(Part 2) Best social activist biographies according to redditors

You do realize that this posting includes a source right?

https://www.amazon.com/Make-Trouble-Standing-Speaking-Lead-My/dp/1501187597/

Sorry if this has been covered, but has anyone seen the dull, self-absorbed book quotes on her Amazon page with "Share your story" #enoughpretending #enoughthebook?

https://www.amazon.com/Enough-Notes-Woman-Finally-Found/dp/1632172178

Wonderful animals. On the topic, if anyone wants a good book to read, I recommend The Elephant Whisperer by Lawrence Anthony.

The 'Man of Peace' book is simply amazing. I bought the hard copy.

https://www.amazon.com/Man-Peace-Illustrated-Story-Dalai/dp/1941312047/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523898042&sr=8-1&keywords=man+of+peace

I'm also thinking Tourettes. The smacking in the head and weird vocalizations is classic Tourettes. My brother is on the autistic spectrum and also has Tourettes and other than the calculations this is all really familiar to me, exact same description, been weird since a kid, mumbled/talked to himself, instead of smacking himself in the head, he'd enter another world when he thought no one was around and he'd walk around in circles mumbling to himself with facial ticks and he'd every third step or so stomp the ground. But there are tons of those with Tourettes that smack themselves in the head.

Also my brother - good father, successful, has friends, can be socially awkward but is kind and engaging.

Since this has been going on through his life an not manifesting later in life (common for schizophrenia to manifest in the 20's), I'm thinking autistic spectrum with tourettes. Your father and my brother could be twins.

I've done a lot of reading on tourettes and probably the best and most accessible book, even though it's a memoir is "Worlds strongest librarian", it really delves into tourettes and explains it well. The author talks about punching himself in the head, how it builds up and he knows it's coming but he can't control it, this may give you insight into this.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Worlds-Strongest-Librarian-Adventures/dp/159240877X

Totally inaccurate:

>he travelled through the country in a colored bus and gave lsd to everybody he could find including children without warning about possible side effects and basically conducted a crazy mass experiment in the hope to change society.

You're thinking of Ken Kesey with the colored bus. Kesey and Leary were on very different ends of the LSD spectrum.

If you're interested in a good read I Have America Surrounded by John Higgs is a good, objective biography. Even Robert Greenfield's Biography, which is arguably the most critical biography of Leary out there doesn't paint the ridiculous caricature that your comment does.

I see that Intelligent Investor by Graham has already been posted but that's certainly a good one. However it can be a bit dry for most readers and if you would prefer something a bit fresher I would read Deep Value by Toby Carlisle. He discusses and critiques Graham's teachings along with the strategies of other notable value investors such as Buffet, Icahn, Greenblatt and many others all in a more modern tone. It's been the bible for my own value investing strategies.

Other books to look into are:

• Dhandho Investor by Monish Pabrai (lots of simple strategies and examples for small risk - big payoff investments)
  
• Education of a Value Investor by Guy Spier (good for understanding the discipline and mental state of a good value investor)
  
• Michael Lewis books such as Big Short and Flash Boys (These are less for learning investing and more for generating your own interest in finance with some fantastic writing. It's also good for learning what the reality of the markets and Wall Street are.)

Well, it is a very large union with many different locals so it isn't fair to dismiss it out of hand. There are certainly some good locals with good politics and a good approach to organizing.

Overall, and especially at the highest levels, the union is very corporate and extremely into doing the bidding of shitty milquetoast Democrats. I think it makes sense for unions to engage politically, but they are very wedded to the Clinton wing of the Democratic Party. Hillary's slogan, Stronger Together, was literally directly lifted from SEIU. There was scandal in a number of big locals when the union endorsed Hillary, as she has been no friend to labor (serving on Walmart's board, etc., etc.).

In addition, the union is overall not interested or invested in real worker struggle. Again, there are a few locals that go against this, such as 1199 New England, but in general the union is heavily against striking or industrial action. It greatly favors corporate partnership agreements, where the union creates pro-business preconditions to any collective bargaining agreement which effectively put certain things workers might want off the table so as to induce corporations to go easier on union organizing. It's a strategy that maybe made sense at one point but it severely limits the effectiveness of the union in being a real vehicle for worker power long-term.

I can talk more about this if folks want, just PM me. If you are really interested I would highly recommend two books by Jane McAlevey, a labor organizer and leader who served as director of Nevada's big SEIU local. She has real-life examples of the problems with SEIU but also talks about the good things workers have been able to accomplish within it. They are both good books - Raising Expectations (And Raising Hell) and No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age - but I would recommend the first very highly.

