it… I knew that I was serving in something called the POUM…but I did not realize that there were serious differences between the political parties’.

If you read this, I would suggest reading through the history in the appendix first. It will help demystify some of the terminologies and political dynamics that makes it easier to follow when you get to the main chapters of his non-fiction account.

- Max

TRUE GRIT

Charles Portis, Fiction, 240 Pages

John’s Rating: 4.1/5

True Grit is an absolute beauty of a revenge story. Here’s the quick gist: a brave and gutsy 14-year-old girl in 1873 Arkansas teams up with a mean, hard-drinking, sharp-shooting U.S. Marshall to hunt down the man responsible for killing her father in cold blood. An American classic that’s worth the read if you haven’t already seen one of the True Grit movies.

While it takes about fifty pages to really get into the heart of the story, the last 200 pages are a fun and adventure-packed tour de revenge on horseback. This is the kind of book you could read in a weekend. And while the plot does drag a bit early on, I’ll admit, there’s never a dull moment with the writing. Mattie Ross is a witty and inventive narrator whose ice-in-her-veins feats at the age of 14 will amaze you until the very end. Also, isn’t this an amazing first sentence of a book?

“People do not give it credence that a fourteen-year-old girl could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenge her father’s blood but it did not seem so strange then, although I will say it did not happen every day.”

- John

HIKING WITH NIETZSCHE,

John Kaag, Memoir, 272 pages

Max’s Rating: 3.7/5

John’s Rating: 2.9/5

Hiking with Nietzsche is a deeply personal reflection of Nietzsche’s impact on the author, Kaag. The book revolves around two pivotal points in Kaag’s life — as a hyperaware, and extreme, 19 year old philosophy student and secondly as a contemplative father at the age of 36. Not meant to draw you into the deepest chambers of Nietzsche and his work, Kaag weaves his story with Nietzsche’s own. In doing, he brings to life the philosopher’s complex theories in a very demonstrative, clear, and approachable style. Kaag, at 19, went to the same mountains in Switzerland where Nietzsche secluded himself for many years of his life. There, he did as his favorite philosopher did, lived for a month in a spartan frame of mind, pushing his existence to the limit. When he returned at the age of 36 (his current age), he does so one divorce and a second marriage later, with his daughter and wife in tow. The second trip forces him to confront how his current life and resulting happiness is in great contrast to the teachings of Nietzsche.

Nietzsche is well known for his polarizing perspective on the meaning of life, which is that of the Ubermensch (the Uber man). The Ubermensch is the essence of individualism and asceticism — in other words the belief of perfecting the individual, abhorring the herd mentality, and that physical turmoil will lead to psychological transcendence. I can only speak personally, but there is a compelling narrative and/or comfort in Nietzsche’s base theory — that you, as a standalone functional sentient being — can control your destiny and mental wellbeing. Yet there is an equally disturbing narrative, which is that a standalone functional sentient being is made worse by the community. Needless to say, it’s easy to understand what makes him controversial.

Kaag’s personal story grabs me far less than his approachable history of Nietzsche, which was the main appeal for me. If you are one to enjoy pondering the meaning of life and to enjoy waxing philosophical with friends, but haven’t yet dived into the density of philosophy books — this is a read-worthy choice. It’s quick, but I didn’t hesitate to slow it down, look up a few concepts, and discuss with people. That’s how I would recommend approaching it — however if you were Nietzsche he would probably scorn me for my lack of individualism.

- Max

— — — — — — — — — — —

Assuming you read Max’s review, which provided a nice explanation of the book’s plot, so let’s dive into my take.

I want to leave a positive review here, but man, I really don’t know about this one. On the one hand, it’s very well-written and it makes Nietzsche readily accessible to the non-philosophers of the world (read: me). A major feat that alone probably makes this a worthy read. In fact, in this 272 page read, I probably learned more about Nietzsche — the man — than I did in a full semester of Modernity Studies in college. The biographical bits of this book were really well-done.

But I could have done without some (or most) of Kaag’s melodramatic descriptions of his hike. His perspective was mostly a relatable and vulnerable one, but I would have enjoyed a much slimmer version of this book, or maybe a book that was the same size but mostly a biography about Nietzsche, less a detailed account of Kaag’s wanderings through the Swiss Peaks. Then again, maybe the descriptions of those hikes and his related insights about his relationship with his wife and daughter are what make this book so accessible. Not sure. I’d go with Max’s review on this one.

- John

April 18, 2019