LitQueuelitqueue

After

Going Clear

Lawrence Wright2013

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • The Sociopath Next Door

    Martha Stout2005

    A psychologist explains how to identify people who lack a conscience. She details how they operate in everyday life without feeling guilt.

    Same clinical register, still true crime

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison

    Michel Foucault

    A philosophical history examines the shift from public torture to modern prison surveillance. It analyzes how power controls the body.

    Same clinical register

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak0

  • Confessions

    Augustine of Hippo

    A 4th-century bishop writes a spiritual autobiography addressed to God. He recounts his sinful youth and his eventual conversion to Christianity.

    clinical → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-2

  • Antifragile

    Nassim Nicholas Taleb2012

    A philosophical exploration of systems that thrive under stress and disorder. It argues against fragility in economics and personal life.

    clinical → reflective

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak-1

To recover

3 more ↓

  • Starter Villain

    John Scalzi2023

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

    clinical → wry

    pace0·prose-1·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

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Digital Fortress

    Dan Brown1998

    The NSA's code-breaking supercomputer encounters an unbreakable algorithm. A cryptographer and a professor race to find the kill code.

    clinical → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

Faster

3 more ↓

  • Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever

    Bill O'Reilly

    A minute-by-minute narrative of John Wilkes Booth's plot to kill Abraham Lincoln and the subsequent manhunt for the conspirators.

    clinical → propulsive, still true crime

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

  • American Kingpin

    Nick Bilton2017

    This account follows Ross Ulbricht as he builds the Silk Road dark web market and the federal agents who spend years tracking him down.

    clinical → propulsive, still true crime

    pace+1·prose0·bleak-1

  • The Sun and Her Flowers

    Rupi Kaur2017

    A collection of short, illustrated poems organized into five stages of growth. It covers themes of loss, trauma, and self-healing.

    clinical → earnest

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

Slower

3 more ↓

  • Confessions

    Augustine of Hippo

    A 4th-century bishop writes a spiritual autobiography addressed to God. He recounts his sinful youth and his eventual conversion to Christianity.

    clinical → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-2

  • How to Read a Book

    Mortimer J. Adler1940

    This is a guide to active reading techniques for different genres. It outlines levels of reading from basic literacy to syntopical analysis.

    clinical → mysterious

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

  • The Red Book: Liber Novus

    C.G. Jung2009

    A psychologist records his visions and internal dialogues in an illuminated manuscript created during a period of intense self-exploration.

    clinical → dreamlike

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

Heavier

Same clinical register, still true crime

3 more ↓

  • Under the Banner of Heaven

    Jon Krakauer2003

    This account links a 1984 double murder to the history and evolution of Mormon fundamentalism.

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

  • Columbine

    Dave Cullen2009

    A journalist reconstructs the 1999 school shooting using police records and the killers' journals to debunk common myths.

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

  • Evicted

    Matthew Desmond2016

    Desmond follows eight families in Milwaukee as they face eviction. It documents the mechanics of the private rental market and extreme poverty.

    Same clinical register, still investigative journalism

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1