Paul's TOP BOOKS Read in 2021

I didn't achieve my Goodreads Reading Challenge for 2021, but it was a pretty loose goal. There's still a global pandemic happening and I started a new fulltime job this year. I'm still trying to find the appropriate amount of time to read for leisure. All of that considered, I still did read 41 books. 41 out of 50. Most of those books were graphic novels. Instead of doing separate lists for graphic novels, children's books, and non-graphic prose I have just one list of my top ten books this year. Below you will find those books. Click on the titles or cover pictures for links to my reviews! 

 MY TOP BOOKS OF 2021

10. Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals

9. The Way of the Hive: A Honey Bee's Story

8. Secrets of the Sea : The Story of Jeanne Power, Revolutionary Marine Scientist

7. Across the Tracks: Remembering Greenwood, Black Wall Street, and the Tulsa Race Massacre

6. Queer as All Get Out: 10 People Who've Inspired Me 

5. Be Dazzled

 

4. My Life in Transition: A Super Late Bloomer Collection

3. The Tea Dragon Tapestry

2. Money Shot Vol.1 & Vol.2

1. In: A Graphic Novel

What were your favorite books of 2021? What books are you looking forward to in 2022?

--PAUL

Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals by Alexis Pauline Gumbs - Paul's REVIEW

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Title: Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals
Author: Alexis Pauline Gumbs
Release Date: November 27, 2020


Synopsis: Undrowned is a book-length meditation for social movements and our whole species based on the subversive and transformative guidance of marine mammals. Our aquatic cousins are queer, fierce, protective of each other, complex, shaped by conflict, and struggling to survive the extractive and militarized conditions our species has imposed on the ocean. Gumbs employs a brilliant mix of poetic sensibility and naturalist observation to show what they might teach us, producing not a specific agenda but an unfolding space for wondering and questioning. From the relationship between the endangered North Atlantic Right Whale and Gumbs’s Shinnecock and enslaved ancestors to the ways echolocation changes our understandings of “vision” and visionary action, this is a masterful use of metaphor and natural models in the service of social justice.

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Review: This book was not written for me. I am not the audience. I am a white cis gay man. So many books have been written for me, though. I recommend picking up a book focusing on a different perspective than your own. I learned so much from this book. It was recommended by a co-worker of mine who is using the framing of this book in their own program development.

I am a marine science nerd. I am also a feminist. Gumbs brings those two worlds together in such thought-provoking ways as well as the Black experience. I have a new lens to approach scientific facts about animals. They most often come from an old white man's view of the world. There are so many biases in these "scientific facts" found in guides. I hadn't taken that into consideration before. So many marine mammals have only been seen very few times by Western scientists. Western scientists often don't take into account how much their presence may create change in those they are observing. The empathy Gumbs uses in this book allows the reader to imagine the way these marine mammals move through this world that we cohabitate. 

There is inspiration and hope in this book, but Gumbs also acknowledges the very true reality of the world that we live in and the systemic oppression and toxicity present. There are activities for reflection at the end of the book, both for groups and for individuals. I did not complete them all, but this book will remain on my work desk (when it's safe to go back into the office that is) for me to peruse and reflect on. 

I give this book a 5/5. I now have a new way to think about marine mammals and how their lives can inspire us to live better for ourselves and those around us.


--PAUL

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir - GUEST Kevin's REVIEW

*We received this book as an eARC from Random House via NetGalley. We voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are our own.*

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Title: Project Hail Mary
Author: Andy Weir
Release Date: May 4, 2021


Synopsis: Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the Earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, he realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Alone on this tiny ship that's been cobbled together by every government and space agency on the planet and hurled into the depths of space, it's up to him to conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And thanks to an unexpected ally, he just might have a chance.

Part scientific mystery, part dazzling interstellar journey, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian--while taking us to places it never dreamed of going.

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Review: This review is a guest post from my husband, Kevin Shah. He really enjoyed The Martian and dived into this book and read it very quickly. I'm hoping to read it soon, but here's his review:

I had enjoyed reading Martian by Weir. Project Hail Mary is true to the format of Martian (even in the feel of the ending). Project Hail Mary was a book I could not stop reading once I started. It was visually vivid in my head, and I was engaged from the first sentence. My journey with the book enhanced my love for science by making complex scientific concepts that were hard to understand in school and college accessible. Understanding and learning chemistry, physics, biology around a story that is plausible and through the approach of problem solving was so incredible. I wish I was taught science through the lens of such stories. As we run into a problem in the story, we all could all come together to research solutions and recommend options, and the science behind each of those. Its simple – the why helps us understand better. I especially recommend all teachers read this book and see how we can approach education through problem solving.

I kept imaging this story as how Star Trek would have started. How Earth was able to go beyond our solar system and how our survival was the catalyst and not space tourism. The story reminded me of parts of the movie Arrival as well. My favorite aspect of the story was that empathy was ultimately fundamental in human survival. The only part that felt unbelievable to me was humans from all over the world coming together and making such a mission happen. But that is my pessimistic lens based on our current reality.

I highly recommend this book. It will be hard to stop. 5/5

--PAUL