WCID: Books For People Who Read Good

Happy Hump Day, Shit Givers.

We’re gonna do something a little different today. Instead of pointing you towards WCID, I’ve put together a collection of our most popular books and book lists on Bookshop.

Maybe your New Year’s Resolution was to read more, or at least read better, or maybe it was something else and you already gave up and looking for something else to fill your time. Something with purpose, that can improve your understanding of how we got here, how to think about here, and maybe a little about where we’re going — and your role in it.

Does reading qualify as a What Can I Do? action? You’re goddamn right it does.

In fact, I’d be hard-pressed to find a recommended action that’s more universally-applicable than literally just reading books.

And no, sorry not sorry, we absolutely do not discriminate among paper books, e-books, or audiobooks. All that matters is you read, and pay attention, and maybe even scribble in the margins.

No ones asking you to study all night like it’s Teen Wolf 2, but you can, in fact, fill your time and soul with some hard-earned wisdom from people who’ve seen some serious shit.

I don’t care if you buy these books through Bookshop, through Libro.fm, a local bookshop, or just borrow them from the library (including through the excellent Libby app). Just please don’t buy them on Amazon.

Let’s go.

— Quinn

I’ve had almost 250 guests on the pod over the years, and I’ve asked them all for book recommendations. Books that changed them, answered questions for them, and even distracted them in the best way.

There’s some fantastic and unexpected choices among the hundreds here — from the US Constitution (still a thing!) to Dragons Love Tacos and The Power Broker.

👉 Check out all of our guest recs here.

I’ve tried to understand what the hell is happening (sorry, active voice: being done) through books, and so I picked 26 (give or take) that I found specifically helpful to anchor my perspective, parenting, and work going into this year.

👉 Browse them here.

ICYMI: my original “26 Books for 2026” post is here.

Among the habits and practices you can teach your kid (or someone else’s kid, it’s fine, they said it’s fine, go for it), reading books is one that’ll benefit them (and their own families, and society) for life.

Reading books gives kids a wide variety of heroes to root for, and helps them understand that bad guys are real, how to identify them, and how to put them down. Reading books builds critical thinking, and attention spans, and gives them a way to be still.

Books are, per Stephen King, a uniquely portable magic (at any age). Get them for your kids, or a local classroom, or for yourself - there is never, ever a time when you will grow out of any of these.

TBH this might be the list that means the most to me, it’s certainly the one I’ve spent the longest curating.

👉 You can check out our kids books here.

Earlier this year our dear friend Amanda Litman shared her updated list of Romance Books for the Uninitiated.

Obviously we collaborated to turn it into a shoppable list on Bookshop — with a spice level scale and everything.

There’s a reason a bazillion people read these books. They’re for everybody. They’re for you.

👉 Get some here.

A couple years ago we polled our entire community about what you all thought were the best science books of all time — books that changed your way of thinking, blew your mind, or got you interested in science in the first place.

We got hundreds and hundreds of responses and curated the most popular picks in one place.

👉 This is that list.

This is a pretty short list, so far, and I’m definitely here for recommendations. But be aware: the bar is high — these are books that made me understand or re-consider something (or at least, try to understand and consider) that’s either so simple and canon that most of us never question it (evolution, infrastructure), or that is very far out there and I still don’t get it (you know, like time).

Either way, I loved being on the journey.

👉 Get your own mind blown here.

We take a pretty wide and long view of any particular topic, and health and biology obviously require a far more inclusive (and historical) perspective than they usually get.

You’ll find books here on Native American DNA, abortion, a history of plagues, kids books on meditation, how and what to eat, and communicate, and to care for one another — where no life is worth more than another.

👉 Get perspective here.

Ah yes, tech. Or as we call it in the newsletters — beep boop. Why SHOULDN’T we use an adorable, affectionate name for such a wildly controversial topic? You do your self-care, we’ll do ours.

Anyways — tech is eternal from primitive hammers to H-bombs and the most important thing to understand is it’s just a tool and nearly always an extension of ourselves.

We’ve got excellent picks on privacy, algorithms, surveillance, data biases (plural), and more.

👉 Feed your own algorithm with these books.

⚡️ Check out even more of our WCID Get Educated book lists right here!

Years ago I started putting together a syllabus about the US Civil War and Reconstruction, because, well, they’re the root of most of our issues.

Good news: there’s some pretty incredible testimony and scholarship that can give you a first-rate education on what went right and what went very, very wrong, and why.

I’ve shared this list personally with hundreds of folks and only recently added it to Bookshop. You can’t go wrong.

👉 Get history here.

Throw some cash towards one of our vetted and recommended “Donate to education” actions and help the next generation get a leg up.

👉 Check out where to donate here.

Thank you — as always — for giving a shit.

— Quinn

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