EDIT: I do want to say that if you are looking to organize, it is worth calling them. I think I am probably too cynical from direct involvement in a lot of organizing, and I want to be clear that my views are just that. This current moment for the labor movement is probably the worst it's been in since the Red Scare at least, and a lot of big unions are just turtling up and trying to weather the storm. SEIU, to its credit, has still prioritized organizing and spends a lot of money on organizing efforts even if they won't lead to obvious wins for the union. Also, they do have a lot of resources which can be very helpful to being successful at organizing. The IWW is cool, but it is tiny (less than 3,000 members globally, most of whom are at-large members whose membership has nothing to do with working anywhere, which is fine but very different than most unions) and it has no resources. There are cool things going on with it, but if you are looking for a more traditional union organizing effort where you will get support in building an organizing committee and moving to an election and then negotiating a collective bargaining agreement, I would call SEIU or another large union that has some involvement in your industry.

Soooo I guess I basically just walked back my initial comment. Shit's complex, everyone.

Very highly recommend Sarah McBride's book Tomorrow Will Be Different

I'm looking to pick up Hung Jury and the Lou Sullivan book. Non-transition related, I just picked up a copy of Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology and I'm super excited to read it.

I recently read Skylar Kergil's autobiography, Before I Had the Words, which was decent enough but kind of repetitive for another trans guy... I get the idea that he's trying to explain what it's like more for cis people, but in any case, it was relatable.

Currently I'm also making my way through the Terra Ignota series by Ada Palmer, it's fantastic! I highly recommend to anyone who likes Enlightenment era philosophy/history and/or sci-fi/fantasy. That's a lot of slashes, but trust me, it's good.

If you're crunched for time and super lazy, read books with picture like Ted Rall's nice summation of Ed Snowden's story

Standing Up to the Madness by Amy & David Goodman

https://www.amazon.com/Every-Day-Good-Reflections-Contemporary/dp/1555916910

Link to book mentioned in the top of the image. Definitely someone's homework assignment.

Two books that compile his writings, both are good for different reasons:

Shorter book: https://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Could-Change-World/dp/162097066X/ref=sr_1_1_twi_pap_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478361351&sr=8-1&keywords=aaron+swartz

Longer book (all of his writings? 800 pages): https://www.amazon.com/Raw-Thought-Nerve-Inside-Swartz/dp/9881525705/ref=sr_1_3_twi_pap_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478361351&sr=8-3&keywords=aaron+swartz

Do you like literature? These books explore the history of literary journalism:

http://www.amazon.com/New-Journalism-Picador-Books/dp/0330243152

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000XU8EJQ/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0330243152&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1P6ZKRG1BSCPBHCRK2SJ

[I, Rigoberta Menchu] (http://www.amazon.com/Rigoberta-Menchu-Indian-Woman-Guatemala-ebook/dp/B003F2QOKA/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1425268716&sr=1-8)

Edit: changed how I drink coffee and understand coffee farming, read it and see what you think. There is much more to this story, but agriculture is a huge theme from what I remember.

Dude, amazing stories.
I have a book recommendation for you: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0050Q5WYS/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
I GUARANTEE you will enjoy that book. He explains in great detail how he learned to talk elephant.

One of my key takeaways from that book is that in the animal world we are basically autistic in our lack of understanding and awareness of what is going on. We're blind/deaf.

My question is: how did you figure out how to talk to the lion and the cheetah? Was this something you worked on for a while or did you just figure it all out while on safari?

See it on Amazon then borrow it from your local library.

Under the "People also bought" section is the [Rad American Women A-Z Postcards] (https://www.amazon.com/Rad-American-Women-Z-Postcards/dp/1524759562/ref=pd_sim_14_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1524759562&pd_rd_r=GNG7QWAYE627A32NPBTF&pd_rd_w=NSYRx&pd_rd_wg=g44fa&psc=1&refRID=GNG7QWAYE627A32NPBTF). Those seem cool.

> Right, because "poor people are just lazy". Hmm. I wonder where I've heard that one before.

Many are. Just like many rich people are. I'm thinking you heard that before as a straw man argument supporting class warfare.

>You're not really responding to my argument in any way other than vague slippery slope assertions

Much like the strawman above, dismissing the question "Where do you draw the line?" or "Who provides the organization or "governance" is not a "Slipery Slope" fallacy...

