Here are the books that I enjoyed this year. Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics: Gave me an idea of the pros and cons of geographical boundaries of many countries and the ongoing geo-political conflicts.
Scattered Minds: The Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder This interesting book explains the nuances that ADD is not an inherited illness, but a reversible impairment and developmental delay. This talks about how in ADD, circuits in the brain whose job is emotional self-regulation and attention control fail to develop in infancy – and why- shows how ‘distractibility’ is the psychological product of life experience. Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives - gives an account of how Cobalt is mined in regions of Congo, for rechargeable lithium-ion EV batteries. Shuri, Vol. 1: The Search for Black Panther - have been digging Nnedi Okorafor, especially after her interesting speech in China recently on how sci-fi mimics and predicts the future kind of and have been checking out Afro-futurism. Hacking Health: The Only Book You’ll Ever Need to Live Your Healthiest Life - Mukesh Bansal seems to have done a thorough collation of interesting research and scientific facts on health, nutrition, and staying fit - this could be of interest to a lot of techies to avoid sedentary life and get valuable information in the fitness realm. Bengalurina Ithihasa by Ba Na Sundar Rao - finally got around to digging a lot of a comprehensive book on the history of Bangalore in Kannada. Trauma: The Invisible Epidemic: How Trauma Works and How We Can Heal from It - gave a good grasp on different types of trauma acute (visible) and invisible trauma spectrums prevalent in humans. As mental health issues rage on, these kinds of books drive home a lot of fundamental understanding around these. Opening Up by Writing It Down: How Expressive Writing Improves Health and Eases Emotional Pain - I came across this thanks to one of the podcasts I was listening to by Huberman - https://www.hubermanlab.com/episode/a-science-supported-journaling-protocol-to-improve-mental-physical-health Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology - gives a fundamental understanding of how chips are very critical. The prose used by Chris Miller makes this a very readable book. Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers - a book that helped me understand a few nuances around stress - be it in everyday personal or professional life. Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson - when a book comes about one of the most interesting guys in tech, hard to miss this. Regards Bharat | https://bsbarkur.github.io/about.html - Bharat On Wed, Dec 14, 2022 at 5:20 AM Thaths via Silklist <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hey Folks, > > Now that Silklist is back online, it is time to revive our almost-annual > tradition of sharing our annual book recommendations. I would love to hear > your recommendations. > > Here are the best books I read in 2022: > > 1. The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey: A very > meditative book. Loved it. A great pandemic read. > > 2. West with the Night by Beryl Markham: Not a new book, but a classic. > Beryl's description of growing up in Kenya and becoming a bush pilot is > beautifully written. I was lucky enough to live in Kenya much later, and had > the chance to experience some of what she describes (though with more modern > planes). > > 3. Moon Witch, Spider King by Marlon James: Part 2 of the 3-part trilogy. > Imagine Lord of the Rings / Game of Thrones set in Africa. > > 4. In This Corner of the World by Fumiyo Kouno: The story (in manga format) > of a young woman's coming of age in a suburb of Hiroshima during the war. > Despite being prime material for war and suffering depictions, the book was > actually quite beautiful and touching. > > 5. Fears of a Setting Sun: The Disillusionment of America's Founders > by Dennis C. Rasmussen: Hmmm... I wonder what was in the air that made me > want to read about the disillusioned final years of the Founding Father. > > 6. Masala Lab : The Science of Indian Cooking by Krish Ashok: Not much new > for someone like me who reads Harold McGee as bedtime reading, or steeps in > Serious Eats during the day, but he has a knack of customizing food science > to Indian cuisine (in all its complexity). > > 7. Bending Adversity: Japan and the Art of Survival by David Pilling: A book > that combines the micro (stories of a handful of people impacted by the > Tohuku Tsunami and Fukushima nuclear disaster) and the macro (Japan's history > in the recent past). Superbly sourced and cited. And the level of depth and > clarity that I would expect from someone working at the FT. > > 8. Invisible Empire: The Natural History of Viruses by Pranay Lal: I loved > Pranay's first book - Indica - and went into this book (Invisible Empire) > also with high expectations. My expectations were met, and surpassed. Pranay > weaves together history and natural history to paint a biography of viruses, > and the roles they have played (and continue to play as I write this in the > midst of the COVID19 pandemic) in history. > > Thaths > -- > Homer: Hey, what does this job pay? > Carl: Nuthin'. > Homer: D'oh! > Carl: Unless you're crooked. > Homer: Woo-hoo! > -- > Silklist mailing list > [email protected] > https://mailman.panix.com/listinfo.cgi/silklist -- Silklist mailing list [email protected] https://mailman.panix.com/listinfo.cgi/silklist
