The Big White Farmhouse

intentional living, little by little

No.794: Twelve Nonfiction Books I Want To Read in 2024

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission of any sale made at no extra cost to you.

If I could encourage anyone to do anything in 2024, it would be to read.  Not just immersive fiction that takes you away to faraway places (although those are awesome too), but books that make you think.  Books that give context to the world we live in.  Books that challenge the way most people think or are led to believe by outside forces.  Knowledge is powerful!

Below are twelve books from my shelves that I can’t wait to dive into this year:

1 // The Psychobiotic Revolution: Mood, Food, and the New Science of the Gut-Brain Connection by Scott C. Anderson
This book “explains how gut health drives psychological well-being, and how depression and anxiety can be relieved by adjusting your intestinal bacteria.”  Can you imagine how many people could be helped if this is true?!  I’m intrigued to learn more.

2 // Gold: The Race for the World’s Most Seductive Metal by Matthew Hart
I bought this one solely because of a question from one of my kids: “Why does gold cost so much and when did people start using it as a sign of wealth?”  Well, I don’t know, but I’ll go find out!  Hopefully this book has some of the answers.

3 // Age of Propaganda: The Everyday Use and Abuse of Persuasion by Anthony Pratkanis and Elliot Aronson
We seem to easily be able to identify propaganda when it’s in the rear view mirror, but could we see it if it’s right in front of us?  “Age of Propaganda shows how the tactics used by political campaigners, sales agents, advertisers, televangelists, demagogues, and others often take advantage of our emotions by appealing to our deepest fears and most irrational hopes, creating a distorted vision of the world we live in.”  Identification of propaganda is a skill I want to practice.

4 // Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883 by Simon Winchester
Have you heard of this volcano?  This eruption happened in 1883 and was followed by a tsunami that killed almost 40,000 people.  But the story gets crazier: while the eruption/tsunami was terrible on its own, the entire world was also affected in unexpected ways.  “Dust swirled round the planet for years, causing temperatures to plummet and sunsets to turn vivid with lurid and unsettling displays of light. The effects of the immense waves were felt as far away as France. Barometers in Bogotá and Washington, D.C., went haywire. Bodies were washed up in Zanzibar.”  And more.

5 // Dark Winter: How the Sun Is Causing a 30-Year Cold Spell by John L. Casey
This short little book takes on an alternate view(?) of what we’re seeing in terms of climate change.  His research and theory is that we’re experiencing “a solar cycle that is now reversing from its global warming phase to that of dangerous global cooling for the next thirty years or more.”  I’m interested to hear more.

6 // Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland by Christopher R. Browning
I was recommended this book as a way to explain the steps needed to make fellow countrymen turn on and do horrendous things to each other.  While this is about the Reserve Police Battalion 101 of the German Order Police during WWII, “the general argument Browning makes is that most people succumb to the pressures of a group setting and commit actions they would never do of their own volition.”

7 // Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America by Alec MacGillis
A book about Amazon!  This one “is a literary investigation of the America that falls within that company’s growing shadow.”  It supposedly touches on data centers and that is especially important to me as nearby communities are fighting to keep them out of our county.

8 // Bitten: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons by Kris Newby
Living in the country, we see our share of ticks.  But listen to this: “…this true story dives into the mystery surrounding one of the most controversial and misdiagnosed conditions of our time-Lyme disease-and of Willy Burgdorfer, the man who discovered the microbe behind it, revealing his secret role in developing bug-borne biological weapons, and raising terrifying questions about the genesis of the epidemic of tick-borne diseases affecting millions of Americans today.” WHAT?!

9 // Dressing with Dignity by Colleen Hammond
The subject of modesty is a hot topic among women, but I’m diving in anyway.  The author of this book argues for dressing in a way that accentuates “the beauty of femininity” and I’d like to see what that means to her.

10 // The Personality Brokers: The Strange History of Myers-Briggs and the Birth of Personality Testing by Merve Emre
The Myers-Briggs personality test has had a cult following for years and most people see their four letters as an integral part of their identity.  This is the background story of that test “conceived a century ago by a mother and her daughter—fiction writers with no formal training in psychology—and how it insinuated itself into our boardrooms, classrooms, and beyond.”  (I just started this one this week!)

