It was 9/11 yesterday. The real 9/11. Trump was elected president. Yet another example of a populist playing on people’s fears and base instincts, but this one now with the power to change the course of history at a pivotal time, crucial for our species’ survival. A denier of climate change. An ingoramous, flaunting human rights and lacking in fundamental decency. The prospect is a grim one. 

The only thing I can see that would have made a difference is education. Learning more about the world around you gives you new perspectives, new insights. It’s the responsibility of each and every human to learn as much as they possibly can, and in doing so, exercise critical thinking, the better to withstand the base appeal of trumped-up alpha baboons offering simplistic solutions (or even just sound bites) to complex problems. 

I can’t shape education policies anywhere much – beyond the local school – but I can at least try to lead by example. As a birthday present to myself I bought ten books that were recommended by TED lecturers; I figured it was as good a way as any to discover titles that I would otherwise never read. Add to that five books that were gifted to me, and you have fifteen (mostly) non-fictional works that I will attempt to read before the end of the year. 50 days, 15 books, equals one book every 3,33 days. 

Tall order? Yes, but I’m going to try even so. Imagine a world in which every single adult read a new work of non-fiction every three days – how much of a chance do you think the Donalds, Le Pens and Borises of the world would have then? Imagine the quantum leap in human understanding, the as-yet untapped potential that might be unleashed for the greater good of humanity. 

Food for thought, that.

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The books on my reading list are:

Map Stories (Matteoli)

The old ways (Macfairlaine)

The Art of Being Human (Woodruff)

Eat and Run (Jurek)

A Time of Gifts (Leigh)

Exodus (Collier)

The Singing Neanderthals (Mithen)

Just Mercy (Stevenson)

My bondage and freedom (Douglass)

Lives in Ruins (Johnson)

Easy Company Soldier (Malarkey)

Jimmy Bluefeather (Heacox)

Ankara Witch (Okorafor)

Silence (Endo)

Bit Rot (Coupland)

Which ones are on yours?