Today I'm sharing the best book I read in October.
Of the 11 books I read this month, I had two 5-star reads:
Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman
It Had to Be Him by Adib Khorram
I love everything Khorram writes, but since I already featured the first in this romance series as a previous Best of the Bunch (
September 2024), I'm going to go with the other one this time!
Humankind was exactly what I needed right now. Bregman argues that how we view humanity as a whole becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and that our collective belief (reinforced by simplified histories, sketchy but famous psychological experiments, economic theories, and the criminal justice system generally) that humans are inherently selfish actually doesn't hold up to the evidence. I appreciated that Bregman takes the reader on his own journey of looking into questions about human nature, coming up with seemingly disappointing answers, and then digging below the surface to show that there's more going on than meets the eye. I'm sure that folks could find other evidence to poke holes in Bregman's theories, though I appreciated how often he cited meta-analyses and showed how a single story wasn't the whole picture. Even if not watertight, I appreciate having a solid collection of evidence that having trust, hope, and faith in humanity is not naïve. I would highly recommend this read (or listen — it was great on audio).
What is the best book you read this month? Let me know in comments, or write your own post and link up below!
Looking back:
One year ago I was reading:
Useful Delusions,
The Strange Case of Origami Yoda,
The Usborne Book of Puzzle Adventures, and
Somewhere Beyond the Sea
Five years ago I was reading:
Amazing Grace and
To Kill a Mockingbird
Ten years ago I was reading:
Jesus Calling,
A Snicker of Magic,
Lonesome Dove, and
David Copperfield
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