Non-Fiction November

Taking a bit of a break from YouTube as I try to figure out a workable set up while travelling. That said, still want to do some writing about books, and what better way to start than discussing what I hope to read for Non Fiction November, a whole month where those inclined to read fiction make an extra effort to read some subject matters less steeped in the made up.

So here are three book I hope to get through this month.


The first I hope to get to is Asperger's Children: The Origins of Autism in Nazi Germany. Autism is a subject matter close to my heart, an issue that has touched my family. A couple of years ago I listened to the marvelous NeuroTribes, which masterfully laid the history of autism and reframed how we see the condition as a reflection of neurodiversity in the human species.  Asperger's Children delves deeply into the notorious and morally problematic experiments that one of the first studies of autism engaged in during the Third Reich's reign over Germany.

The second I hope to get to is Alexander Chee's How to Write an Autobiographical Novel. Chee wrote the epic opera novel, Queen of the Night a few years ago and is an entertaining and insightful presence on twitter. I'm looking forward to hearing his more elaborated thoughts on all sorts of issues impacting the social and political zeitgeist.

The third book I hope to tackle is Mistaken Identity by Asad Haider. Haider tries to address the very tangled subject of identity politics, which has both provoked right wing populist white identity politics and created divisions within the left trying to build a broad opposition to the emergence of extreme politics. I have heard great things about this and hopefully it's a tool that others wanting to build radical political alternatives to the mess we are in can use.