I find the most helpful thing to do while writing a book is to read lots of books. Not only do you learn a lot about whatever you are reading about, but you see what works and doesn't work when it comes to voice, structure, tone and other dorky things authors obsess about.
Here's my current pile of reading-- the ones on the left are still to be read, the ones on the right are done. Actually both piles have gotten higher since I took that photo, and the pile on the right is just a bit taller now. But that won't last. Like Sisyphus, I stupidly keep buying books once the to-read pile starts to look remotely manageable.
I usually refrain from writing about books, because it's not much of a review if you only write nice things, and as an author its hard for me to write bad things about something someone worked really hard on. Just getting a book DONE can feel like a Herculean task and no book is going to be perfect for every reader. But someone asked me for a list of my favorites so here you go.
1. The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria. It's really hard to write one compelling book about large, disparate chunks of the world (trust me on this) and Zakaria is one of the few that pulls it off. He's incredibly gifted at pulling together lots of strands to make one compelling central argument. My book mostly starts with the assumption that emerging markets are where the most economic growth is going to take place in the next few decades, but Zakaria's book explains why and what America's place in that world will be.
This is my only quibble: Indian nationals are incredibly patriotic and Zakaria is no different. There was a subtle shift in tone when he wrote about India and I felt like-- on the margins-- Zakaria cut India more slack on certain things. For instance, he praised the legal system put in place by the Brits. It may have been set up well back in the colonial days, but no one in India would tell you the legal system is anything to brag about today. Narayana Murthy, the co-founder of Infosys, told me that it would take 320 years to try all of the pending and backlogged cases in the Indian courts. "Can you imagine?" Murthy said laughing at the absurdity.
Still, this is hands-down the best overall book I've read on globalization and I highly recommend it.
2. India after Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy by Ramachandra Guha. I wish there was a book this good on the history of every country I'm visiting. It's whopper at some 800 pages, but Guha, a historian, takes you on an unbiased, thoroughly researched and riveting journey through India's first fifty years or so of independence. I came away understanding modern India a lot better and wondering why an over-the-top biopic had never been made about Indira Gandhi.
3. Democratic Brazil Revisited. I wish there was a book this good on politics like this for every country I'm visiting. This book is a collection of essays by academics that break down every aspect of Brazil's democracy-- from education to violence to economic and social policy. It's the update to an earlier edition that predicted some choppy waters for the Lula administration. Surprisingly, when they revisited the topic four years later, the researchers found that overall Brazil's democracy had outperformed their expectations. For what's essentially a text book, it's also amazingly readable.
4. Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China by Leslie T. Chang. I mentioned this one in my last post but it bears mentioning again because it is one of the best books I've read over the last year or so. It actually makes me a little angry at how good it is. Factories in China are one of those topics everyone feels entitled to have an opinion on and it's usually: They treat workers like crap and make low quality stuff. What Chang uncovered by living among the girls powering China's factory boom was quite different. It was the story of empowered, ambitious young women taking low level opportunities and creating whole careers out of them. It tells you so much about the culture of modern China and is engrossingly written. As a writer, Chang doesn't get carried away with the sound of her own voice. She lets the stories of the girls unfold simply and beautifully.
There's not much info on Chang online. She doesn't appear to have written another book and I can't tell if she's even still a reporter. I hope she is. I also hope this book made her a lot of money because she deserves every penny.
5. We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With our Families by Philip Gourevitch. The world's longest and most confusing title, I know, but this is the definitive book on the Rwandan genocide. It's heartbreaking, eye-opening and frankly, will make anyone in the world with a soul embarrassed at how much we let Rwanda down some 15 years ago. Gourevitch did a follow up piece last year in the New Yorker about how Rwanda had rebuilt itself, that only barely scratched the surface of the strength and almost super-human forgiveness of the Rwandan people. Not only do I highly recommend this book, I highly recommend that anyone travel to Rwanda to see this amazing country for themselves.
