8 Great Non-Fiction books to read in 2022.
Here are 8 awesome Non-Fiction, Science, and Biographies I found in my hunt.
Books are simply brilliant. Every single kind of them serves us an experience. Although I am not greatly fond of fiction, because of my lack of ability to put it into perspective, I find great joy in reading the other side of the spectrum.
Stories of the living and the one who lived has been passed down in many ways, for many ages, even before books were first made. And readers are those who thrive to make the works of many greats, meaningful.
Reading more books has always been on my to-do list for a long while but recently I came to a realization that I have not been reading enough, or that I could have read some more.
Like every goal, it has to start with planning. Here are 8 books I plan to read last year: 2021.
1. A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future by David Attenborough
“We live our comfortable lives in the shadow of a disaster of our own making. That disaster is being brought about by the very things that allow us to live our comfortable lives.” — David Attenborough (A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future)
We learn many things about the Earth and its life forms from school and these days from many social media platforms. We come across many posts that remind us of what’s destroyed, every day, but the fires cool off for us after a couple of likes, comments, shares, and retweets. What we don’t care to realize is the cause behind bush fires, tsunamis, extreme droughts, and winters really are.
David Attenborough and his narrations for BBC’s Nature Documentaries such as Our Planet, Planet Earth and Blue Planet must very familiar for us. And I am sure his book: A Life on Our Planet will be even more interesting.
This is his testament to how much climate change has affected the Earth during his lifetime. He says: “I am 93. I’ve had an extraordinary life. It’s only now that I appreciate how extraordinary. As a young man, I felt I was out there in the wild, experiencing the untouched natural world — but it was an illusion”.
Truly, everything does seem very much like an illusion. He goes on: “The tragedy of our time has been happening all around us, barely noticeable from day to day — the loss of our planet’s wild places, its biodiversity”.
Clearly, this is not news to us humans. Nobody is going to be surprised if we say: “We are killing the planet” or “Earth is dying”. What will it take for a mass, worldwide “Save the Earth Movement” where all the countries come together, regardless of being allies or enemies, and unitedly make these years of collective destruction at least an ounce better? I hope it is not a week before doomsday.
It has only been 16 years since I lived on Earth and I am sure it will be very interesting to see and understand those insights that Sir David has acquired through his 93 years here.
There is also a Netflix documentary adaptation of this book. It is, to say the least, very insightful. The first half being his witness statements of all the chaos we have made and finally his hopes for how the future will be.
2. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
Caste systems have been engraved into our souls. There are castes in almost every culture, religion; caste in work, caste in language. Why?
This book delves into how the unspoken caste system has shaped America and how it is still influencing our lives today.
Isabel Wilkerson is an American Journalist and has penned many other books that discuss the idea of caste.
I believe the reason that this book caught my eye is not only the fact that it is featured in Opera’s book club, but also the fact that: Caste has been of recent controversy and something I have always been curious about.
All I know (if any) about caste systems are in terms of India and I believe it will be interesting to see how caste has shaped America.
She says: “ As we go about our daily lives, caste is the wordless usher in a darkened theater, flashlight cast down in the aisles, guiding us to our assigned seats for a performance. The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality. It is about power — which groups have it and which do not.”
That is really interesting to even think about. Caste is about the power she said, and just as I read those words, I wondered: ‘how do humans measure power in the first place?’ And ‘for what?’. I hope this book brings the answers to me.
3. The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph by Ryan Holiday
We face obstacles almost on a daily basis so why not include a book just about that? Now, this is not “overcome any obstacles” type of book (at least I don't think it is) It sounds more like an analysis.
Ryan Holiday claims this book to be a formula of success derived from the lives of those from the past. I have never been a huge fan of history to a point where I would consider taking a look at it in my leisure time, but this one sounds very interesting.
Recently, being introduced to some Roman History, I have been wondering how they were such an outstanding community. It almost seemed like they were far advanced than we were. There are bits and pieces of Roman remains almost everywhere around the world.
But it is not just the Romans, there is more. As humans were are obliged to learn our history. I believe it is almost a way for us to analyze our past to know what is coming.
As a part of the hunt, I happened to find many interesting and powerful quotes from this book. Here is one,
“We forget: In life, it doesn’t matter what happens to you or where you came from. It matters what you do with what happens and what you’ve been given.”
