washing dishes: a father’s glimpses

“You got the best book recs”

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When I saw Jenn in January, she said, “Yeah, I wanna know! You’ve got the best book recommendations.” That day, I had book #9 on the list below in my backpack. I have not yet finished it, it’s a home book rather than a library book, so the final chapters and pages await my eyes and hands, my attention, my analysis, my memory.

A few Tuesdays ago, Kevin asked for “great” books and podcasts that we’ve read, listened to, or otherwise been with in the last 2 years (which is another synchronicity, for another blog post on another day). That same night Eliot mentioned how over the horizon it will still be me–with my stacks of books accompanying me.

  1. Begin Again: james baldwin’s american and its urgetn lessons for our own by Eddie Glaude Jr. 2021.
  2. James: a novel by Percival Everett. 2024.
  3. All Fours by Miranda July. 2024.
  4. One Day, Everyone Will Always Have Been Against This by Omar El-Akkad. 2025.
  5. Defectors: the rise of the latino far right and what it means for america by Paola Ramos. 2024. +
  6. Rediscovery of America: native peoples and the unmaking of u.s. history by Ned Blackhawk. 2023. +
  7. Is Math Real?: how simple questions lead us to mathematics’ deepest truths by Eugenia Cheng. 2023. +
  8. Caste: the origins of our discontent by Isabel Wilkerson. 2020. +
  9. The AI Mirror: how to reclaim our humanity in an age of machine thinking by Shannon Vallor. 2024. +
  10. Unknown Language by Hildegard of Binge & Huw Lemmey. 202o. +
  11. Rage of a Privileged Class: why are middle class blacks angry? why should america care? by Ellis Cose. 1995. +
  12. To Free the Captives: a plea for the american soul by Tracy K. Smith. 2o24.
  13. Unexpected Miracles: the gift of synchronicity, andhow to open to it by David Richo. 1998.
  14. Untangled: guiding teenage girls through 7 transition into adulthood by Lisa Damour. 2016. +
  15. Teaching Community: a pedagogy of hope by bell hooks. 2003.
  16. No Time to Spare by Ursula LeGuin. 2018. +
  17. How to Stand Up to a Dictator: the fight for our future by Maria Ressa. 2023.

I listen to podcasts much less frequently than I read a book, read many books simultaneously. However, among stirring podcasts, the one I’ve been smitten with for the last 6 months is Alie Ward’s Ologies, particularly the episodes on:

  1. Abstract Mathematology (UH, IS MATH REAL) with Eugenia Cheng, November 2023.
  2. Mnemenology (MEMORY) with Michael Yassa, December 2024.
  3. Anagnosology (READING) with Adrian Johns, May 2024.

Keep reading. Keep listening. Both digital and analog, of course.