Tonya's Book Blog: June 2022: Lots of Good Books

Hi friends,

June was a good month for reading. I read a lot more nonfiction books than I have recently and learned about a lot of new things including great extinction events, polarization in America, and how the world works. Let me know what you think about these books and if you have any suggestions for future reading.

Tonya

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes

Review: I read Kolbert’s more recent work Under A White Sky, but this is the book that she won a Pulitzer for, so I figured it’d be worth picking up. The themes were similar to the latter book, in that it talked about humanity's impact on Earth. This one gave an overview of what a great extinction event is --- an event that results in the sudden loss of a majority of species from the fossil record, the most famous of which is the meteor that killed the dinosaurs. Experts agree that there have been five such events throughout the history of the planet, with the reasons ranging from climate change to celestial impacts. Some scientists believe that we’re in the midst of a sixth great extinction event right now, one that is predominantly driven by the super-dominant species on the planet --- humans. She discusses how scientists believe that some species will thrive in the climate we’re creating, but overall there will be a reduction in the variety of species on the planet with reefs and amphibians being the first on their way out. This book didn’t come off the me as catastrophic but rather helped me realize that humans have had an immense impact on the world even before industrial times as scientists have noticed that whenever ancient humans migrated to a new locale from North America to Australia, the extinction of super large mammals and marsupials followed rather quickly. She says, “To argue that the current extinction event could be averted if people cared more and were willing to make sacrifices is not wrong, exactly; still it misses the point. It doesn’t matter much whether people care or don’t care. What matters is that people change the world.” This book helped me realize the ways that we’re changing the world, and I think that even if caring about that doesn’t make much of a difference, understanding it is vital so that we can be intentional about the changes we create.

Why We’re Polarized by Ezra Klein

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes, changed how I think about politics and the news

Review: This is one of those books that changed the way I think about politics and consume media. Klein has worked in the political media for decades and explores in this book why American politics have become so polarized in recent decades. He explains that in the middle of the 20th century, the political parties were very close ideologically, and that some people back then advocated increased polarization to help people better understand what each party stood for and ease their voting decisions. That’s no longer the case, and each party has managed to make itself a central part of a person’s identity. This “identity politics” crosses both sides of the political spectrum. As Klein says, “Our political identities have merged with our racial, religious, geographic, ideological, and cultural identities. Those merged identities have attained a weight that is breaking our institutions and tearing at the bonds that hold this country together.” In this new world, “bipartisan cooperation is often necessary for governance, but irrational for the minority party to offer.” Considering this new state of affairs and that depolarization is unlikely, Klein recommends some reforms that would help prevent polarization from debilitating the political system. Most of these focus on making America more democratic, with a little “d”, so that all parties are forced to run more moderate, less polarizing candidates to attract the broadest swath of support instead of just appealing to a narrow base of voters in certain geographical enclaves. America has many institutions that are not democratic including the unelected Supreme Court with its lifetime appointments, the electoral college that gives rural voters more voting power than urban ones, and the Senate filibuster that prevents the majority party from governing. In a world with less polarization, these institutions did not prevent good governance, but in a world where politics is so central to identity to the point that people are willing to vote against their own interests because they see the other side as such a threat, these institutions have ceased to function. I personally think that all of Klein’s recommendations are extremely unlikely to happen anytime soon, but this book helped me be more aware of how I’m manipulated by the media and political parties. Highly recommend for anyone concerned about our country, which seems to be pretty much everyone.

How the World Really Works: A Scientist’s Guide to Our Past, Present, and Future by Vaclav Smil

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes, a succinct explanation for how our material world functions

Review: I’ve read all of Smil’s popular books to date, and I thought this one was the most approachable. He uses his polymath expertise to explain how the world works through several lenses. Smil talks about the four pillars of civilization that have allowed the Earth to support a population of nearly 8 billion people. Unexpectedly, these are not electronic communications devices but rather synthetic ammonia, which allows us to feed that many people, steel, and cement. Since there are no currently known processes for producing these without expending fossil fuels, Smil makes the point that any transition away from them is impossible at this time and will likely take decades. He goes on to talk about other aspects of life including globalization, how to assess comparative risks in our everyday life, and which diets lead to longevity. He approaches all of these topics from the lens of a scientist and sometimes comes off like a grumpy, old man deriding the upstart world for its ignorance and stupidity. Luckily, this tone mostly works for him, and I can definitely say that I learned a lot about how the world really works.

Book Lovers by Emily Henry

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes, if you want a good romance

Review: I’ve read all of Henry’s previous books, and I love how she can tell an amazing romance while also subverting common tropes and building other interesting relationships between her characters. In this installment, our female lead, Nora, is the city-dwelling career woman who always gets dumped when her boyfriends leave the city and find themselves with a beautiful country girl. Well, in this book the villainous ex finally has her own Hallmark moment. Henry writes great characters and romances that keep me turning pages, but I also appreciated the relationship between Nora and her little sister. To be honest, waiting for this reveal was more interesting than the romance, which was fun to read but also not unexpected. Highly recommend for anyone looking for a good, summer read.

The Alloy of Law (Mistborn #4) by Brandon Sanderson

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes, but need to read the previous

Review: I’m rereading the Mistborn series before the 7th volume comes out in November. This is the first volume in the second Mistborn era. As an epic fantasy Western, it plays with lots of tropes from both genres, and I loved it. It’s cool to see how the magic system has evolved since the first Mistborn trilogy, and Wax is an interesting protagonist to follow. To be honest, it didn’t hold my attention as well as the first series, but I still enjoyed it.

A Dude’s Guide to Baby Size: What to Expect and How to Prep for Dads-to-Be by Taylor Calmus

Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Recommendation: maybe

Review: I follow Calmus’s YouTube channel where he makes funny videos about parenting and home repairs. Since we’re expecting baby #3 right now, I figured this would be a good book to read this pregnancy. It was mostly stuff that I already knew from previous pregnancies, but I enjoyed Calmus’s humor and parenting advice.

Boldly, Nobly, and Independent (Saints #3) by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Recommendation: yes

Review: This is the third and final installment in the Church’s narrative history. It covers about 50 years from 1900 through 1950 and focuses more on the global church than previous volumes had. We get stories from Saints in South America, the Pacific Islands, and Europe. Some of the ones I found the most interesting were about the Saints in Europe during World War II and the following Cold War. I appreciated that the book didn’t shy away from controversial issues such as the gradual winding down of polygamy and the issues this created for church members and leaders for decades after its official end. The book also discussed how the ban on men of African descent holding the priesthood affected Church growth and membership, although the policy wasn’t changed until the 1970s, so the book doesn’t cover the actual change. I enjoyed learning about more recent Church history and am glad that the Church decided to tell its own story.

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