11 // To the End of June: The Intimate Life of American Foster Care by Cris Beam
This one is about foster care, “an unforgettable portrait that takes us deep inside the lives of foster children at the critical points in their search for a stable, loving family.”  Sounds heart-breaking, but also so important.

12 // The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression by Amity Shlaes
And finally: how about a book on the Great Depression?  It’s always good to read about hard times and how people endured them.  Their resilience and tenacity is always inspirational.

Your turn: what non-fictions books are on your radar this year?

No.734: TBR Tuesday // Books about the Great Depression

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission of any sale made at no extra cost to you.

I recently wrote about Grandma Donna’s blog and her Great Depression study.  Unfortunately, she is experiencing some health issues and has had to stop for now.  I would like to continue on and learn more about this time period in American history, so of course I compiled a list of books!  This list has everything from first hand accounts to historical fiction novels.  Let me know if you have a good Depression-era recommendation for me too!

1 // The Great Depression: A Diary by Benjamin Roth

“When the stock market crashed in 1929, Benjamin Roth was a young lawyer in Youngstown, Ohio. After he began to grasp the magnitude of what had happened to American economic life, he decided to set down his impressions in his diary.”  This sounds fascinating to me.  It also makes me want to jot down what’s happening in the world these days…maybe future generations will find them interesting too?

2 // The Hungry Years by T.H. Watkins

This chunky book “tells the story of the Great Depression through the eyes of the people who lived it.”  I love that it draws upon oral histories, memoirs, and local news stories.  I’m sure this is much to learn.

3 // The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan

If the economic depression wasn’t bad enough, the High Plains also suffered through an equally horrific natural phenomenon: the Dust Bowl.  “Following a dozen families and their communities through the rise and fall of the region, Egan tells of their desperate attempts to carry on through blinding black dust blizzards, crop failure, and the death of loved ones.”  Can you even imagine?

4 // The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression by Amity Shlaes

This is another nonfiction look at this time period and claims that it provides a new interpretation to the economic factors surrounding the Great Depression.  I’m obviously not well versed in this area, so it may prove beneficial to see things from multiple angles and opinions.

5 // We Had Everything But Money by Deb Mulvey

The Great Depression can be quite heavy reading material, so how about a book with some lightheartedness and levity?  The cover of this book says: “Priceless memories of the Great Depression…from strong people who tell in their own words what it was like when banks closed and hearts opened.”  I’ve heard wonderful things about this one!

6 // Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt

From the description: “So begins the luminous memoir of Frank McCourt, born in Depression-era Brooklyn to recent Irish immigrants and raised in the slums of Limerick, Ireland. Frank’s mother, Angela, has no money to feed the children since Frank’s father, Malachy, rarely works, and when he does he drinks his wages. Yet Malachy—exasperating, irresponsible, and beguiling—does nurture in Frank an appetite for the one thing he can provide: a story. Frank lives for his father’s tales of Cuchulain, who saved Ireland, and of the Angel on the Seventh Step, who brings his mother babies.”  People have said this memoir is heart-breaking, but also beautiful.

7 // Sold on a Monday by Kristina McMorris

This historical fiction novel was inspired by an actual newspaper photograph depicting a sign that said, “Children For Sale.”  I cannot imagine that level of desperation, can you?  I’ve heard that this has a romance element to it, which might make or break the book for me.  We’ll see.

8 // Wingwalkers by Taylor Brown

Another historical fiction, this time about a former WWI pilot and his wingwalker wife.  Apparently, they are funding their journey west “by performing death-defying aerial stunts from town to town.”  Sounds interesting.

9 // West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge

Listen to this description: “It’s 1938. The Great Depression lingers. Hitler is threatening Europe, and world-weary Americans long for wonder. They find it in two giraffes who miraculously survive a hurricane while crossing the Atlantic. What follows is a twelve-day road trip in a custom truck to deliver Southern California’s first giraffes to the San Diego Zoo.”  This book is also based on a true story and blends real people with fictional ones.  I can’t wait to get to this one.

No.721: TBR Tuesday // A Year in the Life

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission of any sale made at no extra cost to you.

January: the month of new goals and fresh starts!  I love a good book that explores someone’s year-long adventure and what they learned along the way.  Here are nine books on my radar, including a few currently on my shelves!

