7 Books I Recommend for September: Courage, Aging, AI, and More
“A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never failing spring in the desert.”
— Andrew Carnegie
Here are the last 7 books I just finished reading that stood out to me.
They range in topics from courage to aging (and courage in aging) to book bans, anxiety, AI (and anxiety about AI)—and then a novel about tradwives to round things out.
[See previously recommended books here]
NONFICTION
1. How We Learn to Be Brave
Decisive Moments in Life and Faith
by Mariann Edgar Budde
Bishop Budde has made some brave choices the past few years in speaking up for the voiceless.
She writes this book to explain how anybody can develop more courage—as a choice, not just because they have it naturally—to face consequential decisions in a variety of situations, even if they don’t feel ready for them.
2. The Inner Work of Age
Shifting from Role to Soul
by Connie Zweig
The older I get, the more I think about what it means to age with wisdom.
This was a very interesting book on confronting the shadows of aging, looking inward and outward, and investing your life in things that are meaningful to you.
3. How to Defend Books and Why
Book Bans and How We Fight Them
by Danny Caine
I admit not all of this book kept my attention. Some chapters lost me. But overall, it was still worth reading. I appreciate how Caine explains both the recent history of book bans, how they’re affecting us now, and why it matters.
Chapter 5 on “Books to Change and Save Lives: Prison” was especially interesting to me since I have an incarcerated pen pal who is an avid reader and writer. I hope to hear more about his experience soon on books available to him.
4. The God Test
Artificial Intelligence and Our Coming Cosmic Reckoning
by Robert Wright
I’m still thinking about this one; I took a lot of notes from it. It’s about how quickly artificial intelligence might change humanity if we don’t develop some thoughtful governance around it. It’s not a book of scare tactics; Wright does bring balance.
However, he makes a good case for how much is at stake if we continue toward a “global brain.” My thanks to NetGalley for the review copy of this book.
5. Mindset
The New Psychology of Success
by Carol S. Dweck
This is an older book, but just as relevant as ever because it explains that what we believe about ourselves can affect how we move through life. Those with a fixed mindset don’t see much potential in themselves for change, whereas those with a growth mindset view themselves as capable of learning and adapting in new ways.
No one has all one or the other mindset, but a growth mindset turns out to be more helpful in navigating both your successes and failures.
And by finishing this book, I’ve now concluded the Daniel Pink challenge: 21 Life-Changing Books! I learned so much from a variety of sources about some things I might not have chosen on my own.
6. Anxiety Rx
by Russell Kennedy
Okay, this one still has me thinking, too. Because I am prone to anxiety myself, I’ve read a lot through the years about it. But this book presented it a bit differently (to me anyway).
Kennedy argues that all anxiety is separation anxiety (he goes more in depth about it), and anxiety is often alarm in the body first, which then causes distress in the mind. He combines neuroscience, psychology, personal experience, and practical techniques to change not only our response to anxiety, but how we think about it.
Effective? TBD. Intriguing? Definitely.
FICTION
7. Yesteryear
by Caro Claire Burke
I’m recommending this one with a caveat. I found the first part of this novel to be fascinating. It’s about a modern-day social media influencer promoting her tradwife lifestyle.
But the book really bogged down for me in the middle with its time-travel theme. It picked back up at the end, fortunately, to help it make sense. (It still won’t make any top 10 lists for me though.)
Nonetheless, it was highly entertaining overall, so I’ll still recommend it.
WHAT I’M READING NOW
- Project Hail Mary
by Andy Weir - Saying No to New
Why New Things Are Stealing Your Time, Money, and Happiness―and How to Take Back Your Life
by Eric Athas - The Art of Fighting
The Transformative Power of Conflict
by Priya Parker - Live Laugh Love
The Secret History of White Christian Women and the World They Made
by Kristin Kobes DuMez - The Geography of Loss
Embrace What Is, Honor What Was, Love What Will Be
by Patti Digh - Don’t Think of an Elephant!
Know Your Values and Frame the Debate
by George Lakoff - Good Writing
36 Ways to Improve Your Sentences
by Neal Allen, Anne Lamott
Closing
As always, I don’t agree with everything in the books I recommend. But these each gave me something to think about and/or something to enjoy along the way. Maybe one will do the same for you, too!
What’s a good book you’ve read lately? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
I’m sharing at some of these linkups
Thanks as always for your thoughtful recommendations, Lisa. Blessings!
Thanks for sharing what you’re reading and linking to An Open Book! It’s a diverse group of books!
Another interesting selection! I feel like book bans are more of an American thing. I knew hear of books being banned in the UK.
I’ve heard so many mixed reviews of Yesteryear, but I definitely intend to read it when it comes out in paperback.
You definitely read some very thought provoking books each month– clearly you have a growth mindset! LOL I think that anxiety one sounds fascinating.
How to Defend Books and Why sounds especially important right now!
I really liked Bishop Budde’s book and really admire her as a person. I have seen Yesteryear everywhere, liked your thoughts and think its not for me.
Yesteryear definitely has some mixed reviews.
I hope you are enjoying Project Hail Mary.
Thanks for sharing your weekly reading!
You always have a great list of books. We did yesteryear for our book club and I struggled with it. It’s been fascinating hearing everyones different thoughts.
I’ve also seen mixed reviews on Yesteryear, I’ll probably have to read it to make up my own mind. I was drawn to The Inner Work of Age but I always feel I’ve missed out on the regular parts of aging. My kids have never left home, I had children in my 40s, none of them ever want children and to top it off I have an incurable progressive illness. I’d love to be able to do the things that older people do.
I was interested to read your take on Yesteryear. In that middle section, I started skipping every other chapter because I wanted to read the story in sequence without the gimmicky “time travel” sections I went back and read those afterward, and the big twist didn’t impress me, nor the cartoonish characters. Whenever I read a book with a lot of hype about it, I usually end up disappointed.
I’m afraid I can’t see people developing thoughtful governance around AI — where is there thoughtful governance of anything these days? So the changes are going to happen, like it or not, and we’ll have to deal with them. I’m not sure whether I want to read books about the topic, or about things I find inwardly supportive that might give me more courage and strength…thanks for recommending one you found useful, anyway.
I would like to read up on AI and The God Test does sound interesting. I like the Project Hail Mary and been wanting to read the book.
I feel anxiety about the whole AI issue and I am not sure if reading about it would make it better or worse. I think the book about aging sounds interesting. Suddenly my husband’s siblings and mine are all aging and struggling. thanks for linking up. Bernie
Hi Lisa, as always you’ve read some great books, they all sound very interesting! I also read Yesteryear and was quite confused at times but as you say it all came together at the end – quite an interesting concept and sad in many ways. Thanks for joining us!
I really enjoyed Yesteryear – junky read but very engaging. I read it in about 2 days! But I am one of the ‘angry women’ (even though I a stay at home mum! ha!)
I couldn’t finish Yesteryear myself, but read very different opinions about it.
#3 and #4 sound interesting.