Great Reads for March
Ahoy,
Happy Ides of March week! With everything going on in the news it’s like we never left the Early Roman Empire!
Two things before we jump into the books. First, I built SingleWord.cc (formerly Betaread.me) where you can share your writing. I’ve posted a few of my fiction pieces up there and I’d love to read some of your work. If you post something and let me know I’ll personally read and comment on it. Basically this is supposed to be a friendly place to share writing that’s free of all the fussiness of Reddit and Facebook. It’s an experiment but I’d love for you to check it out.
Next I published a short book called Pitch Decks for Founders. It’s exactly what it says on the tin. It’s going to be part of a series on technology and entrepreneurship that I started called For Founders press. Each book will be less thant 30K words and will be focused on a single topic. Check it out!
And now, onto the books.
Steven Saylor
This was a hate read. I needed to finish it primarily because I had gotten so far into it. Basically, it’s akin to Pillars of the Earth in that it’s a sprawling fictional retelling of a large expanse of history. You begin in ancient Ruma - a word meaning “teat" or “udder” - where a family of salt makers sets up shop among a series of fecund hills. The story follows a talisman from generation to generation, stopping at various historical points. Saylor did a lot of research for this book and it shows but it’s written like James Michener on Dilaudid. If you like books meandering through history it’s a winner. Otherwise, steer clear.
Anne Morrow Lindbergh
This is a wonderful little book. It’s a woman’s meditations on the value of solitude and beauty and feels like it was written only a few years ago. You’ll love the sense of openess and freedom Lindbergh expresses at her life on the ocean and her views on stress and modernity are lovely.
The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism
Katherine Stewart
This is a dense but fascinating look at the rise of Christian Nationalism in the United States. From the early God, Guns, and Glory days of John Wayne to January 6th, we’re looking at a slow and careful set of movements by Christian superemicists to essentially instill Sharia law in America. Quite an eye-opener.