Nonfiction

I had to read this book in English class Freshman year. I honestly wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did. It's a true story called "Night" written first hand by Elie Wiesel about the Holocaust. It's about a young boy and his family that got sent to Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps. This book is extremely well written, and is a really sad story. There was one part, I won't spoil it, but I couldn't stop crying. "Night" really gives you a look at what it would have been like to be in Elie's shoes. Overall, of course this is quite a sad book, but I would highly highly recommend!!

This book is very informative, albeit slow paced. I learned a lot about Scientology and its disturbing practices. If you're looking for a fast-paced nail biter of a memoir, this isn't it, but if you want to learn about what Scientology really is, then give this book a try.

With race relations as challenging as they currently are in the United States, a book like White Fragility is required reading for both opponents and allies of racial unity. Racism is a huge problem, and it’s difficult to tackle something this large without first understanding the foundation on which it was built. It can be easy to simply address the problem's symptoms instead of digging out the root and identifying where many secondary and tertiary issues originate. As a straight white male, I was first hesitant to read such a book, but now I think it should be required for all of us straight white males.

The only qualm I have with this book is that it almost exclusively addresses the racism toward the black community. While I understand this is the most volatile and pressing facet of racism right now, I would have appreciated a chapter about applying the tools presented in this book in other interactions with people of color or indigenous peoples. Depending on how open you are to changing your view of this nation's racial status, you may find this book hard to swallow. I know it has helped me face the racist blind spot brought to my attention earlier this year and take steps to address it in my life actively.

Perhaps the biggest eye-opener in this book was how invasive racism is in the system that makes it possible. Sure, there are racist people, but they aren’t nearly as harmful as the system that supports them and oppresses BIPOC. It was also useful to see how the “allies” aren’t helping by being overly emotional or saying that they “don’t see color.” While these allies might think they are empathetic, they are actually making the system worse by making themselves the center of attention, as they have been taught to do in a white male-run society.

A challenging but eye-opening book and required reading for all white people, I give White Fragility 4.0 stars out of 5.

The Emperor of all Maladies is an informative and gripping history of cancer. Starting with the first recorded cases in ancient times and the remedies used by ancient doctors and progressing to the medical breakthroughs of chemotherapy and radiation, the book provides a wealth of information in a riveting tale. Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee tells the stories of cancer’s most prominent adversaries like Dr. Sidney Farber as they work to develop life-saving treatments and procedures. The book is quite lengthy but kept me engaged throughout while teaching me about cancer history and treatment in a form that feels more like a novel than a textbook. If you want to learn more about one of the most prolific diseases in human history while viewing history through the lens of cancer researchers, The Emperor of all Maladies is perfect for you!

NFL Century is a book about the lengthy history of the National Football League. Joe Horrigan gives a brilliant overview from the earliest days of the NFL to now. This book is also not just about the history but about the rise of American football to the pinnacle of American sports. The author beautifully describes how football overthrew baseball as America's favorite sport. I loved this book because I am a huge football fan and I was happy to learn to more about NFL history. I would highly recommend this book if you enjoy reading about sports or history.

Gone at Midnight is a nonfiction crime book about the mysterious and brutal murder of Elisa Lam. Elisa Lam was a college student from Canada who came to visit Cecil Hotel but went missing. The Cecil Hotel is notorious for having a chilling haunted past. After a week or so Elisa Lam is found dead and an investigation is kicked off. The author goes in depth about how this investigation was messed up and didn't follow the proper procedures. I liked the suspense of the book and learning about how many people on the internet were also trying to solve the case. Finally, the author goes into detail about how this tragic event greatly impacted Elisa's family and on future investigations.

Final Jeopardy is a wonderful read. Final Jeopardy tells the story of Watson, the question-and-answering computer built by IBM to play Jeopardy. Stephen Baker describes the journey of Watson from an abstract idea, to an ignorant computer that took hours to answer a single question, to the great computing wonder that took on two of Jeopardy's greatest players, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. Final Jeopardy also gives insight into the great minds that developed Watson and their stressful years of programming leading up to the match. Final Jeopardy is a fantastic book and I highly recommend it for anyone who is a fan of Jeopardy, is fascinated by computers and their programming, or is interested in the future of technology.

Too Much and Never Enough is a memoir written by Mary Trump. She is the niece of our current president. This book extensively describes the several interactions that Mary Trump had with her uncle. In this book she blames the behaviors of the Trump family for negatively influencing Trump's personality. Also, she describes in depth about Donald Trump's role in the multi-billion dollar family business. She also expands upon the Trump family's political connections, which lead to the creation of a real estate empire. Mary Trump explains the several high expectations that Fred Trump held for his children. This book was well-written and used excellent vocabulary words to express her opinions. Too Much and Never Enough kept my attention as it was interesting and this book gave an insightful perspective about Donald Trump from an insider's point of view. Finally, I liked how Mary Trump elaborately explained each of the Trump children’s lives and the turmoil within the family during tough times of the business.

Born a Crime is an autobiography about Trevor Noah's life. I picked this book because it describes the humble beings of a
famous comedian and his extraordinary journey to the pinnacle of American comedy. It describes his life growing up in the apartheid government in South Africa. The title of this book refers to the fact that Trevor Noah's birth was actually a crime. This is because of his biracial background, which made his birth illegal under apartheid laws. Born a Crime is filled with jokes and will not fail to crack its readers up. I would highly recommend reading this book if you love humor and learning about valuable life experiences of famous celebrities.

Chimamanda is one of my favorite Nigerian artists! In this book, she talks about her life growing up as a girl in Africa and how her friends and family knowingly or unknowingly forced gender expectations on her. I felt that because she used personal experiences, it was easier for me to connect with her. This book is a good read for everyone, whether you identify as a feminist or not; the book is for anyone who believes that women and men should be treated equally.

The book is short, sweet, but filled with thought-provoking ideas on gender dynamics in modern society. Contrary to what the title implies, Chimamanda doesn't necessarily try to sway your opinion on the topic of feminism: she lays out her experiences as a woman and leaves it to the reader's judgment to decide whether feminism is important or not. I also thought it was interesting how she mentioned that the most feminist person in her life was not a woman but in fact a man.