Jordan Mattox

1. War and Peace Volumes III & IV Leo Tolstoy 

There certainly came a feeling of accomplishment finishing what is often considered the long book of long books. I won’t deny that this required a lot of patience and perseverance at points, but most of the time was spent absorbed in the world of the Napoleonic Wars. Tolstoy is as much a psychologist as he is a novelist. His characters climb off the page and crawl deep into your mind. One element that I didn’t realize would be a large feature of this book is Tolstoy’s philosophical reflections on history. He spends pages and pages critiquing the great man theory of history: the idea the important men move the historical ball down the field. Should this book be on people’s bucket lists? Maybe, maybe not? I am a big believer that you should read what you want, but I also don’t think all books are equal. Read good books that interest you. This is a good book, but it may not interest you. If you are a Tolstoy virgin, I would recommend beginning with Anna Karenina and if you enjoy that, pick this one up. 

2. Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World Maryanne Wolf 

Heard about Wolf through a podcast and devoured this book. Wolf is a literacy scholar at UCLA and a thoughtful critic in a world where reading has transformed so dramatically in the last twenty years. This book unpacks the challenges and opportunities with reading on screens. She is neither a pessimist or an optimist, but realistic that it is hurting our reading minds, but also is not going away. She wants us to think about digital and analog as two languages and the goal is to be bilingual, using digital for certain tasks, but emphasizing physical books as much as possible.

3. Obata’s Yosemite: Art and Letters of Obata from His Trip to the High Sierra in 1927 Chiura Obata

Obata is someone that is little known in California, but lived a fascinating life and is one of the influential visual artists in the state’s history. After immigrating from Japan, he fell in love with the landscape of California, and Yosemite in particular. This book is a collection of essays about his life and art and some beautiful letters he wrote to his wife while he was exploring the high Sierras.

4. California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric–and What It Means for America’s Power Grid Katherine Blunt 

I interviewed Blunt for my California history podcast. The book combines history and true crime, a corporate version, and description of how capitalism and climate have fueled the time bomb that is PG&E. If you live in California, you need to read this book for so many reasons.