2024

The Courage to be Disliked

Self-help book by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga, read in English ⊕

This book explores the psychological method proposed by Alfred Adler, an austrian psychiatrist. He founded the individual psychology, which opposed Freuds theories that humans are driven by sex and libido. Instead he proposed to focus on a persons relationships and the environment they life in. He also dismisses the theory that past experiences and traumas define our future, instead taking on a position, that it does not matter what happend in our past, but how we deal with it and what we do with these experiences.

It is the English version of the book "Du musst nicht von allen gemocht werden" that I read in German a year ago. I decided to reread it, because I saw similarities between the chapters on trauma and boundaries in Jessic Fern's book Polysecure and wanted to explore these connections further. The book is written in the style of a classical philosophical dialoge between a philosopher and a young man.

I would recommend the English version over the German one, because I suspect the German one was translated twice, first from Japanese to English and then into German, which makes for an awkward read.

Polysecure - Attachment, Trauma, and Consensual Non-monogamy

Self-Help Psychology by Jessica Fern, read in English ⊕

Jessica Fern is a psychotherapist as well as a trauma and relationship expert. Her book is intended for people who want to explore non-monogamy. But I have found that most of its content is applicable to relationships in general. It discusses the kinds of attachments we had to others when we grew up and how they influence our attachment styles in current relationships (known as attachment theory). It gives guidance on how to form secure attachments and maintain healthy boundaries in relationships. Towards the end of the book the focus shifts towards building a more secure realtionship with yourself, accepting who you are and strengthening your self-confidence.

I personally think it offers valuable insight for anyone who wants to better understand how relationships work and how to strengthen them.

Die Erschöpfung der Frauen - Wider die weibliche Verfügbarkeit

Feminist literature by Franziska Schutzbach, read in German ⊕

Die Soziologin Franziska Schutzbach hat ein eindrucksvolles Buch über die heimliche Grundlage unseres Kapitalismus geschrieben: die gewissenlose Ausbeutung weiblicher Ressourcen.

Süddeutsche Zeitung

Feng Shui Modern

Nonfiction by Cliff Tan, read in English ⊕

2023

Epistemic Injustice - Power & the Ethics of Knowing

Philosophical feminist literature by Miranda Fricker, read in English ⊕

Was my second feminist book after "Invisible Women" and first phylosophical reading. The biggest realisation for me was how knowledge and the access to knowledge is used to marginalise and surpress certain groups of people and how it helps to uphold existing power structures. Another interesting topic was streotypes and prejudice. Why do we believe some people more than others? How is this related to existing stereotypes and how can we as listeners recognise these biases and correct for them? Due to my lack of knowledge in the field, I sometimes had trouble understanding certain parts of the book. Lukely I could read it as part of a book club together with philosophers and feminists.

Du musst nicht von allen gemocht werden

Self-help book by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga, read in German ⊕

This book explores the psychological method proposed by Alfred Adler, an austrian psychiatrist. He founded the individual psychology, which opposed Freuds theories that humans are driven by sex and libido. Instead he proposed to focus on a persons relationship and the environment they life in. He also dismisses the theory that past experiences and traumas define our future, instead taking on a position, that it does not matter what happend in our past, but how we deal with it and what we do with these experiences.

I would not recommend the German version of this book and instead suggest that you read the English one. I suspect the German version was translated twice, first from Japanese to English and then into German, which makes for an awkward read.

2022

Invisible Women - Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men

Feminist literature by Caroline Criado Perez, read in English ⊕

Reading this book felt like getting repeatetly slapped in the face. I went into the book with pretty low expections, thinking that I am a pretty modern man who is aware of the troubles and problems people read as women face in their daily lives. Turns out I was wrong. I had no idea how widespread, deep running and systemic the disadvantages, the discrimination and the hate really are. Reading certain chapters was very uncomfortable. Realising that I continued to uphold certain stereotypes, even tough I thought I knew better, was dissapointing and humiliating. An absoulte essential, eye-opening and facts based read for every man.