Review of That Librarian, by Amanda Jones

Current Issues, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review, True Stories 0

That Librarian

The Fight Against Book Banning in America

by Amanda Jones

Bloomsbury, 2024. 269 pages.
Review written February 22, 2025, from my own copy, purchased via Amazon.com
Starred Review

That Librarian is Amanda Jones’ own story about speaking up against censorship in a meeting of her local public library board – and then relentlessly being hounded and harassed online afterward. She is a middle school librarian herself, and has won multiple awards for her work. And that fueled the flame of defamation, slander, and even death threats – the bullies said that because she’s against book bans, that makes her a purveyor of pornography to children.

I’d like to think that this is a problem mainly in red states. And, yes, the county where I work as a librarian consistently votes blue. But in view of things that have happened in the first month of the new administration, I have to take seriously this paragraph from page 5 of Project 2025:

Pornography, manifested today in the omnipresent propagation of transgender ideology and sexualization of children, for instance, is not a political Gordian knot inextricably binding up disparate claims about free speech, property rights, sexual
liberation, and child welfare. It has no claim to First Amendment protection. Its purveyors are child predators and misogynistic exploiters of women. Their product is as addictive as any illicit drug and as psychologically destructive as any crime. Pornography should be outlawed. The people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned. Educators and public librarians who purvey it should be classed as registered sex offenders. And telecommunications and technology firms that facilitate its spread should be shuttered.

No, I don’t believe in giving pornography to children, and neither does Amanda Jones. But they’re defining pornography as any book that acknowledges that transgender people exist. Anything that portrays same-sex couples as having loving relationships. And if you allow those books – books that resonate with citizens in our communities, books about the loving families that reside there, books that help the marginalized feel seen – the bullies label you as a sex offender – which is what they did to Amanda Jones.

Her original speech at the library board meeting didn’t mention any specific books, nor were any mentioned by the library board – but because she spoke up against book banning, she was accused of being a danger to children and wanting to put books about sex into the hands of children. This about someone who has devoted her life to serving children.

Amanda made the difficult choice to sue the main instigators for defamation. The initial case was dismissed on the grounds that she’s a “public figure,” which seems silly, since she spoke in that meeting as a parent and as a member of the community. And I just looked up on google, and after two appeals, the Louisiana Supreme Court vacated the lower court’s decision, so her case will go forward. She’s not even suing them for damages. All she’s asking for is $1 and an apology – because you don’t get to make up lies about someone and try to destroy their life.

So all that is good news, and this book gives visibility to the more and more pervasive problem of people trying to restrict their public library’s collections to only books that they think are okay. Yes, there are books in the public library that I wouldn’t give to my own children when they were young. But that doesn’t mean I should keep your children from reading them. Here’s how Amanda Jones puts it:

Freedom and parental rights are a rallying cry, but the same people who say this are trying to take away the rights of young adult readers, their parents, and others. The people who say they are for small government are pushing governmental control over what we the people have access to, and not just children. We should ALL want the freedom to read what we want to read and have access to reading materials from a variety of viewpoints. Protecting our libraries is exactly how we do that. The attack on librarians and libraries is shameful and something everyone should fear. Once they destroy our libraries and schools, what will be next? Where will it end? We must continue to speak up. That’s all we can really do. We must stand up for what is right and good, regardless of what is said about us. The book banners, the people who attacked me for daring to disagree with them, wanted to silence me. I didn’t let them. I did the opposite. For the past year, I have agreed to almost every interview requested of me to help spread the word across the nation about what is happening in our libraries and to librarians. It has been exhausting, but necessary. I will continue to speak out when asked. We have to not just for the sake of libraries but for real freedom. Everyone who can needs to speak out on behalfof those who cannot. People who are rational need to take a stand against the irrational. We must do so with grace and truth, never stooping to the tactics the pro-censors use. We are the real patriots.

I do highly recommend this book to everyone to help understand those who are attacking public libraries and our first amendment rights. There’s a chapter at the end about what you can do in your own community to support your own libraries.

