LitQueuelitqueue

After

No Place to Hide

Glenn Greenwald2014

6 of 6 directions open

More like it

1 more ↓

  • Zeitoun

    Dave Eggers2009

    A Syrian-American man stays in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina to help neighbors, only to be arrested and held in a military-style prison.

    Same tense register, still journalism

    pace0·prose0·bleak0

Denser prose

3 more ↓

  • Seeing Like a State

    James C. Scott1998

    An analysis of how large-scale state projects fail by ignoring local knowledge. It covers forestry, city planning, and forced villagization.

    tense → analytical, still politics

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

  • 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.

    tense → clinical

    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.

    tense → meditative

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-2

To recover

3 more ↓

  • That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon

    Kimberly Lemming2021

    A spice trader saves a demon while intoxicated and joins his quest to kill a witch. The story features frequent sexual content and humor.

    tense → playful

    pace0·prose-1·bleak-2

  • The Stainless Steel Rat

    Harry Harrison1961

    A futuristic con man is caught by the Special Corps and forced to use his criminal skills to catch other lawbreakers.

    tense → playful

    pace+1·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.

    tense → propulsive

    pace+1·prose-1·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.

    tense → playful

    pace+1·prose-1·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.

    tense → playful

    pace+1·prose-1·bleak-2

  • Bad Blood

    John Carreyrou2018

    A journalist tracks the rise of Elizabeth Holmes and the eventual exposure of her multibillion-dollar blood-testing startup as a fraud.

    tense → propulsive, still journalism

    pace+1·prose0·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.

    tense → 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.

    tense → 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.

    tense → dreamlike

    pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

Heavier

tense → clinical, still journalism

3 more ↓

  • And the Band Played on

    Randy Shilts1987

    A journalistic account of the early AIDS epidemic. It tracks the spread of the virus and the political response from 1980 to 1985.

    tense → earnest, still journalism

    pace0·prose0·bleak+1

  • Seeing Like a State

    James C. Scott1998

    An analysis of how large-scale state projects fail by ignoring local knowledge. It covers forestry, city planning, and forced villagization.

    tense → analytical, still politics

    pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

  • My War Gone By, I Miss It So

    Anthony Loyd1999

    A journalist reports on the Bosnian War while grappling with his family's military legacy and a personal addiction to heroin.

    tense → bleak, still journalism

    pace0·prose+1·bleak+1