I started gifting my youngest brother books when he was 3 or 4. It was a fun way to share my passion with him and I loved hearing his thoughts after he’d read one of my favorites. But when, after his first semester of college, he asked for a book by a controversial right-wing troll, I refused to get it for him. Instead, I turned to my peers on Instagram and Twitter for suggestions. Here are their top book recommendations for a curious eighteen-year-old young man.
1. Stumbling on Hapiness by Daniel Gilbert
2. But What If We’re Wrong by Chuck Klosterman
3. The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck by Mark Manson
4. Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Khanemann
5. Can We All Be Feminists edited by June Eric-Udorie
6. Black Panther, Between the World and Me, and We Were Eight Years in Power all by Ta-Nehisi Coates
7. The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin
8. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari
9. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
10. The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Leguin
Many of these books are new to me so I’m adding them to my reading list and will vet them thoroughly. Then I’ll have to find a way to convince the know-it-all teenager that reading these books was his idea. Oh, brother.