Something That May Shock and Discredit You is a quintessentially Daniel Lavery creation, and a total book of my heart. Lavery, one of the founders of my old favorite content website, The Toast, is a writer who’s odd humor always speaks to me, even if his references to various literature and media sometimes go completely over my head. This essay collection blends all his signature wit and power of hilarious observation with more personal dissections of his experience grappling with a sudden and unavoidably nagging question ‘what if I was a man, sort of’, and his subsequent transition. The way Lavery discusses his experiences and thought process is simultaneously so powerful, funny, and profound. I especially resonate with how he continues to use stories from scripture in his conception of self and the world, even as his relationship to the religion of his family/youth has been transformed. This book is so good, reading it made me feel all the things, and I’m so happy to own a copy with Lavery’s “third and final name.” I know it’s kinda weird to be proud of public figure people who are basically truly strangers, but whatever, I am.