Paperback

The key lesson is that we think of something as basic data as unbiased and use it to make what we believe are objective decisions and policies. But if the data is not then the policies and decisions are not. And the data is not. This has far-reaching implications for everything, perhaps especially AI (which is largely trash and anyway) and “the meritocracy”. Invisible Women is one of those books I won't stop thinking about for a very, very long time. Perhaps ever. And rightfully so.

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Hardback

If you think atheists are angry old white men, you're wrong. Kate Cohen writes beautifully of atheism. Everyday atheism. Quotidian atheism. You almost certainly have some preconceived notions about the godless and those notions are almost certainly wrong. You owe it to yourself to read this and be . . . unafraid.

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Hardback

Haunting and brilliantly written.

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You don't know what you think you do about jail and drugs, but you need to learn.

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Hardback

Legal questions of religious freedom are actually easy. But a deliberate crusade has been waged to warp our understanding of this fundamental right, including by the Supreme Court itself.

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Hardback

Revelatory in the sense that I felt I understood, more than ever, that which I can never truly know. I've read it at least five times.

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Paperback

Ann Druyan and Carl Sagan are one of the best writing teams ever, and particularly beautiful science writers. "For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love," was a line by Druyan from Contact, which is amazing, but Demon-Haunted World is the book that I always come back to, if only mentally: “For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.”

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So much of what we think we know about American history is wrong. And hey, this book really did change my life.

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The Romans persecuted Christians, right? An eye opening look at some classical history.

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Paperback

I've always loved Sherlock Holmes stories and spinoffs. Just when you think you can't take anymore, the best one comes along. I was incredibly skeptical of this one and I was breathtakingly wrong. This is the first in a series that is now my favorite of the entire genre. The writing is superb, the mysteries inscrutable, and the gender-flip so brilliantly executed it's preferrable to the original.

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Paperback

"That book'll knock you on your ass.” That's why you should read it. Does it have problems? Sure. But it's incredibly valuable for the iconoclastic treatment of the American history monolith many of us learned in school.

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Hardback

1984. People really like to put Animal Farm on their book lists, but 1984 is superior. Especially as the US slouches toward authoritarianism. But this lovely edition has both, and a foreword by Christopher Hitchens.

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When I was young, before law school, I didn't think much about the death penalty and so, not seeing much wrong with it, was all for the state killing criminals. I was wrong. This book changed my mind.

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Paperback

This book changed my life. Quite literally. I'd not be a writer without it. For all my life and schooling, I labored under several misconceptions about writing that Zinsesser deftly and kindly removed. If you want to write, read this.

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Paperback

Have you actually read the bible? If you haven't, and haven't had these maps, scholarly explanations, and footnotes, you're missing out. It's not the book you think it is. There's just so much you never read in church and a more scholarly translation doesn't contain as many mistranslations. For instance, it doesn't declare that Mary was a virgin, just a young girl.

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Hardback

I read a lot of books about work and leadership and this is one I keep coming back to. It seems more important today given our distractions. It also makes me want to buy some property and build a writing shop in a back corner, but I'm just a poor nonprofit attorney.

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Paperback

I'm not sure why, but I think about this book all the time. Partly, it's because I'm a bird nerd. Partly, it's because of the writing. It's hard to put in a box, other than to say it's full of sorrow and beauty. Perhaps not the most fitting for this list, but it's an honest entry because I think about far more often than I should.

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