10 Books That Made Me Think... Take 2!

Just shy of 10 yrs ago, I compiled a list of "10 books that made me think". In that time, I've read ~250 more books, so, if another 10 of those didn't make me think, that would be kind of sad. Now, to pick only 10... Well, how about 10 sections?

1. Misquoting Jesus - Bart D. Ehrman (7/2015)
Probably the nail in the coffin for me with respect to religion. For most American Christians, their faith is based on some version of sola scriptura, and many churches even require you to sign some kind of statement saying "I believe the Bible is the inerrant word of God" if you become a member. Thus is born Christian literalism. Bart started out that way too... and then followed his passion for Bible study all the way to an advanced degree in Biblical scholarship where he finally found the foundations, the actual manuscripts, to be more than a little shaky. Also recommend: QUENCHED: What Everyone (Especially Christians) Should Know About Hell - Crystal St. Marie Lewis (12/2018), The Invention of the Jewish People - Shlomo Sand (8/2015).

2. The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care - T.R. Reid (7/2015)
The first of several books that began to switch my politics from cookie-cutter right-wing talking points. The author is a veteran, and he toured the world (at least the developed world) to see what healthcare is like in other countries. Spoiler alert: They are ALL cheaper, more organized, and less confusing. Variations in quality are nuanced, but not glaringly different. Also recommend: The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got That Way - Amanda Ripley (8/2015), The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness - Michelle Alexander (8/2017), $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America - Kathryn J. Edin (3/2019), The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism - Naomi Klein (8/2022)

3. The Second Colorado Breeding Bird Atlas - Lynn E. Wickersham (9/2017)
I had already read many books about the theory and history of evolution generally, but learning to know the natural world near me, as I encountered it, seeing relationships and patterns, has been the greatest joy of my past decade (and hopefully will remain so for many decades to come!). So, what birds are native to Colorado in that they breed here? Which populations are growing and shrinking? (Unfortunately many are shrinking). Which are common and rare? What are the different biomes/habitats where they would be found? Also recommend: Botany in a Day: The Patterns Method of Plant Identification - Thomas J. Elpel (1/2018)

4. Bullshit Jobs: A Theory - David Graeber (5/2019)
*SIGH* If the majority of people thought like this we'd probably already live in utopia.

5. The Longevity Project: Surprising Discoveries for Health and Long Life from the Landmark Eight-Decade Study - Howard S. Friedman (9/2016)
The first of many books I started reading about longevity and health. This one is a rare long-term study. Also recommend: The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest - Dan Buettner (12/2019), Ending Aging: The Rejuvenation Breakthroughs That Could Reverse Human Aging in Our Lifetime - Aubrey de Grey (10/2019), I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life - Ed Yong (2/2019) How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease - Michael Greger (4/2023),

6. Winter World: The Ingenuity of Animal Survival - Bernd Heinrich (12/2018)
Nature and conservation writing... a new love! So this one is like a detective novel about how do Kinglet's survive winter? Also recommend: Trespassing Across America: One Man's Epic, Never-Done-Before (and Sort of Illegal) Hike Across the Heartland - Ken Ilgunas (12/2018), Bicycling with Butterflies: My 10,201-Mile Journey Following the Monarch Migration - Sara Dykman (6/2022), Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter - Ben Goldfarb (6/2022), The Great Animal Orchestra: Finding the Origins of Music in the World's Wild Places- Bernie Krause (1/2023)

7. Why Buddhism Is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment - Robert Wright (6/2018)
I don't consider myself a Buddisht and I have barely tried meditation, but I do find the Eastern perspective to fill in many gaps that seem to be missing in Western culture. Also recommend: Bliss More: How to Succeed in Meditation Without Really Trying - Light Watkins (2/2019)

8. How to Have Impossible Conversations: A Very Practical Guide - Peter Boghossian (11/2020)
Talking about controversial topics, being persuasive, changing people's minds. Difficult! And yet... not actually impossible. I certainly am no good at it. So I wanted to hear about how it's done. Also recommend: How Minds Change: The Surprising Science of Belief, Opinion, and Persuasion - David McRaney (1/2023)

9. Daemon - Daniel Suarez (10/2020)
An AI that just starts taking over? COOL! Except, why so R-rated? Was all that violence really necessary? I think not. I wouldn't mind seeing a PG-rated miniseries based on this, and the sequel: Freedom.

10. The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life - Sheldon Solomon (6/2022)
A thought-provoking look at the psychology of death and how it affects us all.