Thank you, Amanda Jones, for speaking up for the freedom to read!

No one on the right side of history has ever been on the side of censorship and hiding books.

bloomsbury.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Field Notes for the Wilderness, by Sarah Bessey

Christian, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

Field Notes for the Wilderness

Practices for an Evolving Faith

by Sarah Bessey

Convergent Books, 2024. 235 pages.
Review written February 11, 2025, from my own copy, purchased via Amazon.com
Starred Review

Field Notes for the Wilderness is for people whose faith is evolving. Perhaps you’ve grown up, like me, with certainty – faithful church attendance in evangelical churches, memorizing Scripture, singing in the choir, attending small group Bible studies. But something disrupts what you always knew as true.

[For me, it was a long process. I thought I could still attend my same church when I came to believe that the Bible teaches God will save everyone. Then I started believing that maybe LGBTQ people aren’t sinning… and my daughter came out as transgender (I’m still so very glad it was in that order). It wasn’t until my church decided to officially change their constitution to declare that LGBTQ people were sinning (so they could keep from renting out their new building for gay marriages, I think) – and the extreme lack of openness to discussion about it – that I finally realized I should look for a different church. And I was blessed that the first church I tried ended up being affirming, had a fabulous choir to join, and ended up being far more open to my theological ideas. But not everyone’s story progresses so happily.]

Here’s a section from the Introduction about why Sarah Bessey prefers the term “evolving faith” to “deconstruction”:

To me, an evolving faith is never simply about “deconstruction.” It has proven to be about the questions, the curiosity, and the ongoing reckoning of a robust, honest faith. An evolving faith brings the new ideas and ancient paths together. It’s about rebuilding and reimagining a faith that works not only for ourselves but for the whole messy, wide, beautiful world. For me, this has proven to be deeply centered in the Good News of Jesus. An evolving faith is sacramental, ecumenical, embodied, generous, spirit-filled, truthful, and rooted in the unconditional, never-ending love of God. It isn’t a linear experience of one and done and dusted. An evolving faith is a resilient and stubborn form of faithfulness that is well acquainted with the presence of God in our loneliest places and deepest questions. And an evolving faith has room for all the paths you may navigate after our time together in these pages.

Anyone who gets to the end of their life with the exact same beliefs and opinions they had at the beginning is doing it wrong. Because if we don’t change and evolve over our lifetime, then I have to wonder if we’re paying attention to the invitation of the Holy Spirit that is your life. Lisa Sharon Harper says that pilgrimage is about transformation. An evolving faith is a form of pilgrimage, and so yes, you are being transformed.

So you don’t have to be going through a crisis to enjoy this book, but if you are, I think it may help. The chapters are, essentially, about living a life of faith and walking on when things don’t necessarily go as planned. I haven’t particularly felt like I’m going through the Wilderness lately – and I still resonated with this book, marking more than a dozen passages for future Sonderquotes posts.

She talks about the “wilderness” as a place away from certainty and rules and only one way to do things. But being in that place helped her walk with Jesus, who promises rest for the weary.

The God I met in the wilderness reawakened me, recovered me, restored me to the Gospel of Love. This is the Gospel as I learned it at the feet of Jesus, hanging on to the hem of his humble garment. The width, length, height, and depth of God’s love is not fearful or restrictive or small or dull. It is a wide-open, sharp love that sets us free. It is a love that never steals, kills, or destroys us – it came that we might have life, and life that is more abundant. It is this love that brings us rest, that lifts burdens, that restores souls, that opens hearts, and changes lives.

And here’s why she calls the book a “Field Guide”:

This isn’t much of a rule book – rules rarely belong in the wilderness – but more of a field guide, a companion of sorts. Even theologically, I won’t have a lot of answers here for you; there are many good guides on the particulars of what you’re grappling with – from how church should or shouldn’t look to how to raise your kids, from rearranging your thoughts on sex to finding a new path for faith. I encourage you to honor your search for specifics; what I’m offering you is mostly companionship, the hope to help you adapt and survive in your journey even if it differs from my own.