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver
Kingsolver’s family “abandoned the industrial-food pipeline to live a rural life—vowing that, for one year, they’d only buy food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it.”  I’ve had this book on my shelves for a few years now and can’t believe I haven’t gotten to it.  It sounds right up my alley!

The Know-It-All: One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A.J. Jacobs
A new addition to my shelves is this memoir about a man who tries to read the Encyclopedia Britannica from A to Z.  (All 32 volumes!)

365 Thank Yous: The Year a Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life by John Kralik
The author of this book had a lot of things going wrong in his life: his law firm was failing, he was in divorce proceedings, he was overweight, etc etc.  On New Year’s Day, “John was struck by the belief that his life might become at least tolerable if, instead of focusing on what he didn’t have, he could find some way to be grateful for what he had.”  He decided to show that gratitude by writing 365 thank-you notes in the coming year.

A Year Without Made in China: One Family’s True Life Adventure in the Global Economy by Sara Bongiorni
This one is about a family’s attempt “to outrun China’s reach by boycotting Chinese made products.”  In a world where Chinese products dominate the majority of our lives, I find this fascinating.  Is it even possible?

Howards End Is on the Landing: A Year of Reading from Home by Susan Hill
“Early one autumn afternoon in pursuit of an elusive book on her shelves, Susan Hill encountered dozens of others that she had never read, or forgotten she owned, or wanted to read for a second time.  The discovery inspired her to embark on a year-long voyage through her books, forsaking new purchases in order to get to know her own collection again.”  Ironically, I’d love to own this as I embark on my own “book buying pause.”  Maybe one exception is okay? ha!

Year of No Sugar by Eve O. Schaub
This was my last purchase of 2022!  The author “challenged her husband and two school-age daughters to join her on a quest to eat no added sugar for an entire year.”  A goal I would love to accomplish someday and this book may help.

Educating Esmé: Diary of a Teacher’s First Year by Esmé Raji Codell
This is a bit different from the rest of the books on this list as it chronicles a woman’s first year of teaching.  Listen to this: “Educating Esmé is the exuberant diary of Esmé Raji Codell’s first year teaching in a Chicago public school. Fresh-mouthed and free-spirited, the irrepressible Madame Esmé—as she prefers to be called—does the cha-cha during multiplication tables, roller-skates down the hallways, and puts on rousing performances with at-risk students in the library. Her diary opens a window into a real-life classroom from a teacher’s perspective. While battling bureaucrats, gang members, abusive parents, and her own insecurities, this gifted young woman reveals what it takes to be an exceptional teacher.”

This Blessed Earth: A Year in the Life of an American Family Farm by Ted Genoways
Another different spin on the yearly theme.  In this book, the author explores the changing dynamics of small, traditional farming through one family’s growing year, harvest to harvest.  Another book that sounds like something I’d love.

Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come: One Introvert’s Year of Saying Yes by Jessica Pan
Calling all introverts!  This book asks the questions: What would happen if a shy introvert lived like a gregarious extrovert for one year? If she knowingly and willingly put herself in perilous social situations that she’d normally avoid at all costs?  Through a series of personal challenges, the author pushes herself to be brave and try new things.

No.682: Reading Goals for the Rest of 2022

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission of any sale made at no extra cost to you.

I recently watched a video from a “Booktuber” who shared her reading goals for the rest of 2022.  I was inspired!  I’m typically a mood reader, so pre-planning is a little outside of my comfort zone.  We’ll see how this goes.  Here are my five goals for the next 4.5ish months of the year:

+ Read four books for the Alphabet Fiction Challenge. (Q, R, S, T)

I’m on a roll with this challenge and would like to get as close to the end as possible.  Four possible choices:

+ Read a book from last year’s Mother Culture basket.

I’d like to read Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson.  This would also satisfy “I” for the Alphabet Author Challenge.

+ Read three books for the 20th Century in Books Challenge.

I’ve been working on this challenge since 2019 and am almost to the halfway point.  Oops!  I really need to prioritize this in 2023.  Here are three possible choices:

+ Read three religious books.

Still plugging away on the Daily Spiritual Reading Challenge.  I read these at a slower pace, but still hope to get three finished by December 31st.  Three possible choices:

+ Read two WILLA Award Winners.

And finally, my newest reading challenge!  I’d like to read these two books:

Whew!  13 books with room for a few wildcard picks in between.  I’ll keep you posted.

