Reviews and Comments

Travis F W

travisfw@sfba.club

Joined 11 months, 2 weeks ago

Nonfiction audio is my main thing. Autobiographies, parenting, science, social issues, and some business or anything educational.

I consider nonfiction to be a healthier and more useful view of the world than the news.

I have a few Mastodon accounts, like @travisfw@fosstodon.org

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Gregg Behr, Ryan Rydzewski, Joanne Rogers: When You Wonder, You're Learning (2022, Hachette Books, Hachette Go) 4 stars

Although I somehow expected to get more out of the book that I could use as a father of two young kids, I did learn a lot about Rogers' life and associations, and some of the interesting tangential happenings in Pittsburgh. Also, the big takeaway was to encourage and engage the kids in unstructured creative play. Although I already was aware of the reasons, the importance of doing so is worth taking time to consider.

Michael Pollan: How to Change Your Mind (Paperback, 2019, Penguin Books) 4 stars

When Michael Pollan set out to research how LSD and psilocybin (the active ingredient in …

Good journalistic history of psychedelics. Highly relatable. Approached from a modern perspective, walking the tightrope psychedelics walk between science and the metaphysics of subjective experience, including religious experience, consciousness expansion, and the nature of reality, without losing the audience. Though it's been a few years since it was published, How to Change Your Mind was well worth my ten hours (not that my audio book player is on 1x speed, actually).

Michael Pollan: How to Change Your Mind (Paperback, 2019, Penguin Books) 4 stars

When Michael Pollan set out to research how LSD and psilocybin (the active ingredient in …

Seemed like a prerequisite to another book, and, halfway through, now, I am not regretting getting into the history of psychedelics, the revival of the science (as of 2018), the reasons for the conflicts in culture and scientific methods, and more. I really appreciate Michael Pollan's balanced approach, exploring all the different perspectives without disparaging any group nor individual.

Arline T. Geronimus: Weathering (AudiobookFormat, 2023, Hachette B and Blackstone Publishing) No rating

Fusing science and social justice, renowned public health researcher Dr. Arline T. Geronimus offers an …

Geronimus is highly quotable, very thorough, and her insights are critically important for the medical community, public health, government policy, and progressive culture. I learned a lot, and I only got halfway through. Maybe I will finish it, but if the length of the book is at all daunting to you, know that every chapter is worth it, and even if you follow my lead and stop halfway through, I still recommend the first half of the book wholeheartedly.

Jen Lumanlan: Parenting Beyond Power (2023, Sasquatch Books) 4 stars

Research-based parenting educator Jen Lumanlan provides a simple yet revolutionary framework for rethinking our relationship …

I wish I could give Lumanlan more stars, but with one kid and seemingly little direct input from families with many, I found a whole lot of distance between my daily challenges and the narrative. In my experience 2 kids is a different category of parenting than an only child. I got a vasectomy for my very survival. And I must say, you will not find a book on parenting written by an author with three kids close in age. Such is flatly impossible. But with that significant caveat, Jen Lumanlan's experience and research IS extensive and deep and as an expression of strife for a better future for humanity, I wholeheartedly commend this book as a necessary voice in the conversation about what parenting can be, and how we can side step some of the intergenerational trauma that is so ubiquitous that it is most often invisible within us.