november 2021 – good to read

Questlove
Focusing on the years 1971 to the present, Questlove finds the hidden connections in the American tapestry, whether investigating how the blaxploitation era reshaped Black identity or considering the way disco took an assembly-line approach to Black genius. And these critical inquiries are complemented by his own memories as a music fan, and the way his appetite for pop culture taught him about America. A history of the last half-century and an intimate conversation with one of music’s most influential and original voices, Music Is History takes a close look at contemporary America.
Abrams & Chronicle Books | November 21

Ai Weiwei
Once an intimate of Mao Zedong, Ai Weiwei’s father was branded a rightist during the Cultural Revolution, and he and his family were banished to a desolate place known as “Little Siberia,” where Ai Qing was sentenced to hard labor cleaning public toilets. Ai Weiwei recounts his childhood in exile, and his difficult decision to leave his family to study art in America, where he befriended Allen Ginsberg and was inspired by Andy Warhol. With candor and wit, he details his return to China and his rise from artistic unknown to art world superstar and international human rights activist—and how his work has been shaped by living under a totalitarian regime. 1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows sheds light on the forces that shaped modern China, and serves as a reminder of the need to protect freedom of expression.
Barnes and Noble | November 21

Daniel McQueen
Presenting a step-by-step guide, McQueen explores how to transform cannabis into a reliable and safe psychedelic medicine. Drawing on his years of experience working with clients to release traumas and emotional pain, he explains the importance of proper dose, set, setting, and intention and details how to prepare for your psychedelic cannabis sessions. He shares methods to use cannabis in a mindful way to minimize anxiety and paranoia, and direct the experience to produce vivid psychedelic states, physical relaxation, and healing. Looking at the unique qualities of different cannabis strains, the author explores the art of making a psychedelic cannabis blend, the possibilities and hidden potentials of each strain, and how to blend strains for specific experiences.
Park Street Press | November 21

Paul MacCartney
With unparalleled candour, Paul McCartney recounts his life and art through the prism of 154 songs from all stages of his career – from his earliest boyhood compositions through the legendary decade of The Beatles, to Wings and his solo albums to the present. Arranged alphabetically to provide a kaleidoscopic rather than chronological account, it establishes definitive texts of the songs’ lyrics for the first time and describes the circumstances in which they were written, the people and places that inspired them, and what he thinks of them now. Presented with this is a treasure trove of material from McCartney’s personal archive – drafts, letters, photographs – never seen before, which make this also a unique visual record of one of the greatest songwriters of all time.
Penguin Books | November 21

David Graeber and David Wengrow 
For generations, our remote ancestors have been cast as primitive and childlike –
either free and equal innocents, or thuggish and warlike. Civilization, we are told, could be achieved only by sacrificing those original freedoms or, alternatively, by taming our baser instincts. David Graeber and David Wengrow show how such theories first emerged in the eighteenth century as a conservative reaction to powerful critiques of European society posed by Indigenous observers and intellectuals. Revisiting this encounter has startling implications for how we make sense of human history today, including the origins of farming, property, cities, democracy, slavery, and civilization itself. Their book transforms our understanding of the human past and offers a path toward imagining new forms of freedom, new ways of organizing society.
Allen Lane | November 21