No.677: A New Reading Challenge // WILLA Literary Award Winners

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission of any sale made at no extra cost to you.

Another year, another reading challenge! 

Have you heard of the WILLA Awards?  According to the website, “The WILLA Literary Awards honor the best in literature, featuring women’s or girls’ stories set in the West that are published each year. Women Writing the West (WWW), a nonprofit association of writers and other professionals writing and promoting the Women’s West, underwrites and presents the nationally recognized award annually at the WWW Fall Conference. The award is named in honor of Pulitzer Prize winner Willa Cather, one of the country’s foremost novelists.”

I’d like to read the last six years of award winners (2016-2021) in the Historical Fiction and Contemporary Fiction categories.  I’ve already read a few of them and will update this post as I go!

HISTORICAL FICTION WINNERS

CONTEMPORARY FICTION WINNERS

No.623: TBR Tuesday // Who, What, When, Where, Why & How

This post contains affiliate links.

Today’s TBR Tuesday theme was fun for me to research: I searched my Goodreads shelves for books with the words Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How in the title.  For each prompt, I picked two books from my TBR list and two that I’ve already read and enjoyed.  Here’s my list:

WHO

To Read:
+ The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen
+ Hidden America: From Coal Miners to Cowboys, an Extraordinary Exploration of the Unseen People Who Make This Country Work by Jeanne Marie Laskas

Have Read:
+ The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After by Clemantine Wamariya
+ Different: The Story of an Outside-The-Box Kid and the Mom Who Loved Him by Sally Clarkson

WHAT

To Read:
+ The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr
+ What Every Body is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide to Speed-Reading People by Joe Navarro

Have Read:
+ You’re Not Listening: What You’re Missing and Why It Matters by Kate Murphy
+ What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

WHEN

To Read:
+ When All is Said by Anne Griffin
+ When I Fell from the Sky by Juliane Koepcke

Have Read:
+ When We Were the Kennedys by Monica Wood

WHERE

To Read:
+ Where the Lost Wander by Amy Harmon
+ Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman by Jon Krakauer

Have Read:
+ Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
+ This is Where You Belong: The Art and Science of Loving the Place You Live by Melody Warnick

WHY

To Read:
+ Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life by Peter O. Gray
+ Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other by Sherry Turkle

Have Read:
+ Why Can’t We Just Play?: What I Did When I Realized My Kids Were Way Too Busy by Pam Lobley

HOW

To Read:
+ How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents by Julia Alvarez
+ How Catholic Art Saved the Faith: The Triumph of Beauty and Truth in Counter-Reformation Art by Elizabeth Lev

Have Read:
+ Glow Kids: How Screen Addiction Is Hijacking Our Kids – and How to Break the Trance by Nicholas Kardaras
+ How to Raise a Wild Child: The Art and Science of Falling in Love with Nature by Scott D. Sampson

No.610: TBR Tuesday // My Most Recent Additions to my Book Collection

This post contains affiliate links.

Joining in with Top Ten Tuesday with the perfect prompt for sharing the books I received for Christmas (and a few I bought myself)!  I chose many of these with my goal of reading more nonfiction in mind.  Lots of interesting topics are below:

1 // The Radioactive Boy Scout: The Frightening True Story of a Whiz Kid and His Homemade Nuclear Reactor by Ken Silverstein
This book is an example that truth is sometimes stranger than fiction!  Listen to this: “David Hahn…plunged into a new project: building a model nuclear reactor in his backyard garden shed.  Posing as a physics professor, David solicited information on reactor design from the US government and from industry experts.  Following blueprints he found in an outdated physics textbook, David cobbled together a crude device that threw off toxic levels of radiation.  His wholly unsupervised project finally sparked an environmental emergency that put his town’s forty thousand residents at risk, and the EPA ended up burying David’s lab at a radioactive dumpsite in Utah.”

2 // Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard
This book is about James Garfield, who I admittedly know very little about!

3 // The Zookeeper’s Wife: A War Story by Diane Ackerman
“After their zoo was bombed, Polish zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski managed to save over three hundred people from the Nazis by hiding refugees in the empty animal cages.”  This is apparently a true story and sounds really interesting.

