Worldview Shapers

One of the greatest things about reading nonfiction is learning all kinds of things about our world which you never would have known without it. There’s the intriguing, the beautiful, the appalling, and the profound.

This is one of the reasons that I read non-fiction to learn about subjects and people and get a different viewpoint on something that I may not have considered up until now. A good non-fiction book will have had the appropriate fact-checking done by editors and have a balanced view of a subject. One of the genres that doesn’t always have this is memoir, these are an account of one person’s particular worldview at a stage in their life. This doesn’t mean that you should discount them, because how people perceive something gives you a different perspective.

What nonfiction book or books have impacted the way you see the world in a powerful way?

This is a really difficult question. I had to think long and hard about this and the books that I came up with are about the climate and the way that humanity has irreversibly shaped it over the past 500 years. There are numerous books that have been written about this subject and I must admit that I haven’t read them all. But of all the books that I have read, these below have been eye-opening:

Nomad Century by Gaia Vince
High Tide by Mark Lynas
The Nutmeg’s Curse by Amitav Ghosh
Silent Earth by Dave Goulson

And terrifying…

Is there one book that made you rethink everything?

I have thought long and hard about this and can categorically say there isn’t one specific book that has made me rethink everything. That said, there have been lots of books that have made me want to discover more about that particular subject, For me reading is a journey, and the different paths that books take me down open up other opportunities and avenues.

Do you think there is a book that should be required reading for everyone?

Again, I don’t think so. Being told that I must read a certain book by an author reminds me of reading books at school where you are made to read books, that for me at least were utterly irrelevant and mostly really really dull.

My philosophy is that people should read exactly what they want. These are not rules, but guidelines that I find useful:

Find people who have similar tastes to you and trawl their real or virtual shelves for ideas

Go to the library and get books out that might not be your thing and give them a go.

Read widely.

Don’t be afraid to stop reading a book if it is not the right time or you are not getting on with it. (you’re not at school now!)

Have you had any life-changing (and no religious books) that have changed you as a reader? Let me know in the comments below.