If any of this sounds good to you, I recommend giving this book a try. I read it over a couple of weeks, and each time I dipped into it, I came away encouraged and uplifted in my own journey. Because fundamentally she communicates a belief that God is good, and God loves you and is walking with you.

sarahbessey.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of The Calculus of Friendship, by Steven Strogatz

Mathematical, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review, True Stories 0

The Calculus of Friendship

What a Teacher and a Student Learned about Life While Corresponding about Math

by Steven Strogatz

Princeton University Press, 2009. 166 pages.
Review written September 9, 2021, from a book ordered via Amazon.com
Starred Review

This book is the story of the correspondence the author – a professor of Mathematics at Cornell University – carried on with his high school calculus teacher for over thirty years.

Here’s how he introduces the book:

For the past thirty years I’ve been corresponding with my high school calculus teacher, Mr. Don Joffray. During that time, he went from the prime of his career to retirement, competed in whitewater kayak at the international level, and lost a son. I matured from teenage math geek to Ivy League professor, suffered the sudden death of a parent, and blundered into a marriage destined to fail.

What’s remarkable is not that any of this took place – such ups and downs are to be expected in three decades of life – but rather that so little of it is discussed in the letters. Instead, our correspondence, and our friendship itself, is based almost entirely on a shared love of calculus.

It never occurred to me how peculiar this is until Carole (I’m happily remarried now) teased me about it. “You’ve been writing to him for thirty years? You must know everything about each other.” Not really, I said. We just write about math problems. “That is such a guy thing,” she said, shaking her head.

This Prologue is more honest than the subtitle. This is a book about awesome insights into and about calculus – clever, insightful, and challenging problems – and the beauty of math. It doesn’t say a whole lot about life lessons – and yet their friendship and personalities do shine through.

And there’s some lovely mathematics here, well-explained – at least I think so. I am sad to say that in many places, the math went over my head. I’m a former math major with a master’s degree in math who taught college math for ten years – but I didn’t remember things about infinite series and infinite integrals and other things discussed here. And I’m a little appalled with myself that I didn’t have the desire to go look up what I didn’t understand.

I am, however, wishing that this book existed when I was a young hot-shot calculus student. It would have showed me that math is not a finite subject and that even lofty math professors still find plenty of ideas to play with, going far beyond textbooks.

And yes, there are some lovely insights about the friendship between a teacher and his student. The correspondence began when Steven Strogatz started sending interesting math problems to his former teacher and then explained them. He shares an insight at the back of the book about what his teacher gave him:

He let me teach him.

Before I had any students, he was my student.

Somehow, he knew that’s what I needed most. And he let me, and encouraged me, and helped me. Like all great teachers do.

Hmmm. I do know of a young math major who just started at Virginia Tech. I think he’d be among the ideal audience for this book – reading about how, for those who love it, math never runs out of fascinating beauty.

Oh, and full disclosure: I was disposed to like this book because the author found my mathematical knitting posts and talked about them on Twitter. So now I’m happy to promote his book – both things are about the beauty of math.

stevenstrogatz.com
press.princeton.edu

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Review of Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence, by Derald Wing Sue

Current Issues, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence

Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race

by Derald Wing Sue

Wiley, 2015. 282 pages.
Review written January 22, 2022, from my own copy, purchased via amazon.com
Starred Review

I read this book for a Racial Reconciliation Book Discussion Group hosted by my church, but never got a link to the zoom meeting. Still, I’m glad I read the book, and only wish I had gotten to see the leaders try to model the principles found here.

It’s hard to talk about race in America. This book explores the many reasons why that is so, with different reasons for white people and people of color, and lots of misunderstandings coming into play. And because misunderstandings come up and because we don’t want to appear racist, the end result is that we avoid talking about race at all — and so eliminate hope of learning to overcome those misunderstandings.