4 // A Day Like This by Kelley McNeil
I first heard about this one from a Goodreads giveaway.  (I didn’t win the giveaway, so purchased it on my own.)  The novel is about a woman who has everything – the house, the loving husband, the sweet daughter – who one day wakes up after a car accident.  From the description: “When she asks for her daughter, confused doctors tell Annie that Hannah never existed.  In fact, nothing after waking from the crash is the same as Annie remembers.  Five happy years of her life apparently never happened.”  Sounds intriguing!

5 // Miss Graham’s Cold War Cookbook by Celia Rees
This historical novel is about a woman recruited as a spy and tasked with the job to hunt down a war criminal.  From the description: “Edith heads to the Continent armed with a convincing cover: an unassuming schoolteacher who collects recipes…recipes she fills with coded intelligence and send back to her handlers in London.”  Sounds so good!

6 // Eighty Days to Elsewhere by KC Dyer
This fun-sounding book has been described as The Amazing Race meets Around the World in Eighty Days.  I’m there!

7 // The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan
This one tells the story of the darkest years of the Depression when the dust storms plagued the High Plains.  I believe there are stories included from survivors (people now in their 80s and 90s), which should be fascinating.

8 // Escape from Camp 14:One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West by Blaine Harden
After reading The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector’s Story by Hyeonseo Lee back in 2020, I’ve been interested in learning more about the country.  This book a courageous young man sounds so good: “North Korea’s political prison camps have existed twice as long as Stalin’s gulags and twelve times as long as the Nazi concentration camps.  These camps are clearly visible in satellite photos, yet North Korea’s government denies they exist.  No one born and raised in these camps is known to have escaped.  No one, that is, except Shin Dong-hyuk.”

9 // “I Have Nothing to Hide”And 20 Other Myths About Surveillance and Privacy by Heidi Boghosian
I bought this on a whim from Book Outlet when I was ordering everyone’s Epiphany books.  I know I’m going to learn a lot from this one.

10 // Dirt to Soil: One Family’s Journey into Regenerative Agriculture by Gabe Brown
I listened to an interview with Gabe Brown and immediately needed his book!  I’m so interested in regenerative agriculture, especially as we move chickens and pigs on pasture, and can’t wait to incorporate his wisdom into our little homestead.

 

No.599: Advent at the Farmhouse // Books with a Winter Theme That I Want to Read

This post contains affiliate links.

When the weather outside is chilly, I sometimes like reading books to match!  I searched for nine books that had a winter theme and included words like cold, blizzard and snow.  Have you read any of these?  What did I miss?

Until the Robin Walks On Snow by Bernice L. Rocque
(amazon // bookshop // better world books)
This is a story set in 1922 and is about an immigrant family and their midwife as they struggle to save a tiny premature baby. Apparently, it was inspired by real events in Norwich, Connecticut.  The description also says that there is chapter describing the family’s Polish and Lithuanian Christmas Eve traditions.  Sounds really interesting!

In Winter’s Kitchen: Growing Roots and Breaking Bread In the Northern Heartland by Beth Dooley
(amazon // bookshop // better world books)
One reviewer described this book as “almost an Omnivore’s Dilemma for the Minnesotan.”  It explores how the local food movement can thrive even in areas where the soil freezes for months of the year.  I’m sure this book will include recipes and I’m excited for the inspiration.

A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France by Caroline Moorehead
(amazon // bookshop // better world books)
From the description: “They were teachers, students, chemists, writers, and housewives; a singer at the Paris Opera, a midwife, a dental surgeon. They distributed anti-Nazi leaflets, printed subversive newspapers, hid resisters, secreted Jews to safety, transported weapons, and conveyed clandestine messages. The youngest was a schoolgirl of fifteen who scrawled “V” for victory on the walls of her lycée; the eldest, a farmer’s wife in her sixties who harbored escaped Allied airmen. Strangers to each other, hailing from villages and cities from across France, these brave women were united in hatred and defiance of their Nazi occupiers.”  Eventually 230 of these women were hunted down, imprisoned and ultimately sent to Auschwitz.  This book contains their story.

Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
(amazon // bookshop // better world books)
At over 400 pages, this book is a big one.  I’m not entirely clear about its premise, except that it deals with an island north of Puget Sound, a murder, and the memories of how Japanese residents were treated there during World War II.

