Summer reads 2022: 8 nonfiction and fiction books about change, from Atomic Habits to the I Ching
- With much of the world in turmoil, this list of new and old books will open your eyes to change in its many forms, whether via magic, mayhem or a monkey king
A few weeks ago, I found myself listening to Climate of Change, a new podcast in which Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett casts an eye over the latest in green energy innovation with help from “dear old friend” and clean-technology entrepreneur Danny Kennedy.
The series promised stories that “will, hopefully, give you hope”.
It began, however, with Blanchett’s familiar velvety voice confessing her almost daily fear of “being swept away on this tide of bad news”. Blanchett named a few contenders – human-rights abuses, refugees fleeing war zones, failed leaderships, climate change – before confessing, “I have absolutely no idea what to do about this mess we’re in.”
What made Blanchett’s apocalyptic list feel even more apocalyptic were all the bad news stories she left out: Covid-19 and its fallout; ongoing travel chaos; Ukraine; possible Cold War, part two; escalating tension everywhere from the Greek islands to the United States, which according to headlines is on the brink of civil war (again).
Given all this instability, the question of what to read during the summer holidays may be the best opportunity to take a few minutes out, breathe and, with this list of books – from old to new and in between – consider these various beams of our spectral theme as a kind of coping mechanism, rather than stewing away at the myriad possibilities of our impending peril.
1. The Metamorphoses, by Ovid (translated by Stephanie McCarter. Penguin Classics, 2022)
It’s hard to think about the word “change” without thinking about Ovid’s The Metamorphoses, the mythic account of gods, mortals and everything in between that was written in ancient Rome more than 2,000 years ago.