>This is what really gets at me -- the French aristocracy will exploit the French people for HUNDREDS of years, but when people rise up, overthrow them and start chopping off their heads, suddenly everyone starts complaining. The Russian Tsar will keep the vast majority of his population at the brink of starvation and on the precipice of utter destitution while enjoy a fancy life of tea and Faberge eggs in his St. Petersburg palace, and no one bats an eye -- yet when Lenin overthrows the lot of them, and then the Bolsheviks utilize bloody violence to ensure that those brutes never get back into power, everyone paints the Bolsheviks as devil incarnates and evil hobgoblins.

I'm not sure who you hang out with, but I've never been surrounded by people pining for the good old days of french monarchy or Bolsheviks leadership...

>Yes, there's going to be violence.

Well sure. If you preach class warfare, you are preaching war.

>The definition of communism is a stateless and classless society Please show me on this world map right here where such a society exists.

This argument, much like the argument on socialism throughout the thread, is the "There has never been a perfect __ Government... if everyone would just listen to me and do it this way we'd have world peace!"

I do agree - Neither Socialism nor Communism have created the perfect Utopia where everyone gets what they want, when they want it with no effort required.

>Here are some tales from a horrible terrible ruthlessly authoritarian regime by the name of Cuba.

I'm guessing your links are full of the firing squad executions, government confiscation of property by force, Dual monitary systems which create a government controlled class divide, and people so miserable they are willing to band together pool toys and try to cross 100 miles of shark infested water to get the fuck out of Cuba... no?

Or are you holding Cuba up as the model the entire world should emulate? As a perfect example of the way "The revolution" should be televised, so to speak?

>No, that's not why money is money. Money is a unit of account, medium of exchange, & store of value. Money came about as a means of credit, a step beyond bartering with the additional advantage that payment could be deferred and could accrue interest.

That just isn't true at all. Credit existed long before the coin. The concept of credit is a political concept, as much as an economic one... Much like Socialism. Money was created to allow people who barter horse shit to have something to trade with the dairy farmer who already has enough cow shit and doesn't need to buy horse shit. True, accruing interest for debt followed quickly - but the utilitarian need to have a universal bartering item is the source of money in all cultures.

> In Cuba, with such limited resources, on a moderately small island, and embargoed and bullied by the US - even from the base at Guantánamo, the people have decided to focus their limited resources on what the people need the most- healthcare, education, and development.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/article1928212.html

>''Cuba is a very poor country, our embargo has made life very difficult for them, and yet in spite of that they are able to put together a healthcare system that guarantees they have a better life span than we do, a better infant mortality rate and more doctors per capita,'' Moore says in an interview. They've done quite well with what they have.''<br /> <br /> &amp;gt;''The treatment Moore and the rescue workers receive in the film was done specifically for them, because they knew it would make great propaganda,'' says Alfonso, a general practitioner in Little Havana.The medical centers in Cuba that treat tourists and government officials and VIPs are very different than the ones that treat the general population. If you're a Cuban citizen and need a prescription drug, most doctors either tell you to ask your relatives in the U.S. to ship it to you or recommend alternative herbal remedies. That's the degree of scarcity on the island.''

http://www.amazon.com/Health-Politics-Revolution-Cuba-Since/dp/1412808634

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2014/jan/31/tom-harkin/sen-tom-harkin-says-cuba-has-lower-child-mortality/

>"Cuba does have a very low infant mortality rate, but pregnant women are treated with very authoritarian tactics to maintain these favorable statistics," said Tassie Katherine Hirschfeld, the chair of the department of anthropology at the University of Oklahoma who spent nine months living in Cuba to study the nation's health system. "They are pressured to undergo abortions that they may not want if prenatal screening detects fetal abnormalities. If pregnant women develop complications, they are placed in ‘Casas de Maternidad’ for monitoring, even if they would prefer to be at home. Individual doctors are pressured by their superiors to reach certain statistical targets. If there is a spike in infant mortality in a certain district, doctors may be fired. There is pressure to falsify statistics."

>Transparency would help give the data more credibility, but the Cuban government doesn’t offer much, experts said.

>"I would take all Cuban health statistics with a grain of salt," Hirschfeld said. Organizations like the Pan-American Health Organization "rely on national self-reports for data, and Cuba does not allow independent verification of its health claims."

>Rodolfo J. Stusser -- a physician and former adviser to the Cuban Ministry of Public Health's Informatics and Tele-Health Division who left for Miami at age 64 -- is another skeptic. While Stusser acknowledges that Cuba has improved some of its health numbers since the revolution, the post-revolution data has been "overestimated," he said. "The showcasing of infant mortality and life expectancy at birth has been done for ideological reasons," he said.

I mean - I suppose we can just believe the two brothers who murdered their way to leadership and have controlled a small island with the threat of force for 55 years now wouldn't cook the books... but it seems a bit more likely that they do.