The Children’s Blizzard by Melanie Benjamin
(amazon // bookshop)
In January 1888,  there was a freak blizzard that seemingly came out of nowhere, “threatening the lives of hundreds of immigrant homesteaders–especially their children.”  I read the nonfiction version of this sad historical event in 2020, so I’m excited to try this fictional account.

Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah
(amazon // bookshop // better world books)
How about a chick lit/romance/women’s fiction book?  Many of my friends on Goodreads have read this one and enjoyed it, but have warned that the beginning is really slow.

Cherries in Winter: My Family’s Recipe for Hope in Hard Times by Suzan Colon
(amazon // bookshop // better world books)
I was immediately drawn to this description: “When Suzan Colón was laid off from her dream job at a magazine during the economic downturn of 2008, she needed to cut her budget way, way back, and that meant home cooking. Her mother suggested, ‘Why don’t you look in Nana’s recipe folder?’ In the basement, Suzan found the tattered treasure, full of handwritten and meticulously typed recipes, peppered with her grandmother Matilda’s commentary in the margins. Reading it, Suzan realized she had found something more than a collection of recipes—she had found the key to her family’s survival through hard times.”  Sounds interesting.

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
(amazon // bookshop // better world books)
This historical fiction novel is another chunker at over 400 pages.  It is about a wounded Confederate soldier as he walks away from the ravages of the Civil War and heads home to his prewar sweetheart.  From the reviews, this looks like the type of book that you either love or hate due to its slow pacing and atmospheric writing.  I wonder where I’ll end up.

Winter Cottage by Carol Ryrie Brink
(better world books)
Written in 1968, this middle grade novel is about a family (run down from the Great Depression) and how they borrow a summer cottage during the winter and welcome a host of visitors.  This one looks to be long out of print, but I’ll have to keep my eyes peeled for a deal!

No.588: TBR Tuesday // Nine Nonfiction Books On My Radar

This post contains affiliate links.

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

(amazon // bookshop // better world books)

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

(amazon // bookshop // better world books)

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

(amazon // bookshop // better world books)

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

(amazon // bookshop // better world books)

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 

(amazon // bookshop // better world books)

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

(amazon // bookshop // better world books)

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 

(amazon // bookshop // better world books)

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 

(amazon // bookshop // better world books)

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!

No.575: TBR Tuesday // The Booktube Spin, Round Four

This post contains affiliate links.

I’m late to the party (as usual) but wanted to participate in the fourth round of The Booktube Spin! With this challenge, you pick 20 books from your TBR and list them by number.  This time, I copied Krista at Book and Jams and chose 10 of the highest rated books on my Goodreads TBR shelf and 10 of the lowest.  My one caveat was that I had to have the book already on my shelf.  Here’s my list:

1. The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise by Cardinal Robert Sarah (4.44 rating)
2. The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom (4.41)
3. The Brothers K by David James Duncan (4.38)
4. This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger (4.38)
5. Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing (4.36)
6. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (4.32)
7. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis (4.32)
8. The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay (4.32)
9. Dear and Glorious Physician by Taylor Caldwell (4.32)
10. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (4.31)
11. The Red Leather Diary by Lily Coppel (3.41)
12. The Wilder Life by Wendy McClure (3.48)
13. Ursula Under by Ingrid Hill (3.71)
14. Hidden America: From Coal Miners to Cowboys, an Extraordinary Exploration of the Unseen People Who Make This Country Work by Jeanne Marie Laskas (3.82)
15. The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier (3.82)
16. Still Life by Louise Penny (3.89)
17. Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson (3.89)
18. What Every Body is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide to Speed-Reading People by Joe Navarro (3.89)
19. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (3.92)
20. The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey (3.93)

The creator of the challenge spun a wheel and the arrow landed on…number 8!  For more adventurous readers, he spun a second number and it landed on number 5.  The challenge is to read one or both books by December 31.  I’m excited!

No.572: TBR Tuesday // Nine Books From the 1920s I Need to Read

This post contains affiliate links.

It’s happening at a snail’s pace, but I’m still working away on my 20th Century in Literature Challenge!  I have barely touched the books written in the 1920s, so I did some research on possible choices.  Here’s what I found:

This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1920) // This is Fitzgerald’s first novel and is apparently semi-autobiographical.  I wasn’t a huge fan of The Great Gatsby (super unpopular opinion, I know!!) so I’m curious what I’ll think of this one.

