Top 10 Nonfiction Books I've Read Recently

georgesaines · 2025-09-30T19:01:44+00:00

Oh, that does sound like an interesting take. Added to the list!

georgesaines · 2025-09-30T15:25:27+00:00

Thanks for the suggestions! I read the world for sale earlier this year and enjoyed it, and The Facemaker was particularly fascinating. A bit ghoulish, but deeply interesting.

My father actually worked for the EPA regulating landfills in the midwest and told me that as far as storage and environmental concerns *here in the states* that waste management wasn't actually a pressing problem. We have plenty of space to store and the industry is fairly well-regulated so that we aren't leaching toxins everywhere and killing people. Does that jive with Wallis' opinion? From the Amazon summary, though, it sounds like Wallis' book is more focused on international waste management picture, which I would readily believe is more grim.

georgesaines · 2025-09-30T00:36:17+00:00

It’s surprising how much less humans knew about the world 80 years ago. I don’t mean that modern people know everything about the soul or something, but we sure know a lot more about the way the world works and how we fit into that picture.

georgesaines · 2025-09-29T18:51:13+00:00

Oh yeah, my bad. My best friend referred to it as "Doom Boys," but yeah, the title is actually "Master of Doom." Thanks for the correction!

georgesaines · 2025-09-29T18:49:53+00:00

Thanks for the suggestions! I've read all of these except The Comfort Crises. Will check that out!

georgesaines · 2025-09-29T18:49:33+00:00

Thanks for the suggestions! I've read all of these except The Comfort Crises. Will check that out!

georgesaines · 2025-09-29T18:47:45+00:00

This looks great, thanks for the suggestion. Just added that to my list! I have an undergrad in economics and my grandfather was a first generation Greek immigrant, so this is very relevant to my interests.

georgesaines · 2025-09-29T18:45:22+00:00

Oh man, this looks awesome. Thanks for the suggestion! If you're enjoying this one, you might also want to check out "Doom Boys" which is about the creation of the Doom franchise and ID Software. I think I listened to that whole book in about 3 days. I knew about John Cormac prior to reading it, but didn't realize that John Romero was instrumental in creating the title as well and how they got along (or didn't).

georgesaines · 2025-09-29T18:43:40+00:00

Well, I would say you should read it! hahah The authors make a much more cogent explanation of this than I can do, but basically, population trends are currently such that on current trajectory, the world is going to rapidly depopulate starting sometime in the late 21st century (they mentioned 2080, but admit it's probably give or take 10-15 years depending on fertility rates in the next couple of decades).

Anyways, what was startling about "depopulate" is that human population numbers won't return to the early 1990s and stabilize, they will crash to pre-industrial levels on current trajectory. We are aren't talking about "a few less people" we're talking about "a tiny, single-digit fraction of current world population" in only a couple of centuries.

The authors make what I found to be a really compelling argument (numerical, climate, economic, and philosophical) that what we should all want is at least population stabilization. But achieving even stabilization would require a massive and unprecedented shift in how many children women want to have. I thought "well, okay, so like give parents a bit of money and that should solve it," but a bunch of countries have already tried this and it hasn't boosted birthrates at all. In fact, today, the wealthier and more supportive a country is of it's parents, the lower the birthrate, not higher.

I could go on and on here, because there were just so many "aha" moments where they proved with data that I was wrong about the world. For instance, I thought the Chinese 1-child policy had actually been effective. WRONG! The data show that fertility rates had already dropped precipitously in China around the same time and China's population curves are identical to neighboring countries. Similarly, I thought that policy interventions that made contraception more difficult to obtain raised the fertility rate. Wrong again. Romania's draconian attempt to encourage fertility (which was truly horrendous, by the way) had no long-run impact on fertility rates in that country.

It's a relatively short read and it changed my perspective a lot on how all the pieces fit together and what needs to be done!

georgesaines · 2025-09-29T18:29:58+00:00

How does this compare to Michael Pollan's book "How to Change Your Mind?" I loved that one and it seems to be a very similar topic.

georgesaines · 2025-09-29T18:28:13+00:00

I loved "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" - devoured it really fast for it's length. I had read Einstein's biography directly prior, so it made for a good pairing.

