On a warm late-Summer day, President’s Lawn is alive with a buzz. Students are sprinkled across the green grass reading, studying, or watching the clouds. To celebrate this time of year—the few weeks of perfect weather before the leaves start to fall, I want to share a few books I am currently reading (or just finished) on Prez Lawn.
What’s Gotten Into You By Dan Levitt
Although you could never find me in a physics or engineering class, I love reading about science! Philosophy draws many connections from the natural world, and What's Gotten Into You is one of the great books that combine the two. This semester, I am taking a popular intro-level science course called Big Bang to Humankind. It is cross-listed as an astronomy, chemistry, and biology class, and covers 13.8 billion years of the Universe in only 14 weeks. What's Gotten Into You, a beginner-friendly take on astronomy is the only required reading. I am reading this book slowly over the semester, but I love Levitt's writing style which alternates between history and theory. If you have questions about the matter of the universe or want to expand your mind, I would recommend What's Gotten Into You!
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
I am only a few chapters into this book, but Evicted should be on your next required reading. A friend I met in Big Bang to Humankind, the class I mentioned above, recommended this book as an eye-opening and nuanced exploration of the American housing crisis. Matthew Desmond, a researcher and sociologist, spent two years living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to document the rise in evictions in the Midwest and understand why. Evicted follows eight families (including landlords) from across Milwaukee as they struggle to keep their homes with the constant and looming threat of displacement.
Pageboy by Elliot Page
Pageboy is a deep and moving memoir about the childhood, young adulthood, and transition of Elliot Page. Despite his fame as an actor and a trans-activist, Page's memoir is approachable and honest. His journey of self-actualization and questions of gender are coupled with brutal descriptions of Hollywood and warm memories of Halifax. During every chapter of Page's life, I felt myself cheering him on from the sidelines and watching him grow in front of my eyes. As one reader wrote on Google Reviews, Pageboy is “Beautifully written" and "painful but necessary to read at times.” 5 stars out of 5.