Are You Brave Enough to Finish These 3 Near Impossible Reads?
Life-changing books that come with a price: extra effort to read.
Life-changing books that come with a price: extra effort to read.
I’ll be honest: I feel no guilt in abandoning books halfway through.
Maybe that’s why I don’t keep reading if I find a book particularly difficult to read. I recently abandoned The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky that I started buddy-reading with the Books Are Our Superpower Discord community. It’s a good book, no doubt about that. But it was too hard for me to keep slogging through.
However, there have been some super-hard-to-complete books that changed my perspective on life. In this post, I’ll share three such books with you that are super hard to read, but totally worth the effort.
Read on. You might find your next favorite book among the ones on the list.
(Note: The links mentioned in this article are affiliate links. If you choose to purchase these books through these links, it will help me earn a small amount — at no extra cost to you. Thanks!)
1. Age Later: Secrets of the Healthiest, Sharpest Centenarians by Nir Barzalai
Genre: Science
The author and his team of researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva have been working with a group of centenarians (a person who is a hundred or more years old) to understand why some people live healthy, happy lives until age 120+, while some fall sick and die before they hit 60.
In this book, he shares the story of how his research has shaped over the years and the fascinating discoveries his team made along the way. The tone is conversational, but you’ve to pay a lot of attention so you don’t miss out on what’s being conveyed.
Being from an academic background myself (I have a masters degree in civil engineering, have published several research papers in reputed journals, and am pursuing my Ph.D. in geotechnical engineering), I find a lot of the stories relatable, especially the lackadaisical attitude of the government towards research and how hard it is to convince the authorities to get funding for a project.
Why do some people live healthy, happy lives until age 120+, while some fall sick and die before they hit 60?
Why it’s so hard to read
Dr. Nir Barzilai is the founding director of the Institute for Aging Research, the Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging, and the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Human Aging Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University.
For such a well-educated person, you can imagine how scientific most of the language would be and how it’d be difficult for you to understand if you don’t have at least a basic knowledge of high-school science.
Why you should read it anyway
The author discusses some fascinating concepts, namely:
- By treating one disease at a time, we’re just exchanging one disease for another. If we found a way to delay the onset of all diseases by at least 20 years, we could delay aging, enabling humans to contribute to society for a far longer period.
- By practicing certain habits, we can reverse the biological clock and actually become “younger.” The author discusses what you should do and how to go about it.
2. Daemon by Daniel Suarez
Genre: Dystopian/science fiction
Matt Soble is a billionaire game developer who dies of brain cancer. In his prime, he was always interested in how society functions. His expertise in artificial intelligence helped him mimic the real-world social hierarchy in his games.
With time, he developed a cult following among the community of gamers — loyal followers who hero-worship him and his ideology: people who won’t think twice before following if he gave them a direct order.
After his diagnosis, Soble wrote a daemon — an AI computer program that executes on the day of his death — to recruit people who support his end-vision and eliminate the ones who don’t. What his daemon wants is a huge mystery, but one thing’s for certain: it won’t stop at anything to get it done, even if it means killing off thousands of people in its way.
A computer program equipped with the deadliest weapons and having zero remorse: how far will it go before crashing the entire world down?
Why it’s so hard to read
I’m not a programmer or a hacker. It’s difficult to understand most of what’s happening. Thankfully, the author provides an explanation for the technical jargon, even though sometimes all the information might feel overwhelming.
The scope of the book is mind-boggling, and the number of characters sometimes might require you to take notes to remember who’s who.
Why you should read it anyway
Looking at some of the reviews, I was worried if this book might be too difficult for me to understand. But once I started, the addictive narrative didn’t let me stop even for a while.
The premise might sound far-fetched, but the execution is amazing. The book is one hell of an adrenaline-pumping ride into what could happen if humans let technology overpower them, and all the ways science could come back to haunt us if we’re not careful. It raises some important questions about the price we pay to have an “easy” life. What if all the technological advancement comes back to bite us in the ass?
A computer program equipped with the deadliest weapons and having zero remorse: how far will it go before crashing the entire world down?
3. Annihilation of Caste by B. R. Ambedkar
Genre: Philosophical/religious/political manifesto
India is a land blinded by customs and rituals. The caste system that divides the people into four castes — the Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras — continues to play a major role in the social dynamics of the country. The higher caste people shun the lower castes, often refusing to touch them or breathe the same air as they do. This practice was rampant in pre-Independence India and is still practiced in some villages across the country.
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar — the man who drafted the Indian constitution — was born in the lowest caste and rose to a position of immense power and influence. He faced some unique challenges because of his birth and stature that led him to despise Hindusim as a whole and turn to Buddhism for respite.
If one finds no meaning in following their religion, is there anything wrong in switching to one that respects them more?
Often at loggerheads with the “Father of the nation,” Mahatma Gandhi, Ambedkar outlines his journey of renouncing the religion he was born into and embracing Buddhism. He lays down in great detail everything that’s wrong with Hinduism and how the ancient Hindu scriptures were misinterpreted to benefit only one section of the society while alienating and dehumanizing the other.
Why it’s so hard to read
The language can get dry and bitter at times, with the author’s personal bias seeping through. Try reading it with a neutral mindset, though, and you’ll be surprised. However, if you’re a lover of languages and well-written prose, this book makes it hard to concentrate.
Why you should read it anyway
About one in every seven people in the world is an Indian. The country has a rich and varied history, with a penchant for the rich and powerful to dominate the poor and helpless. This book is a brutally honest look into what it means to belong to one of the lowest classes.
Even if you’ve never faced something similar, it’s important to familiarize yourself with the collective history of a people so downtrodden, the most hard-hearted fantasy reader would flinch. Dr. Ambedkar outlines the atrocities his people were forced to, and the constant struggle to empower them through his work. He also raises some important questions:
- Why should someone’s stature by birth be considered more valuable than their life’s work?
- One has the liberty to change their religion. Why can’t one change their caste?
- If one finds no meaning in following their religion, is there anything wrong in switching to one that respects them more?
Final Words
I’m not a huge fan of non-fiction books or techno-thrillers. But these three books worked their way into my heart and made a permanent place for themselves there. If you’re looking for a book to positively impact your life, pick one from this list and start reading.
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