In a time where literacy rates are at their lowest in decades, AI is threatening jobs, and alarming new headlines are in the newspapers every single day, reading has largely been forgotten. Yet one of the best things we can do is read. Reading can provide information, joy, and enrichment for the reader, and all of these things are important in a time of uncertainty. With all of that said, here are some book recommendations to help navigate and understand the chaotic world around us. 

#1 Eve, by Cat Bohannon 

Eve is one of the most fascinating science books I’ve ever read. It delves into the world of biology, exploring how the female body differs vastly from the male body and how women have long been underrepresented in scientific studies. In addition, it also explores how the patriarchy was created and how it isn’t based on biological facts. Two interesting facts I learned from Eve are: anesthesia was not tested for sex differences until 1999 (and those tests found that women metabolize anesthesia much faster than men, causing women to wake up quicker in procedures), and women’s bone structure is more distinct from men’s than one might think. These changes occur during puberty, where women’s ribcages, pelvises, and some joints stretch and form differently from men’s. Eve comes in two versions: the original version and one adapted for young adult readers. I would suggest the young adult version because it is much more digestible and doesn’t use a bunch of long, fancy science words. 

#2 The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, by Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht

This is less of a “sit-down with a cup of coffee and a read” kind of book, but I certainly like having it. This book covers almost every single worst-case scenario imaginable, from killer bees to hijackings, to a phone on fire, to jumping from a motorcycle into a car, and everything in between. In a time when anxiety runs high, having a book like this can be somewhat calming. Some sections that are very relevant today include, “How to Survive a Protest,” which contains tips on what to do during both peaceful and not-so-peaceful protests, and “How to Navigate Without GPS,” which is a pretty handy skill to have that not many people do anymore.

#3 Animal Farm, by George Orwell 

Animal Farm is one of those books that starts off as entertainment and slowly connects you to reality. In this short story, the plot follows the animals of a farm who overthrow their farmers to live in equality. However, this equality is destroyed when the pigs take control, making “some animals more equal than others.” The plot can be interpreted in many ways; and most of these interpretations can be applied to the present. For example, one of the big underlying themes is that the government is only run by pigs, meaning one specific type of person in power, much like how our government has historically been run predominantly by white men. I don’t want to spoil the ending, but it is different from the movie, so read the book!

#4 Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson 

Silent Spring is a book that changed history without people realizing it. After the book was released in 1962, protestors pushed to ban DDT, a colorless and odorless pesticide that was commonly used in the 1960s. In addition to this, the book spurred many new laws into action regarding pollution and the quality of our air, land, and water. My mother likes to call it “the original environmental science book,” and in a world that currently doesn’t seem to care about melting icecaps, reading about environmental science from the 1960s will make you realize two things: how far we’ve come, and how much farther we still have to go.

#5 The Road, by Cormac McCarthy 

This book is about a fictional post-apocalyptic world in which a father and son travel along highways while struggling to find food or hope. This is one of my favorite books, but if doom and gloom isn’t your jam, I would skip it. This book is mostly for entertainment, and I wouldn’t take it as a literal future possibility. Frankly, I didn’t understand what was happening half of the time (in the best way possible). There are many interactions with other characters where you only unlock the actual meaning hours later. It offers a refreshing world setup with no zombies or aliens hunting humans, just humans attempting to survive.