What I'm Reading These Days

I love books. I wish I had more time for them, but between work, dealing with the grind of daily life, and trying to have something resembling a social life, there's not much time to read anymore. I do get some audiobooks while driving on my long trips to out of town court hearings, but it's not quite the same as curling up with the written word.

That said, here's what I've been reading (or listening to) these days:

Books I've read recently:

• The Man Who Quit Money by Mark Sundeen. I read this one a few months ago, and I found it interesting. It's a biography of a man, Daniel Suelo, who decided to stop using money entirely. He squats in a national park, scavenges for food, and occasionally barters for what he needs. He has run-ins with the law because it's fairly impossible to exist in this society without using money. Suelo is creative and dedicated to his cause. I have some sympathy for him, since I've often fantasized about leaving the rat race and getting away from it all, but I think he goes a bit too far - eschewing medical care and such.
• Broke, USA by Gary Rivlin. I read this one a few months ago as well. The central thesis of the book is that pawn shops, subprime lenders, payday lenders, check cashing places, tax prep shops (the big box ones like H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt, not regular CPAs), etc. are preying on the poor and ruining society. I agree with the author about tax shops (I took the training at a big box tax shop a few years back when I was unemployed, and after a day of training, I could tell the places were skeevy and set up to prey on poor people. I didn't finish the training or get a job there.) and some of the lender abuses. However, I think the author is overreacting about the pawn shops and check cashing places. Sure, the terms at those places aren't great, but where else are some people going to go? I think it's pretty clear that the author has never actually been poor. To be honest, if you had asked me 10 years ago, I probably would have agreed with the author, but I spent some really poor years after law school (like down to my last $2 and not knowing where the next dollar will come from kind of poor), and I've changed my tune. In some places, he came across as a bit paternalistic. It was an interesting look into an industry I didn't know too much about before reading the book, though.

Books I'm reading now or will be reading shortly:

• Dragnet Nation by Julia Angwin. I read an excerpt from this book last week, and I found it so interesting that I picked it up from the library. It's about all the ways that the government and private companies and organizations monitor our online and offline activities and what kind of creepy things they learn about us in the process. I'm about a chapter in so far, and it's both fascinating and terrifying. The book combines two things I enjoy - technology and privacy.
• I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong. This book is about all the bacteria that live in and on us and how they interact with us. It's fascinating, if a bit weird. I definitely wanted to take a shower after a few chapters. I'm about halfway through.
• Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover. This is a memoir of a woman who was raised by survivalists in Idaho who kept her out of school. Eventually, she decided to go to college and ended up going on to a PhD at Cambridge. I read a blurb on the book and immediately went to put it on hold at the library. I love memoirs, and I'm completely fascinated by stories of people who escape from fundamentalist subcultures. I can't wait to read it. I'm second in line in the hold queue.

Books I've tried to read but just couldn't finish:

• Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff. I wasn't really all that interested in reading the book to begin with; I figure anything in there would eventually make the news anyway. The only reason I decided to read it was because the White House tried to bully the publisher into not publishing the book, and I wanted to take a stand against censorship. I got about a chapter into the book before putting it down. I'm no fan of Trump by any means. I think he's despicable. However, the book had an air of sensationalism to it that got annoying. I'll just read the news. At least I wasn't out any money. I got it from the library.
• The Harvard Classics. I had planned on reading this 51 volume set this year as my new year's resolution. I haven't even picked it up yet. I just don't have time to basically do self-study college in my spare time right now. I've already been to college. These books will have to wait.