This month’s reading list recommendations come from the CRR UK family. The books presented are as diverse as our personalities and each of them will make you think, laugh, learn or adopt a different perspective. Enjoy!
The Quiet Before
by Gal Beckerman
Recommended by Nairy McMahon
We tend to think of revolutions as loud: frustrations and demands shouted in the streets. But the ideas fuelling them have traditionally been conceived in much quieter spaces, in the small, secluded corners where a vanguard can whisper among themselves, imagine alternate realities, and deliberate about how to achieve their goals. This extraordinary book is a search for those spaces, over centuries and across continents, and a warning that—in a world dominated by social media—they might soon go extinct.
The Tao Of Pooh
by Benjamin Hoff
Recommended by Keith McMahon
Winnie-the-Pooh has a certain way about him, a way of doing things that has made him the world’s most beloved bear, and Pooh’s Way, as Benjamin Hoff brilliantly demonstrates, seems strangely close to the ancient Chinese principles of Taoism.
While Eeyore frets, and Piglet hesitates, and Rabbit calculates, and Owl pontificates, Pooh just is. Follow the Pooh Way in this humorous and enlightening introduction to Taoism.
Bitch
by Lucy Cooke
Recommended by Claire Chatterton
Since Charles Darwin, evolutionary biologists have been convinced that the males of the animal kingdom are the interesting ones—dominating and promiscuous, while females are dull, passive, and devoted.
In Bitch, Cooke tells a new story. Whether investigating same-sex female albatross couples that raise chicks, murderous mother meerkats, or the titanic battle of the sexes waged by ducks, Cooke shows us a new evolutionary biology, one where females can be as dynamic as any male. This isn‘t your grandfather’s evolutionary biology. It’s more inclusive, truer to life, and, simply, more fun.
Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century
by Henry Jenkins, with Ravi Purushotma, Margaret Weigel, Katie Clinton, Alice J. Robison
Recommended by Cristina Passalacqua
Many teens today who use the Internet are actively involved in participatory cultures—joining online communities (Facebook, message boards, game clans), producing creative work in new forms (digital sampling, modding, fan video-making, fan fiction), working in teams to complete tasks and develop new knowledge (as in Wikipedia), and shaping the flow of media (as in blogging or podcasting).
This report aims to shift the conversation about the “digital divide” from questions about access to technology to questions about access to opportunities for involvement in participatory culture and how to provide all young people with the chance to develop the cultural competencies and social skills needed. Fostering these skills, the authors argue, requires a systemic approach to media education; schools, after-school programs, and parents all have distinctive roles to play.
The Lion Inside
by Rachel Bright
Recommended by Laura Wilks
A bestselling story about confidence, self-esteem, and a shy little mouse who sets out on a journey to find his roar.
Fed up of being ignored by the other animals, Mouse wishes he could roar like Lion. But, as he discovers, even the biggest, bossiest people are scared sometimes … and even the smallest creatures can have the heart of a lion!
Reinventing Your Life
by Jeffrey E. Young, Janet S. Klosko
Recommended by Radu Cocis
Unsatisfactory relationships, irrational lack of self-esteem, feelings of being unfulfilled—these are all problems that can be solved by changing the types of messages that people internalize. These self-defeating behavior patterns are called “lifetraps,” and Reinventing Your Life shows you how to stop the cycle that keeps you from attaining happiness.
Thousands of people have seen the immediate and long-term results of the extraordinary program outlined in this clear, compassionate, liberating book. Its innovative approach to solving ongoing emotional problems will help you create a more fulfilling, productive life.
The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity
by David Graeber, David Wengrow
Recommended by Keith McMahon
A trailblazing account of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution – from the development of agriculture and cities to the emergence of “the state”, political violence, and social inequality – and revealing new possibilities for human emancipation.
The Dawn of Everything fundamentally transforms our understanding of the human past and offers a path toward imagining new forms of freedom, new ways of organizing society. This is a monumental book of formidable intellectual range, animated by curiosity, moral vision, and a faith in the power of direct action.
