The Big White Farmhouse

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This month, a group of readers participated in Nonfiction November, where the goal is to read…you guessed it…more nonfiction.  I have loved seeing everyone’s book stacks.  There are just so many interesting books out there and I already know that in 2022, I’d like to prioritize nonfiction in my reading life!  Here are nine books I’ve recently heard about and can’t wait to read:

1 // Billion Dollar Loser: The Epic Rise and Spectacular Fall of Adam Neumann and WeWork by Reeves Wiedeman

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Do you know the company, WeWork?  I had never heard of it before, but this business story sounds fascinating.  From the description: “In its earliest days, WeWork promised the impossible: to make the American work place cool. Adam Neumann, an immigrant determined to make his fortune in the United States, landed on the idea of repurposing surplus New York office space for the burgeoning freelance class.”  This book supposedly focuses in on Neumann’s charismatic personality, the creation of a company that bordered on cultish and the later demise of the company itself.

2 // Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor

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I have seen this book pop up everywhere lately!  From the description: “There is nothing more essential to our health and well-being than breathing: take air in, let it out, repeat twenty-five thousand times a day. Yet, as a species, humans have lost the ability to breathe correctly, with grave consequences.  Journalist James Nestor travels the world to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it.”  I’m curious.

3 // The Human Superorganism: How the Microbiome Is Revolutionizing the Pursuit of a Healthy Life by Rodney Dietert

(amazon // better world books)

I’ll let the description fill you in on this one: “The Human Superorganism makes a sweeping, paradigm-shifting argument. It demolishes two fundamental beliefs that have blinkered all medical thinking until very recently: 1) Humans are better off as pure organisms free of foreign microbes; and 2) the human genome is the key to future medical advances. The microorganisms that we have sought to eliminate have been there for centuries supporting our ancestors. They comprise as much as 90 percent of the cells in and on our bodies–a staggering percentage! More than a thousand species of them live inside us, on our skin, and on our very eyelashes. Yet we have now significantly reduced their power and in doing so have sparked an epidemic of noncommunicable diseases–which now account for 63 percent of all human deaths.  Ultimately, this book is not just about microbes; it is about a different way to view humans. The story that Dietert tells of where the new biology comes from, how it works, and the ways in which it affects your life is fascinating, authoritative, and revolutionary. Dietert identifies foods that best serve you, the superorganism; not new fad foods but ancient foods that have made sense for millennia. He explains protective measures against unsafe chemicals and drugs. He offers an empowering self-care guide and the blueprint for a revolution in public health. We are not what we have been taught. Each of us is a superorganism. The best path to a healthy life is through recognizing that profound truth.”  Science has never been my strong suit, but I’m intrigued!

4 // Inferno: A Memoir of Motherhood and Madness by Catherine Cho

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This memoir is about a “young mother who is separated from her newborn son and husband when she’s involuntarily committed to a psychiatric ward in New Jersey after a harrowing bout of postpartum psychosis.”  I imagine this will be a heartbreaking, but important read.

5 // A Mind at Peace: Reclaiming an Ordered Soul in the Age of Distraction by Christopher O. Blum and Joshua Hochschild

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Another book about dealing with the stress of the digital age!  From the description: “This book offers a calm, measured, yet forthright and effective approach to regaining interior peace. Here you’ll find no argument for retreat from the modern world; instead these pages provide you with a practical guide to recovering self-mastery and interior peace through wise choices and ordered activity in the midst of the world’s communication chaos.”

6 // The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett M. Graff 

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I read 102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers by Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn last year and gave it five BIG stars.  This book was shared widely this year due the 20th anniversary of 9/11 and it sounds equally as good.  “Garrett Graff tells the story of the day as it was lived—in the words of those who lived it. Drawing on never-before-published transcripts, declassified documents, original interviews, and oral histories from nearly five hundred government officials, first responders, witnesses, survivors, friends, and family members, he paints the most vivid and human portrait of the September 11 attacks yet.”  I heard the audiobook is excellent.

7 // Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America by Annie Jacobsen

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From the description: “In the chaos following World War II, the U.S. government faced many difficult decisions, including what to do with the Third Reich’s scientific minds. These were the brains behind the Nazis’ once-indomitable war machine. So began Operation Paperclip, a decades-long, covert project to bring Hitler’s scientists and their families to the United States.  Many of these men were accused of war crimes, and others had stood trial at Nuremberg; one was convicted of mass murder and slavery. They were also directly responsible for major advances in rocketry, medical treatments, and the U.S. space program. Was Operation Paperclip a moral outrage, or did it help America win the Cold War?”

8 // The Puzzle Solver: A Scientist’s Desperate Quest to Cure the Illness that Stole His Son by Tracie White and Ronald W. Davis 

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This one is a story of love and determination!  “At the age of twenty-seven, Whitney Dafoe was forced to give up his life as a photographer who traveled the world. Bit by bit a mysterious illness stole away the pieces of his life: First, it took the strength of his legs, then his voice, and his ability to eat. Finally, even the sound of a footstep in his room became unbearable. The Puzzle Solver follows several years in which he desperately sought answers from specialist after specialist, where at one point his 6’3″ frame dropped to 115 lbs. For years, he underwent endless medical tests, but doctors told him there was nothing wrong. Then, finally, a diagnosis: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis.”  His father happened to be a world-class geneticist and researcher and he dramatically altered his career to search for a cure for his son.  Sounds so good!

9 // Ranger Confidential: Living, Working, and Dying in the National Parks by Andrea Lankford 

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This last book is about a park ranger’s adventures working in many of America’s national parks.  From the description: “In this graphic and yet surprisingly funny account of her and others’ extraordinary careers, Lankford unveils a world in which park rangers struggle to maintain their idealism in the face of death, disillusionment, and the loss of a comrade killed while holding that thin green line between protecting the park from the people, the people from the park, and the people from each other. Ranger Confidential is the story behind the scenery of the nation’s crown jewels—Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Great Smokies, Denali. In these iconic landscapes, where nature and humanity constantly collide, scenery can be as cruel as it is redemptive.”

Have you read any great nonfiction books lately?  I’d love to hear!