This book was written well before all the manufactured outrage about “critical race theory,” but the principles found here shed light on why that’s become such a hot button issue.

A lot of the book explores why it’s so hard to talk about race and the different perspectives and cultural expectations from white people, Black people, and other people of color. Each chapter starts with examples where someone needed to talk about race and it was difficult.

The end of the book gives strategies for teachers and facilitators to help people through this difficult topic. A lot of it involves addressing the emotions underlying words so that people feel heard, but aren’t allowed to sidetrack the discussion. The author had some pertinent examples where arguing the content of someone’s remarks only got things more heated, but inquiring about their emotions helped them feel heard and then more equipped to consider the feelings of others.

All the same, I’m not sure I absorbed this well enough just reading about it. I’d like to see it modeled. This would be a good book to use in a workshop. And even as I say this, if the book discussion group had happened, I admit I was hoping to listen and learn more than to participate, because Race Talk is difficult.

But even apart from the helpful tips at the end for putting into practice, this book gives a good overview of issues that come up in discussions about race and how they look different for different groups. So reading the book will help you gain understanding and empathy for those other perspectives, which is a good place to start.

This was written for college professors, and the tone is academic. But it’s packed with helpful information to go beyond being afraid to talk about race.

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Everything Belongs, by Richard Rohr

Christian, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

Everything Belongs

The Gift of Contemplative Prayer

by Richard Rohr

Crossroad, 2003. 186 pages.
Review written January 8, 2025, from my own copy, purchased via amazon.com
Starred Review

I always have trouble summing up Richard Rohr books. I’ve decided that’s because they’re written more for our heart than our head. Someone in my small group had suggested studying contemplative prayer with our next book. So when I saw this book existed, I bought myself a copy to preview it. Well, it isn’t a how-to guide to contemplative prayer, so I didn’t feel like it was exactly what we were looking for. This gives more of the why of contemplative prayer than the how.

And I’m more of a head person than a heart person! Though I would like to grow in that. So I’m not even sure how to pitch this book. It’s worth reading, and I marked out many quotations to post over on my Sonderquotes blog. Let me give a couple of them here, to give you the idea.

The following of Jesus is not a “salvation scheme” or a means of creating social order (which appears to be what most folks want religion for), as much as it is a vocation to share the fate of God for the life of the world. Jesus did not come to create a spiritual elite or an exclusionary system for people who “like” religion, but he invited people to “follow” him in bearing the mystery of human death and resurrection (an almost nonreligious task, but one that can be done only “through, with, and in” God.)

We should not be surprised or scandalized by the sinful and the tragic. Do what you can to be peace and to do justice, but never expect or demand perfection on this earth. It usually leads to a false moral outrage, a negative identity, intolerance, paranoia, and self-serving crusades against “the contaminating element,” instead of “becoming a new creation” ourselves (Gal. 6:15).

And here’s a part that shows where the title comes from:

Everything belongs; God uses everything. There are no dead-ends. There is no wasted energy. Everything is recycled. Sin history and salvation history are two sides of one coin. I believe with all my heart that the Gospel is all about the mystery of forgiveness. When you “get” forgiveness, you get it. We use the phrase “falling in love.” I think forgiveness is almost the same thing. It’s a mystery we fall into: the mystery is God. God forgives all things for being imperfect, broken, and poor. Not only Jesus but all the great people who pray that I have met in my life say the same thing. That’s the conclusion they come to. The people who know God well – the mystics, the hermits, those who risk everything to find God – always meet a lover, not a dictator. God is never found to be an abusive father or a tyrannical mother, but always a lover who is more than we dared hope for. How different than the “account manager” that most people seem to worship.

