Conversation

Here are some of my favorite book of 2021, in case you're looking for a great read (or a great gift). My favorite history book this year was How the Word Is Passed by , which explores how sites associated with slavery grapple (or don't) with that history.
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It's a rigorous historical work that's also deeply personal, and it's written with the clarity and precision you'd expect from a poet. Speaking of poetry, my favorite poetry read of the year was Deaf Republic by . My God. I haven't stopped thinking about it.
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Memoir: Has to be Somebody's Daughter by . I've given this as a gift to so many people, and they've all responded to it deeply. It's a bit cliche to call a memoir unflinching, but this one actually DOESN'T FLINCH. It's an astonishing, brilliant, gutwrenching book.
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I am still reeling (oh god pardon the pun) from 's book Why Fish Don't Exist. If, like me, you love Radiolab or Invisibilia, you have to read this book. It really reshaped my understanding of the history of science.
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Astrophysics! I cannot choose between two books I LOVED: The End of Everything by , and The Disordered Cosmos by . I always thought I was "not a science person," but these books introduced me to the universe and helped me see that we are ALL science people.
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Favorite novel of the year? Tough choice for me, but maybe The Wrong End of the Telescope by , which was devastating and wondrous. Nobody writes like Rabih. Nobody gets anywhere close.
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