The Lessons of History by Will & Ariel Durant

This is one of those books that inspires one to dig deeper into the materials lightly touch on by the author. It is a very short book that has only a hundred pages. It covers a few important topics, including government, religion, the earth, war, and socialism. It is not about the history of those topics, but the lessons learned through their history. One of the most exciting inspirations I have received from this book is the lesson one would learn from the development of socialism, or the other form of polity of a country, like capitalism.

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We by Yevgeny Zamyatin

The trilogy of modern dystopia is commonly known to comprise of 1984 by George Orwell (1949), Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1932), and We by Yevgeny Zamyatin (1921). I have read the first two books a long time ago and would like to complete this dystopian sequel by reading the last one, We. To provide some background, I would like to mention that the book was finished during the Russian Revolution of 1917 which lasted from 1917 to 1923.

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The Power by Naomi Alderman

This is an unusual choice of book for me. I usually avoid sci-fi, and I am not particularly interested in feminism even though I am a female. However, I always wonder how the world is like with only woman inhabitants and think that a utopia/dystopia about such a society would give me an idea. Therefore, I gave this book a try. The story is about some young women who started to discovering their possession of a supernatural electrical power that can inflict pain or even kill people.

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And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

To describe Afghanistan as a country in a persistent “cycle of misery” is not exaggerated. The country is invaded continuously throughout history. Genghis Khan and his Mongol army invaded the country in 1219AD. The Persian Empire in the West and the Sikh Empire in the East posted an enormous threat to the country during the early 19th century. The British and its allied force continuously inflicted war to the Afghani from 1838 to the early twentieth century. The Russian started a full-scale invasion from 1978 to 1992. Then came the United States and the Northern Alliance until today.

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The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers

I love war stories. Not that I like war to happen. I am just really curious about the mental state of the people who go through war. I have watched many war documentaries, movies, and have read many memoirs and fictions on the subject. At first mostly on world war II, but then I moved on to the contemporary wars including those in Iraq and Afghanistan. I especially like the documentary “Restrepo” and the BBC produced “Our War.” Both were in Afghanistan.

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