― Ryan Holiday, The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph
Last year I happened to read Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari (I would like to read it again), and that made me realize that the history we learn at school is almost like it is intended to make us bored of it. There is so much more to what happened in the past and if we can find a way to connect it to the future, there we go! man just found meaning for it.
4. Educated by Tara Westover
“To admit uncertainty is to admit to weakness, to powerlessness, and to believe in yourself despite both. It is a frailty, but in this frailty, there is a strength: the conviction to live in your own mind, and not in someone else’s.”
― Tara Westover, Educated
These are the words of a woman who could not attend school until she was 17. This book has been recommended to me many times by some friends, maybe this is the year I pick it up.
Recently, the pandemic and the changes it brought into my life has made me question the current education system. It seems like it is on the brink of falling apart, which in other words can be described as an unstable lego house that's standing on a few blocks.
This is a memoir and I believe maybe, this could give me some different perspectives around this subject.
Her journey of learning by herself, her journey of self-identification is one that sounds like a ‘must-read’ for me.
5. In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl’s Journey to Freedom by Yeonmi Park
This is another Memoir I found, accounting for the life and the journey of Yeonmi Park who left North Korea with her mother when she was just 13.
Her life has been a very difficult one, comprising of hardships from being sold with her mother into slave marriages by Chinese brokers and, many more.
She and her mother fled to South Korea but soon found that in order to be truly free, they had more to do.
She wrote this book in an attempt to inspire many others but moreover for a much personal need.
Her sister had escaped and vanished into the midst of China. Her choice for staying silent and away led Yeonmi to write this book and publicly take action, hoping to also find her sister someday.
If you were wondering, interestingly, with the help of South Korean intelligence, Yeonmi and her mother were able to reunite with her sister.
6. The Pattern Seekers: How Autism Drives Human Invention by Simon Baron-Cohen
“Rart of what is needed is a theory not only of how we invent, but why we invent. Recall that Edison was inventing for the pure pleasure of inventing. He worked on many of his inventions, not to meet an unmet need, but just to see what happens and what’s possible. The Systemizing Mechanism is what drives curiosity.”
― Simon Baron-Cohen
This is one of the books that have made me wonder as the cover states: ‘How Autism drives human invention?’
Autism is not a subject I could touch upon on a personal level but theoretically and socially I do realize that Autistic people are classified differently due to their way of thinking in a unique manner.
In this book, the author is proving his case that: autism is as crucial to our creative and cultural history as the mastery of fire. Mr. Cohen argues that “Autistic people have played a key role in human progress for seventy thousand years, from the first tools to the digital revolution”.
If they have played such a significant role in our society, then, why are they treated differently?
The author mentions that the same genes that cause autism enable the pattern-seeking that is essential to our species’ inventiveness.
7. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
“The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture
At the time of writing this article, I am reading this book. There are lots of lessons in this book that, as a reader, you absorb; not because the author wrote it there, but rather he makes you experience it.
This book has been sitting in my room for the past almost 3 years, untouched. I guess it was because of my different expectations and judgments about it.
I remember reading the first few pages when I had got this book; but the moment I realized that this book is much deeper than I had expected, I stopped (I was 13 back then, this book is pretty deep indeed for the 13y/o me).
Here is the lecture if you’d like to see:
But this year, I chose to give it a go. Let me not go into the pages yet. I don't want to ruin your experience with it. But if you were like me; too scared to read this book because it tells the story of a Professor who is about to die, because of his terminal cancer and leaves his family, students, and moreover his dreams, then, do me a favor and actually, pick it up. You won’t regret it.
It's his story, narrated by himself, guiding us through his life and his experiences. What he has learned, and what he is grateful for. What surprised me the most is the book’s positive, and rather light, and sometimes witty style of narration. I can not speak much as I am only halfway through. But, with what I have read, I can say that I am a fan.
That is all I have got for you this time, but this is far from all of the hundreds and thousands out there. If one of your goals this year, were to try and read as many books as you can, then consider checking out my Instagram and join me there. I post weekly updates about my reading progress, quotes, and small summary posts about the books I have finished.
If you would like to read a book recommendation article I wrote last year then check this story out.
Stay Curious.
