A non-exhaustive list of non-fiction books in no particular order I read recently, with some recommendation. This post was inspired by the similar posts of Eli Bendersky.

Faith

  • The Old Testament. Reading it was a challenge of the faith. Long and often difficult to understand. It is interesting to perceive how the faith of authors change over time, as they refine their understanding of their Lord, in the context of their history. My understanding was greatly helped by also reading concurrently:

  • Az Ószövetség keletkezése I.-II. by Rózsa Huba. A comprehensive review of the studies of every book in the Old Testament. For each book, it explains its origins, genre, historical background, content, relation to the other books, and the views and theories of different scholars. This book is its own illustration in a fascinating and unique way.

History

  • The Jewish War by Flavius Josephus. An account centered on the Jewish rebellion against the Roman around A.D. 66, starting before Herod the Great, ending after the destruction of Jerusalem. Long and detailed, but with many factual errors (and suspected cosmetics), from Josephus, once a Jewish general of the rebellion, turned to writing after falling captive to Vespasianus. Take away: apparently, people changed little in 2000 years: greed, hubris, envy, cruelty: nothing new. Also: Herod had every reason to get mad.

Science

  • Breaking Through: My Life in Science by Katalin Karikó. Autobiography of the Nobel laureate mRNS pioneer, who played a great role in developing a COVID-19 vaccine. Also a story of how an extremely determined girl from a family of simple means achieves great success, through sheer will a continuous work - for decades. I’d also like to acknowledge the seemingly unwavering support of her family. There’s not much about COVID itself, books are referenced instead that explain it in details. The second part (after Penn) felt rushed, the development mostly unclear to me. I suppose Kati had some reading due… The writing is not great - it is clearly written by a scientist.

Finance

  • Straight to Hell by John LeFevre. Terrific stories about terrible people, written by someone who portrays himself as a similarly terrible person, with a value system completely foreign to me. The (supposedly true) stories are entertaining in a cringe way. Going through this book was the reading equivalent of the guilty pleasure inducing overeating of chocolate cookies.