Hello, folks! This is my first post here (and in the great, wide, still-confusing world of Lemmy). So stoked to find a new book community!

To answer the question, mine is “The Future of Nostalgia” by Svetlana Boym. I stumbled upon this book when I read a quote from it in a different book and I immediately went to track down a copy. A truly happy accident.

The most fascinating thing about this book was how universal it felt. Here was someone writing about post-Soviet Russia in the nineties, yet it felt strangely familiar. The commercialization of nostalgia, the unchecked rewriting of history, and the rose-tinted delusion of “The Golden Age”; it felt like she was talking about my own country. I’m a Lebanese expat, so nostalgia is a big part of my life and my relationship with my country (which is very much a love/hate relationshit), and this book completely redefined my understanding of nostalgia, nationality and collective identity, heritage, and even food. It helped me understand the survivor’s guilt, the PTSD, the resentment, and the stubborn fondness. It’s been so long since a book scooped out my soul and shook off the dust like this.

So, yeah. What’s the last book that made you go, “Holy shit, I think that just rewired my brain”?

  • Drunemeton@lemmy.world
    11·
    1 year ago

    (An older one for sure…)

    “Salt: A World History” because by page 33 I’d learned more about history than I’d learned in high school. Not to mention salt!

    The book is amazingly well-written in a very engaging style. The pages just flew by! I highly recommend it to anyone that’s curious about humanity’s relation to this essential-for-life mineral.

    • Fanny@lemmy.worldOP
      3·
      1 year ago

      That sounds absolutely fascinating! I love hyper-specific nonfiction like that. I once read a book about the history of coffee and I learned so much more than I expected.