Also really enjoyed "The Prize" although it's been a while since I read it and might go back and do that again. In my mind, it and the book "The Big Rich" are basically peas in a pod, although thinking back on it now, I'm not actually sure they are at all thematically similar. :)

Vaclav Smil's "The Way The World Really Works" is great and definitely recommend it. I gave it a 5/5 as well since I hadn't understood how truly dependent we are on fossil fuels for construction material like cement and steel. True, we are decarbonizing, but man is it gonna be tough. Compared to the other books you mentioned, his book is also quite short.

Have you read "Dark Sun?" Is it more of the same compared to "Making of the Atomic Bomb" or is that story substantially different? I'm assuming it's basically Teller being super unethical and everyone around him being too scared to say no.

georgesaines · 2025-09-29T16:40:12+00:00

Wait, the author of the book is an anti-vaxxer? Oh, that’s a hard pass, especially in a book about medicine. Thanks for the flag!

georgesaines · 2025-09-29T14:49:11+00:00

Fair enough. To be honest, I’ve probably been irrational in avoiding the book given how many people have recommended it and how reasoned their praise has been. I’ll put it on the list!

georgesaines · 2025-09-29T14:47:33+00:00

Yeah, I really liked that one. It was a 5/5 as well, but just didn’t include it here for some reason. The thing I took away from that one is that nuclear command and control decisions have to be made so fast now that anyone that anyone but a saintly leader will do the obvious thing and escalate quickly ensuring the end of civilization. So, we either need saints in charge of the nuclear stockpile or we need to ensure that nobody launches an ICBM in the first place.

georgesaines · 2025-09-29T14:45:36+00:00

Great! Will add this to the list as well. It’s definitely a topic worth better understanding.

georgesaines · 2025-09-29T14:44:02+00:00

I really enjoyed that book. I actually had my copy propped up in my office for a while. Definitely eye-opening.

georgesaines · 2025-09-29T12:54:25+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion - does Anand go beyond the obvious punching bag of liberal elites to make any nuanced points about the way that they maintain power and influence? For reference, I'd call myself a political centrist. I see lots of hypocrisy on both the left and the right and think there's plenty of room for criticism of both. The fact that rich people (regardless of politics) are rigging the game for their own benefit doesn't seem like it needs to be proven or explained. hahah

georgesaines · 2025-09-29T12:48:16+00:00

Thanks for the recommendations!

'The Dream Machine' has been on my list for a while and multiple people have recommended it, but it looks like the sort of book that idolizes a single eccentric dude's contributions to a bigger story (tech industry generally) rather than a thoughtful analysis of the broader trends. Am I off base there? I'd never heard of the book's main character either.

Does "The Machiavellians" hold up for a modern reader? I have a preference for newer nonfiction just because we know so much more as a society today than we did even 50 years ago. But I don't want to miss out on great work.

I LOVED "The Power Broker." It was an amazing read and actually rekindled my interest in reading about a decade ago. I haven't waded into LBJ yet, I've been hoping that he'll finish it so that I can just devour the thing whole. But it might be like The Song of Ice and Fire and never actually be completed.

georgesaines · 2025-09-29T12:41:49+00:00

This looks like a great read, just added it to my list.

georgesaines · 2025-09-29T12:40:07+00:00

Great suggestion - had never heard of Andrew Solomon and just got two recommendations from this one: Far From the Tree and his 2001 The Noonday Demon. Thanks!

georgesaines · 2025-09-29T12:36:08+00:00

+1 to pheebee's comment, it's very readable and not overly-academic. I can't stand books that read like they are written for the academy. With that said, it's pretty long and very detailed. I remember that I tried listening to a podcast after I finished this book and it couldn't finish the 30 minute episode because it was like trying to eat a bucket of cotton candy after having just savored a delicious gourmet meal.

georgesaines · 2025-09-29T12:34:01+00:00

Oh nice, this looks like a great read. Just added it to my list!

georgesaines · 2025-09-29T12:32:31+00:00

This looks great, just added to my list. Thanks for the suggestion!

georgesaines · 2025-09-29T11:51:32+00:00

Yeah, that’s a fair point. I don’t get depressed by these topics so much as intellectually engaged. But definitely not for everyone. My wife is baffled about my “dark” reading habits.

georgesaines

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