Ayesha Rasco, host:
College may be out, and relief is expected to be on tap, but chances are you’ll be struggling to get your noggin together this summer. In fact, there are safe alternatives to this – lots of them, in fact. Books We Love is a roundup of suggestions from NPR’s most-read books list. And these days, some of our colleagues share their nonfiction favorites from now until 2024.
(SOUNDBITE OF ROBIX’S “NFT NOMAD”)
ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: I’m Eric Deggans, and I’m a TV critic and media analyst for NPR. I want to talk about Kara Swisher’s “Burn Book: A Tech Love Story,” this excellent nonfiction safe. Kara Swisher shows off a magic trick right here. She mainly offers several books at the same time. One is the story of her becoming one of the most influential technology analysts in media, where she describes the emergence of Facebook, Amazon, Google, X/Twitter. And he psychoanalyzes some of these pushy, usually dude brothers, turning them into those world-shaking platforms.
However, she has also penned an impressive personal memoir, where she presents her life as a gay woman, spouse, mother, journalist, entrepreneur, and lawyer. And there’s this passionate critique of the toxic generation, where she holds those friend brothers responsible for pushing the engagement through anger. And it’s all captured in a combination of this very nimble, smart prose. She tells us how Silicon Valley works, how journalism works, how the public works. And all of those reasons are why I really love Kara Swisher’s “Burn Book: A Tech Love Story.”
(SOUNDBITE OF ROBIX’S “NFT NOMAD”)
DIA HADID, BYLINE: I’m Dia Hadid, and I’m a world correspondent for NPR. I mainly live in Mumbai, Republic of India. I am recommending the safe “Smoke and Ashes” by Amitav Ghosh. This safe is an interesting study of how the British Empire forced opium into China and successfully created a market for opium by developing addiction. The tone is quite normal?
Amitav Ghosh asks us to view this historical past through the lens of what we now learn about opioid dependence. He repeatedly brings to the fore how insensitive historians once were towards the millions of drug addicts in China. He has been accused of opium trade. Most of the opium purchased by the British Empire was once grown in India, but its effects still affect us all today.
Ghosh discusses how the opium trade created some of America’s greatest fortunes, such as those who built the boat on which the timeless anthem was written, “The Star-Spangled Banner.” I can’t deny, I can’t deny, this safe and think about the impact of this industry because opium survives as a powerful, biological disruptor.
(SOUNDBITE OF LORNE BALFE’S “DOPESIC”)
DARRIAN WOODS, BYLINE: Hello. I’m Darian Logues, co-host of The Indicator from Planet Cash.
(SOUNDBITE OF TOMMY GUERRERO’S “WHERE THE WATER WAS ONCE”)
Woods: And I love reading Hannah Ritchie’s safe film “Not the End of the World.” This is a defense that examines evidence on air pollution, extinction threats and deforestation. And because it’s taking the numbers the first way, it comes to some sudden conclusions about how ruthless an eco-friendly week really can be. Shock food meal. Consuming in the neighborhood is unlikely to have much of an impact on the status business. Hannah Ritchie, on the other hand, supports things like Meatless Mondays because red meat is a significant contributor to deforestation and environmental trade.
Now, not everyone will approach position trading with the same cautious optimism that Hannah Ritchie does. However, this safe approach, which is more about knowledge than feel-good fads, makes me feel like a useful chaser for the state of doom scrolling.
(sound of alarm clocks ringing)
PREETI ARUN, BYLINE: I’m Preeti Arun, the storybook writer for npr.org. I’d like to recommend “Slow Productivity” via Cal Newport. If you’re a white-collar knowledge worker, your week is probably ruined by a dizzying flood of emails and Slack messages that break your focus. You dart from one activity to the next, but never get any real work done.
block. Newport says the way we’re doing it doesn’t work. I agree. But when many people come to terms with slow productivity, we can revolutionize the field of labor.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “9 TO 5”)
Dolly Parton: (making a song) Turn over in bed, and I’ll go into the kitchen. Pour yourself a cup of ambition and yawn and stretch and try to get back to the week.
TINBETTE ERMIAS, BYLINE: Hello. I’m Tinbete Ermyas, and I’m about to weigh in on all issues. And a safe thing I really like is “Who’s afraid of penis?” Via Judith Butler. Secure is pushed through a central query. Why has gender become such a controversial factor in The American Week? And what does it tell us about how we are approaching one of the biggest problems we face? Butler has an unambiguous approach that lays out the risks of growing anti-gender ideology, as she puts it, and prompts us to reconsider the techniques and suggestions that force it.
(SOUNDBITE OF JIMMY SMITH’S SONG “WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?”)
Ermias: But the reason why I like it safe is because it’s a call to engagement to additionally believe that how we think about gender and what it will potentially tell us about who we are. And whether you compromise or not, I appreciate just being part of the conversation.
(SOUNDBITE OF JIMMY SMITH’S SONG “WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?”)
ANDREW LIMBONG, BYLINE: Hiya. I’m Andrew Limbong, reporter on NPR’s Traditions Table and host of NPR’s Hold the Press podcast. And the safe thing I need to talk about is “This Year Will Last” by Hanif Abdurraqib. Ostensibly, it’s about basketball. Specifically, it is about LeBron James and his profession. But it’s also certainly a beautifully personal and moving meditation on loss and grief and future demise. Abdurraqib is from Columbus, Ohio, and he’s all about LeBron’s future. And so there’s a focus on what it takes to be admirable, what it takes to become a legend, what it takes to be immortal…
LIMBONG: …And how brutal that can be for guys who, you know, maybe aren’t the greatest basketball players of the future. If you love basketball, there are some really amazing sports activities written here. However, even if you’re no longer a basketball fan, I think anyone who has ever thought about mortality might be quick to move away from this safe position a bit.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHRIS BOWERS “BACK TO REALITY/THE MERRY GO ROUND BROKE DOWN”)
Rasco: Sure, it’s a track from the “Space Jam: A New Legacy” soundtrack. And those suggestions, once again, have been – “There’s always something this year,” “Who’s afraid of dicks?” “Slow Productivity,” “Not the End of the World,” “Smoke and Ashes” and “Burn Book.” For a full list of the books we’ve loved so far this month, visit npr.org/summerbooks.
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