So I always recommend Richard Rohr. But pick up this book if you’re ready for some meditative writing that is not about thinking, but that will nevertheless challenge your thinking and will uplift your heart.

cac.org

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of In the Garden of Beasts, by Erik Larson

Audiobooks, History, Nonfiction Review, True Stories 0

In the Garden of Beasts

Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin

by Erik Larson
read by Stephen Hoye

Random House Audio, 2011. 12 hours, 53 minutes.
Review written January 8, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review

I’m not sure where I noticed the suggestion, but I do know that somewhere I saw the suggestion that I read this book about the rise of Hitler in order to gain insights about the rise of Donald Trump. Even though the book is 14 years old, there was still a wait for the audio. Now that I’ve read the book in that context, let’s just say that I was not reassured.

This is the story of William Dodd, the American ambassador to Nazi Germany in 1933 through 1937, just after Hitler became chancellor to Germany. Dodd was an academic, not the usual wealthy donor to get an ambassadorship, but newly-elected FDR was having trouble finding someone willing to go. Dodd brought along both his adult children, and the book gives extra attention to his daughter Martha, who had affairs with a wide assortment of men, including the first head of the Gestapo and a Russian Communist.

The chilling part of this book is how so many people simply didn’t take Hitler seriously. They believed him when he’d earnestly lie to their faces and claim he would put a stop to any harassment the people might do to American citizens or Jews. When I think about World War II, I think about the years after America entered the war, and had no idea how early Dachau was built, and that international visitors toured it, saw the prisoners in “protective custody” and said they were well-treated.

Of course, it was mostly unsettling. At first Dodd and his family didn’t believe the Jews were actually being mistreated, except for isolated incidents. And nobody really thought Hitler’s regime would last long. And Hitler improved unemployment! And inflation! And he found people to blame. Roused up national pride. While the main concern from America’s president was that Germany would repay its debts to American banks. (I always forget how soon after World War I Hitler rose to power. Not even fifteen years later.)

The author doesn’t take a grand overarching view of history. He shows us what it was like for one family, transplanted from America to Berlin. He heavily uses descriptions from their writings and keeps their viewpoint – which is all the more poignant, knowing what we know now.

I hated the way they shut their eyes to the threat from Hitler – as I continue to shut my eyes to the parallels I saw. Humans don’t want to believe that bad things are coming. I am still very much hoping this book is simply a fascinating in-depth look at the history of the lead-up to a madman taking power in one country and causing the upheaval of the world. May any parallels simply be products of wild imagination.

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of The Daycare Myth, by Dan Wuori

Current Issues, Nonfiction Review, Stand-outs, Starred Review 0

The Daycare Myth

What we Get Wrong About Early Care and Education
(and What We Should Do About It)

by Dan Wuori

Teachers College Press, 2024. 125 pages.
Review written January 2, 2025, from my own copy, ordered via Amazon.com.
Starred Review
2024 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #2 More Nonfiction

I read this book very quickly at the end of 2024, because I was quite sure it would end up being a Sonderbooks Stand-out, and I didn’t want to wait a year to highlight it.

Dan Wuori has run my favorite account on Twitter for years, and now he’s on Facebook and Bluesky as well. His daily posts (my favorite way to start my day) include an adorable video of a baby or toddler – and then Dr. Wuori explains how the video shows the brain development going on in the child.

And that’s what’s going on in this book, too. Dan Wuori is a spokesperson for babies’ brains! He explains that the years from prenatal to three years old are the most important in a human’s life because our brains are wiring to learn.

And what is the Daycare Myth? It’s the pervasive tendency to downplay this importance and treat places that tend babies and toddlers as only needing to meet their outer physical needs. When the truth is, they are learning centers and need to provide a stable environment for those tiny brains to make the neural connections that are so vital.

That the early years are for caring – and not education – is a notion long (if mostly inadvertently) perpetuated by policymakers. Even those seeking to advance investments in early childhood are prone to framing their arguments around a desire that children “come to kindergarten ready to learn” – as if this is when and where learning begins.

This book is short, and it starts by effectively making the case, using research results, that those first years are vitally important for brain development, and investing in education for those years will pay off abundantly as those children grow older.

All of the ideas in this book are based around “The Three Simple Truths of Early Development”:

(1) Learning begins in utero and never stops.

