Nonfiction Advisory
Guns, Germs, and Steel
Jared Diamond argues that geography, ecology, and the uneven spread of domesticable species shaped large differences in power and technology.
Worth Reading
Worth Reading
Independent reading selections for creativity, craft, curiosity, and meaning.
Worth Reading is AuthZ’s shelf of independent reading selections, not a collection of literary essays. We choose books that help people create, develop their craft, follow their curiosity, or find language for questions that matter to them. Each note explains what a book might make possible in a reader’s life.
All recommendations and reflections represent our own opinions. AuthZ accepts no payment, review copies, affiliate commissions, or other consideration for these selections. Entries do not link to retailers, publishers, libraries, or other acquisition services.
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31 selectionsNonfiction Advisory
Gödel, Escher, Bach
Douglas Hofstadter links logic, art, music, and cognition to investigate how self-reference and layered systems can produce surprising meaning.
Nonfiction Advisory
Figuring
Maria Popova follows connections among artists, writers, and scientists to show how intellectual life grows through relationships, correspondence, influence, and historical circumstance.