LitQueuelitqueue

After

Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison

Michel Foucault

5 of 6 directions open — nothing denser

More like it

1 more ↓

  • When Crack Was King

    Donovan X. Ramsey2023

    This history tracks the crack epidemic through the lives of four people, including a dealer and a mayor. It covers policy and community impact.

    Same clinical register, still history

    pace0·prose-1·bleak0

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Neon Gods

    Katee Robert2021

    In a modern city-state, Persephone flees an arranged marriage to Zeus by entering the underworld. She strikes a deal with Hades to stay there.

    clinical → tense

    pace+1·prose-3·bleak-2

  • Starter Villain

    John Scalzi2023

    A substitute teacher inherits his uncle's secret supervillain business, including a volcano lair and talking cats.

    clinical → wry

    pace+1·prose-3·bleak-2

  • Playing with Fire

    Gena Showalter2006

    A barista gains elemental superpowers after being poisoned and must flee from a government agent. They eventually work together to escape.

    clinical → playful

    pace+1·prose-3·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

    Neil deGrasse Tyson2017

    A summary of the origin of the universe, the laws of physics, and the nature of space and time.

    clinical → playful

    pace+2·prose-3·bleak-2

  • Steal Like an Artist

    Austin Kleon2012

    A series of short, illustrated principles for creative work. It focuses on remixing existing ideas and establishing productive daily habits.

    clinical → playful

    pace+2·prose-3·bleak-2

  • Poke the Box

    Seth Godin2011

    A short manifesto encouraging readers to start projects and take initiative. It argues that the greatest risk is staying in place.

    clinical → earnest

    pace+2·prose-3·bleak-2

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Gödel, Escher, Bach

    Douglas R. Hofstadter1979

    An exploration of how cognition emerges from hidden neurological patterns. It uses math, art, and music to explain self-referential systems.

    clinical → playful, still philosophy

    pace-1·prose0·bleak-2

  • Nicomachean Ethics

    Aristotle

    A philosophical inquiry into human happiness, defining virtue as a mean between extremes of behavior and character.

    Same clinical register, still philosophy

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-2

  • The Frontier in American History

    Frederick Jackson Turner1920

    A series of essays arguing that the American character and democracy were shaped by the continuous expansion into the western wilderness.

    Same clinical register, still history

    pace-1·prose-1·bleak-2

Heavier

clinical → elegiac, still history

3 more ↓

  • Auschwitz

    Laurence Rees2005

    A chronological history of the camp's evolution from a Polish barracks to a site of mass industrial murder, based on archival research.

    Same clinical register, still history

    pace0·prose-2·bleak+1

  • By Hands Now Known

    Margaret A. Burnham2022

    An investigation into racial violence and legal failures in the Jim Crow South using previously unexamined archives.

    pace0·prose-1·bleak+1

  • The Great Hunger: Ireland 1845 - 1849

    Cecil Woodham-Smith

    A detailed record of the Irish Potato Famine, focusing on the failure of British government policy and the resulting mass starvation.

    pace0·prose-1·bleak+1