(2) The period from prenatal to age 3 is a uniquely consequential window of human development during which the fundamental architecture of the brain is “wired.”

(3) Optimal brain development is dependent on stable, nurturing relationships with highly engaged adults.

This is a book on policy, but all along, the author makes a bipartisan case. The benefits of investing in early childhood education will pay off for all of us. He’s not talking about government taking it over completely – and shows why that wouldn’t actually work. But there are things that government can do to help, and things both political parties can and should get behind.

And all of it is based on his strong case that early childhood education is a public good.

We are already paying for the repercussions of not investing in it. It will benefit everyone if we give our attention to this time that makes the most difference in people’s lives.

The chapter titles give you an idea of the flow of Dr. Wuori’s argument:

(1) Daycare Doesn’t Exist

(2) Something for Everyone: The Bipartisan Case for Early Childhood Investment

(3) America’s Failing Child Care Market

(4) How Not to Solve the Child Care Crisis: Imperfect Solutions and Policy Pitfalls

(5) A Wholesale Transformation of America’s Early Childhood Landscape

And that chapter about solutions has some great ideas and even some case studies of states with “promising practices” as they tackle the problem.

Now, you might think I have no skin in the game – my kids are grown adults. But I do remember what it was like, and it feels like I only recently got out of the debt we got into when we tried to get by with me working only part-time so I could be with our kids. (Technically, I suppose it was more recent things, but let’s just say that this set us back.)

And he does talk about all the scenarios. It’s a public good to support babies’ brain development in stable, nurturing relationships, whether that’s at home with their own parent or in an early education setting. In an appendix at the back, he gives ideas for reaching out to elected leaders, especially for parents and professionals.

Bottom line: Read this book!

More than any partisan book I’ve recommended on my website, I hope that people of all political persuasions will give thought to the ideas Dr. Wuori presents and implement as many as they can. Let’s use public policy to promote this public good.

As Dr. Wuori puts it:

As we wrap up our conversation, I want to take just a moment to reiterate why I wrote this book and what I hope it might help to accomplish. If you take nothing else away from our time together, let it be this: The early years are uniquely consequential – and infinitely more impportant than our nation’s public policy might lead you to believe.

tcpress.com

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Review of Christian Mystics, by Matthew Fox

Christian, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

Christian Mystics

365 Readings and Meditations

by Matthew Fox

New World Library, 2011. 406 pages.
Review written November 29, 2021, from a library book
Starred Review

I heard about this book from the Richard Rohr emails I get from his Center for Action and Contemplation. Those daily emails made me interested in Christian mysticism, and this book was a good way to go a little deeper.

The Introduction to this book explains how the author is trying to show Christians mystical writings from within our own tradition. Here’s a short bit from that:

Today there is a genuine effort around the world at “deep ecumenism,” or “interfaith,” the coming together of the spiritual wisdom traditions of the world. That is a positive development. But the Dalai Lama points out that the “number one obstacle to interfaith is a bad relationship with one’s own faith tradition.” It is pitiful how few Christian leaders and Christian teachers (including in seminaries) know their own mystical lineage. These days, as revelations come to light about darkness in the Catholic Church, it is all the more important to pay attention to that which is true and deep and beautiful in the work of our Christian ancestors. Through the ages even to today, Christian mystics and activists have stirred hearts and souls. It is valuable at a time of church reformation and even revolution to tap into this wellspring of truth and renewal. Reading and praying the wisdom in these passages moves me deeply to embrace my mystic/prophet ancestors. I hope it helps to awaken the same in the reader.

The format includes 365 short readings from 32 Christian mystics, who include Jesus and Paul. After each quotation, Matthew Fox has some thoughts and questions about it.

Although there are 365 readings, they are numbered not dated, so you can begin any time during a year. Because I was using a library book, I read two pages per day. It still took a long time to finish, but is an older book, so I could renew or re-check out for as long as I liked.