The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer (1921) // How about a little romance?  This is Heyer’s first novel, written when she was a teenager, and is set in 18th century England.  Some readers describe it as very fun and very melodramatic – I’m intrigued!

One of Ours by Willa Cather (1922) // This one won a Pulitzer in 1923 and is both a farming/pioneer story and a World War I story.

Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery (1923) // I love Anne of Green Gables with a special love, but I’ve never read any of Montgomery’s other works!  I can’t wait to meet Emily.

So Big by Edna Ferber (1924) // Another Pulitzer Prize winner!

The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham (1925) // I’m a little nervous about this one.  After a husband discovers his wife’s adulterous affair, he forces her to accompany him to the heart of a cholera epidemic.  Will there be forgiveness or redemption?  We’ll see.

Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather (1927) // One more Cather novel on the list!  This one gets really high praise.

The Children by Edith Wharton (1928) // This one is a comical, bittersweet novel “about the misadventures of a bachelor and a band of precocious children.”

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner (1929) // Another book I’m nervous to pick up! Some readers say that it’s incredibly depressing and that it deals with a lot of heavy topics.  Others love it all and call it a masterpiece.

No.547: TBR Tuesday // Nine Natural History Books I Can’t Wait to Read

This post contains affiliate links.

I’ve recently become really interested in books that deal with nature and natural history.  Here are nine that I can’t wait to get my hands on:

Mrs. Moreau’s Warbler: How Birds Got Their Names by Stephen Moss
We use names so often that few of us ever pause to wonder about their origins. What do they mean? And where did they come from?  This book explores the bird kingdom and the stories behind their names.  Sounds really interesting!

Old Herbaceous: A Novel of the Garden by Reginald Arkell
This classic British novel is “a witty comic portrait of the most archetypal–and crotchety–head gardener ever to plant a row of bulbs at a British country house.”  There are supposed to be little bits of gardening wisdom sprinkled throughout too.

Four Wings and a Prayer: Caught in the Mystery of the Monarch Butterfly by Sue Halpern
“Every autumn, the monarch butterflies east of the Rockies migrate from as far north as Canada to Mexico. Memory is not their guide — no one butterfly makes the round trip — but each year somehow find their way to the same fifty acres of forest on the high slopes of Mexico’s Neovolcanic Mountains, and then make the return trip in the spring.”  This book explores this phenomenon and is a blend of memoir, science and travel writing.

The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk Wallace Johnson
How about a true crime adventure?    In 2009, a bizarre crime occurred at the British Museum of Natural History, where many rare bird specimens were displayed.  These specimens had gorgeous feathers worth a lot of money, especially to men who enjoyed salmon fly-tying.  The thief grabbed hundreds of bird skins and escaped into the night.  This book explores another man’s investigation into the case.  Intriguing!

The Dun Cow Rib: A Very Natural Childhood by John Lister-Kaye
This book is a memoir “of a boy’s awakening to the wonders of the natural world.”  Sounds like another British gem.  

The Trees by Conrad Richter
From the description: “The Trees is the story of an American family in the wilderness–a family that “followed the woods as some families follow the sea.” The time is the end of the 18th century, the wilderness is the land west of the Alleghenies and north of the Ohio River. But principally, The Trees is the story of a girl named Sayward, eldest daughter of Worth and Jary Luckett, raised in the forest far from the rest of humankind, yet growing to realize that the way of the hunter must cede to the way of the tiller of soil.”

What the Robin Knows: How Birds Reveal the Secrets of the Natural World by Jon Young
I find bird calls fascinating.  This book explores bird vocalization and what the different sounds mean, looking at everything from happy songs to distress calls.

Let Them Eat Dirt: Saving Our Children from an Oversanitized World by B. Brett Finlay
Since moving to the country, my kids have been exposed to a lot of dirt.  And praised be to God, we’ve also been incredibly healthy.  I was reflecting about that possible connection when I came across this book!

The Secret World of Weather by Tristan Gooley
I’m still slowly working my way through The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs, another one of Gooley’s books, but this one sounds equally as good!  I’m sure it will be full of helpful information and tips.

Amazon Disclosure Policy

The Big White Farmhouse is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Less Materialism, More Intentional Living

Archives

Copyright © 2025 The Big White Farmhouse · Theme by 17th Avenue