Have you ever finished a movie, book, TV show, podcast, or TED Talk and come away from it with a totally different mindset or perspective? The content we consume has a huge impact on us, so it is important to take a break from mindlessly scrolling through our phones and learn something new. Whether you’re a voracious reader or haven’t picked up a book in years, here are four books you should read to open your mind and change your life.
The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
I truly believe that this book should be a required read for everyone. Journalist Michael Pollan travels around the country on a mission to discover how our food is produced and what exactly fast food is made out of. He visits huge factory farms, tiny self-sustaining farms, and everything in between, mixing alarming facts and statistics about high-fructose corn syrup with anecdotes about visiting “Rosie the chicken” from Whole Foods. After finishing this book you’ll know way more about your food than you would like to, but with that, be able to make more informed decisions about what you put into your body. You’ll also come to realize that a simple trip to the grocery store is not as simple as you may have thought. After finishing this fascinating and eye-opening read, you may also like in his other book, How To Change Your Mind. This page-turner is another interesting one, especially if you like to ponder big ideas about consciousness, life and death.
Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay
If you’ve ever struggled with your relationship with your body and self-image issues (who hasn’t), I would highly recommend reading this memoir by Roxane Gay. This book touches on the way society views the female body and how trauma can affect the body in various ways. Gay does a great job of making this book intensely personal, while also remaining relatable to anyone who has struggled with feelings of unworthiness in their own body. She combines topics of society’s obsession with thinness with blunt humor and sarcasm. Gay also discusses her own body with a rawness and vulnerability that is incredibly inspiring. If you enjoy Hunger, you should also check out her short story collection Difficult Women.
Girl in the Woods: A Memoir by Aspen Matis
This moving memoir follows the young author on her solo trek from Mexico to Canada on the famed Pacific Crest Trail. Matis embarked on this journey after being raped by a fellow student during her freshman year of college. Disillusioned by her school’s lack of action against her rapist and her sheltered upbringing, she set out on a five-month trip, during which she hiked almost 3,000 miles. Matis’ recounts of physical hardships (wildfires, exhaustion and starvation), as well as her emotional trauma, are especially powerful to read as a college-aged woman.
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
Although this book was published almost 60 years ago, it is just as relevant today as it was when it first came out. Carson, an incredibly accomplished marine biologist and conservationist, details the effects of pesticides and toxic chemicals on our ecosystems and the government’s failure to protect our environment during the 1940s and 50s. While it can get quite dense and scientific at some points, in my opinion that is part of its value; it was purposefully written with elegant language so that the average reader could enjoy and understand it, while still laying out the indisputable facts about the dangers of toxic chemicals.