The dedication also gives you an idea of what you’ll find here:

I dedicate this book to the young. They deserve and require a healthier version of religion, one that celebrates the depths of mysticism, love of the earth and the body, and a fierce commitment to community, compassion, celebrative rituals, and justice-making. They deserve a religion that is both simpler and more open to wisdom from all the world’s spiritual traditions.

May the mystics and meditations in these pages assist us all in reawakening the depths of our faith traditions, whatever they may be. May we travel lighter but stronger into a future worthy of our nobility as a species and worthy of the beauty of this wounded planet.

matthewfox.org
newworldlibrary.com

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Review of A Return to Common Sense, by Leigh McGowan

Current Issues, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 2

A Return to Common Sense

How to Fix America Before We Really Blow It

by Leigh McGowan

One Signal Publishers (Atria), 2024. 294 pages.
Review written December 11, 2024, from my own copy, purchased via Amazon.com
Starred Review

Well, I wish I’d read and reviewed this book before the election, because I feel pretty confident that electing Donald Trump was “really blowing it” as mentioned in the subtitle.

However, the principles Leigh McGowan puts forth here still apply, and I hope we can use them as a beacon to work toward better times.

Leigh McGowan is the creator of the PoliticsGirl podcast – and she’s skilled at breaking down political ideas into clear language. She actually grew up in Canada, but has all the more faith in what America stands for because she chose it for herself.

The author was inspired to write this book by Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, written right before the American Revolution. Her writing is rooted in history, but also a deep passion for understanding how government works and how it should work. This paragraph from her Introduction will give you an idea of where she’s going:

Once again, America finds itself at a tipping point where it could go one of two ways. Once again, our leaders need the inspiration and courage to pick the harder, but more rewarding path. And once again, it will come down to the will of the people to determine our fate. If we choose to continue down this path of division and inequality, with hatred and misinformation impeding our progress, we’ll end up right back where we started, under some form of top-down rule. However, if we choose to address our flawed but inspired democracy now, I believe we can rebuild this nation on a stronger foundation than we began on. It’s my belief, as Paine argued all those years ago, that there’s only one right path, and if we fail to choose it, we’ll lose the opportunity to choose again. This time the choice isn’t between subjugation or independence, but democracy and plutocracy. We either continue to favor the wealthy and influential, while we strip citizens of their rights and shore up minority rule, or we get serious about living up to the ideals we’ve sold to the world.

She roots her book in history, including “America 101” sidebars about how our government works. And then she bases the rest of the book on “The Six American Principles.”

So, how do we build this better, stronger nation? What are the fundamental building blocks we can all agree make America, America? What do we, the citizens of this nation, believe are the bedrocks of the United States? Drawing on our founding documents, and important moments in our country’s history, I propose the Six American Principles. Six things that we, the people, no matter our politics, persuasion, or background, can agree on. Six ideals we can use as guideposts to not only find our way out of the mess we’re currently in, but to set a course for a future of which we can actually be proud. If we start here, we start strong.

Here are the Six American Principles she proposes:

1. America is a land of freedom.

2. Everyone should have the opportunity to rise.

3. Every citizen should have a vote, and that vote should count.

4. Representatives should represent the people who voted for them.

5. The law applies to all of us.

6. Government should be a force for good.

Of course, there’s lots to say about each of these principles, and that’s what takes up the bulk of the book. What does “freedom” mean? And who actually gets it? There are a lot of history sidebars in the section that talks about that. What does it mean to have the opportunity to rise? And what does it mean for your vote to count? And how do legislators represent people? There’s lots of background here about how our representatives are chosen and how elections work – and ideas for improving that.

The principle I resonated most with is “Government should be a force for good.” I guess that’s because, as a librarian, I work for local government. And I very much believe that the lives of everyone in the county are better because of that work. Here’s how Leigh McGowan introduces that section:

It’s easy to criticize government, and candidly, there’s plenty that deserves criticism. However, government is something we cannot live without. There is so much the government does that we don’t even consider. From local governments sending workers to remove that tree that fell across your street to Homeland Security stopping a potential terrorist attack. From weekly garbage pickup, to workers in our national parks, to government scientists approving the quality of our vaccines and baby food. If you call the police, that’s the government. If you need the fire department, it’s paid for by the government. If your state has a natural disaster, it will be the government who foots the bill to clean it up. Do you use public school? Government. Is mail delivered to your home? Government. Do your streetlights come on, and traffic lights work? That’s the government. Government plays such a huge and essential role in our modern society that we couldn’t live without it, yet we spend so much time complaining about it when we could be engaging with it to make it better.

