This book started off really strong. I couldn’t put it down for the first 3 parts. Montell was ambitious in the first part; her discussion on what defines “cult” and how pervasive cults are in our society is unsettling, but true. She describes, in great detail, the tactics of cult leaders, their strengths and weaknesses, their climaxes and their demises. Her linguistic expertise is fascinating. The second half- 3 parts about MLMs, gym cults, and influences- fall short. She makes, or at least I thought she makes, a commitment to talk about US Greek Life and stan culture, but doesn’t mention them again after the first 50 pages (sad). However, these 2 seemingly big negatives, really don’t ruin the book. “Cultish” is truly fascinating and I cannot stop thinking about it- how I use Cultish and when other people use Cultish, and whether or not it’s inherently bad or if the use of it, as a language, is just the direction our society is moving towards.

"The number of books destroyed... is so enormous--in the billions--that I sometimes find it hard to believe there are any books left in the world."
"The Library Book" reaffirmed my strong belief that books have a tendency to find us at the right moment. I've had this on my bookshelf since last Christmas and in an attempt to finally catch up on my owned-TBR list (which consists of over 30 books), I picked this one up sort of on a whim, which also happened to be the week I started applying to masters programs in library science.
I rarely read nonfiction, but I truly couldn't put this one down. Susan Orlean is a beautiful storyteller and every one of her sentences pulls on a heart string. She describes people, real people so elegantly, you feel empathetic towards all of them. This book is about a disastrous library fire in 1986, but it's more about the pricelessness of libraries, librarians, and literature. Access to knowledge is something we have to fight for and librarians are the ones fighting, diversifying and modernizing libraries so more people have a free, safe, dry place to explore and live.

“Knowledge is only power if knowledge is put to the struggle of power.”
So much of me wishes I read this 2 years ago. This book is enlightening and brave and transformative. While a little repetitive, Professor Ibram X. Kendi effortlessly combines history, personal narrative, current events, and effort to push the reader forward. A must read for all.

Beautiful

“There is no happiness like that of being loved by your fellow-creatures, and feeling that your presence is an addition to their comfort.”