Thomas Paine: Enlightenment, Revolution, and the Birth of Modern Nations

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women

Kate Moore2018

Female factory workers in the 1920s contract radiation poisoning from luminous paint. They fight a legal battle against their employers.

pace0·prose0·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.

earnest → clinical, still history

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+1

The Gulag Archipeligo 1918-1956: An Experiment In Literary Investigation I - Ii.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

A history of the Soviet forced labor camp system based on survivor reports and the author's own imprisonment. It documents state-run repression.

earnest → bleak, still history

pace-1·prose+2·bleak+2

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.

earnest → meditative

pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

Hidden Figures

Margot Lee Shetterly2016

A history of the Black female mathematicians at NASA who calculated flight trajectories by hand. It spans from WWII through the space race.

Same earnest register, still biography

pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

Theodore Rex

Edmund Morris2001

A biography covering Theodore Roosevelt’s two terms as President, focusing on his domestic policy and the expansion of American global power.

earnest → wry, still biography

pace-1·prose+1·bleak-1

Profiles in Courage

John F. Kennedy1955

Biographical sketches of eight United States Senators who risked their careers to follow their consciences.

Same earnest register, still biography

pace-1·prose0·bleak-1

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.

earnest → playful

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

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.

earnest → playful

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

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.

Same earnest register

pace+1·prose-1·bleak-1

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.

earnest → meditative

pace-2·prose+2·bleak-1

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.

earnest → mysterious

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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.

earnest → dreamlike

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Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation

John Ehle

A historical account of the Cherokee Nation's political struggles and their forced removal from ancestral lands in the 1830s.

earnest → elegiac, still biography

pace-1·prose0·bleak+2

Hitler: A Study in Tyranny – A Classic Biography: Authoritative and Readable, Abridged

Alan Bullock

A detailed biography of Adolf Hitler that focuses on his rise to power and his psychological control over the German state.

earnest → clinical, still biography

pace-1·prose+1·bleak+2

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

Dee Alexander Brown

A chronological history of the displacement and systematic destruction of Native American tribes in the late 19th century.

earnest → elegiac, still history

pace-1·prose0·bleak+2