Ronald Reagan inflicted a great wound on the country when he said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help.” As president of the United States, Reagan used his authority as head of the government to undermine how essential government really is. The government should help its people, and if you don’t believe that, then what are you doing in government?

And she goes on to suggest ways the government can be a greater force for good in our lives.

Obviously, with me, Leigh McGowan is preaching to the choir. I agree with almost all of her views, and I appreciate her passion. But I also appreciate her no-nonsense, plain-spoken way of explaining what can be murky. She’s done her research, and to me, she makes politics and government easier to understand.

Now, it’s easy to feel discouraged after the 2024 presidential election. But I still appreciate the way she encourages us all to do our part and make this country a better place:

What I’ve noticed while positioning myself in this “warrior for democracy” space is that I’ve struck a nerve, not just with the people who tell me I’m an idiot, or a communist, or hate it when women speak, but with important and powerful people. People with real influence and the ability to make change. People who, despite what we see on TV, in formal tweets, or what their general by-the-book demeanor may suggest, really do care about what’s happening in this country and are passionate about fixing it. I say this because I want you to know if you speak up, if you vote, if you organize, that you will be heard. That there are people who recognize you are unhappy, and they are out here attempting to work within the system to fix it. Please know you have not been abandoned, and the louder and clearer we are about what we want and are willing to fight for, the more confidence and courage those people will have to make the changes this country truly needs.

Thank you, PoliticsGirl, for making politics and government and history so much clearer. Thank you for this vision of a government that is a force for good. And thank you for encouraging all of us to work to make that vision a reality.

SimonandSchuster.com

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Nonfiction/return_to_common_sense.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of The Anthropocene Reviewed, by John Green

Musings, Nonfiction Review, Starred Review 0

The Anthropocene Reviewed

Essays on a Human-Centered Planet

by John Green

Penguin Audio, 2021. 10 hours, 3 minutes.
Review written September 7, 2022, from a library eaudiobook
Starred Review

First, a big thank-you to my coworker Lisa for recommending this book and telling me it was available with John Green reading it himself. More than anything else of his I’ve read, this reminds me of how I first found out about John Green — in his vlog with his brother Hank, discussing random things together.

I like the way John Green’s nerdy mind works. He knows all kinds of bizarre facts and goes off on multiple tangents, and I think it’s all so fascinating.

In this book, John Green reviews random things on a five-star scale. But in order to do that, he tells about his own experiences with them and sometimes random facts about them and basically what it means to him. He explains at the beginning that reviews are inherently personal. I completely agree, and that made me feel good about this website and how I review books with respect to how I enjoyed them.

The things he chooses to review are somewhat bizarre. We’ve got Halley’s Comet, Canada geese, scratch ‘n’ sniff stickers, diet Dr. Pepper, and Lascaux cave paintings, for example. What could you possibly think of that all these have in common? Well, they’re all reviewed in this book.

I have to say that although I enjoy listening to John Green talk and found the subjects fascinating once he starts talking about them, when I had the physical book checked out, I didn’t get much read. It may have to do with the random nature of the selection of topics and no plot to keep me going. To my surprise, when I started listening, at first my attention wasn’t engaged either. But then I had the idea to listen at 1.25 speed — and I’d hit the sweet spot. I happily listened to the rest of the eaudiobook on my phone while driving and while doing housework (as one does) and maybe a little in between those times because I was so interested.

I happily give this book four-and-a-half stars.

johngreenbooks.com

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Nonfiction/anthropocene_reviewed.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?